Chapter 2: Victors

The deafening roar from the audience hits me full force, and I'm almost blinded by the bright lights. I look out at the crowd that has gone completely crazy. Someone says my name and I look to my right to see the most beautiful girl on the face of this Earth. Long brown curls spiral down her back. The dress Dysnomia designed for her falls to about her knees. The silky blue material covers her shoulders, ties in at the waist, then sort of bells out at the bottom. Her face seems to glow, and her eyes sparkle. Her lips call my name but I barely hear. I'm too awestruck by the gorgeous creature before me, to even be aware of anything else. This can't be real. I have to be dreaming. Either that or I'm dead. Yes, that's it I must have died and came here.

A soft hand takes mine and leads me over to a seat that looks to be in between a couch and a regular chair. I robotically sit down and try to focus my gaze on the girls' face. Her features are striking. The shape of her nose, the few freckles under her deep brown eyes, the shade of her hair, the sound of her voice…

"Clove?"

The second I realized it's her, I practically pull her onto my lap and kiss her for all the Panem to see. I don't care. She's back now. I can't even remember how long it's been since I last saw her on the hovercraft, but it was agonizing when we were separated.

But she's here now, looking more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. I hear Ceasar Flickerman's voice saying something like 'the show must go on,' but I'm not letting go of clove. But she pulls away, and I'm left to stare at her mesmerizingly beautiful face.

Then I hear the crowd go crazy again and I turn my gaze out to them.

"Is this real?" I ask. I don't really mean to say it out loud but I don and everyone starts laughing including Clove.

"Yes, Cato. It's very real," she says.

I blink my eyes and shake my head a few times. Clove is sitting beside me. CEasar is sitting on a separate chair beside her. The interview! This is the interview!

Snap out of it Cato. This is for real. You're a victor now. Focus.

I shake my head again trying to clear my thoughts.

"Sorry," I mumble. "I thought I was dreaming…or something."

More laughter. Ceaser jumps at the opportunity to start asking questions.

"So tell me Cato, when did you first realize you loved Clove? Was it back in your District or did you first meet her when you were chosen at the Reaping?"

I blink my eyes a few more times and try my hardest to focus on the question and not my driving desire to kiss Clove again.

"Um…no I didn't meet her until the Reaping. It was raining and she was wearing all black, with a hoody pulled up over her head. She had looked really small but at the same time looked determined. When I would try to talk to her on the train, she'd just say something sarcastic and walk away. So for a while she was mostly just really mean to me so I didn't really-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up," Ceasar interrupts. "Did you say she was mean to you?"

"Yeah…and she kept teasing me about Glimmer. She thought that I liked her when really Clove was who I fell for,"

The audience sighs at the same time and then Clove speaks up.

"When exactly did you fall?"

I shuffle through my memories trying to find the exact moment.

"When I saw you in your first interview dress. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating," I hope it doesn't sound too lame, but Clove smiles and there are more dramatic sighs from the crowd.

"What about you, Clove?" Ceasar asks.

She sinks back in the seat and blushes.

"Well…you see…I didn't really think about you like that at first. All I could think about was how scared I was. And then…when I did start to like you, I sort of freaked out. That's why I started picking fights with you. I always had a feeling you had your eye on me an di figured it I teased you about Glimmer, you wouldn't like me anymore. Then we would both save ourselves a lot of pain in the arena. Obviously, that didn't work out."

Clove stares at the floor looking uncomfortable.

Ceasar asks one more question. "And what were you thinking when they said you could both win?"

She looks up at him, and waits a minute before answering. "When they change the rules, they changed my life."

"And what do you have to say about that, Cato?" Ceasar asks.

I look at Clove and she looks at me and before you know it we're making out again. I can't help it. I'm impulsive. After about 10 minutes of this, Ceasar clears his throat and I figure I'd better just answer the question.

I pull away from Clove, but still hold her close to me.

"Ceasar, I couldn't have said it better myself."