"Excuse me! Sorry! Pardon me!" I shouted, shoving my way through the large mass of people making their ways towards the quarries. A few grunts were earned in response, my hands tying my long hair up into a messy ponytail as I finally made my way through the crowd and into the lesser-populated town square.
I jogged quickly up the steps, my hands now fiddling with the apron around my waist, tying it in a quick simple knot as I pushed my way through the doors of the shop. I let out a relieved breath, smoothing my gray t-shirt down as I make my way over to the counter.
"I'd like to make an order." I say in my best professional voice, hopping up onto the counter, leaning back on the palms of my hands. Nastia's curly head popped up from where she was aimlessly drawing doodles on the glass counter, rolling her eyes.
"For the hundredth time Az, stop talking like that." She said, untying her apron and tossing it over to her brother, who glared at her before going back to kneading the dough in front of him.
"Mom! I'm going out! Be back later!" She shouted to the back of the shop, her mother's flour spotted face popping around the corner. "Could you two drop off this order on your way? Yes? Thank you." She said softly, sending me a quick wave.
I waved back, hopping off the counter and snickering as Nastia dramatically sighed at the idea of having to do work, grabbing the basket full of bread off her mother, before reluctantly kissing her cheek.
Then we were out the door.
" I hate work." She said to me, handing the basket over as she ran a hand through her hair, trying to shake out the white spots of flour in it, which wasn't going very well.
"Most people do, and you have some on your face, stupid." I tease her in response, taking a smell of the delicious bread.
"Except you." She said in response, glancing over at me. I smiled, shrugging. I had applied for a job a few weeks ago, that entailed doing assistant work. Not to mention, you'd get to go to the capitol every so often.
Meaning I could see my dad.
I ignored her comment, glancing down at the address on the slip of paper her mother had given her. "Ugh, Nastia. It's in the victor's village." I groan, kicking up some dirt on the path in front of me.
Nastia squealed, hopping out of the way and reaching down to dust off her trousers, glaring at me as we began walking up the hill towards the village, talking about nothing in particular for a while
"So did you get in trouble last night? For leaving the party, I mean." Nastia said, looking up at me, the basket now in her hands.
I shrug, my arms out like a bird as I walked along a thin stone railing to the road, leaning slightly to the side before regaining my balance.
"Not really, just the usual speech about manners, before I was promptly sent to bed." I say, jumping off of the rock ledge, landing with a soft thud and a graceful flourish of my hand.
Nastia rolled her eyes at me, nodding to the large home looming before us, the pathway pristine and the yard just the perfect shade of green. I groaned loudly, tipping my head back in a dramatic manner. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Just come on, will you." Nastia said, rolling her eyes and grabbing my wrist, pulling me up to the front door, before handing me over the basket and pressing the doorbell.
Please don't be home.
Please don't be home.
Please don-
The front door swung open, Cato standing there with a tired look on his face, his arms folded over his chest as he looked down at us. He quirked an eyebrow, opening his mouth to say something, before I cut him off.
"Here's your bread." I say simply, shoving the basket into his arms before turning to walk away, Nastia hissing at me and grabbing my wrist, turning me back around to face him.
"How much?" He says, his voice gravely and rough with sleepiness. For whatever reason, it makes me stomach flip, something I quickly ignore. "Seven fifty." Nastia replies politely, Cato reaching into his pocket and pulling out that amount, quickly handing it over to her.
"Great, can we go now?" I say, not caring if he heard, Nastia giving me a wide eyed look in response. "Yes, Azalea, we can g-"
"Actually, I need to borrow sweet old Azalea here for a moment, okay? She'll catch up with you later." Cato says, easily using one of his large arms to scoop me into his grasp and in through the door, kicking it shut behind him.
"Let me go." I squeal, trashing around a bit before he sets me back on the ground beneath me. He rolls his eyes, a small smirk on his face as he walks towards his kitchen. "I have something for you to give your sister."
"Do I look like a delivery service to you?" I reply sharply, folding my arms across my chest and not following him, raising an eyebrow in his direction, even though his back was turned towards me.
"Are you always this pleasant?" He says, his voice even and sounding bored, not bothering to hide his irritation with me already.
" Are you always such an asshole?" I reply easily, earning a glare from him as he made his way back over to me.
"I can't find it, she must have taken it with her." He says finally, shrugging and folding his arms over his chest again.
"Great. Bye." I say, turning to walk out the door. He chuckled; reaching a hand out and grabbing my upper arm, twisting me back around to face him quite easily. "Why the rush?"
His voice is mocking, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
"In case you haven't realized this by now, Hadley, I don't like you." His eyes narrowed as I used his last name instead of his first, my glaring right back up into his.
"Really? Because I was just positive you were in love with me, judging by the way you said I was bitchy the other day."
"Sorry to break your heart, Hun." I reply with a deliberate bat of my eyelashes, tugging my arm out of his grasp.
Cato growled slightly as I mocked him, stepping closer to me in a threatening manner. "Is that supposed to scare me?" I say, looking up at him, my eyes daring him to try something.
That's it Azalea.
Make the boy who just won the Hunger Games murder you.
Sounds like a nice way to start the day.
"Oh of course not." He said easily, stepping even closer to me, making me take the tiniest step backwards, only to meet the cool wall. My heart thumps in my chest as he takes yet another step closer, blocking me there with no way out.
"What then?" I say, trying to keep my voice from wavering, although I'm sure he can hear the slight inkling of fear he's given me.
"I just think," He trailed off, raising one of his hands up to my throat. He lightly clasped it around my airway, not cutting off my air supply, but holding me in place. "You need to learn to respect your superiors."
He slid his hand from my neck to the side of it, his finger pressing against my pulse point, feeling my heart thumping hard. He smirked, saying "Sure you're not scared, Azalea?"
"You're not my superior." I respond back, ignoring his other comment, and internally telling my self to calm down.
This is Cato, were talking about.
He wouldn't kill me in his house.
It would stain the carpet.
"Oh, so you didn't get the news yet, did you?" He grins wickedly, his finger stroking my neck as his eyes danced around my face, taunting me.
"What news?" I ask, swallowing the small lump in my throat, the twisting knot in my stomach telling me I wouldn't like this.
Not one bit.
"You got that job you applied for. Say hello to your new boss."
I swear in that moment, I died and came back to life, only to discover this was the worse option. "You have got to be kidding me." I groan, tilting my head back against the wall, Cato's hand slipping off of my neck and back to his side.
"Oh, but I'm not. You work for me now. Which reminds, me, you start tomorrow, and wear something more," He trails off, his eyes wandering up and down my figure before stopping on my face again. "Appealing."
I glare at him, placing both of my palms on his chest and shoving him away. "Fine." I grit out, knowing that this would be worth it in the end. I would get to see my dad, and who knows, maybe I can torture Cato a bit along the way.
Sounds good to me.
"Oh, and Azalea?" He says, leaning against the wall as I begin to step out the door, a chill running down my spine. I turn my head around, looking at him and sharply saying "What?"
"Tell your sister I say hello."
"Tell her yourself, asshole." I snap back, slamming the door shut and making my way down the path and back onto the road, ignoring the rain beginning to fall down from the sky, making my hair stick to my back.
"Azalea! Az! Wait up!" I turn my head around, smiling beside myself as the dark haired boy jogs up beside me, holding his light jacket up over his head. "What are you doing in this part of town?"
"Just working." I respond easily, ignoring the feeling of anger in the pit of my stomach as my eyes glance over at Cato's house a final time before we turn the corner and it's out of sight.
"You're kidding! You got the job? That's great!"
His name was Luke, and he was basically the closest thing I'd ever had to a boyfriend. He was far too good looking for me, with his dark shaggy locks and sparkling gray eyes, his skin a bit tan from the sun.
When I say he's close to my boyfriend, I mean that he basically was. We talked, we laughed, we kissed, we hugged, and we'd slept together. We've done it all; except for actually make anything official.
We liked it how it was, no real strings tying us to each other. No need to share our deep emotions through telling the other how much we loved them.
It was simple.
No sharing of emotions, and neither of us would get hurt.
"Thanks Luke. I'll have to go to that place you're always talking about. That bar." I trail off, looking over at him expectantly.
"The cove! You'll love it." He reached a hand out, grabbing mine and giving it a squeeze, keeping his there as we walked along.
Luke previously worked for a previous victor, Enobaria, who he insisted wasn't that bad, despite her golden pointed teeth. He quit about a year ago, and since then has started a job down in the quarries.
"Hey, you wanna come over for a bit?" He said, glancing over at me as we approached his house.
While it sounded innocent, we both knew what he really meant when he asked it, and we both knew I would say yes. "Sure, let's go." I say, giving him a grin as he tugged me up the steps and in through the door, quickly making our way up to his bedroom.
No emotions were expressed, it was purely physical.
And it was perfect, knowing that this wouldn't end in me getting hurt.
Like everything else seemed too.
[-X-]
"Well, at least you got the job." Nastia said with a somewhat amused smile, loving the fact that I was going to be forced to work with Cato on a daily basis. " At least you didn't get Enobaria. She could bite you."
"Where as Cato is totally innocent and won't snap my neck like a twig. " I say sarcastically, glancing over at her as I mess with my hair, looking into the small mirror in her bedroom.
"Who knows, maybe you two will fall in love, just like you always dreamed." She teases me, earning a glare through the mirror. "That joke got old a long time ago, Nat."
She pouted as I used her less that desirable nickname, going back to messing with my hair. "Bitch."
"Whatever." I respond, releasing my hair and letting it fall down around my shoulders, not really caring how it looked. "You coming or not?" I ask, turning to look at her, my hands resting on my jean covered hips.
"Is Luke going to be there?" She asks softly, her eyes looking up into mine, a blush on her features. As much as she tried to deny it, I could tell she had a bit of a thing for the boy.
She knew I was sleeping with him, and I knew she knew, and yet I didn't stop. I clung onto the physical attention like there was no tomorrow.
I barely got any affection to begin with.
Let alone affection from a boy.
An attractive one at that.
I felt a small pang in my chest, but ignored it, saying "We didn't really talk much earlier."
She nods, understanding what I meant by it, us both going silent for a moment. "Nastia, I told you I would stop with this if you wanted me to."
"I know." She says stiffly, standing and making her way to the mirror, sighing. "Do you think we could just stay in tonight?"
I looked over at her, nodding softly and plopping back down onto the bed beside her. She laid down as well, both of us staying silent and staring up at the ceiling, which was none other than a gray tone that was the color of her walls.
"Nastia." I trail off quietly, glancing over at her.
"Yeah?" She said, not turning her head to look at me, instead staying staring at the ceiling, thinking.
"Do you like Luke?" I say, turning completely onto my side. "Don't lie to me, either."
She remained silent for a few more moments, before saying "I do."
"I'll tell him we need to stop then. Okay?" She nods softly, but doesn't respond, her mind still off in another place. I nod, laying on my back again, thinking a bit myself.
"Azalea? Do you like Luke?" She asks suddenly, rolling over onto her stomach so she can look at me, a corkscrew curl falling into her eyes.
"No." I reply honestly, glancing at her for a moment. "As a friend, sure. But never anything more. I told you, it's all physical for me."
"But why?" She asks softly, knowing this isn't a subject I like talking about. "I mean, why do you only do phy-"
"I don't want to talk about it, okay? Just drop it." I say, giving her a look, my tone hard but not harsh. She nods, shutting her mouth and both of us entering another comfortable silence.
I subconsciously move my hand to my hip, letting my finger run up and down the scar on my hipbone, the one Dahlia had given me years ago. It was part of a collection of scars, really, both emotional and physical ones.
More than a few were from Dahlia and I's numerous fights.
There was one or two tiny ones lingering from my days in the academy.
And there was one rather large one in my heart from none other than Cato himself.
I had trusted him once, when I was young and naive. I trusted him enough to like him, but to him it was all a game.
He led me on, tricked me into thinking I possibly even had a chance, and then, just like that it was over, and I realized it was all just a game.
Just a stupid joke between him and his buddies.
And although I was young, probably only about fourteen or thirteen, it hurt like a bitch. Because it was the first time I ever even liked a boy, let alone thought one liked me.
And it ended with me being the one who got torn apart.
It was your fault, Azalea.
You were the one dumb enough to trust him.
You were the one dumb enough to loose sight of reality all for some boy.
I ran my finger over the scar on my hipbone one more time, fluttering my eyes shut for a moment as my mind swarmed with thoughts.
And you're never being that dumb again.
[-X-]
And there you go lovely readers, chapter two of Scars!
Holy Cow! Seventeen reviews on the first chapter?! You guys are amazing! Wow! :D
I'm glad I got such positive feedback, and hope you guys continue to like it. This story is very different from Behind Enemy Lines in many ways, especially with the main character and they're relationship with Cato.
Don't expect our sassy little Azalea to fall for our beloved Career so quickly. This stubborn girl isn't one for making things easy ;)
I cant wait to read everyone's reviews for this chapter
Thanks guys!
-Becca 3