Cato parked his car on a spot by the boardwalk, looking for some form of entertainment in the resort town. He Couldn't deny that Southampton was a far cry from Manhattan in every way that mattered. As far as he knew, there were no clubs in Southampton, nor any outrageous penthouse parties. It was like a step away from rehab for a man who indulged in the reckless scene.
Stepping out of his car, he put his Wayfarers on and looked around for any familiar faces. Like the Upper East Side, the majority of the crowd was extremely wealthy and white, though they seemed to be nowhere near as interesting as the wild crowd in the city. As he recalled those from last night, he spotted Marvel and Gale loading cans of beer into the bed of a large silver pickup truck. Approaching them, he asked bluntly, "What's the booze for?"
Marvel turned around, chuckling. "Oh, hey Weston!" He greeted enthusiastically, flashing his megawatt smile. "Glimmer's parents are out of the country so she wanted a party at the beach house." Gale loaded the last of the beer before putting the tarp over the purchases.
"You coming?" Gale asked, twirling his keys around on a finger.
Cato shrugged. "I'm sure she's not gonna mind me being there after last night," he laughed and earned congratulatory looks and fistbumps from both boys. "Ran into that Clover girl this morning though. Is she always a bitch?"
Marvel and Gale looked at each other and laughed. "Yeah, Clove's not really anyone's biggest fan. She's something else," Marvel chuckled and Gale nodded in agreement. "Besides, you caught her in the morning before her workout." Cato couldn't help but notice that neither of the men particularly had a problem with Clove, seemingly accustomed to her abrasive nature.
"Seems like she needs to get laid," Cato muttered, which emitted another laugh from Marvel and a scoff from Gale.
"Clove's… she's not that kind of girl," Marvel replied, apparently struggling with his description of her. "She's definitely not Glimmer Joyce."
"Is she going to be there tonight?" Cato inquired, though he held out any form of curiosity from hims voice. Through the years, he'd mastered the poise and indifference that made him seem infinitely more smooth than the average person, and Marvel and Gale detected no unusual amount of interest.
"She better be, Gale and I challenged her and Kat to a game of volleyball before sundown," Marvel grinned confidently. Cato raised an eyebrow in interest.
"Alright man, I'll see you there, I guess," he said as the two climbed into their truck.
Another day, another party.
At eight in the evening, the sun still shone on the shoreline as Clove pulled up in her car. She hadn't done much that day except work out, so when Marvel called her up to challenge, she couldn't refuse the offer. Clove thrived in every form of physical competition, and beach volleyball was no exception.
Driving up to the Joyce beach house, she spotted a few familiar cars, somewhat relieved that the party didn't consist entirely of Glimmer's friends. Of course, she wasn't there to take part in the drinking games-she was there to beat Marvel and Gale.
She stepped out of her car and immediately spotted Katniss, wearing the same blue racer back top and black spandex. Being the two most athletic girls in their group, Clove and Katniss found themselves teaming up in any form of partner sports. Katniss had the height that Clove's 5'4 stature was missing, and Clove had the explosive speed that wasn't found in anyone but her. They both prided themselves in near perfect precision, making them deadly on the offense.
"Ready?" she asked, shooting Katniss a sly grin. Katniss nodded confidently, spinning the volleyball in her hands.
They walked over to the net in between the house and the water, where Gale and Marvel stood shirtless awaiting their arrival. "Hope you're okay with losing today, ladies," Marvel smirked, his tone being an almost arrogant but joking one. Gale stood silently, stretching his long arms. What their team didn't have in precision, they made up for in their sheer size and power. Gale executed the perfect kill harder than anyone Clove had ever faced, and Marvel was more than sufficient in blocking.
Cato arrived in time to see the beginning of the game, watching from the deck of the beach house with a cold beer in his hand while four took to the sand court. Katniss tossed up the opening serve to begin the game, and the ball was quickly returned by a pass from Gale to Marvel, who awaited his set and executed it perfectly. Gale went up for the kill, swinging an arm to slam down the ball. Knowing full well how strong Gale appeared, Cato wasn't surprised when the spike came fast and hard. What he was surprised by, though, was how the ball didn't hit the sand like he expected. Instead, the ball was met by a diving Clove who managed to get under it and make the quick pass to Katniss. Damn, he thought to himself, impressed by both the short girl's reflex and technique. He watched as she got up to make the set for Katniss, who aimed the ball on the outer corner unguarded by either of the boys. The first point belonged to the girls.
The scrimmage continued as the two teams went back and forth in lead changes. Occasionally, Gale would overpower the girls or Marvel would set up a perfect block, and other times Katniss found the seam in between the two boys or Clove would come up with her own kill.
It was 19-19, and Clove was covered in sweat. The sun was finally starting to set, but not before it left parts of her with a pinkish tint. She hated her complexion's incompatibility with the sun, knowing she was probably going to feel the burning sensation tomorrow. She shook off thoughts of it as she eyed her partner, who was getting ready to take the serve. Marvel tossed it up, Katniss taking the return and Clove setting her up for the kill. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the familiar blonde boy from her house that morning, spending only a fleeting second recalling their cold exchange. It was, however, a fleeting second she would regret.
Instead of Clove effortlessly moving out of the way, though, she found her foot caught on the sand and fell over. While her leg went one way, her foot went another and she immediately felt a searing pain as she went down on the sand. Katniss looked at her fallen partner, horrified as Marvel and Gale ran over to the still lying down Clove.
"Clove? You alright?" Marvel asked, crouching down to Clove who was attempting to sit up.
"Fine," she grimaced, looking at the ankle that was already starting to swell up. "Let's keep playing," she said stubbornly, attempting to get up with her arms when Katniss put her hands on the smaller girl's shoulders preventing the action.
Gale took a look at her ankle, his eyebrows furrowing from the size it was starting to become. "Yep, that's a sprain," he concluded, and rather than having her stand and limped, the larger boy picked her up.
"Gale! Let me go, I can still play, dammit!" she said angrily, objecting to his actions. "We were about to win!"
"Clove, if it means that much to you, we'll let you have it," Marvel laughed at the tiny girl's attempts.
"Screw you, Marvel, that's not a damn win," she mumbled, crossing her arms as Gale carried her to the beach house, and Marvel and Katniss couldn't help but laugh at the tantrum she was throwing.
As they passed by the deck, Clove spotted Cato Weston leaning against the deck railinhis taking a drink of his beer before flashing her a smirk. No one else had seen it, but Clove rolled her eyes as her blood instantly started to boil over his sheer expression.
She was put down on the couch as Marvel reached into the beer cooler, grabbing a ziplock bag and filling it with ice from the cooler. There certainly was no first aid anywhere around, and he figured it was the best they could do for now.
"Sit tight and ice it," Katniss suggested. The rest of the guests had started to roll in, filling up the beach as the socialized and drank.
"You gonna be okay here?" Gale asked, not fully intending on babysitting Clove the whole night while she was in a foul mood. All three of them knew to leave Clove alone in times of anger-she preferred it that way.
Clove nodded, still fuming as Marvel handed her the game controller to the Xbox 360. If anything cheered up Clove, even the slightest bit, it was playing video games and repeatedly beating the computer. "Thanks," she muttered as Madden '12 started up, and the three made their way out of the room. She heard the door click, and grumbled to herself about being immobile before a voice spoke up from behind her.
"You shouldn't get distracted so easily, it's obviously dangerous," the cocky tone unmistakeable as Clove groaned. Sure enough, Cato plopped down on the other end of the couch.
"I wasn't distracted," she muttered, her eyes fixated on the TV screen. "I don't get distracted." It irritated Cato, for some reason, that she didn't intend on pulling her vision away from the TV. With a lightbulb going off in his head, his lips formed a smirk once again as he made his way to her, closing some of the distance.
"You sure about that, babe?" he asked, placing a hand of his on the small of her back.
Immediately, her head snapped in his direction over the contact as she glared at him. "Get your damn hands off me," she demanded, and he let out a chuckle, running his hand down further before pulling it away.
"Scared of feeling something, Kensington?" Arrogance seeped through his voice. Clove almost found herself shuddering out of disgust, but managed to maintain her composure.
She shot him a look of pure loathing. "Fuck you, Weston," she shot back.
It only elicited a laugh from Cato, enjoying the reaction he evoked from her. "I mean, if that's what you want," he replied as he inched his way closer once again, and it was the final straw for Clove. She instinctively threw her fist right at the side of his face, making contact with his cheekbone. Unable to put much weight into the punch, she was utterly disappointed in the lack of power, but satisfied with the outcome.
Cato backed away, rubbing his fingers on his cheekbone. "Bitch," he muttered, and Clove smirked before her lips formed a serious frown once more.
"I don't know what the hell you're trying to do, but I'm not here to fuck around with," she spat, livid with anger. Stil, she attempted to control her emotions, steadying her breathing. She absolutely hated that he'd gotten something out of her, despite the fact that it was a well-deserved punch. "Try Glimmer for that."
He rolled his eyes and got up, before looking back at her. "You're adorable when you're mad, you know that?" he laughed, and it took every fiber in Clove's body to not hurl the controller at him, turning her attention back to the TV screen.
Cato walked back out onto the beach, where he was immediately spotted by Glimmer. "Cato, where have you been?" she greeted him before slipping her hand around his arm, almost marking him as her territory. She looked up at him, narrowing her eyes at his off-colored cheekbone. "What happened to your face?"
"Cabinet," he muttered, his excuse completely believable to Glimmer.
You're gonna give in, Clove Kensington, he thought to himself, looking back at the lit beach house. Everyone always does.
A/N: Yay for a new chapter! I'll admit I got lost right in the middle of this, wondering where in the world would take the beach volleyball scene. Inspiration came from a mix between the Last Song (duh Liam) and Revenge where they had a beach volleyball scene.
Thanks so much for reviewing! I heard from a few of you that this was like Gossip Girl and Revenge, and I must admit I did find inspiration in location from Revenge. I didn't make the connection between GG and the fic until you guys pointed it out, but it most definitely makes sense! Cato does have some Chuck Bass qualities, haha.
Answering some questions:
.hair - yes, Katniss is rich (: I wanted to focus less on the actual wealth differences in the characters and more on the moral wealth so you'll find I don't play the money differences a lot. I might soon though! Also, I haven't quite yet decided if Everlark is truly dating... but I will. I can clarify, though, that Marvel and Jacqueline are NOT, they just happened to go to a wedding together.
Marina - I pictured Clove almost like Isabelle - short and athletic but obviously more mature since I made her seventeen in this book. She is not, however, curvy like Glimmer. She has lean muscles and she's incredibly in shape (:
Keep reviewing! Still waiting for someone to send in a cover photo of some sort, that would be lovely! And tell all your Clato friends!
Coming up... School. I don't know about you, but I'm excited for Panem Prep.
