You have to regain yourself, Clove. You can beat Calliope's score even with just 10 knives and your flexible self. You can formulate a new tactic to finish it off.

I stood still and tightened my grip on my knives as I waited for Hart's whistle. I stared at all the dummies in the room as I formulated plans in my head. It's best to start at the middle so that I can throw knives in every direction. That way I can still hit it through dummies even without caring where it'll land. Hart blew his whistle, and upon hearing it, I felt adrenaline rushing through my body and into my legs, making me jolt towards the middle part of the many rows of dummies in just seconds. I had thrown 2 of my knives at dummies, and both of the knives landed on the heart areas. I've only got 10 knives, so I once again sprang up the air. This time, I swiveled up high while releasing all of my knives with my eyes squinted. Upon reaching the ground, I caught sight of the knives and it had stabbed 7 dummies. 7 knives were pierced through the heart areas, and 3 knives missed the dummies.

"15 seconds!" Hart announced.

I sprung up and got 4 knives back and sprang towards the bundle of dummies neatly arranged behind me. I couldn't risk wasting time in throwing so I used the knives to cut, stab, and pierce through different dummies in every direction.

"3…"

I kicked a dummy down on the floor, stabbed it with my last knife.

"2..."

I panicked so I didn't pull out my knives any longer. I attacked a dummy, bringing it to the floor. I took a tight grip on the chin and temples and twisted it, making the head come off.

Hart finally blew his whistle and I stood up to see that I had knocked down 15 dummies all in all. Kreen applauded as Vidia cheered my name. "Well done, Clove." Hart congratulated. I walked back, panting, as I took sight of Cato grinning with amazement and clapping. My name flashed up on the screen and I had made it to second place. I couldn't help but to be overwhelmed and Vidia gave me a hug and Cato patted my back.

"Break time for 10 minutes." Hart announced as he went out of Quadrant 3. "Wow, Clove! That was beyond amazing!" Vidia exclaimed. "Aha, thanks, Vid." I thanked as I walked away and sat on a bench. I opened a bottle of water and pretty much sucked the everything up. "Great one you had up there, Clove." I looked and and saw Cato with his blonde hair and blue eyes looking down at me. I smiled. "Thanks, Cato."

He chuckled. "No problem. Great tactic you had up there. Have you been practicing that?"

"Nope," I said proudly."I did it on the spot."

"Wow, I'm impressed," He said while nodding. "I'm challenged."

"Ha, you better be." I joked. He gave me a smile and walked away.

After the break, Hart had all the dummies to be set aside, and had me and Cato stand in front of each other, with gears strapped up all over our bodies. "This should be easy." Cato announced. "I'll try to be easy on you."

"Ready…" Hart started.

"Don't be too confident, Cato." I snapped back. "Who knows? You might want me to be easy on you."

"Set…"

I took a deep breath

Hart blew his whistle and next thing I know, Cato was running towards me and was about to smack my face. I lunged sidewards making Cato miss his target. I tumbled forward and stood up in a flash, making myself stand behind Cato. I then regained strength in my left arm and smacked his back with my elbow and kick, causing him to trip and almost kneel down. Out of nowhere, Cato pulled my leg, making my face hit flat on the mat hard. "What now, Clove?" He teased. He propped himself up and he pulled me up and held me up on his shoulder, about to throw me hard on the matted floor. Before he was about to throw me, I intertwined my legs around his waist and squeezed it, making him release the grip he had on my arms. I landed on my arms and I quickly sprung up and made my way towards the wall. Cato was chasing me really fast but I I got to push myself against the walls, making me flip on air and I kicked him forcefully. Cato lost his balance and fell on the floor, and I sat on him and pinned him to the floor.

"That was easy." I announced.

"Don't be too happy yet." Cato answered back. Out of consciousness, Cato smacked my stomach aside, making me the one pinned on the floor. Before he could sit on me, I jumped up and locked his head between my arms. I pulled his right arm backwards, causing him much pain. The whistle blew one last time, and before I knew it, I had beaten Cato Tylk.

I stood up and saw my name flash up the screen on first place.

"Clove!" Vidia called from behind my back, I just kept on walking towards the big doors of Quadrant 3. "Wait up!"

"What do you want?" I asked. I stopped walking and saw her make her way towards me. "Nothing," She replied. "You were awesome! What you did was out of this world! I can't believe you had beaten Cato!"

"Uh-huh." I replied carelessly while nodding. "Well, I'm off now."

As I make my way outside of the Nut, I tugged my hair up into a bun, and waited for my hovercraft to come and pick me up, since my house is way across the whole District 2. "Clove," I heard a voice call my name from behind me. I took off my aviators and caught sight of the big and fit Cato Tylk. "Uh, hey!" I greeted with a smile.

"I can't believe what you just did up there." He started.

"I know," I explained. "I'm so sorry."

He looked at me and puzzled. "What?" He asked. "Why are you saying sorry? You deserved it! You did all you can to top Calliope. And you did kind of impressed me up there." He shot me a grin.

I felt blood rushed to my cheeks. "Oh," I said. "Thanks."

The hovercraft finally arrived and as it landed, I made my way towards it, leaving Cato alone. "Oh wait." I said. I turned back and saw that Cato was still there looking at me. "Hey, Cato!" I shouted. His face began to pull focus. "Are you going to this year's District Soirée?"

Oh wow, I went out really soft with how I talked. That rarely happens.

The District Soirée is held 2 weeks before the Hunger Games reaping begins. Elites from different parts of District 2 attends this party and socialize. Since my father is the District Mayor, I'm one of the people who's always present in the District Soiree. Our family hosts the party ever since, which is why we have close connections with the other elites.

"Yeah," He answered. "Of course."

"Okay! See you there!" I flashed a smile, turned back, and entered the hovercraft.


OHH THE FIRST CLATO MOMENT. :') I cannot... :))

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