I didn't sleep well that night. My dreams were plagued by Pierce's threat against Maya.
I dreamt of it coming to fruition. Maya tripping over her feet as she stumbled to the stage and I can do nothing to stop her. She's too far away. I'm tied up and gagged. I have no voice. No one will listen to me. Pierce and his merry band of Tributes are holding me back, or they are pushing her forward.
Maya in the Games themselves was a situation of interest as well, to my subconscience. The pre-Games interviews and presentations; sometimes she takes them well but more often than not she is a wreck. And everyone knows she's the weakest in the group. By the time she reaches the Arena they're all gunning for her. And there is nothing that I can do.
Between scenarios a single face flashes before me. Cato. It morphs between different emotions. Friendliness. Compassion. Annoyance. Anger. And, bizarrely enough, sorrow.
I didn't want to admit it but I knew that my tirade today would bite me in the arse tomorrow. An apology wasn't a question, it was a necessity. If I didn't try to make up for it then I may well have just resigned my sister to the Capitol's favourite barbaric form of entertainment. I would be lucky if Cato hadn't already told Pierce that I was a bitch and started planning some way of scaring me into line.
Maybe I was over reacting. Cato had seemed nice enough. I'd also got the feeling that his apology for Pierce's threat had been somewhat genuine. There was no guarantee that Cato would run straight to Pierce. Hopefully Cato had as big of an ego as Aloki, if he did then there was no way that he would tell anyone. God forbid anyone would be so rude to the handsome young Career Tribute.
I walked Maya to her first class and told her I would meet her there for lunch. Pierce's threat had scared her, to the point where she had nightmares too. She was still worried that the kids in her class would take it out on her somehow and it hurt me to see her so stressed. All I wanted was to protect her and her fear only brought home how risky my ill temper had been last night.
"Don't worry about anything; I'll just be next door." I said with my hands rested on her shoulders.
She nodded and gave me a feeble smile. I gripped her shoulders and turned her around, pushing her gently into the class. The Academy was broken into two buildings, one for the Career Tributes and one for everyone else. Maya was alone on this side of the Academy during her classes and it did worry me a little but her long term protection was more important than small temporary concerns.
Aloki called through the door as she entered the room, "If anyone gives you shit then you know where to send them."
I slapped Aloki's shoulder, "We are trying to get along with these people. Starting fights will help no one."
As we entered the Combat Hall I saw him in the corner. He was sitting at a table with a large book open in front of him and a few sheets of paper beside him. He was drumming a pen on the table in a mismatched rhythm as he scanned the pages of the book. It was barely eight-thirty in the morning and he was already studying. Then again, he may just be trying to get people to leave him alone. Well, it wasn't going to work this morning.
"I'll be back in a few minutes." I mumbled to Aloki. Aloki shrugged and nodded but didn't seem to be paying attention to me as he moved in the opposite direction.
Apologies are not easy for me. They takes a certain amount of humility that I just don't like showing to people that I don't know. But I didn't have a choice. Thankfully, there were only a half dozen students in the Combat Hall and Cato was sitting by himself. Now was probably the best time to talk to him because if it went wrong then there were only a few eyes to witness it. He noticed me before I was halfway to him and he watched me stoically as I approached.
"I'm sorry." I said with a sigh. He didn't say anything so, after a few seconds, I continued, "I've just been really stressed and... I know that there is no excuse. I was a bitch and you were just trying to be nice."
Cato considered me for a few moments before he spoke, "It's cool. I understand it's probably been hard for you lately. And I definitely know what it's like having a tool for a younger brother." I smiled at him, unsure of what to do next. He noticed my discomfit and gave a short, friendly laugh, "How good are you with berries and fruits?"
"I'm pretty sure I could feed myself if I had to. Why?" It sounded like a stupid question to me the second that I said it. Why? Was there any doubt in my mind why he had asked? He was trying to keep the conversation going, seeing how I was failing miserably at it. Although, it did genuinely surprise me. He was a Career Tribute, if he ended up in the Arena then he wouldn't need to worry about berries, he'd have control of the Cornucopia.
Cato seemed confused by my question, "Well, to be honest, I'm really not very good at identifying them. I'd probably poison myself within the first day if I was selected this year."
I laughed, "Like you'd need to know that."
This was definitely not the thing to say. Cato's face was suddenly hard and aggressive as he glared up at me from his book. It was such a hostile expression that you would have thought I'd just threatened to burn down his house. I was most surprised by the fact that when he was angry, as he was now, he looked like a different person. He looked like the malicious Career that you would see on the television during the Games.
"What? Because I'm a Career, I'm not allowed to be intelligent. Or don't you think that I'm smart enough to know the difference between Nightlock and Liverberry." he snarled and he sounded truly menacing.
I shook my head, "It's not a matter of what you can be. It's what you need to be. You get into the Arena, you secure the Cornucopia and then you don't need to know the difference."
"You can't trust the Capitol. What if they decide not to include food at the Cornucopia when I go in there? I'll need to know then."
"You're strong and handsome; you'll have more sponsors than your mentor will know what to do with. You don't need to be smart."
Cato looked back down at the book, "You may be confident enough to think that 'strong and handsome' will get me through but I'm not. And contrary to what you believe, I'm not suicidal. So, you can either help me by going over this shit with me or by taking care of your brother." He pointed over my shoulder.
Aloki was standing in the farthest corner from Cato and myself, in front of two very angry looking male Careers and a girl who looked strangely self-conscious. Even though his back was to me, I could tell that he was not happy. His tense shoulders, shaking hands and very deliberate breaths all betrayed his emotion. I'd only seen him like that once before and that time had ended up with him in the custody of the Peacekeepers for a full day.
"Fucking great." I sigh but stop before moving away, "It doesn't matter if you can tell the difference between Nightlock and Liverberry, they're both poisonous."
I darted across the room, desperate to get there before he found himself back under Peacekeeper supervision. It was certainly not a good way to start his second day at the Academy but I couldn't say I was all that surprised. I got there just in time to grab his clench fist before he threw it at the taller of the two guys.
"What do you think you're doing?" I bellowed at him, knowing full well that the whole room would now be looking at us. Thankfully, only a few more students had arrived since we walked in.
Aloki looked so aggravated that he would have tried fighting me to release some of the pent up energy, "I was minding my own business when these dicks showed up."
One of the guys scoffed, "Trying to weasel your way into my girlfriend's pants is far from minding your own business."
I found it kind of sad that this turn of events didn't surprise me. Aloki was a fifteen year old boy, his life currently revolves around girls, particularly pretty little things like we were standing in front of now.
Although I was annoyed with him, I didn't entirely blame him; she was surprisingly stunning, with long glossy black hair, small waist and perky breasts. She was the picture of health and virility. It was what happened when not only you but your parents, are not overworked and live in relative luxury. Despite her good looks I could see the hardness of her stare; her embarrassment was as faked as I had ever seen.
This was what I expected from District 2. Conniving. Scheming. Manipulative. And unnervingly calm about such behaviours. She couldn't care less if those two meatheads beat the shit out of Aloki, she would probably get some sort of psychopathic rush from seeing it. But I did expect her acting to be better than that.
"I think the biggest issue here is that you think Aloki could succeed." I growled as Aloki lowered his fist.
The girl's boyfriend stepped forward, clearly trying to threaten me with his mere presence. It wasn't going to work. I had spent my childhood playing on the docks around non-family-oriented sailors and deckhands who were twice as muscular as this dickhead. He was nothing frightening to me.
"I never said he would succeed." he said through clenched teeth.
I huffed a laugh, "You wouldn't be so angry if you didn't think he could."
The second boy stepped forward now, neither of them could have been more than sixteen but they seemed to have the confidence of someone much older, "Are you calling my sister easy?"
"If the shoe fits." I snarled, unable to contain my annoyance at their confidence.
I did not see the fist before it collided with my nose and I stumbled backwards in shock. No one had looked like they were preparing to throw a punch and yet it hit me hard enough to almost knock me off my feet. Blood was dripping past my mouth before my hand reached my nose. I could barely breathe as I tried to straighten up and see past the welling tears. All I could think about was my inability to breathe through the streaming blood and the metallic taste in my mouth.
In front of me, I could hear the sounds of a scuffle. Something hit me in the shin and I lashed out at it. A moment later I could see and I didn't like the scene before me. Aloki was laying into the boyfriend while the brother was trying to assist his flailing comrade. I had kicked the brother and he was now trying to decide whether to face off with me or continue helping his friend. The girl was standing beside the scene, squealing and squeaking like a Capitol resident who was faced with a mouse.
I clenched the fist not cupping my nose and swung it at the brother, clipping his chin and causing him to step backwards. His feet got tangled in those of Aloki and the boyfriend and he fell over the fighting boys, into the legs of the girl. Who wasn't quite fast enough and, rather slowly, toppled over. She slapped the boy who claimed to be her brother as someone flew in from the left and started hauling Aloki off of the other boy.
I wasn't sure if he was helping Aloki or the boyfriend and I would have stopped him but my mouth was half full of blood, and I was too preoccupied with not suffocating. I spat the mouthful of blood out and tilted my head back. My nose hurt so bad that I couldn't touch it, but at least gravity had something to fight against when I stood like this.
"Are you okay?" Aloki grunted as he came up and loomed over me. There was bright red flesh around his face where he had copped a blow and his lip was split and bleeding. I felt absolutely no remorse for his pain, seeing as it was his wandering eyes that got us into this dilemma in the first place.
"Give me a minute." I choked. Well, I tried to choke; even for choking my words were fractured and came out wrong.
A hand pressed between my shoulder blades and directed me out of the Hall. I didn't protest because I was quite content to leave the Hall. My blood was dripping down my front and I knew that it was all over the floor, but I couldn't care less. All I wanted was for my nose to stop bleeding, and if that meant dribbling it all over the hall then that was what I was going to do.
"Sit down here and keep your head back." someone said as a scrunched up rag was lifted up above my face.
I took the rag as I sat down and placed it gingerly over my mouth to stem the flow of blood without touching my very sensitive nose. As I lowered myself to the ground, I saw who it was that had assisted me out of the hall. It surprised me to see him as I thought that he was angry at me.
Cato glanced at Aloki and shook his head before turning away from me altogether.
"Aloki Neilsson!" I recognised that as the Survival Tactics teacher and a few seconds later she comes into view, "You are to report to the Headmaster, now! How are you Alfie?"
"Okay." I mumbled through the rag.
The teacher pulled the rag away slowly and tisked over the sight before her, "It doesn't look broken. Do you think you need to see the nurse?" I shook my head, "Okay. Cato, can you keep an eye on her until she stops bleeding? Make sure she doesn't pass out."
"Certainly." Cato nodded and watched the teacher walk back to the class. When the teacher was gone and we were on our own, Cato sat down next to me with his legs out straight and his back against the wall. We were silent for a few moments before Cato laughed, "You owe me a new shirt."
In the corner of my eye I could see Cato's torso and realised that he was wearing a singlet. I hadn't paid any attention to what he was wearing earlier but I was sure that it hadn't been a singlet. The cloth in my hands was not a rag, it was Cato's shirt. I was never going to be able to be a bitch to this guy, ever again.
I groan in my annoyance.
