{Chapter 4}
Cato walks into his room, adjusting and becoming familiar with it. He sits on his bed with a loud thump. Sighing, he places his head into his hands. He shouldn't have volunteered, but if he didn't, Clove would never have noticed him, he wanted to keep Clove safe from the other tributes, that was why he volunteered. His eyes gave way and small tears started to stream down his cheeks. He was ashamed of himself, for allowing himself to cry.
He heard a small knock on his door, he can't have Clove see him like this, he thought. Quickly, he wiped the tears away with his hand. Clearing his throat, he slowly opened the door, peering through the small crack, he saw Clove she looked troubled.
"Hey," he said allowing her to come into the room.
She didn't know how she got so courageous, coming to Cato's room like this. She sits on his comfortable bed as he stares at her. This time, she looked back into his icy blue eyes and finds herself getting lost in them. She gives him a sad smile. His face is red and his eyes are puffy. He couldn't have been crying, she thought, the great Cato Hadley does not cry, he's the toughest person she knows.
"Are you okay?" Clove finally asks. Her voice is so soft and it shakes nervously. Damn. This boy makes her so nervous.
"It's nothing, I'm fine, really, I am." Cato says, meaning to but failing to make his voice sound reassuring.
He looks into Clove's eyes. They hold the moment for a few more seconds when Cato breaks the gaze by looking into his hands again, a habit nobody ever noticed.
Clove's fingers start to tremble, "Yes," she says, but it's barely audible.
She begins to comb her dark hair with her fingers. Her trembling fingers need something to do. So she starts braiding it down her right shoulder.
"Yes, what?" Cato asks.
She takes a deep breath. "Yes, I'll be allies with you," she says.
And with that, she stands up and flees the room before he has time to react. That's the first time Cato and Clove had a conversation and it was nerve wrecking. She goes into her room and decides to stay in her reaping clothes. No point in changing them, she thought. They'll be in the Capitol in an hour or so anyway.
Cato sat there, awestruck, he was not sure how to react. Cato was also not sure what she meant, if they would be allies alone or with the people from the other districts, as the mentors suggested. He guessed he wouldn't mind being allies with the other districts too, they could probably give them protection and when the other allies' numbers were falling, he and Clove could kill them. He smiled and let himself fall asleep for a few hours before they would arrive at the Capitol.