A/N: YAYY Happy Friday! and Happy Update day! Thanks again for all the reviews for last chapter :) Don't forget to look for the anon shout outs at the bottom! Happy reading!
Clove
Jackie doesn't stop talking the whole ride back to her house. I tune her out half way to her house replaying what happened just a short time ago; my nightmare, Cato's face when I saw him in the hallway, Marvels story, and that really weird moment Cato and I both had after he left down the stairs.
I flip Cato's grey sweatshirt over in my hand and trace the black iron on letters that spell out his last name while imagining the way his blue eyes shined the night he walked me back to my house.
"Tonight is not going to be an easy night." I murmur quietly
"What?" Jackie asks as she smoothly pulls into her driveway
"Nothing." I tell her plastering a fake smile on my face
Before I know it, Jackie opens my door and pulls me out of her car, "Come on! We got to get ready!" she chirps
Jackie's house is a huge two story white house with dark blue shutters a wrap around porch on the first floor and a deck off the second floor on the back of the house. Her mother is a doctor and her dad is an engineer, which easily explains the grandeur of the house.
We walk inside the house and I marvel at the openness of the main floor. In one room there is a long table filled with sandwiches and two coolers filled with drinks. In the other room there is a large couch similar to the one that I saw at Peeta's house and a large TV mounted on the wall. Jackie yanks me up the grand staircase with her and locks us both in her room.
"Shower! Now!" she orders me and shoves me in the bathroom
I do as she says and strip off my bathing suit and shorts then turn on the shower, letting the hot water relax my body. Once the last bit of shampoo as disappeared down the drain I get out and wrap my body tight in the thick white towel from the counter.
"Clove! Clove!" Jackie pounds on the door
She opens the door a crack and shoves a dress in my direction "Put this dress on!"
I moan not in the mood to look pretty right now.
"Don't give me sas missy!" She scolds me in her motherly voice
I close my eyes and slip the dress over my head and let out a slight gasp. Jackie didn't even have to try multiple dresses on me, it's like she has some fashion sixth sense.
She chose a form fitting, one shouldered, pale blue dress for me and the strap is covered in rhinestones. I walk out and she squeals with excitement, her red curls bouncing around.
Jackie is now wearing a forest green, strapless, baby doll dress with a sweetheart neckline and a strip of rhinestones lining the neckline. Her red hair falls in perfect curls around her face.
I scrunch my eyebrows at her, "How long was I in the shower for?"
"Long enough for me to take a shower down the hall and get dressed. Now come over here and let me do your hair!"
She makes me sit on a stool in front of her vanity and has me close my eyes until she is done with my hair and makeup.
"Did you see Marvel at all today?" she asks
"Yeah we were up in Finn's room playing video games."
"Oh," she tries hard to hide the disappointment in her voice "Did he say anything about me?"
"No?" my answer comes out as more as a question
I slightly open one of my eyes to peek at her for asking such an odd question. She spots me looking at her and wacks me lightly on the back of the head with a hair brush. But, I am able to look at her quick enough to see a different look on her face.
She likes Marvel! I smile happily to myself
But what about Thresh. And, Marvel likes me! Oh shit!
"And...We are...Done! Open your eyes!" Jackie exclaims
Jackie pulls me onto my feet and I open my eyes to look at myself in the mirror. I don't even recognize the person in front of me, Jackie is a hair and make-up magician. My hair is now in lose curls similar to Jackie's, and she did a low-key smoky eye shadow look and light pink lipgloss.
"Wow, Jackie I-I..."
"You're welcome!" She cuts me off giving me a hug
Our best friend moment is cut off by the ringing of the doorbell. Jackie hands me a pair of strappy silver heels that match hers and we both make our way down the stairs.
I open the door to Katniss, Madge and Annie all excitedly standing on the other side. We all share hugs as they walk into Jackie's house.
Katniss has on a yellow dress made out of a gauzy material and her hair is in waves around her face. Madge is wearing a dress similar to Jackie's, but in pink instead and the top part is covered in rhinestones and she has a large rhinestone clip in her hair. I swear that girl is a real life Elle Woods with the amount of pink I have seen her in. Annie is wearing a fitted, strapless, sea green dress and her brown curls pulled into a low side pony tail with a sparkling silver flower.
Jackie's house starts to fill up quickly with kids in our grade, but our guy friends haven't showed up yet. I can tell it's starting to really annoy Jackie. Finally, an hour later from when Jackie told them to come they show up.
Finnick scoops me up in a hug first before going over to give Annie a quick peck on the lips. Marvel appears next to me wearing a dark grey and white plaid button up and black pants and gives me a hug.
Marvel stops in his tracks and I see his eyes go wide. Following his gaze I see he has locked eyes with Jackie. Her face has gone almost as red as her hair. But, the two of them are smiling from ear to ear.
This whole situation has gotten fixed before it has gotten any worse.
I walk into the kitchen with Katniss and see Cato across the room with some of the other football players. He is wearing a dark blue button up with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of charcoal grey dress pants.
A perky blonde in a purple dress shows up next to him and starts obviously flirting with him. He gives her a cocky smile and his eyes have a mischievous twinkle.
Who the hell is that chick?
"Hey Katniss, who's the girl in the purple dress?" I whisper, point in Cato's direction
"That, is Delly Cartwright. She's a Glimmer wannabe. She and Madge used to be best friends until Delly became a worst slut than Glimmer." Katniss whispers back to me
Typical. Jackie was right about Cato he moves right onto the next girl when he doesn't get what he wants, why didn't I listen to her to begin with?
"Clove!" Finnick yells from somewhere in the house
"Finn?" I yell back, craning my neck as best as I can to look for him
I spot him with Annie, and Jackie, where the football team is, waving for me to join them. Finnick wraps his arm around me giving me a hug.
"Clove this is Connor Preston, he's the other wide receiver on the football team!" Finnick introduces me to boy identical to his height and build, big brown eyes, and dirty blonde hair.
Connor is cute, I do admit that, but there is something about the way is hair sticks up that reminds me of Cato. It reminds me about the day at the beach after we got out of the ocean and the way his hair dried stuck up all over the place from the ocean water and how his golden blonde hair perfectly matched with his icy blue eyes.
That is it I need to go talk to him!
"It's really nice to meet you Connor. Sorry guys, but I really need to take care of something." I say leaving them to find Cato, who has now disappeared from behind the couch
"What do you think you're doing? Connor is perfect for you, he is a sweetheart." Jackie says grabbing my arm to stop me from leaving
"Jackie, not now!"
I bump into Gale and Madge in the hallway and ask them if they knew where Cato went. They direct me to some room on the second floor and, as smoothly as I can, I make my way up the stairs in my heels to the room to talk to Cato. I stop right before the door, take a deep breath, close my eyes, and walk inside.
"Cato, look I want to talk about today..." I open my eyes and freeze looking at the scene in front of me
Why the hell does this always happen to me?
Cato and Delly have their hands all over each other and are kissing on the couch in front of me. I feel a lump start to rise in my throat, I don't know if I want to gag or start to cry. The volume of the music is so loud they don't seem to notice I am even there so I quietly leave the room and push passed everyone and go into Jackie's backyard.
There is a soccer ball lying in the grass, I instinctively launch the ball against the fence and watch it roll back to my feet. I repeat the process again and again trying to release some anger.
"Clove, What happened?" Finnick appears digging his hands in his pockets
"I don't want to talk about it." I say launching the ball against the fence again
"I'm not stupid CC. I know something has been going on with you and Cato. What did he do to you? I swear if he hurt you, I'll beat the living shit out of him." the anger is starting to rise in his voice
"No, don't Finn."
"Why not?" he angrily retorts crossing his arms
"Unless you want me to tell your mom how I almost became Aunt Clove because of Annie's little pregnancy scare two months ago." I stop and face him crossing my arms
I know it's a low blow, I promised him I would never say anything about that. I can see the anger that is burning in Finnicks eyes, I have never seen him so mad. Tears start prickling at my eyes, I can't handle all these emotions right now.
"You. Wouldn't. Dare." each word seethes with anger
"Try me Finnick." my voice cracks at the end
I let out one final blow on the soccer ball and turn my back to Finn while the tears cascade down my face in body racking sobs.
"I-I'm sorry, Finnick." I turn to face him now
Through my tear infested eyes I can barely make out how the features on Finnick's face have softened from his angry scowl. He gives me a sad smile and comes over to hug me. He hates seeing his baby sister cry, that's why I never do it in front of him. Those times that I do though, it's usually for good reason.
"You k-know I never would d-do that right?" I mumble to him before letting some tears escape again
"I know CC," he rests his chin on my head "Shhh...Please stop crying, you know I don't like seeing you cry. You really like Cato don't you?"
"N-No I d-don't."
"Au contraire my dear sister. You forget how well I know you, I see how you look at him and better yet I see how he looks at you. You both are crazy about each other, but you're both too stubborn to do anything about it."
"I caught him making out with D-Delly C-Cartwright upstairs. He doesn't seem to like me that much. Why does this always h-happen to me Finn?" The last round of sobs escape from the back of my throat
"That asshole," I hear him mutter "I don't know, Clove. I really don't know. Come inside hang out with me, Jackie, and Annie. We are way cooler than Cato anyway."
"I'll come in a few minutes. I just need some time first to catch my breath and regroup. Go inside Annie is probably looking for you." He gives me a really tight hug and a quick kiss on top of my head and heads back inside.
I pace around the back patio catching my breath and trying to stop the tears. I tilt my head back and get a view of the gorgeous night sky. The stars are out again tonight I smile and do the one thing that will for sure make me happy.
"Hi Mom," I mumble "I'm sure you've seen how the night has gone so far. Finnick was there for me as usual, he's too good of a friend for me. But, I don't know where I'd be without him. Keeping my fingers crossed for the rest of the night not to be as awful. I miss you every day and so does Dad. I love you, Mom."
The sound of hands clapping erupt in the darkness. I freeze in my spot not knowing what is going to come out of the darkness.
"Bravo babe bravo!"
Right away I know the owner of the voice and it sends chills through my body.
"What the hell do you want Ryder?"
Ryder appears from the dark still clapping his hands.
"Aw come on don't be like that babe! That was quite a good show you put on there."
"Don't you dare call me that again! I told you I never wanted to see you again."
He has the same beady eyes and evil smile I saw in my dream. For the first time I am actually scared to be with him.
"W-What are you doing here?" I ask him
"Glimmer said there was a party and I thought I should check it out."
"First of all I haven't seen Glimmer all night. Second you don't go to our school so get out!"
"Fine I lied I wanted to spend more time with my beautiful girlfriend."
He starts walking towards me and backs me up against the house. My hands are shaking, but I try to keep my cool.
I give him my best wicked laugh I can muster, "Have you completely lost it, you moron. We are done! Done!" I yell in his face
"We're not done until I say we're done!" He growls back, grabbing my small wrist
He consistently tightens his grip on my wrist and I hiss in pain.
"Ryder please stop!" I half plead/ half yell in hopes someone will come and find us
"Shut up!" growls at me
That's when it hit me, this is just like my dream from earlier. But, there is no way in hell I am going to smash our heads together any time soon.
I open my mouth and start to yell Finnick's name, but Ryder slaps his hand over my mouth.
"Yelling isn't going to help you now!" He gives an evil laugh
He tightens his grip on my arm and I wiggle in pain trying to get loose from his grip.
Think Clove Think. You need to get out of this.
I bite down on his hand that is covering my mouth just enough so no blood was drawn.
"You stupid bitch!" he yells shaking his hand that I just bit
I start to wiggle again in his grip to try to get free, but he gets a grip on my other shoulder. Between my constant movement and Ryder's sudden anger problem, he slams me against the side of the house. I scream in pain and fall to the ground.
"Hey asshole! If you have a problem take it up with me not her." I hear someone yell at rider.
I look up in the direction the voice came from and see the silhouette of guy on the porch.
"Cato?" I manage to mutter out in the pain
Then everything goes black.
A/N: OHHH CLIFFY! Thoughts?
I'll post the rest later! :)
I'm not totally sure how I'm feeling about this chapter so I really hope you guys like it. :)
I do have to say though I love the exchange between Finnick and Clove.
I am glad I got a lot of positive responses about the 100 review trivia thing lol :) Thanks again for reading! xoxo
Shout outs:
Ch. 7
Guest- Wow! Thank you soo much for the review it means so much. and I am sure you can write just as fabulously! I thought Cato's little brother was cute too! lol :)
SoccerSuperstar- Thank you soo much! :)
emma- wow that's huge! I am glad you like it so much!
hi- hope your still liking the story! :)
BFF- awww I am so glad! :) I am glad you like it!
RealMcCoy16- Thanks so much for all your reviews! :) I am glad you have been there from the start and keep reading.
Anon- Thank you soo much! :)
Guest- Thank you so much! I hope I didn't disappoint you too much with the next chapter! Soon my dear soon! :)
CH. 8
Emma- I hope your liking the party chapter so far! Thanks again for the reviews! :)
RealMcCoy16- WOW! I am so glad that you think that! It helps me keep wanting to write for you all:)
Rosalie- Wow! You are very very verrryy Welcome! :) I am so glad that it can help you write your stories! I never thought my writing would mean so much! Thank YOU for reading! I will definitely continue :)
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Please- I don't know if I can! But, definitely check on friday/saturday! Thanks for reading :)
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Dying- Please don't die! I don't want my readers dying! :) Here is an update! I hope you like it!
Guest- Thank you for telling me that chapter 9 didn't post! :) sorry for the glitch everyone!
