Katniss POV
As Mason and I walked back into the entrance of the hospital I found myself thinking about that training room even more and more. That girl, Jana… Who does she think she is? To think she can beat me in the Games…she doesn't even know what the Games are. What you have to do…what it's like to kill someone…
"What are the elites..?" I find myself silently asking Mason, who has been chattering incessantly since we got back from the park. I don't really pay attention to what he says, most of the time.
"The elites?" Mason turns to face me. "The elites are the best highly trained fighters in the entire District. Most of them are rebels, since they can fight really good."
"But, when you mean "good fighters", how good are they?" I softly kick a pebble that was sitting along the path.
"They're really good. You know your careers, in the Games? They're probably as good as them, actually maybe even better." Mason stops beside me, watching as I amusingly kick rocks with my foot.
I immediately think of Cato when he says careers. Cato was really good in the Games. He was the best career in there, no doubt. I was actually even scared of him at one point….Can these "elites" actually fight better or as good as him…? No way.
"I guess they're really good, then." I absent mindedly answer back.
"Really good." He repeats, and I continue to follow him towards the hospital.
When we step inside one of the many entrances into the hospital, I immediately see Miss White and Boggs silently chatting to each other on the table. As I avoided several frantic nurses running along with paperwork, I stopped to stare at Miss White. She had an intriguing look on her face. Whatever Boggs was talking about, it certainly got her attention.
"Hi Miss White." Mason interrupted their conversation, while I stepped beside him.
She looked up from Boggs to stare at us. "Hello, Mason and Katniss." She then gave one of her many infamous smiles.
"Where's Ebon?" I frown, gazing around the room to only discover his absence. I needed to talk to him about something. He's the only one I trust in this District. Boggs seems like he would be more loyal to the President, and Miss White's already keeping secrets from me.
"He's probably off somewhere, doing his work. As Head Guard, I can only imagine that every day is hectic for him." She replied. "He'll be back soon, though."
"Okay." I leaned back against the wall and allowed Mason to take a seat near the table next to me. I sighed and walked away from the wall, watching as nurses ran around and gathered inside rooms. With curiosity, I walked towards the hallway and tried to figure out what they were doing that was so important. I began to descend deeper into the hallway, and as my eyes strayed away from where I was walking, I found myself accidentally bumping into a person.
"I'm sorry..!" I mumbled, quickly discovering that whoever I bumped into had crutches. I glanced up, and immediately recognized Cato.
"Cato." I say, relieved. I hadn't seen him the whole day, not since this morning.
He doesn't look up at me, his gaze staying on the floor. I silently watch as he clenches his fists on his crutches. He's angry. I don't know why…
"Get out of my way." He seethes, averting his cold eyes back to mine.
If looks could kill...
I bump back into the wall, allowing him to limp his way out of the hallway and towards the tables. I give out a sigh of misery, and helplessly find myself glaring at his back. Why does he have to be so mean…? What did I ever do to him?
I bite my lip and walk the opposite way, trying to find a room where I could crawl into. He's nice one minute, and then he hates my guts the next…
I give out another frustrated sigh. Since when do I care? I'm supposed to hate him, anyways. He means nothing to me…He's just the enemy, remember? I hate District 2.
I slowly collapse against the floor and lean my back against the wall. I bring my knees up to my chest and bury my face into them. Why am I so nice to him? I wasn't ever this nice to Peeta. And he actually LIKES me.
I frown, glancing up from my knees and towards the opposite wall. I barely notice footsteps coming down the hallway where I'm sitting.
"Katniss?" I hear a voice say. I glance up, kind of hoping that it's Ebon or Miss White, but I quickly discover that it's only Mason.
"Yeah?" I begin to sit up from off the floor.
"Hey...what's wrong?" He softly asks, as he bends down to meet my face.
"Nothing." I immediately reply, my frown changing into a fake smile. "I'm just tired."
"Oh, okay then…" Mason raises his eyebrow, and I know he doesn't believe me.
I stand up from the floor and walk beside him, trying to drag him back towards the tables. "Come on. Let's go back."
He grins, and we both walk back towards the tables, where Miss White is still sitting, searching through piles of paperwork, but Boggs isn't there anymore. He probably left.
I sit down on one of the chairs, as Mason leans against the wall beside me. I place my arms on the table and watch Miss White. She's quiet, odd.
"Mason told me what you did." She says, interrupting the silence of the room.
I lean back against the chair. "What did I do..?" I ask, gazing from side to side.
She placed her paperwork down, and watched me with a stern, serious gaze. "Ebon isn't going to be happy."
"Not happy with what?" I impatiently ask again, not understanding the conversation.
"Katniss, you talked back to one of the elites. You can't do that here…" She frowned at me, one of the only times I've seen her frown.
"But it was amazing! You should've seen her-" Mason began, but Miss White's angry voice interrupted.
"I'm sure she was amazing, but it was foolish to do. Do you know what kind of trouble you can get into for talking to an elite like that?"
"I don't care!" I nearly shout. "She was asking for it. She came up to me, wanting to fight."
"You're supposed to ignore her and apologize for whatever inconvenience you might have given her." Miss White picks up her paperwork and continues to file it.
"Are you serious? I should've punched her in the face!" I cross my arms, and hear Mason laugh next to me.
"Katniss.." Miss White warned. "She's an elite, you have no idea what they're capable of."
"I don't care what she's capable of, you don't have any idea what I'm capable of, either." I lean the chair sideways, nearly about to walk away from the conversation.
"No, I don't. But still, you don't talk to an elite that way." She replies, eager to leave the conversation as well.
"Wait till I show her off in the training room.." I silently mumble.
Miss White dropped her paperwork. "What!" She gazes up at me, and then at an innocent-looking Mason.
Mason sheepishly smiled. "Sorry, I forgot to mention that Katniss is supposed to fight her in the training room tomorrow."
"Katniss, no! Your wounds just healed!" She worriedly shouted.
"She can't be that bad…I've dealt with worse." I shrug, slightly referring to Clove, Cato's former district partner. She almost cut my throat until Thresh managed to come along.
"You're seriously underestimating the power of the elites." This time Mason answered. So much for his encouragement.
"I never back down from a fight. No matter how tough they are." I merely reply, watching Mason stare at me adoringly, while Miss White incredulously stares at me.
"Ebon trains the elites...I've seen them fight before..and they fight brutally. It was hard to watch." Miss White silently says.
"He's their trainer?" I ask in awe. So Ebon's an elite too…
"Yes." She stares at me, and for a second I think she's nearly crying. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, Katniss…"
I silently stare at the floor, not answering back.
"She'll be fine." Mason answers with a grin. "Katniss is right. You have no idea what she's capable of. You haven't watched her with that bow and arrow of hers. "
"I hope your right. I hope she's as good as you say she is." Miss White smiles back. "For her sake."
I avert my gaze outside a window and see that all the lights are turned off outside. Which means it's nighttime.
"I'm tired." I say, slowly getting up from the chair. "I think I'm going to go to bed."
"Your bed is all ready for you. I left extra blankets in case you get cold. The hospital tends to get a little chilly at night. So, you don't have to sleep in Cato's room tonight, if you don't want to." Miss White explains.
I slightly blush. She saw me in his room…? I look away and roll my eyes. Like I'll ever do that again. He hates my guts right now, anyway.
"Goodnight, Miss White. Mason." I begin to leave the room.
"I hope you're ready for tomorrow, champ." Mason beams from behind me.
I let out a small smile and turn the corner, outside of the room. I walk down the hallway and stop as I pass by a room which has couches and a big TV. It's probably the break room for the nurses.
I started to continue my way towards my room when I saw Cato laying on the floor, with his back leaned on one of the couches. Wonder why he didn't lay on one of the couches. Is he okay..?
I curse myself for caring so much, as I slowly walk towards him. I stop a few feet away from him and tilt my head to get a closer look at his face. His eyes were closed, and he seemed in a very relaxed and calm state, by the way his chest was rising and falling, so I'm guessing he's just resting.
I turn around and walk out of the room, proceeding to walk back towards my room.
As I enter the room, I find my bed all made and several blankets sitting on the corner. I'm about to crawl under the covers of my bed when I think of Cato. Will he be alright by himself…? I lightly groan and lay my head back on one of the pillows. Of course, he will. He doesn't need my help, remember? I stare at the several blankets sitting in the corner and narrow my eyes at them.
Don't you even think about it….
I give out an exasperated sigh and sit up on the bed. My eyes gaze from the bed to the blankets back and forth. I've slept on the floor before…it should be no problem. No. I should stay on the bed, it's more warmer anyway.
I let out a silent row of curses as I get up from the bed and grab the pillows and blankets. I slowly begin to drag them out of the room and towards the break room.
Cato's POV
I clench my eyelids shut as I feel another wave of pain flow throughout my body. Ugh..why won't the pain stop..? I couldn't even manage to lay on one of the couches, I just merely collapsed on the ground. Stupid, Katniss. She doesn't understand. She'll never understand my pain. She pretends to be my friend…she pretends to care…
I inhale as I fight another wave of pain. I really shouldn't have slept on the floor…
I try to move my body sideways, but the pain only increases. I curse and helplessly open my eyes, leaning my body back against the couch again. As I move one of my legs, I feel a warmth beside it, like a person is there.
I blink and glance down beside my leg, discovering Katniss sleeping, curled up into a comfortable state next to my waist. She only has one sheet of blanket covering her body, the rest she gave to me.
I sigh and glare at her. Why does she want to help me so much…? Is it because she feels sorry for me?
I watch her for a few minutes, as her chest rises and falls. She doesn't make a single noise. I absent mindedly stroke her cheek with my good hand and remove a strand of her dark hair that was against one of her eyes. As I begin to realize what I'm doing, I instantly pull my hand away from her face and place it beside me.
I'm supposed to hate you, Firegirl…I want to. But I can't. I can't hate you…Damn you.
I give out a frustrated grunt as I look away from her, closing my eyes to try to fall asleep again. The sooner I get out of this District and back to mine, the better.
Sorry this chapter took long to make, again! I've been caught up with school, but I'll try to write the chapters faster. Anyways, thanks for the many reviews on the last chapter :) I appreciate it. I hope you like it! Nothing much really happens in this chapter, but in the next chapter there will. Review please! :D