Chapter Twenty-One

Katniss' POV

"You alright Peeta?" I asked for about the fifth time. We were perched on the edge of the pool, or feet hanging into the cool water that lapped against the edges and occasionally spraying higher up our legs.

"Just thinking," he answered cheerily.

"What about?" I questioned, already sure the answer would be something sweet.

"Just about how this holiday is just about the best one ever," he replied smirking widely.

"Just about the best one ever?" I quizzed, putting on a look of mock hurt.

"I can think of a few things that would make it better," he answered cheekily.

"Like what?" I giggled, leaning in just a little closer to him.

"Like this!" he yelled and pushed me into the pool.

"Peeta! You dick!" I screamed as the cool water caused my clothes to cling to my now soaked skin. He sat laughing hysterically on the poolside.

"Aww come on Katniss I think you suit the wet-look," he continued laughing as I crossed my arms angrily over my chest.

"Peeta this is not funny!" I yelled back.

"Oh I beg to differ Catnip," Gale appeared, smirking down at me. "Nice job man," he congratulated Peeta and normally I would have taken a moment to enjoy the fact that my best friend and possible boyfriend were getting along swimmingly but I was still mad at the fact of the three of us I was the one doing the most swimming.

"Thanks," he replied looking even more proud of himself with Gale's approval than with my obvious anger.

"That's it we're no longer friends Hawthorne!" I snapped.

"Oh, however will I go on," he shot back sarcastically. "Actually I probably wouldn't, I'll make it up to you."

"How?"

"Easy, like this," he smiled wickedly before kicking Peeta into the pool after me, now it was my turn to laugh hysterically. "Even?" he asked as Peeta came up spluttering to the surface.

"I guess so," I giggled, enjoying the look of shock still on Peeta's face.

"Now down to serious business, either of you two lover-birds seen Johanna?" he asked us as Peeta made his way over to me slowly and ungracefully through the water.

"No, she still running from you every time you try and talk?" I asked.

"Yup, every time without fail basically," he sighed and ran his hand through his hair. I knew him and Johanna were perfect for each other, it just sucked that they were both so closed off when it came to things like emotions and relationships in general.

"When did you last see her?" Peeta asked in that logical way he has.

"Well we locked Cato and Clove in a cupboard, then I tried to talk to her a bit and she got all upset about me staying with you and Madge last night and then took off. I didn't know it would upset her that much, I would've slept in the lobby to stop this madness."

"You locked Cato and Clove in a cupboard?" I know it wasn't really the point in his story but it seemed too important to skip over entirely.

"Yeah, some plan Prim and Rue had. Anyway I'm gonna keep looking she has to be somewhere around here," he concluded before turning and heading off hurriedly in the way he came, ignoring the stares from a passing group of girls our age.

"Do I wanna know why Prim, Rue, Johanna and him are locking people in cupboards together?" Peeta whispered in my ear, leaving my skin warm under his breath.

"Probably not, besides I think we have some more important things to get round to," I smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck and enjoying the feeling of his lips on mine.

"Peeta! What the fuck!" a red headed girl on the side of the pool screeched into my happy little bubble.

Cloves POV

I would kill her! I would kill her with my bare hands!

"Johanna! You bitch let me out of here you crazy mother fu-"

"They're not going to let us out you know," an overly calm voice pointed out from behind me as I pounded pointlessly on the doors.

"How do you know if you don't try?" I snapped back, slightly annoyed that he wasn't freaking out about this as much as I was. The pair of them were stupid enough to accidentally leave us up here and forget about us. And cruel enough; definitely cruel enough.

"Because we both know it, they wouldn't have trapped us both in here if they were planning to let us both out again just like that," I could mentally picture him rolling his eyes at me as his exhausted tone got on my last nerve.

"Why aren't you freaking out? They're idiots they'll leave us in here to rot!"

"They might, but I reckon Coach will notice when his two star members don't show up for practice in about half an hour and Johanna and Gale are smirking at each other like idiots."

"Oh just… Shut up!" I sighed and slid down the door. I wouldn't care if I could pick the lock, but it was electronic and my very handy skills would be of no use. I rested my head in my hands and tried taking a few deep breaths. I could feel my heart rate picking up and my palms growing sweaty. It was dark, which helped; I could imagine the walls weren't there. But I knew they were, and I knew they weren't going away anytime soon.

"Clove?" Cato sounded genuinely concerned, as he should be. I suppose I never figured that Johanna would lock me in a cupboard with someone who would single handedly take up about half the breathable air in sheer mass, so had never actually mentioned my claustrophobia to her. "Clove what's wrong?"

"Doesn't matter," I replied, placing my elbows onto my knees and taking deep breaths, meant to calm me. But the fear was rising; I hadn't been trapped like this since that night.

"Clove it does, please tell me, can I help at least?" he begged. I wanted to yell at him to calm down, his freaking out wasn't helping me.

"Tell me a story," I told him, hoping that it would distract him as much as it would distract me.

"Ok, about what?" he asked, I wished I could slap him for asking such a stupid question.

"Cato I don't give a shit just tell me something, anything!"

"Umm…"

"Tell me why you started running," I sighed heavily, I knew I was snapping and I didn't mean to, he was probably freaking out as much as I was here. I could feel the air around him relax slightly as he sank down the wall at the other side of the cupboard, our feet just touching and we moved onto a topic he was comfortable with. Admittedly I'd heard the story a thousand times, how his brothers had always teased him for being the youngest so he had started to run and swim to be better than them. It was something that would give me a sense of familiarity now and that was something I was desperately craving.

"When I was 5 my dad took me along to an athletics club. I couldn't work out why, he'd never done it with my other brothers but then again they'd both chosen a sport they wanted to do by then. Being one of the taller ones in the class he decided I should try running. And as a kid I guess I wasn't really in any position to argue with him," he started and I looked up from the floor momentarily, unsure if he caught my movements. This wasn't the story he'd told me before.

"So I went along and I was good, but not the best so my dad got mad at me. Told me I had to be the best or I wasn't worth the effort. So I told him I'd find something else that I was better at, I just wanted some way to make him proud of me like he was with my brothers. He told me not to bother and pulled me out of the club," he sighed. I paused for a moment, thinking of the few times I'd met Cato's father. He was a huge man, much like Cato, with piercing grey eyes that looked through you like knives when you spoke to him and clouded over with boredom when he replied, like he was so many miles above everyone else in the world. But telling his 5-year-old son he was useless was something I had never thought him capable of.

"So that night I went home and I went to bed as usual and I had this dream. I can remember every second of it, it still makes my throat tighten if I think about it too much-"

"Cato," I breathed, not realizing how much of a personal story I'd asked from him. I never once stopped to think he had lied to us all those times, never once considered that his life hadn't been as easy as he made it out to be.

"No it's fine Clove, I need to get it out my system now. But I remember I was running into a clearing I don't know why but I remember begging for something not to happen, pleading with God that it wouldn't be. And as I got closer I realized I was running towards someone, someone who had a large rock in his hand and was smashing it down into the head of someone. At the time I didn't recognize them, I don't know if I'll ever find them. But I knew in my head that she was dead because of me, because I couldn't run.

"I woke up then, covered in sweat and freaking the fuck out. It seemed so real, so possible that I just couldn't handle it. But I didn't know the girl, but yet I felt so close and attached to her that I knew at some point she would mean something to me. I couldn't let anyone die because of me again; I wouldn't be a second too late ever again. So I forced my dad to let me go back to training and now, here I am," we sat in silence for a second. Cato's nightmare seemed so familiar that I could feel my skin tingle.

"Thank you," I whispered, only now noticing how my heart rate had slowed phenomenally at the distracting tale.

"You needed it more than I did," he sighed in his typical tough-guy voice.

"Why don't you ever tell people that?" I asked, trying to seek out his eyes in the darkness, hoping to catch some hint of emotion that would let me know that this beautifully broken boy before me was telling the truth.

"What's the point, they all look at me in the way I know you're looking at me now."

"And how do you know how I'm looking at you?"

"Easy you're looking at me with pity and sympathy and maybe a little empathy if you can manage it," he replied, I could hear the tone in his voice letting me know he'd made the mistake of telling someone this before only for them to take pity on him. But he didn't need pity.

"You're wrong," I quirked back, enjoying the shocked silence that passed between us for a moment.

"Alright then, how are you looking at me?"

"Like you're stronger than I ever gave you credit for. Like there's a whole new part of you that I never noticed before and it explains so much about you, why you train so much in the rain and snow and even when you broke your foot Coach was forced into making you do something just to stop you running off and trying to train on your own and injuring yourself even more. It explains why you never talk about your family but seem to have this odd mixture of respect and hatred for your father. Why even though you said it was about beating your brothers you never once mention them when you talk about training. Cato you run because you knew it made you stronger and you wanted to be stronger, and I respect these new sides of you more than I respected the douchebag who only cared about winning," I blurted out, not really caring about the fact I knew as soon as we were out of this cupboard it would all go straight to his head.

"I don't believe you," he stated simply. God some people just needed to hear it all.

Feeling slightly more confident that usual, for some unknown reason, I found myself detaching myself from the wall and crawling over on top of him, holding my face inches away from his as our bodies were pressed against each other.

"Can you see now?" I asked rhetorically.

Author's Note: I know another cliff-hanger I'm evil! But hey it's more than I was actually meant to write tonight so hope you've enjoyed it :) But yeah I do apologize for the lateness of this update, I know it's been ages and for those of you telling me to update, thank you so much for your support means the world to me and sometimes I really do need just a little kick up the back-side to remind me to keep writing. However I am serious when I say updates aren't going to be that regular, this is the first time I've been able to write properly since getting back to uni this week because I basically get the joy of spending 4 hours a night writing up lectures, which sucks but I need to do it if I want the fun graduation at the end of all this. However your support means the world to me so please don't give up! I promise I'm not just abandoning you all! Please review and until next time guys! :)

-R