As Glimmer clings onto my arm, blabbering about our last kill, I turn my head to find Clove shooting me a slightly annoyed look. I mouth the word 'help', and Clove actually feels sorry for me. So, she decides to try and cheer me up by doing her best Glimmer immpression. Clove flips her hair, trying to replicate the way Glimmer tosses about her bouncy blonde curls. I can't help but laugh, because she cannot do it at all like Glimmer. She gives a pathetic flutter of her eyelashes and turns around with a jerk of her hip. I practically collapse laughing as she saunters off. Glimmer jumps back as her eyes suddenly grow horribly wide. A look of fear crosses her face as my laugh echoes out through the forest. Glimmer gives a faint laugh as she tries to join in, but eventually it just gets too awkward and she stomps off with a huff. Marvel steps up to me and puts his lips to my ear.
"So... You like Glim, huh?"
I consider for a moment what to say. No? Yes? Maybe? I simply shrug my shoulders and cross my arms indifferently. Marvel just jerks his head and says "No. You don't like her. I've seen the way you look at her." He rolls his eyes. "She's revolting isn't she?" I slowly nod my head, worried that he's going to ask the question I've been dreading.
"Yeah, I feel you man. She's my... Well she's actually my niece." My mouth drops open in shock. "Seriously though. My parents had my older sister Dazzle when they were only 20. Dazzle went on to also have a baby when she was 20; twins actually. They were Kesdar and Glimmer. When my parents were 42, I came. Therefore, Glimmer is my niece. My parents both died last year, and Dazzle and her husband are dead too. The funny thing is, one week before the reaping, Glimmer came home with a knife and shouted "I'm going to volunteer next week, and now I don't need any of you!" And so, she killed her parents, and her twin brother Kesdar ran away. When my parents found out about their daughters death, they killed themselves, leaving me a note, saying I have to volunteer and make sure that Glimmer wins."
"Are you going to even do that?" I ask.
Marvel laughs. "No way! I don't want her to win, and I don't really want to win either. I want you and your girl to win."
My girl? He doesn't mean Clove, does he? I raise my eyebrows at him, and he laughs.

"Marvel, how do you know...?"

Marvel gives me a knowing smile. "Cato, its kinda obvious. Anyone could see you don't like Glimmer. Well, anyone except Glimmer. And I've seen how you look at Clove. How you look at the diamond on her finger."

My cheeks burn red. "You know about that too?"

Marvel winks at me and nods, just as Glimmer comes back to join us.

"Guys, I'm bored!" she whines. "I want to go hunting! I mean, we can't just hang about here all day, sitting about. I mean this is the Hunger Games after all. The Capitol will be getting bored!"

Clove walks over. "I hate to admit it, but Glimmer is right." Clove earns herself a glare from Glimmer.

Marvel shrugs at us. "Well, do you guys want to go hunting?"

Glimmer nods and smiles, and Clove and I agree. Peeta can come with us, but there is absolutely no way Ian is coming with us on the hunt. I'll probably end up killing him if he does.

So, we go into the forest, because most people hide out there. We can't actually find anything, like smoke from a fire or footsteps. Well, if I'm totally honest, some areas are just surrounded in smoke because of the huge forest fire that happened just an hour ago. At one point, when the rest of the group has stopped to for a while to decide where to go next, Glimmer grabs my arm and pulls me behind the trees. Clove sees me suddenly dissapear, and Glimmers blonde hair swishes behind the tree, something Clove definitely sees, so she obviously knows whats going on.

Oh great.

Glimmer smiles up at me and starts twirling her blonde hair in her fingers flirtatiously. I immediatly notice how each of her fingers is coated in pink nail polish, and then topped off with a little peacock feather. It was obviously meant for the tribute parade, and then she wanted to keep it. I wonder if Marvel had to wear it too? I cant help snickering at the image of Marvel with glossy pink nails.

Of course, Glimmer tries to join in too. She tosses her hair and laughs, even though she has absaloutely no idea what she's laughing about. Argh, I just want to slap her!

Keep your cool Cato, you have to like this girl.

If thats even possible!

Glimmer stops laughing and grins at me. "So Cato, are you enjoying the games?"

"I guess so. Just wishing for a little more action at night." Oh my God, what did I just say? "In the hunts," I quickly add to make sure Glimmer doesn't misunderstand. I don't think I can take much more than her sleeping next to me at night.

Glimmer laughs in a hushed voice. "Oh Cato, I'm sure thats what you meant."

Um, yes it was!

Glimmer smiles again. "But maybe, we could create a little action here in the day?"

Before I know it, Glimmer is kissing me full on. And I hate it. It's not like Cloves loving, warm and friendly kisses. Its way way WAY too passionate for what is supposed to be a first kiss. Did she forget that? Eugh, I just wish she'd stop. If I'm totally honest, she's a pretty awful kisser. I can't even bring myself to enjoy it. I mean, I guess you could say I liked it when I kissed Denise the day in the stadium, but Denise wasn't a bad kisser. Just maybe not one of the best.

What causes us to (finally) break away is Marvel, telling us that we have to move on. Glimmer glares at him, and kicks him a little as she saunters past. But I hope he catches my 'thanks for saving me.'

We continue through the forest, and eventually come out into a small clearing, with a little pond. I ignore Clove's 'what happened' stares, and she eventually gives up. At one point I notice Peeta staring at me, and I see the confused, lost-in-thought look on his face. When he notices me looking, he looks over to Clove, then to Glimmer, before raising his eyebrows at me. I'll admit, I'm not the brightest boy who ever lived, (it's talent, strength and good looks that helps you in The Games. According to Clove, I've got all three!) so it takes me while to work out what he means. Then I realise he's plainly asking 'Clove or Glimmer?'

I grin at him, and jerk my head over to Clove without hesitation, and I get a smile from him saying 'I thought so.' How does everyone know that I don't like Glimmer, and I'm in love with Clove from just the way I look at the two? Am I just that obvious?

All of a sudden, Glimmer shouts out and points to something in the water. What the- It's Katniss! Everyone laughs as she notices us and starts scurrying out of the water. Glimmer, of course, wants to lead the group, and she's in front of everyone, dashing after Katniss. Katniss seems to be desprately find somewhere to hide. But she's not going to escape us.

"Because Fire doesn't always win!" I think out loud. Clove gives me a little fist bump as we run after Katniss who's now- CLIMBING UP A TREE? Oh great. Well I guess it would have been to easy anyway. When we reach the foot of the tree, Glimmer starts laughing at her.

"Yeah we got her now!"
"Katniss, you are going down!"
"We are gonna get you Fire Girl!"
"Where do YOU think you're going, Everdeen?"

I glance over to Clove, who sighs and nods, telling me I get Katniss. Yes!

I start climbing up the tree, which is a lot tougher than it looks. How does Fire Girl do it like it's nothing? She's already halfway up the whole tree! Immpressive. Maybe she would have been more help than wimpy Ian, who's probably still snivelling back at the lake.

After a while, my hands start to hurt like crazy, but the encouraging shouts from Glimmer and Clove keep me going. But at a point, I notice how there aren't any more branches to grab onto, so I have to think creatively. I stick the sword into the tree, and I think I may have done it a little too high. Just as I'm reaching up to grab it, I manage to get a light grip on it, but the branch underneath my feet snaps, and both me and my sword go plummeting to the floor. Glimmer, clearly annoyed, huffs down at me as I frown up at Katniss from the floor. She points her bow at Katniss, but she misses because of her horrible aim. I force myself up, and snatch the bow from Glimmer. It's pretty hard, because I've never actually used a bow before. But I do even worse than her when I shoot.

Katniss is panting at the top of the tree, and I notice how she's staring at Loverboy, who's avoiding eye contact.
"Clove, can you throw a knife up there?" I ask.
She shakes her head. "Cato, she's too high. I can't throw my knives that high vertically. Besides, she's protected by the leaves."

Marvel sighs and shakes his head a little, and our trusty companion Peeta steps in.

"Maybe we could wait her out," he says with a shrug. "I mean, if she stays, she'll just have to starve up there. She'll come down at some point."

Wait her out? Careers don't 'wait people out.' We catch them, we kill them on the spot. But we don't really have a choice, because she's stuck up in a tree, while we can't even reach her.

I look over to Glimmer, who gives a nod. "Okay," I tell him. "We'll get her hopefully in the morning." I shove the bow into Glimmers arms, and go to sit down, while Marvel starts working on a fire. Glimmer goes to talk to him, and Clove sits down next to me.
"You okay Cato?" she asks.
"Well, I'm annoyed, but I'm fine. I mean, we find Katniss, and then we can't actually kill her."
Clove smiles at me. "Do we have to keep Loverboy? I mean, we can find Katniss on our own. What help has he been so far?"
"Well for starters," I say. "He's good with fires, and pretty good with a knife; I think he makes a pretty good Career. I don't know, I just like him because he is intimadated by us, but he doesn't really show it. And Clove, I don't think I could ever kill him."
She raises her eyebrows at me. "Why?"
I sigh, and whisper, "Because he's too much like me."
"But Cato, you're lethal. He's not. You're brave. He's not. You're tough. He's not."
"Yeah, but in the end we both just want to protect the one we love."

Silence.

"You believe all that about the starcrossed lovers?" Clove asks in shock.
"Yes and no. I mean, I think he actually loves her, but not the way he said he did."
Clove rolls her eyes at me. "Cato, he doesn't love Fire Girl. It's all for the sponsers!"
I raise my voice, but I'm still whispering. "Well then why didn't we use... us for the sponsers?"
"Because our love is real, so it will distract us and not only make us look weak, but act weak as well. Anyway, we are known as the tough careers. They can create their own reputation, but we have to live up to ours."
"I guess," I say with a sigh. "But you know, once Glimmer is dead I'm not hiding our relationship anymore. Its getting on my nerves."
Clove thinks for a moment. "Fine. But for now, we still can't tell anyone. I guess the Capitol has heard our conversation, so they must know anyway. But after we've killed Glimmer, theres no one we need to hide it from." Clove smiles at me, knowing she can't do anything more, and goes to help Marvel.

Later that night, we have a roaring fire (with the help of Peeta of course,) and no dinner. Katniss hasn't come down from the tree, and I'm worried that she's going to make a run for it while we're sleeping. But I guess, we will kill her eventually, because there is no way she can kill us. Glimmer is sitting opposite me, and Clove is practicing her knife throwing by marking out a target on a nearby tree, and then throwing a knife at it. She succeeds every time. I gently poke my sword into the fire, which causes the blade to glow red, bringing a new beauty to the sword. I take it out of the fire, and it won't seem to stop glowing, so I spit on it a little, and the fire dies out.
Glimmer shakes her head and smiles. "Boys," she sighs with a laugh.
I raise my eyebrows and smile back. "Do you even know much about them?"
Glimmer shrugs. "I know enough."
Clove turns a little to see Glimmer grinning at me, and sitting so close she's almost sitting on my leg. Actually, she is sitting on my leg.

When we've confirmed Katniss has gone to sleep, and she won't sneak away, we decide to call it a night and sleep. Clove chats to Marvel for a few minutes, before settling down. I notice how Peeta, once again, has isolated himself from us so he can sleep behind a tree, all on his own. And Glimmer has to be her usual clingy self again, and decides to sleep with me.

When I wake up the next morning, Clove is leaning over me, her dark hair hanging down in my face.

"Morning beautiful," I sleepily mumble as I rub my eyes.

"Good morning Cato!"

I frown and open one eye. That didn't sound like Clove at all.

Oh no, it's not Clove. The girl leaning over me is Glimmer, in all her idiotic pathetic annoying blonde-ness. My eyes were fuzzy, and I mistook her hair to be dark.

I lean forward a little to get a good view of the tree. "Is Fire Girl still up there?"

Glimmer nods. "I checked this morning. She's still asleep, actually. By the way, do we have to wait until Katniss actually feels the need to come down?"

"No way," I laugh. "We're just staying here to make sure she doesn't escape, until we think of a way to get her down."

"Can we chop the tree down?"

...

Please God tell me she's joking, and she's only pretending to be an idiot. I raise an eyebrow at her, but Glimmer just keeps staring at me with a confused expression. Nope, she wasn't kidding. Glimmer just really is that stupid.

"Uh, I don't think so Glimmer," I sigh.

Glimmer nods at me, and smirks as she starts to play with my hair. All of a sudden, I freeze as Cloves words pop Into my head.

"You're dead. And why? All because you were too easily distracted by a pretty girl."

My whole body goes rigid, and my eyes dart around as I try to see where Glimmer's bow is. It's far away, but my sword is just about in her reach. I grab hold of it and grip it tightly, and Glimmer notices. It makes her give a little squeak.

"Cato, what are you doing?" Glimmer gasps.

"Nothing," I quickly say. "Just, uh, making sure my sword is nearby, if anyone attacks us. Yeah."

Her eyes have grown wide in shock, and I really think I've scared her. Glimmer smiles shakily at me, and rolls over to go back to sleep, keeping a safe distance. She's obviously now terrified I'm about to kill her or something.

Well trust me Glimmer, that time is yet to come.

After I've fallen asleep again, my earlier dreams transform into nightmares. In one of them, I've finally killed Glimmer, but Marvel steps in and throws his spear at me. I'm falling to the ground, and Clove rushes over to help. She kneels down beside me, but Marvel gets her too. The last thing I see is her screaming my name.

And then snap, I'm back into reality, and Clove IS leaning over me, yelling. I examine her quickly with my eyes, but she doesn't seem hurt. Is it just me, or is my vision really fuzzy? I mean, it looks like the air is filled with brown dots... OH MY GOD, THEY'RE TRACKER JACKERS! I quickly look around to find that a nest of them has been dropped, presumably by our friend Katniss. Clove grabs my hand and pulls me up, and we start to make a run for it. It looks like Marvel and Peeta are just about ahead of us. But where's Glimmer? I turn round quickly, to find she's screaming as the Tracker Jackers surround her.

"CATO! Cato, help! Help, please, Cato, please. PLEASE! Save me!"

Clove sees that I've stopped, and she tries to call me, but I wave her off to tell her to keep running. Clove stutters a bit, but then starts rushing after Marvel and Peeta, trying to get back to the lake.

"Go save yourself Glimmer! You're an arrogant, pathetic, attention-seeking bitch, and I never loved you!"

And with that, her shrieks become even more piercing and high pitched, but I can't stick around. As I'm running after the other careers, the cannon booms and I can confirm that Glimmer is dead.

I'm running faster than I am supposed to be, and I think I have finally outrun the Tracker Jackers. Okay, I need to get back to the lake now- wait what is that? My vision blurry but I can make out Katniss and Peeta. It looks like Peeta's done his job-now I can kill her! But as I get closer, I notice that Peeta is shooing Katniss away, and she's already made a run for it. So... Peeta betrayed us! And to think I trusted him!

"PEETA!" I yell as I pelt over to him. He sees me, jumps in shock, and collapses to the ground.

"You betrayed us Peeta," I growl.

"N-no Cato, you don't understand-"

"I UNDERSTAND PEREFCTLY! ALL THIS TIME, ALL YOU WANTED TO DO WAS TO PROTECT HER!" I can feel myself shaking both in anger, and from the venom of the Tracker Jackers. Peeta starts to talk, but I've already sliced my sword against his leg. Peeta yells in agony, but I shake my head at him. "Shut up Peeta. You were the one who lied to us, so why should we give you the privelage of even living?"

Peeta is half listening, half weeping and clutching his now bloody leg. I can't stay a lot longer, so I turn round and start to run, leaving Peeta to hopefully bleed to death.

Oh God, please just let me get back to everyone in time.

I reach the lake, but the hallucinations have already begun. I'm losing my vision, and I can't see anyone. Or anything. All I remember is eventually blacking out and collapsing onto the floor.

A/N- Hi everyone, this is the first authors note I've done. Sorry this chapter took a while to get up, but I was suffering writers block. YES! Glimmer finally died! I hope you guys are all happy too. Well, the next chapter is going to be short, but I will get it up and out of the way soon. Love you all, bye guys! If anyone is wondering, the Fanfic should be done by the end of Feburary.

Tabitha x