Eve POV
I was so scared, or maybe concerned was a better word for it. Usually I was excited for the reaping. But this year was different.
Instead of doing the usual reaping in town hall they had gathered all of the eligible kids and brought them to an empty room in the training center.
Stephal, our districts escort, pushed his hands through his dark hair and flexed in the shiny reflection of the girls bowl.
He pointed a round remote at the huge screen behind him and played to annual film, talking about the games. He chugged water loudly and kept returning to his reflection.
I zoned out, thinking about class. I never assumed that I would be picked for the games. I had been trained of course, as most had in district two, but I wasn't talented enough to volunteer.
I snapped out of my thoughts when someone pushed me, was the person behind me.
"They just said your name!" The tall girl hisses. My eyes widen and she shoves me towards the stairs again
I stumble up the steps but then remember what a trainer had said years ago.
Just be pretty, it's all you can do.
Even though the concept was disgusting, they were right. So I tossed my wavy blonde hair and smile with my lips closed at the crowd.
Stephal grins at me "Hey hottie" obviously forgetting that he has a Mic.
I grit my teeth "Yeah, that's gonna have to be a no from me."
He furrows his eyebrows at me, clearly not used to rejection.
I press my lips together and wait for him to pick a boys name. Stephal looks at me for another second before scoffing and fishing a card out of the shiny bowl.
"Ben La-"
"I volunteer." A deep voice demands. I try and locate the voice but all I find is a huge group of toxic masculinity, I can't tell which one said it.
That is before a a massive boy pushes through the crowd, glaring at anyone who doesn't move out of his way immediately.
"Cato Hadley"
He arches an eyebrow at me as he brushes past me. I don't even have time to make some sort of snarky face back.
Everything else is a blur until there's peacekeepers grabbing our wrists and locking them together with flimsy handcuffs, that we could easily unclip.
Right when they exit the room he begins to take them off. I smack his wrist and he stares at me, shocked.
"Don't take those off! Do you want to get in trouble."
Cato scowls at me "Don't be such a goody two shoes."
Low key hurt my feelings tho.
So I shut up and let him take them off. I walk over to the opposite side of the room, fiddling with my gold bracelet.
I feel a pair of eyes on me so I stare back at him, that is Cato, of course.
"What?"
He studies me for another moment "What's your name?" I look back and forth, didn't he hear it during the reaping.
"Um Eve" he makes me weirdly nervous, like he's gonna slit my throat if I say the wrong thing. But I guess that was pretty plausible given the circumstances.
He laughs dangerously, it's a weird deep laugh. "I'm going to kill you Evie."
I don't really know how to respond to that so I just say "My name's Eve, not Evie."
Cato raises his eyebrows and smirks "That's what you got from that?"
I shrug, very confused at everything about him.
Thankfully peacekeepers come save me from the awkwardness. Wow that's a sentence I never thought I would say.
Without saying anything they drag me towards Cato. I literally fall to the ground because they pulled me so hard.
"don't touch her." He growls and I just pick myself up and ignore him.
They reattach us "Dont take these off again."
After they exit the room he walks to the other said of the room and for the second time in 30 seconds I'm pulled to the ground.
"For God's sake, stand up."
I scoff "So it's ok when you do it but not them?" God, the double standards.
Cato stays quiet and I sit down on the floor next to him, consequently he scoochs away from me.
I sigh and wait for something to happen. At this point boredoms gonna kill me before the games.
"How old are you?" He asks randomly "I'm eighteen."
"Sixteen, why?"
Again, he just ignores me. This boy.
I jump up when the door opens and Cato follows slowly. It's Stephal.
Great.
Stephal waggles his eyebrows in a way that both confuses and concerns me.
"Time to go to the capitol."
