I fucking hate him.
"I fucking hate him."
She muttered again for probably the fifteenth time.
Her hand was in a bucket of ice, that was now mostly icy water.
"Probably not the best time to tell you this, but they insist you do the speech." That was the first thing he said to her in the last fifteen-minute.
Katniss glared at him.
"Trust me, they don't want me to do a speech right now!"
"Katniss, you are on thin ice right now and while I think about how we're going to fix this, I need you to not push it." Haymitch countered.
"I fucking hate him." Katniss murmured again.
"I know," Haymitch replied.
In between her declaration of hate, Katniss has been racking her brain for any plausible reason why Cato did what he did.
Apart from the obvious explanation, that he hated her.
Enough to lie.
Enough to make her seem like she was a liar.
They didn't leave them alone like they usually did before the speech, perhaps because they were concerned about another fight breaking out.
So instead there were Peacekeepers placed in the room with them, Katniss tried her best to not even look at him, but she eventually noticed the bruise around Cato's left eye that was badly covered by make-up.
Marvel was the only one sitting, and Katniss expected him to open his mouth like he usually does, but instead, he was silently sitting in the middle of the room not even smirking.
She read the speech that was written. No effort, but at least trying to get through it.
The air was tense, and Katniss wondered how much of the people in front of her watched the interview and what unfolded.
She tried to get out of dinner with the Victors at District Four but Haymitch reminded her of the thin ice she was on. " The best thing to do is pretend nothing happened. If you disappear, then they'll start believing him."
Like they didn't already.
She went and didn't talk to anyone instead glaring at him whenever she could and drinking much more than she should. She was tipsy when she went outside for some fresh air, and she had fallen half-asleep on some steps when she opened her eyes and saw Marvel sitting next to her.
He wasn't looking at her.
"Get away from me." She slurred. "The last thing I need right now is another rumor that I am fucking you too."
He laughed at her crass words.
She didn't expect him to say anything, hoping that it was just a coincidence that he was out there too and not because he wanted to talk to her.
But no such luck, apparently his earlier silence after the incident had expired and now he was back to his usual chatty self that Katniss was not in the mood for.
"You know if you'd just taken me up on my offer." He started.
"No." Was the only thing Katniss could get out. "How is this even my fault?"
He now turned his eyes towards her, and she could tell even in the semi-dark that his eyes filled with amusement, and his eyebrow was raised.
"I bet you didn't expect that from him." He held a glass in his hand, Katniss assumed liquor.
"No. I expected that from you. I expected him to try and strangle me in my sleep."
He laughed again, and it was the only thing that filled the air before the silence took over.
"Brutus said he didn't know about it."
"And you believe him?" Katniss exclaimed, folding her arm.
"Yes." Haymitch said, "If Brutus put him up to it, Brutus would waste no time to gloat. Modesty is not a virtue of his."
Haymitch was holding out the tiny device to her, and Katniss shook her head.
"I don't want to read it."
Haymitch sighed and retracted the device, before running a hand through his hair.
"The entire world is not against you, Katniss. We can still salvage this if you just trust me."
Katniss didn't even turn to look at him, as he left her room.
They wanted 'comments' from Haymitch and her.
She had nothing to say and thought it strange that Haymitch would ask her for such 'comments' instead of just making up some and telling them she said them.
"Can I say 'Cato is a fucking liar?'"
He smirked but shook his head.
Katniss shrugged and rolled her eyes.
"Why are they even asking, if they are going to just print whatever they want?" Katniss argued.
"Because what you say still matters." Haymitch leaned forward. "More than you think."
Katniss glanced at him. She has been going the extra mile to block anything from the media for the last day. She didn't want to hear the continuous discussion of what happened during the interview.
"Plus," Haymitchused the remote on the table to turn on the projector.
Katniss closed her eyes both from the brightness of the blue color lighting up the barely lit room and because she did not want to see anything from the Capitol's media.
When she opened her eyes, she noticed that it was a news article that was projected on the screen, and specifically, the part that was highlighted and that Haymitch wanted her to see was Marvel's comments.
Fellow Victor, from District One, commented that he was not aware or saw any indication of a relationship between Cato and Katniss.
Katniss leaned forwards slightly to reread the sentence.
She leaned back and shrugged, "So."
A small part of her was grateful that at least Marvel wasn't conspiring against her in this situation, but the remaining parts didn't think it wise to get her hopes up in terms of having Marvel on her side for this one or ever.
"We can use this," Haymitch announced.
Katniss's eyes quickly glazed over to him, interested in what he had to say.
"We can say it was a misunderstanding, both on the Capitol's end and Cato's."
Katniss raised an eyebrow.
"Let's just say that you were attempting to be friendly Post-Games, to let things go and make the best of the situation since you'll be stuck together for more than a month. Cato just got the wrong idea."
Katniss sat in silence for a few seconds before nodding her head. "Sure, let's go with that."
"I already did," Haymitch commented with a wink.
There have been no more dinners together since the incident.
Perhaps, it was to prevent any possibility of a fight, or perhaps it was just because it would have been too tense if all of us just sat there.
Either way, Katniss was glad and grateful that she didn't have to see any of her fellow Victor.
But breakfast was another system, and like always Cato was there when she entered.
She had thought that not talking to him would be the best option, that it would be the best way not to get on each other's bad side, but apparently, she was mistaken and so when she entered she felt no hesitation to announce, " You're an asshole."
He looked up at her, and Katniss could have almost seen a glint of amusement in his expression before it swiftly got replaced by his usually cold demeanor, "I hope that's not a surprise to you."
Katniss scoffed. "Why?"
He didn't respond.
"What reason do you have to do it?" Her voice was rising.
"More than I hate you?"
Katniss squinted her eyes at him.
"Yes." Before he had a chance to respond, Katniss added, "If it was just that you hated me, you would have just found a way to strangle me, or push me off the train, or slit my throat with a butter knife-"
Both Katniss and his eyes glanced down at the butter knife laying inches from his plate and hand.
"That - would just make me look like the bad guy."
Katniss stood in silence staring him down, before asking, "Whose idea was it?"
He raised one of his eyebrows.
"We both know you're not smart enough to come up with such a stint." Katniss pressed.
Cato stood up from the table, and Katniss almost smirked knowing that she managed to land a hit where it hurt.
"Maybe I should have just slit your throat, or better yet stab you just-like-I-did-Lover-Boy."
She knew it was stupid to attack him when they were alone, and that he most likely could stab her with the knife so close to his hand, but something in her blocked out all of that logic when he brought up what he did to Peeta.
She only managed to take a few footsteps before she felt hands around her upper arm holding her in place.
She thought it was Haymitch, despite the fact that Haymitch usually sleeps close to midday if she didn't go to his room to wake him up.
"I haven't even gotten my coffee yet and you two are already trying to kill each other."
She heard Marvel's voice, before glancing at him standing directly behind her, holding on to arms despite her struggling to walk forward.
"Let me go!" Katniss elbowed him in his side, and although he let out a wince of pain, he still had his hand around her arms.
Katniss managed to get one of her hand free in his distraction, but as she pulled forward, he pulled more.
"Can we just-" Marvel exclaimed.
"Let her go," Cato requested in a cold, firm voice.
Instead of doing what Cato and Katniss said, Marvel turned Katniss, both hands gripping her arms, and pushed her out of the dining room, into the hall.
Despite her resistance by dragging her feet along the floor, she and Marvel was in the hall only a few seconds later, his arm still gripping her arms, perhaps to keep her still and make sure that she didn't storm back into the room to attack Cato.
"You're acting dumb." Marvel bluntly told her, and Katniss glared at him, too angry to reply.
How the hell was she supposed to act?
"This is none of your concern." Katniss shook her arms hoping that it would make him loosen his grip.
Marvel hands were still wrapped around her arms, and he started to give her that classic 'Marvel' smirk, which always made her feel on edge as if he knew something that she didn't.
"Come to my room at around ten-ish."
Katniss looked at him as if he grew another head. Was he crazy? Was he trying to ruin her life also?
She scoffed. "You're joking right?"
Marvel rolled his eyes, and leaned back, finally letting his hand drop from her arms, before saying "You want answers right. You're definitely not going to get it from him. Might as well try your luck with me."
He winked before moving around her back into the dining area.
She told Haymitch, mostly because she resolved that it was best going forward to consult with Haymitch before she did anything that might get out.
She finally accepted that Haymitch was much better at playing the Capitol's game. She was never good at it, not like Peeta was.
But she also let it slip to Haymitch because she was hoping that Haymitch would accompany her to Marvel's room to 'get answers'.
Haymitch was laying on his coach, flask in hand when she told him.
When he started to shake his head, Katniss thought it was because Haymitch thought it was a trap and was going to forbid her from going to his room but soon he slurred out, "I don't think that he would want me there, honey. You should go."
Katniss's eyes widen. Was he being serious? "What if it's another trap? You honestly want me to go to the room of a guy who tried to kill me a few weeks ago?"
Haymitch shrugged. "It's not like you also didn't try to kill him. That was the Games. It's over now. You need to play nice with the other Victors. It'll make your life much easier."
Haymitch winked while talking another sipped.
Katniss considered that he might already be drunk and hence not thinking straight and that perhaps she should just have this conversation with him in the morning when he is soberer.
But Marvel said tonight, there was no guarantee that the offer would stand tomorrow night.
"I meant a trap as in another ploy by the Capitol, Snow to paint me as a liar and a whore."
Haymitch shrugged. "Maybe it is or maybe not."
Katniss glared at him. She really hated unclear answers, and right now Haymitch seems on his way to drunk land, so much so, that he couldn't even tell her what to do.
Annoyed, Katniss rolled her eyes before walking towards the door.