I do not own Suzanne Collin's The Hunger Games characters.
Hi everyone! Oh my gosh, I am so blown away by the number of people who have read this story! Thank you so much to anyone who has made it this far into my fanfic, it means so much. I hope that you all are doing well wherever you are.
Chapter 15:
Cato's POV
I wake up and inhale deeply. I jolt up in bed as my senses are bombarded with the smell of waffles and bacon. I throw on a pair of sweatpants and rush out of my room. Clove is in the kitchen, using pans, bowls, and a waffle iron that I didn't even know we owned. My parents have never been big on cooking things themselves, so the kitchen isn't usually used for much more than the occasional bowl of cereal or drinks with investors. The extent of my breakfast making abilities is toast.
Clove has her earbuds in and is singing along to Ghost of You by Five Seconds of Summer. I watch her dance back and forth across the kitchen, flipping the bacon or making a new waffle or slicing strawberries. She is so adorable, something that I know she would kick me if she knew I thought. It's hard to put this image of her next to one of her petite body heaving sobs and breaking when I saw her scars. That girl doesn't seem to fit into the universe that this Clove exists in. As she is pulling a waffle off of the iron, she sees me and stops singing and dancing at once. I see a blush growing on the fair skin underneath her freckles. She lays the waffle on the far plate of the two that each has waffles. She places strawberries on both of the but drizzles a little syrup and some whipped cream on the left one. She slides a plate of bacon forward on the counter and then makes her way around to the barstools.
"You made breakfast?" I say smiling.
"Yeah. It's a thank you. Kind of a pathetic one but-"
"This is amazing!" I cut her off. I sit next to her and grab the plate that is obviously meant for me. I get as much of the waffle, the strawberries, and the whipped cream as I can before stuffing it into my mouth. Clove laughs as I struggle to chew a large amount of food.
"You know my order," I say it like a fact, not a question.
"Of course I do," She replies. I think she realizes how intimate that sounds and she opens her mouth, probably to say something to make it seem more chill, but I grab the can of whipped cream and spray it into her mouth before she can. She swallows it and hits me in the arm, but doesn't say anything else. I'm glad.
Clove and I are in the car, on our way to school when I lock the doors of my car. Locking Clove in. For the past four days, she has been making me drop her off on the street corner that we are coming up too so she can walk the rest of the way to school. I know that she is just doing it because she doesn't want to raise any suspicion, but she was been walking a mile and a half to school uphill and has almost been late to her first-period class twice this week. Not today. I have barely stopped at the stop sign and checked the intersection when I am going again. Clove hadn't even been able to get her hand on the door handle.
"Cato! What the heck?" She is pissed.
"Look, I don't care. You are not going to walk to school every day when you have a perfectly good ride."
"But people will see." She says.
"So what? Honestly, I didn't think that you cared what people think about you."
"I don't," She snaps back at me.
"Then why are you making such a big deal about this? There is literally such a simple explanation that we can give people."
"Without lying? She asks skeptically
"You and I are friends, which isn't a lie. I found out that you walk to school, so I forced you to let me drive you because we are friends. Which is another truth."
"Your good Adler."
I am at a stoplight and slam on the brakes a little too hard when she says my last name. Which I never told her.
"Chill," She says with a laugh. "There are plaques with your father's name all over your house."
Right. I forgot about those.
"So you know that-"
"Your father is a millionaire who made half of his money by being the CEO of a bunch of huge businesses and made the rest of it through secret strip clubs. Yeah."
The light turns green and I start down the road to the school.
"Sorry. I've never been the best at sugar coating. Or small talk," She says.
"You seemed pretty good at small talk every time we are at the café," I don't mean to say it, but it slips through my lips before I realize it. And it sounds way more flirty than I meant it.
"Are you flirting with me, Cato?"
"What would you say if I was?" I ask in my best fake flirting voice.
"I would say that you are a dork and you are way out of my league." The last part catches my attention.
I pull into a parking spot in the school parking lot and quickly put the car in park so I can turn and look at Clove.
"What do you mean I am out of your league?"
She snorts.
"Hm, let's see," she starts, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "How in the world could an extremely popular and hot varsity football player be out of a psycho, outcast?"
"You aren't a psycho," I refute. I also mentally note that she thinks I am hot.
"Cato, I cut off my father's finger when I was eleven. With a knife. That I taught myself how to throw. When I was eleven. Who does that?"
"Someone who wants to survive," I whisper.
Clove looks like she is about to say something when someone raps on the window of my car. I reluctantly roll down the window.
"Hi Glimmer," I say with a bored tone in my voice. Glimmer has no shame. Apparently, she was less drunk at the party than I thought and she was not happy when I told her on Monday that I don't like her that way even when she is sober. She has been throwing herself at me all week and it is getting annoying.
"Cato Bear you-" Her sickly sweet voice cuts off when she sees Clove in my passenger seat. "What is that smelly trash doing in your car?" Glimmer asks.
"If you are smelling trash its probably your perfume," Clove fires back unflinchingly before getting out of my car and stalking away towards the school. I have to force my face to stay straight but when I look at the sour expression on Glimmer's face, I can't help but let a smile turn up my lips. I get out of my car and try to get away from Glimmer, but she is like gum that you can't get off the bottom of your shoes.
"Why was she in your car?" Glimmer says, obviously agitated.
"'Cause we are friends," I respond cooly as we walk through the front doors of the school.
"Ugh, the trash is coming back."
I turn and see Clove walking back toward us. She ignores Glimmer when she reaches us and hands me a brown paper bag.
"Lunch," is all that she says before turning to walk away. Glimmer's pink polished fingers grab Clove's bag and pull her back toward us before she can get away. I never really noticed it before I started hanging out with Clove, but Glimmer is kind of a b***h.
"Cato doesn't want your slop," Glimmer says, reaching to snatch the bag out of my hand, but I am quicker and I move it out of her reach.
"Yes, Cato does," I say coldly to Glimmer.
"No, you don't." Glimmer glares fiercely as she says it. "If you want to stay with me, then you will throw that disgusting food in the trash, where she," she points to Clove, who despite her deadly expression, is running her hand lightly up and the arm that I know bears her scars, "belongs," Glimmer finishes.
I roll my eyes and throw Clove a small smile before responding to Glimmer.
"Glimmer, we aren't together. We never have been or will be. And honestly, I am so done with living in your world of constant drama." Glimmer opens her mouth, probably to tell me that I am missing out, but I step closer so she is in my shadow. I growl, "And for the record, Clove is not trash."
I turn away from her and toss my arm casually over Clove's shoulders as we start down the hallway into the school.
"You don't need to defend me," Clove says it so quietly that I am sure that I am the only one who hears it.
"Oh, I know. You could wipe the floor with Glimmer." We are approaching Johanna, Annie, and Finnick. Annie is leaning into against the lockers and her and Finnick are only inches from being touching. Johanna stands in front of them, talking animatedly about something, but they seem more interested in each other than her. I lean down and whisper "I wanted to," into Clove's ear just before we reach them. The smile that plays on her lips is so small and brief that I almost miss it. But I don't.
What did you guys think about this chapter? The next chapter is going to be Annie and Finnick's first date and I am really excited to write that chapter.
Stay happy, healthy, and safe,
-Jewel