"Oh my goodness, Cato! What are you doing in here?!" Kish whispers loudly when he comes in to wake me up. "Um, sleeping?" Cato mumbles as he shifts closer to me and pulls the blanket up to his neck not noticing that I'm awake and listening to the whole thing.
"Well, I can see that! And what's so wrong with your bed that you can't sleep in it?" he shrieks again. "Nothing, It's just cold alone." He says with tired sarcasm and I can see his smirk without even looking. I mumble and shift around a little as to give a warning that I'm going to "wake up" to maybe get Kish out of the room.
I hear Kish jump as I move and he whispers hoarsely to Cato "Brutus and Enorbia are going to kill you both when they find out about this!" he finishes and is about to storm out of the room until Cato stops him. "No, wait!" he whispers as loudly as he dares, still believing that I'm asleep.
"What?" Kish hisses back. "Don't tell anyone, please. This is the only way she gets sleep. She has terrible nightmares and for some reason, they don't happen when I'm here." He pleads. He must have hit Kish's soft spot, "Aw, I had no idea…" he starts to reply sadly but fades out. "Yeah, so, just between you and me?" Cato asks sweetly.
"Well…" Kish starts but Cato interrupts "Please?" he pleads and I know Kish's a goner. "Well, okay. If it's the only way she'll sleep…she's going to need all that she can get." he gives in. "Thank you so much" Cato whispers and I can barely hold back the smile that's threatening to spread across my face due to Kish's vulnerability.
"Just make sure that you don't both come to breakfast at the same time. It'll raise suspicions. But don't be late! You have one hour." He warns him on his way out the door. "Got it, thanks a million, Kish." Cato says he walks out the door and he lies back next to me. I doze back off for another half hour or so but eventually, Cato wakes me up by snoring.
"Cato, Cato!" I say trying to wake him up. "What? What's going on?" he asks groggily and disoriented. "It's time to get up and go eat" I tell him knowing that my voice can't penetrate through the thick cloud of sleep still in his head. He mumbles something that sounded like "you go….be there in a minute" but it's barely audible.
I look at the clock and it shows that it's 7:30 am. I shrug and decide it's probably better and take Kish's advice so I head to the bathroom and get cleaned up. I get dressed in a pair of gym shorts and sneak into Cato's room and steal one of his t-shirts, loving how big and comfy they are. I walk back into my room and pull my hair up into a ponytail, then walk down the hall to the dining room.
Brutus and Enorbia are sitting at the table already and Kish's telling one of the avoxes something. I slid into one of the empty seats on one side of the table and wait for breakfast to be served. We sit for a good 10 minutes before Brutus gets fed up and stands up to go get Cato, but I stop him and say I'll do it.
"Whatever, just go and get him" he says as he waves me off. I walk down the hall and step into my room but Cato isn't there so I look into his room but still see nothing however, I hear the sound of running water. I walk over the bathroom door and it's slightly cracked open and I peak inside to see Cato standing in front of the sink, brushing his teeth, but he's soaking wet and in just a towel.
I feel the blush start to rise up in my cheeks and quickly try to focus on the task at hand and knock on the door. "What?" he says with a gurgle due to the toothpaste but opens the door and stands over me. I immediately feel small, which isn't a feeling I get often because of my height, but can't help it because he's almost a head taller than me.
I'm eye level to his prominent chest muscles and swallow hard as I pull my gaze up to his face. "Breakfast is ready and everyone's waiting on you." I say as boldly as I can, still embarrassed of the situation I'm in and wishing I'd just let Brutus do this. "Oh, ok. Hang on, I'll get dressed and be down there in 2 minutes he says and shuts the door.
I walk back out to the dining room trying to fan away the blush that's still in my cheeks and luckily, I'm successful. I sit back down and inform the rest that he's coming just as he strides into the room. We eat our meal and discuss what our day will consist of. We have our live interviews tomorrow but we need to learn "how to work the crowd" as Kish says; and then, we, but mainly I have to learn etiquette skills and how to walk in 5 inch high heels.
When we're finished, Brutus takes Cato one way, while Enorbia and Kish take me the other. We sit in my room and Kish begins explaining the basic etiquette skills that I'll need to know, such as, how to sit properly, to always smile, to look Caesar in the eye when I answer him, but to also make eye contact with some of the audience members.
We work on that for about an hour until Enorbia informs us that it's time for me to learn how to walk in high heels and how to carry myself in an evening gown. She puts me in a black floor length gown and 5 inch heels, or so she says. I practice walking back and forth without tripping, and after 20 minutes of being scolded for shuffling my feet, slouching and hiking up my dress when I walk, I finally get the hang of it.
Once that torture is over, Enorbia has me stand in the bathroom while she calls my name and I have to walk across my room to the two chairs she has set up, while smiling and waving to the imaginary crowd without stumbling in my newly acquired skills. Finally, after what seems like a century, but is only 2 hours, Enorbia seems pleased enough to allow me to get changed back into my clothes and wait for Brutus to come and get me to discuss my interview strategy.
I head back into my bathroom and fling off these accursed shoes to discover that blisters have formed on my heels and on either side of my toes. I groan and strip off the dress and pull on my shorts and slip on Cato's shirt again as I walk out to my room and collapse on my bed
My stomach rumbles and I glance at the clock on the nightstand next to my bed and it reads 12:15. I decide it's time for lunch and head to the dining car to see everyone sitting at the table eating already. "Why didn't anyone come and get me?" I whisper to Cato because everyone else is talking. "I did" he says to me without looking up from his food. "I never heard or saw you." I tell him. "I saw you." He replies with a mischievous smirk.
It takes me a few seconds to register what he said but when I do, I smack his arm hard and roll my eyes when he attempts to look injured. "What? All I saw was you coming out of the bathroom and laying down on your bed!" he says in his defense. "Well then, what was the smirk for?" I ask him irritated. "Nothing, just seeing how you'd respond." He says through a mouthful of food with a smile. I roll my eyes and serve myself some lunch.
We finish and Brutus and I head back to my room and sit back in the chairs that Enorbia moved to the middle of the room. "So, what's your strategy going to be?" he asks me, thinking that I've actually thought this far ahead. "I have no clue." I tell him bluntly. "Well, I do. It's quite simple, just be fearless and dangerous while adding a little bit of flirtation and cockiness. And maybe a little brutality." He tells me simply. "Um, ok? And just how do I go about doing that?" I ask him, still clueless.
He lets out a big sigh "This is going take longer than I thought. Cato was much easier. We were done in 45 minutes." He says, slightly irritated. "Well, I'm sorry for being and inconvenience." I say sarcastically, already wanting this to be over with. Surprisingly, it only takes me about 2 hours to master the angle that Brutus created for me. He asks me a series of question similar to the ones that Caesar Flickerman will be asking me and coaches me through how to answer them.
I sound confident and relaxed yet still deadly and flirtatious, like we, or he planned. "Well, not too shabby kid." Brutus tells me after I answer his last question as he stands up and stretches. "So, what do I do now?" I ask him. "Nothing, just spend the rest of the day how you want to. Just make sure you don't get drunk or anything." He says sarcastically as he heads to the bar. "Good advice." I mumble as I watch him leave.
I walk to the living room and plop down on the sofa and turn on the TV. I scroll through the channels, finding nothing that's of any interest to me until I notice something that's being shown on a lot of the stations. They're replaying former Hunger Games. I hesitate whether to watch them or not until Cato suddenly jumps over the back of the couch and sits right next to me and puts his arm on the top of the couch.
"What are you watching?" he asks me "Nothing, just debating if I want to watch the other Games or not." I reply. "Well, it would be a good idea to develop a strategy and maybe see how some of the mentors communicate with all of their tributes." He says as he gently takes the remote from my hands and turns the program on.
We watch the recaps of the 20 most recent Games and take note of the different arenas, hazards, and Mentor strategy until it's time for dinner. Cato and I mainly listen as Kish gushes about how well we're doing with sponsors and the odd boards while Enorbia talks on her phone, getting us even more sponsors. Brutus seems to be slightly drunk and just stares at his plate, pushing his food around but never eating any of it.
We finish eating around 8:30 and I decide to head to bed because it's going to be a very long day tomorrow and I probably won't sleep tomorrow night so I'm going to try to get all of the sleep that I can get. I head to my bathroom, get in the shower and just let the water drown out my thoughts. I blindly push buttons and get covered in soaps and scrubs leaving me smelling like some kind of fruit when I get out.
I dry off and head into my room to get my pajamas but stop short when I see Cato sitting on my bed waiting for me. "Cato!" I yell as I duck behind the bathroom door trying to cover myself because I'm only wearing very small towel from the bathroom that hardly covers my rear end. "What?" he asks innocently "You know full well what! Close your eyes so I can get my clothes!" I say and he chuckles, but reluctantly obeys as I quickly walk to my dresser and grab pajama pants and a tank top. I go back to the bathroom and shut the door and get dressed.
I walk back out to my room, ready to yell at Cato but he isn't there when I come out. I walk to my door and poke my head out into the hall looking for him but he's nowhere to be found. I walk back to my bed and lie down and read one of the capitol magazines that were in the drawer until he comes back in with two mugs of hot chocolate.
"What's that for?" I ask "Nothing, I just thought you might want some." He says as he hands me a mug and I know immediately that he's just trying to get my mind off of the subject that was at hand before. I really didn't care that much, he just surprised me. "Well, you were right" I say with a smile as I sip out of the mug that's in my hands.
We don't say anything, but just sit, drinking and looking out my windows at the city and celebrations that are still going on. I briefly see our faces flash on a billboard with a big number two in the middle before it moves on to the next tributes. I really don't even think about anything and I don't want to. I finish my hot chocolate and set my mug on the nightstand and Cato does the same.
Cato lies down and stares up at the ceiling, saying nothing. I know that he's thinking about something but I don't want to know what. I lie down next to him and he reaches over and grabs my hand. "You still mad?" he says into my hair. "Nah, it just surprised me is all." I tell him plainly.
"Ok, good." He says as he reaches over me to turn off the light. I roll over onto my side and begin to fall asleep. "Night, Cato." I say into the open space of the room. "Night, Clove." He says up to the ceiling. I know that he won't be getting much sleep tonight, but I also know that there's nothing I can do to help. I sigh and close my eyes, already feeling the nightmares coming into thought.