AN:Oh. My. God! I am so sorry for not posting for so long. But the hard drive on my laptop where everything was written had crashed. So I had to wait to get it back and put it on my desk top. I hope you are disappointed with this chapter after such a long wait. Let me know what you think!
The Hungry Mockingjay
~Cato~
It's just before lunch and I'm throwing Spears at dummies across the room. The only thing that stopped me was when somebody tapped my shoulder right as I was about to throw the Spear. I turned and saw Spitfire's roommate Luna looking pissed.
"What?" I asked trying to sounds threatening. And it must have worked because she shrank away slightly. But she regained composure and crossed her arms over her chest.
"You haven't told Brutus about last night have you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"So what if I have?" I challenged.
"Just answer the damn question Cato." she said angrily and I rolled my eyes at her.
"No I haven't. Now why does it matter?" I asked her getting fed up with the questions.
"Because if Brutus finds out he won't let Spitfire go on the Victory Tour-"
"Well then maybe I should tell him." I said with an overly excited smile.
"You didn't let me finish, he won't bring you either." she said making my smile disappear.
"Well how do I know that she won't tell him?"
"Cause she knows that if she or you tells him then you'll both get kicked off the tour and be stuck here at each others necks. But if you go on the tour you'll be forced to ignore each other so nobody will get hurt." she explained and I stared at her, wow Spitfire figured that out. I turned and threw a Spear at the dummy fifty feet away and turned back to her.
"But what's Brutus gonna say when he sees her black eye?" I asked her and she huffed.
"Why don't you ask her at lunch." she asked and walked back to the rest of the people who have her same Trainer. I watched her leave feeling confused. What did she mean by that?
Well my question was soon answered when I walked into the cafeteria a little later than normal, hoping to catch Spitfire when she left the PTR, but I never saw her leave. So when I arrived I saw her walking from the lunch line to her table of friends, bruise free. She must still have some of that cream Brutus gave her for the bruises. How did she get here without me noticing? Our ever so bossy Trainer must have her out at the POTR these days. I walked in and got my lunch before sitting at the TTT and I kept looking at Spitfire.
"Dude why do you keep looking at Spitfire?" Kairo asked from across from me.
"She and I got into a bit of a disagreement and I ended up punching her in the face." I explained.
"I don't see a bruise." he said as he tried to observe her.
"Because she used the cream that makes them go away. Brutus gave her some a while ago for the ones she got during training."
"Considering the hate between you two I'm surprised that she didn't keep it to show Brutus what you did." he stated and I shook my head, looking at him.
"She knows that if she tells Brutus he won't only kick me off the Victory Tour but her as well. Then we'd be left here without him where we could argue and fight whenever but on the Tour we have to be on our best behavior." I explained and he nodded in approval.
"She figured all that out?" he asked with a smile.
"She's smart." I said gesturing to her. Then out of no where somebody sat down beside me and when I looked, I saw Clove.
"So heard you punched Spitfire. Have you lost you damn mind?" she said slapping the back of my head and I glared at her.
"Shut up and I lost control of my temper. Plus she spit in my face. I just got mad." I excused.
"Yeah mad because she might go on the Victory Tour with us."
"Well if you weren't friends with her you'd be mad too." I countered.
"Yeah I probably would be, but too bad we're friends." she remarked.
"I just don't get what's so special about her that she has to go." I whined and she slapped my head again. "Will you stop doing that!" I yelled at her.
"Oh get over yourself Cato. Yeah you are a hot shot but you're not the only one." she said with an annoyed glare then walked back to her new found friends. Some of which were walking away being Luna, Crone, and Spitfire herself. Clove, Damon, and Havo were walking a few paces behind them. I saw Spitfire say goodbye to them before walking in the direction of the POTR while the rest of them headed back to the TR. I got up, leaving my untouched tray of food on the table and followed her. I needed to find out what it she she could do. And no matter how much Kairo called after me I kept walking.
After I got to the Private Outdoor Training Room, I saw her enter the door and close it tight. I silently walked to the door and tried to peer into the small window at the top. I looked through it and saw Spitfire walking towards Brutus, her back was to me but he was facing the door. I watched him closely as he talked to her, he never got angry so she still hasn't told him about what happened between her and I. Suddenly he glanced in the direction of the and glared. I ducked down and growled. Shit he saw me, I thought, hearing the slider on the window being closed from the inside and the door locked. I growled one more time before getting up off the floor and walking back to the Training Room and practiced Hand-To-Hand training while I waited for Brutus to come chew my ass out for trying to spy. And eventually I started to get tired of waiting but when my ass finally did get chewed out, it was by Spitfire instead of Brutus. She stormed in here even with everybody else here and stalked right to me and started yelling.
"You tried spying on me!" she accused. "Why can't you just give it up? You're never going to find out what I can do. No matter what you try to do I am never going to tell you and you are never going to find out." she yelled. "You can try flirting or beating it out of me but it's never going to work!" she finished attract the attention of everybody in here.
"Can you lower you voice? Can't we talk about this someplace else?" I asked her in a hushed voice.
"No I won't and no we can't. I don't care if people hear that you're a prying douche bag! I don't care. Just make up your mind about trying to figure me out or quitting because I am getting sick and tired of you bipolar tendencies!" she shouted with an angry glare. "Just leave me the hell alone." she said before stalking out of the room glaring at everyone who dared look at her. I just sat there and watched her leave and listened as the other Trainees walked by and whispered about me as I sat there and did nothing. I wasn't following her to tell her off, or glaring after her, I didn't even fight back. I just stood there and did absolutely nothing. Yeah well not anymore. I set my sword down and followed after her, sure she had a good twenty feet ahead of me but if I ran I could catch up with her. And I did just before she entered the Dorm Building.
"You think you can come in and yell at me? Make me look stupid?" I shouted at her, turning her around.
"Yeah I think I can because I clearly did. You had no right to try and spy on me. And I'm surprised you didn't try it before. I told you there was nothing you could do to figure me out until both of us are too old for the Games."
"Well when that time comes we won't see each other again so I'll never find out." I shouted back.
"That's the point!" she hollered before turning and walking through the door I instantly followed pushing the door open so it slammed into the wall.
"Well that's not good enough for me! I wanna know about you now!" I roared and she turned back to me.
"Well too fucking bad because you're never going to know." she shouted at me with a cold hard glare etched perfectly into her face. When I didn't say anything she rolled her eyes and turned around to keep walking to her room.
"Mark my words Spitfire I will found out everything about you. Every little detail." I called after her moving form, pointing my finger at her as if she could see it.
"I hope I'm dead first, then I won't have to see you face." she countered.
"Just volunteer for the Hunger Games on my year and that can be arranged." I retort and she kept walking. I rolled my eyes at her in annoyance and turned to walk out of the Academy. I was going to exit the building when something, well actually someone, stopped me. A pissed off Brutus. I knew this was coming.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he roared at me.
"I was thinking I could find out what it is that she can do and why she is coming on the Victory Tour." I replied.
"Well you might as well give up for once because you aren't going to find out unless she goes into the Games." he said and I rolled my eyes for the hundredth time that day.
"I don't give up on anything. I will find out." I threaten and his face turns red.
"Then I'll make sure I can do everything I can to stop you." he said.
"I thought you were my Trainer. Why are you on her side?" I asked.
"I'm not on any one person's side."
"Really because you seem like you're on her's." I challenged.
"I'm only on the winning side. If I was on her side alone I would toss you to the next Trainer who didn't get to have you. We can very well do that. But I didn't. I am on the winning side." he repeated.
"How do you know she's part of the winning side?" I asked with anger evident in my voice.
"I know what she can do." he said smugly leaning down getting in my face. "You don't." he said before walking off and finally letting me go home.
The next day when I got to the training center I was hell bent on following Spitfire to her private training lesson. Sadly I didn't know when her morning session was so I'm going to follow her to her afternoon session. Besides the fact that I was ranting in my head about how much Spitfire annoys me, and that I saw her face on every target and dummy in the TR that I either chopped up or threw things at, the day was uneventful. So when lunch ended I followed her to the pool and did some laps on one side of the pool while she did her's on the other side far away from me. Her bathing suit was a one piece blood red color while mine was just dark blue swim trunks. The other girls in the room watched me and winked every time I looked in their direction. But I just shrugged them off, I wasn't interested in them anyway. The only one that held my interest was Spitfire, but I wasn't sure if it was in a good or bad way.
Eventually after a coupled hours of being in the pool she finally got out and changed back into her training clothes. Today she wore a simple black shirt with black cargo pants and black boots. I quickly changed into my training clothes and followed her to the POTR. I almost lost her because she moved so silently but I was able to follow her. Once she got to the final hallway I hid behind the corner and watched as she opened the door and stepped through, letting it shut tightly behind her. Before I could make my move from behind the corner, I heard it lock, saw the window get closed, and two Peacekeepers step in front of the door with a stun gun each. Well shit, I guess Brutus wasn't bluffing when he said he would do anything to stop me.
Sighing with frustration I stalked back to the Training Room and took out my frustrations on the dummies again. When it was almost time for the training hours to end a Peacekeeper came up to me and bravely tapped my shoulder in order to gain my attention.
"What?" I snapped at him. He only kept his face impassive.
"Trainer Brutus wishes to speak with you." he said and gestured for me to follow him. He lead me out to the Private Outdoor Training Room and I suddenly got confused. Training hours hadn't ended yet so why was Brutus bringing me out here? Was he going to let me see Spitfire in action? No, it's too good to be true and it's too easy. He probably has another lecture for me. I thought to myself. The Peacekeeper unlocked the door for and and opened the door. I walked in and saw Brutus standing there with an annoyed looking Spitfire. Her arms were crossed and she was looking everywhere else but at me. When I finally walked closer to the two of them Brutus set a firm glare on me, and his other student finally setting her eyes on me.
"So I heard you tried spying again." he said looking at me and I gaped at him. How would he know? I hardly got close to the door.
"What makes you say that?" I said to him and he looked at Spitfire letting her answer the question. She rolled her eyes and looked at me.
"Your footsteps aren't as quiet as you think. You sounded like an elephant." she insulted. I didn't realize that I was that loud.
"Well my bad or not walking like a ghost. How do you do that anyway?" I asked her.
"All part of training. That part you obviously haven't practiced." she snapped and I glared at her. I was about to say something back at her but Brutus stepped in.
"Look you two. You are not to be near each other or talk to each other until after the 73rd Hunger Games." he said stepping between us and holding his hands out in case we ever got closer to one another. "Am I clear?" he questioned and I nodded.
"Sure as hell would make my life easier." Spitfire said uncrossing her arms and resting her hands on her hips.
"Good, now you are both dismissed." he said and let the two of us leave. When we exited the room she immediately went to one side of the hallway while I walked on the other side, careful not to be near each other. Even thought our Trainer said not to talk to each other, I sure as hell was going to have the last word no matter what he said.
"This is all because of you. If you had just trained with the rest of us we might actually get along." I said to her and she kept quiet. "Wow you're really gonna follow his orders aren't you?" I asked and she sill said nothing. When we came to the door she shoved it open and walked off. "Teacher's pet." I muttered under my breath, partially hoping that she would hear me. And I guess she did.
"Dick head." I heard escape from her lips before we walked off in different directions. My entire walk home was filled with her in my thoughts. I needed to figure her out, the need was like a drug to me. I not only needed to figure her out, but I also needed to know why I wanted to figure her out. Because like her, it is a mystery to me.