Today is the day we finally get to leave, the day I've been waiting for. Cato comes by my room in the morning.
"Are you gonna go back to twelve?"
"Yes, why?"
"Just wondering."
"Okay."
I don't have anything to pack so I just go down and wait for Haymitch. When he comes down, we get on the train back home. I wave goodbye to Cato and give him a hug. Then we leave.
Once the train takes off, I go to the couch and sit. Haymitch comes and sits next to me.
"Ya did good kid," he says. I nod. What else can I do? I killed other children! I mean, am I supposed to be proud of myself?
"I know how you feel." he says.
"I know."
"Well, if you need anything just-"
"I do need something."
He looks at me expectantly.
"Is my house gonna be next to yours?"
"If you want it to be."
"I do."
"Okay," he says, he pats my head, and walks away.
I turn on some mindless Capitol junk, and it's a movie. It's the only thing that isn't about the games. I watch it for a little while, but end up falling asleep. Sleep. Something I've been deprived of since before the reaping.
When I wake up, we are at the borders of twelve. I can't wait. Well, maybe I can. I mean, what if they hate me? I did ally with the careers.
Well, times up. We arrive back in twelve. Haymitch comes over to me.
"Don't worry. They'll love you. You are the first victor they've had in twenty-three years." he says and walks out.
I'm next. I walk out and they go wild. I see Katniss and Gale. I walk over to them. Katniss practically flies into my arms, followed by Prim and Gale.
We probably look like some crazy disfunctional family. But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Cato's POV:
My first week in district two wasn't so well, district two didn't exactly love me when I got back. Something about not winning honorably. My win was a mercy win. They think I should've died.
I was a failure. My town hated me. My district hated me. My parents hated me. The only ones who even slightly liked me were my brothers, my sister, and the capitol. Everywhere I go, people stare at me and give me hateful glares.
All I know is one thing. I have to leave.
Where, I don't know yet. But, I have a feeling Brooke will be with me.
Brooke. She doesn't have it easy either. The capitol hates her. That settles it. I'm going to District Twelve.
Brooke's POV:
My first week in twelve? Terrible. Let's start with me being expelled from school, shall we?
I went to school, not voluntarily, Haymitch made me, and, almost immediatly, got in trouble. What did I do? Well, some dumb kid from the town, said I didn't deserve the money. So, I said back,"Shut up." Witty, right? Well, it was a warning. You see, my mind hasn't exactly been the same since the games. I'm not crazy, like Annie Cresta, who won the games a few years back, but, just on edge.
So, when he continued with stupid comments like,"Retarded seam brat," I got a little mad. I pinned him up against the wall before he could call for help. He cried like a baby. Kept saying I was gonna kill him. Dummy. I had no intention of killing him, just wanted to scare him, that's all.
Then, one of the teachers who already hated me, started yelling. Screamed that I was gonna murder everyone here, and when I yelled that I wasn't, I got expelled. Oops. I'll get over it.
So, now I'm here, reading some book from a thousand years ago. Whatever. Then, I hear a knock on the door. I go over and answer it. I never would've guessed it'd be who it was.
It was Cato.
"My district hates me, can I stay here?" he bursts out.
"Uh, yeah, I guess. It's my fault isn't it?"
He shakes his head, and walks in.
"There's a guest room on the second floor you can have." I say warily.
"Okay. Shouldn't you be like, at school or something?"
"I got expelled." I say simply. He nods, and walks upstairs.
I sit down, right when Haymitch walks in. He's got his own key, so he comes in at random times.
"You talkin' to yourself?"
"No." Cato says, walking down.
"Oooh, you got boys sleeping with you!" Haymitch says.
Cato explains why he is here, and Haymitch plops down on my couch. "Well, this has been fun and all, but, I ran out of liquor, and do you have the back up stash?"
I walk to the cabinet where I keep the back up stash, and give him some. "Here." I say.
"Bye y'all." he says, and walks out, leaving Cato and I alone.
Cato and I don't talk, we just stand there. After about ten minutes, I say, "Why don't we watch TV?"
"That's fine"
So we watch a movie. It's about war, why you shouldn't rebel against the Capitol. It's so dumb. A total piece of junk. "This is stupid." I say.
"Yeah, I agree."
"You know what we should do, we should introduce you to people from twelve!" I say. Because he doesn't know anyone or anything about the district.
"Sounds good." he says.
"Okay, let's get dressed."
We both get dressed. I put on a pair of black skinny jeans, with a gray tank top. Over that, I put on my hunting jacket. They managed to get that out of the arena. The only think wrong with it is the ugly stitches I put on the back, but I still love it.
When I go down, I see that Cato is already down there. He's wearing jeans with a gray shirt and a black coat.
"You ready?" I ask.
"Yup." he says, popping the 'p'.
We walk out of my house in Victor's Village and go into the seam.
"Where are we going first?" he asks.
"Well, this is the seam, where I used to live. My friends, Katniss and Gale live here."
"Katniss, Gale, and Brooke, wow y'all are really in tune to nature here, aren't you?" he says, elbowing me jokingly.
"Well, it's no 'Cato" but..."
"Okay, we're even." he says.
"Good, because we're here." I say, stopping in front of Katniss's house.
I knock, and Prim answers.
"Hi Prim, can we come in?" I ask.
"Yeah sure come on-" she stops when she sees Cato.
She nods, and walks away, to go get Katniss.
"This is a bad idea, your district probably hates me." he says.
"Then you'll have to prove to them that you're a good guy."
Katniss comes over, and lets us in.
They look at eachother, each one not trusting the other.
"Katniss, this is Cato, Cato, this is Katniss."
They nod, and look away.
"I trust you, y'know." Cato says.
"Do you have a choice?" Katniss shoots back.
"Look, what's y'all's problem, I trust him, and he tried to kill me, and I trust you, and hardly anybody else trusts either of you, so get over yourselves, and trust eachother!"
"Okay." they both say grudgingly.
Then, as if on que, Gale walks in.
"What is he doing here?"
"He lives in twelve now. His district hates him."
"Can't blame them."Gale mutters.
"That's Gale." I say.
They both wave, and Cato says,"Well, I think we should go back home, I've had enough 'making friends" for one day."
"Okay, fine. Let's go home." I say.
We walk out.
"Y'know, you could be nicer. If you want twelve to accept you, you have to let them trust you."
"I know, but I don't know how!" he says.
I sigh.
This might be more work than I thought.
