Suzanne Collins owns everything!
Chapter Seven.
5:00 a.m. and I can't sleep any longer. The faster we move, the closer we get to the Capital. That single fact deprives me of my sleep. Deprives us all of our sleep. For some of us it's excitement, others dread and others fear. For me it's a mixture of all three. I watch Cato as he sleeps, his face smooth and peaceful. His chest moving up and down in a perfect rhythm, calm. His calm makes me calm. I snuggle closer to him, he wraps his arms around me and pulls me tight to his chest. He's the worst to sleep with, he takes up all the bed and moves a lot in his sleep. He does this to me all the time, not that I mind.
I struggle carefully out of his grip and tip toe across his room. As much as I don't want to leave him, I'd better go back to my room before Athena comes to wake us up. I know Enobaria and Edward probably already know about our relationship, but no one else can know. Not the Capital and definitely not the other tributes. They could use this knowledge against us. I'm sure our mentors would understand that.
I'm about to open the door when Cato turns uncomfortably. Beads of sweat starting to develope on his face, he groans. I rush to his side and shake him. After a minute he wakes up with a start, his breathing heavy.
"Are you okay?" I wonder.
He shrugs off my hand, I guess that means Cato is back to normal. "Just a dream, it's fine," he turns away from me, "never had a bad dream before?"
"Nope," I tease.
"I'll give you reasons to have a nightmare," he laughs but it comes out hollow. I try to smile but it feels fake. We can joke, but we both know there is something wrong. We're not carefree anymore, even if we pretend to be. We have too many problems standing in the way.
"I'd better go to my room." He grunts and I turn to leave. I know he won't look at me for fear I will see his eyes. The sadness in them. His dream made him sad, not scared. I can tell that by his body language. He doesn't need to look at me to tell me something is up, I know him well enough to tell just with his back turned. I don't question him though, he obviously doesn't want to talk about it. He's never been good at expressing his feelings, he would rather hide them. So I slip out the door and down the hall, knowing that he'll come to me when he's ready.
I get under the covers of my bed and mess it up a little, to make it look like I slept the whole night in it. Then I pull the covers to my nose and lie there until the morning. About half an hour later Cato slips inside my door.
"Clove?" he whispers, checking if I am awake.
"Ya," I turn to look at him as he takes a seat on the side of my bed.
"I'm sorry about this morning?" he looks sheepish. I remember the way he turned his back to me, hiding his face from me. "The thing is, I don't like people seeing me weak, specially you. I'm the tough guy, you understand, don't you?"
"Yes Cato I understand," I place my hand on his arm, "I understand more than anything."
He smiles briefly, one that barely reaches his eyes. "I had a dream that you were killed in the games, there I said it. I was afraid to tell you because, I was afraid you would think I was weak. Of course I worry about you, specially now, but it's weak to get worked up over a dream. I know I would never let that happen to you, never."
"Cato...I…"
"Don't even say it Clove, don't say you're going to try and get me out. I would be nothing without you, nothing. You'd find a nice boy easily, you could live in the victors village. You keep me sane Clove, I would be lost without you. Is it bad that's so hard to admit?"
I shake my head, knowing how hard it is for me to even admit that to myself.
"I guess I should go back to my room before Athena comes," Cato pauses at the door before he leaves, "love you."
"Love you too."
I don't find sleep, but the time seems to fly past in my little trance. The whole time I think about what Cato said to me, the fact he would be nothing without me. The confession that he would be lost if I died. How he would do anything to save me. But most of all I dwell on the fact that he said he loves me and for Cato, that's no easy thing to do. Soon Athena is rapidly knocking on my door.
"Time to get up!" she calls in a sing song voice, "it's big big day!" Oh really? Because I didn't realize. Thanks Captain obvious. Good to know, really.
I trudge out of bed and into my bathroom. I honestly don't understand why each of us needs a bathroom this size. However, I did enjoy it last night. I remember us together and a small smile plays on my lips. At least we can sneak together more, now that we're down the hall from each other. I guess the whole Hunger Games puts a damper on it though, won't be getting much action in the games. What with it being nationally televised and all.
I quickly shower and throw on some clothes. I don't need to put on a lot of makeup, but I put on a little, to mask the dark circles under my eyes. I guess I didn't sleep as soundly as I thought I did. I slowly make my way to the dinning cart, everyone else is already there having breakfast. I pull up a chair across from Cato. He gives me a grin that doesn't quite meet his eyes, I glare at him in return. We can play the vicious careers who can't wait to kill each other, trust me.
"Nice skirt," Edward comments, I shut him up with a glare.
I play with the knife I was about to put in butter, "I hope I don't need to remind you how I feel about you're annoying comments." He doesn't bother me after that. The breakfast food is magnificent, I've never tasted any food so good. We have decent food in 2, but nothing that really tastes quite like this. No District can match the Capital.
Suddenly the train goes dark. I know we're entering the tunnels through the mountains. The mountains surround the Capital, a natural form of protection. The only way into the Capital is threw the tunnels or over the mountains.
Cato and I go to the window and suddenly it goes light. I'm blinded, then my breath is taken away. The Capital is absolutely spectacular. I could never have imagined anything like this, nothing so creative. Tall glass buildings that seem to reach for the sky, I wonder how people even get to the top. There is a big damn with a manmade water fall, across it is a bridge. Cars zoom along the roads, sidewalks covered in brightly dressed people. I can see a tall glass building coming closer and closer. I can also see the opening to a train station just below it. That must be where all the tributes are staying until the games. I've never been in a building like it. I wonder what it looks like inside.
"Wow," I breath. Cato nods, momentarily at a lost for words.
"Isn't it just fabulous!" exclaims Athena, her annoying voice snaps me back to reality. I glare at her and she backs away a few steps. Good, the farther she is from me the better.
We pull into the train station and a huge group of Capital citizens are there to greet us. Cato and I put on our badass, confident smirks and get ready for cameras as the train rolls to a stop. We will be seen as confident the minute we leave this train, if we believe we can win, they will believe we can win. The doors open and we all line up to leave the train. Athena in the lead and our mentors behind us. Cheers erupt when we land on the platform, I don't need to pretend I hate everyone. I already do, I must look really mean. Oh well. So not sorry. We both make a pretty good impression, but I can tell all eyes are on Cato. His sheer size gets everyone's attention. I'm just the short girl trailing after him. That's alright though. At least he'll get sponsors. Sponsors could be the difference between life and death in the games. I wave briefly before we enter the building.
The Capital never ceases to amaze me. It's a huge, gold building. Gold elevator (we learned about them in school, that must be how they get to the top of the buildings), gold carpet and wallpaper. All gold fixtures, lamps, chairs, tables. It's amazing. Suddenly a group of people is rushing towards me and I take a few steps back. Instead of people they look like a mob of colour.
"Hello Clove, we're you're prep team," the male says when he reaches me. He's covered in tattoos of all kinds and he has rings all over his face. His lips are too wide, making it look like they are stretched, and his hair is a blinding orange. He introduces himself as Video. The other two from his team are no less strange. One girl has pink skin, hair and tattoos, I thought Athena was bad. Her name is Georgia, I think. The last girl is the most normal. All she has is blue hair and silver eyeliner. The rest is quite normal. Well it was until I saw her vibrant blue eyes, way too bright to be real. I think her name is Aelia.
"We're going to make you beautiful for the Tribute Parade," Video says while clapping his hands together. I'm officially terrified. I try to give Cato a, help me now you ass, expression. But he's pulled away by his own brightly coloured prep team, he looks just as happy about it as me. Aelia takes my hand and starts pulling me through the building. Something tells me this might be the worst day of my life.
They make me take off my clothes and lay down on a hard metal table. They begin by ripping all the hair off my body. And when I say all, I mean ALL. Then they let me sit in a soothing tub, that makes my burning skin feel better, while they wash my hair.
"Lucky us we've got a pretty tribute this year."
"Something we can definitely work with." They chatter on and on the whole time, they never shut up. It makes me want to bang my head against the way, numerous times. At least I know Cato is being put through the same torture as me, that makes me feel a whole lot better.
They dry my hair (god I hate blow driers, that hot air on my neck...ugg) and then they paint clear liquid on my nails. Making them perfect oval shapes and free of dirt. The liquid hardens them and makes them smooth. Then they fix my eyebrows into a curved shape. After that they put this cream on my face, to hide blemishes and make my freckles stand out. It actually makes me look pretty good. Then they outline my eyes in black eyeliner, mascara and they give me two smoky eyes. Making me look dangerous and making my green eyes pop. They also give me bright red lipstick.
Once I'm deemed fit, they leave me in a room to order food and wait for my stylist. My stylist has been the stylist for 10 years. He is around 30, apparently not bad looking. And he's not a horrible stylist. I mean, what can you really do for the masonry District? Dress me in rocks? Hopefully he decides to go for the gladiator side of District 2.
Oh and he does. When he pulls open the bag and shows me my outfit. I take back what I originally said, I'd rather be dressed up as a rock. At least I would be covered up, even a little more than this outfit.
A/N: Thank you to all these accounts who bothered to review my story!
thebooknerdxoxo, Clato-Forever-Fangirl, , Matt Diesel, valerie-hunter-of-artemis, Xechasate and Jolene!
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I wonder what Clove's outfit is?
Tehehe, I'm mean.
Love ya lovelies.
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