Chapter 5: Insurgent

"I think that's good for the night, what do you think?" Cato asked. I could see his excitement as he slowly began closing his textbook. He hadn't studied much all night. In fact, neither of us had. Cato was truly a horrible study partner. Besides the fact that he was drop-dead gorgeous, and smelled like a mixture of sweat and crisp ocean air, of course. But all of his charm was nothing but a distraction to me, and I fought myself from stealing glances most of the night – to which I inexcusably botched. His warm scent was making its way over to me now, as he leaned over to place his textbook on the floor. "I'll take that as a yes?" he implied as he began to chuckle. He surprised me when he pulled himself off the bed and began making his way across the room. "I'm just going to throw on another shirt and something comfortable," he spoke as he trailed over.

I nodded at him and started to place my books on the floor on the other side of the bed from where his own textbooks lie. I had just let the textbooks string through my fingers toward the ground, before I pulled myself up to see that he had not closed the door while he changed. I quickly managed to avert my eyes, but I gave in to the temptation, and sneaked a peek at his raw form.

He was currently removing his shirt from his body, and I could see the fabric ripple against his skin. His arms were reflexively up in the air as it passed over his face. His muscles in his arms and abdomen were completely bulging as he did so, and I could feel myself instinctively salivating. I tried to turn away, but the view was too much, and I couldn't resist watching as he pulled a tight-fitted, black muscle shirt over his head and stream-lined it down his chest snuggly. He had already changed into blue and white, checkered pajamas as he closed the door and the sound of water rushing signaled that he was brushing his teeth.

The rushing water came to a halt as I heard the grinding of the taps. It only seemed like seconds as the door opened and he travelled over to the bed.

"Are you going to sleep like that?" he asked me, a confused look on his face. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I just think that it'd be a little uncomfortable," he smirked.

"I didn't really bring anything. I just hadn't really planned well for this, I guess," I said, trying to sound as honest as possible without revealing that our "sleepover" had come as a surprise to me.

He shook his head as he made his way over to his dresser, and pulled a pair of pajama bottoms from the top drawer. He threw them toward me on the bed, as he called out, "I think these will fit you just fine." I smiled at him, before inspecting the clothing piece before me. The majority of the pajamas were green, but they were lined with splotches of white and grey. I took hold of them nervously and entered the bathroom to change.

I had to calm myself down because I threatened to ruin this moment by completely butchering our "friendship" by revealing that I had a strong attraction to him. So, as I pulled on the pair of pajamas and felt the warm cotton against my skin, I took a couple minutes to mentally prepare myself in the mirror. You can do this, just act normal, I mumbled to myself. I gave myself a reassuring nod, shook my head, and opened the door handle.

Cato had already made his way into the bed, and was currently sitting up reading a hockey magazine. I quickly sprinted for the bed and nuzzled myself under the covers. I watched as he peered over his magazine anxiously at me, but my nervousness got the better of me. "So…what's it like trying to balance football and swim practice?" I asked simply, looking at the ceiling. I could hear the rummaging of the magazine as he changed the page.

"It's alright, sometimes it gets a little hectic. I assume you don't play football, but do you like to swim?" he answered, adding a small question of his own. He had completely abandoned his magazine, which now rested on his nightstand beside him, underneath a single lamp that illuminated the room.

"What's to say I don't play football?" I asked, before we keeled over in laughter. "I love to swim. I haven't in a long time though; I just never get the chance anymore. I miss it," I responded. My mind raced back to when Katniss, Gale, and I would go down to the beach every day after school to refresh ourselves. The water was always cool, but not overly cold under the blistering heat of the sun.

Cato emitted a small sigh, and then turned the lamp off beside him, enclosing us in darkness. The only light that filled the room now was the moonlight, which currently cast itself onto his blue carpet.

I listened as Cato mumbled a small, "Goodnight, Peeta." I suffered under the pressure of facing him, and before long had turned to face the other side of the room. He was now directly behind me, but distant enough to respect each other's boundaries. With a relaxing sigh, I closed my eyes and fell into a deep slumber.

Morning came sooner than I had expected, which left me feeling both sad and excited. I currently felt melancholic due to having to leave the bed, which I now shared with Cato, and excited at the idea of spending my morning alongside him.

A huge yawn alerted me that he was now awake, so I began turning around to face him, until I noticed his arm around me. I was surely out-of-it considering how strong his arm is, which I could hardly feel pressed against the warm covers that lay over me.

"Good morning, Mellark. Sleep well?" Cato asked, slowly moving his arm from my side as if it made no difference. I was free to turn around, and as I did so I caught an alarming surprise.

"Your hair is completely destroyed!" I laughed jokingly. "I slept wonderful, how about you?" I added, my grin ever clear in my expression.

"Passive aggressive this morning, I see" Cato chuckled. "Never better," he continued. "I'm glad you didn't hog the covers," he chimed.

"It's kind of hard when you don't have any in the first place," I scoffed, and before long we had both erupted into laughter.

"I'm going to take a shower. Unless you'd rather go first?" Cato said, breaking our moment of hilarity. Or together, I hoped he would say next, but it never came.

"Help yourself," I said reassuringly. I had hardly noticed that he had taken his muscle shirt off during the night, and when he climbed out of the bed and made his way over to the bathroom, my eyes wandered over every inch of his skin. My inspection was cut short when the bathroom door closed, and I threw my head back into my pillow. I'm in Cato's bed…who would have thought? I mumbled to myself.

His shower didn't take too long, and before I knew it he had changed and brushed his teeth, before opening the door.

"I have to say you clean up nicely," I mocked, to which I received a small grin.

"You're next, Mellark. Feel free to borrow one of my shirts for the day. Don't want people thinking you're too poor to afford a second shirt now do we?" Cato added. I guessed that I would be wearing his entire wardrobe soon, if our sleepovers kept up…which I truly hoped they would.

The rest of the morning passed by in a flash, as Cato and I scurried to make scrambled eggs and toast before driving in Cato's convertible to school. From the moment we first arrived in the parking lot, I could tell that we had not gone unnoticed. I watched as several kids began to whisper back and forth among themselves and several students snickered while they made their way to the entrance. Cato and I parted ways for a couple minutes when we reached the school. I glanced behind me as I made my way to the stairs to see that he had joined up with a few football players and was headed down the hall to his locker. I smiled secretively, and rounded the corner to my locker. To my surprise, Katniss and Gale were already there waiting for me.

"Good morning! How's it going?" I asked. Their expressions were unmoving as Katniss began to speak.

"I see that Cato drove you in to school this morning…among other things," she added, her eyes peering down toward my Raven's football sweater. It was impossible deny, due to the number two on the side of the arm.

"Care to explain, Peeta?" Gale said, averting his eyes from mine. He must still be upset, I noted.

"I went over to his place to study, and ended up staying the night. I didn't bring any extra clothes, so he lent me one of his sweaters. That's all," I replied simply.

"You stayed the night?" Gale exclaimed, and Katniss gave me a worried glance.

"Yes, can we just drop it? I have to get to English. I'm sure Cato's waiting for me," I said sternly, and began entering the combination on my lock. I could feel the angered glances coming from both Katniss and Gale on either side of me. I eagerly grabbed my books, gave Katniss a small hug, and told them I would catch up with them over the weekend. I missed spending time with them, but it was hard to resist Cato's charm. But without passing a glance behind, I quickly traveled to Mrs. Everdeen's English class.

When I stepped into class, I noticed that Cato was not already here as I had been expecting. I motioned for the back of the class, before Mrs. Everdeen stepped into my path, blocking me.

"Peeta. I wanted to talk to you about your last journal entry. I noticed that you had put hardly any work into it. May I ask if something is bothering you? If I may say as a mother: Katniss has told me that you two have been getting into conflicts lately. Is there anything I should know about, off the records?" she asked. Her voice was deep with concern, as I shook my head and bit my lip.

"Everything's wonderful. I had a lot on my mind that day. If you'd like me to rewrite it, I would not mind," I replied.

"That won't be necessary. I just ask that you work exceptionally well on today's journal entry," she responded, as she removed herself from the pathway. With a smile, she turned and walked back toward her desk and took a seat.

I reached my desk and began unpacking my things, when I could feel that someone had taken a seat beside me.

"Did you get held up—" I said, as I slowly pulled myself up with my journal in-hand to meet Finnick's gaze. "Finnick?" I questioned, before looking around the room to see if Cato had taken another seat today.

"How was your night? Anyways, that doesn't matter. Tell me, are you prepared for the party this weekend at Cato's mansion?" Finnick exclaimed excitedly.

"I guess so," I managed, unsure. My next statement was cut off as Cato appeared behind Finnick and told him to find another seat. Finnick's expression was filled with alarm and anger, but he turned to me and nodded sadly, before taking the seat behind Clove. As I watched Finnick sit down, I noticed that Clove was looking in our direction with skeptical eyes. My enchantment was broken, when Cato raised his voice to say something to me.

"The guy doesn't learn, does he?" he laughed and shook his head simultaneously.

"Yeah," was all I could manage in the moment. I thought it was a little unfair of Cato to tell Finnick where he could and could not sit, but I had to admit that I thought his dominance was quite flattering. I was also thankful that I did not have to put up with Finnick's advances for yet another day. I smiled at Cato who returned a grin of his own, before we both put our pencils to our papers and began writing.

Both classes finished early this morning as Cashmere and I met the others in the cafeteria. We were walking at a steady pace, and we managed to make it to the table just as Glimmer and Gloss took their seats alongside Clove. I watched as they all devoured their food quickly, picking pieces of food from one another's plates as if it were a potluck.

I had a chicken salad this afternoon, lined with bacon stripes, freshly cut cheese, croutons, and scattered vegetables. My mother had a garden at the back of the house, where the sunlight remained for most of the day, so I was easily able to make fresh salads by picking the innumerable amount of vegetables lying around.

I guzzled a large amount of water. I was excessively thirsty, most likely from the nerves this morning, as classmates took in the sight of Cato and I together once again. It was unusual to see that people gawking at him due to my presence didn't bother him in the least. I was a bundle of nerves all day, aware of each passing glance or whisper in our direction.

I hadn't any time to wonder where Cato was, because a large fight broke out moments after I watched him enter the room. I could see that he had pinned another small student to the ground and was eagerly throwing his fists into him as I watched with horror. Cashmere and Clove were the first to leave their seats and run over to Cato, before Gloss, Glimmer, and myself had the time to process the events. I was the next on my feet as I barreled over to the other side of the room.

Everything happened so quickly before I could react. I glanced to the ground to see where Cato was throwing fists left and right at Finnick. Before I could say or do anything Katniss and Gale had run in to stop things. They instinctively tried to drag Finnick from Cato, as I ran over and attempted to do the same with Cato.

"Get off of me!" Cato shouted, and began trying to make his way over to Finnick again. The sound of a whistle blew out against my ear, which sounded like a gunshot. I turned my head swiftly to see that vice principle Coin had come to resolve the fight.

"You two," she exclaimed, pointing her index fingers at Finnick and Cato. "My office. Now." With that she stormed off, shouting at the other students to begin making their way to their classes.

"Cato, are you alright?" I shouted, taking hold of his arm and pulling him from the ground.

"Cato? Are you kidding me, Peeta? You're actually going to take his side in this?" Katniss jeered. She currently looked at me with a strange glance. "Who are you anymore? The old Peeta would never have stood up for a bully," she said, tears in her eyes as she shook her head back and forth. I couldn't bring myself to respond to her, especially when Cato was staring in bewilderment at both Katniss and I. Instead, I just nodded and turned back to Cato with a smile.

I knew that this would not go over well with Gale either, who usually took Katniss' side in these sort of ordeals. I was unfortunately correct, when both Art and Mathematics was spent in silence, neither Katniss nor Gale returning any glances in my direction. At least I had Cato, who spent most of math class trying to get my attention. I didn't know whether or not I should give in, but my temptation always got the better of me.

"Peeta," Cato called over again, to which I finally turned to gaze into his iridescent blue eyes. "I was wondering if you wanted to come watch my football practice tonight?" he asked. The way he would nervously await an answer would always drive me crazy. He tensed right up; his eyes would look from you to the ground and back again, before he would manage a hopeful expression on his face.

"I wish I could, but I need to work at the bakery tonight for my parents. It's their anniversary, so they're taking the night off. Maybe next time?" I replied sadly. His expression drooped from excitement to sadness, and I thought I could see a bit of regret in his eyes. "I'll be at your party tomorrow night though…" I tried to add in order to ease his let down. A small smile came to his face, before turning around in his chair and facing the front of the class.

When the bell rang at the end of class, I gave him a sweet smile and started for the door before his wrist caught mine. "Where do you think you're going?" he said, with a grin on his mouth, and a gleam in his eyes.

"Well, considering Gale won't be giving me a ride home, I assumed I would take the bus for once," I replied, but the smug look on his face illustrated that he had other plans.

"I thought I could give you a ride home tonight?" Cato said, biting his bottom lip. It was refreshing to know that Cato wasn't all that bad. I mean, he did have his fair share of altercations, considering lunch with Finnick today, and a really strong temper, but he had a good heart – and usually meant well.

"I thought you had football practice right away?" I asked in response. I watched him consider my question, as he looked to the floor questioningly. Before long he returned his attention back to me with another beam. "They can wait," he said. I felt butterflies in my stomach as I began to realize that he cared more about my journey home than he did about football practice and the other boys. It made me smile a little excessively, because Cato instinctively threw his arm over my shoulders and motioned for us to get going.

Cato and I passed by Katniss, Gale, and Finnick as we made our way through the parking lot. They looked at me with appalled, considering that Cato had yet to remove his arm from my shoulder. Instead of looking pleased, I turned my head to smile at him so as to avert my eyes from my other friends. When we reached the convertible, Cato opened the door for me, which made my inner-self squeal in delight. It was one of the nicest gestures he had made over the past week or so, and it did not go without appreciation as I spun around to give him a smile before taking a seat. When he sat down in the driver's seat, he took his sunglasses from the dashboard and placed them on my face, as if this whole turn of events wasn't enough for me already.

"There you go," he said smugly while giving me a thumbs-up and a passing smile as he pulled the car out of the parking space.

The ride to the bakery was a lot more relaxed then the ride to school this morning. I think we both loosened up to the music as we made short conversation. Unfortunately the course of the ride finished as quickly as it began, and I gave him a somber wave goodbye. I remember that he told me that he couldn't wait to see me tomorrow at his place, before he waved goodbye and was gone in a flash. I have to admit that he drives pretty quickly. It terrifies me to think of him on the road with his demeanor, to be honest.

When I walked into the bakery, I could see that my parents were just about to head out for a romantic dinner. They were just coming around the counter, when I took them in for a large hug. "Congratulations. I hope you two have an amazing night!" I exclaimed. They both thanked me, before starting for the door.

"Oh, Peeta. Make sure you get the cake order ready for Mrs. Cumberbatch. Thanks son," my father said as he and my mother made their way out the door.

I made sure to grab an apron and my nametag, before heading back to the front counter. I noticed that we were short on peanut butter cookies and carrot cake and immediately began working on a new batch. I was interrupted here and there by the usual customers, and I stopped for a short break in order to make myself something to eat for supper. While the cake and cookies were in the oven, I pulled out my English paper and began working steadily. I hadn't worked too long before the alarm went off for the baked goods. When I went back to take them out of the oven, I heard another bell ring at the front of the store. "I'll be right there!" I exclaimed. I grabbed an oven mitt and grabbed the two trays. I set them beside each other on top of the oven to cool, before I would bring them out to the display. I rushed to place the oven mitts on the counter and to wash my hands, before making my way to the front.

"Cato?" I said, curiously. "What are you doing here?" I asked, head tilting out of interest.

"I'm here to steal you for the night," he said simply with a grin. I managed to smile back and then I attempted to reiterate what I had mentioned to him in math class this afternoon.

"I told you that I have to run the bakery tonight while my parents are gone," I replied, shaking my head in hilarity. Does he not listen when I talk? I asked myself.

"Just come with me. Close early," he suggested.

"I can't. My parents would be furious!" I exclaimed.

"Just this once…for me?" Cato pouted, attempting to hide his grin.

I tried to mull over my two options in my head, and I knew that I couldn't bring myself to abide by what Cato was suggesting. I really wanted to, though. A little too much…

"Cato…I don't know…I don't think—" I started, before I received his usual grim face. He nodded slowly, and I couldn't contain myself anymore, so I gave in.

"I don't think my parents will like it…but why should they have to know," I replied with a flirtatious wink.

"Perfect! You won't regret this decision, I promise you," Cato exclaimed in excitement. "Meet me outside in five," he stated, before running out the door.

I quickly gathered all the cakes and placed them in the freezer, placed my apron and nametag in a cubby, and locked up the cash register. I rounded the counter and when I reached the door, I made sure to turn off all the lights and flip the "open" sign to "closed." I quickly made my way to the car, where Cato was waiting patiently, and cute as ever. He was wearing a dark grey funnel-neck t-shirt and deep blue jeans. I also noticed that he was currently wearing a black watch, obviously laced with diamonds. His arm was around the passenger seat, when I opened the door and sat down.

"So…where are you taking me?" I asked, turning to look at him. I couldn't get over how dashing he looked, especially under the moonlight. It pierced his pupils, which gleamed now that they rested themselves onto my own.

"It's a surprise. Buckle up, I want to get there as fast as possible," Cato replied. This made me exceptionally nervous because I was already attuned to his driving etiquette, and any faster we'd be going at the speed of light. Unfortunately, that's just how fast we seemed to be going as he merged onto the freeway. We only travelled to the first exit, and turned onto Panem City's main street. There's only one place he could be taking me now…I mumbled to myself.

When we pulled into the parking lot, I began to ask him why he had taken me here, but he reached over to the passenger's side and reached under the seat to reveal a blindfold. "Here, put this on quickly," Cato said excitedly. I was a little nervous, but I trusted Cato enough to fasten the blindfold around the back of my head and reach for the car door. "Allow me," Cato suggested, as he took hold of my hand.

His hand was warm and strong, as he pulled the car door open and began escorting me toward the building. I couldn't see anything through the thick fabric, so I relied entirely on Cato's support. I could hear the click of locked doors opening and our footsteps throughout the hall. It seemed like an excessively long journey, before Cato asked me if I was ready.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I replied, simply but reassuringly. I had a small time frame to instinctively take a whiff of something that smelled like chlorine before my eyes opened to a large swimming pool a couple of feet from where I was standing.

"Do you have your phone in your pocket?" Cato asked me, which took me by surprise.

"I left it in the car, why do you ask?" I replied, motioning my body to turn around before I was violently sent forward, crashing into the pool. The warmth of the water shocked me first, before I became aware of another splash in the water. I swam to the surface, pushing my hair back from my face, to find that Cato had completely vanished. I put my head under the water in time to see that he was already on his way to the surface before both of our heads bobbed on top of the water.

"What are we doing here?" I shouted, as I took in his shirtless form. He prepared for this…I noted to myself.

"You told me that you missed swimming. I wanted to give you the opportunity again," Cato said, smiling at me. I felt the butterflies in my stomach again, this time stronger than the last. It was hard to resist his breath-taking body before me, which was lapped against by the water ever so slightly.

"This means a lot to me, Cato. Thank you," I managed, small tears forming in my eyes. He had gone out of his way to do this, and he even took note of the smallest things as I spoke to him last night. He was almost too perfect.

"Race you to the other side?" Cato said, and before long he had already started free styling toward the other side of the pool. I watched in his wake, taking in his perfectly exercised strokes. Oh Cato…what am I going to do with you? I mumbled to myself with a grin. Then I pushed off the side of the pool with an immense force, and began making my way toward the blonde beau.

Author's Note: I would have posted this yesterday, but I wanted to include another section. I was also unable to post it considering the site was giving me problems! Anyways, I hope you are all still enjoying it! The next chapter is a crucial point to the story, so be on the lookout for the next installment in the next few days :)