Dear Readers,
Sorry it took so long for me to update, I was finishing up with my finals. But now that's done! Here's a chapter that I think you will all like! And thanks for reviewing! It really means a lot to me and i love the feedback!
inluv4eva: Yea I hate her too. Idk she was just always one of my least favorite. And I know, isn't he? That's just how I imagine him.
Theatergirl6: I know he's an idiot. But he's so hot :) And thanks!
biaSmalfoy: Thanks! I'm glad you like it so much! And it's called that bc I had originally had the idea to make the fanfic go along with the lyrics from "Somebody that I Used to Know" by Goyte, but I changed my mind after I had already titled it and written the first chapter so I just kept the title.
once and future: Thanks so much for your feedback! I really appreciate that, it really was hard to write that side of Clove, but I thought it went well so I'm glad you agree. And I know, right? Idk I just really like the idea of a friendship between Clove and Marvel. And of course it doesn't hurt that Cato gets all jealous :)
followsrabbit: Thanks so much! That's a huge compliment and I'm so glad you like it. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
So there are all my responses to you reviews :) I hope you enjoy this chapter, even though it is a little on the shorter side.
-esl1852
It was dinner time when Clove was woken up by a knock on her door. She answered the door, it was Enobaria. "Are you calm?"
"Yes." Clove said, closing the door enough so Enobaria wouldn't see Cato lying in her bed.
"Good, get dressed. They're about to reveal the scores they gave tributes in their private sessions." Enobaria said.
Clove nodded, closing the door. She woke up Cato and he (who was still dressed in his training uniform), waited for her to pull on black pants and a purple v-neck tan top. They then went to the living room.
Enobaria eyed them warily, noting that Clove was no longer hostile. She chose to ignore; once again, Brutus looked as though he was not surprised. Wanda was oblivious, as per usual.
Clove sat, and Cato sat down next to her, putting his arm over the back of the couch. Then Marvel's face came up on the screen, and his score came up- he got a 9. Clove was happy about that, but said nothing. Then came Glimmer's face. Her number came up and 8. Clove studied Cato's face carefully. He didn't look happy, he didn't look mad. He looked indifferent. Although Glimmer had scored higher than Clove expected, she was content.
Then Cato's face came up, and Clove felt him tense beside her. When a 10 flashed below his name, he relaxed. Their mentors and Wanda congratulated him. Clove just grabbed his knee, giving him a little squeeze. She had known he would get a high score.
Then Clove's face came up, and she didn't feel as nervous; she knew she deserved a good score; she just hoped hers was higher than Glimmer's, or she would literally die. Her score flashed under her name; 10. She got a 10. Clove was ecstatic. Cato smiled at her, and she let herself truly smile back, as the mentors and Wanda once again congratulated her.
The District 3 tributes scores were unimportant. The District 4 tributes got 8's; this was good, they were their allies. Most of the other tributes scored 5's and similar numbers. The boy from 11, the large one named Thresh, he got a 9. Clove found him to be formidable, and hoped Cato would take care of him early on. Clove was unsettled by Thresh. The little girl from District 11 got a 7, which made Clove very curious. She was tiny, but Clove herself was living proof that tiny didn't mean one couldn't be a fierce competitor.
Then the District 12 boy comes up, and he manages an 8. Clove isn't really sure how, he only showed skills in a few things; camouflage and hand to hand combat. She guessed it was possible. She hoped that the girl didn't score an 8 or Cato might lose it. He had already clenched his hands into fists, trying to contain his anger. As her face came up, Clove watched the screen, fixed on her plain but pretty face. The face Clove would love to cut up if she got a chance in the arena. Then the score came up, flashing under her name; 11. She got an 11. Then, the screen went blank.
"Now, Cato dear-" Wanda started.
Cato let out a loud animal yell, shooting up, overturning the coffee table for the second time since they arrived in the Capitol. Clove couldn't bring herself to calm Cato at first. She was too busy sitting there numbly in shock, barely hearing Cato rage while the others tried to calm her down. How in the world could that girl get an 11? How could she do better than them? That was twice now she underestimated her. Clove racked her brain, trying to think if she had shown any potential in training. She had done amazing with the edible plants test, and she wasn't half bad with a spear. Marvel was better with a spear though, so that couldn't be it. She had to be holding back, she had a secret weapon that she hadn't shown during the training. But what could it be?
Cato had overturned the dining room table now, the crashing of glass bringing her out of her reverie like always. He threw a knife haphazardly, and Clove, without even turning her head, knew it was coming in her direction. She reached out her hand, grabbing the knife right before it hit her. Wanda gasped.
Clove slowly turned to Cato, who realized what had just happened. "Now are you done?" She asked, throwing the knife over her shoulder without looking, and it lodged in the wall. "I thought we were finished with this." Cato glared at her, and Clove dared to push her luck. "Come on, Cato. Use your words like a big boy." She said to him in that patronizing way of hers, cocking her head to the side.
She could tell that Cato was about to lose it at her words. But he thought twice, especially since he was still technically on thin ice with Clove. "How could she score better than me?" He said angrily, choosing to focus on the District 12 girl than Clove.
Clove stood up angrily. "You aren't the only one here, okay? She scored better than me too. Something she will pay dearly for in the arena. She must have some skill her mentor told her to not reveal in training. We'll figure it out, okay? But if you throw one more knife and you injure someone, you are gonna feel really stupid. Or proud of yourself. Or both."
"She is not better than me. How can she be? She seems so..." Cato tried to find a word to describe her, and Clove understood it was hard to explain why she seemed so easy to forget, despite grabbing the Capitol's attention. "Well I can't think of a word, but you know what I mean." Clove did.
"Regardless, Cato, she scored an 11. That is a fact. But we'll see what her 11 does for her when she's in the arena at our mercy." Clove said, she walked towards him. She looked terrifying, almost possessed with the reckless single-minded focus that made her such a fierce competitor. "I'm going to kill her Cato." Cato gave her a look that made her think she would have to convince him to let her have the Girl on Fire. No matter, she could work on him about that. "Her death will be slow and painful and her mother won't even recognize her body when she comes home. Then the order of things will be restored to normal." Cato finally nodded in agreement with her, calmer than he had been in a while.
The next day was different than the past few had were training with their mentors and Wanda today, the interview was the following day.
She found herself once again being separated from Cato. While he went to talk to Brutus about his strategy for the interview, Clove went off on her own with Enobaria. Clove realized that she herself was becoming weak because of Cato. She couldn't relax when they were separated, and that was just not natural. She wasn't ok with this.
"What I want you to do," Enobaria started, "is to try not to hate Ceasar Flickman. Can you manage that?"
Clove rose an eyebrow a her. "I think I can."
"Good. Now we need to work some sort of angle, something to guarantee you sponsors will like you..." Enobaria looked at Clove hard. "So for you... I'd say we should work your fierce nature. You are a competitor and you are here to win. Just try and be yourself, but be a little more open... You can work some of your wit in there too, as long as you aren't snappy. The goal is to make them like you. We can even soften some of your ferocity with a girly dress and some makeup." Seemed do-able. Sort of. After a couple of hours they had finally hammered out a plan, and Clove was glad to be done with having Enobaria attempt to examine every minute detail of her personality.
When she met back up with Cato, she found he was working a sort of cross between cocky and charming, with a touch of strong a vicious. Typical; but the strategy did play to his strengths.
Suddenly Wanda walked in and Clove groaned inwardly. "Time to work on your interview manners!" She said, and Cato gave Clove a warning look. Clove crossed her arms and pouted, but did not threaten Wanda. Cato thought it was definitely progress.
After countless hours of Wanda correcting their posture, manners, etc., their escort deemed them fit for the public eye and released them.
Clove got up and left the room as quick as possible in order to not maim Wanda after her excessive criticism. She didn't need to turn around to know Cato was following her.
"Clove." He said, and she stopped right outside her door, turning around. He reached out a hand, brushing back her hair. She didn't really react. After the Glimmer fiasco, Clove found she had reverted from how far out of her shell Cato had managed to pull her.
"Clove... I told you I was sorry." She saw the frustration with her lack of response in his eyes. They hadn't had sex the last night; she had barely let him touch her. It wasn't just because of Glimmer, although Cato's little tryst with her had been the catalyst.
"I'm aware." She said, raising an eyebrow at him. Her words fell short, sounding robotic and detached. Cato had emotions, he was wild with them. A lot of times he embraced his unmeasurable rage, but his other emotions existed, and he let them take him over all the time. Clove was different. She was cold-hearted, she knew that. She had an aversion to social situations. Not much made her really feel anything, she'd been that way her whole life. Her parents were just the same. Cold and unfeeling; Clove was pretty sure her parents didn't even feel for each other. Clove was a little different than them in that she did experience blinding anger, but she had always managed to keep it hidden behind her facade of boredom. She only letting the violent anger rage when she was alone. The only other time she felt anything was when she was training. Pain, causing pain, hurting; these were the only things that had ever managed to make Clove alive. But knowing that made her feel even more messed up.
From the time Cato had become her training partner, he made her feel. She hadn't realized it at the time, but if she thought hard about it, that was the time it started. First it was just annoyance, soon after followed by loathing. Eventually she began tolerating him, and found his jokes weren't all awful. When she saw him fight, she started to admire him and his strength. Then, she found herself considering him her only friend; he was the only person she spent any extended time with outside of the Academy. So when he kissed her, she didn't kill him. Eventually, they devised a game out of it, enjoying being teenagers with lust. Rage and lust. They were sick, but they felt something for one another. But still, she didn't feel the way Cato did; she couldn't. She just didn't get it. At all. The things she felt were twisted and came out sideways. She blamed him for all of them.
He gave her a pained look, seeing the old Clove in her eyes. "Clove..." The old Clove and who she had become were very different. He looked into her eyes, searching for something, anything, in her eyes. All he saw was blank. "don't." Was all he said.
"Don't what?" She said, staring at him. Her face was unreadable.
"Don't do this. Not now." He said, with such pain in his voice that Clove actually didn't know what to say. "Don't close up." He reached out a hand to touch her face but she grabbed his wrist. "Please, Clove." He sounded so torn up, she let go and let his hand cup her cheek softly. He put the fingertips of his other hand on her stomach, pushing her gently backwards. She didn't resist, even though she knew she should. She felt her back hit the wall softly. "Just listen-"
"No more talking." She hissed at him. The next thing she knew, she had gripped his face roughly in her hands and had pulled his faced down to hers. He didn't respond at first, but she kept up forcefully with her physical attack.
He groaned, conflicted, knowing that in order to keep her actual feelings away she just wanted to be physical and ignore what he had to say. Despite that, she felt him, though trying to pull away and "talk" more, finally begin to respond to her. She used the grip she had on his shoulders, to pull herself up and wrap her legs around his waist. He was giving in to her, just like he used to, before their pesky feelings got in the way. Back when it was just sex, just simple. His hands ran up and down her sides and settled right at the hem of her shirt. Then, one of his hands darted up her shirt, massaging her breasts. She moaned into his mouth, grinding against him.
Suddenly he went rigid. She tried desperately to hold onto him, but he grabbed her face and pushed it to the side roughly. "Stop it, Clove!" Then he pushed back from her grasp as hard as possible. She, no longer latched onto him, fell to the ground on her ass with a grunt. She narrowed her eyes, glaring up at him.
"Dammit Clove!" He said angrily at her, running a hand through his hair. She had clearly gotten to him. And Cato HATED it when she got the better of him.
"What's the point of pushing me away?" She said, bringing her knees to her chest. "I know you want it too." She said, inclining her head to the bulge in his pants.
"Of course I do, but not if you are just doing it t shut me up!" He said, and she tried to look up at him innocently. She tried, but failed miserably, letting a wicked grin spread on her face.
"I guess you do know me better than I thought you did." She said, cocking her head to the side.
He grabbed her by her upper arms, pulling her up to a standing position, pressing her against the wall. "Clove, it isn't funny. It isn't a joke. Stop trying to shut me up and shut me out." He looked desperately into her eyes. "Don't you get it? We're running out of time. While I am excited to get into the arena, we only have two days left. After that, things will never be the same. This won't be the same. And I want to have as much of this as I can. Whatever happens in the arena will happen, but I want to have this so I have something to hang on to when it gets tough."
Clove closed her eyes, trying to keep her composure. She still found it flooding all back, and not just the lust and rage, but also the want and the comradeship. When it came to him, she didn't know why she even tried anymore. He was the key to the lock on her tightly wound personality. He was also right. She knew once she was in the games she would be her old self. If she let herself close off now... "Okay. But when we are in the Games, I make no promises."
"I wouldn't expect it any other way." Cato smirked. Clove then felt for the door handle behind her, and pulled it open. She grabbed Cato by the front of his shirt and pulled him in with her.