Ok guys I am sooooo sorry! You have no idea! I've just been really busy lately and stuff. But yeah! It's a new chapter, the longest so far. I wll try to have another up this weekend. Yeah, so please R&R! Again I'm sooooooo sorry!

In District 2 we had this special way to choose which two 18 year olds would represent our district in The Hunger Games. We have this tournament about two months before the reaping. The 18's are divided into boys and girls. The boys fight boys, and the girls fight girls. The four main weapons at the academy are available for use. Everyone wears this special complete body armor that feels just like a thin extra layer. No matter what happens you cannot be hurt with it on during these fights. Unfortunately this gear is forbidden in the arena. Anyways, the leader divides everyone into groups of two. Each group fights until one of the fighters would have been killed without the armor on. Once the first round if completed the process is repeated with the winners until only one remains of each gender. These winners will volunteer at the reaping. If one does not volunteer, they will be executed after the reaping. If one not chosen to volunteer does volunteer their family will be killed and if they make it out of the arena with no help from sponsors or the mentors their life as a victor will be miserable.

After having to go through 10 tournaments without being able to participate, it was finally our turn to fight. The three of us had promised that no matter what to fight our hardest. Kelly and I agreed that if it was between us two we would act like we were fighting just another typical person. There were 64 girls and 64 boys, giving 5 rounds before the final fight. My first fight went by pretty fast. My opponent was this huge girl, but she was only good in hand to hand combat, so before she could come closer I threw one of my knives at her from 20 feet away. Right to the heart. The next few rounds continued this way. If they were better from a distance, I ran up to them, if they were better up close, I stayed back. I finally got my challenge in the semi finals there was me against another knife thrower and Kelly against a sword. Since my partner could fight long and short distance it was a battle. I didn't even bother wasting throwing a knife, I just waited for her to come to me. When we got closer we went into hand to hand, rolling on the ground. She almost had me when I used a sudden burst of adrenaline and pushed her off me slitting her throat (well, it would have slit her throat without the armor). Unfortunately it didn't go as well for Kelly. Her opponent kept dodging her arrows until Kelly was too close to shoot. Before Kelly could grab a knife the sword was in her stomach (not literally, she had the armor). So that meant I was up against sword girl. The buzzer rang and then all of a sudden, what do you know, there was a knife in her stomach. And it was official, I was going to volunteer for the Hunger Games.

Since the boys had their tournament in a different gym we didn't get to see Cato until that night after dinner. We met Cato outside and he pulled me and Kelly into a bone-crushing group hug.

"So, how'd it go for you two?" Cato asked me and Kelly.

"Well," Kelly replied, "I lost in the semi-finals, but Miss Clove here got into the finals."

"And how'd you do?" Cato asked seeming like a little kid asking their dad what he brought them home from the candy shop.

"Well-"

"She won!" Kelly cut me off, practically jumping up and down.

"That's great," Cato replied, but something seemed off.

"Cato, what's wrong?"

"Well, I won too."

"Cato! That's great- oh wait…" Kelly said, not realizing at first what this meant.

"So that means,"

"We're going into the games together," Cato finished my thought. And with that we went into another group hug, trying to comfort each other, if just the littlest bit. It was weird knowing that either you or the one you loved most was going to die, maybe even both of you. And for Kelly, she was losing at least one of her best friends, if not both. And having to watch them in the arena. Imagining having to watch Cato and Kelly in the arena- just the thought made me shudder and hug harder. When we broke apart Kelly went back to our room to clean up (it was truly a pig's sty in there) and to let me and Cato spend some time alone together. Earlier I had tried to hold it together, for both mine and Kelly's sakes, but now I couldn't hold in the tears and let them flow as Cato pressed me against his chest.

"Shh Clove, it's going to be ok, we'll make it through this," he murmured while smoothing my hair.

"No we won't Cato! It's impossible! Only one can win! And you can bet I won't be leaving that arena without you!" I sobbed, sounding desperate.

"Shh Clove, we'll find a way, it'll all work out, and you will come back home, I promise."

"But-"

"No but's. Ok Clove?"

"Cato-"

"C'mon, let's get you to bed, you seem exhausted." He was right, but I didn't want him sacrificing for me. Too tired to protest, at least at the moment, I agreed, letting him take my hand and lead me to my room. Right in front of my closed door, he pulled me up against him.

"Hey, don't cry, ok. We have two months, two months that we can treat as something special and happy, or we can cry all day."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right!" I let out a small giggle and gave the hint of a smile at his cocky attitude. He kissed my forehead and opened the door to my room.

"Goodnight, Clove."

"Goodnight, Cato."

The next two months passed in the blink of an eye. Kelly had decided to become a specialist in archery at the academy, and the three of us only had to train in the mornings up until the reaping. It was sort of the academy's way of a special treat for making it through the academy. After our training we would hang out until dinner and then Cato and I would spend a few hours outside after dinner. It became our own routine, and we very rarely spoke of the games. Instead of the excitement for them I had when I was 8 I was now dreading the arena. Kelly was helping me get ready for the reaping, tying up my hair in a half up bun, with some loose curls framing my face. I was dressed in a beautiful, but simple flowing sleeveless emerald green dress that went a little past my knees. Kelly had placed me in some black flats and applied mascara and eyeliner, two things I had rarely used before. All too soon, we heard Cato knocking at our door. When I opened it I found him in some nice slacks with a blue tucked in shirt. A few years back, the three of us had all given each other tokens for if we ever went into the arena. Kelly's was a gold necklace with a K charm. Cato had a leather bracelet with a C carved in it and I had a ring with a small emerald on it. None of us had ever taken off our tokens since then, and we never planned too. After I had stepped out of my trance I was pulled into a big hug by my two best friends.

"I love you guys, you know that?" Kelly quietly stated.

"Of course," I answered.

"And we love you too," Cato finished. I looked at the clock and saw it read 1:30.

"Well, I guess we'd better head down to the square," I said solemnly. The walk there was silent, and it seemed as if we were each mourning. We checked in and Cato left me and Kelly to go over to the boys section.

"You ready for this?" Kelly asked.

"No, not really, but what choice do I have?" After that we were silent, mulling on our thoughts when finally our escort, Katherine Gold, in her frilly silver dress, stepped up to draw the names.

"To begin, we have the ladies, "she said in her completely abnormal voice. Drawing out a name that was unheard because of my bold

"I volunteer!" I put on my mask, and headed up to the stage.

"Ohh goody! A volunteer! And you must be?"

"Clove Kinsey."

"Well Clove, congrats! And now for the gentlemen." Again I didn't hear the name as Cato's booming voice repeated what I had yelled just a minute ago. "Ohh! Two volunteers! How exciting!" I'm not sure how this was so exciting seeing as we always had two volunteers. "And your name is?"

"Cato Harter."

"Well congratulations to our two tributes, Clove Kinsey and Cato Harter!" The amount of applause was incredible, but I don't see what we did to get so much cheers. As we walked in the justice building I knew it would be a wasted hour, I had no friends except Cato and Kelly, and we had already said our good-byes earlier, that way we would have more time. Finally, the hour had passed, and we got in the car to go to the train, Cato holding by hand the whole way, maybe being the only thing holding me together. The train was elaborate, far fancier than anything I'd seen before, but it felt nauseating having all this richness in one place. I felt the train start to move and looked out the window to see my home for most likely the last time.

So yeah! How'd you like it? Tell me in a review, I'll give you a virtual smoothie! (Have any of you ever had the Groovy Smoothie at Red Robin? It is to die for!) And if you think there's something for me to work on, tell me! Otherwise, how will I know to fix it? And if you're reading this now, I would like to thank you so much for sticking with this story, even with the long wait.

~ClatoIsReal 3