CLOVE'S POV

We watch the recap of the reapings on the second floor of the Training Center, which is a floor exclusively for District 2. Our mentors for the Games, Enobaria and Brutus, watch with us.

I watch as two people get reaped, and then two others volunteer in District 1. I can take them both. Easily. But I make note of their names, since they have most likely trained for the games, too, I'll want to make an alliance with them. Marvel and Glimmer. Glimmer. What kind of name is that anyways? She sounds weak. Real weak. Then, I watch as Cato volunteers. You can tell that he is very strong with his muscular build and his light and stubby facial hair only adds to his tough appearance. But I can beat him. I have before and I will again. I realize that this is the first time I've actually really looked at Cato for two months, and it's on a tv screen when I've got the real thing sitting in the same room as me. I feel satisfied. So far I haven't let my emotions take over. I'm keeping my head in the game. I'm in control. I watch as I get reaped. I feel satisfied seeing how well I kept my composure. How confident I look. Intimidating. I will be feared by the other tributes.

There's nothing special about District 3's tributes and I don't bother remembering their names. In District 4, the male tribute reaped doesn't recieve a volunteer, but the female tribute does. The tributes, Rush and Morgan, have swimmer's builds. They don't stand a chance against me, but like District 1, they have probably trained for these games and would make worthy allies.

I don't pay attention to the names of the other tributes. They're just prey. Toys to play with. In District 10 a crippled boy becomes a tribute. Talk about easy pickings. Pathetic. In District 11 the male tribute is compariable to Cato in stature, but a bit bigger. Oh, just how much fun I will have killing him. I can't wait. I can't wait to watch his blood ooze out of his lifeless body. It's all too exciting for me.

For maybe the first time ever a tribute volunteers in District 12. It's a definite death sentence for her. No one even cheers for her, it's just some weird salute. They know she will die. It's inescapable.

Once the recap is over we go to the dining room and eat. Basically there's whatever we could possibly want. And if there's not, then it's made and brought out. Pronto. Mace Medallion sits at the head of the table with Enobaria and Brutus on one side and Cato and me on the other. I find this setup to be awkward, but I suppose anything to do with Cato right now will be awkward. I mean. Hey, I really care about you and all, but I'm gonna let you die within a month. I might even kill you myself.

I can't help, but feel Cato's presence next to me the whole time I eat. Every move he makes. I notice. I can't help it, but wonder if it's the same for him. I try to shake the thoughts out of my head. My emotions are beginning to take over and I can't let that happen if I'm going to win, which I'm going to, then I can't be thinking about him. Just me. Only me. That's all.

But it's so much harder than it seems. This is my first boyfriend. My only boyfriend. Or at least the closest thing I've ever had to a boyfriend. My first kiss. Holder of my V-card. Keeper of some of my secrets. My best friend. Wednesdays at 1:00. Sneaking off on Fridays. Leaving my window open on Saturdays. A person I truly care about. The person I would want to grow old with. My secret. OUR secret. Everything.

Eventually we finish eating and our mentors usher us into the room we watched the reapings in.

"Brutus and I had a discussion on the train and we have decided that I will focus on mentoring you, Clove, and he will focus on you, Cato," Enobaria tells us once we are all settled. Again I had to sit next to Cato, but this time we sit at opposite ends of a couch. "Any objections?"

Of course there's no objections. I want Enobaria to be my mentor. She won the games before. And her speciality is knives. Plus, she won her Games by ripping a guy's throat out with her teeth. And that is Awesome. Win-win in my book. And plus Brutus would make for a better mentor for Cato, too. Win-win for him, I guess.

"Is that all?" questions Cato.

"No," answers Brutus with authority, "What are your thoughts on forming an alliance with Districts 1 and 4."

"I was planning on it," responds Cato.

"Good. You should put that together as soon as you can. And I suspect that you are also planning on this alliance or do you plan on becoming target number 1?" asks Brutus, his gaze on me.

"Of course I'm going to be in this alliance. I want to win," I reply with matter-of-factness.

"Smart choice, Coleman," says Brutus, "now for both of you, I don't want to see either of you turning on each other as long as there are still tributes from 1 and 4 alive. Kill them before killing each other. You two understand?"

"Yes Sir," both Cato and I respond sincerely. Hey, just cause I'm a killer doesn't mean I don't respect people. Especially victors.

"If 1 and 4 join the alliance, then I expect you two to be smart enough not to turn on them right away," adds Enobaria.

"I won't," I say, "like I said before, I want to win."

"I do too," comments Cato. I turn my head to look at him. He is lurched forward with his elbows resting on his legs, and his hands together. He is also looking at me with a serious look on his face. All I want to do is sit right next to him, hold his hand, maybe a kiss here and there. I quickly look back at Enobaria before any of that happens.

"Good," she says, "we want another victor."

"Is that all then," I ask.

"Yes," she answers smoothly.

I get up and walk to the room that has been assigned to me. I need to come up with a strategy. Here and Now. I walk inside my room, but I don't take in the surroundings. I just find the bed and sit down on it. I know I can kill Cato easily, but I need to detach myself from him emotionally. I can't feel like kissing him whenever I look at him. Shit. What am I going to do. Is this a weakness? Do I have a weakness? No, I am Strong. I don't have weaknesses. I can't have a weakness. I can't afford it. My father spent too much time drilling in my head the importance of being Strong. Of not having weaknesses. Of Winning. Then I remember his words, "I'm sorry," and it all makes sense. The reason he wanted me to be Strong. To win so badly. It's because he knew I would be in the Games. No Matter What. "Sometimes the present danger feels too unbearable that you underestimate the power of the future consequence." That's what he once told me, but I didn't understand it then. Now I do. At least I think I do. He was only allowed to keep me because he promised I would be a tribute in the Games one day. He promised because at the moment he couldn't bear to think of someone else raising me. Me being an orphan. He couldn't bear it. He wanted to protect me. To be there for me. But now he regrets it because now I could die. Because of a promise he made. The way Mace Medallion seemed to pick a specific slip of paper. This was the year to get me in, without suspicion. It just makes sense. I'm not sure if I should be mad or happy. I'm not really sure right now.

I hear a knock on the door. I get up and go to it. It's Enobaria. "Yes?" I ask.

"I would like to talk a bit of strategy with you," she commands.

"Make alliance. Kill 1 and 4 before Cato, but wait until near the end. I got it," I say quickly.

"That's good and all that you remember, but I want to talk about your real strategy."

"Oh, well then what's the plan?" I ask, but Enobaria just barges past me into my room. I shut the door and follow her into the room and sit back down on the bed.

"Okay so listen here," says Enobaria, "you will join the alliance, but under no circumstances are you to take Cato to final 2 with you. If there's a final 2. It might be more of a final 4 for all we know."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"Kill him before it's just you two. He's your only real competition. I know you can take everyone else."

"What makes him so special? 'Cause I know I can take him. Easily."

"Because Clove, he's from your district. It's harder to kill someone when you know them, when you will see his family and friends all over District 2. It could be the difference between victory and death." For some reason I think she knows more about my relationship with Cato than she's telling me. But how? We kept it a secret. We were sneaky. How could she know?

"What difference will it make? I'll still kill him," I point out.

"One-second hesitation. That's all it takes. If it's between you and him and you hesitate for a second because you know him, because you love him," she says, emphasizing 'love.'

"I DO NOT LOVE HIM," I stand up yelling. I don't love anyone. Love is for the weak, and I'm not weak.

"It sure looked like it to me," says Enobaria,"and that's what'll probably kill you in the arena."

"But I don't love him," I say, hoping she will get it. That I don't love Cato. And then I realize what she said, "What are you talking about? What did you see?"

"Nothing much, just a couple of lovebirds kissing and talking really early one Wednesday morning. You had me fooled for a bit, thinking you were over him. Then, I saw how you looked at him during our group discussion and realized you weren't."

"Oh," I say. Shit, someone knew. Someone knows. Someone saw through my disguise. Has anyone else? And what was she doing there at 2 o'clock in the morning?

"That's why it's so important that he's dead before then, Clove. One-second hesitation and you might as well be dead."

"You're saying I'm weak, aren't you? You think I'm weak, don't you? Well, I'm not fucking Weak!" I say getting defensive. How dare she call me weak! I am the polar opposite of weak. I am Strong. Not weak. Clove Coleman is not weak, she is Strong.

"I didn't say you were weak. You're incredibly strong, Clove. I just want you to win."

"Well I will win. You can count on it."

"Are you going to follow my strategy?"

"If that's how you think I will win."

"It is."

"Then I will."

"If Brutus or Cato ask about your strategy, stick with the first one."

"I will."

With that Enobaria walks out of my room. I smash the lamp off the nightstand. She thinks I'm weak! I know she does. I take out one of my hidden knives and throw it at the opposite wall. I'll show her. I'll show her just how Strong I am. I'm going take Cato to the end with me. And then I'll kill him. Without hesitation. "Fuck!" I grab my head with my hands. I didn't think about that, though. What if I do hesitate? I can't. I can't risk it. What if Brutus talked to him. Told Cato to kill me right away. I can't hesitate when Cato's going to kill me. I have to react. Kill him before he kills me. I decide to take a shower, hoping it will help me think clearly. But it doesn't. Why does having to kill someone you care about have to be so fucking hard and complicated? I put on some shorts and a tanktop from the closet, put my hidden blades on my nightstand, and lay down on the bed. I just try to clear my mind. It takes awhile, my mind is absorbed with Cato and the Games, but eventually I fall asleep.

CATO'S POV

I walk down the hallway to where Clove's room is at. I need to talk to her, I think. I'm not quite sure, but I feel I do. I'm almost to Clove's door when Enobaria walks out.

"I don't think this would be a good time for you to see her," she says strictly. I hear something break in Clove's room. I wanna go in and see what's going on, but Enobaria just stands there, waiting for me to turn around.

"I was just going for a walk around the floor," I say trying to seem unsuspicious, though I already am.

"Really now?" Enobaria clearly sees through my bad lie. I get her hint, though, she doesn't want me talking to Clove, not privately at least.

"Yeah, I think I'm going to go check out the roof." I turn around and head to the elevator.

I spend very little time on the roof. There's not anything that I find particularly exciting up there anyways. Back in my room I decide I need to come up with my own plan. Screw everyone else, I'm making my own plans. No matter what I do I don't think I could kill Clove, not as easily as she could kill me at least. She will do whatever it takes to win. To her there's no other option, but me I don't think I can. Maybe that's the biggest difference between us. She isn't afraid to kill anyone, whereas I'm afraid to kill her. Maybe it's because she feels she has everything to prove, and I don't want to know what it feels like to lose someone. She was raised with just a father, who spent most of his time enforcing the law, killing when necessary, supplying her with weapons, and pushing her to train hard and work hard to become a Hunger Games victor. Her father's parents both passed on through natural causes, one being a victor, and her only other relative known to her is her uncle Cleav, another victor. Winning is in her blood. Half her family were winners, and so will she. Then there's me, I have two parents, neither winners, a younger brother, and four living and breathing grandparents, of which only one was a victor. I have cousins and aunts and uncles, too. I have a family, whereas she only has a father and an uncle, who both push winning. No wonder she's so willing to kill. It's her whole life, her destiny, the thing she was raised to do. The thing she's meant to do. And me, well, I have my whole family, who support any decisions I make. I wanted to follow in my grandpa's footsteps and win a Games, but now I'm against Clove and I'm not so sure anymore. How do you kill someone you love?