A great big thanks to AutumnWillow18 (Nice guess, but nope :P), ClovelyLittleReader (Thanks again for your help!), Guest (aww thanks!), Hannie597 (:D), Bbyg (of course :P), Guest (I updated!), Guest (yep, Jacqueline is my version of Foxface), Guest (:D), FinnickOdair-Will-Live-Forever (yay!), Mollytamale (Eventually, but probably not anytime soon considering the ending of this chapter hahaha), and hgfan16 (Gotta love revenge :P) for being lovely people & reviewing!
Chapter 9
The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies. –Ash Sweeney
Betrayal. A three syllable, eight-letter word defined as delivering or exposing one to an enemy by treachery or disloyalty.
Revenge. A two syllable, seven-letter word defined as the action of inflicting hurt or harm on someone for an injury or wrong suffered at his or her hands.
In Clove Carlton's dictionary, the two words went hand in hand. When someone betrayed her, it was only suitable that revenge would follow, and Clove just so happened to be a master at planning deceitful, treacherous schemes. These intricate plots were almost always planned to perfection, leaving no room for error. But, as it has been said for centuries upon centuries, even the best-laid plans can go awry.
As the second day of school rounded the corner, Clove's daily routine had already gone astray from alignment, beginning when Eleanora served toast instead of eggs for breakfast and continuing when Cato didn't make an appearance on the steps before school.
"Is this some kind of declaration of war or something?" Katniss ranted.
"I'm sure he's just sick or something," Peeta reassured her, but she shook her head.
"I don't know. He was pretty pissed yesterday. What if he left the state because he was so heartbroken? Or what if he got really wasted last night because of the breakup? Or maybe-"
"Katniss," snapped an uptight Clove, "Enough."
"I'm just saying," Katniss raised her hands in mock surrender.
"Stop being a drama queen," Johanna rolled her eyes, leaning back on her elbows as she basked in the warm California sun. "As soon as we follow through with our plan against that Cashmere bitch, Cato will realize that it was just a huge misunderstanding and come running back to us."
Last night, after piecing together all of their information, Clove, Johanna, Katniss, and Annie came to the conclusion that it was Cashmere Montgomery, Clove's soon-to-be stepsister, who started the rumor. The evidence was there, and it made Cashmere look guilty as hell. Katniss vaguely remembered seeing a flash of blonde hair pass by the window of her classroom only seconds after Clove and Finnick had walked by, which made sense since Cashmere's first period was on the same floor as Katniss', Clove's, and Finnick's. Plus, Cashmere had had a thing for Cato for as long as anyone could remember, so it was only natural that she would want he and Clove to break up. And to top it all off, Cashmere's dislike towards Clove had only grown stronger since the news of their parents' engagement.
"Morning everyone," Glimmer greeted as she made her way up the steps to Clove, Johanna, Katniss, Peeta, Marvel, and Finnick.
"Glim, you are not going to believe who started the rumor about me and Finnick," Clove immediately said, crossing her left leg over her right.
"Who?" asked a seemingly preoccupied Glimmer.
"Cashmere Montgomery," Clove said dramatically.
"Oh, wow," Glimmer nodded absentmindedly as she stared blankly at the ground.
"So me, Kat, Jo, and Annie came up with the absolute perfect plan to humiliate her," Clove smirked proudly.
"I'm sure," Glimmer's gaze remained fixed on the stairs, and she appeared to be deep in thought.
"Well don't you want to know what it is?" Clove raised her eyebrows, eager to share their brilliant plan with her.
"Huh?" Glimmer looked up suddenly, almost as if she hadn't even realized she'd been having a conversation with Clove until just then. "Yeah, sure."
Clove rolled her forest green eyes, adjusting the blood red headband she'd chosen to wear for the day. It was symbolic; she'd read online that red was a strong, powerful, and dangerous color.
"What's up with you today, Glimmer?" Katniss began. "You seem kind of…distracted."
"I'm fine," Glimmer shrugged nonchalantly, running her fingers through her knotty, golden blonde hair. "I just didn't get much sleep last night. Anyway, what did you devious little ladies decide to do to Cashmere?"
"Blackmail," Clove smirked as she imagined the stunned look that would surely appear on Cashmere's smug face when she saw what they'd dug up on her. "I had Eleanora do a little bit of digging, and you are never going to guess what she found."
"What?" Glimmer was dying to know what perfect little Cashmere Montgomery could possibly be hiding. While Gloss, like most guys in Beverly Hills, was a self-absorbed, despicable asshole, Cashmere had the goody two shoes act down to perfection. But it was clearly just that: an act.
"She's been having an affair…with a married man," Clove smirked smugly.
"No way," Glimmer shrieked, eyes widening.
"I know, right?" Johanna said. "I think we all suspected that she had a bad side, but this…this is golden."
"You people are absolutely insane," Finnick laughed with a shake of his head. "Are you seriously going to blackmail this poor girl into confessing because of a rumor she started about you?"
"Finnick, you've known us long enough to already know the answer to that question. The bitch messed with one of our own, and now she's going to pay," Katniss said with a sneer and a roll of her eyes.
"Besides," Clove pointed out. "That rumor caused me and Cato to break up."
A shrill bell filled the air as underclassmen scrambled in the directions of their classes. Clove stood up gracefully, slipping her book bag over her shoulder and casually saying, "Don't forget, you guys. We reassemble in the courtyard at lunch, and our mission begins."
If Cashmere wanted a war, it was a war she would get.
"Cashmere," Clove said slowly as she approached the blonde's lunch table in the courtyard, where a select few juniors and seniors were allowed to eat. Katniss and Johanna lurked dangerously behind her, narrowing their eyes at Cashmere.
"Sis," Cashmere smiled a sickly sweet smile, just to get under Clove's skin.
"I've got a question for you, Cashmere," Johanna took a step forward so that she was standing next to Clove. Cashmere scooted her chair back in an effort to stay as far away as possible from three of the most brutal, heartless bitches to ever walk the halls of Panem Prep. Between Johanna's unpredictable personality, Katniss' defensive attitude, and Clove's unfiltered bitchiness, they were nothing short of captivating, intimidating, and a little bit inspirational.
"Go ahead," Cashmere raised her perfectly arched eyebrows.
"Did you or did you not start the rumor about Clove and Finnick?" Katniss folded her arms across her chest. Her long brown hair was held back in a fishtail braid, her makeup done to perfection, as usual.
"Much as I wish I had," Cashmere sighed ruefully. "No, I didn't."
"Wrong answer," Clove shook her head with an emotionless laugh.
"Glimmer," an amused Johanna called, feigning amiability. "Could you please bring me my phone?"
"Of course," Glimmer emerged from the corner of the courtyard with a smirk on her features and headed towards the trio. She handed a white iPhone to Johanna, "Here you go."
"Look," Johanna started, narrowing her green eyes at Cashmere dangerously, "we know you started the rumor, and if you don't admit it to the entire school, I will release a very intimate video of you and a certain someone to the media."
A look of fear crossed Cashmere's face for a split second before she took a shaky breath and said, "I don't know what you're talking about."
Raising her eyebrows and rolling her eyes, Johanna unlocked her phone, pulling up a video of Cashmere and a man in his twenties who was clearly wearing a ring as they hooked up in the elevator of The Plaza Hotel. "Elevators have security cameras, genius," Johanna smirked as she turned around the phone so Cashmere could see that they had solid proof.
The blonde paled, and her twin brother, who was seated next to her at the table, stared at her in pure shock. "Cashmere…is this true?"
"How did you get this?" Cashmere buried her face in her hands.
"I have my ways," Clove smirked.
"Just admit that you started the rumor, and we'll delete the video," said Katniss with doe eyes. "It's your choice."
"But I didn't start the rumor!" Cashmere protested.
"Stop lying," Glimmer snapped.
"I'm not lying," Cashmere snarled. "And I will not be blackmailed into confessing something I didn't do."
"Cashmere," Gloss said hesitantly, "You have to. If this gets out…you'll be a joke. Your future will be ruined."
"Daddy can handle that," she said immediately.
"There's only so much he can do," Gloss replied remorsefully.
Cashmere folded her arms across her chest, inhaling and exhaling slowly. "Fine," she decided finally. "But I am going to track down the person who did this, and when I do, I expect a public apology from every single one of you bitches."
"Whatever. You confess tomorrow morning at seven thirty sharp," Clove rolled her eyes with a mocking laugh before stalking off in the direction of her own lunch table, her loyal minions following obediently. It was nice to be Queen.
Clove, sweaty and exhausted from volleyball practice, strolled through the double doors of her stone mansion, immediately dropping her bags in the foyer and heading into the kitchen, where her mother stood by the stove with an apron on. Something had to be up. Her mother never cooked. Ever.
"Oh Clove, you're home. Wonderful," her mother turned around with a smile.
"Hi?" answered Clove cautiously. "What's going on?"
"We're having guests!" her mother exclaimed enthusiastically.
"Who?" Clove narrowed her eyes.
"Carter Montgomery and his children," she smiled hopefully.
"No," Clove shook her head with pursed lips. "Absolutely not."
"Clove," her mother said disapprovingly, "I will not have any of this nonsense. Go get cleaned up and be down for 7:30."
"You want me to just sit there like this is completely normal and not weird at all when not even two months ago it would have been my real father sitting there?" Clove spat angrily.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. You are going to be respectful and welcoming, and you're going to participate in the conversation at the dinner table. Are we clear?"
Clove stared at her mom with a disbelieving look on her face, "What happened to you? I don't even know who you are anymore."
"Upstairs," her mother folded her arms across her chest. "Now."
Scoffing, Clove turned on her heel and sprinted up the stairs two at a time. What had happened to her mom? The compassionate, carefree mother she'd had a few months ago was nowhere to be found. The mom she had now was uptight, and fake, and detached from all emotion. And to be completely honest, Clove hated it. No, actually, she loathed it.
Forty-five minutes and a bubble bath later, Clove found herself sitting at her family's large, glass dining table directly across from Cashmere, who seemed completely unfazed by what had gone down at lunch today.
"So Clove," began her soon-to-be stepdad, "I hear you're on the varsity volleyball team."
"Yup," Clove nodded slowly with the fakest smile she could muster up. She hated small talk.
"How do you like it?" he asked.
Gosh.
Couldn't this man tell that she did not want to be speaking to him?
"It's fun," she replied curtly.
"How are your friends?" her mother smiled, acting as if they hadn't gotten in a giant argument less than an hour ago.
Clove let out a barely audible sigh, "They're fine."
"Really?" Cashmere feigned confusion as Gloss struggled to hide his smug smirk. "I thought you and Cato were having problems?"
"What's wrong with Cato?" her mother asked, pretending to be concerned when Clove knew that she didn't give two shits about it.
"Nothing," Clove shot a death glare in Cashmere's direction, to which the blonde blinked innocently in return.
"Clove…" said her mother. "Is everything okay?"
It was almost enough to send her blood boiling over the edge.
Okay? she wanted to yell.
Do I look okay?
No, I didn't think so.
But instead, she just clenched her fists and pursed her lips, saying to her mother, "Everything is just fine."
For another hour and a half, Clove sat at the table quietly, speaking only when she was spoken to and picking at the maroon nail polish on her fingernails under the table. The seemingly endless agony did eventually come to an end at exactly 9:06pm, when Clove stood up from the table where they were eating dessert and grabbed her wallet off the table in the foyer. "I'm going out," she said, shutting the door behind herself before her mother could protest.
"Cato!" Clove pounded on the front door of the Astoria household. "Let me in! Cato! Caaaa-"
"What?" Annie flung open the door, furrowing her brows when she saw Clove.
"Where is Cato?" Clove walked into the house without an invitation, looking around suspiciously. "I need to talk to him."
"He's…" Annie trailed off, and Clove grabbed her shoulders forcefully, staring into her eyes.
"Where is he?" she demanded.
"He's at The Plaza Hotel," Annie said so quickly that Clove could barely understand her.
He was at a hotel? On a school night? That could only mean one thing, and Clove willed herself not to think about him with someone other than herself. How could he do this to her? They had just broken up yesterday, after all, and he was already moving on with someone else.
"Thank you for telling me," Clove sighed before turning around to head back to her car.
"Where are you going?" Annie asked, concerned.
"The Plaza Hotel," Clove said simply. "I'm going to get him back."
With those final words, Clove pulled the door closed behind her, quickly making her way over to her car and sliding in. Turning the keys in the ignition, her sports car roared to life as a song by Rihanna played through the speakers.
She resisted the strong urge to cry as she sped in the direction of Beverly Hills' most exclusive hotel. There was always the chance that Cato was just at the hotel to get away from everything, right? That he was just sitting on the bed alone watching TV as he tried to clear his mind? Yes, she decided, that had to be it.
The ride to The Plaza was relatively short – only 10 minutes – and Clove's heart rate sped up as she slipped out of the driver's seat and left her car in the hands of the valet at the hotel. Walking through the automatic doors of the extravagant hotel, she headed in the direction of the front desk, where a lady in her mid forties stood with a bored look on her face.
"Hi," Clove turned on her charisma, smiling sweetly at the woman.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"A friend of mine is staying here for the night, and I was wondering if there was any way that I could get the number of the room he's staying in?"
"I'm sorry," the lady, whose gold nametag read Brenda, smiled apologetically, "but room numbers are strictly confidential."
Clove had dealt with these types of things time and time again. Pulling out her Michael Kors wallet, she slipped the lady a hundred dollar bill, "Are you sure?"
Brenda smiled mischievously, "What's your friend's name?"
"Cato Astoria," Clove smirked.
Brenda typed something into the computer quickly, and only a couple of seconds later leaned over and whispered, "Room 503."
"Thank you," Clove headed towards the elevator hurriedly, petrified of what she might find in the suite.
The large, steel doors of the elevator slid open with a ding, and she stepped inside, tapping her fingers on her leg to the beat of the slow elevator music that played dimly through the speakers. She arrived on his floor much more quickly than she'd expected to, leaving little time to change her mind about this and turn back around.
She walked down the silent halls slowly, passing room 500, 501, 502…503. This was it. With a shaky breath, she knocked on the door tentatively, praying that a fully clothed Cato would open the door. But that was just another one of the shitty rules of the universe…you never got what you wanted. So alas, it wasn't Cato who answered the door, but a bleached blonde bimbo with a pound or two of makeup on her rather unattractive face.
"Hi?" said the woman in a high-pitched voice, and Clove hated her. It was taking all of her might not to punch this bitch right in her ugly, tiny nose.
Clove squeezed right past her and into the rather large suite, where – sure enough – a half naked Cato stood by the liquor cabinet pouring a drink. Betrayal filled her chest. "How could you?" she squeaked, and he glanced up at the noise, paling when he saw Clove.
"Shit…" Cato whispered under his breath.
Fury filled her, and she pointed an accusing finger at him whilst walking towards him slowly, "You are a disgusting, thoughtless, repulsive, despicable human being, and I hate you, Cato Astoria."
He stared at her dumbly, at a loss for words.
Tears filled her green eyes, and she was about to insult him some more when the same annoying voice that she'd heard only a minute ago spoke instead. "Should I leave, or…?"
Clove whipped around to face the bitch that had answered the door for her. "No," she spat, pissed off at the girl's attire, which consisted only of the silky robe provided by the hotel. "I was just leaving…slut."
"Wait," Cato called after Clove, and she turned around dejectedly.
"What?" her eyes were filled with hurt, her shoulders sunken in defeat.
Cato sighed. What was he supposed to say to make up for this? He hated seeing her so wounded, and he knew that he should let her go, for her own sake. Much as he wanted to tell her to stay, he couldn't bear to hurt her anymore. She was such a pure heart, and he'd done nothing but corrupt her since that summer night in the limo when she lost her virginity to him.
He remained silent, and a single tear slipped out of her eye and rolled down her cheek slowly, "Goodbye, Cato."
AN:
Hellooo! First of all, I'm so sorry I didn't have the chance to update before now. Between preparation for midterms and shopping/decorating for Christmas and becoming obsessed with The Vampire Diaries on Netflix, I hadn't had much time to work on this chapter. But here it is, and I'm sure you'll all be happy to know that the next chapter is already in the works :P
Also, this whole scheme with the rumor and Cashmere is NOT over yet. **spoiler alert** - it wasn't Cashmere who started the rumor! So who was it? Hmmmm…(:
I hope all of you had a blessed and merry Christmas! What'd you guys get as gifts? Also, in case I don't get the chance to update before New Years, I hope you guys all have a safe and happy new year!
As always, thanks for reading & pleeeaaasseeee let me know what you think about this chapter in a review.
~xoxo~