Thank you thank you thank you and thank you to Guest (here's an update:P), Clatoforeverx (aww how sweet!), Guest (dankss!), Clovelyshannonigans (aw thank you! as for pointers, I'd suggest reading a lot of books…it really helps to improve your grammar & vocab!), Guest (I hate Glimmer so much too:P), Guest (thanks!), clovelycato555 (I updated!), Guest (:P), clovelycato123 (thank u thank u!), and BlairAndChuckGG (thank you so much! & yes, this story is based off season 1 of Gossip Girl!) for their sweet reviews!
Clove paused momentarily at the tinted glass doors of The Amethyst and slipped the bouncer a couple of hundred-dollar bills. It would have been all too easy to gain entrance to the exclusive nightclub with a simple flash of her ID – with a name as well-known and influential as Clove Carlton, she and her friends were practically guaranteed a spot inside any club in America – but she eventually decided against that method, seeing that college applications were just around the corner and according to the law, Clove technically wasn't supposed to be allowed inside for five more years. Not that anyone in Beverly Hills obeyed that law anyway – if you were rich enough to live there, you were rich enough to get into the clubs, no questions asked.
She stepped past the bouncer and into the booming club, clad in a sleeveless black dress that was short enough to draw some attention but classy enough to hold off the horny college boys. Her loyal posse filed in one by one behind her, ready to takedown anyone and everyone who dared to threaten her rightful position as queen bee.
"So what exactly is the plan here?" Finnick asked Clove, who was already standing on a nearby chair scanning the dance floor in search of Glimmer and her new friends.
"Get down from there," Katniss groaned, grabbing a hold of Clove's wrist and yanking her back to ground level. "And explain to us what the game plan is."
Hostility laced her words as Clove replied, "The game plan is to piss them off relentlessly. Get under their skin and figure out what makes them tick. I want to make Glimmer's little initiation into this dumbass group as miserable for them as humanly possible."
"What happens if they leave?" Peeta asked.
"That means our mission has been accomplished," Clove said simply, a smirk tugging on the corners of her lips. "And then we party."
It didn't take very long for them to locate Glimmer, Madge, Cashmere, and Gloss, all of whom were standing within five feet of one another in nearly identical outfits. As usual, Gloss was surrounded by a horde of desperate girls who were hanging onto his every word as if he were some kind of god, successfully boosting his already inflated ego. Beside the throng of girls stood Glimmer, Madge, and Cashmere, perpetually irritated and annoyingly perfect. They were each other's clones, all with long blonde hair, angular faces, and flawless bodies, so it was no wonder that there were guys falling at their feet. But besides all that, the three of them radiated easiness, from their crappy eyeliner to their cheap perfume. It was repulsive, really, in Clove's eyes at least.
"Let's go takedown a couple of bitches," said Clove, eyeing her former best friend in particular.
"Thanks, but no thanks," Cato laughed. "Odair and I will be at the bar if you need us."
Clove rolled her eyes. "Nerds."
"Hot nerds," Finnick pointed out before smirking pointedly at a blushing Annie.
"The hell was that?" Cato looked between Annie and Finn with narrowed eyes.
"Nothing," Annie squeaked.
"Are we going to piss off Glimmer or not?" Clove quickly butted in, trying to appear bored with the conversation in an attempt to distract Cato from his growing suspicion. If Cato found out about Annie and Finn right then, the entire game plan for the rest of the night would be ruined.
"That wasn't nothing," Cato purposely ignored Clove before angrily grabbing Finnick by his shirt collar. "The fuck have you been doing with my little sister?"
Finnick irritably pushed Cato away. "This suit is Armani, man. Have some respect, would you?"
Cato growled. "Stop trying to change the subject."
"Cato," Clove warned cautiously, "let it go."
Cato whirled around to look Clove directly in the eye. "What do you know that I don't?"
"Nothing, Cato," Clove said uninterestedly, folding her arms across her chest in fake boredom. While there was a passive look on her face, it was nothing but a façade. Her heart was pounding so heavily that she was surprised Cato couldn't see it through her dress, and all thoughts of Glimmer were long gone. All she could think about was the hell that would undoubtedly break loose if Cato found out about Annie and Finn.
"I've known you long enough to know that you're fucking lying to me right now."
"What are you talking about?"
"Did I fucking stutter?" Cato said, far past pissed off. "Tell me the truth."
"Cato," Clove sighed as she made the decision to surrender, "it's not my truth to tell." While she loved Finn and Annie with all of her heart, she wasn't about to throw away she and Cato's friendship over a relationship that he'd have to find out about sooner or later anyway.
"Annie," Cato said sternly, "what the hell is going on here?"
"Finnick and I are dating." The words flew out of Annie's mouth before she could stop them, and she held her breath for what felt like a lifetime. Why had she just admitted that? Between the innocent glint in her eyes and her impressive ability to come up with a cover story in mere seconds, there was no doubt that she could've convinced Cato that nothing was going on between she and Finn. But with five simple words, she'd thrown that possibility right out of the window.
Cato's facial expression went from angry to livid in seconds, and all sense of rationality was long gone by the time he fully comprehended the words that had just come out of his little sister's mouth. "What the fuck, man?" Cato roared, glaring at Finnick. "She's my little sister." On instinct, he sent his fist flying forcefully into Finn's jaw with a grunt.
Johanna snickered, remembering the bet she'd made with Clove earlier that night. "You owe me ten bucks," she whispered to her.
Clove shook her head in shock, her jaw slightly agape. "I can't believe he actually punched him."
Johanna snorted. "I can."
"Punch me again, and see what happens," Finnick threatened, narrowing his eyes at Cato. "You need to get over yourself. You can't control her anymore."
Cato clenched his fists, resisting the growing temptation to punch Finnick again. Annie was his baby sister; it was his duty to protect her from guys like Finn. Anything less may as well be considered neglect. "It's like you're begging for me to knock you out."
"Both of you need to calm down," Marvel stepped in, hoping to avoid an underage bar fight that would undoubtedly make the front page of every local newspaper, magazine, and gossip blog.
"I'm not going to hurt her, man," Finnick said insistently to Cato. "I've got more respect for you and your family than to do that."
"Oh, you wanna talk about respect?" Cato growled, and despite all that was going on around her, Clove couldn't help but think how incredibly sexy he was when he was pissed. He was gorgeous without even trying, and she mentally cursed herself for the butterflies his commanding tone of voice gave her. They were supposed to be friends, and nothing more.
"That's enough, Cato." Annie glared at her older brother disdainfully before stepping in front of Finnick defensively.
"If you two think for even a second that I'm going to just sit back and-"
"Cato," Clove interrupted him sternly, "the conversation is over. Let it be, for now at least."
"You're telling me you want me to just sit back dumbly and let my best friend do God-knows-what with my little sister?" Cato scoffed. "No fucking way."
"Yes fucking way," Clove replied sarcastically before taking him by the hand and dragging him over to the bar and away from the rest of their friends. She'd learned over the years that the only way to calm him down when he was this upset was to get some alcohol in his system. Anything else would just be a waste of time.
"Clove, I wasn't done with them," he complained, begrudgingly taking a seat next to her at the bar.
"Can we just get drunk?" she asked carelessly.
Cato couldn't help but smile, despite his current state of fury. This sure as hell was a first. Clove Carlton was trying to convince him to get wasted. It was almost always the other way around when they went out. "Absolutely."
"Look at them over there," Katniss said to Johanna with a shake of her head. She was staring at Clove and Cato nosily, trying and failing at reading their lips. Clove had already managed to calm Cato down completely, despite the fact that he'd been ready to rip Finnick's head off only minutes before.
"I don't think I'll ever fully understand the effect she has on him," Johanna replied as she witnessed an actual smile making its way across Cato's face at something Clove said to him. Their relationship was beyond confusing, and after months of trying to decipher it, Jo had accepted that she would probably never figure out why the two of them worked so well together.
"Me neither," Marvel admitted, seemingly popping out from thin air.
Johanna gasped at his sudden appearance behind her. "God, Marvel, don't do that."
"Do what?" he smirked, never one to pass up an opportunity to mess with Johanna.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance, eternally pissed off at the world. "Wipe that smartass smirk off your face before I do it for you."
"Ooh," Marvel smiled, sarcasm lacing his tone. "I love it when you talk dirty to me."
"You're sick," she grumbled.
"You love me," he whispered to her, a smile tugging on his lips. She could feel the warmth of his breath on her neck, and for some sick reason, it almost turned her on. Ugh, she disgusted herself. He was going out with her best friend, for fuck's sake.
"Rarely," she replied emotionlessly.
"Most of the time," he corrected her.
"Don't push it," she called over her shoulder with a shake of her head as she walked away, leaving a confused Marvel in her wake.
Had they just been…flirting?
Clove had never had a very high tolerance for alcohol and probably never would, so it was no surprise to anyone that after only three shots of tequila, she was having trouble standing up straight. She'd gone from uptight and bitchy to the life of the party in thirty short minutes, and her confidence had been boosted by about a hundred and ten percent. Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but she felt beyond ready to face Glimmer and her new friends.
"Cato," she slurred as she tugged him away from the bar and towards Glimmer's little clique, "I'm so going to kick their asses."
"Okay, Clove." Cato laughed, seemingly unaffected by the six glasses of scotch he'd had. Unlike the majority of his friends, he'd built up a ridiculously high tolerance for alcohol over the years. By the time the rest of his friends were downright shitfaced, he was only getting started.
"Well, well, well…what do we have here?" Cashmere said mockingly when Clove appeared in her field of vision. "Certainly it's not my perfect little step-sister drunk off her ass at a bar underage?"
"I am not," Clove started, pointing an accusing finger at Cashmere, "your step-sister."
"Yet," Gloss pointed out, smirking like the conceited bastard he was.
"I will never understand what my mother sees in your father," Clove sneered.
"And I'll never understand why, out of all the women in Beverly Hills, my father chose the sluttiest one of them all," Cashmere retorted.
Clove clenched her fists. Fucking bitch.
She'd been talking to them for maybe thirty seconds, and they'd already managed to get under her skin. She needed to snap out of it. The only thing her enragement would do was satisfy Cashmere and the rest of her fake-ass friends. "You're just bitter because your dad cares more about my mom than he ever will about you," she shot back, quickly composing herself.
It was a lie if she'd ever told one, but no way was she going to let Cashmere get the last word. And judging by the falter in Cashmere's superior attitude, Clove had hit a sore spot. "Is that why you were sleeping with that married man? Following in your daddy's footsteps as a home wrecker? Hoping to find someone who will love you as much as your father is supposed to?" Clove continued.
Cashmere narrowed her eyes. "You bitch."
Clove smirked proudly. "It's my specialty."
"If you want me to kick her ass," Glimmer butted in, "just tell me."
"It's very unladylike to fight," Peeta interrupted as he, Marvel, Johanna, and Katniss stepped up behind Clove defensively.
Katniss laughed, though the amusement was missing from her tone. "I'm just amused that she thinks she'd stand a chance against us."
"Honestly," Marvel started, "let's not be uncivilized here. I'd like to think that we could all settle this thing like rational human beings."
"That's a pretty hard thing to do when you're dealing with irrational people," Clove pointed out, glaring daggers at the three blondes across from her.
"We're irrational?" Madge said incredulously. "I do believe that you're the one who dragged seven of your friends to a nightclub where you knew we'd be just to agitate us."
"Like, can someone spell childish?" Cashmere added.
Johanna rolled her eyes, already fed up with the immature bickering. "How about someone spells lame? I'll never understand why the four of you even bother trying anymore. We are and always will be better than you. From the clothes we wear to the way we walk, we're superior. So why don't you guys just do yourselves a favor and stop trying?"
"How can you people even stand each other anymore?" Glimmer shook her head, purposely ignoring Johanna. "You're all on these stupid paths of self-destruction, and I'm truly sorry that I got sick of it and left."
Clove rolled her eyes, genuine amusement overcoming her facial features. "You left because I kicked you out."
"And thank God you did, or else I wouldn't have been able to become friends with these other three people who, for once in my life, treat me like an equal," Glimmer argued.
Clove folded her arms across her chest. "You can cut that crap right now. I always treated you like an equal, Glimmer. Always. You were my best friend."
"Really, now?" Glimmer narrowed her eyes in disgust. "Always?"
Clove nodded, pissed off at even the suggestion that she'd ever mistreated Glimmer. Up until a couple of weeks ago, Clove had always considered Glimmer her best friend. Even when she was away at boarding school surrounded by a completely different crew of friends and followers, it was Glimmer that she wanted to talk to about her problems.
"Remember that time in seventh grade when my parents gave me that gorgeous pair of Harry Winston diamond earrings?" Glimmer started, and Clove shrugged, vaguely recalling the incident. "And I couldn't wait to show them to you, because I thought you'd be happy for me. But when you saw them, you ripped them out of my hands and told me you'd never speak to me again if I ever put them in. And I was heartbroken, with tears filling my eyes as I asked you why. And all you could say for yourself was that Harry Winston was your thing, and that if I ever wanted to be your friend, I'd have to come up with my own thing. Do you remember that, Clove?"
Clove stared at her former best friend dumbly, too embarrassed by herself to reply.
"Or what about that time when me, you, my mom, and your mom were supposed to go to New York together for a girls' trip?" Glimmer continued. "But then two hours before our flight was scheduled for takeoff, you made your mom call and cancel because you were 'sick', when in reality you were ditching me to go to Venice with Johanna."
Clove averted her gaze to the ground guiltily, dumbfounded by the type of friend she'd been. And the worst part was that she had never intentionally hurt Glimmer. It was just her natural personality that screwed things up, and that scared her more than anything. "I-I'm sorry."
Glimmer scoffed. As if she would ever let her off the hook that easily. Hell, she was just getting warmed up. The amount of times that Clove had screwed her over in the past couple years seemed infinite, and she was dying to prove once and for all that Clove hadn't been nearly as good of a best friend as she claimed to be. "Now let's rewind to just a few months ago, C, when you-"
"Stop," Clove begged. "I said I was sorry, didn't I?"
"Oh, sweetheart, this is only the beginning," Glimmer sneered. "Now, as I was saying, do you-"
"Glimmer, stop," Clove pleaded shamelessly. "I get it, alright? You've proved your point. I'm a shitty person and an even shittier friend. You win."
At those two simple words, the corners of Glimmer's lips twitched up in a triumphant smirk. She'd won. For the first time in her life, Glimmer had shown up the almighty Clove Carlton. And there was no denying that it felt fanfuckingtastic.
Sure, there would undoubtedly be hell to pay when Clove woke up tomorrow morning, hungover and alone, and realized how easily she'd given up. But for the night, Glimmer fully planned to bask in her sweet, sweet victory.
The crew was silent as they settled down in Jo's movie room dejectedly. It wasn't even midnight yet, but Clove had called it a night. And even more monumental, not a single one of them had protested. They were bummed about losing the fight, but more than anything, they were embarrassed. Glimmer Davenport, social outcast and laughing stock of Beverly Hills as of two weeks ago, had shown them up. And no one ever showed them up, especially not a loser like Glimmer fucking Davenport. They were the royalty of Beverly Hills, and they always won.
Except this time, they hadn't. They'd lost pitifully, exiting the club with their heads hung in shame. It was humiliating as hell, to say the least.
"What now?" Peeta let out a sigh as he settled down next to Katniss on the couch in the movie room. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders tentatively, and she snuggled up to him awkwardly. It was nothing new; the two of them always ended up getting cozy after a few drinks.
"I honestly just want to go to sleep," Johanna admitted.
"Me too," Kat agreed.
"Well I, for one, am starving," Clove said. "So if anyone needs me, I'll be in the kitchen."
"Take the elevator!" Jo called, noticing how Clove was slightly off balance thanks to the shots of tequila she'd had earlier. It was a wonder how she'd made it all the way up the stairs to the third floor in the first place.
"I'll go with her," Cato decided, standing up from the couch and heading after Clove. Marvel eyed him skeptically, but remained fixed in his spot on the couch nevertheless. In no way did he trust Cato and Clove alone together, but he was far too tired to bother with any of that crap tonight.
Johanna flipped off the light switch as soon as Cato was out of the room before collapsing onto the couch dramatically, purposely straying as far away from Marvel as possible. Sometime over the course of the night, she'd come to the conclusion that he was actually pretty hot, so unless she wanted Clove to banish her to loser-town with Glimmer, she needed to avoid him at all costs.
"Sleep tight, everybody," she mumbled, wrapping herself in a thick satin blanket and drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
Clove gazed into the stainless steel refrigerator absent-mindedly, her petite body illuminated in the otherwise dark kitchen. She'd changed into a loose-fitting monogrammed tank top and leggings, and while she was still undoubtedly tipsy, she'd sobered up quite a bit since the fight with Glimmer. It was finally hitting her that she'd really lost – as in, not won. She was still in a state of shock – never in her sixteen years of living had she been on the losing side of an argument.
"So, what are we eating?" Cato asked from his spot on a bar stool at the island counter.
Clove shrugged, half-asleep. "Bacon?"
Cato chuckled. "I don't think it's a very good idea for you to be working with a stove right now, Clo. Wouldn't want to burn down the Mason's estate, now would we?"
"Touché." She rolled her eyes, closing the fridge door before making her way over to the pantry. "How about we just settle with popcorn?"
He nodded. "Seems easy enough."
After nearly two minutes of Clove pressing random buttons on Jo's high-tech microwave, however, it became fairly obvious to Cato that nothing would be easy for Clove while she was in this state of mind, not even popping a bag of popcorn.
He sighed, standing up and walking over to the microwave, where Clove was struggling to get the popcorn bag out of the plastic. "Give it to me."
"I can do it myself," she insisted, but it was to no avail. They'd be up till dawn trying to pop the bag of popcorn if he didn't take over soon.
With a loud yawn, he stretched his arms high above his head, involuntarily flexing his huge muscles in the process. She smiled a little. "Clove," he chuckled, "give me the bag of popcorn."
"Make me," she said daringly, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Cato sighed. He wanted her. He wanted her so badly, but he knew just as well as anyone that nothing good would ever come from them hooking up. He turned away from her. "Fine, do it yourself."
Clove pouted. "Cato, you're not supposed to give up that easily."
"I'm tired," he mumbled.
She rolled her eyes, shoving the bag of popcorn towards him. "You're no fun."
"Please," he scoffed as he tore the bag of popcorn from the plastic, "I'm the funnest person you know."
"Not true," she teased. "Marvel's pretty fun…maybe even more fun than you."
He raised an eyebrow at her, and she grinned, trailing her eyes down his body slowly. Would it really be that bad if they hooked up? She wanted him just as badly when she was drunk as when she was sober.
"You and I both know that's not true," he finally replied.
She couldn't help but nod in agreement, and a triumphant look came across his perfect features. God, she wanted him so badly it hurt. "Cato," she sighed, "what are we doing?"
He looked at her weirdly. "We're having a conversation in Johanna's kitchen?"
"That's not what I meant," she shook her head. "I mean…why are we blatantly ignoring our affections for one another?"
He exhaled loudly, running his fingers through his tousled blonde hair. "You're drunk, Clo."
"That doesn't change anything," she insisted.
"Yes it does," he said with a small sigh. "It changes everything."
"Oh really?" she whispered as she raised her eyebrows slightly, and that was the last straw for Cato. He'd been trying to do the right thing all night long, and he was sick of denying his true feelings for her. With one swift movement, he lifted her up onto the granite countertop, and she wrapped her legs around him tightly. He leaned in towards her painfully slowly, so that his lips lingered mere centimeters from hers, and she whimpered in anticipation.
There was a tiny voice in the back of his mind telling him not to do it, not to kiss his best friend's girlfriend, but he ignored it. He brushed his lips against hers, gently at first, though the kiss quickly deepened, with both of them fighting for dominance. "God, I've missed this," she mumbled in between kisses, and he smiled.
"Me too."
There was something thrilling about the whole situation, just knowing that anyone could come down at any time and catch them. It made it that much more fun. She slipped one arm around the back of his neck, while her other hand tangled itself in his hair.
One of his hands snuck under the hem of her shirt and inched up her torso slowly, sending jolts of excitement through her body. She smiled; she never got that with Marvel.
"Oh my effing god!"
Clove and Cato glanced up simultaneously at the noise, paling at what they saw. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen with furrowed eyebrows and an agape jaw was Johanna Mason.
AN:
My sincerest apologies for taking so long to update…this semester has been crazy busy, but hopefully when summer comes i'll have a bit more free time! Anyways, I really really hope you guys liked this chapter. I'm not all that happy with it, but you guys always seem to like the ones I don't like so...
& also, I hope you all had a blessed Easter!
As always, pleasssseeeee review!
xoxo