4 : Rivalry and Allies

Clove's POV

I see the sunlight shining through the windows when I wake up. Cato's still beside me- topless-and his arms wrapped around me. I felt him move a little then he wakes up and says, "Good morning." WAIT. What just happened? I jump out of my bed and pace back and forth, not remembering what happened last night.

"What? Why are you..? And me..?" He raises an eyebrow at me.
"You had a bad dream last night. I heard you screaming at the top of your lungs so I woke you up. You told me to stay with you. So I did.."
"Oh. Thank you."
"No problem, Clover. I'm always here. I better go now. Meet you later okay?"

He winks at me then walks out of my room. He really did that for me? Wow. I couldn't have found a better best friend. And now, I'd have to kill him to survive the games. What am I thinking? I don't want him to die! I don't want him to leave me.

I head down to the car where we eat our meals. There is a lot of food spread across the table. Different breads from different districts, orange juice, jams, and lots more. Cato arrives then sits across me. Then come Brutus and Enobaria. Brutus sits next to Cato and Enobaria sits next to me. He looks at us like we've done something very wrong.

"So Cato, where did you sleep last night?"
"Uh, at Clove's room. She was having a bad dream so I slept beside her. Is there something wrong with that?"
"Do you have something going on between the two of you?" Enobaria asks.
"What? No! No! Of course not. We're just good friends," I answer quickly. Cato nods. Best friends actually but yeah..
 "You still have to know the fact that one or both of you will die. No deep feelings! You can't afford to get too attached to each other," Brutus says in a loud but controlled voice.
"We won't. We promise," Cato says. Enobaria nods. She takes us to a room after breakfast where there is a big TV. We watch the reapings from other districts.

Cato's POV

We watch the other reapings. In district 1, there's this blonde girl that volunteered for a twelve year old. And the boy tribute looks skinny but can throw something. Maybe a spear or something like that. I still look more handsome. Then there is this red haired girl from 5. She looks like she's fourteen or fifteen. Then I notice the big dark guy from 11. He looks very strong. I want to make him as my ally. The girl tribute from 11 isn't really much of a competition. Just a small dark haired twelve years old. I can take her out easily. Then at district 12, something unusual happens. A volunteer! A volunteer from 12! That's weird. They rarely have any volunteers. Then the boy tribute, maybe sixteen, gets reaped. He may have little strength but he still looks weak.

"We can take them out easily," I say.
"Piece of cake," Clove says laughing.

We notice that we're about to arrive at the Capitol. We see a lot of tall buildings. Much taller than what we have in 2. We pull over to the train station. A lot of Capitol people came to the train station just to see us. I'm not happy to see them though. They look so odd. Some has green skin, pink puffy hair, jewels and diamonds planted in their skin. It looks absolutely disgusting. They put me and Clove in a building where they will prep us. A group of people come over to us and examines us, "Hmmm. Two beauties this year, huh?" says a girl with silver hair and pink nails. "You'll be easy to work with. I'm Marissa. What're your names?"
"Clove," I say pointing to Clove, "and I'm Cato."
"Nice to meet both of you. These are Jacky, Mason, Romina and Dalya. We are going to be your prep team. Come with us then we will take you to your stylists."

Marissa, Jacky, and Romina walk me into a room and preps me. They wash, dry, comb and examine my muscles closely. Then I get sent into a room. My stylists goes in and introduces herself.
"Hey. I'm Mage. Hmmm. A guy like you would be easy to work with. Handsome, buff.. We'd have you look amazing in no time. Even though you already are," she says with a smile. She dresses me up in a gray plaid and black pants. She then rips the sleeves off. "It's to show off your muscles," she says with a wink. She makes me wear these red sneakers that have tall buildings painted on them. Right. Our district builds. After all of this, she walks me to the chariots where the parade will start. I stand by the chariot we are going to ride in then I see her. A girl in a gray off-shoulder dress, flawless curls, hairless body and gray pumps that has the same buildings painted onto them.

Clove's POV.

I catch Cato looking at me when I arrive. His muscles look so perfect in that sleeveless plaid. Hot. What? I look away but I walk to our chariot. I feel so naked after the wax. But I love this dress very much that Miles, my stylist gave me. It looks so simple but elegant. "Hey," I greet Cato. "You look.. Beautiful," he says. I can feel my cheeks blush. I try hard not to. "You don't look bad yourself," I reply. He gives me a chuckle and we see the other tributes arrive.

I notice Cato is staring at the girl from 1. She comes over to us and she says, "Hi! I love your costumes! I love your dress! I'm Glimmer. What're your names?"
"I'm Cato," he says, reaching for Glimmer's hand. He kisses it.
Ugh, flirts. "I'm Clove," I try to say in my kindest tone bit I can't help but feel something negative at her.

She waves at a guy. They have the same matching outfits so I think that they're from the same district. "Marvel! Come here!" Glimmer shouts. He approaches us and blondie says, "Marvel, this is Cato," –I hate her voice-"and Clove. Clove and Cato, Marvel."
"Hey," I know it doesn't look like it but I'm really trying to be friendly. I put my hand out and shake his hand. Cato gives this back-off-look at him. Or that's what I think it is. But he removes the expression from his face. The tributes from 4 comes up to us and introduces themselves as well, "We're from district 4. I'm Ronnie and this is Amy."
"Look at this. It's only the parade and we're already making alliances," blondie says cheerfully. Oh joy. "We'll have time to get to know each other," Amy says. We were then told to get on our chariots so we can start. As I was going up ours, I almost fall. I felt someone catch me. I look back and see Cato. He almost lost his balance but keeps it. "Be careful, Clover," he smirks at me then helps me up the chariot. I'm still a little pissed because he flirted with Glimmer but yeah.. I don't own him. He's not my boyfriend. I'm just his best friend. I don't have a say to which he should date but I can't help but feel jealous. Cato gets on and they signal us to start the parade.

I see a lot of people cheering and throwing flowers at us. I wave to them and blow kisses. Cato does the same. But after minutes, my attention was gone. I see on the monitor the district 12 tributes. They're on fire! How the hell did they do that? I hate them for stealing my spotlight. I wonder how many sponsors I lost because of their entrance. We arrive to a stop and President Snow gives a speech and lets us go.

Notes: This chapter is so long. Haha. Review! c: