Chapter Three: Drifting

The next morning, Clove and Cato sat in silence as they ate breakfast. Enobaria and Coral rambled on and on about what their day would be like in the capitol. Cato and Clove nodded along, but said nothing. Clove could see Enobaria eying them suspiciously, so she tried to pay attention to what Coral was saying, but couldn't focus on anything but the fact that Cato was staring at her.

"Alright," Enobaria said and threw down her fork, "You two cannot act like this once we get to the capitol. District Two is known for being tough and the ideal tributes. So, we need to figure out what we're going to do to fix this problem." When neither of them said anything, Enobaria probed further, "Any ideas? "

"We need to just pretend we haven't been friends. We need to pretend that the first time we met was at the reaping," Clove said.

"I agree," Coral said, "That way you can be seen more separately." Clove turned to look at Cato, but he stared straight ahead, saying nothing.

"Can you two do that?" Enobaria asked, "Because you aren't doing a great job so far."

"I can," Clove said and Cato nodded slowly. Before anyone could say anything else, the capitol suddenly came into view. Forgetting the conversation entirely, both Cato and Clove jumped up from the table and ran toward the window. Seeing the capitol had been both of their dreams ever since they could remember. Even in this situation, Clove forgot about Cato and the games to come and focused on the fabulous city before her.

Clove could feel Cato's eyes on her, but she pushed him from her mind. She was right, Enobaria was right, and more than anything, her father had been right. Being distracted by feelings for Cato, even those of friendship, could cost her the title of victor and her life.

She turned her back to Cato and faced Enobaria. "We meet our stylists and prep team when we get off right?" she asked and Enobaria nodded. "Great. Yell for me when we get there." She turned, and walked back toward her room on the train, avoiding Cato's eyes as she passed.

"Not uh," Enobaria said and pulled her back to the window, "You need to be at the window, waving and smiling when we pull into the station. Acting like nothing is wrong."

"Nothing is wrong," Clove snapped as she shook off Enobaria's grip. She shoved past Coral to the window, still avoiding Cato's eyes and stared out the window as the capitol loomed closer and closer.

When they pulled into the station, Clove was overwhelmed by the sight. The station was swarmed with capitol citizens, all dressed in their signature ridiculous outfits. Right as the train came into view, the crowd roared. Clove forced a smile and waved. She felt Cato do the same, knowing his was just as fake. When the train came to a halt and the doors opened to the station, the roar of the crowd increased. People chanted their names and their district as Coral and Enobaria lead them through the crowd and toward the tribute tower that loomed over the entire city.

Even though she could still feel Cato's eyes on her, Clove couldn't help but smile.

XXX

"I think today went wonderfully well," Coral gushed later that night at dinner in the tribute tower. "I was talking to some of the other Capitol Ambassadors, and they were saying that work on the 12 tributes took hours! How embarrassing!"

"Well they are starving in a coal mine practically…," Cato said. The entire room stopped and stared at him. Clove narrowed her eyes at him, and he buried his head in his meal.

"No matter," Coral said and waved his comment off, "I know that you two will be the stars of this games!"

Clove could still feel Cato watching her as Coral said this and was getting fed up with it. She threw her fork down onto the plate and pushed her chair back violently. "I'm not very hungry," she said, "I think I'll go to bed now."

She stormed from the room quickly, before anyone could say anything, but she heard someone follow her.

"Clove, wait," Cato said and grabbed her arm.

"Let go of me, Cato," she snapped and tried to shake him off, but as usual, she wasn't strong enough to get rid of him.

"Can't we talk?" he asked.

"Talk about what?" Clove yelled and finally shook him off, "How you completely ruined both of our lives by volunteering for these games? I had no choice! I'm sorry I got reaped on your last year, but I couldn't really change that! You didn't have to volunteer!"

"You should've known I was going to," he said quietly, "I've been preparing for this my whole life! Doesn't that matter to you?"

"Not as much as your life does," Clove yelled, tears now streaming down her face. "Do you not realize how this is going to end? One of us is going to die!"

"Didn't you know that all along?" Cato yelled back.

"Yes but I never thought that it would be between us," she said again, "No matter how this turns out, we will never see each other again!" Tears were now spilling down her face at an embarrassing rate. She tried to stop them, but they wouldn't stop.

"Oh Clove," Cato said and pulled her closer to him. At first, she let him encircle his arms around her and breathed in his warm scent.

Once she got herself under control, she snapped back into reality and pulled away. "Clove please," Cato said but Clove shook her head and backed away. "I don't want to drift apart now, exactly for the reason that we'll never see each other again."

"That's why we have to drift apart," Clove whispered and looked down at the floor, "It'll hurt less in the end." Before he could respond, Clove turned and ran down the hall to her room and slammed the door behind her.