I don't own The Hunger Games.

Avoiding people had never really been Cato's style. He much preferred to confront them to try and sort out whatever issues they had before it went too far. He confronted Johanna and Finnick all the day. He had confronted Lyme.

But when it came to Clove Ashlar?

He'd much rather run away.

"You're avoiding me."

Apparently, he wasn't as good at tiptoeing undetected through the school corridors as he thought he was. If he saw her in a busy hallway, he would quickly turn around and walk the long way to wherever it was that he was going. On the nights that they had practice at the same time, he didn't even look her way- at least, not when she would be aware of it. He had caught sight of her in the library earlier that day and had all but dived behind a bookcase, desperately trying not to be see.

"No I'm not." Cato shrugged dismissively, as if he hadn't been hiding from Clove every day in the week since Missy's party.

"Yes, you are. I avoided you for like three weeks. I'm not stupid- I know how it works. What's up?" Clove sighed. She leaned against the locker and raised an eyebrow at him as if to say, 'Come on. I'm waiting.'

"I'm seriously not avoiding you, Clove." Cato lied. He knew he couldn't been very convincing, because Clove looked set to deck him. Just as he was bracing himself for the impact of her fists, she took a deep breath and flashed him a warm smile.

"Okay. If you say so, Cato. I'll see you around!" She grinned and started to walk off, but he grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Wait." But when Clove looked him in the eyes, he couldn't find the right words. "You…And Marvel…I saw…"

"We were kissing last week, yeah." Clove admitted, looking only slightly uncomfortable. People were starting to come out of lessons and she didn't want any of them to see her in a one-on-one with Cato.

"Just kissing?" He asked, somewhat hopefully.

"We're dating, Cato." Clove sighed. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

He dropped her wrist, feeling like he'd been shot. That was the exact opposite of what he had wanted to hear.

…

Clove liked Marvel. She honestly did, just…Not so much in the way she wanted to. She hoped that after a few good dates a spark would ignite and she could be happy with him. Then, she could begin to forget about a certain blonde haired, blue eyed boyfriend of her sister. They were sat in math together, with Johanna and Finnick sat at the desk to Clove's right. Cato had been ignoring her, and Clove had been doing the exact same thing to Johanna- she knew exactly what she was going to say.

It was only ten minutes into the lesson- something about the theory of surds, but Clove wasn't really listening- the Johanna slid a note onto her desk. Clove shot her a glare, but Johanna shot her one right back. Reluctantly, Clove flipped the note open.

Cato says he's avoiding you because you're dating Marvel. Johanna's scratchy handwriting was only just readable. In response, Clove penned a soccer play that had been brewing in her head all day and subtly slid the note back onto Johanna's desk. She watched as the older girl's eyes, narrowed into slits, scanned the paper.

Good play. The note read once it was handed back to her. Now answer my question.

That wasn't a question. Clove wrote back. She could see Johanna getting more annoyed with her, and knew that she was playing a dangerous game. Johanna passed the note back.

I'll murder you.

I'm dating Marvel. And I so knew that Cato was avoiding me, the bastard. Clove reluctantly gave up the information.

Firstly, you have crushed him. Secondly, why Marvel? He practically popped out of the womb as a skinny weirdo. Johanna wrote, and Clove tried not to scowl too much.

Marvel's a great guy, and I didn't crush Cato. He's in a relationship with my sister, why can't I date his cousin?

The final note that Clove received from Johanna bore just one short sentence:

You guys are so incestuous.

…

That evening, Clove and her friends went to watch Marvel's basketball game where Missy, Glimmer, Madge, Annie and Cashmere would be cheering. The stands were only half full seeing as most of the students had gotten their kicks from watching them play in the Inter-Sate Games, not against some bottom roster teens from a local high school. Still, they thought that they should support their friend. The only one not present was Cato, who had failed to even make eye contact with Clove all through lunch.

"Woo! Go Annie!" Finnick yelled as they watched the cheerleaders run out onto the court for the pre-game performance.

Clove envied their relationship. They'd been together for years- it had been so long that they only had to look at one another to know their exact feelings. They had each other's favourite things and daily schedules down by memory, and they hadn't even properly argued in at least a year. Annie wore his jersey to all of his football games, and Finnick was easily the loudest supporter at every one of Annie's swim meets. It was so easy for them now and they loved each other so much, laid out for the whole world to see. Clove wished that it could have been like that for her and Cato.

"So you and Marvel, eh?" Katniss nudged her in the side, bringing her back to reality.

Ah, yes. Marvel. If only Clove could make herself feel for Marvel even half of what she felt for Cato during the last few days of the Games. She knew that what she was doing wasn't fair to Marvel, and not for the first time she wondered what her mother would have thought about what she was doing. It wasn't right, but she couldn't break it off. She needed the distraction, if she wanted to keep her sanity.

"Clove? You good?" Peeta asked, leaning forward so that he could see her past Katniss.

"Hm?" She sniffed and sent a wave of grief back down. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Forgive me if I'm wrong," Gale smirked from the seat to her right. "But the mere mention of your boyfriend's name isn't supposed to upset you. Especially one week in- you should be going at it like rabbits right now."

"Gale. Stop." Clove said calmly. Remembering that she was trying to be a better person, she refrained from slapping him in the balls.

"Alright, sorry." He held his hands up in mock-surrender.

The cheerleaders finished their routine and everybody cheered as the basketball team ran out. West Palms ended up making mincemeat of their opponents, beating them by seventy three baskets to fifty four. Clove and the others cheered Marvel's name and applauded when the final buzzer had sounded, and had made their ways back to Madge's place for a small gathering of just their friends.

Unsurprisingly, Cato failed to make an appearance there, too.