The next morning which also happens to be the last day of training I decide that it will be the best day ever. And so it will. I get up an hour early because I have some unfinished business to take care of. I throw on my training center outfit and a pullover sweater that appeared in my drawer. Then, I open the door, trying to figure who is awake. No lights are on except for the gleaming light pouring out of Cato's room. Perfect.
I speed tiptoe across the hallway and he opens the door right away, without me having to knock, which I think is weird like he was waiting for me. I just ignore that and step in as he closes the door gently behind me. Just because we're Careers doesn't mean we don't have courtesy.
"So how are you this morning, Clove?" He asks me. I've perched myself on the window bench and he stands in front of me.
"Perfect. And yourself?"
"Eh, I've only been up a couple minutes but so far decent," he replies. We both just wait in silence for the other to say something. I guess I'm going first.
"Sorry for whatever I did. It's just I really am just a big ball of emotions right now with the games coming up and all the work and you know…you." I start and he just nods. Great, more talking for me. This time, I don't feel like talking though so I let silence settle in. I hate it but I must resist.
"What?"
"What?"
"About me?"
"If you're trying to get a sappy lovey dovey answer out of me, just know that it will take a long time for that to ever happen." He laughs at that. His eyes move down my face and stop at my lips. I nod. Hopefully I'm not making anything up and he doesn't think I have spasms or anything.
Nope, I didn't make it up. His lips press to mine and his hand cups my face. It's sweet and not like the others, but better. I wrap my arms around his neck and he pulls me up off the bench. His hands move down my arms and as we break away, we are holding hands. After that, I decide we are back on good terms and stand up to leave.
"I will see you at breakfast." I say heading out the door and into the dining room. The Avoxes are bringing out platters of food so I just take a seat on the couch and start channel flipping. After around 15 channels of telemarketing, I find something decent, an old game. I think it is the 12th and I don't remember the victor. This year it is set in a regular forest but fog has been covering the arena since the beginning and it doesn't seem to be clearing up. After that, it begins to introduce the 65th Hunger Games, which I remember is an abandoned zoo, but breakfast is ready so I turn it off.
I grab some food and eat. We head down to the training center and are the first ones to arrive like expected. We don't have to hear a talk or anything so we get right to work. In our time alone, we work on things that we aren't too impressive at like camouflage, plant matching, and making fires. This lasts for a while until people start coming at when we promptly start taking care of business, slicing dummies in half and running up and down the Gauntlet like it was our house that we knew backwards and forwards. I move up a place on the leader board on it too.
Glimmer and I normally stay near each other. I like her when she's not on camera. She isn't an idiot like you would think from interviews but is strong and ready for the fight. It just so happened it comes with a pretty face, which makes for sponsors. I've already decided on my position by myself which is almost exactly like I am; sarcasm meets sweetness. It's going to make for a wonderful time with Caesar.
At lunchtime, we decide it is time to make our move and find one more for the Career pack. We choose Thresh. He's sitting alone, like most of the other tributes do, so we decide that Glimmer would be the least intimidating of us all. She walks over and we all watch their conversation. He must not be a big fan of talking because other than chewing, he mouth moves maybe twice. She comes back pretty soon which is not a good sign.
"So?" Cato asks her. Glimmer shakes her head, her golden curls bouncing.
"He said no! I just don't understand that," she reveals. What? Why would he not want to be with our amazingness? I bet that he would take the advantage if we weren't careers.
"That makes no sense to me!" Marvel says and everyone else something to the same affect.
"Then, we will be a pack of six until we find someone in the arena. I want everyone to make him fear you today," Cato says as he takes a bite. We all eat in silence after that. Careers aren't a big fan of rejection.
I do exactly my goal during training. I make sure I'm in front of him in line or in sight each time. He seems to be taking the outer district approach and picking the survival skills over the weaponry, so I can't follow him everywhere. That would be a waste of time for us. We are called out early so we can get judged for our score. I don't have to wait long before I'm called in.
I grab a pack of knives from the rack and walk over to a long row of dummies. When I step onto the platform, the lights illuminate dummy after dummy and I hit them all straight in the heart. When I'm done, I turn around to find everyone quite pleased.
"Thank you," I say, nodding and make my way out. I head upstairs in the elevator alone and sit next to Cato on the couch as we have to wait for an hour for the scores to be revealed. It's a long hour.
Please review! Also, the results of my Christmas series is the Christmas in Panem! The chapters will be posted on Mondays beginning December 3rd, but I might be able to post one this weekend. Next chapter of Clove will be the scores' reveal… Thanks for reading!