Thank you guys for the reviews and follows, I hope you like this chapter.
This chapter contains a curse word, I hope you don't mind I just think it's needed in the situation.
Clove's POV
I wipe the beads of sweat off of my forehead as I walk along the path with Sebastian; the cool air feels good after eight straight hours of training. The owner suggested I leave two hours ago, to 'take a break'. Not an option.
Sebastian is the same, but he doesn't get the amount of relief as I do when I train. I can take my mind off of everything. My mother. My father. Anything that connects with either of those.
He's nice, is Sebastian. He refuses to let me walk home in the dark, which is often when we leave the academy. Light flirtation fills all of our conversations and I roll with it; he'd make a good ally. He's strong, agile and intelligent, all of which make a good tribute.
My mind focuses back when we get to the door. He stands idly, not showing any signs of walking away. "Come in if you like," I say casually.
Sebastian raises his eyebrows. "Isn't this Cato's house?"
"Yeah, so?"
"He didn't exactly seem to like me the first time we met." My mind wanders back to Cato's aggression in the training center a month ago when saw me flirting with Sebastian.
"Hmm, I suppose you better not then."
He smirks. "Maybe you can come to mine next time."
Ugh. Male Careers are all the same. "Maybe." Is all I reply before jamming my key in the lock. "See ya."
I quickly close the door without looking back. Immediately a stale smell hits me. I wander into the living room to see Cato sitting on the sofa, a bottle of whiskey in his hand. The table is full of shot glasses and bottles of alcohol that I've never even seen before.
"Cato, what the hell." I say, not able to keep the revulsion out of my voice.
He stands up groggily, slamming the bottle of whiskey on the table. "This isn't what it looks like."
I narrow my eyes in disgust. "What is it then? To me this looks like you're completely smashed. You can't even stand up properly."
He walks over to me, somehow still managing to look cocky as he does it, despite his drunkness. I back away until my back hits the wall, never looking away as I continually glare at Cato. He puts his hands on either side of my shoulders, his face inches away from mine. I can smell stale alcohol on his breath, making me want to gag.
"I've only had like... two shots." He slurs, grinning at me. His eyes wander over my body like I'm a piece of meat.
"Get off me." I say as I struggle to duck under his arms, he just moves them down to my level and pushes me back against the wall. He ignores me and grabs my waist, leaning in towards me. Why on earth would I want to kiss this drunken mess? I quickly push him as hard as I can, sending him tumbling to the floor with a large thud. "Thank you."
"Oh come on, it's only a bit of fun."
"No it's not," I find myself shouting. He looks up at me. Cato's eyes widened as I grab a bucket and fill it with water.
"You need to sober up." I hiss as I throw the freezing water on him. He looks momentarily dazed before his face turns red with rage. I turn to walk away but he's too quick. He comes up behind me, forcibly turning me around before grabbing me by the throat. I gasp, struggling to breathe. He looks at me with the uttermost malice.
As I feel my face turn blue he suddenly realises what he is doing. His eyes lower and he half-heartedly lets going. I try to hold back a choke but I can't help but grab defensively at my throat.
I look him directly in the eye. "You are exactly like my Father."
I quickly dash up the stairs to avoid crying, I run into my room - Cato's room - and lock it. My back slides down the door as I scrape at my face with my nails angrily, my voice seems to growl as I do so. My whole body is shaking.
He could've easily killed me.
Cato's POV
My head feels clouded, almost heavy on my neck as I get up off the sofa. It's dawn, 6am the clock tells me but I struggle to recollect any of last nights events. Looking around I see a mess of alcohol and glasses, some glass sticking out of the carpet. I get up slowly, still feeling light headed. My eyes scan the room until they focus on a bucket in the corner of the room.
Suddenly my memories all hit me at once, feeling like a punch in the face. Shit.
I sprint up the stairs, completely ignoring the aching of my entire body. I turn the handle of Clove's door. Locked. I pound on it with my fists, each knock causing the floor to vibrate even more than the last. "Clove, open the door!" I shout loudly. No reply. "Open it now or I'll knock it down." I threaten.
I stop knocking to be met with silence, I must have hurt her badly. I look to the floor; this must be what guilt feels like. "It wasn't me you know." I say calmly. "That's not me." This may take a while. "Listen, I had no idea what I was doing. You just, you just pissed me off and I got angry. I didn't mean to... Oh who am I kidding."
Just as I'm about to give up and give Clove some space I hear the soft padding of feet on the floor. I hear the clunk of the key turning in the door before it opens a tiny crack, showing only one of Clove's eyes.
"Let me in." I say softly.
She opens the door fully and stands tensely. I can't help but gasp when I see what I've done.
Clove has dark red lines raked down her face as if it's been scratched. The lines make her face look white, the dark shadows under her eyes even more pronounced. But none of this compares to what I have caused. Her whole neck is bruised, shades of purple, green and dark blue blending into each other. I look at her intensely, her eyes avoid mine but I can still see the emptiness inside of them. I feel as if I've betrayed her.
"Oh my god." I whisper, walking to hug her.
She tenses up. "Please don't touch me." She whimpers. This isn't Clove. Clove isn't scared of anything. She's the girl that has the best chances of anyone in District 2 of winning the hunger games, yet here she is, shaking in fear of me. I back away, raising my hands to my head to show I'm not going to touch her.
"I'm going to move in with Eve." Sensing that I will object she speaks again. "For a couple of days. I can't stay with you until you've thrown out all of that alcohol."
"I'll throw it out now. I won't do it again!" I can hear my voice almost pleading. Pull yourself together Cato.
"Why did you do it in the first place? You're supposed to be strong, Cato." I can do nothing but stare at her blankly.
Why did I? I have no valid reason. I told myself it was just a bit of fun but just looking at Clove has clearly shown how that spiralled out of control. She turns around and picks up a bag, it seems full for only two days worth of clothes.
Clove gets to the top of the stairs before turning around and looking directly into my eyes, as if she can see right through me.
"You need to sort yourself out." Was all she could say.
"I'm sorry." I whisper back. "Don't go."
Sorry for the completely awful ending, but there's more to come in the next chapter!
Please please please tell me your thoughts on this chapter, the good things, the bad things, if you could tell me in as much detail as possible that would be absolutely amazing! Thank you so so much for all of the reviews and follows, I can't believe I have this many on my sixth chapter, wow.
Also please tell me what you think of Sebastian being introduced. I know I've made my own characters but I have plans for them that I couldn't use the original characters for, sorry!
I know this was a bit of a rubbish chapter but please bare with me, I've planned what's to come and it gets better. I'm planning on doing some things including the victory tour and then I'll move straight on to the games, sorry if you were hoping the games would be sooner.
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