Chapter 2: The Night Before The Reaping
-CLOVE-
Presently, I am getting ready to attend a party at Cato's house. He wants to have a celebration the night before he volunteers at the reaping and everyone was invited. The reaping will be held tomorrow and he was so excited about it. I know I should be too, for him, because I trust him, because I know that he can win, but I can't help but worry about him. Right now, I'm feeling the same way I did that night, when we were talking at the training center. What if he didn't make it? What if he didn't win? What if he didn't survive the games? He's only 16 after all. But what I don't get is why I am feeling this way. He's nothing more than a friend, a co-trainee, to me. I never worried for someone like this before for all of my life.
I ended up my thoughts as I look at myself in the mirror. I'm wearing a black dress that falls on my knees and black heels, about 5 inches. I'm wearing my hair down with a silver hairclip. I'm also wearing silver jewelries to match my black outfit. I don't usually wear party clothes because I don't usually go to parties. I'm not really into parties, period. I'll just go to Cato's party because of him, because he's the host. It's not because I want to attract him or impress him or anything, but because he's expecting me to show up. Besides, my two best friends, Claire and Natalie, will be there too and I was obliged to join them. I can't believe I'm looking at myself right now. I must admit that I'm stunningly pretty tonight. Come to think of it, I never considered myself pretty until now.
...
As I went downstairs, my mom and dad were like stunned by me.
"Clove, is that you?" my mom said, wonderstruck.
"Yes, mom," I said bashfully. "Who else?"
"You look beautiful darling," my dad said to me, offering me his hand.
"Thank you dad," I said, smiling.
...
My parents drove me to Cato's house. We reached our destination in roughly 15 minutes. Cato's house is really large, though I must say, still no larger than mine. Well, it's not a surprise actually, knowing that they're really wealthy.
My parents said goodbye to me as I stepped outside our car. I waved at them as they drove away.
After a while, I saw Natalie just outside the gates, obviously waiting for me. She wore a pink dress and had her hair braided beautifully down her side for the occasion. She looks nice, in contrast to her troubled expression. Claire, on the other hand, is nowhere to be found. I made my way towards Natalie.
"Where's Claire?" I asked when I reached her. "She should be here for this."
"Claire had a serious leg injury this morning," she answered sadly. I was shocked.
"She had an accident?"
"Yes, and it's really serious. It looks like she'll lose her chance to be in the games. This is her last year, remember? How disappointing, she's really looking forward to it. Too bad for her."
Hearing that, I can't help but feel sorry for Claire. This year is her last chance, and she's been so eager about it. But I come to think of it, I wasn't nearly as concerned for her as I was for Cato, even though I know that she, too, might die in the games. The two of them might even end up killing each other. And it is only now that I realized how much I've hoped for Cato's safety without saving any for Claire - my bestfriend. Is it possible that Cato is more important to me? That Cato matters more to me? To the point where I'd rather my bestfriend die than him not returning by my side? Because it is only one or the other, right? And realizing it for the first time, I've made a choice, one I didn't really know I've already made until now. What a horrible person I've become.
"Although, it might be better this way," Natalie said, looking at me intently.
"What do you mean?" I looked at her the same way. "You just said how disappointing the whole thing is."
"I know, and it is," she said meaningfully. "But I know you have mixed feelings with regards to this, Clove. So I suppose it's for the best."
"Mixed feelings?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"Do not play dumb with me," she said, pouting. "I know things. Claire too."
"Claire?"
"Yes," Natalie said impatiently. "We both know you have a thing for Cato."
"I do not ..." I started to retort but she held both palms up to silence me.
"I don't want to hear it," she said coolly, neatly folding her arms in front of her. I just glared at her. She shrugged. "Come on, Clove. You like him. Don't be such a denial queen. Claire thought so too. That's why she's been thinking about, you know... cancelling... to make it easier for you."
"You don't know what you're saying," I just said, passing her as I walked ahead to the party. It was held in Cato's front yard. Music and laughter blared all around.
"Okay, fine," Natalie said, catching up to me. "Whatever the case, it looks like we'll just have to depend on who will be picked tomorrow."
"Yeah. It looks like it," I said without looking at her. I'm still miffed by her sudden accusation.
"Anyway, you really look beautiful tonight, Clove." I stopped at that and gave her a look. "What?" She seems taken aback.
"Nothing." Whatever. I just shrugged it off. "You really look beautiful too." And with that, we smiled, nudged each other lightly on the shoulder, and entered the party with our arms linked.
...
-CATO-
I finally spotted Clove in the crowd. She wore an elegant black dress that falls to her knees. Her hair is down - which is a rarity for her - and she appears to be glowing in my vision. She looks beautiful, so beautiful, the most beautiful one here so far. The party's going on for quite some time now and I really thought that she was going to blow me off. I'm starting to get impatient, so it's a really good thing for her to show up - for me, that is - because, well... she's all I ever wanted to see tonight.
Right now, she's scanning the crowd, possibly looking for me. I smiled at the thought. She is with one of her girl friends, Natalie. The other one, Claire, will also be volunteering tomorrow, I've been told. And so she will be my district partner as of tomorrow, which, I should say, complicated things a bit. I mean, she's Clove's friend and not mine, we don't talk much and were never really close with each other, but I wonder what Clove thinks of all this.
She often says or hints that she wanted me to win and come back, and surely she's aware of her friend's volunteering plans, right? Now what do I make of that? And I can't convince myself that she was just being hypocritically pretentious the whole time, because, honestly, I sense her sincerity in her words, I know they're real, so I can't believe myself otherwise. But here's the thing, and this is what really gets to me: why am I dwelling on these thoughts so much? I can't be bothered by these things, especially at this point. My mindset is to win, and it's always been like that. Nothing can change the way things are, ever. So I just shrugged it all off.
Meanwhile, Clove turns in my direction and finally spotted me in the crowd. Our eyes met for a few seconds and when she gave me a smile, something flutters feebly inside me that I couldn't quite control. Now tell me why she has this effect on me.
I think she was about to come over and meet up when another guy, probably my age, blocked her way. And as soon as Clove sees him, recognition lit up her face and before I knew it, they were hugging. My jaw dropped at that. Who the hell is that guy? And what is his relationship with her? Moments later and they finally let go, much to my approval. The guy then gave Natalie a one-armed hug and they began talking, familiarly so. I made my way towards them.
"Hey Clove," I said loudly. They all looked at me. "I thought you weren't going to show up."
"Why would you think that?" Clove just said, then shrugged. "Anyway, what's up?"
"Let's talk." I grabbed her hand.
"Let's just talk later, Cato," she said, retrieving her hand. "I just met my old friend." She indicated the new guy. Up close, I can see that he has average height and physique, pale skin, black hair, and brown eyes.
"Hello, Cato. I'm Nathan. Nice to meet you," he said as he held out his hand to shake mine. I just ignored him.
"Come with me, Clove." I grabbed her hand once again and dragged her away, from that Nathan guy, specifically.
...
-CLOVE-
"Cato. I told you we'll talk later, right? What is wrong with you?" I practically shouted, but to no effect. Cato just dragged me on and on, and I don't even know what his problem was. All I know is that he has a really firm grip, one I cannot free myself from.
"Let go of her!" I stumbled into him as he abruptly stopped. Quickly, I regained my balance. "You're hurting her." I turned to see Nathan eyeing Cato resentfully. Natalie is with him, concern etched on her face. "Just leave her alone, please. If you don't want trouble." Cato flared up at that. I can tell because his grip on me tightens up a bit more still, and he is also gritting his teeth, hard.
"What did you say? 'If you don't want trouble?' Did you just threaten me in my own house?" he said fiercely, every syllable echoing out in rage, and he looks as if he could split Nathan's head into two, and knowing Cato, he could. "Obviously you have no idea where you're standing right now. Well, let me give you a clue. You're in my house. You're in my party. So don't you dare tell me what to do!"
"Shut up! Both of you!" I totally shouted this time. And miraculously, I managed to break free from Cato's iron grip and held up both of my hands on either side of me, putting myself between them.
After a few moments, "Clove." It was Nathan. "I suppose I'll just go. It seems like I wasn't welcome here."
I was about to say something but Cato beat me to it, "That's for sure."
"Cato, stop!" I yelled at him. He just looked away, scoffing angrily.
"I'll see you soon," Nathan finished, bowed slightly, then walked away.
After that, I just glared at Cato one more time, went for Natalie, and dragged her away with me without another word, feeling Cato's eyes on me as I walked away too.
...
"What is wrong with him?" I exclaimed angrily as Natalie and I find an empty table. I honestly don't know why Cato acted that way in front of Nathan and in front of me. I've never seen him so angry before, without knowing why, that is. Because he usually gets angry over random things and it's best to not just discuss it.
"For all I know, Clove, he was jealous," Natalie said as we sat on opposite sides of an empty table, smiling maliciously.
"Jealous?"
"Yeah. He got jealous when he saw you flirting around with Nathan."
"I wasn't flirting around with Nathan. We were just talking. What did you expect? We haven't seen each other in a long time."
"Either way, Cato was jealous earlier," Natalie urged on, still smiling that malicious smile of hers.
"Why should he? Oh! I hate him! I really hate him!" I slammed my hand hard on the table, nearly toppling the flower vase off of it, but Natalie steadied it with her hand just in time.
"Clove, the more you hate, the more you love, don't forget that."
"Oh! Shut up!" I said, annoyed. But then, if Natalie was right, and Cato really was jealous, why should he? We don't have a very special relationship, as far as I know, so why should he be jealous? Is it possible that he likes me more than a friend now? Did he develop his feelings for me? No. I can't be serious.
"Clove." I was startled when someone suddenly spoke. I ended up my thoughts and looked up to see who the speaker was. It was Cato. "Can we talk now?" He looks calm now. I turned to Natalie and she gave me an encouraging smile.
"Alright," I replied.
"I'll leave you two to talk then," Natalie said, lunging off her chair. "I'll just go and, uh, grab some punch." After that, she stalked off.
"Clove, I'm really sorry about earlier. I just couldn't control myself. The way he talked was as if he owns you or something," Cato said, sounding truly apologetic, another side of Cato I didn't know of until now.
"And what is it to you?" I asked him, eager for an honest answer. He tensed a little at that.
"I just didn't like the way he talked. He acts as if he owns this house, as if he owns this party, as if he owns you, as if he owns everything," Cato said fiercely. "He doesn't have the right to order me around, Clove. This is my house. This is my party."
Why did you drag me away in the first place? I wanted to ask, but thought better of it.
"I know. I understand, Cato. And I'm sorry about him." He looked me in the eye and I can see myself in those beautiful blue eyes. I quickly looked away from him before I melt with his gaze.
"Clove, what is your relationship with him?" Cato asked after a moment of silence. Wait a minute. Did he just ask me that? Oh, come on, why would he ask me something like that? I looked at him but he simply looked away.
"He was my childhood playmate. We also used to train together but we were separated when I was accepted to be trained as a career tribute and he wasn't." I simply chose to tell him the truth.
"And you felt bad when you had to separate?" Why is he asking me these questions?
"Of course. We were friends."
"I see," he said, nodding slightly. "Wish me luck tomorrow before the reaping, okay?" I nodded and we smiled at each other. So far, his smile is one of the things that makes my day bright.
...
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