A/N: Okay, so I feel like it's been long enough for another update (even though it's only been a few days, lol) so here it is. Pretty dumb chapter title, but it about sums it up. Enjoy :D

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

Chapter 18: Cato Climbs a Tree~

After narrowly escaping certain death at the hands of Effie and Johanna, Gale took Prim and Rory back to Katniss. Peeta was gone, he noticed, and he would be more than happy to take over his seat when they reached their destination. Gale had to admit, he was feeling pretty proud of himself right now. Katniss was sure to be happy that he had so readily (and successfully) brought Prim back to her, if only so she could disappear again.

Either way, he couldn't deny that he was expecting at least some sort of reward for his good deed. Nothing extravagant, of course - he could expect nothing less of Katniss - but he expected something, nonetheless. A hug. A pat on the back. Heck, even a smile would do.

Before he could get too far ahead of himself, Gale walked up to Katniss, still in her camping chair, with Rory and Prim close behind.

"Hey, Katniss, I got-"

"Shh, Cato's climbing a tree."

He stopped at her words, eyebrows involuntarily knitting together at the sound of the blond's name. Well so much for his reward. He wanted to give a snide remark or snippy comeback in response to her rather rude interruption. But she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at Cato, and Gale was just background noise.

Hmph.

Looking up, Gale spotting the spikes of blond far up in the tree that everyone - everyone! - seemed to have only the highest interest in. Gale rolled his eyes. So what? It was nothing to get all excited about.

Sure, he was pretty high up, and sure, Gale probably wouldn't have been bold enough to climb up that far, but he had his family to think about. If he got hurt, they wouldn't be able to eat. He didn't have time to go showing off in front of his buddies...family members. Whatever.

So...yeah. Gale was better than him.

Cato stood, wedged in between two thick branches, looking down on the world below - particularly, at Katniss. Again, nothing to worry about. Cato had already said he had no interest in Katniss whatsoever...but damn, the way she was looking at him! Like he was the most interesting thing on the planet! It really burned his insides...

With the attention diverted from him, Gale took a moment to calm himself. The whole reason he was even here was because of Katniss. She wanted him there. If she didn't, she wouldn't have invited him. So he had to mean something. Yeah. That felt better. It was stupid to get angry over something he had no control over...wait, that didn't sound right. People got angry over things they couldn't control all the time...

Gah, this wasn't helping.

Deep breaths.

"Hey, how's the view from down there?"

Gale's head snapped up, seeing that Cato was calling down to them. To Katniss.

"Pretty good," she replied, eyes squinting in the sun as she held a hand above her brow. "But how are you gonna get down?"

Cato looked down at his footing, neck craning this way and that for a good branch. "Like this." Holding firm to two branches above his head, he slowly lowered his right foot onto a lower branch, testing its stability before shifting all of his weight onto it.

The growing crowd that had gathered watched on in suspense, and Gale didn't bother keeping from rolling his eyes. What was so great about this guy? I mean, really? What did he have that Gale didn't? Nothing, that was what. There was absolutely no reason to get all choked up about-

"Oh, my God!"

Gale watched as a branch snapped and gave way under Cato's foot.

Everyone gasped.

And Cato began to fall.

He grabbed hold of a branch at the last second to keep himself from breaking a limb (no pun intended) on the not-so-soft ground below. Everyone sighed in relief. Everyone but Gale, that is. He glanced over at Katniss - her hands were at her mouth and her eyes wide with concern. He rolled his eyes again.

Attention-grubbing douche.

After another minute or so of watching on in 'suspense', Cato made it safely to the ground. He leapt from the last branch of the tree and shook the earth below with his landing in sickening grandeur. Cato got to his feet and, briefly dusting himself off, stood tall and gave his 'audience' a bow of bravado. The onlookers clapped and cheered, and Gale reluctantly followed in their lead. He was such a 'Mr. Perfect' it made his stomach turn.

Sickening.

One by one the crowd disappeared, and Cato made his way over to Katniss, his demeanor exuding confidence to the highest degree.

"Told you I could climb that high," He smirked happily, standing before her.

She shook her head, smiling. "I still can't believe it."

Prim moved out from behind Gale, and Katniss finally noticed her. "Prim! Hey, the games are about to start. You ready?"

Her sister nodded. "Yep!"

The young Everdeen girl beamed with happiness, and neither Gale nor Katniss could resist smiling with warmness at her.

"Games?" Cato asked in confusion.

Aaaannd the moment was gone.

Katniss looked back to him, all attention successfully diverted once again from Gale and Prim...oh, and Rory.

"Yeah. We have games every year. There's prizes for whoever wins. Anyone can join - you in?"

Cato smirked. "Where do I sign up?"

Gale cringed.

Like he said.

Sickening.

A/N: So was that okay? Too short? Too long? Let me know! :D

Anyway, the next chapter will have teams for the games, and the chapter after that will have the first of the games they play. At least, that's how I plan it. Not sure how many mini-games I'm going to have. We'll see.

Feel free to leave a review, but don't feel like you have to if you want me to update. I ain't one of those authors :P

'Til next time!