TWO YEARS LATER
Ok this chapter is two years later, the same as the last chapter. Both Cato and Clove are 14. Just a reminder.
Cato's POV
I wake up at five and head over to the academy. No one should be there at this time in the morning, and if someone was there it's not like they can make me leave – no one's got the nerve to stand up to me. I smile smugly at the thought. Being one hundred and thirty pounds of muscle while standing 5' 9" at fourteen has it's advantages.
As I approach the training room I notice the light inside is already on. Great. Someone has beaten me here after all. I think sourly. I open the door and find that the room is completely empty.
Pushing the thought aside I walk over to the spear section and pick one up. I turn to face my target which is at least seventy-five feet away, and throw. I hit the target dummy right in the heart. I throw a few dozen spears till it get's tedious. I decide to try something else.
I walk over to the knifes and pick one up. I don't really have a thing for knives but I'm ok. I choose a closer target, about 30 feet and throw. I surprise myself by landing the knife on the bulls eye.
"You're really good." I whip my head around to see a familiar looking girl standing literary right behind me. She's at least a foot shorter than me and has dark brown hair and green eyes. She has a few light freckles across her nose. She really is quite beautiful. Wait- what's wrong with me? I don't think girls girls are beautiful. I think they're hot or sexy, but not beautiful.
"Thanks." I say in a tone that says ' I already know'.
"What's your name?" She asks.
"Cato." I tell her.
"I'm Clove." She says happily. Looking over at this girl I don't know how she got a place in the academy. She's really small, almost fragile like.
I walk over to the swords and she follows me. I roll my eyes. She's like a lost puppy dog.
"What's your main skill?" She asks me.
"Swords." I tell her.
"I work with knifes." She says.
"Great." I say with fake joy. She walks back to the knifes and takes out a few.
"Mind if I practice here, I won't get in your way - don't want to accidentally lose a limb." She says seriously.
I nod my head. After that we go our separate ways.
...
I glance at her from across the training room. She's throw her knifes with dead accuracy. She turns around and throws one backwards without looking. It hits dead center. I shake my head slightly, trying to clear my jumbled thoughts. I select my favorite sword and begin.
I head over to about ten dummies and lift my sword and slash two in half with one swipe. The thing about these dummies is that they are designed like people, so it will take just as much effort to 'kill' this dummy as it would a person.
I slice off the head of two more dummies while taking off the arm of another with the same swipe.
I chop of the legs of three more and look towards the two remaining. I raise my sword above my head and bring it down on the dummies 'skull' and slice till I reach the neck. Looking at the last dummy I bring my sword down to its shoulder, cutting deep so I would hit exactly were someone's heart would be. I stare at my work with satisfaction.
"Hey, do you think you could maybe teach me to use a sword?"
I turn to face the girl from before. She's standing right behind me, again. I wonder how long she's been there. I can tell she's a little nervous, though she tries to hide it. I raise my eyebrows at her.
"Isn't that why we have trainers?" I ask her.
"Oh, I thought that you would be able to use a sword better." She says with an indifferent shrug of her shoulders.
For some reason I want to help her.
"Yeah, I guess I could help you." I tell her.
She smiles widely. I get the feeling she doesn't smile often.
"Can we start now?" She asks.
I shrug my shoulders. "Sure, it's not like I have anything better to do." I say.
She walks over to the swords and tries to pick one up but she can't.
I hold back a laugh.
"Hold on, I almost go it." She says with gritted teeth as she tries to lift it.
I walk over to her and pick it up with one hand.
"How did you do that?" She demands.
"It's made of Neptunium." I Tell her.
"What's that?" She asks.
"It's a really heavy type of metal." I say. "Pick up that one." I say as I point to a smaller sword.
She picks up the smaller one with ease.
"Now lift it up and slice." I tell her.
She lifts up the sword and brings it down on the arm of the dummy. It gets stuck half way through.
"Turn your wrist." I tell her.
She does and the sword cuts away the rest of the arm.
...
We practice for the next half hour, and she does improve.
When we finally finish she asks me shyly if I want to practice tomorrow. I tell her right after everyone leaves is fine.
She agrees.
Soon everyone starts filling into the training room. My friends pile in and walk over to me, completely ignoring Clove. "Hey man!, when did you get here?" Ask Clay.
"Oh I don't know, 'bout five or so." I tell him. I look over to Clove and a look of sadness flashes across her face for a second before she turns around and walks swiftly away. I don't let my eyes follow her. Yet.
"Hey guys." Calls my other friend Ivo as he enters the training center. I walk over to him and quickly scan the training center, but I don't see Clove any where.
How did she disappear so quickly?
"You ok Cato?" He asks me.
"What?" I say, not really paying attention.
"You seem a little distracted." He tells me while lookinng at me skeptically.
"Do I?" I say, still not paying full attention.
...
All through out the day Clove is in my mind. She's just a girl, get over it Cato. I tell myself.
My trainer starts to watch her and calls her over. "Hey, Knife girl, come here!" He yells across the training room. I'm surprised she heard him, giving that our training room is huge. She takes her knife with her and jogs over.
"Yes Sir?" She asks. "Your very skilled with that knife, I want to offer you a place in my group." Says our trainer, Maxwell.
She looks surprised.
"Ok, but isn't this an advanced class?, I'm only skilled with a knife." She says worriedly.
"That's fine, I'll teach you every thing else." He says. For some reason, this bothers me slightly. Wait, no, not slightly, a lot.
"I'll talk to your trainer after practice, you can go back to your old group, but be here tomorrow." She nods her head and turns around and leaves.
"How pathetic." Say Glimmer. I didn't even realize she was standing next to me."Wouldn't you agree, Cato?" She says while batting her eye lashes.
"No." I say coldly and walk away.
I've know for a while now that Glimmer has a thing for me and it takes all my will power to tell her to shut the fuck up and leave me alone.
I catch a sideways glance a Clove to see that she's watching me, but when she sees me looking at her she turns away. For the rest of the day I try my hardest to keep her of my mind.
...
By the end of the day I just want to go home. The second the head trainer says we can leave I'm out of there, not even bothering to wait for my friends. When I arrive home my house us empty. I roll my eyes.
My parents, both being victors, always are attending some social event. Sometimes they're gone for months at a time. I sigh. Just then my stomach growls. I really don't want to cook, but it looks like I have no alliterative. I end up making a salad. I hate salad.
Oh well, it's better than nothing. I think. It actually doesn't taste half bad.
After I finish dinner I sit down in front of the TV and watch old recaps of the games. At around ten I start to get ready for bed. Since if we get 'less than nine hours of sleep each night we will be severely punished.' Ha. That's almost laughable.
Almost.