"I don't understand," I start, "Why don't they hate me?" I finish. We had just had dinner. Everyone was so nice to me. Even the ones I killed. Katniss hugged me. Me. I killed her. I didn't know what was going on.
"They're happy, Clove. They have it so much better than they did in Panem. And you are the reason why. You may have killed them, but dying was the best thing that ever happened to them." Cato tells me as we walk to my room.
"It still doesn't make sense. Why aren't you mad at me?" I ask. We reached the door and I lean against it, facing him.
"Clove, all I wanted was for you to win. For you to be happy. I wanted us to be together but I knew that we couldn't. And now, against all odds, we are. And there is nothing that can make me mad about that. Everything worked out, Clove. I can't be mad." He finishes and kisses me on the forehead. I smile up at him and he smiles down at me.
"I love you," I tell him, "would you like to come in?" I ask him.
I go up on my toes to kiss him and open the door to my room and walk in, Cato following closely behind me, his fingers entwined in mine.
I walk over to him and grab the collar of his shirt.
"Clove, you need to get your rest." He tells me.
"Right," I kiss him, "now?" I kiss him again.
"Yes." He says and lifts my face to his with my chin.
"Fine." I say and kiss him. I bite his lip again just to show him what he is missing. I walk over and climb into my bed of fluffy white goodness. I sit up and look at him, he looks back at me. I raise one eyebrow in question and he rolls his eyes and chuckles and comes over and slides in between the covers next to me.
I look at his face. I see a very straight cut above his eyebrow. I take it in my hand and rub it with my thumb.
"What happened?" I ask him.
Cato sighs. "It's from one of Katniss' arrows." He says.
"What?" I say in disbelief, "From the games?" I am shocked.
Cato only nods. But I am furious.
"But they said that all of our scars were gone when we came here." I explain.
"Our scars are never gone, Clove. We only choose to hide them." Cato tells me.
I look down at Cato's chest. There is no sign of a cut or even a bruise. "Is that why you don't have a scar?" I say, face hot with fear.
"Clove I…" Cato starts.
"Don't hide from me." I say as I rub his eyebrow again.
Cato sits next to me. Both of our eyes are fixed on his bare chest. Slowly, a mark begins to form. And then it gets bigger and it starts growing and growing. Cato's eyes are fixed on my eyes which are fixed on his scar.
Cato's jaw clenches each time the scar grows. I place my hand over it, to hide it. But then the scar becomes bigger than my hand and I cannot possibly cover it. My eyes become blurry with tears. My breathing becomes fast and the room begins to shrink around me.
I begin to cry and I feel childish. Cato is the one with the huge ass scar and I am bawling my eyes out.
"Clove," Cato starts. He pulls his arms around me and I feel better. My breaths become sharp and heavy as I stare at the scar. I lean down and kiss his scar and Cato laughs.
"If you didn't win, Clove, I would have." He starts and I feel even more horrible, "And if I won, we wouldn't be here. I would have never been able to kill you, Clove. Never." He finishes and looks into my teary eyes.
I feel a tear begin to fall down my cheek and Cato wipes it away with his thumb.
"I am so glad everything happened just the way it did. But I was heartbroken when you died, Clove." He says.
"I was too." I begin, "But as soon as I found out that I would see you again, I wasn't afraid anymore." I told him, smiling.
"I don't want you to ever be afraid with me, Clove, never." Cato says to me as he kisses me gently on the forehead.
I smile and yawn and then I realize how tired I am. I lay down in the bed and Cato wraps me in his arms.
That night I fall asleep using Cato's chest as a pillow as he stokes my hair.
The next morning I wake up far on the other side of the bed from Cato. I turn over and see that he is looking at me.
"Were you watching me?" I ask him, smirking.
"I just can't believe you're here." He says as he leans over to kiss me. I stop him before he does however.
"Well believe it." I say and kiss him softly. "Let's go get breakfast." I say sitting up. I look down at Cato because he isn't getting up.
"Right now?" he asks me, a devilish grin on his face.
"Yes, right now." I say looking at him sternly.
"How about now-ish." He says pulling me back down in bed on top of him.
I giggle as I kiss him for a few minutes, giggling, and then pull back. I look at my wrist and pretend to look at an imaginary watch.
"Well would you look at that." I say, taking a quick glance at him, "Its ish o'clock." I say smiling at him.
Cato rolls his eyes at me and kisses me softly for only a second before we both stand up and walk out the door.
Breakfast was the first time I saw all of the tributes. Truly saw them. They weren't trying to kill each other, they were just being themselves, all together. Honestly, it was weird. I never thought I would see this.
Soon I see Glimmer and Marvel walk in together and my heart stops. Glimmer. She was more of a friend to me in the games then anyone could have ever been anywhere. I didn't realize how much I missed her until I found myself running towards her.
I guess she missed me too, because when I looked up I saw her running towards me too. The room felt as if it was growing, stretching Glimmer and I apart the closer we got to each other. Then I find myself flinging my arms around her neck and hugging her.
"I missed you so much." She said to me.
"I missed you too." I said back, smiling. I wrap her in a hug again before everyone sits down to eat.
Breakfast was amazing. I never knew how bright and wonderful all of these kids were. Brooke, the girl from 4, had made me a necklace out of weaved twine. It was beautiful. I thanked her and put it around my neck. I loved it.
I met every single tribute. I mean, really met them. I never knew all they had to offer. They all should have made it out of the arena.
As we eat, Kayla, the girl fro 8, was singing a beautiful tune. I had heard it before, but I didn't know when.
"What is that?" I ask her.
"Oh, it's called the valley song." She says, "Katniss taught it to me." She glances over at Katniss who is watching little Rue.
Then I remember where I heard the song before. When they played the video after I got out of the arena they showed the scene where Marvel killed Rue. It was a tearjerker for the audience. I remember that the valley song was what Katniss sang to Rue as her last request. I bite my lip to keep myself from crying.
"Oh," I start, "its pretty." My voice cracks ever so slightly, but no one seems to notice.
I spend the rest of the day with my new friends. I found four other 16 year old girls and we all seemed to bond quickly. So Glimmer, Katniss, Willow, Embry, and myself all went into Katniss' room to talk.
I watch Katniss and listen to her and suddenly I hate myself for killing her. This girl is so sweet and she had a family back home and I took that all away from her.
"Did you guys hear about Emma (6) and Dean (9)?" Willow asks, "she told me they were an item now."
"What about you and Cato?" Katniss asks, turning to face me. "He was so excited that you won. He thought he would never see you again. You guys are so adorable." She finishes, smiling at me. I can't help but let my whole face be taken over by a smile.
"How about the star-crossed lovers of district 12?" I ask her. She just rolls her eyes at me, but I see her cheeks flushing. I smile in return, I am so glad that they are happy.
We didn't even realize how late it was until Peeta walks into the room, clearly not expecting 5 girls to be in there.
We all stare blankly at Peeta who walks nonchalantly in through the door with no shirt on. He looks up at all of us and his face turns tomato red.
"oh!" he says, "I didn't think there would be anyone in here." He nervously looks around at all of our faces.
"yeah," Embry starts, "we were just leaving." She finishes and we all nervously agree. I wink at Katniss before we all hustle out the door.