He was already awake by the time his escort came to get him. He didn't want to shower; he didn't want to wash his time with her away. He did want to wash the dreams that followed away.
He sighed as the water flowed down on him, trying to get himself in gear for the day. He'd have to put up with the incessant chatter of Clove and get a feel for the kids from 1. Either they would be a problem or not. He got dressed and stepped out, to find Brutus waiting for him in his room.
"I talked to him last night. I think the best plan is for you to stick with the careers, in the beginning. They will look to you as a leader, so you can get access to the cornucopia supplies and wait until the alliance breaks to meet with her. Then, you take it from there. Hay also says you need to get her a bow." He said, cutting to the point.
"I figured, why a bow?" He asked.
He tried to picture Katniss shooting; how would she have learned? The image in his head looked right.
"I don't know, that's all he said. Just go show off to the other kids, take charge of the group. You'll know when it's time to either ditch them or kill them in there." Brutus shrugged.
All Cato could think about during breakfast was her with a bow. Maybe she poached? She said her father taught her about edible plants, maybe he taught her to shoot too. But where would they get a bow?
The training room smelled sterile. Everything was silver, the swords, the floors, the walls. Up above them, the game makers, in their bright colored suits and dyed skin, looked like a flock of birds.
Psychopathic birds. Perhaps Katniss could get one with an arrow.
He scoffed at his internal musings and took a second to eye up the other tributes.
The guy from 1 looked like an absolute ass. Tall and skinny, and drooling over his district partner.
Was that a human Barbie doll? The giggled like it too. She reminded him of the girls back home, as she swatted at her district partner. He'd have to see their skills before he made a decision regarding how big of a threat they'd be. So far, he wasn't too worried. He doubted they were very smart.
Nobody else really stuck out of him as a threat aside from the guy from 11. Cato tried to remember his name but came up blank. He must have been thinking about Rue too much to notice. She stood close to her district partner. His massive frame slightly in front of her smaller one, she barely reached his waist. Her brown eyes darted across everyone before catching Cato looking at her. He gave her a soft smile and pointed at the instructor, silently telling her to pay attention.
She had the same distrustful look in her eyes that Katniss did, but she smiled back anyways before filling his instruction. A few tributes down from Rue, stood Katniss.
She looked as beautiful as ever, her hair tied in the braid again. Last night it was down, he missed the way her dark waves moved in the wind as she laughed with him.
She had looked almost carefree the night before, teasing with him and learning to trust. Now, she was on guard again. Next to her, Peeta looked nervous. He was a big guy, looked like he was strong. But now that Cato knew he was kind, he could see that in the boy's eyes. Not a fighter, maybe he was smart.
He turned his attention back to the instructor, and then pretended not to feel her eyes on him. If he looked at her now, he'd probably smile like an idiot. He needed the other careers to respect him before he could even chance it. He couldn't put a target on her back, not when Clove had already painted a bullseye there.
His skills with spears, knives, and a bow were above average, not the best. But he was better than Marvel, the boy from 1 at damn near everything. Maybe he was picked to volunteer because they wanted to get rid of him.
Clove, of course, was deadly with her knives. She played with them like toys, always hitting her target.
Glimmer, the girl from one, was about as interesting as her name. She was mediocre, at best. She demanded to spend half of the day at the archery station, and only hit the center rings of the target maybe 3 times. She was giggly and following him around like a lost puppy.
Cato was unsure how much more he could take before he snapped, and throughout the day he felt Katniss looking at him. He only got glimpses of her. A log dark braid in his peripheral, echos of her soft voice reaching his ears. Having to be so close, yet pretending like she didn't exist, was about as painful as the way Glimmer had been batting her eyelashes at him.
He didn't even see her at lunch. Marvels massive head blocked his view of where she sat across the cafeteria.
Seriously, someone should check on his mom. He has a head like a watermelon.
"I call dibs on the girl from 12. Just so that's clear." Cloves voice made his head snap up.
"No fair! I wanted that one" Glimmer huffed and stuck out her bottom lip.
Pouting over not being able to kill someone, is Glimmer secretly Snows granddaughter?
"I'm going to cut her into tiny pieces, show her what it's really like to burn. I- "
Cato felt his blood freeze at Cloves words. His heart pounded, and his nails dug into his palms, cutting open the fresh wounds from last night.
"No." he barely contained a roar, using his most commanding tone yet. He knew how to play deadly better than any of them. "12 is mine. Don't fucking bring it up again."
He glared at Clove, daring her to argue with him.
Their table was silent for the rest of the meal. Cato had won his spot as the leader.