Meant to Be

Chapter 2

I couldn't believe what had just happened. Cato Hadley. The boy I used to like. The boy that, once I told him about my feelings, rejected me because he didn't think I could handle being in the games. Cato, the person I hated the most in my life. That same Cato had just volunteered to be in the Hunger Games, with me! What was he thinking?? Cato came up to the stage. District 2 now had two tributes that weren't anticipated from the start of the day As Cato stood by me, I nodded my head politely and then ignored him. Which was pretty simple since I had been doing it for the past year or so, ever since we broke up. But he kept staring at me, and it looked like he really wanted to talk things over. "Now here are the tributes from District 2, and may the odds, be ever in your favor!" The peacekeeper said, as two bodyguards escorted Cato and I inside a building. The bodyguards left us in separate rooms and waited for our friends and family to say our final goodbyes. I almost wanted to scream at Cato through the thin walls, but I knew that it would alert the bodyguards and didn't want to start a fuss about it. So I sat on a chair silently until my parents came in. My mother rushed to my side and squeezed me as tight as she possibly could. "Clove, you have to win, okay?" she said and I could see that she was trying so hard to fight back tears, but her eyes were already flooding "You can't let me go through the same thing that happened with-" she paused and started crying 10 times more than she had about a second ago. "I will mom, I will win this for him," I said and decided it was best that we didn't talk for the rest of the time so  just thrust myself upon her. When my father entered, he joined our embrace. A couple minutes passed and a guard came in"Times up. You have to leave now!" Not after saying our goodbyes did he escort them out. The doors slam shut. I just stood there, feeling  like I couldn't move. I was a stick. Unable to do anything. What had I gotten myself into? Did I really want to go around killing people?? I paused. Well of course I do! I have been trained to do so ever since I was 8 years old. And with that, withered that thought away. It all felt so peaceful here in the districts, and I knew once the gong rang in the arena, everything would turn to complete chaos and destruction. I wanted to soak up all of that calmness and took a moment to myself--then, Cato ruined it all when he barged in like an elephant.
"Clove Kentwell, the one and only. If we were in different circumstances, you'd probably be ignoring me right now."
"Is this why you volunteered? So I would be cornered and forced to talk to you? Now that's pathetic! Even for you!"
If he really wanted to talk to me, then why did he reject me in the first place?
"I volunteered because I felt bad for you. You will never last one day in the games"
He wanted to protect me. I didn't need him! I am perfectly capable of doing things my way without any help from anybody else.
"Well if I only last a day, then that means you wouldn't last a second because I would've killed you by then." He stood there, speechless. " Now look at who has the upper hand"I smirked and looked at him up and down to see if he would say anything, then began to walk away.
"Wait, please!' he grabbed my arm, "I'm sorry for causing you trouble. Let's face it! That happened years ago! We were both so young and naive, can't  we just forget about it and move on?"
Move on? I couldn't move on. Not when he still thinks I'm less of me and thinks that I need him, when I don't "No. I don't think that I can move on. You can if you want to but I-"
"Yeah, I guess I should've assumed that you would have said that" he said almost as if it was a whisper, "It was nice talking to you anyways" he waved an awkward goodbye then walked away. I waved back.
But I could feel how saddened Cato felt by my words. Should I chase after him? or stay here? I didn't know what to do, but I knew that the next decision I made would ruin any chance of friendship we had left.