Stars | Cato Hadley

Chapter Fifteen

That night in the victor's lounge everyone was shocked at Roman's offer he made with Katniss. Haymitch Abernathy and Oliver Thaden were being stared at by the other victors of tributes that remained alive in the arena. Oliver moved his scotch away from his lips

"What? Why is everyone looking at me- us?" Haymitch hiccuped.

"Maybe we are all looking at you because both of you're tributes just formed an alliance to kill the Careers and take Peeta and Wren," Gloss snapped. Haymitch started laughing.

"Katniss wouldn't do that. She's a lone wolf," he made a howling sound as Oliver joined in. "Roman would totally kill everyone if it meant he could have Wren. God that boy is so in love with that little girl. He clearly doesn't handle rejection well." The mentor of the boy joked. Ariana Galde rolled her eyes and grabbed his drink once again.

"Hey," he whined, "that's mine." The woman dumped the contents into the nearest trashcan.

"You need water and a breath mint," she spat. Oliver pouted as Haymitch went to take a drink of his own drink, but the female mentor of District Ten snatched the glass from his hands.

"I'm cutting you both off," she said. "Go to bed. The both of you."

...

She woke up to someone shaking her arm. In retaliation, the girl quickly grabbed ahold of the person's wrist and twisted it behind their back. They yelped in pain and woke up anyone was that half asleep.

"Jesus Christ Wren!" Cato hollered.

"Sorry," she let go of him. "You scared me." She ran her hand through her hair before pulling her hair back up into its former ponytail.

"You guys can go back to sleep. Marvel, you stay on watch. Wren and I are going to go hunting." Cato commanded.

"For tributes or for food," Marvel joked.

"Both." Marvel's lips formed a thin line before giving the taller boy a quick nod.

Wren bent down and grabbed her backpack and placed it behind her. Her whips were now at her side and she was ready to go. Waiting outside of the Cornucopia for Cato she tapped her foot. A minute later Cato appeared with his sword in hand. Wren couldn't help but look him up and down. His blond hair still sat messily from sleeping and his shirt clung to his muscles.

"You gonna stare at me all day, Ten?" he teased. Wren's cheeks turned pink as she shoved past him. "Fuck off," she mumbled. Cato only smirked knowing she was checking him out.

The pair headed in a direction they had yet to explore. Patches of flowers dotted all around the trees, birds chirped happily, and the sky seemed bluer than yesterday. Wren would've thought this was a peaceful place if she wasn't in a battle against others to stay alive. She and Cato walked in silence until she heard multiple snaps. Her head snapped in the direction of the sound and to her surprise it was Cato. He was holding a bunch of yellow, purple, pink, and white flowers of all sizes. Her cheeks reddened realizes that it was a bouquet.

"I'm sorry Wren. For what I said yesterday. I tried to apologize last night but you fell asleep. So, this is me apologizing for saying that it wasn't a moment and that it was nothing. It was something. We can be something. I like you, Wren. Can we start over?" He handed her the flowers and she carefully took them. Cato lifted a small yellow flower out of the bunch and placed it behind her ear. He leaned down to kiss her but she took a step back and stuck out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Wren Eldrid." The boy chuckled at the semi-childish action.

"Cato," he said. "Cato Hadley." His hand met hers in a simple shake. "It's nice to meet you, Cato Hadley. Oh, and thank you for the flowers. They're beautiful." She smiled as she lifted the bundle to her nose to smell. An array of different scents hit her nose and reminded her of the flower fields back home.