Love or Hate || Modern Clato Fanfiction

SEVEN

CATO AND CLOVE BEGAN getting closer as time passed, with them goofing around in history lessons and texting every night. Clove eventually grew accustomed to the way he would tease her about her height, and would often feign offense to see him apologise profusely. Not many days had passed that they didn't talk; only a few when one of them fell asleep before dinner even started. Finch still didn't know that she would talk to Cato so much, and to Clove's knowledge, neither did her cousin. In a way, Clove liked that she was able to keep their friendship from all the people in her life that would constantly worry about what she was getting into. She didn't need all the nagging and warnings, because from what she could see, Cato was simply a guy that she was able to talk to and joke around with.

The subject of who she texted so late at night never came up, so she assumed that Finch didn't know about it yet. Clove knew that she was bound to find out either from suspicion or by simply seeing it on her phone, and Clove never thought that that would be an issue for her, but she was terribly wrong.

Finch and Clove sat down at their usual table and knowing that the others wouldn't be joining them, Finch asked the question that she had been itching to ask for the past week. "So, Clove, you would tell me anything, right?"

"Depends what it is," Clove said, her voice full of suspicion.

"Let's just say that you, hypothetically, had a boyfriend. You would tell me, right?"

"Yeah," Clove said, her eyes narrowed slightly. "So, why are you asking?"

"Well, you know, I've noticed that you've been texting someone every night until 3AM," she said, raising an eyebrow. "And, of course, I want to know who it is."

"That's what this is about?"

"Yes, it is, and I'm not going to stop until I get an answer." Finch said, a determined look gracing her features.

"Fine, I've been texting a guy from one of my classes." Clove shrugged as she stabbed a cherry tomato sitting on her plate.

"Named?" Finch said as she gestured for her to go on.

"Cato,"

Finch's eyes widened as she dropped her fork with a loud clank and turned her head towards Clove. "As in, Cato Hadley?"

"Do you know another one?" Clove said with a faint chuckle.

"Do you realise who he is?"

"Yeah, he's the guy from my history class." Clove shrugged slightly before looking up at Finch.

Finch sighed slightly before beginning to speak. "Okay, he's not just a guy in your history class. He's got a reputation and let's just say, it's not a good one." Finch hesitated slightly before continuing. "He's kind of a fuckboy." Clove's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she began to think. Her initial impression when she met him was that he would be a fuckboy, but after meeting him and talking to him, that thought eventually faded away.

"Doesn't act like one," Clove said casually as she began eating once more.

"Okay, but just—be careful," Finch looked over at Clove, her expression full of concern. "Okay?" Clove nodded lightly, turning the thought over in her mind. She wasn't sure why, but it bothered her that she was just finding this out now. In the end, he would still be the Cato that she had known since the beginning of term, but that didn't change the fact that this would change her views on him.

The day went on, and to Clove's dismay, history was the last subject of the day. She didn't want to talk to Cato just yet. She wanted longer to figure out if she wanted to confront him about it or not. She knew that it wasn't that big of a deal — something she told herself that continuously throughout the day — but the thought still sat sourly in her mind. She didn't like the fact that that was who he was, or the fact that he could be pretending to be her friend in order to get in her pants and then leave.

Wiping the thought out of her mind, she passed through the doors of her history classroom. Her eyes flickered around the room, trying to spot Cato, but his bright blue eyes were nowhere to be seen. Letting out a breath that she didn't know she was holding, she sat down in her usual seat and bent over to take out her book.

"Boo," A deep voice said from behind her as two large hands slapped her shoulders lightly. Her shoulders shot up slightly as she whipped her head around, only to see a boyish smile spread across Cato's face as he stared down at her, his eyes gleaming in the afternoon sun that filled the classroom.

"Hey," She said before picking up the book that fell from her hand. Placing it on the table, she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and looked down at her book.

Cato looked at her sceptically. "What's wrong with you?"

"Excuse me," Clove turned her head to look at Cato, scowling slightly.

"Whoa, calm down," He said, putting his arms up in defence. "I'm just saying, you're acting a little weird today."

With a sigh, Clove began. "Okay, earlier today, I heard a rumour about you," Cato's expression immediately tensed as he cracked his knuckles. "Would you like to take a guess at what it was?"

"Look, Clove, I don't know which rumour you heard, but that shouldn't change anything, right?"

"Wrong," She started, her expression emotionless.

"You heard the rumour that I am a fuckboy, didn't you?" She nodded, keeping her expression stoic and waited for an explanation. "Okay, I'll admit that I was a bit of a fuckboy in the past two years, but I swear that I'm not trying to do anything with you."

Clove stared at him sceptically, trying to figure out if he was lying or not. She'd never been very good at looking for signs of lying, and any decent liar would be able to get the lie across undetected, but something told her that he was being truthful. Not trusting her gut instinct at all, she decided that she would just go along with it but keep a close eye on him in case he was lying.

"Fine,"

"You believe me?" He asked, as shock sweeped over his features only to be replaced with a stoic mask a second later. Clove nodded cautiously, but didn't replace the slight scowl that had found its way onto her face. The rest of the lesson passed with some of their usual conversation sprinkled with a bit of awkward silence and tension. Clove noticed that Cato would fidget with his fingers when the periods of silence began and how he would often glance at her with worried eyes. When he spoke, he seemed more cautious with the things he said, adding to the awkwardness that started at the beginning of the lesson. The moment the bell rang, Clove hopped out of her seat and gathered her things before leaving Cato without a word.

Clove headed straight to the pools, needing a distraction to clear her mind. She didn't know what to think at this point, but she did know one thing, and that was that she couldn't trust Cato Hadley from this point onwards.

——— AUTHOR'S NOTE

i'm so sorry that this took so long to write and that it is still so short. i really wanted to write more, but i kinda have writer's block and it doesn't help that i've been getting a shitload of school work. i hope you all enjoyed it anyways, and i promise to try and post the next chapter soon.