Ignite The Flame Within | Cato Hadley X Male Reader | Vol. 2

16 ~ Johanna

Elora Sai was the most popular girl of the sixth grade; she was probably the most popular girl in all of my school. She was the person everyone wanted to be around, the person people wanted to be their friend. It could have been her beauty, or her intelligence, or perhaps it was her kindness. It didn't matter what it was, people just loved her. She kept her head high all through the rest of school and was able to retain her popularity up until it ended.

I remember the last day we had ever gone to school so vividly. It was the eighth-grade dance, our only dance, and a last big hurrah to the end of our poor education. People were swaying back and forward to the performers on stage, some searching for the food that was promised, disappointed when it never came, but what I remember was Elora was in the center of it all. It felt like the world was revolving around her.

Most of the boys and girls in school wanted to be with her, everyone asked her if she wanted to dance, but she said no. She walked over to me and asked me to dance. I was flattered, but I told her I wasn't interested, which caused the whole crowd around us to gasp in surprise. She laughed, probably also surprised, but took my hand anyway. "It looks like you can use a friend. This is probably the only party some of us will ever have, come and enjoy it," is what she told me.

It was true, at that time Sky was my only friend, and it felt nice to connect with someone else but him. The rest of that night was one of the best times in my life, not just because I was having fun with a friend, but also because I was the person people wanted to be, wanted to be with.

They immediately thought of me as a good person, because if Elora chose me I had to be. I liked that feeling when people genuinely wanted to be with me, and that's how I feel now.

Even if the situations were entirely different, and I probably shouldn't be feeling this way during this one, I couldn't help but feel some sense of pride. The people I was so scared of actually wanted to be with me. I had a chance to use them to get the ones I loved out, the only problem was, that I didn't feel very good about doing so.

The door to our room slides shut behind us as Johanna walks in angrily. I follow behind her trying to calm her down.

"Johanna we need to expand our options," I whine, the two of us making it to the center of the room.

"No, Y/n. We don't need them," she mumbles back with a frustrated voice. Mirren's head appears from behind the couch as he sits up from the position he was in.

"Johanna they are experienced fighters and-,"

"And what?" She snaps, "You're saying I'm not?"

"Johanna you know that's not what I mean," I sigh. Johanna was never the most trusting person, always skeptical of what a person's true intentions were. It wasn't a bad quality to have, just one that was extremely annoying in certain situations. "I'm just saying: both of us are still brand new at this compared to some of the others here. I just won last year, and you only won three years ago, we don't have that much compared to them."

"What would we need Y/n? We can both fight," She grumbles while pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Hello?" I say, "Sponsors. You don't exactly have the greatest reputation with the Capitol's people. That's one thing the others have over you."

Johanna doesn't answer, staying silent as she shuffles over to the couch and falls back next to Mirren's sprawled-out figure.

"What's goin' on?" He asks while moving his machine-wrapped leg away from Johanna.

"I'm telling her we need to make alliances with some of the others, but you know how she is," I say, causing her to roll her eyes.

"I'm telling you Y/n. We already have your whole group, and I can get Finnick too, that's enough," she says. It was enough, I guess, but I didn't trust Finnick. I know I had only met him once before, but there was something about him that felt off. He just always looked so confident, too confident. I didn't know what he wanted or what he was planning on doing, I couldn't read him the way I could read most people, and that frightened me a bit.