Clato: The forgotten love.

Chapter 8

A/N thank you for reading this far into the story, this chapters kinda boring but It is pretty neccesarary. 

Clove's POV:

Iris come's rushing into my room at two in the morning.

"Someone's here to see you," She says, shaking me awake. She sounds worried.

"What happened?" I ask, thinking someone died. I'm exhausted.

"This kid Cato's here to see you. He has a bunch of little kids with him and he's wet and there's a big bruise across his cheek," She says, throwing some slippers at me.

I get out of bed and put on the slippers, why would Cato be here to see me, at 2:00 in the morning? "Were is he?" I ask, making my way over to the bathroom connected to my bedroom.

"He was on the porch in the rain, Mary let them in and now there in the front hall, waiting to talk to you," Iris says.

"What do you mean them?" I ask, still half asleep.

"Him and his siblings!" Iris says, a note of annoyance in her voice. "At least I think those are his siblings." She's speaking very fast.

I'm brushing out the knots in my hair. "Ok," I say. "Ok, lets go." I back out of the bathroom and turn the light off. I hurry down the stairs and see them sitting on the bench near the front. They look terrible. Cato's sitting in the middle, he has his arm around two girls on one side and a little boy on the other side. The boy is shaking, he looks so scared. I can tell Cato's scared too, but he's trying not to show it.

"Clover," Cato says when he sees me coming down the stairs. Why does he keep calling me Clover? He never used to do that.

"What happened?" I ask.

"My mom," he starts. "We just can't be at home right now." he clearly doesn't want to talk about it. "I was wondering if maybe, we could stay here, just for tonight." I don't know what to say. I don't know if my parents would want a random boy in the house.

"Who are these people?" A cold voice rings out. I look up, so does Cato. My mother is standing on the stairs, staring right at Cato, and then to me.

"This is Cato," I say. "My training partner." I add

"Why is he here in my house?" She asks.

"He ran into a bit of trouble with his mom and needs a place to stay,"

"Who is his mother?"

I look at Cato, not sure what to say.

"April Hadley," he responds.

"April Hadley?" my mother repeats.

"Leo Hadley's wife," Cato adds.

"Oh yes, the great Leo Hadley," my mother says, sarcastically.

"Mother..." I start to say.

"What is it Clove," she asks, her stare as cold as ice.

"Nothing," I reply.

"Thats what I thought, Now back to you young man. I don't believe you,"

"What?" Cato says.

"I'm looking right at you, you look wealthy enough," She says.

"Mother, that doesn't have to do with anything," I reply.

"Oh please clove, I thought you were a little smarter than this. Can't you see that he's trying to hook up with you. And he brang his siblings too, how stupid," My cheeks feel hot, and Cato's already turned a bright shade of red.

The older girl stands up. "Hello Ma'am," she says to my mom. " I don't know your name but my name is Emma Hadley. I couldn't help overhearing what you said to my brother's friend here, who I presume is your daughter," Emma quickly glances at me. "I can tell you're not a woman who I want to mess with, but I do want to tell you this. You're wrong about my brother. Sure he's had his fair share of girlfriends, but thats not why we're here tonight. My mom has been struggling these past few months since my Dad's death...," she pauses.

"She's a drunk," Cato buts in. "She hasn't been caring for us and tonight I finally snapped, she had been yelling and throwing things and I didn't want anyone to get hurt. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go."

"How did you get my address? Have you been her before," She was so direct it made me wince.

"No, I haven't," Cato replies

"Then how did you get this address?"

"I umm..." Cato doesn't know what to say.

"I gave it to them," both my mother and Cato gawk at me. "I gave it to them in case they got into a bit of trouble and needed a place to stay," I gesture around the house. "And we definitely have enough room." I don't know if my mom will buy it, but I hope she does.

"Fine," my mother seems satisfied. "They can stay in the room opposite yours. Mary, make sure the sheets are new." and with that my mother walks away.

A/N thank you so much for reading, hope you enjoyed this chapter. sorry if it was a bit short, next chapter will be longer and more fun.(it was super fun to write) anyways, please comment or vote, and definatly keep reading. The charecters belong to the wonderful Suzanne Collins.