Clato: The forgotten love.

Chapter 18

Clove's POV:

My parents and Jade came in to say their goodbyes. All of them seem happy though. Then, to my surprise, Ian came into the room. "Clove," He says "Thank you, for volunteering. Cato would've fallen apart if his sister was in the games with him."

"I was going to volunteer anyway,"

"Were you?" He asks jokingly

"Shut up Ian,"

"Good luck Clove," He says, then leans in close and kisses me on the cheek.

"Times up!" a peacekeeper yells out, then he grabs Ian by the arms, leading him out of the room.

What just happened? Ian and I weren't that close, why had he come in to say good luck? Maybe he was worried about Cato.

I didn't have time to finish that thought though, the peacekeeper who had directed Ian out of the room was back and he was taking me to the train station. There are thousands of cameras at the train station each of them focused on Cato or I.

The train they kept the tributes on was beautiful. There was a huge kitchen island with food and pastries on golden platters. This was the most expensive place i'd ever seen, way more impressive than the places in two.

"Wow," Cato says, walking in behind me.

"Yeah," I say. "It's pretty cool."

"You may do whatever you like," Cece filed onto the train behind us. "Dinner is in an hour, your rooms are down there." Cece pointed toward two doors at the end of the hall.

"Cool," Cato said, and made his way to the back of the train. I can tell Cato is trying to keep up an "I don't care that I'm about to kill a bunch of kids and may get killed myself" kind of look.

I walked to the back of the train as well. I almost gasped out loud when I saw the room. A king sized bed sat in the middle of the room, a crystal chandelier hanging above it. There were drawers built into the walls, each one filled with fresh clothes.

In the bathroom there was a huge shower, with a panel on the wall filled with buttons for different types of shampoo, conditioner and other shower things. The first thing I do is use the shower. The hot water runs down my shoulders, that's when I start crying.

I knew I couldn't cry at the train station, I knew there would be cameras all over the place, I'm a career, people can't see me cry.

I hadn't really thought about my family till now. I don't know if I'll ever see them again, and Iris, I missed iris.

I looked at the clock that hung on the bathroom wall, it had already been an hour since we got onto the train.

I step out, grabbing the towel that hung from a little hook next to the shower. I walk back to my room, opening up some of the drawers on the wall. I pick out a pair of jeans and a cream colored sweater.

I walked to the main part of the train, where a long mahogany table was laid. At the table, sat Cato, Cece, Enobaria and Brutus.

"Nice of you to join us," Brutus says. I roll my eyes sitting down next to Cato. The food looks delicious. Slabs of meat, potatoes and green beans.

"So," Brutus said, in between mouthfuls. "What are y'all good at?"

"Cato's the best sword fighter in the whole academy," I say without hesitation. Enobaria scoffs.

"Please, every tribute from two is "the best in the academy" at some point" She said, using finger quotes.

"Well he is,"

"Oh sweetie," Enobaria is laughing. "And what are you? Best runner, knife thrower, ax murderer?"

"She is the best knife thrower," Cato interrupted. "Jackie said she was probably the best thats ever gone through the academy."

"I'm sure Clove's not the first person to be told that," Brutus picked at his potatoes.

Cato mumbled something under his breath. The rest of the dinner was fairly silent, Brutus and Enobaria throwing in tips every now and then. "You need to be feared," One would say. "Don't hold back, but don't waste all your energy in one fight."

After dinner, we're told to enter the sitting room, to watch the other reapings. A huge TV hangs on one side of the wall, a wraparound couch the other.

We sit down, the TV is already on, playing some sort of capitol channel. The logo for district one pops up on screen, a castle like structure with two knights swords on either side. The first to tribute seem like ok contestants, a cocky blonde girl named Glimmer, and a tall smiling boy named Marvel. Pretty much exactly what you think of when you think District one.

Next is us, I see myself volunteer, walk up to the stage and I have to admit I look pretty intiadating. So does Cato. He looks down right terrifying as he walks up that stage, he looks pretty hot too. I hadn't really thought about the whole situation that happened after he'd gotten hurt, I mean of course I still liked Cato, but it was just hard.

Next was district three, then four. The girl from five caught my eye, she seemed like the type to pretend to suck and then actually end up winning the whole thing. The rest of the districts went, no one really scaring me, until district eleven.

The boy was named Thresh, the girl Rue. Thresh was huge, super tall and super strong, just like Cato. The girl was only 12 years old, an easy target.

Next was district twelve, notorious for being the worst district. There had only ever been two victors from district twelve, some girl who cheated and charmed her way to victory, and Haymitch Abernathy. Who was drunk. He stumbled on stage falling into his seat next to the mayor. The escort from twelve read out the name on the paper. A little girl stood up from the group, her hands shaking. Great I thought sarcastically another twelve year old. I looked over at the wall, bored after watching some many reaping ceremonies.

"I volunteer!" a voice called out. "I volunteer as tribute!"

My eyes flicked to the screen. Pushing past people to get to the stage was a girl around my age, she ran toward the little girl who had been reaped.

"Katniss no!" the little girl yelled as she got picked up of the ground and carried away by a man.

"And what is your name?" the escort asked the older girl.

"Katniss Everdeen," Everdeen, the same last name as the little girl.

"Well I bet my buttons that was your sister," the escort said. Katniss nodded. Than the escort read the boys name.

"Peeta Mellark," Peeta Mellark was a tall boy, with sandy blonde hair and a strong build. He looked like a tough opponent but I think I could take him.

A/N this chapter kinda sucks but I was in a really bad writing slump and just needed to move on from this part, I'll definitely edit it when I finish the book and maybe before that. Thanks for reading and being patient with my crazy publishing routine. Main characters belong to Suzanne Collins