The Things We Lost In The Games- A Clato story

8.

Cato
When he woke up, his hands were still holding Cloves. Lucy, who fell asleep next to Clove, was now awake, smiling at Cato.
"You really love her don't you?" She asked, looking at Cato.
"What, why would you think that Lucy? You know district partners cannot love eachother, they can't even be friends." He smiled at his little sister while saying that.
"But you don't like that rule, Cato." And Lucy was right, he really didn't. But the next thing his smallest sis asked, made him want to laugh.
"Why don't you marry her Cato? Then she could stay here forever, and Tommy could be our sibling too!"
"You know, that's not how this works Lucy. Now go, join the others, I'm sure Helena will make you guys some pancakes for breakfast!" As Lucy left, Cato couldn't help but imagine himself marrying Clove. But he couldn't think about that, he knew that will never happen. Clove tought about him like a friend. The only time Cato tought she might like him back, was when he almost kissed her, after they decided to be friends. Well, they were friends years before that, they just never said it out loud, because everyone told them it was wrong. Because how can you be friends with someone you knew you might have to kill?
Helena took the little kids to school and daycare, so Cato didn't have to leave Clove. When she woke up, it was already noon.
"Good morning Cato!" She said, while sitting up in bed.
"Good morning to you too, princess. Or should I say good afternoon?" Cato asked, smirking.
"Oh shut up, I got beaten up yesterday, I deserved some sleep." Clove answered, looking into Catos eyes.
"By the way Helena asked for our clothes that are covered in blood. No one can see them, we don't want rumours about us."
Clove nodded, while Cato threw one of his shirts to Clove.
"I'll go change in the bathroom, you should stay here. And don't do any sudden moves, you lost a lot of blood yesterday, you could still faint." Clove rolled her eyes and smiled.
"You don't need to be worried about me, Hadley. I'll be fine."
Cato smiled too, and went into the bathroom. He tossed his T-shirt on the floor. It had Cloves and her dad's blood all over it. Cato hoped her dad is in pain and will burn in hell for what he did. He was a little ashamed for not feeling ashamed because of beating him. But he did it for Clove. And she was more important than anything to him. Which was probably not a good thing, since he might have to kill her. But he didn't want to think about that now.
A minute later, he heard a dull thumb. He threw the door open and found Clove sitting on the bedroom floor, leaning against the wall.
"Are you okay?" He asked. "What happened?"
"Nothing, I just.. got dizzy and sat down, but it's okay, I'm fine!" Clove answered. But she didn't look into Catos eyes.
"Shut up Clove, you're not fine and we both know that."
Cato picked her up then put her on the bed. "Now stay here. Please. I'll go down and get you some stuff. And we need to change the bandage on your head."

Clove
This time she listened. But she was scared. Scared of what's going to happen if she won't get better. But she will. This has happened before, and there wasn't anything wrong. But in the back of her head, a voice said that her father had never beaten her like this. And it was true. A few minutes later Cato came back with everything he needed to change the bandage on her head. He sat down on the bed, still not wearing a shirt.
"Okay, I'm going to take this off your head. It might bleed a little, but it should be fine." He said, but Clove noticed the worried look in his eyes. Then Cato leaned over her and started to take off the bandage. From the pain that came into her head she knew something was wrong. The last thing she remembered was that blood started streaming down from her forehead.
When she opened her eyes, she saw that Cato was still leaning over her. But this time he was putting a bandage on. On his chest there was a lot of smeared blood. Her blood. When he was done, he sat next to her on the bed. Then he said something that Clove really didn't want to hear.
"Maybe I should take you to the hospital." He said.
"No way. I'm not going. I can't." She answered anxiously.
"Why Clove? I know you don't like people seeing you when you're down, but it's different this time."
"I know. And it's not about people seeing me hurt. I don't want to go, because there is a possibility that they will find out why I'm there. And I really don't want that. Because of Tommy. If someone found out about my dad being abusive, they could put him up for adoption. And I really don't want that. So can we please wait for a few more days?" She looked at Cato and saw that he was debating.
"Okay. We can wait. But if you don't get better in 72 hours, you'll let me take you to the hospital. Deal?"
"Deal." She said, smiling at him.
They were sitting in silence for a minute, then she said something none of them expected.
"I wish I would've told you sooner."
"Yeah, I wish you did too." Cato answered, and Clove could see he was hurt because she didn't tell him before yesterday. So she explained.
"Cato I hope you don't think I didn't tell you because I don't trust you. I didn't tell you because I was scared of your reaction. That's why I wasn't afraid when I broke the window and Kai find out, because I knew he wouldn't do anything and..." But Cato interrupted.
"What do you mean when Kai found out? That jerk knew it for years and didn't do anything?"
"Exactly." Clove answered. "He didn't do anything, I knew in advance that he won't. That's why I wasn't afraid of him finding out. But not with you. You are pretty hotheaded Hadley, don't interrupt, we both know that. But I was scared. Scared of you trying to attack him, scared of him hurting you. I just wanted to protect you."
"I get it Clove, but who protected you?" He asked, looking into her eyes. And she couldn't answer. Because the one person who would've protected her was the one person she wanted to protect.