Beauty and The Geek

Hallway Trouble

Cato

I lie my pencil down and walk up to Mr. Abernathy's desk, lying my test paper on his desk. "Woah, woah, wow!" He exclaims. "Blondie, how'd you get finished that fast?"

I shrug. "I just wrote down some answers," I say. Yes, I'm aware that I'm being a jerk but it's better then being the shy, sweet, geeky guy.

"Yeah?" He says. "I can't wait to see that your score is the worst in the class." He smirks.

I smirk back. "We'll see about that," I say and walk back to my seat.

"Hey," I hear someone say and look up to see a boy with bronze hair smiling at me.

"Hi," I say shyly. In case you haven't noticed, I suck at talking to strangers. Okay, Heavensbee didn't count, he was a teacher and I usually get along with teachers.

Me + Teachers = Teacher's Pet

You get it, right? Right. Well, I kinda don't want these people to know I'm a geek. So, my best bet is to make everyone think I'm a jerk.

"I'm Finnick Odair," he holds a hand out to me and I -very hesitantly- shake it.

"Cato Hadley," I say, letting his hand go then wiping my hand on my jeans.

He takes a seat in the desk beside me. "So, you're from Georgia, right?" He says.

"Yep," I say, popping the 'p'.

"That's cool," he says.

"Could you -um- go? Please?" I mumble.

He furrows his brows. "Sure, I'll go." He says and moves to a different desk in the back of the classroom.

The bell rings and I grab my stuff, walk out of the classroom, and down the hall to my locker.

"Hey, Cato." The short, raven-haired girl says as she approaches me.

"Hey, Shortie." I say, laughing a little while her expression stays stoney.

"Don't call me that," she hisses as she opens the locker next to mine.

"Why not?" I ask.

"Because, I hate being called that." She says and shoves books in her locker then slams it shut, slamming her hair and my shirt in it. "Ow!" She exclaims.

I try pulling both of them out of the door but she just shrieks in pain. "Be still," I say.

"Ow! That hurts, Jackass." She says as I continue to try and pull both items out of the locker door. "Shit!" She exclaims. I just yank her hair. "Ow! You did that on purpose!"

"Stop moving!" I shout, making her become still.

"Hey," I hear a voice and turn my head. I see none other then Finnick Odair with a worried expression on his face. "What's going on?" He asks.

"Um- ," I start.

"Fin!" I hear multiple voices say and see a group of people jogging to us.

"Oh my God!" The blond I ran into earlier exclaims. "Are you guys okay?" She asks.

"We're fine," the short girl says, trying to pull her hair out of the locked door. The bell rings and we all look around the hall at people fleeing to their next classes.

"Shit!" We all exclaim as the hallway quickly empties.

"Hurry!" The raven-haired girl says.

"Clove," Finnick says. "What's your combination?"

"It's in my back pocket," Clove says, reaching back and grabbing the slip of paper, sliding it out and handing it to him and he starts turning the knob to the combination.

"Got it," he opens the locker door.

"Finally!" Me and Clove let out breaths of relief.

"Well, well, well," we hear a voice and turn around to come face-to-face with a pale-faced, pink-haired, weird-looking woman. "Late for class, aren't we?"

"Um," a blond-haired boy starts. "You see, Ms. Trinket, we were- ."

She throws up her hands. "Save it," she says. "To the principle's office, now."

"With all due respect, Ma'am," I start. "You see, it's my first day and- ."

"I don't want to hear it," she says, pointing down the hall. "You're just as guilty as the rest of them."

We all turn around and slowly walk towards the office. "Bitch," I hear a dark-haired boy say under his breath.

"Don't think for a second that I didn't hear that, Mr. Hawthorne." Ms. Trinket says, walking down the hall behind us, her heels clicking on the tiled floor.

"This sucks," a girl with dark hair, whom reminds me of the boy with dark hair, growls.

Clove opens a door that leads into the office. "Ah!" My grandpa exclaims as we walk in. "Hello, Katniss and Peeta," he holds his hand out to shake their hands; which they do. "Gale, Glimmer," the boy with dark hair and the girl with blonde hair shake his hand, as well. "Johanna," he shakes a girl with short, dark hair's hand. "Finnick, Annie." They shake his hand too. "Clove and -oh-" he pauses at me. "The new student." Clove and I shake his hand.

He's pulling the "I don't know you" act. I think. Two can play at that game.

"Cato," I say. "My name's Cato."

"Oh," he says. "Nice to meet you, Cato." I just look around the room with a stoney expression and sit down, along with the others. "Now," he straightens his tie. "Why are these students here?" He looks at Ms. Trinket.

"They were loitering in the hall while they should have been in class," Ms. Trinket says.

The man nods his head, "Detention for a week." He says.

"But, Sir-" I start.

"All of you," he interrupts. "Starting after school." He says, making us all groan. "Now, get to class before I add another week." He waves us out the door.

Torturing kids, I think. His specialty.

We turn and walk towards the door. "This is stupid," Glimmer, the blonde girl, says beside me.

"It absolutely sucks," Johanna, the girl with the short hair, appears on my left.

"It can't be that bad, Guys." Clove says.

Gale, the boy with dark hair, lets out a hearty laugh. "Not that bad?" He says. "This is going to be Hell. We are going to Hell for a week, Clove, and you're saying it can't be that bad?"

She cringes a little. "I could be wrong, Gale."

"Yep, you've been wrong before, you're probably wrong now." Gale says, nudging her elbow with his while we all walk into Ms. Trinket's classroom together.