Kato: Forbidden Love

{chapter five}

Training lasted for ages and I am so exhausted from it. Luckily we have free time for the rest of the evening, no televised social events, no meetings and training involved. I can relax and sit back. How do they expect us to enter the games tired and worn out from doing hard training and barely sleep and then kill hormonal teenagers that have more energy than you?

My bed greets me softly and I just lie there with my eyes closed. I could sleep, I should sleep, and I would sleep if someone wasn't knocked at my door. I huff loudly before storming to the door in a rage. In open the door blindly before saying, "Peeta I don't want to hear it..." I stop having a rage and focus on who is actually stood at my door, Cato. I blush, why? Why didn't I check before screaming at the guy? "I'm so sorry Cato! I thought you were Peeta."

"I gathered." Cato says laughing it off. I laugh too because it is the only thing I can do while he is stood at my door. "I wanted to ask you if you have been on a tour of the whole place yet." A tour? Why would I have been on a tour? If there is anything to see in the first place. I shake my head in reply and Cato smiles. "Can I take you on one?"

My face contorts slightly. "I was going to sleep..." Cato's face drops in disappointment. He looks like a lost puppy at the moment and all because I was going to say no. "...but what the hey!" I say throwing my hands up in defeat. Cato smiles slightly and I step back into the room to change. "Just give me two seconds." Cato nods as I close the door.

What do I wear when I am going on a tour with someone I am trying to impress? What should you wear? I never had classes on this like ladies in the Capitol would have. I have no idea about what I should wear or how I should act around someone I am trying to impress and be friends with. I have never been good at making friends in the first place, let along keeping them close.

I decide on a floral camisole made from a fine silk and a pair of rough bottoms that feel like the material I have on my bed back home. They are washed blue and once they are on they are tight and cling to my legs. For shoes I will wear some black pumps. I had a pair just like these back home for school but they ripped easily. They had many scrapes and tears that mother had to sew up. In the bathroom I use a hair tie and tie my hair in a plait to the side because it is simple and suits me I think.

Cato still stands outside the door as I step out easily. I smile uneasily as we go to walk down the hall. And Peeta just has to be out of his room walking down the hall at this exact moment. "Tributes aren't supposed to be in each other's apartments." Peeta says with a sly smile. I glare directly at him; he just has to be this way because he is a idiot and wants to make enemies before the games.

"Hey, I was just taking Katniss on a tour because we need to talk about our strategy." Peeta steps back a little, is he surprised that I am paired with Cato now? Maybe he is thinking of a way he can escape from this encounter that he has wrongly decided to make, that would be a good reason.

I sigh and Cato stops before he speaks so I can, that is good team work. "There isn't even a rule that states that Peeta. So stop being a liar and let us leave." Peeta bites his lip, stopping himself from speaking back to us and walks straight back into his room without another word. Cato lets me walk first so I do and we walk down the narrow hallway in single file.

Haymitch would make a snide comment about Cato being here but he is passed out on the sofa after drinking so much. I don't know whether I am glad he is passed out or not. Because he is a drunk he will not give us enough advice to survive but I suppose it isn't his fault he is a drunk, it is the Capitol's fault for sending him into the games and making him endure the pain.

We leave the apartment without even seeing Effie, maybe she is at some kind of meeting or just sleeping in her room. I never see her go to her room; maybe she does it after we have gone because that's an escorts rule or something?

"Great job in training today!" Cato says happily, complimenting me now. I nod as we get to the elevator. It speeds up quickly; I believe that district three would have also made the elevator systems.

We end up on the top floor in no time. How come no one ever gets in the elevator when I am in them, are their others for other districts? It’s a question that has been playing on my mind since we got here because every time I step into that elevator not another person is present but the people I am with and the elevator is built for up to twenty people at least.

Cato starts walking down a hallway and I don’t know where I am going so I follow him blindly. Maybe he is going to threaten me? Or tell me about the plan. Two very different thoughts combined into one which scares me. I can’t trust him, can I?

We stroll down a dark hallway that has grey walls and grey hardwood floors. Everything is dark and dull, maybe it is to stop us from getting ideas. I heard that if you darken everything then all unique ideas that are against them are eradicated.

“Where are we going?” I ask, catching up to Cato as he walks on fast. He smiles and links his hand with mine. I pull back almost immediately and we both stop. “I don’t think we should do that.” Cato smiles at me and nods, agreeing.

Cato pulls a door open to reveal a set of stairs. “Walk up those stairs.” Cato says to me happily. I am suspicious in this moment but still I walk up the stairs but slowly, cautiously.

Then I reach the top of the stairs and I can’t help but gasp. I swear I feel a tear, it is beautiful. There are two chairs and a table with a red table cloth. In the middle is a rose in a glass jar. This is nothing like I have seen before. And I can see the whole city with its shimmering lights. “Cato...” I turn to see him with his hands in his pockets awkwardly. “This is so...beautiful.” I stop and think for a moment. “Why did you do this?”

“A beautiful meal for a beautiful girl.” Cato says, walking over to the table and pulling out a chair for me. I sit and he sits across from me. “I thought it would be nice to give you a meal. We can chat.” Cato shrugs. This seems all too nice for me. But maybe I do deserve some nice food with my partner in crime?