Wide Open(Clato Story)-Editing

Chapter 2

 A year has passed since I have started the training with Cato. He is very different from the  boy I met a year ago. He is so selfish sometimes. I can't stand seeing him. I can say that since we started training together I became more confident in myself. I let go of the times he made fun of me. He and his  friends used to call me an orphan all the time. They knew it bothered me so much... Her death was a fragile subject to me. I never understood why would someone feel so much joy in reminding a girl about the murder of her mother everyday.

I never thought I will become that powerful in this small amount of time. My father keeps saying that I remind him of my mother lately. Her green eyes and black hair and her matching and amazing knife skills... She was just...Perfect. I start to feel a tear streaming down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away. I don't want anyone to see me like that. I should look anything but weak.

Today we are going to have a test that Mars told us about some time ago. Hand-to-hand combat...Not my cup of tea but I can handle. I am pretty good at it even though sometimes I struggle a bit. I end up right on the floor. I'm starting to think I will be good if I would try harder. Sometimes I get a feeling that I may not be enough. Not to me, not to the Games, not to my father... 

I get to the Training Center after I met up with my friend, Caesa. She is such a mess, but she is my friend. We met back when we were little. She lost her parents in a fire when she was six and she met me when she was put in the orphanage. She was there for me for most of my childhood: when my mother died, when my father got his grade of Head Peacekeeper at the Justice Building. We've been friends since then and we are connected deeply by our story. We are like sisters. We are the same age, the same height; the only thing which is different about us is our looks. Her red hair floats on her shoulders looking like  fire, burning in the sunlight, while mine looks like the coal that sets it ablaze. I like her hair more than she does. She says hers looks like an old bag of carrots while mine shines like a fresh pint of black paint. We complete eachother in ways that no one ever did before. She is my the only one that ever liked me for being myself.

'Are you sure you can handle today, Clove? I am worried about you. I feel like you are pushing yourself too hard lately.' she says.

'I am fine, Caesa. I have so little time left before the Games and I want to be one hundred precent ready for this. I need to come home as a victor! I can't let Cato Hadley win.'

'Is this what really matters to you? Some stupid victory? You can die there, Clove! What will happen then? Your father would be devastated and I can't lose you! You are my only family!'

'It will be fine. Do you trust me? I will go in the Games, win them and then all of my earnings will come to you! You would leave the old orphanage and finally be free.'

'I only have a year to endure here. I have managed so far. I can wait another year. I'll then find a job in the mine or in the factories. You don't have to do this!' she starts crying. She's always been a more sensitive type of person. 

'Calm down, please. I got this. Trust me, Caesa...'

'Ok, I am...'

 ' I will see you after training...I have to go now. Mars will be mad at me if I will be late' I say with a soft smile. I then make my way through the students, entering the class.

'You lose!' Widnes said to Cato.

 'I'm trying to perfect it 'he said angerly.

' Let's go, Clove! You are next.' 

 'Ok Be right there.'

Cato went past me and looked at me like in a way that made my stomach turn. He winks at me and I just scowl at him, giving him a hint that he should stop. I then start training with Widnes. He said it is just an usual fight and that I don't need to worry because he says I am good enough. Everything went fine after that.

Cato comes right to me after training. What is he trying to accomplish?

'What do you want?' I ask.

'I know you hate me and all but maybe we can try being friends...' He better be joking.

'No, thank you! After all you did? I'd rather feed myself knifes than be your friend' I left before he can get the chance to speak again. I feel some arms grabbing my wrists from the behind. I manage a way to escape from the grasp and turn around. To my surprise I see Caesa.

'Oh my God, you scared me. Never do that again. I could have hurt you, Caesa!' I scream.

'Ok, but the next time please tell me when you get out this early. You were supposed to stay three more hours! What happened?'

'Cato happened...He is just the looser he is. I will tell you later because now I really have to go home. My father said he needs some help with the cleaning today. The Mayor will visit us later. See you tomorrow.' I say and hug her.

'Okay, tell your father Miss Leather, the Orphanage-keeper, wants to talk to him about our security. Those bastards are getting out of hand again.'

'I will tell him right away.' I say and start running as fast as I can back home.

'See you tomorrow at school!' I hear her faint voice from behind. We do school besides the training...It happens three days of the week when we learn about the mountains, the history of the Games, how to properly make a gun and about Panem, our great country, with President Snow in charge. I love studying but I hate spending time there because of guys like Cato. They try to get under my skin. Many of them tried to make me like them in the past, but none of them really got the chance to do so. I have greater things in mind. I have never considered myself being someone's wife, being a mother and a nurturer to my loved ones. I prefer spending time focusing on my own growth. I want to make an impact in the world. I want generations to remember Clove Kentwell, the 74th Victor of The Hunger Games. Smarter, prettier and stronger than Enobaria herself. She is one of District's Two female victors, praised for winning her Games by biting off her opponent's throat. She mentors every year now. The Capitol loves her.

I arrive soon at home and to my surprise my father is not here yet. He is always at home on Sundays.

I wash myself and decide what to eat. The part of the district I live in isn't a luxurious one even though my father is working as The Head Piecekeeper here. He chose to remain here so he can feel closer to my mother. He is such a sad soul sometimes. I decide to make some oatmeal. While eating I begin to wonder...Tomorrow is going to be such a long day...I need to wake up at six o'clock  in the morning and go to training for an hour. After that, at seven I start school until eleven o'clock. Our teacher told us we will be watching a special video about our district and its beauty. About the way we rose up from the ashes after The Dark Days, about our nation's reborn and the forgiveness of the Capitol.  My classmate told me that these films are only for the stupid. That the Capitol is making us a piece in their game. Something easy to manipulate. He once told me that his family wants to run away to District 13... He was insane I am more than sure. District 13 is long gone...Gone with the rebels, with the war... I haven't hear of him after I told my father about this nonsese. Maybe they indeed made it to 13. We will never know what happened to them.

I brush my teeth and pin my hair back. I pick a knife from my mother's old set, the one that my father keepsakes. It's my lucky charm. I never miss when I use it and nothing can happen to me while I have it. I put it under my pillow where it stays all night and cover myself with the soft wool blanket. The feeling of my mother's love puts me right to sleep. 

<Carmen.