Love and War (A Clove and Cato FanFic)

Chapter 6: A Grand Entrance and a Glass Spilled

Cato and I stand next to each other waiting for the other tributes to arrive. Half of us are here but we’re still missing the other twelve tributes. I look at Cato again for the tenth time in five minutes.  We were wearing this gladiator looking costumes. We had helmets on and armor. It was a bronze color and it was hard to move in them.  I looked toward the door and saw more people entering.  I could hear the roar of the crowd through the big door. I looked at Cato again. This time he was looking at me. “Why do you keep glancing at me,” he asked.

                “I’m nervous.  Cato, I don’t…I just don’t want these games to come between us.” He turned towards me. He reaches out and takes my hands, which by reflexes I try to pull away but he has his grip as firm as he can make it without hurting me.  “Cato, stop. You heard Magna’s orders; we’re not allowed to show them that we have feeling for each other.”

                “And you’re worrying about me splitting us up? I’m trying to put us together.”

                “Well, you can’t do that in front of every other person in the whole world of Panem.”

                “Fine,” he whispered close to my ear. “But we’re not going to be split up by these mutts. I promise you that.” He leans back and I look into his eyes. They’re sincere and honest. His brown eyes had never looked so innocent and vulnerable like they have been the past few hours.

                We’re told it’s almost time to go. We both get up on the chariot and feel unstable. Well, I feel unstable. Just minutes later the Capitol anthem goes off and the gates open. The roar of the crowd grows louder as the chariots start to move. The tributes from district one look quite disgusting in their all pink outfits. That’s why I like being from district two because we don’t get to where stupid outfits.

                Our chariot starts to move and I knew I would need sponsors in order to survive the games. I didn’t really smile but I waved because the Capitol thinks of us as fierce and deadly so I couldn’t smile. The crowd loves us. They cheer and scream our names, Cato, Clove, Cato, Clove. I didn’t know how they knew our names yet, but the citizens here have ways of doing stuff that may be against the law.  They were still cheering ours names until the last chariot entered the circle.

                When district twelve’s chariot came out from behind the gate, they stopped cheering for us and started cheering for the tributes in that chariot. It sounded like they were shouting “Katniss and Peeta.” We weren’t supposed to turn around in our chariots, we were supposed to look forward, but every tribute was looking back at the tributes from district twelve. When I looked back, I found out why. They were covered in flames. They were probably fake. I bet I could were real flames and not be scared. I was already turning into a monster the Capitol wanted me to be. Then they did something no other tribute has ever done in all the seventy- four years, they held their hands together and up in the sky. They were representing themselves as a team. I turned back around and kept on waving, but they weren’t paying attention to us anymore, they were observing at Katniss and Peeta.

                We finally stopped in a semi-circle and President Snow came up and started his speech. He started off saying, “Tributes, we welcome you. Happy hunger games and may the odds be ever in your favor.” The he started going on about the history even though we already knew it by heart.

The chariots pulled back up into the room we started in and we climbed off of it. Alyc and Cato’s stylist, Magnolia, walked up and congratulated us. We didn’t really feel like being congratulated because we know that district twelve out-shined every one of us. We followed Magna into an elevator. She said that the floors are labeled by districts so we’d be on the second floor. The ride up wasn’t very long because the elevators here were made to move fast.

                “Who’s ready for supper,” Magna asked when we arrived in our living place for the week. She told us where we were sleeping.

                “I’m not really hungry,” I said. “I’m going to take this off and take a shower.” I slipped off to my room and flung the costume off. I stepped into the shower and scrubbed my hair and washed off the Capitol smell that was already on my even though I’d only been here for a few hours.

                I got out of the shower and dressed in a light blue shirt and black slacks. I brushed my hair and left it down, but I added a little clip that was in front of the mirror in my new room. Across from the mirror was a luxurious bed. I went over to it and layed down. 

I heard a shriek from the other room. Seconds later I heard a knock on my door. I sat up and walked over to the door. I opened it up and Cato had a big purple spot on his white dress shirt. He must have changed too. “What happened to you?”

                “Well, Magna got upset about the way I was talking to her so she threw her drink at me.” I couldn’t help but laugh. “I knew that would make you laugh,” he smiled. “I might need to change out of this before the night is over.” I smile at him. “What have you been doing in here?”

                “Oh… I just got out of the shower.” I shrugged and blushed. I never blushed but when it came to Cato, I did it all the time. “This is a lot of stress Cato. Did you see how district twelve was dressed?”

                “I saw them. They want us to play dirty. They want a rise out of us. And a rise they will get.” I looked at him curiously. He walked me over to the bed and sat down. “Clove, they don’t think we can be soft, loveable people. They want us to be evil. Tomorrow is the first day of training. I want you to do spears, bow and arrows, any other weapons besides knives.” His thumb circled my knuckle. “We know you love knives so save those for your individual training sessions with the gamemakers. I want you to show off. These little moments like this will be our only time together. We’ll be forced to be separated the rest of the time. So, we need to make the best of these little moments.” I knew what he was saying. He wanted me to be ruthless and devilish. I nodded. “I knew you would understand.” He leaned down and pressed his lips against my temple.

                “Cato…I-“

                “Clove, hush. You worry too much.” He smiled.

                “I just wanted to say… we’ll make the best out of what we have.”

                “That’s right,” he murmured into my ear. “I suppose I should be going, Magna’s drink is starting to reek.”He stands up, but I catch his wrist.

                “Cato. Don’t leave. I’m not going to be able to make it through the night.” I gaze up at him. He nods.

                “I’m going to go change.” I let go of his wrist, not sure if he is coming back or not.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update!!! I'm trying to get this out there so you can read it at once. I know i hate it when i read a story and it's not done yet so you wait for it to be updated and you kind of forget what it was about. WeLL!!! I shall not do that!!! I will keep you updated fequently!! Not sure how much I'll post today or tomorrow. And i have 50 reads!!!! That's so awesome!! I know i've heard from a few of you about this story, but i'd apreciate for feedback!! Thankss soooo much!!!