Love and War (A Clove and Cato FanFic)

Chapter 12: New Careers

The boy from district nine haunted my dreams. I woke up by a rustling in the bushes. Cato and Glimmer were back and sleeping peacefully. Everyone was sleeping but me. I got up and walked over to the tree line where I heard the bushes moving. I looked down and saw the boy from district three. I gripped the knife in my hand. “Pl-please don’t kill me.” He stuttered.

                “Why shouldn’t I?” I spat at him. I felt a presence behind me and turned around. Cato stood behind me. I turned back to three.

                “I-I’m good in mines. You know the mines they set up at the very beginning of the games and if you step off your plat form, you get blown to smithereens?” We nodded. “If you put all of your supplies in a pyramid, I could rewire them and so if anyone steps on them, they’ll get blown up.” Cato looked like he was considering it. He eventually nodded and I could see the glee in the kid’s eyes. He crept out of the bushes and made his way to the first mine. He was on it. We left him to it, and by the time we got back, the others were awake. They were asking a lot of questions. I decided to ignore those questions and start piling the items in a pyramid. By the time everything was established and explained, I was nearly done stacking the things. Cato noticed and jogged over. “What are you doing?” He asked.

                “Someone had to pile everything up and you were too busy chatting with your new BFF’s.” He looked hurt, but I wasn’t aching. I was proud. He had wanted nothing to do with me since we arrived in the arena, so I was going to treat him the same way. I walked away toward the river so I could scrub my hands. That’s when I saw Fire-girl. She ran into the river and sighed. What was wrong with her? Why was she coming over in our territory? “Cato! Come here! Quick! Bring everyone else with you too.” He came running up, the other two trailing behind him. When he saw Fire-girl, he whooped. WE all started chasing her, but by now she was already out of the river and running from us. We chased her and she started climbing a tree. Cato took his sword out and started climbing up the tree, but fell down again. He looked aggravated. “Take the bow.” Glimmer flirted. He grabbed the bow out of her hands and aimed an arrow at Katniss. It missed by a few feet. Glimmer grabbed the bow back and pulled it back. Her arrow missed Katniss too. We decided to just stay overnight.

Everyone was asleep now. I tossed and I turned, but I couldn’t fall asleep. I looked over at Cato and glimmer for the tenth time. Glimmer was using Cato’s arm as a pillow and they were snuggling. It made me sick. Thinking about it, I actually felt sick. I got up and stumbled into the woods. I leaned against a tree and looked around. I heard a rustle of tree branches behind me. I turned and chucked a knife at the sound. I hit the tree next to Cato’s face. “Gosh Clove. Who knew you could be so violent?”

                “I did.” I spat back at him. I turned and started walking farther into the woods. I was determined.

                “Clove, wait! What’s wrong?”

                “Nothing!” I shot back. He seized my shoulder and turned me back towards him. He let go of my shoulder and took a step towards me.

                “Clove, what’s wrong? You’ve been mad ever since we got here.” His voice was kind and gentle, but his eyes burned with adrenaline because it was only day one of the killing feast and he was enjoying every bit of it. I stepped away from him, but he took another step towards me. We did this until I realized this was his trick. I was now pinned between his chest and a tree trunk. He tucked a piece of hair behind me ear and whispered, “Clove, what’s wrong? You can tell me anything.”

                “Why don’t you go see what’s wrong with your girlfriend? You seem to be pretty close.” I glared at him.

                “Glimmer? You think I like Glimmer?” He laughed. “I only care about you.” I wasn’t sure how to take this information. He didn’t even give me a chance to give him an answer. He pressed his lips against mine and I suddenly knew he wasn’t lying. I gripped his t-shirt and he ran his fingers through my pony-tail. I pulled away and put my hands on Cato’s chest. He was breathing hard and so was I.

                “Cato, there’s camera’s everywhere. They’re going to catch us.” He was getting ready to say something when something made a noise behind a couple bushes. Cato walked over and dragged someone out by the hand. The person Cato was dragging was not who I expected it to be. It was Lover-boy.

                “How long were you standing there?”

                “No-not very long.”

                “Why are you here, bothering us?”

                “I wanted to know if I could join you guys.”

                “Join us? We’re not some little club you can join at school. It takes years and years to become a Career. You are nothing but district twelve scum.” Ouch, that would hurt anyone. Lover-boy looked like he might cry.

                “I know how to find her. I know that you have ‘Captured’ her in the tree, but if she does make it out, I bet I’ll be able to find her.”

                “And you think that’s going to make think you belong with us?”

                “Yeah. I know you don’t like Katniss, and I want to help you get rid of her. And I won’t tell anyone about you two.” He nodded towards me. I looked away because I don’t like to be caught. I knew Lover-boy had seen us kissing. Cato looked at me and I blushed. He understood.

                “Fine. I suppose you know where we’re sleeping, go there.” Lover-boy started to walk away but Cato spoke again. “Wait! Come here.” Lover-boy turned around and walked back towards Cato and I. Cato grabbed his hand and slid a knife out of my weapon belt. He sliced a perfect X on Lover-boy’s palm. “If Glimmer or Marvel asks about you, show them this. They should be asleep though.” Lover-boy nodded and practically ran to our camp. I turned at looked at Cato. “I’m sorry Clove.” He wrapped me in his arms and held me there.

                “Cato…I’m sorry I thought you and Glimmer were…you know, together.” He shrugged. “No, Cato. I’m sorry.” I leaned against him and our noses almost touched. “I saw you with her and it took over me.” He closed the few inches between us and kissed my lips lightly, but I wanted more. I pressed my body against his and ran my fingers through his spiked hair. I was crushed between him and the tree. I wrapped my arms around his neck, but he quickly unwound them and pulled away from me.

                “Clove, we can’t.” His eyes were still closed, but he was backing away from me. “Like you said, there are cameras everywhere.” I was shocked.  I could no longer see him anymore. He back at camp with Glimmer, Marvel, and Lover-boy. I made my way back to camp and laid down in the spot I was before. I fell right asleep, with a little peace in mind.