Panem High School

Calming Clove

Two weeks after Clove had gotten the boot for her ankle, she was still pissed as hell that she couldn't play.  Her whole team and friend group knew this (Katniss was now friends with them).

"I don't think you guys understand how frustrating it is to not be able to play!!  I mean, soccer is my life!  Even though I'm managing the team, it isn't the same!  I want to be able to be on that field and make a difference, not refill water bottles!"  Clove exclaims to them in the Commons after school.

"Clove, we get that that soccer is your life, but..."  Glimmer trails off.

"What, Glim?"  Clove demands.

"Look on the bright side of things!  Now you have time for other things besides soccer, like hanging out with us!  Your best friends!" Finnick tells her.

"Ugh, just stop Fish Boy," Clove rolls her eyes at him.

"Clove, you're being a little ridiculous," Gale tells her.

"Really?  I am?  Why don't you try being me, having a potential scholarship only to fuck up those chances because of an injury from TRYOUTS!" Clove yells back to him and then storms off.

Cato looks at everyone's shocked faces.  Peeta, Marvel, and Annie were staring wide-eyed at her, Katniss was speechless, Finnick and Gale just looked exasperated, and Madge was close to tears.  The most surprising, however, was Glimmer.  She was glaring at Clove's back with a determined look on her face.

"Glimmer, what are you thinking?" Cato asks cautiously.

"She's being such a drama queen!  I mean, yeah she deserves to be frustrated because she can't play but that doesn't mean she should blow up at us!" 

"Glimmer, let me handle this.  You're obviously angry too and an angry Clove plus an angry Glimmer is not a good situation.  Remember the Freshman Year Balloon Incident?"  Cato asks her.

"...Yeah, I do,"

"Good.  So let me take care of her."

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

Cato is walking around school when he realizes he should've known where she was all this time.  So he sprinted from the math wing of the school all around to the social studies wing and found her in the AP Psych room.

"Hey," Cato says simply.

"What?" Clove asks, still slightly fuming.

"I just wanted to check up on you, see how you were doing with your ankle and everything," he tells her.

"Let me guess.  Glimmer blew up about me being dramatic and you told her you'd come check up on me?"

"Look, that happened but I care about you Clove.  I don't want you to let one injury stop you from being the amazing, funny, beautiful woman you are."

"It's not that it's stopping me, I just feel like I could be doing something to speed it up, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, like when I broke my collarbone sophomore season.  I wanted to get back onto the field so badly but knew that the only thing I could do is support from the sidelines."

"Exactly.  And I feel like... actually never mind."

"What were you gonna say?  I won't ever judge you with serious things like this.  But all bets are off when you look stupid."

"Gee thanks."

"No, but really.  What were you gonna say?"

"I guess I feel like I'll be letting so many people down if I don't come back from this injury stronger than I was.  Because, like, everyone in this town knows who I am.  I'm their Christen Press, their Alex Morgan.  And if I don't recover and play as well as I and everyone else knows I can, I feel like I'll be letting not just myself but my family, you guys, this whole community down," Clove starts tearing up as she says this.