Stupid Cupid: A Modern Clato Fanfiction [Completed]

Chapter 36

Clove sat up in her bedroom, staring at her computer. She was trying to finish the latest chapter she was working on, but sadly, nothing was coming to her mind. With a sigh, the girl shut her lap top down and walked over to her bed. Her phone laying on the duvet buzzed, signalling a new text message. 

Johanna: Heard about the shit that went down between you and Cato. Need someone to vent to? 

Clove: Sure.

Johanna: Okay. Be over in five minutes.

Johanna stuck to her word, and was walking up to Clove's room right on time. "Hey, kid!" she exclaimed, embracing the raven haired girl with a hug. When the girls pulled away, they couldn't help but give each other a fist bump. 

"Hey," Clove said with a small smile, taking a seat on her bed. Johanna sat down next to her, leaning against the headboard. "Go ahead and vent," Johanna told her, making sure to get comfortable. She had a feeling her friend would be talking for quite some time. 

"He's such an ass!" Clove started with, getting straight to the point. "First, he completely ignores me and ditches me. Then I'm just supposed to act like everything is fine and we're friends again? He says he cares about me one minute, and the next he's off sucking face with his stupid girlfriend! And he's so blind. I mean come on! Glimmer doesn't exactly have the best reputation. All she wants to do is sleep with him. 

"And, on top of that, he's become this jerk that just pushes people around. His ego has grown and he's just being brainwashed. He's a complete jerk to me and everyone else, for that matter. But it sucks that I still have to feel something for him! I hate how he can make me feel this way!

"He makes my cheeks heat up when he says my name or makes the butterflies in my stomach soar. He can make me laugh until my sides ache and he knows everything about me. He's the thing that keeps me going and I can open up to him. I hate that he can make me act like a total girl, but at the same time be totally myself. I hate that he has this control over me. 

"Most important, I hate that he makes me love him every damn day." 

Clove took a deep breath after her long rant. She truly did feel that way. There was, of course, much more to say, but she didn't want to bore Johanna with her petty problems. 

Clove sighed, racking her hand through her hair. Turning toward her friend, she asked, "Why does love have to be so complicated?" 

Johanna merely shrugged in response. "I blame Cupid." 

"Yeah, stupid Cupid." 

***

Katniss just got done presenting her art project to the rest of the class. She painted a landscape of the forest, because it felt like her second home and made her feel better about everything around her. Peeta painted as well, but his was a still life of a bread bowl. He admitted that he felt like himself when he was baking and in the kitchen, and it was his favorite past time. 

Most of the class had gone up and showed off their creations, and Clove bit the inside of her cheek. She hated expressing how she felt, which is exactly what they had to do. Cinna smiled as Peeta took his work and retreated back to his seat. "Next up is..." Cinna drawled, before settling on a student. "Cato!" 

Clove looked at the blonde boy as he made his way to the front of the room. She knew that he didn't want to disappoint Cinna, but at the same time, he didn't want to unveil his hidden talent. When Cato took the sheet from on top of his canvas, Clove's hand flew up to her mouth. No one in the room saw but Cato. 

"Well," he said, his eyes locking with hers. "I chose to paint because I felt like it was the best way to show off my skills. This scene is pretty much what it looks like." He painted the very picture he drew Clove before they went to the skating rink to try and woo Glimmer. 

It was her in December, standing on the ice. She had a smile on her face, and the only color in the entire painting besides black and white was the rosy pink on her cheeks, her red coat, and the very faint gold locket around her neck. 

"I did this because it shows a happy time in my life," Cato went on to explain. "This was a day I'll never forget and I spent it with the best person I know. Thank you." The class erupted in cheers. Everyone was stunned by the stunning piece if work that only Clove was aware that it was her in the picture. 

Everyone of course knew what Clove's meant. She decided to show how she felt, which came by no surprise to her peers. It was the way she did it though, that surprised them. "I painted a tree," Clove went to say, gesturing to her project. "A bare tree, with rope hanging from it. It shows pain and sorrow. That's why I used only dark colors. I wanted to show that humans can be broken, and how such things can result in death or something that feels like it, and heartbreak." 

"Ah," Cinna said intrigued. "And do you by any chance have a name to this magnificent painting?" 

Clove smirked. "The Hanging Tree. I call it The Hanging Tree." 

My Thanksgiving break ends tomorrow which upsets me. But my dad's birthday was today, so we went out to get Italian food. It was delicious.