TWISTED // Clato | ✓

Chapter 8: Star-Crossed

CLOVE'S POV:

Why can't I bring myself to say anything to Cato anymore? Why do I keep feeling like I did back when I was at school trying to catch his eye? What's been broken between us and can it be healed?

I try to tell myself it can't. Welcome to the Games of Death, Clove. Either Cato or I or both of us will be dead by the end. But I've decided now that no matter what Cato does, I'm not going to give up on him. I'm going to stay by him until the end, because if he dies apart from me, I know I won't be able to live. If I win, I'll leave the arena like a zombie and never recover.

When the interviews are all through, I head back to my apartment. Pulling a blanket around my shoulders, I stand by the floor-length windows of my purple and gold bedroom. The lights of the Capitol glitter like diamonds around me in every direction I look. I miss the empty, quiet, and dark mountains of District 2. 

My feet are cold on the hard tile floor, so I sit down, wrap the blanket around myself, and curl in my toes. The streets below me are packed with colorful Capitol citizens. I press my cheek against the glass and stare off into space. It's crazy; they're celebrating us like we're a piece of entertainment. And I guess we are...

But somewhere along the line, they seem to forget we're human. Either that or... the Capitol itself is not human. I shake my head to clear away these puzzling thoughts.

What are Cato and I? Star-crossed lovers, born to die. But we're no less human than anyone else... We could have been together, maybe in another lifetime. I thought we were meant to be, but our circumstances just won't allow that.

I'll be with him until the end though, I remind myself. There's still hope. Does he know?

A cold chill falls over me. I really don't even know whether he still loves me. I guess I'll find out tomorrow. When he either allies with me or turns on me. It's a cold thought, but true. You can't trust anyone in the Games. 

Not even your boyfriend.

CATO'S POV:

I wish I could talk to her; get her to trust me enough for me to explain to her that Glimmer and I were never a thing. Not that I can't get up the strength to talk to her; it's getting her to believe me that's the impossible part. And even if she does believe I really love her, how will she then actually still love me?

I really thought I had found my girl when I met her. Clove was what I needed and she fit me and my personality better than any of those pretty, flirty girls at school.

At least we can still be allies. No matter what she thinks of me after all this, I'm going to fulfill my goal of volunteering: to be in there for her when she needs it most. Maybe we'll both end up dead; I don't know.

I crawl into bed and try to sleep. Instead I lie just beneath the edge of the blanket staring through the thick blackness. I can't keep playing this role. People will target Clove and I if they think we're in love. It'll become our weakness.

They can't know. I'll act like my usual ruthless, bloody self and they won't know. Clove will just be another ally to me in the eyes of everyone else. What I really want is a chance to speak with her before the Games begin; enough to let her know how I really feel and that I will stick by her until the end. Will she even believe me?

CLOVE'S POV

I wake up out of a dizzy, faint world of half-sleep. Chills run down my spine. I'm excited, and also terrified. This is it; the big day. Lucky I've got allies.