Stars | Cato Hadley

Chapter Four

"Up! Up! Get up! You have your first day of training!"

A groan escaped his lips. Cato Hadley sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. Blinking a few times he saw an outfit on the chair across from him. He decided to skip a shower because he knew he would sweat later. The material of the training clothes was soft and stretchy. He slipped on the athletic cargo pants over his boxers and the thin shirt over his head. The outfit, including the shoes, was black except for the grey and red lines at the shoulders. A '2' on his shoulders showed others what District he represented.

Breakfast was quiet. Cato ate eggs and an apple; Clove, Mariah, and Jakob all ate pancakes. Enobaria looked at her tributes as she stabbed her eggs.

"Training starts at nine sharp. You all better eat quickly," Brutus said after he finished his coffee. Cato looked at the clock, eight forty-five. His escort, Dalia, ushered them to the elevator and pressed 'T' for the training room.

The glass elevator picked up District One before stopping at the training room level. Glimmer and Ivory latched themselves to Cato as soon as they saw him. Marvel smirked at Cato and the two blonde females, only his smirk masked his jealousy. Cato shot him a glare in return. The group entered the training area and awaited the rest of the tributes.

At nine o'clock on the dot the rest of the tributes piled in except for District Twelve, they were late. Cato's eyes found the girl from Ten as she was talking to her blond District partner. Her brown hair was pulled back into a thick ponytail. He kept his eyes on her as he picked up a silver sword.

...

Wren didn't like the way the training outfit clung to her body. She felt out of place as she looked at every tribute that passed her. A pair of blue eyes were set on her and her cheeks turned pink. Cato Hadley kept his gaze on her as he stabbed a dummy. Tearing his eyes away he focused on the dummy in front of him.

Roman grabbed Wren's wrist and dragged her to the survival stations. They had everything from plant identifying stations to medical stations. Wren was dumbfounded. Roman had sat her down at the knot tieing station. A hologram appeared and begun showing the pair different examples of knots to learn. They started with the basic knots.

"If I keep making knots I'm going to get rope burn," Wren joked. Roman glanced at her and moved his blond hair out of his face.

"Okay, so what do you want to try now?" He asked her. Wren looked at the plant station but the girl from Five was occupying it. Her eyes darted to the fire-making station.

"How about-" she cut herself off realizing the boy had moved on to the spears with the boy from One. "Okay then," she mumbled to herself feeling a bit betrayed.

Wren headed over to the fire-making station and chose a medium-sized stick. She placed the twig in a small hole on the semi-fake log. Once the stick finally stood still the girl from Ten began twisting the twig between her hands. A small cloud of smoke appeared and Wren grinned. A voice startled her and caused her grin to falter.

"Hey Ten, if you want to start a fire you have to go faster than that."

"Well, Two, if I wanted your opinion I would've asked," Wren replied. Cato chuckled, "Someone's feisty." Wren rolled her eyes.

Cato placed his hands above hers and moved them down towards the base of the stick. Wren's cheeks turned rosy for the second time that day.

"You need your hands farther down to gather more speed," the Hadley boy said with his signature smirk. A spark appeared in the log and Wren dropped the twig.

"Thanks," her reply was short as she stood up for the plant identifying station. Cato took the opportunity to strike a deal.

"You know, Ten, I was thinking that if you teach me some survival skills I'll teach you how to use some weapons." Wren scoffed. "And what makes you think I don't know how to use a weapon?" She asked shifting her weight to one foot.