Victory - Cato Hadley

chapter seventeen

The training yesterday wasn't something ordinary. The same boring shit as usual. Today are the individual trainings though. The one where they get rated from 1-12. I do think that Cato and Clove are going to be something between an eight and a ten.
It's already afternoon, and time to go down.
"Can you bring them down?" Brutus asks me at the elevator.
"Sure" I say, as he walks back to his room.
"Okay, so you know what to do. Clove show them your knife skills. Show them every little trick you've got. Cato, show them your strenght and something with the sword. You have to leave an impression on them. Plus, you have a bonus on being the third and the fourth in there. They're going to get bored after you two but that's not exactly our problem. You can do this. You're pretty good tributes. Just make sure to show them" I say getting kind of nervous, as they both nod. Cato and Clove don't even look a little bit bothered. Cato has this annoying, slight smirk on his face that I would love to smack off. Clove has no expression at all. She's like that most of the time, so I'm not very surprised.
The doors open on floor one, reavealing the two tributes and Cashmere.
"Nervous?" The female tribute asks Cato with a smirk.
"Never" he replies. He takes my hand, slightly noticable for other people. I notice Cashmere and the female tribute looking at our intervened hands. Cashmere raises one of her eyebrows but drops it fastly again.
"Drop it Glimmer" she says angrily, as she sees her tribute looking at me jealous.
I smile at both of them politely, before the elevator doors finally open. We walk into a tiny room, a few of the other tributes are already here.
I give Cato and Clove a quick hug, before sending them off to be on their own.

...

Clove comes out about an hour after I've left them there.
"How did it go?" I ask her.
"Great" she says with a grin. I guess that means she did pretty well. Clove doesn't like to brag with her abilities. She never did.
We wait together for Cato to step out. Meanwhile she tells me what she did. She threw a few knives at a dummy, with a few spins and all that stuff. She literally did everything I told her. I can't help but be proud of her. She does remind me a little of myself last year. She's not very tall and looks like she could easily be crushed. But she's very skilled with the knives. I've never seen someone like her. She hits all of them in the centre. No matter what or how.

We stop talking, as Cato walks out. He has a wide grin plastered on his face.
"I guess it went good?" I ask smiling, and give him a tight hug.
He lifts me off the ground, hugging me tightly, and spins me around.
"It went great" he says as he puts me back down again.

While we make our way up to the second floor, they both talk about what they did and how it went. They're happily talking to eachother about their skills and all of that. Reality hits me again, as a memory of me and Elias comes up. We stood here in this elevator, exactly one year ago, talking to eachother about the single trainings like they're just doing. He had been so happy about how it went. He literally couldn't stop going on and on about his fifteen minutes.

"Is everything okay?" Cato asks me. I notice we've arrived on floor two, and they're both already in the hallway inside.
"Yeah, sure" I say, and walk out too.
"Are you sure Athena?" Cato asks me.
"Not really, but I'll tell you later" I say, and he pulls me closer. He places a kiss on my temple.

...

"Are you ready for your scores?" Brutus asks them. I only just joined them but they've been waiting for a whole hour now for the announcement of their scores. They're both watching with big eyes as Cesar appears on the screen. I had been talking to Haymitch before. He told me about Katniss and her single lesson. Looks like she's shoot an arrow at the sponsors. Very brave of her. I'm pretty sure I would've liked her if she wouldn't be in the same arena as Cato.
"District two, Clove Kentwell with a score of ten" Cesar says, and I watch as her face lights up with joy.
"Congratulations, you did great" I say with a smile, and give her a hug. I sit down between Cato and Clove waiting for his announcement. Velvette and the other stylist come over, and so does Alora. They all congratulate her before sitting down again. I nervously lean forward waiting for Cato's score. He puts a hand on my back, while shifting back his torso and pushing his hips forward. I normally would've been distracted by that but not now. I need to finally know that score.
"The male tribute of district two, Cato Hadley with a score of also ten" Cesar says with a smile.
I let out a deep breath, as my body easens.
"Congratulations" they all say, and hug him. He has a huge grin on his face. He does deserve it though.
"I'm happy for you" I say, and pull him in for a tight hug.
"Thank you" he says with a smile.
"Lets see what the others got" Clove says, and we all put our attention back to the TV. The other tributes don't really score very high. The only one that catches my eye, is Tresh. He has a score of ten too. They definitely need to be aware of him.
"Now district twelve, the male tribute Peeta Mellark, with a score of eight" Cesar says.
Peeta. I never knew his name until now. It does really suit him though.
"Our last tribute, Katniss Everdeen with a score of eleven" he says, and the transmission ends.
"What the fuck!" Cato says loudly. I look over at him. He looks really mad and so does Clover.
"She never even practiced anything. How come she's that good?" Clove asks.
"How come she gets a higher score than we do" he asks angrily.
"Calm down. She isn't that good" I say, and all eyes shoot over to where I'm sitting.
"Yeah, she is. Didn't you see her score?" Clove asks.
"She knows how to hunt and how to use her bow. Her first shot, went beside the mannquinn. Only the second one sticked. However, she got mad because the sponsors and Crane were more invested in some grilled pig. She got mad and shot an arrow at them. More at the apple in the mouth of the pig. They just loved her fire, nothing more" I say, and lean back.
"Who told you?" Brutus asks.
"Haymitch" I say with a grin on my face.
"And you knew the whole time?" Cato asks slightly calming down.
"He told me just before I came up here. I thought they would give her a low score because of that but, the eleven makes a lot of sense now" I say.
Cove looks at me questioning.
"Well, a low score would mean that you wouldn't know she's a threat to you guys. Now that she's got the highest score, you're all going to be after her. And not only you guys. She's even more scared now. Calm down. This is even better for you now" I say.
"She got a higher score than I did and she never trained for any of this" Cato says with gritted teeth.
"And now you're getting intimidated by that or what? No, just go after her in the arena. She has no chance against both of you. Don't even get me speaking of when you're with your allies"
"I hope you're right" Brutus says.
"I'm always right" I say with a smile.

Cato storms off angrily and shuts the door behind him hard, as he walks into his hard. We hear some stuff crashing in there, as we all sit there in awkward silence. After about five minutes, Alora says: "Athena would you please-"
"On it" I say, and get up.

I slowly knock at the door but he doesn't seem to hear me, due to all the throwing and crashing. I open the door and see a vase flying at my head. I manage to dodge it in the last second and look at Cato with risen eyebrows.
"I'm so sorry" he says with wide eyes. He's breathing heavily and one of his fists is slightly bleeding.
"It's okay"I say, and close the door behind me. I walk over to him, trying to avoid stepping on any broken glass that's lying around the whole room. I take him by his hand and pull him over to the bathroom. I open the cabinet and take out the first-aid-box. I take out a few bandages and something to disinfect the area. The mirror next to us is smashed into tiny pieces.
"Are you at least not angry anymore?" I ask, and he nods.
"I'm sorry, it's just so unfair. She didn't do anything special and she doesn't deserve her score" he says, leaning back against the wall.
"Don't worry. When you win, no one is going to talk about her anymore. Just make sure to be the last one in there and you're the best again. And no, she doesn't deserve her score neither did she do anything special. I do like that she shot an arrow at Crane though. Hate that guy" I say, and chuckle.
"I could kill her" he says, causing me to look up at him frightened.
"Please, just don't kill anyone brutally. Okay? I can't watch that, how you torture them or something like that. Don't make me watch it. Make it quick, alright?" he asks.
"And what if they kill me or Clover and one of us gets them?" he asks. I think about it for a second before responding: "Then you're allowed to. Make them pay"
A smirk forms on his face, as a slight grin forms on mine. I don't want to talk like that but if someone kills Cato and Clove gets them. I do want them to suffer. I want her to do anything she wants to them. No matter if it's brutal. In some weird way, we're all family. We all spent our hours in the same few rooms, knowing eachother since we've been four.

After I'm finished with him, I find some Avoxes in his room cleaning up the mess he made.
"No, no. Don't clean it up" I say, and they all look at me. Same for Cato, who looks at me with a risen eyebrow.
"Go out. He can clean it up himself" I say, and they all walk out the room.
"That's what they're here for Athena" he says complaining.
"Stop whining. You broke all the furniture in here, so you're going to clean it up Cato. And besides, they're human beings too" I say, sitting down on his bed.
"You're not going to help me?" he asks annoyed.
"Fuck no. You broke it, you clean it" I say with a smile. He groans annoyed before getting to work.