the girl who played with knives || clato ✔️

4

Clove

The soup and salad they serve us is only the beginning. Next comes the main course of pork chops with green beans in a delicious butter sauce. After that they bring out cheese and fruit and a chocolate cake. I'm not that big a fan of cake, or chocolate, so I grab an apple and dismiss myself from dinner. At least that's my excuse. The Maggot insists we watch the Reaping recaps, but I assure her I'd do it in my room, which houses a huge TV. I do not plan on doing this.

When I make it to my room and sit on my bed, the only thing I'm paying attention to is Cato's yellow flowers on the floor. Eventually I must do something about it. I get a Capitol attendant to get me a glass and decide to try and think through the day while I wait. I don't get very far, still processing the reaping when I hear a knock. Assuming it's the attendant with the glass I stride over to unlock it. It is not the Capitol attendant.

Cato

I manage to weasel out of watching the reapings with the Maggot and Mortar and Lav. Instead I wander the train until I literally run into one of the Capitol attendants. He seems very flustered, apologizing profusely.

"I-I was just getting a glass of water for your district partner," He says, smoothing his hair for the umpteenth time.

Clove. He means Clove. My words react faster than my brain, just as they did at the reaping.

"I'll take it," I blurt. For some reason I feel the need to see her again. But why? What will I say, or do? It takes a little persuasion; the attendant seems a little crazy about us and doesn't want to pass up this chance of meeting Clove, a real live tribute. I can't help but be annoyed- again. He doesn't even know her name. All he wants from her is death, just like the people at the train station. He eventually lets me take the glass though, once I convince him I'll introduce him to Clove later. He falls for it.

Clove

It is Cato, in all his messy haired, wrinkled shirted glory. He hands me the glass and I take a sip, pretending I'd gotten it to drink, then set it on the dresser. I can't put the flowers in it with him watching, not after our fight. Cato is still standing there when I come back to the door. He looks embarrassed.

"What?" I say.

"Wanna watch the reapings?" He asks. I feel like he wants to say something more relevant but doesn't.

I don't. I don't want to watch the reapings. I don't want to watch our reaping specifically. But I say yes, for his sake mostly. So we have a reason to talk. I don't know why, but since the reaping, we haven't done a very good job doing that. Nothing's changed, really, just the fact that we'll die together... Maybe something has changed.

We sit unusually far apart on my bed, several feet in between us, and I turn on the TV. We're a little early, so the recap has yet to come on. There is just the anthem playing on a black screen, empty except for the Capitol seal. Obviously we should be talking. We are not.

Soon enough the recaps start. First comes District 1, where both tributes are volunteers. The girl is a slender blonde with gorgeous green eyes. Her name, incredibly District 1, is Glimmer. For some reason I look at Cato for his reaction, and am surprised to see him frowning. The guy from the district is tall and muscular, with a tight, thin grimace and a square jaw.

Next is District 2. I watch as Madeline Maggot reads my name. As my mother starts to cry, Aunt Rose and Kimber trying to comfort her. I hadn't noticed it at the time, but I can spot my cousins with deep frowns, fighting back tears. I really underestimated the strength of our friendships, and I wish I'd tried harder to preserve them before this.

I did a good job of keeping my composure, but Cato is frantic and distraught. If you didn't know what was really going on you might think he volunteered for fame and glory. But I know the truth. He did it for me. I glance over at him, which makes him look at me, which makes me look away.

The rest of the districts go by, name after name being called. A few tributes stand out to me. First off, the District 4 tributes, since as Careers we would typically ally with them. The girl is someone named Marina Boatwright; she has light brown skin and brown hair and eyes. She's 16, I think, and looks strong enough. The boy is only 12 though, with a head full of blondish curls and sea green eyes, his face splattered with freckles from days spent fishing out in the sun.

The boys from 5 through 8 all look strong, as do the girls from 7 and 9. The boy from 10 would be, except for his crippled foot. There's another 12-year-old, a girl this time, from District 11 who is strikingly unthreatening. The guy from the district is kind of frightening though. He's tall, with dark skin and eyes, short cropped dark brown hair and a natural glare, and looks like he could even take on Cato, and Cato could kill with his bare hands.

District 12's is the last reaping. It took place at 2:00 PM, and it's only about 2:45 PM now, so the footage has just come in. The girl that's picked is yet another 12-year-old, but another girl, who turns out to be her sister, volunteers. The first sister is screaming and crying and has to be dragged away by an older boy that looks a lot like the second. She reminds me of Rosemary. It's all a little sappy, though I can't say my reaping was much different, but the second sister might be one to look out for.