Breaking Down Bridges ▸ Hunger Games

Chapter Four: Cato Demeir

Chapter Four:

Cato's POV

It's okay not to be okay

Sometimes it's hard to follow your heart

Doesn't mean you're losing

Everybody's bruising

Just be true to who you are

—Jessie J, "Who You Are" 

I woke up in the morning to the sunlight coming in from the windows of my train compartment bedroom. We would be arriving at the next District for the Tour soon.

I yawned and slowly got up and out of bed.

Before I had any time to fully wake myself up, Lavender, our District escort, bursts into my room, a cheery smile on her heavily made-up face.

"Oh, good, you're up! Breakfast is waiting for you in the main compartment. Better hurry, hurry, hurry before it gets cold!"

I swear, every time she speaks to me, I feel like gagging. She's so annoyingly perky and over-the-top that it makes me sick.

Lavender then shoves me out of my bedroom and into the narrow train hall.

I follow the smell of Capitol breakfast food down the hall until I enter the room where Alia, Gale, and Cyra are sitting.

Alia smiles and says, "Good morning, Cato."

"Good morning, Alia," I reply in a drowsy voice as I sit down across from her.

Gale laughs. "Tired, much?"

I nod as I fill my plate with breakfast food.

Cyra takes a sip of orange juice and asks, "So, who's ready to talk to another group of complete strangers?"

Gale turns away from her slightly. Ever since he found out about her engagement to that Shawn guy, he hasn't said much around her. He's still in love with her, that's for sure. That's why he's so damn angry... Shawn gets to have the girl he loves and he doesn't. It's obvious by the way he looks at her longingly, and narrows his eyebrows in hatred every time he hears about Shawn.

"Oh, yeah, sounds like fun," Alia replies sarcastically to break the awkward silence between Gale and Cyra.

Still ignoring Cyra, Gale looks at me and jokes, "Hey, Cato, is your escort as equally annoying as mine?"

"Oh yeah. If Effie wore purple instead of pink, they'd be twins."

Gale snickers. "And what a nightmare that'd be..."

"I can hear that, you know," Effie snaps in her shrill voice from outside the compartment.

"That's the point, Effie," Gale says, rolling his eyes.

With that, we hear the click of Effie's heels as she huffs and leaves.

We burst out laughing as soon as we know she's gone for good. Gale and Cyra's eyes lock for a minute, but then they both turn away from each other's glance. Instead, Gale mouths, "Cato... can I talk to you for a minute...?" to me.

I give him a strange look, as if to say, "That's kinda creepy..."

He rolls his eyes at me as we leave the compartment and go into one five doors down.

"Cato!" Gale shouts and punches the wall, "What am I supposed to do?!"

"Do I look like a therapist to you, Hawthorne?"