51

The sun was shining right in my eyes waking me up. I feel the hangover first before I feel arms wrapped around me, their fingers grazing my arms.

Cato and I made up last night.

I feel a slight tickle on my neck making me open my eyes.

Cato kissed my neck gently looking at me. "Morning."

I give a small sleepy smile turning on my side, "Morning."

" Did you sleep on your answer to my question?" He asked eagerly, he trails his fingers from my arm up to my jaw line making me look at him directly.

I chuckled, " How long were you waiting to ask that?"

" Since 4"

" What time is it now?"

" 7:45"

I sit up looking at the small clock on my night stand. " We better get up, the others will be getting up shortly."

I was about to get up from the bed but Cato grabbed me pulling me back down.

" Shh..let me enjoy this." He says in my ear. " This is what I wanted to do all week."

I couldn't help but laugh, " I'm not going anywhere. We'll have plenty of time for that later. Today, we do something."

" Like what?" He asks.

I shrug running my fingers on the fabric of the blankets," I don't know.. I've been cooped up here for days. I want to go be active.

" Because you needed rest. You still need rest, I stressed you out to much last night."

" I'm fine. I feel better. I should see how my kids are doing-"

" Your not allowed to train yet." Cato mutters. " We don't want anymore flashbacks."

" I want to see them." I argue. " I want to see all of them. They're probably worried."

Cato sighs, " How about we meet in the middle?"

" What do you have in mind?"

" I'll bring them here. We can do something with them here to train. Nothing that has anything to do with fighting."

Though I'd much rather go I guess that will work.

" Deal" I smiled giving him a kiss before getting up, "Now get up."

He does, I bounce right up putting my hair up I go down the stairs.

I see Vad up already. " Morning." I say happily.

He squints at me before Cato comes down, He looks between the two of us " Oh...." He says amused.

" Not like that." I quickly say, Cato smirks before grabbing stuff to make food for everyone.

" Are you two good now?" Vad asks.

" Yea." Cato says looking at me.

" Yea." I agree.

Vad smiles, " Good."

" I'm surprised you didn't try getting with Kaylaya." Cato says half joking.

I give him a look before he rolls his eyes.

" I have my eyes on someone else." Vad says amused.

" The girl from 12?" Cato asks.

Vad smirks, I look at him, " Really?"

" Kay, you literally saw them at the academy" Cato jokes.

I roll my eyes before looking back at Vad, " Be careful."

He winks, " Always."

Soon Nelly and Archer get up, eating then they pretty much leave, I guess Nelly was supposed to go home yet last night.

Leaving just me and Cato.

I pick up the dishes thinking about Vad and Evie together. Why would he get attached like that to someone who will be leaving in a couple months?

Cato must've been looking at me, I feel a kiss on my forehead. I look up to Cato." I wouldn't worry about it Kaylaya." Cato says.

He cups my face tilting his head just a bit. " I've known him my whole life, he'll move on before she needs to leave."

" What if he does what you said he does, being mean to her?"

" Then this time you'll help me beat his ass. " Cato assures. " And I don't think by what you say about the girl she'll put up with that."

I sigh, " Well..what if he gets attached and he wants to volenteer-"

Cato stops me," -I'm going to stop you right there. Don't worry about it... And if he has the idea... I'll break his leg so he can't, I'd gladly do it for you."

I laugh softly knowing he's trying to make me feel better. he moves his arms down wrapping his arm around my waist with that smirk on his lips, "We have enough time... if he was like this a couple weeks before thr reaping then we worry... not 3 months."

I nod, he smiles giving me a quick kiss. " Go take a shower then we'll leave to get them."

He went to do the same thing, I went in my room to take a shower grabbing out some comfy clothes to wear.

I threw on leggings and a jacket blow drying my hair just letting it down.

Cato had sweats on and a jacket brushing his hair messily out of his face trying to fix it in the mirror.

I couldn't help myself from staring, he was perfect. The way he cocks his head slightly when he focuses, or you can see a bit of his torso when he lifted up his arms.

I was to distracted looking him over to see he was looking at me through the mirror his eyes waiting for me to realize " You know... it's considered impolite to stare." He informed teasing me.

I snapped my eyes away, feeling the redness in my cheeks." I wasn't staring."

" Sure you weren't." He teases.

I cross my arms, " I wasn't." I tried to sound more convincing but he lazily turns around still having his cocky grin on his face.

" That's why you looked like you were mentally undressing me?" He questions.

" I wasn't." I say again.

" Really?" He asks amusement dripping in his voice as he steps towards me.

I stand my ground looking up at him," Yep."

" Mmm..that's why you have a littl drool right-" he flicks his finger up hitting my nose.

" OW!" I yelled. My eyes watered, I thought I felt something warm drip out. Cato's eyes confirmed it.

" Oh..crap." He says looking at me before running in his bathroom grabbing a cold wash cloth handing it to me.

I gave him a glare before grabbing the cloth putting it up to my nose wiping away the blood.

He just kinda stands there looking at me unsure what to do. " Sorry. That was not what I was trying to do."

" What were you trying to do exactly?" I ask.

" Ummm... Flick your nose before kissing you?" He says giving me 'sorry' eyes.

Well now I need to get even.

I still had tears in my eyes so I pretend to cry, " Well it really hurt you idiot." I cried turning away.

He wraps his arms around me, " I'm sorry, I didn't mean to flick your nose so hard." As he was talking I turned in his chest, taking one of my hands I quickly flick his nose, harder then he did mine.

" Ow.." he jumps grabbing his nose. My nose only bled a little bit, I set the cloth down giving him a smirk " Now we're even."

He was pinching his nose narrowing his eyes. " Your a bitch." He says.

I set my face into a frown " Is that how you talk to your girlfriend?"

His grin reappeared, " So you made your decision?"

I cock my head, " Yea, I guess we can get together again, unless you make me mad. Though your not off to a great start."

" I think the last couple weeks proved we can't live without eachother." He take the wet washcloth rubbing it gently on my nose, getting rid of the blood I missed.

He leaned down kissing me gently before he pecked the bridge of my nose. " And that's for making your nose bleed."

" Are you done talking? Or can we finally go?"

" Lead the way." He says.

The car was already waiting outside for us, Cato lets me inside first before he gets in.

We get into town, Me and Cato walked hand in hand to the academy knocking on the door.

We check the private rooms looking for 12. What we found was Priya training.I knock on the door frame making ourselves known.

" Can you see I'm busy?" She snaps turning, her face softening when she sees me, " I haven't seen you forever! How are you doing?" She asked looking me up and down.

" I'm recovering, slowly but surely."

She looks at Cato, her face stiffening, " You asshole! You have a lot of explaining to do! Just take her and not tell anyone!" She says getting in his face.

" Calm down shorty. She's fine." He says Cooley making her even more upset.

" Don't tell me to calm down! I'll knock you right here Hadley."

He smirks, " Love to see you try Kentwell."

She stares up at him, her fists clenched while Cato was staring her down waiting.

" Not right now you two.. Pri, where are Fero and Evie?"

" They're in the nurse room." She says turning her attention away from Cato to me.

" What? Why?" I ask panicked.

" They're fine, Fero accidentally sliced his leg open on a knife someone left out, he just needed to get it cleaned up."

I look at Cato, " I'll go grab them...don't kill eachother."

I walked quickly down the corridors to the nurse room, There they were. Fero was talking to the lady while she was wrapping his leg, Evie looked annoyed but when doesn't she?

" Leave you alone for a couple days and you get all banged up.." I tease.

They both turn their heads to the door. They both smile, " Kay!"

" Hi!"

" your cleared to come back and train us?" Evie asks.

" Not exactly... I was hoping you guys wanted to come to my house for a day. We can do some training there."

" Your not coming back to the academy?" Fero asks. I chuckle, " I will eventually. It's just it's to soon..according to Cato, he still wants me to take it easy."

" He's a narssastic controlling asshole. Doesn't even tell us where you went. " Evie scoffs.

" Pretty sure that's not how your supposed to talk to you mentor."

I felt Cato's body behind mine, he wrapped his arm around me planting a kiss on the side my neck. Fero looked like a deer in headlights while Evie scowls.

" Your not my mentor." She states.

Cato crosses his arms giving a fake smile" Now I am. I'll give you guys 10 minutes, then we're leaving."

They both got up, Fero walking out quickly while Evie glares at him on the way out.

" I'm pretty sure she's worse then the girls here." Cato scoffs watching her go down the hall.

" She has fire." I say simply.

" And the boy?" He asks.

I look at him, he nods " I'll work on it... Tell them to pack training clothes, we can work on them when they are at our house.... And Priya and Macy insisted on coming. I thought it would be good to have them, we can work on combat and survival with extra people."

I can't help but smile when he says 'our house' it makes me feel happy. " Ok, I'll tell them."

Pretty soon we are all in the car, all chattering about though 12 seems a little tense.

Their faces were priceless when they saw all the houses, plus ours.

" Why would you want to live in town when your house looks like that?!" Fero said as he walked in.

" Yea Kay." Cato asks sarcastically.

I give him a look before walking in, " There's rooms Down stairs to set your things in. Get dressed, we have some training to do." Cato says.

They all nod, going down stairs, they all come back up in their clothes ready to do whatever Cato has planned.

" What are we doing exactly?" I ask. He looks down at me with a small smirk, " You'll see."

We go to the back of the house, I noticed Cato had different colored ribbons, one of each.

" Ok, it's simple. Tie this ribbon to your wrist, belt...whatever. You have 5 minutes to hide or do whatever you want...the goal: get all the other ribbons from everyone else."

" What's in it for us if we win?" Evie asks.

" You don't need to sleep outside tonight." Cato says dismissing her.

She furrows her brows, " Your not serious?" She looks over at me, " Your seriously going to let him make us sleep outside?"

" He's jok-"

" - Exactly what I said 12." Cato says bluntly.

She glares at him, " Am I talking to you?"

Here we go.

Cato grins a little bit, " No, but I'm most certainly talking to you."

" Are you my mentor?"

" Technically, yes. So you should probably give me a little more respect."

Evie looks at me, I widen my eyes for a moment telling her just to shut up and not fight with him.

She scoffs, grabbing the ribbon out of Cato's hands.

" Time starts..now."

They scatter.

" What do we do now for the time being?" I ask Cato.

He scans the area still watching them run," We wait for a couple minutes."

" Then what?"

He looks at me like it's so obvious, " We're going to win..duh."

I look at him confused, " We're going to grab their ribbons?"

" Yea."

" How is that teaching them anything?"

He shrugs " It's the games...expect the unexpected. Plus I won in this type of woods, brings back memories."

I kinda forget Cato liked being in the games somewhat besides Clove dying, if she didn't they both still might be here since the Capitols rule change last year. I'd be a lot simpler if they let a district win. The boy and girl.

" Ok, let's go." He say breaking into a jog

I follow him into the woods, we sneaked all over the place trying to find someone.. at least they have good skills at hiding.

I thought I heard a twig snap.

I hit Cato's arm, he looks back at me I point to the direction where it came from. He smiles telling me to go first.

We creep to see Macy tracking apparently, I look at Cato, he nods telling me to grab it.

I step out, grabbing her ribbon.

" Hey- What are you guys doing?" She asks.

" Winning." Cato says.

She gives us a look, " Really? You guys are like professionals.."

" Shhh.. don't you know not to talk so loud when your hunting... or running for that matter." I say.

" What do I do now?" Macy asks.

" Go back to the house. Wait." Cato says.

Macy nods, " Wait-" I say.

She turns around, " If someone sees you... don't say who got you or we are out here got it?" I tell her.

" Ok."

She starts running, pretty soon her sounds fade.

" Alright come on." Cato murmurs.

" Yea." I say looking at him, I feel the excitement of hunting coming back.

We go a little further, next we see Evie.

She was sitting looking busy with something, I see Priya stalk towards her. I push Cato down watching them.

Priya continues to stalk, but just as she was about to pounce Evie ducks causing Priya to rolls over her. Evie grabs her ribbon running wildly in the woods.

" Let's follow." I whisper.

Cato nods, Priya sees us but she just glares. " Seriously." She grits hitting the floor.

" Go back to the house." I whisper which she did mumbling profanities.

" Well, 12 is left.. that's promising" I state proud my tributes were left.

" This is just grabbing ribbons, not fighting." Cato says.

My smile fades, well, there goes some of the self accomplish I felt training them thus far.

Cato glances at me, seeing my disappointment his nudges me " Sorry. I'll give them credit, at least they can sneak up on kids who've been training a lot longer then them."

I just give him a smile, but he ruffles my hair. " Don't take everything so personally."

" I'll take that into consideration."

" Focus on finding them." Cato instructs changing the subject to avoid any more quarrel.

We looked for a solid 20 minutes not finding anyone.

" Where could they be? We just saw them." Cato mumbles.

" The great tracker can't find two kids from 12?" I tease.

" Apparently I have bad luck with people from 12." He mutters bitterly.

Crap..

12 blew up his supplies, made a fake trail, and dumped him off the cornucopia.

I guess I shouldn't joke about that.

" Maybe we should go back? One could've got the other one, they are probably waiting at the house."

Something happens to catch my eye up in the trees, I happen to look up looking at Fero.

" Hey down there." He says.

" Hey, we decided to get back, you can come down now." I say.

He scoffs, " No. I heard you two when we ran off."

" You stayed around?" I ask.

He smiles " Yep."

I couldn't help but smile, " Good job."

He shrugs his shoulders, " If you want to know,she ran that way.. do you guys have ribbons to take?"

" No, we're like the mutts I guess. You run."

" I guess I'm safe up here then huh?" Fero teases.

" Some mutts can climb." Cato says a smirk on his lips.

Is he seriously going to climb the tree?

He has muscle, sure but he's dense he can't climb.. apparently he didn't learn from trying to get the girl from 12.. how time repeats itself.

I let him though, if he doesn't get Fero, I most certainly will.

As Cato climbs, so does Fero.

" Don't fall Cato."

" I'm trying not to." He calls back annoyed.

I feel like something was behind me, pretty soon I feel a tug, Evie grabbed my ribbon running.

" Oh hell no!" I yelled running after her.

I see Fero smile, they were working together. Smart. But I'm not going to let them win. No way.

We sprinted through the woods, she was fast and agile I'll give her that but I'm trained, more so then her.

I cut in a shrub tackling her.

We roll in the clearing, she tried pushing me off. I eventually got her pinned grabbing her ribbon.

" Really?!" She yelled.

" What?"

" That's cheating." She says sourly.

" How so? You knew me and Cato were out here, and you grabbed my ribbons. It's fair game."

I hear running on the side of me. " Got it."

I turned to see Cato with Fero, I smile plays on my lips.

I turn back to Evie, " Victors win."

She rolls her eyes walking back to the house.

Macy and Priya were outside sparring, at least they stayed active.

" Who won?" Macy asks Evie, but she completely blows her off going into the house.

They look over at us, " Of course it was you two." Priya says with an annoyed smile. " I see she's a team player." She jokes.

I ignore her comment. " Come inside so we can eat."

We all got dressed into different clothes coming to eat.

" Well, what did you guys learn?" Cato asked.

" You two cheated." Evie blurted picking at her potatoes.

I rolled my eyes, Cato scoffs, " Get over it 12."

She slams her fork down, " No, that's not training, that's you two wasting our time."

I look over to Evie at her sudden outburst. Why was she so mad?

" It was only an excercise." Cato jeered at Evie making her face harden as she glares.

" It was to teach you expect the unexpected." I add trying to defend Cato.

Evie gives me a look, " What he finally gives you some attention and now your on his side?"

Priya, Macy and Fero all stop eating looking between the 3 of us.

" You have no say in our relationship, nor you have any idea what went on. Knock it off, it was an exercise. That's it. We're your mentors so I expect you to give me and Cato some respect." I snapped, sending her a warning look her way as I talked.

Who does she think she is talking to me like that?

Evie smirks, " Or what?"

" I'll dump your ass back to your district. Do you want that for yourself or your partner? I think we've been very nice to you taking you in so your not an embarrassment to your district and have a chance to actually win this. So think about how your speaking to us, it won't matter to me if your here or not."

Evie looks at me speechless, she closes her mouth getting up from the table stomping down stairs.

Everyone was quiet at first before Cato starts laughing.

I give him a look, he stops laughing but he was smiling like a idiot. " Sorry. I just forgot how feisty you can be."

" Not the time Hadley." Priya scolds.

" I should check on her." Fero says.

" She did deserve it... Kay has been pretty good. 2 has been very accommodating to you two. Grow tough skin and learn."

Fero nods staying put. " What will we be learning next?"

Cato shrugs, " How good are you with weapons?"

" I'm good with a bow, we both are. But I can learn quick, I want to learn other weapons like swords."

" You hunt illegally?" Cato asks.

Fero looks terrified swallowing hard.

Cato's stone face turns into a sly smile, " Now I know your good at sneaking, I respect that. You can do long range..if you can do close combat your basically set. We'll work on it tomorrow. Go check on your friend."

Fero nods getting up, he goes down stairs to check on Evie.

Macy and Priya decide to go watch TV up in the lounge, leaving 12 alone to talk to each other downstairs.

Leaving me and Cato, which we clean up and do the dishes.

We washed for a little bit in silence, I felt a little bad for yelling at Evie but it was disrespectful.

I'm treating her to much like a friend, I guess I need to be more strict. Priya was their friend but she turned just like that... I guess I need to do the same.

" I think we need to watch the girl." Cato says.

" Hmm?" I ask missing what he said.

" We need to watch the girl... she seems different then when she first arrived."

" I know. I don't know where that temper came from."

" Well, I noticed she was quiet and observant, now shes coming out of her shell. She knows more then what she's letting on."

" She's training." I add.

" I knew you knew more then what you lead on.. look how that ended up." Cato says nudging me.

" Ok, we'll watch her. I don't know why we need to. If she knows more let her... she has greater survival"

" I'm worried because she's training next to the biggest competition. She's learning just as much as what they are."

I shrug, " Good, makes a better show, gives them favor."

" But you still want our home district to win... right?" Cato questions.

It catches me off guard.

Yea. No.. I don't know. What I do know is that 4 kids are going in the arena... in a perfect world I want all of them to come back.

But I know Cato, he wants our district to win. And he wants me to favor 2 over 12.

" Yea, but I don't want our time and effort on these 2 go to waste. If we're training them, minus well train them good."

Cato nods, " I like the boy.. I'm just not sure about the girl."

" Your nervous she's better." I whisper.

Cato stops just for a second. He drys a plate clearing his throat. " I don't want them training with 2 anymore."

I guess I'm fine with that. I mean, there's about 20 some 18 year olds ready to be volenteers.

They all know what 12 uses, and their flaws. The more they learn now, the less 2 will know about.

" Ok." I answer.

" Oh.." He says a little surprised.

" What?"

" I just expected you to put up a fight."

I put my towel down, " Do you want a fight?" I ask.

I lean on the counter lifting my brows waiting for him to answer. " You want to fight?" I ask again. I see him shift slightly " Well no. I just thought you might get mad. I was thinking of a rebuttal and everything." He says finally.

" No. I'm fine with it. Whatever to win right?"

" Right." He agrees quickly.

That's what I thought.

We didn't see 12 for the rest of the night, though Macy went to check on them. I heard Evie yell before Macy came back up.

" She's still mad." She announces to us.

" Leave her." Cato says.

The next morning Cato insisted to go wake them up. I don't know what he did but it made Evie scream.

He comes jogging up the stairs a grin on his face. "They're up." He says simply.

" Great, your making her crabby already for today." Macy says.

" I'm sending them back to work with a trainer on weapons." Cato says taking a bite of an apple.

" Why don't we just teach them?"

" We will. But I want them to have some basics down for my sanity. And no, your not ready yet to train fully."

" Then when is the right time? I'll be fine."

" Your not ready yet." He argues.

" Please?" I beg going closer to him.

" It's not going to work." He states watching me.

Still worth a shot.

I still go close until I'm right infront of him. He watches me intently. " Please?" I say a lot softer giving me my best puppy eyes.

" No."

I giving him a sad face, " Pretty please?"

He smiles, " It's still a no."

I slowly put my arms around his neck still pouting. " Cato.." I whine. " Lightly peck his lips before pulling away. " I'm not going to let you kiss me until you let me train."

He moves his arms to wrap around me but I pull away still pouting at him.

" Fine." He says quickly. " You need to get cleared from the doctor first."

I smile. " Deal."

Priya laughs, " Your so whipped Hadley."

He looks over at her, " Shut up Kentwell."