The Hunger Games

A thought suddenly jumps unwelcomedly into my mind; sending a shiver down my spine.
Cato wraps his arms protectively around me, pulling me into him. This is the only time that I feel truely safe, untouchable; in Cato's arms.
"What is it, Veenavine? What's wrong," Cato asks, worried.
I struggle with the words, the thought horrifying and scary. "What if...what if your name's drawn at the Reaping, Cato? What will happen then? How will I protect you from such a distance? I won't be able to watch you in the arens! Oh, Cato! I'd go crazy just knowing that you were chosen! Please! Please, please, please! Don't be chosen," I beg, tears starting to roll down my face. I know that neither I nor he can control his name being chosen or not.
Cato's arms tighten around me. "You know very well that if I could control that, I'd take out everyone's names. Then no one would have to suffer. I'll try not to get my name drawn. But if it is, then I will try to win for you," he says softly. He then sighs heavily. I look up at him and I know that something's bothering him as well.
He doesn't say anything, neither of us do, as he gently wipes my cheeks dry. When they're dry, he doesn't remove his left hand from my right cheek. His thumb gently rests there.
He catches my gaze and our eyes lock.
"Just don't let your name get chosen. I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you. I love you." he tells me, softly.
He leans his face towards mine, again, and before I can reply, he's kissing me. I kiss him back, letting everything else melt away.
I wish I could freeze time. Stay in this moment forever. But I can't. We can't. We both have our families to look after.
If Cato and I didn't have our families to look after, I'm sure we wouldn't be here now. We would've ran. We'd be gone and out of the reach of the Capitol. Of course, we both know that the Capitol would be able to find us, but what could they do to us that they already haven't? They've tortured us by making us watch the Hunge Games every year, they've starved us, they've given us no hope for anything.
But Cato gives me hope. Hope that maybe one day the Capitol will be no more. Hope for all things impossible to one day be possible.
This time I pull away.
"I love you more," I say, tracing random patterns on his thigh.
He begins to chuckle. I look back up at him, a questioning look on my face.
He smiles wider as he says, "How is it that someone so strong, so agile, so unemotional when killing animals is so compassionate?"
I smile, looking back down at my hand, and think about what he has said for a moment. "Well, my dad was the same way. He loved my mom so much; more than anything. He was a good guy. And then he'd come out here, into the woods, and kill an animal like it was nothing. I guess I just take after him." I admit.
"So, wait...he WAS a good guy?" Cato asks.
I have never told Cato that my dad died in a mine explosion. I've never felt the need to. It has never came up in conversation.
Until now.
"Yeah. A very good guy..." I say in a barely audible voice, holding back tears. I am not going to cry in front of him again. "I miss him," I admit.
Cato doesn't say anything. He just pulls me into his lap, his arms wrapped tightly around me. My head is resting on his chest, and I listen to his heartbeat. Steady and strong. Like Cato.
I don't wear a mask around Cato anymore. I have no reason to. He's gained my trust; slowly bu surely, after time, he has.
"How's Faye?" Cato asks softly. I know he's trying to change the subject and I'm grateful that he's trying.
Faye met Cato once. I don't exactly know what Faye was doing this deep in the woods, but I know she was gathering berries for either a pie or some sort of pastery for the bakery. Maybe she had followed me to the meadow to see what I was up to, because she had asked before. And I told her the truth. I said that everyday I hunt. And I do, but I also come to see Cato.
Cato and I had just gotten done with our usual hug; we were walking towards the middle of the meadow, our hands intertwined, talking, when Faye emerged from the trees. She didn't look happy.
And I don't think she was, because she had yelled, "Jennavive! What do you think you are doing?! And who's this?!"
I was honestly stunned. To see her. That she was yelling. That she had came so far into the woods. She never wandered that far in the woods. Not even when she came with me.
"This is Cato. From District Eleven. I meet him here everyday. He's me...boyfriend." I told her. I didn't want them to meet like that, but they had.
Faye looked at me, obviously awestruck.
Fear ran through me. What if she told a Peacekeeper? What would happen? I had tightened my grip around Cato's hand then.
"Jennavive..." She had said, in a disappointed voice, shaking her head. "It's forbidden! You two can't be together! It's not right! Why can't you follow at least one rule? This-you two- is way too far!" She had started yelling again.
"Who's to say what is right," I had asked.
"The Capitol! And what you two are is forbidden!" She shouted.
"Who cares about the Capitol? I don't! We're nothing to it!" I had shouted this time. Neither one of us caring about who heard.
"Well, you're still not supposed to be dating...that," she yelled.
"Faye...you don't understand..." I had said in my normal voice; defeated.
She gave me a questioning look.
And I said it; something that not even Cato had known.
"I love him."
Her face had fallen and her jaw dropped. Then she turned and ran back into the woods. She was running back to Twelve.
And that was it. Our argument was over.
She didn't understand what Cato ment to me, because she didn't even have a boyfriend, at the time. How could she understand then? She couldn't.
By that time, Cato's hand was no longer in mine. I had let go of it sometime during the argument with Faye. I was about five steps ahead of him.
I had fallen to my knees, feeling the weight of a lifelong friendship now broken.
Cato's hands had gently found my shoulders, and he had gotten on his knees beside me, as well.
"I love you, too, Veenavine," Cato had whispered in my ear.
I come back to reality now, remembering that Cato had asked me a question.
"Faye's good. She has a-" I cut off. Shit! I forgot, again, that I have to help her pick out an outfit still for her date with Peeta. Arg!
Cato doesn't try to ask what she has. It's not like him to be nosey. He knows that if I want to tell him something, I will. He doesn't pry. And that's one of the many things I love about him.
"Date." I finish.
"You know, we should have a date, sometime," Cato says, grabbing my braid and gently sliding his fingers down it. He likes to do this gesture often, and I don't mind it.
"We have one everyday," I say with a smile. "And each one is just as perfect, if not better, than the last one."
"How so?"
"Well, you're always here." I say, reaching up to set my hand on his cheek. His smile widens.
"We should still have a date," he says.
I laugh. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"
"Nope. Not until it happens," he says. And there's his never-giving-up attitude.
"It's a date, then." I say with a smile. "But it can't be right now."
"Of course, not right now! Wait..." He gives me a questioning look. "Why can't it be right now?"
"Because I have to go back to Twelve. If I don't now, Faye will be furious with my tardiness. I'm sorry," I tell him, getting up.
Cato follows my lead and stands up as well.
"I understand. But tomorrow, you are all mine," he tells me with a smile before he wraps his arms around me; hugging me. I hug him back.
"It's a date," I say softly.
I don't want to end our hug and leave him, but I have to...
At least I'll get to spend all day tomorrow with him. The thought makes me smile.
I pull away, and he kisses me lightly on the lips; pulling away after a few seconds. i smile at him, before heading for the tall grass.
Once there, I grab my bow, sheath and gamebag. I walk to the tree line and look back at Cato. He hasn't moved.
I half smile and wave goodbye. Not wanting to leave him at all, but knowing that I have to. He smiles and waves goodbye back.

I run home, getting to the fence in a shorter time than what i thought it would take.
I quickly slip under the fence, not bothering to check if it is on or not. I really have no time to check. But I did make time to hide my bow and sheath before I came to the fence.
I quickly run to the Hob, selling a turkey and the rabbit to Greasey Sae.
That makes things really easy.
I run to my house and quickly change out of my dad's boots and leather jacket, and my hunting pants. My mother taking my gamebag as I run through our house. I quickly exchange them for clean clothes: a navy blue, faded T-shirt, old blue jeans, and an old pair of tennis shoes.
Once I'm ready, I run down to the square, where I have to meet Faye.
I get there within minutes and find Faye, sitting on an old wooden bench, looking annoyed.
"Would it kill you to be on time for once?" She asks as I approach her, the slightest hint of annoyance in her tone.
She's mad.
"Sorry. I was with Cato," I explain to her.
She rolls her eyes. "When AREN'T you with Cato?"
"Right now," I say. "Ready to go find a dress?"
Her face brightens, no longer mad at me. Neither one of us can stay mad at the other.
She stands up, hooking her arm through min, and we head to the used dress store.The dresses there have been bought, worn, and returned by many, but they aren't bad. A lot have still look like new, but a few have faded and some have stains. It's still a good store though. And you can keep the dress after you buy it or you can return it to get your money back.
It's Friday, so the store is open until seven-thirty. Usually it's open until eight, but that's the time of the Capitol's broadcast, that everyone in Panem has to watch.
We enter the store and the instant smell of moth balls reaches my nose, making me cough. It's so strong.
Faye unhooks her arm from mine and goes up to a pink faded dress. Holding it up for me to see, she asks, "How's this one?"
I wrinkle my nose, replying," I can't see you in pink."
She shrugs. "I can't either...But who knows? I'm going to go try it on. You keep looking while I'm gone."
"Okay." I say, and she hurries off towards the dressing room.
I wander the store, looking for a dress for Faye. I test them by asking myself if I can see Faye wearing it. Most of them, I can't.
One finally catches my eyes. It's a faded blue one. Sleeveless, short-about knee length-,with a white-stitched design on it. I think she'll like it.
"You were right," I hear Faye say from behind me, a disappointed edge to her voice.
I turn and face her.
"Here," I say, holding the blue dress out to her. "Give me that one and go try this one on. Now," I say, taking the pink one from her hands and replacing it with the blue one. "Come find me when you're done, though. I want to see it."
She nods and runs back to the dressing room.
I hang the dress on a random nearby rack, because I've forgotten it's original home. I go back to looking at other dresses.
I wonder how frantic I'd be if it were Cato and I that were in Faye and Peeta's shoes. Would I have to have the most perfect dress in the world for the date? Or would I just show up in what I'm wearing now?
I don't know what life would be like if Cato and I came from the same District.
We probably wouldn't be dating.
I pay little to no attention to the boys at school, in my grade or not. So, I don't think that we would be together if we were from the same District. The only reason I started being friends with Peeta, is because Faye always brought him around after they started dating.
I am not looking forward to finding out what big surprise the Capitol has in store for the tributes of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games. Knowing the past Games, it's going to be horrible. It has to be if it's part of the Games.
Ugh...I don't want to think about the Games...so, I won't.
I wonder if Cato stayed in the meadow or if he went back to Eleven...
Does Faye approve of him yet? Today is the first time that his name has been brought up, since the first day she met hime, between us. Does she finally understand my feelings for him?
"Okay. Turn around, Jennavive," Faye says from behind me. Once again, I turn to see her in a dress. But this time it's to see her in the perfect dress.
The dress fits her perfectly. It goes well with her dark brown hair-which almost looks black in a certain light-and the lightness of the blue makes her emerald green eyes jump out even more.
"You look great!" I tell her. Peeta's gonna love it!"
Faye blushes and looks down at her feet shyly. Looking up at me sheepishly, she asks, "You really think so? I want it to be perfect."
"I do. And on you, it is perfect," I say. "Now, go get out of it, so that you can buy it." And she's off to the dressing room once more.
She changes out of it fast. So fast that I've only really looked at, not even, one dress. She must be more excited for her date than i thought.
She buys the dress and we head to her house so that her mother can do her hair, while I watch.
My mind wanders back to the Games.
What if Cato really does become a tribute this year?