Prologue

I push open the doors to the District 2 training centre and walk in coolly with my training bag slung over one shoulder. "Hey," My training partner, Bristan calls. "Hi" I reply without much enthusiasm. Bristan wasn't a very good training partner. I beat him in everything. I'm the best in District 2 and I know it. No one has even come close to beating me in, say, wrestling. I have them pinned to the ground in less than 2 minutes. "Did you hear about the new girl?" Bristan asks. I shake my head. "Who?" I ask. He beckons to the short, dark haired girl, who was at the knives section. "She doesn't talk to anyone. Cinder tried to make friends but she just shrugged her off." My first thought was, I am impressed by this girl. Cinder is the most popular girl in the District. To ignore her would technically be social suicide. "I've tried to talk to her but she barely even replies."

"Why would YOU want to talk to her?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. "Well, she is pretty hot." Bristan smirks. "And, you see? She is acing the knife throwing" I look to where he's pointing and he was telling the truth. She-Clove was hitting the bullseye every time. Even with her left and right hand. "I think you should talk to her" Bristan suggests. "What? Me?" I ask. "Yeah" Bristan nods madly. "You're the best in the District, and a real charmer" Bristan brags. I smirk. "True. Very true" I reply. I hand him my training bag, which he holds reluctantly and start to make my way over to the station. "Hey, Cato" I hear a group of girls giggle. I turn to see Cinder and her group of girlfriends walking to me. "Hey" I whisper back as I give her a quick kiss. "What are you doing?' She asks, twirling her hair. "Bristan suggested that I try and talk to the new girl" I replied casually. "Okay. But don't get too friendly…" She tells me with a wink. "Yeah. I won't." I reply. She walks off after saying "Love you!" I keep walking to the new girl while she throws knives perfectly at the targets, as if it was the easiest thing on earth. "Hey Clove" I say with a charming voice. She looks at me for a second and glances back at her knives. "So, you don't like talking do you?" I ask. She doesn't reply. "Well, I think that, that's just rude. Not talking to people. Everyone is trying to be friends with you. Ignoring them is just, rude" I tell her. I lean against the wall. Smirking at her. "So maybe you should try talking. For instance…To me" I barely even see the silver blade tear through the air at me. It hits the wall, barely grazing my ear. My heart stopped. When I realized I wasn't dead. I plastered this huge smirk on my face. "Missed!" I tease her. She saunters over until she was standing right next to me. "Something you need to know is, I never miss." She whispers. She tugs the knife out of the wall and something small and black falls to the ground. I kneel down to the floor and see a fly. A dead fly. I look up at her to see her smirking at me. I smile sarcastically. "Hey, you should talk more... I wouldn't mind hearing your voice more often." I say flirtatiously. She sarcastically smiles back. "Charm won't get you anywhere" She informs me. I shrug. "Wasn't trying" I mutter. I look deep into her eyes. She had chocolate brown eyes. They weren't attractive and sexy like Cinder's. But there was something in her eyes. Like a secret or something. That I wanted to know. I reach out my hand. "I'm Cato" She stares at my hand. Hesitantly, she reaches out and shakes it. I grin. "See you around then." I say walking away. Bristan, Cinder and the entire popular teens envelope me. "What happened? Did she talk? Is she hot? What did you say?" The crowd buzzes. I shrug. "Nothing special. But she did throw a knife at me." I smirk. Leaving them open mouthed, processing my words.

I wake up to a bright, cloudless sky. No training today. I smile. I jump out of bed happily. I put on a clean set of clothes. And sneakers. I love Saturdays. I always go to the same place. To this small hill and up into a tall tree. Its calming and peaceful there. The one place that I can be to think. I've taken Cinder there once. But she doesn't like it. She doesn't like climbing trees. Because she's too girly. I hurry out the door without waking my Dad or my idiot brother. I go to the Marketplace first, to buy some breakfast. As I was buying some small cakes, I noticed this girl at the Jewellery stand. I could only see the back of her. But she looked hot. She was short and small in size. She wore skinny jeans and a red checkered shirt. I paid the counter and walked to the jewellery stand with my box of small cakes. Just as I got there, the girl turned around. She stopped and looked at me. She looked familiar. I recognize her eyes. Brown. My face breaks into a huge smile. "Clove!" I exclaim. As if I'd known her for years. She stares at me blankly. "What are you looking at?" I ask, peering over her shoulder. There were necklaces and bracelets. "Nothing" she mumbles. "What are you doing today?" I say. "Nothing" She mutters. "Mind joining me?" I ask. Before she could answer, I grab her hand and pull her out of the marketplace. I pull her with me, not letting go of her hand. We run past shops, houses, dirt tracks. Finally I stop. We had arrived at the top of the hill. "Come on!" I say as I begin to scale the tree. I sit on the lowest branch. "Come on! It's fun!" I tell her. She steps closer to the tree. I reach out my hand to help her. She ignores my hand and climbs the tree herself. She continues to climb, higher and higher. "Hey! Wait up!" I excitedly yell. I climb the branches, puffing to catch up with her. She finally stops and we sit on opposite sides of the tree. "Look…You can see the whole of District 2 from here." I say, pointing. She smiles. "Thanks for bringing me here." She says. I nearly fall out of the tree. "You're…Welcome" I stutter. "You should smile more often. You look prettier when you smile" I point out. She nods and smiles at me. Wow. She is truly stunning. "How old are you?" I ask. "13" She replies. "I'm 16" I say. She nods silently again. "Are you good at wrestling?" I ask suddenly. "Why?" She asks. I grin mischievously. I jump onto the ground. "Come down!" I yell. She obediently jumps down. As soon as she lands, I tackle her to the ground. I pin her down completely in a headlock. "What are you doing?" She struggles. "Seeing how good you are at wrestling" I reply calmly. "Oh" Is all she says. Then, unexpectedly, she manages to flip me over and pin me on the ground. "Nice" I say. Looking up at her. "Thank you. It wasn't too hard" She replies. "No. I meant this position" I tease. She immediately jumps off me and walks to a side. "Sorry" she mumbles, clearly embarrassed. I laugh. "Just messing with you. I gotta go now. See you someday." I jog back home.