Sharp Objects

chapter three

"Clove kentwell!"

My nightmare have  turned to reality. I stand in the centre of the 15 section as the girls around me back away,leaving me a clear path. I take slow but  sure steps towards the stage, listening to the stifled chuckles emanating from the crowd around me. They were not unexpected, and I ignored them to the best of my ability. I avoid looking towards the  12 year olds at the back,not wanting to come across Harper or Albert. They would surely be crying, and I need to come across a lethal,vicious girl,small but deadly, my knifes practically part of me, if I see Harper or Albert  crying, the it will start me off,no doubt, and that would be the absolute worst thing to happen right now.

The peacekeepers walk me up to the stage,and it takes all my concentration not to trip over the cobbles in my heels.then I am at the stage, and tallulah frost is extending a white glove hand towards me, beckoning me towards the centre. I walk over to her and stop in the middle of the stage, watching as the rest of the girls happy faces spread around me. They are definitely not happy about be spared, they are happy because they want to see me die.

Then tallulah asks that special question
"Any volunteers?"

The crowd is silent. I am not offended or surprised or even slightly fazed: I expected it all to happen. It cannot unnerved me.

"Now for the boys" tallulah trods over to the boys ball, and pulls out a name.

"Eric Westfield"

I crane my neck over to the boys side to catch a glimpse of my fellow tributes. Eric is not a career, I can tell that just from the way his face contorts in terror and his lip begins to quiver. I know him from school,but,like everyone else,he doesn't talk to me. he is one of those who simply call me ' the girl with the knives' because they either don't want to say it because I'm hated, or they ar too afraid to. I like to think that it is because they are scared of me,but,unless you know what I can do,it's pretty hard to think of a 5'4 fifteen  year old girl as scary. Much less one that has no friends to take her side.

Eric has reached the stage now,and he stands next to me,shivering and trying to back away from my glare, my cross-armed stance that I project to the district.

"Any volunteers?" Says tallulah, knowing that there are going to be at least 10 boys looking for Erik's sport

I notice a few hands pop-up in the crowd,but only one of them have the courage to shout.

"I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!"

The voice comes from the front of the crowd, so definitely someone in the 16 to 18 marker. The bodies ripple and some are uprooted almost entirely as the supposed whirlwind of a tribute barrels through then.but then he emerges in the break between the boys and the girls.and what I see causes my heart to nearly leap out of my chest.

The spiky blonde hair. The bright, ocean blue eyes that almost glisten in the sunlight. It's him,and he is going to be my opponent.

Clove,now is the time to accept that you are going to make it out of that area alive. Not when he's around.

He storms up to the stage with confident strides and tallulah waves him towards her microphone. "And what might be your name?" She asks,her smile brightening as she looks across to him: even though she's wearing heels,he's still as tall as her . And then there is a tiny little  5'4 me. God,I feel small right now.

"Cato Hadley." He says.so, that's your name.after all these years, I never knew. Or at least, I didn't pay attention: I'm sure his name has been shouted over the training gym more then enough times, I just didn't notice.

"Well,district 2,give a round of applause to this years tributes,clove kentwell and cato Hadley!" Shouts tallulah,and she gestures for us to shake hands. To breach that device that we've had between us since we first laid eyes on each other. He stretches out his hand towards me. I don't want to shake it,but I have to,so I stretch my arm out,cautiously, towards him.we shake  hands,and the whole crowd bursts into applause.

Clapping hands reach out towards cato,and I stand there awkwardly as he smiles and laughs at there reaction . Then he does something unexpected, he grabs my hand again and raises it,so we are both standing there,are arms raised,hand tightly clutched together, and I can't do anything but stand in awe as the cheers die down and are almost immediately replaced with looks of disgust. Mercedes and saffron sneer from the 16 section, and Ava grigson and her crowd of popular rich career  friends glare with eyes full of malice,yet he doesn't release my arms.

I'm almost overwhelmed by the sudden respect that I have for cato Hadley, and it's impossible to hide it from myself. I am the most hated girl in the whole district,and yet,the valiant career Cato Hadley, is presenting himself to our whole community as part of a team,with me. He has not forgotten at all. Maybe this is his way of thanking me.

On any other day,I would have snatched my hand from his grasp and pulled away, but today is the reaping, and I am the next female tribute of district 2: I am too shocked to even uproot my feet from the stage .

But than something pulls me right back to reality: miss cointoyke,at the front of the crowd of equally happy and unhappy families. Tears dripping down her face, clutching Albert and Harper to her chest.

And it remains me to something. This morning, I stood,looking into my mirror,thinking,"there's no way its going to be me! I've got 5 entries out of around 10,000, the odds are completely in my favour!"

Now,the only thought my brain can form is 'how very wrong I was '

And with that,I rip my arm from his hold and storm into justice building, salty wet tear flooding down my face.