Sharp Objects

chapter twenty one

Marvel raises his eyebrows in disbelief, then scoffs " oh,sure there is nothing going on. Come on clove,it's obvious that there is something between you two, he defends you from glimmer and zafira every single time, even though it's obvious that glimmer likes him."

" oh yeah,I'm in a fight to the death. What do I do? Oh, I know, I'll go find a boyfriend!" I reply sarcastically " that's not the aim of the hunger games,is it."

"No, but neither standing up for a girl that can quite clearly stand up for herself." Replies Marvel, still smirking. " he wouldn't defend you if he didn't like you."

" how do you know?" I question, even though Marvel's comment has thoughts and questions about cato running through my brain.

Why the hell is he defending me in here? He does know that I can defend myself,of course he does. He seen me before, he knows that I can throw. He knows that I am the girl that saved his life from a cougar.so why does he still defend me.

It seems as if the whole time during my mental rant, Marvel has been talking to me. I mentally scold myself for being so obviously infatuated with my thoughts, plaster an indifferent look across my face,then turns back to him as if I had been listening to him the whole time.

"So,what about you?" I continue,changing the subject quickly. He noticeably chuckles under his breath,but doesn't pry for more answers about my slight crush on cato. "Do you have a special girl back at home?"

Or here with us?

I would say that, but to find out that Marvel likes either glimmer or zafira would probably cause me to murder him here on the spot.

"No not really." He says, but I notice his quickly covered us smile before he can hide it, and automatically raise my eyebrow in question.

"Name?" I ask,smiling. His face turns blank,and he suddenly looks sad.

"Alyssa. I don't know her surname. I don't think I've ever talked to her. But when I watched the reaping back, I realised how pretty she is." He trails off,and I swar my mouth drops open,even though I may of imagined it: Alyssa is the name of the red-headed girl from district 5.

Marvel likes the fox like,sly,cunning Alyssa? Well I never ......

"You mean district 5 Alyssa?" I ask,he nods assent,and waits, probably for me to go on about your enemies being enemies and that we are all not here to be lovey-dovey idiots. But I don't.

" that's really cute Marvel!" I Exclaim instead, smiling widely . He looks up and smiles too.

"Yeah I suppose, but I don't think she really knows who I am. I've never spoken to her,not even in training or anything, and I doubt we would ever get a chance to talk,seeing as one of us,or more likely both of us, will be dead soon." He sighs exasperatedly looking backwards to the ground,watching his boots as we slowly make our way back to camp.i can only agree.

And,anyway,we're nearing the tree where fire girl is hidden, so we better stop soon. "How funny life is." Marvel says suddenly, chuckling to himself.i raise an eyebrow (which I seem to do alot when Marvel is around) and he laughs even more.

"I was just thinking about something." He continues " it's not everyday you have a heart to heart in the middle of a death match." He smiles, and I can't help but return it,soon enough, I'm laughing too,and we arrive back at camp to strange looks.

"What are you guys laughing about?" Asks zafira,her eyebrows narrowed into slits. I dump the fire wood beside her and say "nothing" in the most blunt and snappy voice possible. She huffs and goes back to Inspecting her spear.

Glimmer is sitting next to cato on the floor, giggling and talking animatedly about something.cato looks like the most bored person on this planet. I resist the urge to bury into laughter, and I sit down on Cato's other side. " Hey. We're back." I say,to try and cheer him up.

His face almost lights up immediately. "Clove! I've wondering where you'd got to! Thank god! You had me worried there." He exclaims, then leans closer to me and lowers his voice " worried that I would have to sit with this madwoman all evening." His face drops and he sighs in disgust. Making me laugh.

"Well, I'm back now."

We spend the rest of the evening not doing anything. Just before darkness falls, cato lights a fire using the wood that Marvel and I collected earlier.

The embers remind me of the forest fire that chased me this morning, and I shudder at the thought of it. The feeling gives me chills, even next to the oppressive heat of flames,and I scoot away from them and rest my back against a tree, hugging my knees for warmth.

A lizard sits around two metres away from where I sit. It's an harmless creature,but I'm bored, and boredom usually drives me insane. I take a knife out my vest and launch it at the lizard. It launches at the creatures middle as it pierces into the ground satisfied,I pick another knife,and repeat. However inhumane it must seem, at least it keeps me thought away from the fire burning away in the clearing.

Another two hours or so,everybody begins to feel tired. After a day of running and collecting. I'm shattered.

"Guys,I think we need a guard,somebody to keep watch over fire girl to make sure she doesn't get out." Says Marvel. We all mod enthusiastically. We do need a guard: can't let little Katniss escape when she's so close to death.

"I'll take first watch." Says cato "then I'll wake up whoever's second and they can take over."

"I'll do it!" Shouts Glimmer excitedly. I immediately volunteer myself for the job: Glimmer would be able to protect us from anything, and I don't exactly trust her not to kill me while I'm asleep. "Glimmer,don't worry I'll do it." I say quietly, before anybody can object.

"Clove,you must be excused." Says cato,stopping me." Take a break you need sleep. Otherwise we won't be able to get fire girl if she runs away. You're easily the fastest here, and we don't want to loose her just because you feel obliged to help your alliance by taking watch. Go sleep."

I sigh,and don't try to argue back. He's right. I do need to sleep. And he's right about fire girl too.in the morning, we'll burn her to the grands.

With that thought in mind,I grab my sleeping bag, take a knife out my vest to keep under my jacket,which is serving like a pillow, and drift off into a dreamless sleep