Chapter 3

My mother and little sister Tina came in balling like little babies so hard it made me cry too. We talked and hugged but my mother's last words were something I knew would come, stay near Cato he will protect you so that you can come home to us once again. They lost so much that all I could do is listen to them and hope that I am coming home soon or I will get to be with my birth parents and my father once again. Little did I know there were plenty of surprises coming my way. People I didn't know we're coming to congratulate me and Vanessa even came to see me saying something I was shocked to hear. I had never been so shocked in my life, it was so scary that I couldn't cope with it. I thought it was a trick until she told me the whole story. It started on the first day of school.

"The first time Cato saw you he fell in love with you right away. He said yes to your parents that he would protect you only to be near you. I obviously do not know what he sees in you but I do not control his mind, if I did he would never have gotten close to a weirdo like you" How did she even know about that? "

"I got jealous because he was clearly in infatuated with you, the moment you walked through the door. Maybe he even loves you now but I do not know. He put a spear in Damen's chest because he was jealous of how good you to get along and he thought you liked Damen more than just friends. I have known him for years pined after him for years and he never looked at me the way he looked at you in an instant" So that's why he tried to kill Damen. He got jealous. Although none of what she was saying made any sense some how the words felt right "Now he volunteered because he wanted to protect you and be near you for as long as he can. He is in love with you more than his love for fighting and no one thought that was even possible in his family. I know that it is a lot to take in but all of it is true. He loves you. Also I know that the months that I was horrible to you, you did not deserve but I do hope you come back safely and maybe one day we could be friends."

She pressed something into my hands and with that, she left. All of this new information in my brain felt like it was going to explode. I now knew why Cato almost killed Damon and why he volunteered, if that was even true. The most shocking part was why he did all those things for me and why Vanessa admitted that she disliked me because of Cato. She did not have to come up to me and tell me all of this right before my life was going to be written for me. This means that if Cato did not exist we could have been friends all this time that I was here. Even if Cato never felt anything for me my life could have been so much easier. I could not comprehend it but this was not a time to be joking around so if there was any announce of truth then it was all true.

Two peacekeepers came and walked me out to the train. I finally looked at what she pressed into my hand and it was a scrapbook with my name on it. When Cato came into view all I could do is look down at the ground and I kept the scrapbook out of his view. It took all my strength to take his hand so he could help me up the train steps and into a train car. I was so embarrassed about what I had just learned that when Effie showed us our rooms I stayed there as long as I could.

After a while Cato came silently and watched me stare into space. Finally, he spoke, it was time for supper. This was going to be a very awkward trip to the capital. Hopefully, the district one girl would help me figure my feelings out, we were supposed to be allies after all, maybe she had felt these things before and knew how to deal with them. I did like Cato for some time now, even when he annoyed the living daylights out of me there was always something about him that just drew me to him, but he liked me from the moment he saw me walk into that classroom with the principle. If only Katniss was here to help me figure this out but I never get to see her anymore now that I left district 12 and that past.