Hey guys thanks for the love! I hope you like this next chapter!
twinia1: I definitely want them to get together before the games! I have a plan for that, hopefully, you'll like it
"So I'm confused," Taiya said as she sat on her parent's bed helping her dad pick a tie to wear. "Who invited who?"
"The Odair's invited us."
"Why? Mom's been awful to them for nearly 2 years."
"Maybe they want to mend fences?" Caspian suggested. "This one?" he asked holding up a tie.
"No," Taiya shook her head and he turned back around to his wardrobe. "I'm surprised mom agreed to go if I'm honest. Or is it just Finnick she has a problem with?"
"It's just Finnick," Caspian smiled as he turned around to his daughter and held up a tie. Taiya rolled her eyes and nodded, approving his choice of tie. "I think Finnick's a good kid. You know that Tay, your mom is just sensitive about the Hunger Games. Have you talked to her yet since your fight?"
"Nope," Taiya popped as she stood up to hand him his jacket.
"You should. She gets sad when you two fight."
"I'm sure she does," Taiya scoffed.
"Tay," Caspian sighed, giving her a look. "She does. Trust me. Just talk to her. You don't have to apologise, just say something nice, it'll make her day."
"Fine, you win," Taiya groaned.
"So what are your plans for today?" he asked as they started to walk downstairs. "Hanging out with Finnick?"
"No, Finnick's been weird this past week. I haven't seen him since his birthday."
"And you have no idea why he was upset?" Caspian asked.
"None," Taiya replied, shaking her head. "He won't see me. I've tried. I've gone to the door so many times and he just won't let me in. He said it wasn't safe. Whatever that means. I told Theo we could hang out at the beach though so that should be fun."
"Alright well you have a good day, we need to be off," he smiled as they reached Azalea at the bottom of the stairs.
"Will you be back in time for dinner?" Azalea asked Taiya. Taiya glared at her and gave her a short nod in return, she still wasn't over their argument about Finnick.
Taiya caught her fathers eye as he gave her a look and she sighed before smiling at her mother. "Yeah, I'll be back for dinner. You look… nice," Taiya said, cringing as she complimented her mother.
"Thank you," Azalea replied, her eyes lighting up at praise from her daughter.
"We best be off if we don't want to be late for the Odairs," Caspian said, placing his hand on the small of Azalea's back and leading them to the door. "Love you, sweetie," he called back as they walked off.
"Love you," Taiya yelled after them.
"Wait, your parents are doing what?" Theo laughed as Taiya told him where her parents were.
"They're having lunch on a boat with Finnick's parents," she sniggered.
"Geez, what did your dad have to bribe your mom with to get her to agree to that," he snorted.
"I know right! I said something similar!"
"Must be nice," Theo sighed. "Having a fancy lunch on a fancy boat."
Taiya looked over at him sadly, she knew he wasn't in the same financial position as her and Finnick's families were. "Well I'll tell you what, when the boat gets back and docks, you and I will sneak on and we'll have ourselves a little boat party, how about that?" she suggested, lightly nudging him.
"Yeah, I reckon we might get in trouble for that," Theo laughed.
"Nonsense," Taiya scoffed as she looked over at him and they both burst into laughter.
"You heard from Finnick?" Theo asked, the last thing he wanted to do was admit he still cared for his old friend, but it was not normal for Finnick to ignore Taiya, so he knew something was seriously wrong with the boy.
"He wouldn't see me," Taiya said shaking her head. "His mom didn't really know what was going on either, she said he just kept saying it wasn't safe."
"Maybe Odair's finally gone and lost his mind."
"Theo," Taiya groaned.
"I'm sorry," Theo apologised. "It's not like him to act this way. He's never been one to shut himself up, not even when he got back from the games."
"Yeah, I know and that's why I'm worried," Taiya said sadly. "He really liked the necklace though. He put it on straight away," she smiled.
"I'm glad," Theo said quietly before standing up. "Come on, let's go," he said grabbing Taiya's hand and hauling her to her feet. "The first one to reach the water wins?" he challenged as he took off running to the sea.
"Catch me!" Taiya called as she threw herself out of the water and straight at Theo.
"Ah!" he yelled in surprise as she attacked him and they both fell into the water laughing. "That doesn't count, I wasn't ready," he laughed as they resurfaced.
"That's the point, Theo," she laughed while splashing him, "the point is to catch each other off guard. That's a win to me."
"Is that Finnick standing there?" Theo asked.
"Nah uh, no way. You're not going to trick me into looking away Cresta, not a chance," she smirked.
"No, I'm serious Tay, Finnick's on the beach," Theo said pointing.
"It's not going to work," Taiya sung.
"Seriously," he scoffed before grabbing her arm and spinning her around to face the beach, "look," he said, and sure enough there was Finnick, standing on the beach watching them.
"Finn?" Taiya muttered quietly before she began walking through the water to get to the beach, Theo trailing behind her. "Finnick?" she called out as she reached the sand and started jogging up to him. "Where have you been? Are you ok? You wouldn't see me, I was worried."
"I'm fine. I'm about to go back home," he said quickly, frantically looking around.
"Are you ok?" Taiya asked, as she too looked around, trying to see what it was making him so worried.
"I said I'm fine," he snapped. "Why did your parents invite mine onto a boat?" he asked. "They're not friends."
"Why is it so bad that they're on a boat together?" Taiya snapped. "Did you seriously come all this way to ask me that?" she scoffed angrily.
"There are things you don't know Taiya and I need to know why your parents wanted to get my mom and dad out of the house. I tried to convince them not to go, but they wouldn't listen!"
"Chill out Finnick you're acting insane!" Taiya yelled back.
"Just tell me what I need to know! Please," Finnick pleaded.
"Alright fine," Taiya huffed, crossing her arms in anger. "My parents didn't invite your parents out. Your parents invited mine, and I'm just as confused as you about it. Happy? You can go back to solitary confinement now," she growled, turning away from him.
Finnick reached out and grabbed her arm, spinning her back to face him. "Woah man, not cool," Theo defended, stepping forward and ripping Finnick's hand off her. "Don't grab her."
"She doesn't need a protector Theo back off," Finnick snapped back, stepping around him and coming almost nose to nose with Taiya, making her take a few quick steps back. "What do you mean your parents didn't invite them?"
"They got invited by your parents onto the boat you guys own. My parents don't have a boat, why would they invite anyone onto a boat when they don't have one?"
"We parents don't own a boat," Finnick replied confused. "Mom told me they were going to look at your dad's new yacht."
"Well we don't own a yacht Finnick," she scoffed. "I think I would have told you if we bought a yacht." Finnick's face instantly paled and he grew rigid in fear. "Finnick?" Taiya asked as she noticed his quick change in demeanour. "Are you ok?" she asked. "Finn?" she said taking steps toward him and grabbed his arms lightly, but that still elicited no response. "Theo?" she asked confused, looking over at her friend who was watching the two of them silently.
Theo came around next to Taiya and looked at Finnick before gently removing Taiya's hand and held Finnick's nose closed, making Finnick jolt and swat his hand away. "What the hell was that for?" Finnick snapped.
"You were in shock dude I pulled you out," Theo defended himself.
"What's going on Finnick? Is everything ok?" Taiya asked as she looked the terrified boy up and down.
"I have to go. I have to go," Finnick said, as he started to walk backwards. He'd only gone a few steps when they all heard a loud explosion followed by screams. All three of them whipped their head to the direction of town.
"What the hell was that?" Taiya gasped.
"I have no idea but it didn't sound good," Theo replied as they stared at the smoke starting to rise.
"Where do you think that's coming from?" Taiya asked.
"The bakery maybe?" Theo suggested.
"Or maybe the academy?"
"The butcher?"
"The cafe?"
"The playground?"
"The flower shop?"
"Why would the flower shop explode Taiya?" Theo asked with an eye roll.
"I don't know I can't think of anything else in that part of town."
"It's not coming from the town," Finnick said quietly.
Theo and Taiya turned to look at him to see his eyes filled with tears. "Ok then," Taiya sighed, not sure how to react to his current state. "Where's it coming from then?" she asked.
Finnick mumbled an answer she wasn't able to hear.
"Pardon?" she asked.
"The water."
"What do you mean 'the water'?" Taiya snorted. "Why would an explosion happen in the middle of the wa…" she said, freezing in the middle of her sentence as her eyes went wide and she spun back around to look at the rising smoke. It was too far to the right to be from the town, the smoke was coming up from over the water.
"What is it?" Theo asked, not realising what was happening.
"No," Taiya breathed. "NO!" she yelled and took off running.
Finnick was frozen in his spot, unable to move. "Finnick, Finnick man what's happening?" Theo asked. "Finnick I don't want to leave you, mate but I can't let her run off alone," he said, turning from Finnick to a quickly disappearing Taiya, back to Finnick. "Finnick, come on snap out of it!" Theo yelled, clicking his fingers in front of his face.
Finnick suddenly snapped out of it and took off running after Taiya, not saying a word to Theo. "Taiya!" he screamed. "Wait! It's not safe!" he roared. "Taiya!" he screamed as loud as he could as he chased after her but there was nothing he could do, the wind was in her ears and she couldn't hear anything as she tore towards the town.
"Please no, please no, please no," Taiya panted as she finally reached the main beach only to freeze when she saw the smoke was definitely coming up from a fiery mess on the water. Finnick pulled up next to her, having caught up with her only moments ago.
"Taiya," he pleaded as he tried to grab her hand but she yanked it away to bury her hands in her hair.
"No, no, no," she whispered as she began to panic.
"Taiya what is going on?" Theo asked as he ran up to them. She was in such a panic that she wasn't able to answer him and Theo looked around the crowd, before quickly walking up to Mrs Fran who owned the flower shop overlooking the water. "What happened?" he asked.
"I don't know dear," she replied, looking visibly shaken. "Everything was fine and then all of a sudden there was a loud bang and a boat caught on fire." Theo's eyes widened as he put together the dots that Taiya and Finnick had already connected. "Oh my god," he breathed as he turned back to the two of them, to see that they had subconsciously grabbed onto each other's hands.
"Taiya? Taiya?" Kenna called as she ran up to them. "Do you know what happened?" she asked. "No one seems to know. Taiya?" she asked as she looked at the girls glazed over eyes.
Without warning, Taiya ripped her hand from Finnick and ran down the dock. "Wait!" Finnick yelled after her and chased her.
Taiya grabbed all the fisherman she passed on the dock, "Which boat was it?" "Did you see what happened?" "Were there people on the boat?" "How many boats left the dock today?" All the fisherman shook their heads, unable to come up with an answer before she ran to the next one along.
Finnick stayed one step behind her at all times, not letting her away from him as he stared out at the water. Only he knew what happened. Only he knew why the explosion truly occurred.
Taiya reached the end of the dock and stood on the end looking out at the fire before something caught her gaze in the water below and she let out an almighty wail. Finnick immediately grabbed her waist and held her hand as she collapsed into him. There was a tie floating in the water. The same tie she'd helped her dad pick out this morning.
She quickly ripped away from his grasp and threw herself into the water. He dived in after her without any hesitation. She clawed at the water, desperately grabbing at the tie and clutching it to her chest as she wailed in anguish.
Finnick grabbed onto her and held her to his chest, just holding her as she cried and his tears silently fell. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw movement and looked over at the beach to see three peacekeepers standing there, not watching the mess on the water, but watching the two of them. Taiya and Finnick. And Finnick immediately knew how serious Snow was.