Water Touched - A Dragon Tribe Origin

Chapter Four - Tai

It took a lot of convincing for Tai's mother to let her go to class the next day. The argument that she should at least be able to say goodbye to her friends was the one that eventually worked. Not like she had a lot of them to say goodbye to, but it was the principle of the matter. Of course, when the time actually came to do it, she couldn't.

After her last class of the day ended, she walked over to Natalie and gave her a huge hug.

"I'm not complaining, but why are you being so mushy? Is everything okay?" Natalie asked.

"Uh-huh," Tai said softly. "Everything is fine." It wasn't, but it would be. She had to keep telling herself that or she'd lose her nerve and run away.

"I've never seen you hug someone before."

"Only when the mood strikes," Tai mumbled. "It struck, hard and fast. I went with it."

Natalie rubbed Tai's back. She probably wasn't buying the lie, and that was fine. What mattered was she didn't press the issue. "Want to—"

"Mom wants me home right away," Tai said. That was the truth. Her mother didn't want her to leave her sight. When she got home, there would be a list of fun things for them to do together. Mom had made it clear: their last days together would be amazing and filled with nothing but joy. Tai didn't have the heart to tell her that nothing would overtake the cloud of doom hanging over her head. If it helped her mom, she'd play along.

With a sigh, Natalie stepped back. "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow."

"I..." Tai managed a weak smile. "Yeah, sure thing." When tomorrow rolled around, Natalie would know the truth. Everyone would. The priests would make their announcement to the island. They warned Tai that visitors might come by with gifts and prayer requests for the dragon. She was promised the priests would be on guard to tend to the guests appropriately.

It might have been better to tell Natalie herself. She probably owed the girl who tried to befriend her, constantly, at least that much. The moment passed as her only sort of friend started to walk away. Calling after her felt too cliché and melodramatic.

So she gathered up her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and made her way toward the exit of the lecture hall. Alexjavier was waiting right outside the door.

"Before you say no, again, let me make one last argument for why you should come out with me tonight," he said. "Flaming slices of pineapple over ice cream. It's fire. It's pineapple. It's ice cream. There is no way you can say no."

"I don't like pineapple," she said, continuing to walk on by.

Alex kept pace with her. "But you like fire. I can tell you have an inner pyro in there somewhere. You're setting me ablaze right now with that fierce glare of yours." He batted his eyelashes at her. Him, batting his eyelashes. Did he honestly think that would work? "Not liking ice cream on the other hand is a deal breaker, because that clearly means you're not human."

"I can't go out with you," she said at last, tempted to tell him she didn't like ice cream just so he'd leave her alone. It wasn't a lie she could bring herself to say. There was no way she could betray her one true love, sweets—they'd been through so much together.

"I know you're hesitant," he said softly. "I know your story. I've known it since we were twelve. Through grade school, you made it clear that dating just wasn't your thing, and I took that as a sign to not even try. My mistake." He dared to grab her hand. "What I should have done is been more of a friend instead of trying to find someone I liked more than you. I have a reputation for breaking hearts because mine has only beat for yours since the moment we first met."

Tai pulled her hand away. "Please, stop. It doesn't matter, okay?"

"Yes, it does!" He leaned in to kiss her. She stepped back.

"I'm going to be sacrificed to the dragon in two weeks."

Alex blinked once, twice, four times, before he finally managed to speak. "What?"

She gazed down at the floor, unable to see the absolute defeat he wore on his face. "In two weeks, I'm dragon food."

"Don't talk like that," he seethed. "We can change their minds. I bet if we—"

"Ran off with each other to get married, or something, they'd pick someone else?" she challenged. "Let's be honest, I don't feel that strongly about you to risk pissing off the God of all creation. Because it's about a lot more than just my wellbeing. The priests made that abundantly clear. One wrong move, I'm rejected. If I'm rejected, our island goes poof. Now tell me you can live with those consequences. I can't." She took in a deep, shaky, breath, refusing to lose her composure. "We aren't meant to be."

Alex gazed away, blinked away a few tears, then gazed back at her even more intently than before. "Are you sure?"

"That I don't want to be the reason thousands of people are exiled from our country and possibly killed? Yes, I'm positive," she stated.

He laughed, albeit sourly. "All my friends told me to not bother with you because chances are you'd think you were too good for me anyway. Like, you're stuck up or something. But you are—too good. I think anyone else would bolt and not think twice about it. I know I would."

"I need to go home." I can't keep talking to him. It hurts too much.

Alex grabbed her hand again, this time much gentler than the first. "I'll walk you back. I won't try to kiss you again, promise. Unless you want me to, of course."

Even if I did... "Can't. It's against the rules."

"Kissing is against the rules?" He scoffed.

"No physical contact of any kind in romantic sort of way," she stated, pulling her hand free—yet again.

He shoved his hands into his pockets. "That sucks. There was a lot I could have done to try and change your mind within two weeks."

"Yeah, too bad." She clutched the straps of her bag.

"We'll hang out, though," he offered.

She shook her head. "Can't. Got lots of plans with my family."

"Oh, right, I suppose they're going to want to hog you..."

Nodding, Tai made her way outside, her pace much more relaxed in hopes that she could drag the moment out forever. She didn't want to tell him she didn't have much of a family. "Something like that."

"If you've got time for me..."

"I'll give you a call. Pretty sure you've given me your phone number more than once." She offered a weak smile. Tai wouldn't be ringing him up. If she spent enough time with him, she might take him up on the offer to run, to do something stupid.

Mom was right. I should have definitely just stayed home. The next two weeks were going to be awful.