A day at the beach (Open)

<sub>He got the day off.

The idea hadn’t quite sunk in yet. It had been years since Reese could last remember a day he didn’t spend in the boat or spend fishing. On stormy days, he fished off the docks, any day that had decent weather, it was the boat. Rough patches of skin dotted his hands, showing where the fishing pole had dug in. Rope burns were evident up and down his arms from hours of dredging up nets. The abuse showed on every angle of his body. From the salt that glued his hair into spikes, to the cuts and bruises on his legs, and finally the long scars that traced his arms and back. He was not a sight to be seen.

He noticed that as he walked along the beach. He was avoided at best. The rich people of District Four wanted nothing to do with him. He was scum on the bottom of the fish barrel. Yet, that didn’t really bother the young man. He preferred the silence to the usual mayhem he faced on the boat. His brothers constantly abusing him, their shouts and yells and orders constantly made his ears ring. On the beach, it was just nice to hear the waves rumble on by.

Sticking his scarred hands into his pockets, Reese continued down the shoreline. His feet kicked up clumps of wet sand. The water rushed over his toes but he barely noticed. Water, it was second nature to him. From the moment he could hold a fishing rod, he was working on the boat. He was constantly up to his ankles in water. He lived in his swim trunks and with a net in his hands. Life wasn’t going to change any time soon and neither was Reese. That boat and fishing were his life. It was so close to being taken away though. One false move and their business could be ripped out from under them.

Even then, fishing would be Reese’s life. The big commercial businesses around the district would happy pick up prime fishermen like Reese and his brothers. Yet, it wouldn’t have the same sentimental value the business had. Their father started this business and for a while, he was a wealthy man. The novelty of buying from an independent business wears off after a while though. Then they lost all the business after their father died and things took a turn for the worse.

Seriously though, he shouldn’t be thinking about this on a day like today. He was supposed to be having fun, doing whatever teenagers were supposed to do. What was that exactly? Reese had never spent much time with others his age unless it was in school. He didn’t have any friend per say and overall, Reese was alone.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Reese spotted someone out floating in the water. A girl perhaps? Who would want to swim on a day off? Reese had never tried swimming for fun. It was always work for him. Curious, Reese looked down at what he was wearing. A worn t-shirt and a pair of shorts that he usually wore to work, he could swim in these.

He took off his shirt, revealing the scars on his chest and back but he didn’t care who saw them. They were scars, who should care? Placing the t-shirt on a rock so it wouldn’t get wet, Reese waded his way into the water. It was cool and refreshing on a warmer day like this. Well, it was September and starting to cool off but this was still warm for Reese. And the cold water was refreshing to tired muscles. It would be nice to stand here for a while.</sub>

<sub>"Hi, nice day isn't it?”

The sound of someone’s voice jolted Reese out of his spacing. He had been staring at the horizon, wondering how far the water goes. He was like that; he could stare into the distance and disappear from the world. It was a nice feeling after a stressful day. But the worst part was always being brought back. Especially by another person, it usually scared the crap out of him. It was a girl, looking at him. She was pretty; he had to admit but not his type. She looked on the verge of becoming one of those strangely disfigured Capitol people.

"It is such a nice day today, and to have off from school is just amazing!" She said more when he didn’t respond for he was still trying to recover from the surprise of her approach. She looked like she knew something more but Reese couldn’t figure what it was.

“You repeated yourself.” He pointed out bluntly, scratching some sand out his hair. He really needed to start washing it better. “And you have school off? My brothers just didn’t force me to work today. You have no idea how good it feels to not have a net tearing at your fingers.” He over-extended his fingers and heard a satisfying crack in his knuckles.

As he took a closer look at the girl, she didn’t look like she worked a day in her life. These types of people annoyed Reese. They had no idea what a hard days labor felt like nor would they ever. Sore muscles, body aches, and exhaustion were probably not even words in their vocabulary. A plush life, that was something that Reese had never possessed and he didn’t even think he would ever want one. Working was his life and Reese didn’t want that to ever change. If he didn’t have working, Reese wasn’t sure what he would do with his life. It gave him purpose, the fishing business. At times, Reese wanted nothing more than a nice warm day, working on the boat with his brothers.

On the other hand, this girl has probably never held a net or had to reel in a fish that weighed more than she did. Likely, that would be every fish that was in the ocean. She was a bit on the skinny side. Well, so was Reese but at least he had some muscles hidden under his skin. To him, it didn’t look like this girl ate.

The girl started to drift toward the shore but her eyes were still locked on him. She was blinking rapidly and was smiling like someone just released from a mental hospital. Did he really want to associate with someone that looked like a psychopath?</sub>

<sub>Instead of being mad, like Reese should have been at the girl’s sudden outburst, he laughed. Reese laughed harder than he had in a long time. He doubled over, holding his stomach as the laughter erupted from his mouth. This girl was ridiculous. Her words were hysterical. She had turned on him all of a sudden. She obsessed over her looks and why he didn’t obsess over her looks as well. She was so shallow, it didn’t seem humanly possible.

"Can't you see me? Are you blind or something? You can't even acknowledge how good I look. I mean, even if you don't like me, you have to think I'm pretty!" Her shouting was attracting eyes as Reese noticed but he continued to laugh anyways . This girl was unbelievable.

It was another few seconds before his laughing had finished and he could speak. “I’m so sorry but really. Thank you, I have not laughed so much in a long time.” He coughed, trying to clear the stitch that formed in his side. “I hate being mean but I have never met someone so shallow.” He gave another feeble laugh before ducking under the water to wet his hot head.

Coming back up, Reese saw that the girl was still glaring at him. Was she really that mad? Reese didn’t have much sympathy though; he hadn’t done anything wrong except look at her in a strange way. Or at least, that’s what she thought. He had just seen the girl that was talking to him. He answered back. She blew up in his face. He didn’t provoke her in any way. “You are the strangest girl I have ever met.” He pointed out, spitting some salt water out of his mouth. “And that’s not a bad thing.” Reese said, smiling as he splashed a little water her way.</sub>

The girl continued to act…well strange. This Mahi was a girl different from some of the others that Reese had met. He had hoped that she would be different in a positive way but instead, she was even more annoying, shallow, and selfish than any of the others. Yet, this intrigued Reese, he wanted to know why this girl was this way. She was from a completely different world than Reese and he wanted to know all about it. She had a life he could never have, even if he didn’t want it, he still was curious of what it was all about.

"Reese, I think I might of heard somebody calling my name... maybe." Her words were lie. Reese was good at reading people, to predict their movements. He had to learn this to protect himself against his brothers. Here, it was proving its usefulness in another way. She was testing him but for what? She was just leaving the water with a lame excuse.

“Bye.” He called cheerfully, giving a smile and turning his back. She wanted him to play her games, well, he wasn’t about to. Instead, the boy dove under the water and swam out a few yards. He was a strong swimmer; years on the boat had taught him how to be. And it really was relaxing, to do it when one didn’t need to.

When his head popped back up to the surface, he saw that Mahi had made it to the beach, her destination. He wondered if she was surprised or not that he didn’t follow her. ‘Well, it could be fun to talk to her for a little longer.’ His mind suggested and he had nothing better to do anyways.

His feet sloshed around in the shallow water as he made his way onto the sand. He came up next to Mahi and without thinking shook out his hair, trying to remove the water. A habit that was not usually minded on the boat but here may not be tolerated. Reese hadn’t thought of that and was oblivious to the few calls of discomfort from the people around. He shook his head to remove the water from his ears. “So, was there someone calling your name?” Reese asked suspiciously, keeping one eye on Mahi as his head tilted to the side, trying to clear the water from his ears.

OoC: Terrible post is terrible. I'm sorry. :C
And her feet wouldn't get pruned from being in that long. I spend up to four hours in the water daily and my feet almost never prune. C: /yay for being a swimmer