Telesa - The Covenant Keeper (10 page)

“Dammit!” Because I had nearly sliced through my own leg, I was even madder. I took a deep breath and braced myself for another attempt. But a voice from behind me stopped the swing.

“Hey, hey. You’re going to hurt yourself there. Why don’t you let me show you how to do it?”

Daniel stood beside me, with a slight frown.

“I said I didn’t need any help and I meant it. Thank you but I’m fine.” Exquisite politeness.

“No come on, at least allow me to show you how to hold the blade properly? Just a little help before you chop your leg off. Or somebody else’s.” A wide gesture to the boys alongside me.

They hooted at that. The mafia gangster straightened from his cutting to speak. Loud and authoritative. “Don’t be such a fiapoto knowitall, girl. He’s right. You don’t know what you’re doing. Listen to him.”

I was outnumbered. And in danger of chopping my leg off. I held the knife out to Daniel. “Alright, fine. Go ahead. Show me.”

His fingers brushed mine as he took the blade, sending a chill through me. I moved several steps away in case he noticed.

“Right. The important thing to remember with the machete is a firm grip and a relaxed stance. Bend at the knees and lean forward a little. Then let your arm swing loosely. You want to just start off lightly until you learn to gauge the proper distance. Too far down and you’ll hit the ground. Too far up and you won’t cut the grass.”

He leaned to expertly cut the still-untouched section of grass with several easy strokes. Even with his shirt on, I could clearly make out the tense and release of his muscled arms as he hacked at the grass with graceful ease. I swallowed and tried to find something else to look at. The birds in the tree maybe?

“Leila!” his tone was irritated. “You’re supposed to be watching so you can figure out how to do this, now come here. Your turn. You try.”

Suddenly I was tensed with shyness. All four males were watching. Waiting to see what I could do next to make their afternoon interesting.
They would probably love it if I cut myself
, I thought darkly,
give them something to talk about tomorrow
. I gritted my teeth and tried to copy the stance Daniel had shown me. I leant forward to take my first swing but again his command stopped me.

“Wait – not like that, like this.” He moved closer to my right side, angling his body to stand beside me, so our arms were in alignment. I tried to ignore his nearness. But it was difficult. I could feel the heat of his arm, the brush of his shoulder against mine. His voice spoke too close to my ear for my liking. I caught a flush of his breath on my cheek as he spoke.

“Bend your knees slightly, lean forward a bit, and let your body follow the swing of the blade. It’s not meant to be full force every time, every swing, you’ll tire yourself out too fast that way.”

His hand was on mine as he swung our arms gently in an arc, mimicking a cutting swing. I could smell his nearness; green grass, sweat and sunshine. It was sending my heat levels spiralling dangerously high. So, of course, the threat made me brusque and rude. Well, more than usual.

“I got it, I got it!” I stepped away from him, but carefully tried to follow his instructions. Painfully aware of his scrutiny beside me, it was a relief when he nodded approvingly after several tries.

“Hey, that’s good Leila, I think you’ve got it. Just pace yourself and remember to focus so you don’t cut your leg off.”

I wanted to poke my tongue at him or toss him a well-chosen curse word, but I thought I better not stop concentrating on the grass. The rest of the half hour passed swiftly in a rhythmic swaying and scything. Dimly I was aware of Daniel, taking off his shirt and joining us in the line along the tennis court perimeter with a knife, making our group five. I hated to lose my rhythm so I fought the desire to sneak a peek at his half nakedness. Instead I gave myself up to the pleasurable burn of exertion, my whole body at work, cutting long green grass on a golden afternoon.

It was a shock when Daniel called for everyone to stop their work. Time already? I halted mid swing with the others and straightened my back with a groan. Ugh, I knew I would really be feeling it tonight. My back muscles were protesting as I shook my shoulders to loosen them, walking back to the shade where I had left my bag. Daniel was dismissing us all. Again I envied the boys their freedom as the slight breeze danced over their bare skin and they threw water over themselves at the gushing tap. I felt like a sweat-stained oil rag and knew I looked it too. I wanted nothing more than to get the heck out of there and home to a cold shower. Daniel’s voice beside me, startled my thoughts of Aunty Matile’s freshly made sweet lemonade pouring over chinking ice.

“So I bet you’re glad that’s over.” He stood too close to me. Still only in black Nike shorts, a shirt slung over one shoulder. There were beads of sweat on his arm, the curve of his hip tensed as he bent to pick up his schoolbag. When he shook his head slightly, a faint scatter of water came my way. “Oops sorry.” His smile was too genuine, too open to go unanswered.

There was a smile in my voice as I replied, “That’s alright, thanks. For your help today. I probably owe you my still-intact leg.”

He laughed. It was a warm, rich sound. “Actually all the boys are relieved they still have their legs to walk home on too, they were a bit worried when you started swinging that thing around.”

Beside him, the hulking senior heard him and agreed. “Ay Daniel, I thought this girl was going to cut us all in pieces. Should never let a girl loose with a bush knife ay?”

They both broke into laughter. Which had me on auto attack immediately. I hated being laughed at. And I hated walking beside these boys when I was a smelly, dishevelled mess. Especially not beside Daniel’s perfection. I tensed and shut my face down with a frown.

“I don’t know why you thought I wouldn’t be able to handle it – I may not have ever used a machete before but there’s no reason why I couldn’t figure out if given the opportunity. There’s no reason to be such sexist jerks.” The words came out colder than I’d planned, but they were already knifing through the afternoon before I could reclaim them.

The senior whistled long and low. “
Sole
Daniel, I don’t think this girl likes our jokes eh?”

I had quickened my pace to get away from them and Daniel had to place a hand on my arm to get me to look at him. My scowl was armed and ready, where he only looked exasperated.

“What is with you? We’re just kidding, don’t you ever relax and just chill? I mean, first I’m a racist pig and now I’m a sexist jerk? Can’t you ever stop expecting the worst of people? You don’t even know me.”

His eyes were jade stones of accusation, his face stormy. I shook off his hand, jutting my chin defiantly as I replied. “No. I don’t know you. And you can be sure that I have no desire to. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get home.”

I turned and strode away, rigid with anger as I headed down to the bus stop. Ha. Boys. Even beautiful ones, who needed them? I missed my old school. At least I knew where I stood with girls. At least my annoyance with them didn’t war with an unwilling attraction to the glory of perfectly defined arms and a crooked smile.

* * * *

At home, a cold shower didn’t do much to cool the heat of my afternoon grass-cutting session. With a sinking feeling, I realized I would need to visit the pool tonight if I wanted to pre-empt a heat attack. All through dinner with Matile and Tuala, I could feel the heat gathering, making it difficult to breathe in a kitchen drowning in the sweetness of Matile’s pineapple coconut pie. As soon as it was polite enough, I excused myself to go to my room. Another shower would be required before bed for sure. I tried to focus on homework while I waited for the sounds of evening to subside. Matile and Tuala were watching television and it seemed an eternity before they finally went to bed. By then I was breathing in huge gasps, the steam rising like a pressure cooker in my chest as I fought the waves of hot panic.
Stay calm, just breathe, you’re going to be alright, it’s okay. Stay calm, breathe, come on take deep breaths.

It was midnight when I slipped from the house, armed with a greasy mutton bone from dinner for Terminator. He was a wriggling bundle of glee at my gift and I whispered my pleas for quiet as I climbed over the back fence and ran lightly through the forest. I knew the path so well now that I could have found my way there blindfolded. It was a relief when I broke from the trees and into the clearing. Quickly, I stripped down to the basics, leaving my clothes hanging on a branch with my towel and walked into the water, accepting its wet embrace with pleasure. For a short while at least, I would keep the heat at bay.

It was always a surprise how quickly the water worked on me. A few minutes submerged, floating in the murky night, and I would be me again. Leila. Not the girl who felt like she tiptoed on the edges of an incendiary explosion all the time. Just me. There was calm solitude in the pool. There was reflection. Here, there was safety. Sometimes, there would be tears as I sat in the pool and cried for my dad. Awash in the midnight, I would talk to the stars overhead. I liked to think that somewhere, somehow, my dad was listening.

Tonight was different. Tonight, my thoughts were filled with green eyes and skin that glistened with sweat, a tattooed arm, the laughter of a boy who towered over me in annoying splendour. I wondered what my dad would say if I told him about the Chunk Hunk and how he alternately irritated and fascinated me.

“Leila, you’re too hard on people, too quick to condemn them. You need to give people a chance, try to understand where they’re coming from,” was his advice after a particularly excruciating visit with Grandmother Folger. “But Dad, she’s so rude to you. And to me. I don’t know why she even bothers inviting us over for dinner when all she does is tell us how horribly inadequate we are.” His laugh, the way he would yank at my thick braid and toss an arm around my shoulders. “Leila, how could we possibly be inadequate? Look at us, who could find a more perfect pair? You – the friendliest, cheeriest, perkiest cheerleader I know – and me – the dream dad who’s never home, who in a year earns, oh, probably as much my brothers do in a week! We’re perfect, what could your Grandmother Folger possibly have to complain about with us?!”

I stood in the pool and walked carefully over the rocks, deeper towards the splashing waterfall. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I never heard the stranger come into the clearing.

“What are you doing here?” the voice was harsh, stridently breaking into my peaceful reverie. I was so startled that I missed my footing on the smooth rocks below and slipped backwards, my head going underwater. Spluttering with a mouth and nose full of water, I surfaced with a choking gasp, terrified by my momentary blindness.

“Who is it? Who’s there? Get away from me!” the last was a shriek as I felt a hand grab my arm.

“Get off of me! I said get off. I know kung fu, I mean karate. And I have a weapon. I do. Get away.” My threats were interrupted as, in an attempt to push the hand away, I again slipped and went under. Strong hands reached under my shoulders and heaved me up, dragging me kicking and splashing to the poolside.

A coughing tangled mess, I pushed myself over to confront my attacker head on. Only to be brought up short by the sounds of someone laughing.

“So which is it? Karate or kung fu? Either way, I’m reeeeeeally scared.” The familiar voice had a rich deep timbre and his laugh rang out through the forest night.

Wiping the clods of sodden hair out of my eyes, I looked up with my angriest expression. The one my father called the “
I’m gonna eat u alive and spit out the pieces and make you wish you had never been born”
face. Apparently, I had mastered it from the tender age of three. I turned it on full blast and looked straight at Daniel.

He towered over me, amusement crinkling his eyes, a half smile on his face as he surveyed my dishevelled state. He wore only a ripped pair of shorts that sat precariously low on his hips. Moonlight played on the tattoo snaking its way over his left shoulder as he put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

“And so this weapon of yours? Just where exactly would you be concealing that?” His eyes speculatively surveyed the length of my wet body clothed only in its skimpy black cotton underwear and bra top.

Furious and horribly self-conscious, I grabbed my towel from the rocks and hastily covered myself before turning to confront this arrogant idiot with the full measure of my rage.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Creeping around in the dark, sneaking up on people like that and then scaring them? And how dare you put your hands on me! You – you – horrible creep.”

His smile was quickly replaced with a cold hard look as he folded his arms, “Excuse me? Oh I get it, we’re going for a three count – racist, sexist and now I’m a potential rapist. Great. Is there nothing you won’t accuse me of? Last time I checked, this pool didn’t belong to you. And when a clumsy female falls over in the water and looks like she’s drowning in only two feet of water – it’s considered gentlemanly behavior to pull her out. In fact, most girls would then say,
thank you
for helping them.” His voice was low but full of venom as he spoke, slowly emphasizing each word.

I withered slightly at his response. “Oh.” I scrambled for defense. “Well, you shouldn’t have scared me like that. THAT wasn’t polite. I mean, it’s the middle of the night out here in the middle of nowhere for goodness sake so of course I was gonna think you were attacking me … or something.”

He arched one eyebrow questioningly. “I don’t know what you were thinking being out here alone. Are you crazy? Yes, this is Samoa and we don’t have the same amount of psycho killers running around like you do back in the States but still, it’s just stupid for a girl to be out swimming in her underwear by herself. What were you thinking?” His tone was derisive.

From outraged offensive, I found myself struggling in defensive mode. “I know, I mean – I really didn’t think anybody would be out here so late. And I’ve come here a few times now and never seen anyone around. I didn’t think I was trespassing, so I didn’t know it would cause any trouble, and back home you wouldn’t catch me out by myself in a forest in a million years, but this place is different and it’s just so hot and I can’t sleep and nobody cares what happens to me anyways, oh why am I telling you anything?” I came to an abrupt halt as tears pricked my eyes and threatened to spill over in my voice. I felt an awful hollowness in my chest as I realized the truth of my words. Nobody did care. I could get abducted by aliens, hacked to pieces by an axe murderer and my aunt and uncle would probably be relieved to be rid of my pestering presence. My grandmother would pay for the funeral, and shower my grave with lots of ridiculous flowers. But tears and actual loss? I doubted it. And there was definitely something wrong with me and it was getting worse every day and I didn’t know how much longer I could handle it by myself. I was sick. Frightened. And tired. In that moment, a wave of self-pity threatened to drown me. I turned my back on him and took a deep breath to steady myself, steeling for further attack.