Telesa - The Covenant Keeper (40 page)

“Leila, there you are! We’re checking out your sweet car. Can we get a ride to Pesega field? We’ve got a late game there this afternoon.”

Without waiting for an answer, they piled in, Maleko shoving for the front passenger seat. Rolling my eyes, and muttering,
bloody nuisance boys,
I hopped in the driver’s side. “Well I guess I can’t say no now can I? It’s not like I can physically eject you hulking beasts out of my car.”

Maleko’s raucous whoop had heads turning as we reversed and started out the drive. Not for the first time, I was thankful that Nafanua didn’t care what I did because a car full of boys wasn’t something I wanted to explain. The ride to Pesega was loud and rambunctious. They wanted the stereo on full blast. I conceded to midway. They wanted to see how fast we could go on the smooth new road at Vaimoso. I refused. They called out to St Mary’s schoolgirls crossing the road, inviting them to
come take a ride in our jeep baby!
I told them to shut up or else get out. I was relieved when we finally got to Pesega, which was crowded with different schools, spectators for the afternoon games. Everyone piled out, calling out their thanks before taking off. Everyone except for Maleko. Unusually subdued, he waited till they were out of sight before turning to me with a hesitant grin.

“So Leila, you wanna come watch the game?”

“No thanks. The last game I went to I got caught in the middle of a brawl, remember? Rugby is not really my thing.”

He laughed quietly but he was still not ready to get out. “Oh yeah, that’s right, the one where you came to watch Daniel.”

I didn’t bother to try and deny it. A shrug. He rushed on. “So what’s up with you two anyways? Anything going on?”

I tried to hide my surprise, reminding myself that boys weren’t known for confiding in each other. “Nothing’s going on. I guess we’re friends. You know, just regular.”

“Me and Mele aren’t going out anymore either.” He announced it triumphantly, like telling me I had just won the lottery, pausing to see how excited my reaction would be. I gave him puzzled eyes.

“No, I didn’t know. I’m ah … sorry to hear it.” I had no clue where this conversation was heading. So his next question knocked the wind out of me.

“Yeah. So I was thinking that if you and Daniel aren’t a thing and me and Mele aren’t a thing, then that means you and me could hang out sometime. You know, like go out. Together. You and me.”

I stumbled for a reply. One that wouldn’t offend. “Oh. I didn’t think. I didn’t realize. I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. You know, because you and Daniel are good friends, wouldn’t that be weird?”

He waved his hand airily. “Nah you guys are through. Why would it be weird?”

I tried again, groping blindly through a blank repertoire of ‘ways a girl turns down a boy she doesn’t want to go out with.’ Seeing as how I’d never had to do it before, I wasn’t confident of much success at finding a ready solution.

“Oh I don’t know Maleko, we don’t really know each other at all.”

It was the wrong thing to say. Right there in the afternoon sunlight with people milling about only a few feet away, he leaned towards me, sliding one arm smoothly behind me on the seat. He spoke softly, inviting me to move my head closer to his so I could catch his reply. “That’s why we should spend some time together. I can’t wait to get to know you better. I just know that you and me, we could make beautiful music together, ay?”

It was so much like a bad teenage movie that I wanted to laugh. But in that split second, something happened that drove away all thoughts of laughter. A battered green truck pulled up beside us. Daniel’s truck. He turned and looked directly at us. At me. At Maleko with his arm around me, the way his mouth was inches away from my ear. Time froze. But for no-one else but me.

Daniel smiled, a cold tight smile at the both of us, getting out of the truck, slowly getting his bag of rugby gear from the back. Maleko jolted to his feet, rocking the jeep slightly.

“Hey Danny, Leila’s Wrangler beat you here? You better retire the green bomb.”

His reply was ice cutting through the hot afternoon. “I didn’t realize Leila was providing a taxi service to rugby games now or else I would have hitched a ride too.”

I stared at my schoolbag on the front seat, cringing at his tone but Maleko seemed indifferent to the tension. He straightened up but left his arm on the back of my seat. A grin. “What do you think, is Coach going to let me play wing today?”

“Oh I don’t know, you were kinda slow at practice yesterday man.” Daniel came up to the window, keeping up the banter with Maleko while all the while his eyes were on me. Unsmiling. “I think a game against Avele needs someone with a bit more speed and power, you know?”

Maleko hopped out of the car, reaching for his bag. “Whatever man! Coach knows I’m ready for it. Today’s the day, I’m sure of it.”

I sat still in the front, a smile plastered on my face. Daniel paused “So, Leila, you coming to watch the game today? I guess you want to check out Maleko’s moves on the field?” His eyes dared me to contradict him. Maleko answered for the both of us.

“Nah man, she said she doesn’t want to get beat up again. I think you ruined all rugby games for her.” He was joking but I saw Daniel’s shoulders stiffen, the cut in his eyes before he hid it behind the coldness. When he spoke it was with exact politeness. “Of course. I understand. Your first rugby game was not something you would want to remember. It didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to, the way I wanted it to.”

I tried to repair an already broken situation. “No, it didn’t, but I didn’t care. It didn’t matter. I mean, I liked that day. Oh whatever!”

Now both boys were staring at me confused. “Huh?”

I rolled my eyes and got out of the Wrangler. “Maleko’s wrong. He doesn’t know anything about what I want. I’m staying to watch the game. Of course I am.”

And with that, I stalked away from both of them, unwilling to listen to any more. I walked to the field, joining the pack of other onlookers as the boys got their gear on. I wanted to be alone with my thoughts but a voice cut through my swirl of emotions.

“Leila.”

It was the last person in the universe I wanted to talk to. Mele and a cluster of other girls from school.

“Mele.”

“Coming to watch the boys play?”

“Yeah just for a bit anyways.”

She looked at me appraisingly. “We thought you’d gone back to the States. What happened to you?”

“Oh, I was sick. Much better now.”

Her dark eyes appraised me thoughtfully. “Yes, you do look different.” We stood in silence and watched the boys warm up, running the length of the field. My eyes trying not to linger on Daniel’s perfect form.

“So when will you be moving back home?”

I tried to make my tone as artificially casual as hers. “Probably not for a long while. I’m staying with my mother now and so this is pretty much home for me.”

Mele smiled at me. Sweetly. “Oh. That’s too bad.”

Before I could react to her venom, the ref blew a whistle and the game began. Mele and her coven moved away further down the side-lines, leaving me to watch the game alone.

The roughness of the play wasn’t as shocking to me as it had been the first time. I was following the game with mild interest when suddenly, there was a scuffle on the field, a scrum that refused to break and scatter. But at its heart were only orange and yellow uniforms. Two. Daniel and Maleko. One had the other in a chokehold, the other reaching up to throw a juddering punch at the other’s jaw. The ref was frantically blowing the whistle, the rest of the team were trying to break them up, dodging blows as they pulled the two apart. It took three of the forward pack to restrain Daniel, Maleko was shaking loose from the hold of two others, wiping blood off his chin, as he cursed at an enraged Daniel.

“Break it up, break it up right now.” the coach was furious. “Just what the hell do you two think you’re doing? Are you crazy? You’re going to cost us the game, get off the field both of you, now!”

It took all my restraint to not run on to the field to Daniel’s side. His three companions escorted him towards the side-lines, and my eyes anxiously searched for any sign of injury. Apart from a trickle of blood from a cut lip though, he seemed to be okay and I breathed a sigh of relief. As if sensing my gaze, he chose then to look up, and our eyes met. His expression was unreadable, but his whole body stiffened and seemed to scream accusingly at me before he turned away, shaking off the hand of his teammate and stalking towards his green truck. I stood, frozen, and watched as Mele ran lightly after him. “Daniel, wait up. Are you okay?”

I wanted so badly to be her at that moment. More than anything. To be a regular girl. Able to run after the boy she loved. I couldn’t bear to see any more. I turned and ran back to the Wrangler, and drove away without a backward glance. I needed to get as far away from Mele as possible. Because all I could think about was how easy it would be to incinerate her with a single thought.

* * * *

That night at dinner, I was quiet and Nafanua sensed my mood. Over Netta’s pineapple pie

(which wasn’t half as nice as Aunty Matile’s, I thought wistfully) she probed. “So, how was school today? Any problems?”

“No. It was fine.”

“Ah, so none of the things you were worried about happened? You didn’t blow up, set anybody on fire, burn the school down to the ground?” Her face was serious but her eyes sparked with mischief.

My retort was sour. “No. None of that happened. Just a regular day. Like a regular girl.”

My own answer gave me a mild boost of lightness. Because it was true. I
had
had a regular day. Not once did I want to blow up. I had thought about fire – but only because I wanted to stop thinking about Daniel and Mele walking away from me. Together. My quick flush of happiness evaporated just as quickly with that memory. Nafanua picked it up immediately.

“So why are you down? What else happened? What ‘regular girl’ stuff has you moping? Was it that boy?”

“No.” I refused to discuss Daniel with Nafanua. I didn’t want her anywhere near the mere mention of his name. I leapt to another topic, sure it would distract the both of us. “Everyone at school is getting ready for Culture night. You know, the dancing and the singing stuff. Our house is doing this dance and I don’t know how to
siva
and I feel kinda like an idiot. A clumsy idiot.”

She smiled. With unrestrained pleasure, pushing her chair away from the table. “Leila, you could never be a clumsy idiot. Even if you wanted to. You are my daughter. You are
telesa
. We are not clumsy. Foolish child.” The smile softened the words. “Come.” She went into the living room, choosing music at the stereo.

Confused, I followed. “What? What are you doing? And what do you mean, what does dancing have to do with
telesa
?”

Nafanua flicked her hands impatiently. “Leila, where do you think our people first derived the
siva
from? The gift of dance was a gift from the gods. Pele is the goddess of dance and you – you foolish child – are a daughter of Pele. Hello!” Hands on her hips, she regarded me with frank bemusement. “Now come over here. All you need is one lesson and you will be dancing circles around the rest of those girls.”

I shook my head at her excitement. “Nafanua, I hate to burst your bubble, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I’m not from here, I mean, I didn’t grow up here, I haven’t been dancing the
siva
all my life like the other girls. I have no clue how to do any of it and I think it’s a bit late to expect any Pele sparks to be rubbing off on me now.”

She waved away my protests, pulling me by the hand to the centre of the room. “Shush. Now listen, listen to the music.”

I wanted to argue but she wouldn’t let me. “Shush! Listen.”

We stood there in the deepening twilight and listened. The song skipped and fluttered through the air, tugging at me. “Now watch.” Nafanua began to dance, like the way the girls at school had danced today, the same but different. Her entire body moved in one fluid movement, her hands told a story and it was impossible not to be in awe of her. She pulled me to stand beside her, “Come here, do what I do.”

It took an hour but it was an hour well spent. By the end of the impromptu lesson, I was thrilled with the new discovery. Not only did I know how to dance the Samoan
siva
, I loved it. The beauty of it reminded me of my fire when it pulsed all around me, the worshipful thrill was the same. Again I had to admit, my mother was right. I was
telesa
. And
telesa
knew how to
siva
.

I went to bed tired but happy. Tomorrow I would join in the dance practice. I was a clumsy idiot no longer.

Chapter Eleven

At school the next day, Simone and Sinalei were both waiting for me when I drove in. Excited.

“So tell us … tell us!”

“Tell you what?”

“About yesterday. We heard about Maleko and Daniel fighting, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

They refused to accept that. But I was adamant that I knew nothing and had no information to offer. Yes, I’d given Maleko a lift to the rugby game, but that was only because he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Yes, I had seen a fight break out on the field but I had no clue what it had been about. There, that was it. Frustrated with my lack of gossip enthusiasm, they soon let me be, which was a relief.

When the bell rang for lunch, I was headed towards the canteen when a tall shape detached itself from the crowd of boys beside the rugby field. Maleko. I groaned.
No
, he was the last person I wanted to see right now. He had a black eye and a cut lip – they screamed at me accusingly. If that’s what he looked like, I didn’t want to see Daniel.

“Hi Leila! How was biology?”

“Good.”

I kept walking but he persistently kept pace with me. “So about yesterday …”

I interrupted him. “Yes, about yesterday. What the hell was that Maleko? I mean, what were you thinking? I’ve been here for months now, and we’re friends. What was that yesterday?”