Telesa - The Covenant Keeper (41 page)

He seemed startled by my outburst. Now that I had allowed myself to get angry, I could feel the slow burning wave of heat building inside me, and I knew I needed to calm down. Before it got out of control. I needed to get away from this jerk. Fast. “Look just forget it okay, I don’t know what that was about yesterday, and I don’t want to know. You’re a funny guy, and lots of fun to have around, but I’m not interested in going out with you. Not the slightest little bit. So stay away from me with all your touchy-feeliness, you hear me?”

I stalked away before he could reply. Before the fire could sweep up and outwards, overwhelming my control. I walked into the sunlit courtyard, breathing deeply the way Nafanua had trained me. Not fleeing from the heat that spoke to me, but gentling it.
Breathe. Assure it, all is well. You are not needed right now. Sleep, slumber on.
It was my first real test at self-control since I had been back at school, and I was pleased with the results. Another deep breath and the fire simmered and died.

My buzz faded when I saw Daniel at the far end of the driveway. With Mele walking beside him. I couldn’t see his face so I didn’t know what damage Maleko had inflicted on him. I hoped fervently that there would be none. Too ashamed to see for myself, to see the hate that must be burning in him, I turned back and slipped upstairs. It would be another lunch period spent in the library. Oh well, I was so far behind that I needed all the study time I could get.

After lunch, we moved to house practice. Again we gathered under the spreading
tamaligi
and again, we went through the songs first. A few of the words were starting to be familiar to me and the actions were no longer foreign. There was a delicious breeze blowing across the field and it was good to be outdoors. I carefully nudged a thought pattern to the ground below us and felt an answering warmth in return. All was well. It was time for the girls’ dance. This time I joined them, Simone making room for me at the end of the front row. The music started and the first movements caught me and swept me along with them. I didn’t know all the routine, but it didn’t matter, the music caught my hands, my breath, my body – and everything that was me danced to its call. I thought I would be nervous, hesitant. But there was nothing but joy. In the music and in the answer that my hands danced. Everything else faded away. The heat of the afternoon. The sweaty crowd of students gathered underneath a wilting tree. Even all thoughts of Daniel and Mele. Nothing else existed but the music and the dance as my hands spoke to its call. When the song ended, I was flushed with happiness but embarrassed with the silence. People were looking at me funny as I went back to sit beside Simone.

“So what the hell was THAT !?” He prodded my shoulder with one lithe finger, his liquid-lined eyes demanding an explanation.

I couldn’t stop the laugh. “What? I was dancing, you know, doing the
siva
like everybody else up there.”

He shook his head firmly. “No, you weren’t like everyone else up there and you know it, you self-satisfied evil thing. Stop gloating. It doesn’t make sense. Yesterday you can’t dance a beat and today you’re all of a sudden Miss Samoa graceful and dance diva? What’s going on?”

I hastened to chase away the suspicion in his eyes. “Okay, okay, I confess, my mom gave me some lessons. I told her I was sick and tired of being the odd one out during practice, the brown
palagi
girl who couldn’t
siva
and so she helped me out.” Sudden anxiety gripped me. “Was I okay? Did it look alright?”

Simone waved his hand airily. “Girl, you were more than alright. You were freakin fantastic. I’m jealous.
I’m
supposed to be the only feminine graceful one in this relationship!” He scowled, and then a cheeky grin lit up his face. “You should have seen Mele’s face when she realized Daniel was staring at you the whole time. It was wicked!” A huge sigh of pleasure. “If looks could kill you would have been riddled with holes by now. I don’t know how your mom did it, but she sure turned you into a
taupou
.”

I tried to hide how pleased I was to hear that Daniel had been studying me as I watched the boys do their slap dance. When it was over, someone handed Daniel his guitar for the solo, and I was so focused on waiting to hear his singing again that I missed it when the lead teacher, Mrs Lematua, called my name. Simone poked me in the ribs and hissed. “Leila, she wants you.”

I was dumb with surprise. “Huh?”

Mrs Lematua sighed with sweaty frustration. “Leila Folger I said, can you get up here please?”

Slowly, I got up and walked to the front, unsure what I was being disciplined about. “Umm … yes?”

“We want you to do the
siva
while Daniel sings his song. We’re trying out different girls for the
taupou
this year. Go on, it’s hot and we don’t have all day.”

Heat choked me as understanding sunk in. She wanted me to dance. All by myself. In front of everyone. In front of Daniel. I felt nauseous. This was not what I had planned. Yes, I wanted to know how to
siva
and yes I wanted to NOT look like an idiot up there, but I didn’t want to be humiliated like this in front of the school. And especially not in front of a lethally glaring Mele, a gleefully leering Simone, and especially not in front of a boy I was in love with. Who was determined to be cold and distant. I tried to squirm out of it.

“Mrs Lematua, I don’t think that’s a good idea, I mean, I’m new to this
siva
stuff and I really think someone else would be much better for this. I …”

Mrs Lematua silenced me with one upraised hand. “Miss Folger, I know you’re relatively new here but I’m surprised that you haven’t learned already that when a teacher tells you to do something, you do it. Without arguing. We want to try different girls out for the
taupou
and it’s your turn. So get up there.” Without waiting for a reply, she turned to Daniel. “Daniel, the song please.”

I was terrified, and, in my terror, I turned to the one thing that could give me strength. Pele. As the first strains of Daniel’s song began to lilt through the air, I shut my eyes and felt for that now-familiar heat. In the ground beneath my bare feet. I called her softly. Gently. Asking for help. I thought of fire. The way it danced. Sparkled. The way it moved me. I let the song in Daniel’s voice dance over me, let it tug gently at my hands, my feet. I felt a sweet warmth that did not come from the blazing sun but from the earth below and I welcomed it, allowed it to take over ever so slightly. It was deliciously dangerous. Playing with fire. Communing with Pele
without
allowing her to make me explode into flames. I let her power inspire and move my hands, my body, my entire dance was hers.

There was silence when the music ended. I bowed the way Nafanua had showed me and walked slowly back to the shade. I could feel Daniel’s eyes on me as I found my way back to Simone.

Mrs Lematua seemed disconcerted. “Okay, thank you Leila, thank you. Umm, well that’s it for practice today people. We’ll see you all back here tomorrow. Leila and Daniel can you stay behind for a moment please?”

Simone dug his fingers into my ribs, startling me. “Ha! See, you rocked. I bet they’re going to tell you that you’re the
taupou
and Mele is going to absolutely KILL you!” Laughter gleamed in his eyes, wicked and delighted. I pushed him away.

“Oh whatever, doubt it. Besides, who said I want to be the
taupou
anyway?”

My sniff of disdain didn’t fool him one bit. “Oh please, I can cut the connection between you and Daniel with a bush knife, I don’t know who broke up with who but there’s something going on there. I’ll be waiting at the classroom. You promised to give me a ride today remember?” And with that he dashed off.

Mrs Lematua was waiting for me with the other three house teachers. And Daniel. She got straight to the point. “Leila, we’ve chosen you to be the
taupou
this year. We know you’re new and this is your first culture night, so we will expect you to put in a lot of practice and work closely with Daniel to get this item perfect.”

She didn’t wait for a reply but I tried anyway. “But, Miss, I …”

She turned impatiently. “What?”

All four teachers were staring at me. So was Daniel. The look in his eyes unreadable. Was he disgusted with this new development? Was he mad? Was he hating me even more? I couldn’t tell. I swallowed nervously before replying. “I don’t think I can be the
taupou
for the house. I don’t know enough and I wouldn’t do a good job. Please choose someone else?”

The other female teacher jumped in before Mrs Lematua could answer. “Leila, you’re a natural dancer, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such grace before. You need to trust us on this one. Besides, we’re doing something new this year and so we want someone new. Someone different from the usual. This performance is meant to be more than the usual
taupou
siva
, it has to be a performance of the song, the story contained in the song.” Her brow furrowed. “That’s right, you can’t speak Samoan, can you?”

I shook my head. She looked thoughtful for only a moment. “Ah, not a problem.” She turned to the brooding young man beside her. “Daniel, you’ll need to go over the lyrics with Leila, translate them for her, explain the legend associated with it and make sure she understands what she has to re-enact with her dance, alright?”

Daniel shrugged. What else could a Head Prefect of the school do? The teachers all looked relieved. Cheerful. “Right, that’s settled then. We’ll expect to see your practice tomorrow.” With that they walked away to the staffroom, leaving Daniel and I alone under the tamarind tree. I was suddenly cold. The last time Daniel and I had stood alone under a tamarind tree, he had kissed me. And I had burst into flames. The memory had me steeling my resolve.
Be distant Leila, be cool, be aloof.
My tone was casual and collected.

“So Daniel, what time works for you? I’m sure we can get through this in half an hour tops. How’s interval tomorrow?”

He shrugged and shook his head. “No. I’ve got a makeup test to do with Michaels.”

“Oh, so what works then?”

“I can try for today, after final form period. But you better make it short because I’ve got work to do at the shop. I’ll stop by your classroom.”

And with that brusque retort, he turned and walked back to the school block, leaving me alone with the breeze rifling through the tamarind trees.

* * * *

The room had emptied by the time Daniel walked in. I was sitting at a desk, trying to concentrate on math but so nervous that nothing was getting through. He paused in the doorway before greeting me and, for a moment, I was taken back to that day, only a few months before, when I had first seen him, when he had first walked into my life with sunlight catching on the red and gold glint of his hair, his smile. “Hey.”

“Hi.”

He pulled up a chair opposite me, his broad frame making the desk between us seem very small. I managed a weak smile and prepared to take notes while he explained the dance to me but he didn’t seem to be in a rush to get to our assignment.

“So, how have you been?”

“Good. And you?”

“Same.” He took a sheet of paper out of his school bag. “I wrote down an English translation for the song. A rough translation anyway. I’m not the greatest bilingual expert around. The song is based on a legend that my grandmother used to tell me when I was a boy.”

Both of us looked around. Anywhere and everywhere except for each other. It was now or never. I knew I may never get the chance again. “Daniel, I wanted to thank you.”

“For what?”

“For not telling anyone about me, about that fire thing.” I looked nervously over my shoulder to make sure there was no one in earshot. “I really appreciate it.”

He shrugged. “It wasn’t my place to tell anyone. Besides, you asked me not to.”

“Well, a lot of other people would have loved to spread that kind of news around.”

He interrupted shortly with a frown. “I’m not like other people. I wouldn’t break that confidence. I wouldn’t do that.”

“I know that. I never thought you would. But, I just wanted you to know that I appreciate it.”

“Sure. So, how’s that going with you then? Has it happened again?”

I exhaled and gave him a wry smile. If he only knew. “A little bit. Nafanua’s been helping me to deal with it. You know, control it.”

“I’ve been worried about you.” He spoke the words without any emotion. Their simplicity caught me unawares.

“Oh.”

“I must have called you and texted you a hundred times. Nothing.” Now there was a ragged tightness in his voice. “And I’ve driven up your road to your mom’s place every other day, hoping to catch you. Nothing.”

There was nothing to say. I stared at the desk, at the cuts and scratches of juvenile graffiti. He continued. “I’ve been going crazy with worry for you. And then finally after a month, you show up back at school, acting like there’s nothing wrong. Like we don’t even know each other. And all of a sudden you’re best buddies with Maleko?” There was disbelief in his voice. I looked up sharply.

“No Daniel, I had nothing to do with that. Honest. I got back to school and he’s acting all weird and I have no idea why or where it’s coming from. And then that day, they all basically forced themselves into my car. I wasn’t even planning to go to the game.”

He had a tired grin. “Yeah, well I guess Maleko can be pretty insistent when he puts his mind on something.”

“I’m sorry. About that fight or whatever that was during the game. I’m not sure what that was about but I’m sorry anyway.”

He shook his head lightly. “Nah, it was nothing. Me and Maleko go ways back. We’ve been butting heads for years. He was just mouthing off in the scrum and we both lost it a little. Coach has really twisted our ears for it, I can tell you. But him and me – we’re fine.”

“I’m glad. Maybe I shouldn’t have yelled at him then ”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I was really mad at him for the whole sleazing onto me thing so I kind of yelled at him the next day and basically told him to keep a mile away from me – or I would make him regret living.”