Chapter 10
The day of the first school assembly arrived and the seniors were processing across the school grounds towards the gymnasium. Peter marveled at the size of the student body, and it was just the one class. Classes had begun and it was just as his friends from the dorm had told him, pure chaos. There were people everywhere on campus. He felt almost lost in a sea of high school kids the first few days of finding his classes. He soon got used to the routine but not to the hustle and bustle of such a large school. It was a far cry from his small school of fifty students back on the Big Island.
He followed his classmates into the school gym and luckily he found his roommate to sit next to on the wooden bleachers. The scene in the gym was a wonderful sight to see. All the students were dressed in school colors, the boys in red shirts and the girls all in white shirts. The boys filled the left side of the stands in red with the girls on the right half all in white. Football players wore their red jerseys scattered throughout the boys section. There were so many students some even sat on the floor in front of the first row. A few stood off the side of the bleachers as there was not enough room for everyone in the stands.
Then the rest of the student body from the lower classes began to file into the gym and fill in the stands opposite the seniors. Within minutes the entire gym was filled to the brim. Peter was stunned at how many students could fit inside.
Soon the chatter of the students settled down as three girls stood before the assembly and began to sing a Hawaiian greeting to the class. All eyes were on them as they chanted. Peter felt a soothing warm feeling go over him. He had not witnessed this at his school back home. He was very intrigued and proud at the same time. As the girls sang, he noticed Kaila over in the girls’ section sitting amongst the throng of students. She was on the first row of the bleachers, her head turned slightly as she watched the girls sing. He could see her profile, just as he could the first night of chorus practice. All he could think of was how beautiful she looked sitting there.
Vince noticed where Peter was staring and smiled a sly grin. He leaned over and whispered to him, “Nice view.” Peter felt a bit embarrassed as he knew he was caught staring at Kaila. Peter pretended not to hear him though and kept listening to the girls sing.
As the girls finished, the crowd cheered wildly. Soon, the cheers quieted down to near silence as the whole assembly rose on cue. Students on the front row, who had been sitting on the floor, held up homemade banners they had decorated in fancy colors and flowers that read ‘Class of 2013’ and ‘Seniors of 2013’. Mrs. Song stood in the middle of the floor silently waiting for her cue.
A voice came over the loudspeaker and announced to the assembly, “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you for the first time, the class of 2013!”
The seniors cheered wildly again and some even whooped and hollered. Peter could not help but smile broadly and feel just as proud as the rest of the senior class did. He had only been there a couple of weeks, but he already felt like one of them.
Mrs. Song raised her arms and the crowd quieted once again. She signaled the girls’ section to begin. The girls began the alma mater in traditional fashion, singing the first note. Then the boys sang the second note, signaling the entire class to sing their parts in duet. It was a stirring sight to see. Peter had only practiced the school alma mater a few times by now, but he had already learned his parts very well. The whole class sang together so beautifully and harmoniously that it put a lump in one’s throat. It was as if they had been singing the song together for years. And for most of them in the class, they had.
After the alma mater was over the crowd applauded and cheered. But they knew there was more to come. A student from the boys’ section walked out to the middle of the floor carrying a ukulele. On cue once again, Mrs. Song raised her arms to signal the next number, O Kou Aloha. As the boy played the notes of the song on the ukulele, the kids sang loudly and with great enthusiasm. It was an amazing display. The students put their arms around each other’s shoulders and swayed back and forth as they sang the wonderful song in Hawaiian. Again the boys sang their part along with the girls in duet in perfect unison. It was everyone’s favorite to hear and to sing. Once it was over the crowd cheered on and on. Mrs. Song clapped along with them with a huge proud smile on her face.
After the assembly was over, the students began to file out of the gym one by one. The boys started to climb down the bleachers and all the while Peter kept an eye on Kaila. He wanted to talk to her again even though they had just worked together earlier that morning as they always did. Vince could not help but notice him looking at her again.
“You look like you are in a trance, man,” Vince quipped. “Forget it man. Nobody has gotten more than a hello out of that girl. You know who her sister is? At least she can party, she was the most beautiful girl who ever went here. But Kaila, nah, she’s just all about studying.”
Peter looked at his roommate crazily. “What are you talking about? I talk to her all the time.”
“You mean Taney talks to you all the time and Kaila just stands there,” Vince said assuredly.
“No,” Peter said. “It’s just me and her. We talk all the time. She’s the one I’ve been working with every morning. Didn’t I tell you? She talks a blue streak, man.”
Vince shook his head. “No freaking way. She’s a stone wall. She’s nice lookin’ like Leilani, but she’s a freaking stone wall, man. She never said anything to any guys the whole time she’s been going here. Like she’s stuck up or something. Everybody knows that. She never says a word.”
“Well, she’s makin’ up for it now,” Peter said happily. Peter patted him on the shoulder playfully. “Just gotta have the right touch, buddy boy.”
“Whatever, dude,” Vince said with a frown.
Vince watched as Peter bounded down the bleachers, made his way through the throng of people and eventually caught up with Taney and Kaila. He was stunned as Peter slid right up next to Kaila and started talking to her. She laughed out loud as they walked and talked. Vince shrugged his shoulders and said under his breathe, “Unbelievable.”
After work the boys were in their room. Peter was studying and Vince had assumed his normal position on his back, bouncing the rubber ball on the wall. Peter tried his best to keep from pouncing on him.
Suddenly, Peter saw from corner of his eye a person whizzing into the room. “Dude,” Fin said as he rushed in. “You keep bouncin’ that on my wall, I’ll be forced to thrash you, Cornucopia style.” He lurched forward and caught the ball in mid-air.
“Thank you!” Peter said sarcastically.
Sitting up in bed, Vince snapped back at Fin, “Dude, you couldn’t thrash a puppy. Then it would probably lick you to death. Give me that.” He snatched the ball out of Fin’s hands.
“Whatever. Stop bouncin’ that damn thing, will ya? I’m tryin’ to study,” Fin pleaded.
“You never study, you just gawk at Jennifer Lawrence all the time,” Vince laughed.
“Excuse me,” Fin interjected. “Her name is Katniss! Get it right.”
Peter shook his head and laughed. “Geez, Fin. I think somebody must have dropped you on your head when you were little.”
“Look at him,” Vince said. “He’s a runt still.”
Fin opened his mouth to try and have a comeback but he was interrupted by more people barging in the room.
Oki and Kai came plodding in. “All right, what’s going on here? You causin’ trouble again, Finster?” Kai poked at him.
“It’s Fin, you moron,” Fin shot back. “Bite me.”
Oki plopped on Pete’s bunk and Peter just gave him a look. “So we going to the game tonight or what?” Oki asked.
“Yeah right,” Vince said.
“What game?” Peter asked. He had given up on doing any of his studies. “Get off my bunk.”
Oki ignored him though. “The Lunas, you dummy,” he said frankly.
“Oh yeah, football,”
Peter panned. He was never much into the game. But he went along with the conversation. He was more interested in getting Oki to get off his bunk. “Who we playing?”
“I have a schedule on the wall over here,” Vince answered. “Umm, King Kehaulike. It’s a home game.”
“Yeah, we’ll kick their ass,” Kai bellowed. “They won easy last week too. Hey, you know that running back, he’s in my math class. I bet I’m faster than him.”
Peter looked out the window. It was early in the evening, but he did not see any signs of people showing up for a game. “Well where is everybody? Don’t they play here?”
“Yeah right,” Vince laughed. “We got that nice field, but there ain’t no stands. Not yet at least. I hear there will be in a few years, long after we’re gone, of course. Nah, they play all their ‘home’ games down at the War Memorial.”
“Oh,” Peter said. He had no idea where that was. “Where’s that?”
Leaning back on his pillow, Vince answered, “In the valley in Kahului. Which is why none of us get to go. Nobody has a car and we can’t leave West Maui anyway.”
“It’s in Wailuku,” Kai corrected him.
“Whatever.”
“Sometimes we get to go,” Oki said.
“Oh yeah,” Vince said sarcastically. “Ferry us on a bus like kids. Yay.”
“They have it on the radio?” Peter inquired.
“Yes,” Kai droned. “Which is what we’ll probably be doing tonight as usual.”
Peter got up. “You guys are suckin’ all the fun and the air out of this room. I’m gonna go outside for a bit for some fresh air.”
“That’s not all Fin sucks,” Vince laughed. All the other boys laughed too.
“Ah, screw you Vincent,” Fin retorted as he left the room too.
“Buy me dinner first,” Vince replied, laughing even harder at himself.
Peter walked down the campus road towards the ‘Imu.’ He loved looking at the view from the hillside as the sun began to set. The clouds that hung over Lanai most of the day had disappeared and the island was clearly in view in the setting sun. He walked along the edge of the fence that surrounded the football field, then stopped and leaned against a fence post. He noticed someone walking up the main road from down the hill. He could not tell who it was at first, so he just kept watching the nice sunset over the islands and sea.
To his surprise, the person walking up the hill from the neighborhoods below was Kaila. Peter’s heart swelled up in his chest and he felt butterflies in his stomach. He had seen her many times since school began, but still he was just as excited to see her each time he did. Her hair was up in a ponytail just like the first day he saw her.
“Hey there, stranger,” he called out to her. “Who let you out?”
Kaila giggled excitedly as she saw him. “Hey! You following me again?”
“Nah, I’m just waitin’ for the game to start. Nobody is showin’ up though,” Peter said with a smile.
She laughed even harder at him as she came up next to him. “Silly, they don’t have their games here.”
“Well, that explains the poor attendance.” Kaila couldn’t stop giggling. “Yeah, I know. I’m just kiddin’ around. What are you up to?”
Leaning against the fence next to him, she said, “I was just down at my aunt’s house. I told you it wasn’t far. I wanted to go check on my scooter, see how much gas it had in it. I dropped some things off there too.”
“That’s’ cool,” he answered. “Must be nice having your house so close.”
She wrinkled her nose and frowned a bit. “Yeah, it’s all right.” She breathed a heavy sigh. Peter could not help but notice.
“You all right?” he asked with concern.
“Yeah, I guess so,” she said. “Same old drama down there. She’s yellin’ about my older sister again.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Nah, it’s OK.”
Peter stared out at the sunset some more. The sun was almost down by then. “She’s got her own place, huh?”
“Sort of,” Kaila replied. “She lives with this guy. Nothing’s cheap around here.” Peter nodded. He definitely knew that. “You should see her though. She works at one of the luaus. She’s the one that comes out near the end and gets to dance by herself. She’s the Tahitian princess.”
“Oh wow,” Peter said. “She must be really pretty.”
Kaila nodded in agreement. “Yes, she’s beautiful quite frankly. Boys fall all over her. That’s why she got that job. She’s good at it too.”
“Not as pretty as you though, I bet,” Peter said coolly. He could not believe he had just said that. It just came out. The opportunity was there.
Kaila blushed when she heard him. “Oh…me? Not hardly, ha ha.” She stammered for something more to say. She tried to change the subject. “But anyway, it’s my sister’s deal, so I don’t worry about it. Don’t you just love these sunsets? I never get tired of seeing this.”
“Yeah, me neither. It’s amazing.”
Kaila looked over at him. “Since you insist upon stalking me, how about I teach you a lesson in darts? We can listen to the Lunas on the radio.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Peter said happily. “Let’s do it.”