Chapter 17
Two weeks later the football season had winded down to its final regular season game. The Lunas were to meet their other island rival, Maui High, at War Memorial Stadium. It was also Maui High’s homecoming game. The stands would be filled with half the fans all dressed in their school color, light blue, and the rest of the fans from Lahainaluna would be dressed in their traditional red. From the field it was nothing but a sea of blue and red in the stands.
The previous week had shockingly ended in a loss to Lahainaluna’s other island rival Baldwin. The Lunas were defeated in a tough match, 20-17, for their first loss of the season, but still remained an outside chance of receiving a first round bye in the state playoffs. They had to win against Maui High to secure the first round bye.
The Boarder students from Lahainaluna filed off the school buses to attend the big game. It was a big treat for them to be able to travel to the middle of the island. All of them were decked out in their school color, red. The atmosphere was electric and it was a perfect night for football in Hawaii.
Taney and Kaila sat together in the stands while Peter and his friends were still climbing their way up the steps.
Kaila shouted out to them and waved, “Peter! Over here!” Peter waved back and smiled at seeing her. That butterfly feeling hit his stomach as soon as he saw her again.
He slid next to her on the bleachers and warmly said to her, “Hey there.”
She leaned into him, desperately wanting to kiss him, but held herself back, and said happily, “Hey yourself!” She looked past him to see the Kapule brothers and Vince and Fin clown around as they eventually sat down too. “Hey guys.”
“What’s up?” Kai said loudly as he gazed over the playing field. The players were warming up out on the field in several rows, stretching and loosening up. “Go Lunas! Woohoo!!” The girls just laughed out loud at him.
Taney chimed in with him. “Yes! You go boys! Woohoo!”
“Ha ha,” Kaila laughed. “Calm yourself, you two. The game hasn’t even started.”
Taney shook her head. “I don’t even care. This is my favorite part right here.” She craned her neck to get a better look at all the players down on the grass. “Mmm-mmm. My, my, my. Look at all those fine specimens out there. I’m in tight ass paradise.” Kaila and Peter both laughed at her. “That’s right, stretch those quads real good. And touch your toes. Oh that’s it. Very nice indeed.”
“You are crazy girl,” Kaila teased her.
“Yep, this is my favorite part right here, watching these big beefy boys stretchin’ out. I just wish I had some binoculars.”
Peter couldn’t help but laugh at her. She was hilarious. He turned his attention to Kaila. He sat close to her. He loved feeling just the touch of her shoulder next to his. The smell of her light perfume, it was a scent like no other. He loved how it intoxicated his senses. Her essence attracted him even more. If he were a blind man, he would know it was her. He fumbled for something to say. They usually had a dart board or pool table while these games were on the radio and the conversation was easier. But now they had the whole game in person and were free to sit next to each other the entire time.
He finally thought of something to say. “So, your teacher finally agreed to your proposal, huh? On your paper?”
Kaila nodded as they watched the teams prepare for the kickoff. “Yeah, he did.”
“That’s good,” Peter said. “Gonna do a whale story, huh? Should be good.”
Kaila wasn’t so optimistic. “I don’t know. We shall see. So they were OK with you doing Kona coffee?”
“Yeah,” Peter replied. “I’ll probably work on it during the Christmas break. My mom can fill me in on a lot of stuff. Find the rest on the internet I guess.”
The game started and the Lunas took control early on. The crowd cheered with nearly every play. The boys all slapped high fives on every big play by the Lunas. They quickly jumped out to an early 14-0 lead.
Peter and Kaila went down to the concession to get sodas and popcorn for themselves and Taney. As they climbed back up the steps, the Lunas scored yet another big touchdown. The crowd roared and so did Peter and Kaila. They nearly dropped their snacks in turning around to see what had happened.
As they walked down the aisle back to their seats, the boys were being silly and tried to take some of their popcorn.
“Hey, free popcorn!” Fin teased.
“Yeah, thanks for getting ours. Where’s yours?” Vince chuckled.
Peter held it away from them and laughed, saying, “Hey, you know where you can get yours. Paws off.”
They sat back down and Kaila handed Taney her soda.
“Oh thank you dear,” Taney said, gulping down a long drink of soda. “I needed that after all that yelling.’ They are doin’ so good! And lookin’ so fine too.” She nudged Kaila on the shoulder and whispered, “Check out that number seventy-one. I’ve been watchin’ him all night.”
Kaila laughed out loud. “Hey, maybe he’s in one of your classes. You might get lucky and get to talk to him.”
“Talk to him?” Taney sighed. “Girl, I’ve been tryin’ to get his attention all year long. He’s in my math class.”
Kaila’s eyes widened a bit. “Is that so? Do tell then, what’s his name?”
Taney nearly blushed as she took another sip from her drink. “Barry,” she said sheepishly.
“Ah, I see,” Kaila said with a broad smile. “Been holdin’ out on me haven’t you? Ha ha. You go girl!” Taney giggled and slapped her shoulder again. She turned her attention back towards the hulking Barry sitting on the sideline. She breathed another heavy sigh as she stared at him.
Kaila turned to Peter. “Hey, you wanta go with me tomorrow after we get done with work?”
She did not have to ask. It was a given he would go with her anywhere. “Sure,” he answered. “Where to?”
“I was thinking of going over to the Whaler’s Village at Ka’anapalli to go check out that whale museum. Wanta come? Maybe we can go to the beach afterwards.”
“Absolutely. Sounds fun to me. Don’t have to ask me twice!”
Kaila loved his enthusiasm. She hugged his arm tight. She loved being close to him. “Great! We’ll make an afternoon of it.”
Halftime came and went and by the end of the third quarter, the score had grown to 24-0. The Lunas were well on their way to another shutout as their defense had played exceptionally all evening long. Fans began to slowly file out of the stands as the clock winded down in the final quarter. And soon the horn sounded and the Lunas had put the finishing touches on another shutout, 31-0.
As the students made their way back to the buses and cars, Tua stood guard at the exit making sure all the fans left the stadium safely. Soon, he spotted some familiar faces coming through the crowd.
He called out to one of the boys, “Hey Vince! What’s up?” Vince saw him near the gate and headed his direction. Oki and Kai followed him like little sheep.
“Tua man, hey what’s up?” Vince asked as he gave Tua a fist pump. “Great game, huh?”
Tua nodded as he continued to watch the crowd and talk to Vince at the same time. “Yeah, good game. Hope they do good in the playoffs. Hey listen.” Vince looked at him casually. “I found this the other night in the neighborhood near the old prison. This wouldn’t happen to be yours, would it?” Tua produced a small push-button flashlight from his pocket. Vince’s veins ran cold and he got goose-bumps with seeing the familiar flashlight.
“Um, yeah, it might be mine,” Vince stammered. “Must have dropped it a long time ago. Silly me.” Kai and Oki looked on with wide eyes, not saying a word.
Tua continued with a frown on his face. He already knew who it belonged to. “We had a call about a disturbance a few weeks ago near the old prison. Know anything about that?”
“Uh, no. Sure wouldn’t.”
Tua cut to the chase. “Look man, just stay away from that woman’s house, OK? There’s no reason for you to be
going around there. That goes for you two guys too.” Kai and Oki still stood speechless. “I’m not going to warn you guys anymore. I know all of you are trying to graduate. So take my advice, just play it cool guys.”
All the boys nodded. “Sure man,” Vince said. He grudgingly took the flashlight from Tua and stuffed it into his pocket.
“Thanks guys,” Tua said. “Have fun at school.” All three boys walked as fast as they could towards the buses.
Kaila, Peter and Taney were close behind as they walked out of the stadium. Kaila caught site of someone familiar to her as well as they passed the exit. Koni Boy was leaning against a car talking to a girl she did not recognize. Her blood pressure began to rise at seeing him with some other girl and not Leilani. She shook her head and nudged Peter with her elbow.
“Check that out,” she said flippantly. “No shock there.”
Peter nodded. “Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me. And at a high school game. Very classy.”
Just then, Peter heard a voice that made his blood run cold. “Hey Peter, what’s happenin?’” The person had stopped him in his tracks as they had almost reached the bus. Peter turned around to see his old friend from the Big Island: Jeff. Kaila looked at him curiously as did Taney.
“Jeff?” Peter asked, surprised. “What are you doin’ here?” Now Peter had confirmed who he had seen that first day at the beach while paddleboarding. His heart sank when he saw his old acquaintance.
“Ah, just enjoying the game,” Jeff said smoothly.
Peter shook his head, still shocked at seeing him. “No, I mean on Maui, what are you doing here?”
“Oh you know man, just visiting friends. Hangin’ loose. Catchin’ some waves. You know how it is.” He smiled coolly at Kaila and Taney. “Hey what’s up, cuties?” He was very smooth indeed.
Kaila just glared at him. “Nothing.”
Taney ignored him too. She was more interested in seeing if any players had come out yet.
Kaila looked over her shoulder and noticed that Koni Boy was watching them as he continued to talk to the other girl. She looked back at Jeff and instinctively knew something was up. She did not like Jeff at all and could tell Peter was uncomfortable with him too.
“Is that so, huh?” Peter asked, becoming somewhat agitated. “You’ve never been to Maui in your life. But here you are. How about that? What are you really up to, man?”
Jeff ignored him. “Yeah, how about that? So, you gonna graduate or what old buddy?”
Old buddy? Peter thought to himself. Whatever. “Yeah, I guess so. Hopefully.” He answered sarcastically. He glared at him. He knew Jeff was just being a jerk. “Well, we’re headin’ back. Take it easy, Jeff.” He had no intention of talking to Jeff any further. He wanted to get as far away from him as possible.
“Yeah, sure,” Jeff drawled like a snake. “Get back to school. Hit them books. Need to get that diploma. We’ll be seein’ ya man.”
“Uh-huh,” Peter said as he turned his back on him. They quickly made their way over to the buses and climbed aboard.
As the bus pulled away, Peter watched from the window seat as Jeff casually walked back over to the car where Koni Boy was. Peter shook his head in disgust and said under his breath, “Perfect. Just perfect.”