Chapter 25
Students carpooled and shared taxis, rode scooters or even walked down to the beach park for the after-party. Lights were strung around the trees, sodas were iced down and some people were even out in the water under the moonlight. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. They did not have long due to curfew, but almost all of the boarders showed up for the beach party.
Kaila and Peter arrived on her scooter to the festive atmosphere. Peter walked over to the coolers to get them something to drink. There was a collection hat sitting nearby to take up funds for the drinks. He dropped in a few dollars for them. He saw Vince and Kai standing on the sand and walked over to them with Kaila.
“What’s up, man? You made it!” Vince yelled. “Welcome to my luau!”
“Yeah,” Peter laughed. “Thanks. Where’s the pulled pork and poi?”
“Yeah, Vince,” Kaila chimed in.
He shrugged his shoulders and laughed. “You got me there. I forgot it. But have a good time. Ha ha!”
They saw Taney sitting on some tree roots with another girl and walked over to say hi. “Hey roomie,” Kaila said. “How’s it going?”
“Hey girl,” Taney answered. “Hey cutie pie.”
Peter shook his head and laughed. “Hey.”
“This is my friend, Sasha,” Taney told them. “She lives in Kihei.”
“Hi Sasha, nice to meet you,” Kaila replied. She raised an eyebrow at Peter. She had a feeling Sasha was more than just a friend.
“Hey, same here,” Sasha said.
“I’m Peter. And I don’t know why she calls me that.” Taney and Sasha both laughed. “Can I get you two something to drink?”
“No we’re good, sweetie pie. But thank you,” Taney quipped.
Kaila and Peter went and sat on the sand near the edge of the waves. Music was playing from within one of the cars parked along the roadside beach. It was a fun atmosphere and everyone was unwinding after such a busy day and all the preparation that led up to it. More and more local friends stopped by the beach and soon several dozen people had descended upon the informal party. Even Leilani and Koni Boy showed up in his car. Peter frowned when he saw him since he had no desire to speak with him. It did not matter. The two split up as soon as they arrived to go and talk to the other friends. Leilani found Peter and Kaila sitting on the sand together.
“Hey you guys!” Leilani called out to them. Kaila stood up to give her a sister a hug. “Everyone sounded great tonight! And the Hawaiiana’s did so well! Gosh I miss that stuff.”
Peter nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it turned out great. I had never been a part of that kind of thing before. It was cool.”
“Wait ‘til graduaton,” Leilani countered. “That will blow you away. Everyone just stops in Lahaina. People who aren’t even there at the ceremony. It’s surreal.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard. Should be really great.”
More and more people came out onto the beach and eventually the three of them had to stand and mingle with everyone else or get trampled on. It was a typical get-together for the local young people, just unwinding and having a good time beachside.
Soon Koni Boy came over and put his arm around Leilani and made himself the center of attention. Peter made no effort to try and speak to him. He just frowned and tried to ignore him. Soon Koni Boy had all kinds of people around him, including Leilani and Kaila, talking and laughing and trying to be the center of attention. Peter did not care though. Instead he decided to find his friends from the dorm.
All of the sudden someone grabbed his sleeve. Not surprising to Peter, it was Jeff again. Peter looked at him with contempt.
“Now why am I not surprised to see you here?” Peter asked dejectedly.
“Hey buddy,” Jeff said in his usual slick tone.
“What the hell do you want now?” Peter said, sounding very agitated. “I thought I told you to piss off.”
“Great party, isn’t it?” Jeff answered, ignoring him.
Peter became impatient with him. “What do you want, man?”
Jeff leaned in closer to him even though no one could hear them over the party noise. “Listen, this is a great opportunity to get some new customers. Now’s your chance to make up for what you lost.”
Peter pulled back from him with an alarming look on his face. “Are you crazy? I’m not selling anything for you here!” He hissed as he tried to keep his voice down. “Not here or anywhere! You are totally losing it, man.”
Jeff grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back towards him and got right in his face. “Look man, you got no choice in the matter. You don’t get out of our operation just like that. I told you the time is coming to make it up and now is that time.” His slipped his hand into his pocket and then produced a small white bag wrapped very carefully. “Now take this. We got a big crowd, should be easy pickings. Don’t worry, I’ve got people staked all over to keep the crowd busy. We got your back.”
Peter was stunned at seeing the tiny bag of drugs being held out to him. And what did he mean about others staked out? he thought to himself. He could not believe this was happening. He looked around the crowd to see who he might be referring to. But it was impossible. It was dark and only the lights from the strands hanging from the trees provided any kind of lighting. Peter felt trapped and frightened and also lots of anger. He fumbled for something to say. “No way, man,” was all he could get out. His mind began to swirl. How could he get out of this?
“Take it, man!” Jeff hissed under his breath again. “You need to get goin’ on this!” He leaned in closer and whispered, “Come on DartVader, now’s your big chance.”
Peter’s brain froze. What did he just say? He was even more stunned than before. He was shocked beyond reason. Now it all came rushing back to him in a flood of hints and clues. Now it all made sense. Peter stood and looked at him in horror. Jeff smiled at him deviously as if he knew he let the cat out of the bag on purpose and there was nothing he could do about it.
“What did you just say?” Peter blurted out. He was certain others around them could hear him. “There is no way in hell you would know that name.” Jeff just kept smiling like a jackal. Peter spotted Koni Boy in the crowd. And at that precise moment they locked eyes with one another. Then Peter knew what was going on. Like a light going on in his mind that revealed something very nasty and stunning at the same time. “You little bastard!” he shouted. He swung his arm to release Jeff’s grip on him. He knocked the bag to the ground and instinctively kicked sand on it to cover it up. Jeff looked at him crazily. “You’ve been spying on us? On the internet?” Peter’s mind raced, trying to piece it all together.
“Aw, grow up would ya?” Jeff snapped. “What the hell did you knock it away for? Where is it now?” He scrambled around trying to see where the tiny bag had gone.
Peter did not care though, he was glad Jeff could not find it. His mind was still reeling from this shocking revelation. “You’ve been spying on me and my girlfriend online? Are you freaking kidding me? You’ve read everything we’ve said to one another?” Peter’s mind was about to explode. He wanted to smash his face in right then and there. “No wonder you knew every move we made!” Then something else dawned on him. “No, no, no. I’m not buyin’ it. I know you. You’re too stupid to know how to do that! You couldn’t hack your way into a straw hut. No, somebody was helping you.”
“Oh blow it out your ass and help me find this damn thing!” Jeff scowled.
Peter started nodding disgustedly and panned around the crowd again. He spotted Koni Boy once again, yucking it up amongst the crowd but still looking straight at Peter. “Koni Boy…” he whispered. “Kaila said he was some kind of software guy where he works and he always brags about how he can hack stuff. Holy crap! He’s the one giving you all this information about us!” Peter did not know whether to maul Koni Boy and Jeff right on the spot or drop to his knees and cry. He had never felt so betrayed in all his life.
Jeff panicked and continued to berate him. “You better help me find this, man, or you’ll be in bigger trouble than you already are!”
Kaila had noticed how visibly upset Peter was from across the way and she began to walk over to them. “Hey, what’s going on? Are you OK?” She noticed Jeff pawing around in the sand like an animal. “What’s he doing here?”
Peter grabbed her hand. “We gotta get outta here. He was trying to set me up again with more of his drugs. Come on, let’s go!” Kaila’s eyes widened but she said nothing as she knew he was telling the truth.
Just then, police cars came riding up fast and slammed on their brakes in the sand on the edge of the road. Lights were flashing, but no sirens were blaring. Everyone on the beach stopped talking and was shocked to see the police arrive. The police parked in such a manner that they blocked in several vehicles to keep them from backing up, including Jeff’s car.
“Oh my gosh!” Kaila shrieked as she grabbed Peter’s arm.
“Yeah, they probably know something is up,” Peter said. “Look, they blocked in his car!”
“Whose?”
“Jeff’s! Come on, let’s go.”
The four policeman, including Tua, carried flashlights and began calmly telling everyone the party was over and they all needed to leave. There were too many people at the small beach park at night and it had become dangerous so close to the busy road.
“Come on, everybody,” Tua called out. “Everybody go home.”
Everyone began to disperse and pile into cars that they had arrived in. Some even started walking up the road back home. Peter and Kaila slipped away amongst the crowd and found her scooter where she left it and hopped on. Peter looked all around to see where Jeff had gone. He was no longer on the beach searching in the sand for the lost bag of meth. Soon, he caught sight of him trying to get to his car. But Peter smiled when he saw that he was still blocked in by the police cars.
When an officer spotted Jeff, he shone his light in his face. “Mr. Sokoli, is this your vehicle?” Jeff nodded without saying a word. “We’d like you to stay behind for questioning. Wait here, please.” Jeff’s face fell ashen and he looked around desperately for his buddies and a way out. But he never saw them and only stood alone in silence.
Peter smiled and whispered to Kaila who was in front of him on the scooter, “Come on, let’s take off.” She pulled away unnoticed and blended into the traffic streaming away from the beach park.
As she pulled into the driveway of her uncle’s house, Peter jumped off the scooter and ripped his helmet off. His face was still red with anger after learning all that Jeff and Koni Boy were doing.
“What is it?” Kaila hissed under her breath. They tried not to make too much noise. They were late for curfew as it was and they needed to hurry back to the dorms.
Peter shook his head wearily as he stared at her. “You won’t believe this. They have been spying on us.”
“Who?” she asked, sounding shocked.
“Koni Boy has been hacking our accounts online and spying on us. And passing everything he finds over to Jeff. That’s how he kept popping up everywhere we went.” Kaila’s jaw dropped with her eyes widened in horror. “And get this. He knew my username on the chat tool we just started using. DartVader! He called me DartVader right there on the beach!”
Kaila put her hand to her mouth in shock. “Oh my God! No one but us would know that!”
“Exactly! Those assholes have been spying on us! Every word, every sentence we have written to one another.”
“Oh my God, oh my God!” Kaila kept repeating. Her hands began to shake. Tears began to form in her eyes as the feeling of disgust and betrayal began to cascade throughout her body. “I don’t believe this! Why? Why?” Then she realized something even more awful. “Do… do you think he watches Leilani too?”
Peter shook his head. He had no clue. “I don’t know. It’s his girlfriend. But knowing that sleazeball I wouldn’t put it past him.” Kaila gasped in horror once again with her hand to her mouth. “Leilani, oh no…” Tears began to stream down her cheeks. “She has no clue. He could be spying on anyone we know! And why? Why us?”
“Jeff was trying to get to me to do his dirty work. And somehow he found Koni Boy to help him. I guess criminals just seem to find each other somehow.” Peter felt awful. He could see how hurt and betrayed Kaila appeared. “I’m so sorry, Kaila. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Please forgive me. I can’t believe they did this to us.” Kaila just stared at him in disbelief. She did not know what to say to him. “Come on, we need to get back to the dorms.”
As soon as they started to walk back to school, one police car came riding down the short street and parked right in front of their house, lights flashing red. The cops stepped out and flashed a light in Peter’s eyes. They were two of the same cops that were at the beach. One of them was Tua again.
“Peter Lane?”
“Yes, sir?” Peter said nervously.
“We’d like to ask you a few questions please,” Tua said. He looked over at Kaila and said, “You too, miss.”
A light went on at the front porch of the house and Lupe and Nani stepped out in their night clothes.
“What’s going on, officers?” Lupe asked.
The officer did not answer him though and continued to look at Peter. “Were you two down at the beach party just now?”
“Yes, sir,” Peter answered.
“Do you know Jeff Sokoli?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What’s your relationship with him?”
Lupe walked closer to the other officer and asked again, “What’s going on here? What did they do?”
“We just need to ask them some questions, sir.” Lupe looked on very impatiently. Nani stood on the front porch seething, staring a hole right through Peter.
Tua repeated, “How do you know Jeff Sokoli?”
“I knew him growing up,” Peter said, his voice shaking. This was all too familiar. He just wanted to die right then and there. Kaila looked on in shock and dismay. “In grade school and high school on the Big Island.”
“We’ve been following his movements for quite some time now,” Tua stated. “Are you aware of any drug activity at the beach party tonight?” Nani and Lupe’s ears perked up when they heard that.
Peter swallowed hard. He knew he could not lie. There was too much at stake. Graduation was only a month away. Kaila’s plans for college. All this came flooding into his mind as he stood on the driveway. “He tried to push some on me,” Peter finally said. “He tried to get me to sell it for him. I refused. I didn’t even touch it. I told him I was done, I was never helping him again. I got in trouble back home for it.”
“Yes, we know about your misdemeanor,” Tua answered.
Nani was incensed. She was about to go off like a volcano. “Kaila, get in the house!” Neighbors began to come outside to look upon the scene. Nani became flush with embarrassment.
The other officer held up his hand though. “No ma’am. We need her to stay right here for now.”
Kaila was shaking. She had never been confronted like this before. She just froze and would not move. She looked at Peter with sad eyes. She knew what her aunt was thinking and what she would try to do.
“Mr. Sokoli showed some drugs at the party?” Tua asked. Peter nodded. “Did you see it?” Peter nodded again. “What was it? What happened to it?”
“Meth-amphetamine. I never took it though. I knocked it from his hands and it got lost in the sand. That’s when we decided to leave. I didn’t want any part of it.”
“That was a smart move, or we would have to take you in if you had taken possession of it.” Tua cleared his throat. “Jeff was taken into custody just now. Bags of meth were found in his trunk.” Peter shot a glance over at Kaila. At least that was some good news. “He claims he was coming to see you at the party.”
“He was following me everywhere,” Peter explained
. “Kaila too.”
“That’s right,” Kaila finally spoke up. “He snuck up on me in the store today.” Tua raised an eyebrow at hearing this.
“It was like he was spying on us,” Peter continued. “Maybe even online. He knew everything we said to each other.” The officers listened intently.
“Tell him about Koni Boy,” Kaila insisted. Nani’s eyes widened as she listened.
Lupe stepped forward some more. “What about Koni Boy?”
“Anikoni James?” Tua asked. “What about him?”
“Yes,” Peter answered. “I guess that’s his name.” He looked over at Kaila for reassurance. She nodded yes. “We suspect he might be hacking our accounts and spying on us. He may be relaying it to Jeff. That’s how Jeff knew everywhere we were going and things we said online.” Nani was about to go ballistic. Lupe became visibly angry as well.
To Peter’s surprise, Tua answered, “We have been investigating some possible security breaches in our online fraud department. It is ongoing, but there have been some indications involving a high-tech firm on the island.”
Peter looked over at Kaila, “He works at one, doesn’t he?”
“Yes, he does,” Lupe answered for her.
“We are looking into that,” Tua said. He studied Kaila and Peter for a moment. “You two are about to graduate soon, aren’t you?” They both nodded. “You were wise not to take anything from Jeff. But let this be a warning to you, both of you. Stay away from these kinds of parties and people like Jeff. It can only end very badly for both of you if you get involved with people like that.” Kaila began to cry again. She was so scared she could not help herself. “I don’t need to question you further. I’m going to let you go back to school. But if we need to ask any more questions down the road, we will be contacting you.”
“Thank you, sir,” Peter said. “Sorry for the trouble tonight.”
Tua noded to Lupe and said, “Sorry for the disturbance, sir. Goodnight.”
The officers got in their car and left and the neighbors began going inside as well.
Nani came bounding down the driveway and grabbed Kaila by the shoulders. “You get inside this instant!”
“But Nani, I’m going to be late for curfew!” Kaila protested.
“You are late already! Get inside!”
“Do as she says,” Lupe commanded. Kaila sheepishly walked towards the front door.
Then Nani turned her wrath on Peter. “How dare you bring this shame to my house! No one in this family has ever had anything to do with drugs and I won’t allow it now! This is disgraceful! How dare you come here and embarrass us like this! I want you out of my sight, young man!”
Peter tried to plead with her. “Mrs. Alapai, please. I am very sorry. It wasn’t my intention at all. I am not involved with that guy anymore.”
“I don’t care!” Nani shouted. “You are never coming near this family again. You hear me? You are never to see her again!”
Kaila began to cry profusely. “It’s not his fault!”
Nani whirled around and shouted even louder, “Get inside, I said! What would your mother think? How do I explain this to her? And how I have failed her? Get inside the house!” Kaila went dashing through the front door crying all the way. Peter’s heart sank as she disappeared inside. All he wanted to do was cry too. He was so stunned at the sudden turn of events that he did not know what to say.
“Just go on back, son,” Lupe said. “You are already late.”
He watched helplessly as they both turned and walked back inside and Nani slammed the door. He could hear yelling in the front room as soon as the door closed. He lowered his head and sobbed uncontrollably. “What have I done?” he cried.