Chapter 8
Chorus practice had ended and the students began to file out and head back to their dorms. Kaila and Taney gathered their books from their seat and followed the line out. It soon became a small crowd all bunched together at the exit waiting to funnel through the door.
Someone bumped into Kaila, but she could not see who it was. But a familiar voice quickly spoke up and apologized. “Oh sorry,” the voice said. When Kaila turned around she realized it was Peter. He smiled instantly when he realized who he had bumped into. “Oh hey! Fancy bumping into you here, literally. Sorry about that.”
“Yeah, just runnin’ us over aren’t ya?” Kaila chuckled.
“Ooo it’s that cute skinny boy from breakfast,” Taney interjected. “Hey cutie, you walkin’ us ladies home?”
Kaila and Peter both laughed. “Yeah, sure. Why not?” Peter answered. “I’m Peter, by the way.” He reached out to shake Taney’s hand.
Shaking his hand, Taney beamed. “Oh, soft hands. I love a man with soft hands. Gives me all kinds of goose-bumps just thinkin’ about it. Don’t you think so too?”
Rolling her eyes, Kaila said, “This is my roommate, Taney. You’ll have to excuse her.” Kaila pinched her in a playful manner.
“Ouch!” Taney exclaimed, “Don’t do that! You know it makes me all flush and giddy. You see the way she treats me?”
“Ha ha,” Peter laughed. “Hey, how’s it going?”
The three of them emerged from the building out into the cool night. The sky was littered with stars. They walked slowly towards Hoapili dormitory.
“I was doing just fine until she accosted me,” Taney replied.
“Oh, such a big word for you,” Kaila said flatly.
“You like that word?” Taney asked whimsically. “I love fancy words. I love football players too. Especially those lineman with the tight asses and that cute quarterback too. I hope I have math with him again. He can show me algebra anytime. But those lineman are the best. The big, beefy ones. Especially when they put on those tight pants. I just love those tight asses. You play football, sweetie?”
Kaila and Peter burst into laughter. They were both very amused by her anecdotes. “No,” Peter said, still laughing. “I never played much football. I spent most of the time on the bench or on the ground.”
“Oh, I think you should play,” Taney answered. “The Lunas are going to be excellent this year.”
“Nah, those guys would flatten me like a pancake,” Peter said.
“Well, what’s wrong with pancakes?” Taney said as they reached the door to the dorm.
“Nothing,” Peter laughed. “I just don’t want to become one.”
“Yeah, not a good career move,” Kaila concurred. “Thanks for walking us home. See you at the pig pen tomorrow?”
“Oh no problem,” Peter said politely. “My pleasure. Yes, I’ll be there, same time, same place. We have to check on our little baby.”
Kaila smiled at him broadly. “Yes.”
“Yes, thank you for the escort home, honey,” Taney said. “I needed the walk out in the cool air. I was gettin’ all flush inside during practice. You sleep good, sugar.”
“Same to both of you. Good night.” He watched as they entered the dorm and then he turned to head back to his.
Kaila and Taney walked down the hallway of their dorm. Girls were up and down the hallway, trying to get settled for the night and getting ready for the first big day of classes tomorrow. Their dorm was the same as the boys’. Each room had a glass window in the door and it was shared by two girls.
Taney plopped down on her bed. “Oh, I’m so tired. Have to be at the cafeteria by six.”
“I never did the cafeteria before,” Kaila responded. “Is it hard?”
“It’s OK. I just don’t like being around all that food,” Taney replied with a yawn. “I do get to talk to everybody though. So what’s the story with you and that cute skinny boy?”
Kaila didn’t answer right away. She situated her notebooks into her backpack to get ready for tomorrow. “Nothing. We just both work down at the pig farm. I just met him today. Well, yesterday actually. I saw him in town at church too.”
“Well isn’t that lovely,” Taney teased her. “Well he sure is sweet on you.”
“Oh please,” Kaila said. “I hardly know him. We just met.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Taney persisted. “I could see it written all over his face. He couldn’t keep his eyes off you. You can tell when someone just knows.”
“Don’t be silly. Knows what?”
Taney didn’t blink an eye. “When someone knows they have found the one for them. Their true love. That one single person in the whole wide world who is their true match. Their cosmic counterpart that they alone align with in the heavens. That one person whom they were meant for. Their soulmate.”
Kaila rolled her eyes again. “That’s just silly. You saw all that in just five minutes, now did you?”
“Mmm hmm, as sure as the sun rises.”
Kaila gripped her hands on the back of her desk chair and stared quietly at her desk. Could what Taney was saying be true? she thought to herself.
She shook her head and said out loud, “Well, I can’t be worrying about that. I’ve got other things to deal with. Like Senior English. I have no idea what I’m going to do for my term paper.” She thought for a moment more about what Taney was saying. “He is kinda cute though. But I don’t know anything about him.”
“That all comes with time,” Taney said. “But once true love finds you, there is no denying it and no way to escape it. And I mean true love, not just that silly puppy love. I mean the real deal. You feel so happy and euphoric and you can’t even explain why. Your whole world, your whole perspective changes when true love finds you. It just hits you like a smack in the face.”
“Well, aren’t you the great sage tonight. I still think you’re nuts,” Kaila deadpanned.
“Don’t say I didn’t tell you so,” Taney assured her.
“Well, if I ever get smacked in the face, you’ll be the first to know,” Kaila answered. “In the meantime, we’ve got school to get ready for.”
Back at the boys’ dorm, it was a little more lively than at Hoapili. Fin was racing up and down the hallway with his bow and suction-cup arrows still pretending it was the Hunger Games. Michael and Aneko were sitting at one of the computers and Vince and Kai were playing pool. Peter walked up to the pool table and watched them play.
“Where you been?” Kai asked as he took a shot.
“Just talking to some girls,” Peter said coolly.
“Mr. Casanova here,” Vince said.
Peter shrugged him off. “It’s no big deal. Just the girl I worked with this morning and her roommate Taney.”
“Kaila and Taney, yeah we know them,” Kai said. “Vince has a crush on Taney. He likes his women big. Just like Fat Mazy.”
“Shut up man,” Vince snapped. Peter laughed.
“That’s why he volunteered for cafeteria duty, so he can flirt with Taney,” Kai kept on.
“Whatever,” Vince quipped.
“Who’s Fat Mazy?” Peter asked.
Oki came running in the room all of a sudden. He heard the conversation from out in the hallway. “Only the biggest legend there is on Maui. The biggest, hairiest, scariest and, according to Vince, the sexiest woman to live on Maui. We almost caught a glimpse of her this summer.”
“You’ve never seen her?” Peter asked. “Why is she so legendary?”
Kai piped up. “Vince is convinced she is this huge lady who lives with cats and has this way of seducing men. It’s his lifelong dream to be seduced by her.” Oki laughed out loud.
“Don’t listen to them,” Vince said to Peter. “And it’s all just smoke and mirrors. She ain’t got no cats.”
Michael and Aneko were listening to them and decided to chime in as well. “No, it’s true,” Aneko said. “She’s a legend. She
really does live with a bunch of cats.”
“See, Aneko never lies,” Kai said.
“I thought you meant that it was true that Vince loves fat girls,” Peter quipped.
“Hey roomie, you’re supposed to be on my side,” Vince whined. “I bet she’s not even fat. That’s what I’m trying to prove.”
“How you gonna do that?” Peter asked.
Kai took another shot on the pool table. “He’s been trying for months to sneak a peek at her through her windows. And recruiting us to go along with him.”
“Ah, you wanta see her just as much as I do,” Vince said flatly.
“Seriously? Peeking through her windows?” Peter asked. “You guys are crazy. She probably doesn’t even exist. You guys are just making this up.”
“No, it’s true,” Oki said. “Something so wild like that has got to be true. We’re going again this weekend. Wanta come? It’s our own personal Sasquatch hunt.”
“Don’t do it,” Aneko insisted. “I’m telling you it ain’t what they think.”
“Nah, I’ll sit this one out,” Peter laughed. “Let me know what you find though. Maybe you’ll come back with a blurry photo for evidence or something. You can go on Geraldo.”
Kai took one more shot and sank the eight ball. “Ha! You lose Vincent.” A few seconds later the cue ball rolled into a pocket too.
Vince smiled. “Guess again, pea-brain. You lose.”