Authors note: Ok, I got a couple of questions that I'm going to address, just because that's what I do... Yes, aren't I nice? Kidding. Anyway... First, someone asked if I was Hawaiian. No, unfortunately I'm not. I'm from a small town in Michigan, actually. Never even BEEN to Hawaii... The words that I used, I looked up on an English to Hawaiian translator... And, though I probably shouldn't put this, most of them don't even make sense grammatically. If you were to read them, they'd say something like "they was swimming night ocean." They hold the basic meaning, but not the exact sentence structure that a REAL Hawaiian might use. Alas, there are no translators that are good enough to translate more than a word at a time, and most of which only hold about five thousand words... Four thousand, eight hundred and something of which I will never need, nor ever even think of. Next, I got a question about Ao... I'm really glad someone noticed how antsy and not normal she is around guys... Muy importante for future chapters. Anyhow, I have rambled on enough. Here is chapter two. I hope you all enjoy!
It was nearly four before they all returned to the beach. Zach had been none too happy about their midnight swim ("honestly, you guys... You could've been killed!" Elijah had felt more like a six-year-old, being scolded by a parent for trying to sneak a cookie before dinner. He smiled at the comparison, which only made Zach all the more aggravated.), and had decided to go souvenir shopping for his friends back home instead of coming to the beach with them. They smiled when he said this: a knowing smirk that said, "Well, what's her name, then?" but Zach had ignored them, insisting still that there were other things he'd like to get done. There was a knock on the hotel door, and a pretty Hawaiian girl smiled in at them. She wore a triangle top bikini that barely covered her in the appropriate places, a pair of denim short shorts and a crown of flowers she'd obviously strung herself sitting atop her head lightly, like a halo. Elijah grinned. "A golden halo on that little devil that's corrupting my brother... How ironic...""I'm off!" Zach had called, and the girl peaked in one last time.
"Aloha!" She called, sliding her hand through Zach's. The door shut with a quiet click after them.
So the remaining boys-those of which couldn't have their heads turned by just ANY beautiful girl ("Shit, did you see that one? I'll betcha she was hotter than the first one...") had returned to the beach in all of its Hawaiian glory. It was full, though not packed as the beaches at home so often became. There were probably a hundred and fifty people there, give or take, of course. Very few were actually on the beach, anyhow. Had he felt so inclined, Elijah could've counted them easily. However, he wasn't very inclined to do so.
So they spread out a blanket on the sand, and laid their towels on top of it. They each held their surf board length wise, and rammed it into the sand as hard as they could, so the boards stood on their own. The sand came up just over the fin on each before they leveled themselves, and steadied. After the boards were in place, they watched the ocean a moment, as the natives of this land road the waves elegantly, as if commanding them."You sure you wanna surf here? I mean, back in New Zealand, there weren't many people who knew what they were doing..." Sean had put in quietly, a self-conscious right hand rubbing his left arm amiably.
"Yeah, and we could make fools of ourselves..." Dom put in, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Pussies! All of you, pussies!" Orlando cried, grabbing up his surfboard again. "I'm surfing, with or without people around, and with or without all of you!" He looked at them all. For a moment, he thought Elijah might come, but instead, Elijah plopped himself down on the blanket.
"I'll come in a bit. We have time, Orli. Don't sweat it yet." Elijah spread himself out on the blanket, watching the clouds roll lazily across the sky... Very few clouds, however. They were just swift brushstrokes, splashed across a blazon sky which seemed close enough to touch on these shores.
Orlando sighed, and took off at a cantor towards the beach. He was stopped halfway to the shoreline, though, when he heard someone call loudly-so loudly, in fact, that it rang over the entire beach, and drowned out the sounds of radios and laughter-"KOO KOO!"
The five boys stopped, and gave each other puzzled looks. Half of the beach seemed to stop for a couple of seconds as well, and most called back in one unified voice, "KOO KOO!"
"KOO KOO!" It was the first voice again, accompanied by four others that weren't quite as loud as the first. Still though, the beach, which hadn't yet resumed its activities, turned and called in return "KOO KOO!"
Elijah scanned the beach, looking for the owner of the crying voice. He didn't see anyone, but still he heard a now closer-"KOO KOO!" from the first group. As the rest of the beach began to respond, he turned his head so that he was facing away from the crystalline water, and instead, looking at a wooden gate that was bordered by palm trees. He watched as a group of five people-three men and two girls-walked onto the beach. In front was one of the boys he'd met early-was it Iokua or Kilika?-behind him was the other, with a girl who didn't seem to belong in Hawaii, then a blond boy walked a few paces behind them, talking as loudly as he could to the others. Bringing up the rear was Ao, her eyes shielded from the blinding sunlight by a pair of knock off Okley glasses. She wore a neon green tankini top, with a pair of border shorts of the same shade. She reached the beach, and began sprinting towards the water, her bare feet kicking up storms of sand behind her. With a long blue and green surf board wrapped under her arm, she tossed her sunglasses to the ground and plowed straight through to the water.
"Linohau!" She called, running to another dark haired girl.
"Haku Ao! I knew you'd come!" She called dramatically. The girls met halfway to each other, and hugged one another as if they may never see the other again. "And to think, Kewena over there said you wouldn't show!"
Ao looked at the boy standing next to Linohau. For a moment, there was tension, as neither spoke. It felt as though all eyes were on them, watching, waiting for their reactions. Finally, Ao smiled and gave the boy a hug. "Probably just wishful thinking, eh Kew?"
"Good to see you, Ao. Seriously." He smiled too. The hug lingered much longer than it needed to, and when they parted, the onlookers were left with a wonder as to whether either truly wanted to let go.
"You too, Kew." They watched each other, and for Ao, for just the shortest of moments, there was no one else... Just Kewena... Then she ripped her eyes from his, almost violently, and pushed her board in front of her. "Come on, Lin! Manawa he'e nalu, makamaka!"
And with that, they were off, leaving a very forlorn looking Kew in their wake. Iokua and Kilika, along with the blond haired boy, and the girl that had walked in with them-a brunette- went to talk to him for a bit. Two more people joined them-a guy and a girl, both very Hawaiin in appearance-and before long, the group of seven made their way to the beach, and made themselves comfortable on a blanket that was in earshot of Elijah, Orlando, Dom, Sean, and Billy.
"You still like her, don't you, Kew?" the brunette girl asked. She seemed very forthcoming; almost to an obnoxious point.
"Raven, of course I do. Are you a moron?" He was more than little rude, and the girl-Raven-held up her hands in forfeit.
Dom looked at the others, and snickered. "He called her a hupo."
"Way to use your new language skills, Dom... Way to go." Orlando was being sarcastic, but Dom beamed at him anyway in obvious pride at having remembered. Elijah chuckled lightly to himself, only half listening to the blanket beside him.
Iokua gave him a deep stare, one that was neither flattering or kind. "Well, maybe if you wouldn't have made so many MISTAKES with my sister, we wouldn't have this problem, now would we?"
"I didn't touch her, Kua. She's lying. Why in God's name would I hit her?" Kew had said it too quickly; too defensively. Iokua stood. It was the first time that Elijah noticed how big the boy-well, looking at him now, he realized more man than boy-was. His height was far from intimidating, but his build, the sheer size of him, was a terrifying mass to look at when angry. Elijah turned his full attention towards the blanket, now, not bothering to be subtle. He assumed they were a bit preoccupied.
"Are you calling her a liar, Kewena?" Iokua's gaze was rock hard and unwavering, unfaltering, and accusing. Kewena stood.
Kewena wasn't as big as the Hawaiian in front of him-in fact, he was quite a deal smaller (though still nothing to be scoffed at.). He looked more as Elijah was used to seeing people-he had dark hair, though it wasn't black, and it was obvious that he wasn't native to this island either. "If the shoe fits, Iokua, why shouldn't the person wear it?"
Elijah knew something had broken inside of Iokua. He watched it happen-Iokua's body language had registered first, going rigid, then his eyes had begun seething with hatred and fury, and finally, the moves he made. He pushed passed the others, and reached Kewena in a heartbeat. Without hesitating, he lifted his hand-already balled into a rock hard fist-and it connected, hard, with Kewena's jaw. A solid 'crack' resonated, and then there was blood dribbling down the front of Kewena, as he watched, half shocked, and half angrily. Elijah could see the battle within Kewena, his rational half telling him to walk off, his raging half telling him to punch back. It was his rational half that finally won out, as he turned sharply on his heal, and walked away, his posture rigid in anger.
The second girl, a Hawaiian as well, stood and put a gentle hand on Iokua's shoulder. "Kua, it's great that your standing up for your sister's honor and all, but I don't think you needed to go that far..."
Iokua turned, and pulled the girl into his arms, his head hanging low. "I know, Kala... He just...He pisses me off!" He raised his head again, this time, his eyes watching the skies. He brought his gaze back down, leveling it with Kala's. "What the fuck is his problem, anyway?"
Kala shrugged. "He's in love. He knows he made a mistake, and that mistake cost him a three year relationship. I'd do some pretty stupid things, too, if I were in his shoes." She paused. "He's mad at himself right now, I'm sure. And it's got to be hard, sharing all of your ex's friends. I mean, they both hang out with the exact people, and I'm sure he doesn't want to loose face with us..."
"...Though he looses more and more of it by the day." Raven put in, smiling.
"I should probably go, too..." The last boy stood awkwardly (Elijah had the sense that everything this boy did was done awkwardly), his blond hair hanging in his eyes. He was the smallest of the group of guys-he was scrawny, and very short. He reminded Elijah of a puppy dog, and right now, he looked hurt.
"Maleko, just because Kewena leaves, doesn't mean you have to... You can hang with us, if you want." Kiliko told him, never once leaving his spot on the ground. He was sprawled out comfortably, his hands behind his head as a make shift pillow, and his ankles crossed. Elijah wondered if at any point he'd even opened his eyes.
"No, I'd better go..."
A new boy spoke for the first time. He was sitting next to Raven, holding her hand in his lap, massaging the back of her hand with the pad of his thumb. "For real, Maleko, you don't need to follow him... He's your cousin, not your owner..."
Maleko looked to the gate, where Kewena stood expectantly, waiting. Their gazes locked a moment, and Kew mouthed 'fuck it' to his cousin, before turning his back and padding away down the beaten path. Maleko sat back down. He shrugged, and forced a smile that seemed rather shaky. "Sure, I guess."
Kilika sat up suddenly, and pulled his sunglasses off. "Hold up, Kei..."
The boy next to Raven looked at him. "What's up, Kili?"
"Did I leave my guitar in the Cove? I know you were the last one there yesterday, so I was wondering if you saw it or not."
Kei thought a moment, then shook his head. "I don't think it was... Wait, yeah, actually it was... It was weird, because Kewena actually came down with it last night at like, eleven. I didn't know you loaned your guitar out..."
"I don't." Kilika sighed, and laid back down, replacing his sunglasses. Tanlines were already forming around their frames, making a mask around his eyes. "Oh well. I'm not going to start something big over something so small and stupid." Elijah grinned. He was beginning to resemble a raccoon.
"Way to go, Kili! Way to be mature!" Raven laughed.
"Well, he should be mature... He's only twenty seven!" Iokua replied, lightening drastically from his confrontation with Kew.
"Yeah, yeah... You know, I hear ya! I hear ya all loud and clear... I need friends my own age... Not friends that are seven and eight years younger than I am!" He laughed. "They're all so immature compared to me."
Elijah tuned back out, and looked to find his own friends. Sean, Dom, and Orlando were in the water now, though Orlando had come and discarded his surfboard sometime ago. He looked at Billy, who looked up from the book he was reading, feeling eyes watching him. "Thought you'd like some company," he answered Elijah's puzzling glance, "but when I tried to talk to you, you were kind of zoned out. Doesn't matter. I wanted to get some reading down while we were on vacation anyhow."
"Billy," Elijah laughed, "we're here for a month. I'm sure you'll have time."
"I'm sure I will too... I'm just so used to being on a schedule..."
Elijah laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It's weird not having something to do, or somewhere to be..." The two laughed.
The next hour or so was uneventful. Billy and Elijah talked for a while, avoiding the ocean for some reason, while the others were becoming water logged in it. It was during the conversation about cheddar cheese and American cheese-which was better-that things began to change.
"Where are the cookies?" It was Ao. Even if Elijah hadn't known her long, he knew her voice. She had one of the most unusual one's he'd ever heard. It was nasal and pinched, almost to the point where it grated on your nerves, but still, somehow, never became annoying. She was standing at the blanket the others had been when Iokua had punched Kewena. She opened the cooler, and threw things to the ground, oblivious to the sand that was now coating the food and drinks. "Damn it, you guys! Tell me you didn't eat all the cookies!"
"Ao, chill. You didn't bring them, remember?" Iokua was with Kala on the shoreline, sitting just far enough from the water where they weren't soaked, but their feet caught the occasional wave.
"Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!" She went to the next blanket, and opened their cooler. She found a ziplock bag of chocolate chip cookies, and took two out. She laid the bag back into the cooler, and replaced the lid. She took a bite. "Who's are these?" She asked, scanning the waters. "Hey! Who's stuff is this?"
A woman looking to be in her early thirties looked over. "Mine!"
Ao held up her cookie. "I took a couple of cookies! Thanks!" The woman nodded, and continued playing with a little boy of about three years. Ao came back to the original blanket to eat her prize. She looked over at the blanket beside her, the one where Billy and Elijah sat.
"So you come to Kauai, and instead of playing in the ocean, you sit on the beach. You're crazy, you do know that, don't you?"
"Quite," Elijah replied smugly. "It's the only thing that keeps me sane." Ao laughed. "'Sides," he continued, "I think I'd get run over out there by the surfers."
"Wait... You don't surf?" Ao looked incredulous, as if Elijah had told her he'd sold his soul to Satan.
"Yeah, we surf," he motioned to Billy and himself, "but we're still beginners."
Ao looked at him, waiting for him to continue. It took her a moment to realize that he was done; that the ONLY reason he wouldn't surf was because he was a beginner. "So? What's your point? We've all been beginners." He looked ready to counter the point, but she grabbed his left hand in her right, and Billy's right in her left, pulling them up. "Come on! Get you're boards, we're surfing!" She grabbed her own board, and waited for them to do the same. They looked at each other hesitantly, sighed, and gave in. Each grabbed their own board, and followed her down to the ocean.
Ao wasted no time. She attached the board to her right ankle, and pressed it to her chest. She dove into th water, making the board nosedive. The water washed over her as she began to paddle out. Halfway out, she stopped to make sure they were following.
She caught the first wave. They hadn't been watching her earlier, but now, they sat in muted awe as they saw her pull herself up so she was standing on her board. Her hands stuck out from her side like wings for a moment before she caught her balance, and road along the trough of the wave. The crest began to rise-higher, higher-until it became frothy and white, and began falling over itself. For a moment, she was lost behind a veil of cotton-white water, before she sped out of the end, just barely breaking free of the wave before it crashed over her. She road the tiny ripples almost to shore before she hopped down, and dunked herself underwater, smoothing back the stray pieces of hair that had come loose from the confines of her braid. She looked over at them, and smiled. "Room on the waves for three, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, we're coming..." Elijah answered, sounding less than enthused. A knot began growing in his stomach, making his mind churn a little. Sure, he'd surfed before, but the people here had been surfing all their LIVES. He'd surfed... he thought a moment... Four times now. Four, he was certain, couldn't even begin to compare with the countless number of times each of them had.
Ao noticed his and Billy's hesitation. She paddled herself over to them, so that she was less than a foot away from each. "Listen," she began, "no one here cares if you fall on your ass or not, as long as you get back up. We've taught tons of people to surf." They didn't look convinced. She sighed. "See him over there?" She pointed to the blond-the one they all had called Maleko- "he couldn't surf worth a DAMN when he first got here. He's only been surfing a couple years. He's still no Kilika or Raven, but he's decent now. We saw him through; beginning to end. Don't sweat it. Like I said, they all understand that you grew up on the mainland-you poor, poor souls, you." She smiled once more, and turned around, paddling her way back out to catch yet another wave.
"Come on, Lij... Might as well, right?" Billy said, already beginning to paddle out as well.
Elijah took one last breath, as he pulled himself with all his might to catch up to Billy. He looked back at the shore, seeing Dom, Sean, and Orlando reach for their boards as well. They seemed much more excited than he felt at the moment.
Three feet further. He could see the wave he'd have to catch beginning to grow. Few more feet. The wave would meet him any second. He stopped, waiting. He could feel himself dip; the wave pulling the water towards it. Then he felt it right underneath him. He let himself go, and pushed himself up, though not as gracefully as the others had. His arms extended sideways as he tried to regain his balance, but it didn't come as quickly as Ao's had. Soon, though, he was riding the wave, and reveling in the feeling of almost weightlessness he felt. He didn't bother with any of the more advanced moves as the Hawaiians did, instead, as he felt the wave begin to swell and break, he skirted sideways so he fell off the raging water. He watched as it began to fold over itself-he imagined himself riding through that tunnel as he'd seen Ao do-and then he saw it collapse in.
"Not bad at all!" Ao cried, having just ridden the same wave. She paddled herself over.
Elijah looked up, and noticed that she'd caught up with Billy first. "Nothing compared to you, though." She continued paddling further, helping Billy back onto his board, which he'd fallen off of half way through the ride.
Ao laughed. "You should see Raven. Better yet, you should see Kilika. He's AMAZING. I mean, he's been surfing for almost twenty five years now, so he has a couple of years on us, but even when I AM his age, I doubt I'll be that good. He's one of the best in the world, actually. He competes and everything. It's how he gets away with not having a job." Ao laughed. "He's too lazy for a job."
Elijah made his way across to them, closing the distance as best he could with the bulky board beneath him. "Not bad, Billy! Not bad at all!"
"Not bad yourself, Mr..." She faltered a moment. "You know, I still don't know ANY of your names..."
Elijah gave her a questioning look. He hadn't expected this... He didn't mean to seem arrogant or haughty, but he'd just assumed that she'd known. Everywhere he went anymore, everyone knew his name, and often times, knew more about him than he knew! Perhaps he'd taken for granted how big the movie had gotten... "I'm Elijah," he finally replied, feeling relieved, actually, that she didn't know him as an actor, at least not yet.
"I'm Billy," Billy told her, and pointing back to the beach, he said, "The one that's building the sand castle right now, that's Dom. The one yelling at him on his right is Sean, and the one that's yelling from Dom's left is Orlando."
Ao nodded, though Elijah doubted that any of it sunk in. She'd more than likely ask later which one was who. "All right, then..." She said, turning her board to paddle out once again. "I have to get home soon, so I'm going to use the time that I have for surfing, if you don't mind." And she was off, lost among the waves and water that she seemed to blend in with naturally. The ocean was most definitely in her blood.
Elijah and Billy did the same. They rode a few more waves, then returned to the beach to dry off and get something to eat. Orlando, Dom, and Sean came in soon there after, and they began to bundle their belongings up.
They were just about ready to leave-all of their things were shoved not-so-neatly into their backpacks, and they'd thrown their sandals back on when Ao and Kilika began making their way up the beach as well. Elijah, who was nearest the beach, still trying to make his towel fit into his bag, heard bits of their conversation, try as he might not to eavesdrop.
"You going to the Paradise Cove tonight, then, or what?" Kilika asked, his voice barely above a whisper. His eyes darted up and down the beach to see if anyone was listening.
"I can't tonight," Ao replied, sincere remorse tingeing her voice.
"I don't know if I really feel like going tonight... I'm not looking forward to running into Kew again. And God knows he thinks that place is his, doesn't he?"
Ao sighed. "The Cove's kind of... loosing its charm, isn't it?"
Kilika nodded. "I'm afraid so. I don't think it has to the others, though."
"But you and I know things about that place, Kilika... Things they don't. We shouldn't be going there, you know that, don't you?" Ao countered, placing a hand on his arm to stop him. They faced each other a moment.
"Ao, I'm a hard-core Hawaiian. I mean, I was raised in traditional ways, believing in the traditional tiki gods and all that bull shit. I mean, I don't believe in Witch Doctors, and crazy sea serpents that eat surfers anymore, but I do believe that there are things that we shouldn't mess with. And I've believed for a long time that Paradise Cove is one of them. There's something not right about the place, you know that, and I know that... The others don't. And the others never will. They never will, because they'll never choose to see it. And I don't think it's fair of us to point it out to them."
"How can you SAY that? I mean, that's what the book is all about, you know that, don't you? The people weren't crazy, Kilika, and they weren't trying to scare anyone away, they were just telling the..."
Kilika stopped her with a wave of his hand. "Ao, I know. But the others won't believe them. Show them all the evidence you like, but they still won't care."
Ao sighed. "You're right..."
Kilika gave her a small, sad smile. "I know."
The two resumed walking, and sat down on their blanket with the others, joining the conversation quickly, never missing a beat. Elijah watched them. Paradise Cove? Why didn't they like it? It sounded fine enough to him...
"Elijah! Come on! We have to meet Zach for dinner, remember?" Dom called from the top of the hill, and Elijah, casting his eyes towards Ao and Kilika one more time, jogged up to rejoin his friends.
