Adm. Johnson Wales High School was just that and next yeah Kaili would be a proud and true...What the fuck was their mascot? Ugh! She hated her father
for doing this to her. As she wandered the halls of her soon to be alma mater, her father was registering her for the fall. She didn’t have friends
here, she didn’t have respect here. The only good thing about this whole mess was that she wouldn’t be under the watchful eye of her father
anymore...maybe now she could get a life and a date. But who here could possibly worth even speaking to let alone dating. Ugh!
Her foot met with a locker lining the wall, trying to get some of her frustration out the only way she could right now. Better education her ass. Her
father was up to something and she knew it! He still hadn’t told her what the change was about and that only made things more frustrating! And Keahi
was pretending he didn’t know what was going on, but she knew he did. She knew he was in on the whole thing too and she knew they were using her for
something tribe related. She probably should have been honored or some stupid shit like that but she wasn’t. She was a woman for goodness sake!
Weren’t they not allowed in the Pueo? She was not a fucking warrior, she was just a kid.
And apparently a student at Adm. Johnson Wales High School.
I'll let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans;
be your teenage dream tonight.
And you KNOW what happens when you mess with the bull, Mr. Kāne? You get the HORNS!!!
Seriously? Did this dumb fuck of a teacher just quote "The Breakfast Club"? Jude slammed the door of the classroom hard enough to make the metal of
the lockers next to the door, vibrate. It was only the third day of summer school and he was ALREADY being thrown out of a classroom. Granted, it was
Mr. Reeves whose class he was terrorizing-er...sitting in and they already had a "history" anyway, as in Jude had found it very entertaining, during
his Freshman year, to experiment with the effects of bologna, car paint and the sun's rays...with Mr. Reeves 'brand new Toyota Camry. The experiment
was successful and Mr. Reeves found out that it wasn't polite to pick on students just because they were "new" and had roots on the "wrong side" of
the island. Fucking racist. After that, the relationship between he and the asshole teacher was pretty much cemented, resulting in a disrespectful
outburst after Jude got yet another answer wrong during a review and Mr. Reeve had tried to make him look stupid. It was worth it. Calling a teacher a
"glorified douche bag" was always worth it.
Exhaling roughly, he looked at the note to the Principal's Office in his hand, crumbled it up and threw it into the front of one of the lockers as he
passed. Great. This was all he needed. Sure, it felt great after he'd gotten the "rise" from Reeves again, but it just wasn't worth seeing the look on
his Unc' Li's face when he heard that Jude had gotten in trouble ONCE AGAIN. Nor was it worth hearing HIS VOICE, ranting at him about his attitude and
his behavior and how he saw criminals with the same behavior everyday. Whatever. Like Jude cared. Bad attitude or not, he wasn't going to let
some...prick get the best of him. And he wasn't going to think about the speech that Mauli was going to give him when he got home as he made up his
mind that he didn't want to be at AJW in the first place. It was summer. The sun was shining and he was getting the fuck out of dodge. All he had to
do was get his jacket out of his locker and...pray that the girl that had just KICKED THE DOOR of HIS LOCKER hadn't jammed it so badly that he
couldn't get his shit out!
"Hey!" He spoke, his voice raised to get her attention, not to start a fight. "Hey...whoa. Lay off my locker..." He muttered, hoping she'd move out of
the way so he could try the combination and hope that it wasn't jammed!
Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man...
She jumped a little as a voice called out to her with a little too much bass behind it. Looking up, her eyes landed on the boy the voice had come
from, his face drawn into a scowl as he approached. Great. Just what she needed. Already she was making “friends”; her father would be
pleased...well probably not with this particular friend. He was loud, brash, and oh yeah, a dude...but he also looked local. She had known
people to leave the Shore and find love outside of the the Mokukeiki, it was normal...This kid was probably a first gen. She knew he wasn’t from the
Shore though. Mostly because she had never seen him, and partly because it seemed he didn’t know who she was either.
“Excuse the hell out of me-,” she replied sardonically, “It’s a locker, not a puppy calm down.” She cut her eyes at him as he brushed past
her, his fingers coming to the lock dial in an attempt to open it. He pulled at it after keying in his combo and it didn’t open. She’d jammed
it...Awesome. Not even enrolled in the place yet and she was already starting shit with completely innocent people. She sighed a little, sure he would
think she was bipolar or something after what she knew she had to say, “Look, sorry. Here-,” she moved in front on him before he could protest.
If these lockers were anything like the ones at the gym they were easy enough to get into. She ran the side of her hand softly down the center of the
locker, which was mostly for effect as what really popped the locker was the blow to the spot right above the lock dial. She hit it twice for good
measure and pulled at the handle. “There. My bad...fucked morning-,” she explained as if he were interested. Probably not. But that didn’t mean
she couldn’t try.
“I’m Kaili.”
I'll let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans;
be your teenage dream tonight.
22-5-36. Jude fingered in his combination quickly, shaking his head at the rebuttal from the girl who'd just successfully kicked the door of
his locker in. Yeah, there was a dent. And not like he was some weird "Locker Nazi" or anything, he just wanted to get his shit and get the hell out
of the school long enough to clear his head before he put his fist through a wall! He hated getting in trouble! Especially lately, as his Uncle's
moods were growing worse and worse. Jude couldn't remember a time when his Uncle wasn't "hard" on him, making sure that he stayed in line and out of
trouble. But things had gone from "protective" to just plain bad at home since Uncle Li took the job on the South Shore four years ago. His temper was
always so damn short, yelling at Jude for the dumbest shit. Room wasn't clean? Fuss. Came home thirty seconds late? Fuss some more. It was uncalled
for and the more he yelled, the more Jude decided he'd give him something to yell ABOUT. There. Simplicity at its finest.
But lately, all Jude wanted to do was stay out of Mauli's way. Usually the yelling and the fussing from his Uncle didn't phase him too much. But that
day, he needed a breather before the message got around to "Detective Mauli" that his nephew was being a massive "fail" again. Because in the past few
months, if it had been possible for things to go more south than they'd already been, the impossible had happened. And NOTHING in him wanted a run in
with his Uncle. Nothing.
"Fuck..." Jude muttered again, standing up to access the situation before he went apeshit over nothing. Maybe if he kicked the locker in a bit more,
he could pull it open? Yeah, that sounded like a good idea, especially as he could've given less than a shit about further damaging the school's
property. Before he'd made up his mind and decided to take the rest of his agression out on the door, he heard the soft voice of the girl next to him.
Apology? For what? Oh yeah, trashing his locker. He shrugged and looked down at the girl next to him, his scowl softening a bit, but not disappearing.
It wouldn't disappear until he got the hell out of that school and onto his bike. Without saying much more, he heard the girl's invitation to fix the
"locker issue". Hey, she could only make it better as there wasn't much more she could do to make the situation worse. He stepped back, watching her
run her hands down the side of the locker. Then, with two hard raps, she pulled the handle again and the locker door that had been obstinately closed,
swung open.
"Thanks." A quick mutter of appreciation left his lips as he bent down and retrieved his bookbag and leather jacket from the locker. Kicking the door
shut loudly, he slipped his jacket on, eying the girl who's name was "Kaili" as he pulled his long hair from inside of his jacket. Good for her.
"Yeah...I'm Jude. And I'm leaving...so...later." He said, swinging in bag over his arm as he made to walk away.
Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man...
He uttered something that sounded like a ‘thanks’ as the locker popped and he went into it for his things. It was one of those ‘thank you’s
that was supposed to end a conversation and on the low tell people to go away. Kaili knew because that was the only thanks she usually got from guys
in the Shore; only his thanks wasn’t laced with fear and that ever so subtle look over his shoulder to make sure Keahi wasn’t around. That’s
what her love life was. When all of her friends started dating she wondered why there was never a guy to ask her to hang out or anything. Literally
anything. She could barely bum a pencil off a guy without him breaking into a sweat. Hoku had been the one to tell her that Keahi had decreed
her off limits until he found someone worthy. Asshole.
She hated him for weeks after that, but he didn’t budge on it and she went to every school dance either dateless or with her best friend. Here that
wouldn’t happen and this guy was the perfect example of...damn. How much she didn’t matter here. Weird how starting over was a double
edged thing...
She came out of her thoughts as she heard his name. Jude. And leaving. Nice. Again he moved past her headed toward the exit, a quiet, “Lucky
you-,” on her lips as he passed by her. She would give anything to get out of this god awful place and never return, sadly that wasn’t her life.
She was stuck...but she didn’t have to be stuck alone. “Uh, hey. Hold on-,” she picked up the pace in her walk to catch up to him, and kinda had
to double step to keep up with his long stride.
“We should start again because I don’t think you got the right impression with my little tantrum back there-,” She stepped in front of him,
halting his movement before she finished. “Come on. Is a little ho`okipa* too much to ask for? I’m new...well I will be....”
______________________
*Hospitality
I'll let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans;
be your teenage dream tonight.
Uh, hey. Hold on-, What?! What-the hell-now? Apparently, this girl didn't know when she was being brushed off. But she was. Being brushed
off. Not that Jude was trying to be mean, but he didn't feel the need to converse with her or anyone that day. He just wanted to get away
from...hell, everyone. And carrying on a conversation with this "Kaili" girl wasn't the start of carrying out that want. With a heavy sigh, his legs
did the opposite of what his brain was telling him to do, his steps slowing just enough to let her catch up to him. It was clear that this girl wasn't
going to leave him alone anytime soon as she took the slowing of his pace to wedge herself right into his path. Shrugging the strap of his ratty book
bag further onto his shoulder, he stared at Kaili, his expression set to "bored". Maybe she'd get the point and leave him...no, she'd keep talking.
"No, we really don't have to...start over, you know." Even though his voice was dulled with disinterest, he didn't mean to be rude. He just wanted to
get OUT of that hallway, pretending as if he wanted to play nice with some...girl who he barely knew. Did she even GO to AJW? Truthfully, he wouldn't
have known if she did! He didn't even know who's locker was beside his! Jude just wasn't an "in tune" person. Nor was he a people person. So when
those things combined, he just came off as an ass. "I mean...you didn't bother me is all. No harm done" With slow nod, he looked at his feet, thinking
that she'd finally move and let him go on with his day. She didn't.
"A little...what? Uh..." Hawaiian? She spoke Hawaiian? Well they WERE in Hawaii, of all places, but he didn't find too many people, outside of the
South Shore, who even KNEW how to speak more than two or three words. Most of the native kids or half natives that went to AJW, outside of the surf
crew, weren't the type to even resort back to anything that resembled their heritage, if they knew anything about it to start with. But this girl
seemed the opposite...and unfortunately asking too much if she expected to find a friendly face at AJW. Another sigh escaped him as Kaili confirmed
her "newb" status.
"So, you're new. Okay, uh, word of advice...the caf' food will kill you here. Avoid the cheerleaders, they bite. And lay off locker kicking." With
that he nodded and made to walk around her again, although she quickly blocked his path.
Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man...
Oh, she knew she was being brushed off, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want to spend however long it was going to take her father to get her
registered alone. And while Jude wasn’t exactly ideal company, with the scowl and the “fuck off” across his forehead, but he was better than
nothing. What was so important that he absolutely had to get away from her? Honestly, she wasn’t all that bad to be around. She liked to think of
herself as pretty sweet actually...Of course she didn’t have to be and as she stepped in front of him, stopping his motion, the look he gave her had
her attitude beginning to resurface. By the Gods, if this was what she had to look forward to next school year she was going to hate it here more than
she thought.
He spoke, his voice matching the expression on his face as he told her they didn’t need to start over. Apparently, they did. Why the hell else was
he so damn rude? She thought about asking but decided against it knowing that it wouldn’t go over well at all. Instead she asked him for a little
hospitality...But it seemed he had no idea what she was talking about. Oh yeah, he definitely wasn’t from the Shore...She would never
understand how people could call themselves natives and not even speak the language of their people.
She was about to explain, but he jumped in, rattling off a list of things she should and shouldn’t do. That was supposed to be her welcome packet?
Huh. He really didn’t know what she’d said...Un-frickin’-believable! He tried to step around her but she blocked him again.
“It’s hospitality-,” she said, her attitude from earlier beginning to resurface. She hated seeing her own who knew nothing of their people. They
were worst than fucking tourists. But now wasn’t the time to choke him by stuffing her beliefs down his throat. Maybe he didn’t give a shit about
his history. Who was she to judge? No one; so she wouldn’t tone it down...for now. “You know it never killed anybody to have a conversation.”
Something he obviously wasn’t interested in, but she didn’t care. “Where are you from that your ‘rents don’t speak the language to you?”
Even if the kids were born on the side of the island that had assimilated, the parents still cared about the culture a little right? She couldn’t
imagine anyone leaving the Shore, but if they did she knew for a fact that the Shore never left them.
I'll let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans;
be your teenage dream tonight.
Without moving out of his way, Kaili gave him a quick translation of whatever the hell it was that she'd just said to him. Hospitality? So,
automatically, he owed her something? Sure, it would've been ideal for her to walk into AJW High, meet him and then start some long-lasting friendship
that withstood the sands of time, but the reality was that Jude wasn't exactly trying to be anyone's BFF, anytime soon. He just wasn't one for the
"befriending" thing. As much as he couldn't stand his Uncle Li those days, he found himself being a lot like the guy. Quiet, pensive, not really
looking for a sidekick. The Kāne men just seemed to do better on their own. At least that's how Jude saw it as he didn't really have anyone
besides his uncle to compare to. The rest of his family? He didn't know them, nor was there any chance of Uncle Li letting him even get the
opportunity TO know them...or anything about them. Fucking unfair. That's what it was. The fact that Jude would never know more than what he heard
from Mauli about his own ancestors and blood line (which was virtually nothing)? Yeah, it was cruel. Jude knew that his Uncle was protecting him. From
what? He didn't know. Maybe his history, or something? But, the unfair thing was that at least Mauli KNEW where he came from...he wouldn't even give
Jude the chance to find out.
"Hospitality." He repeated, looking down at Kaili, smirking softly at the bite in her voice. With another shrug, his lips tightened before he spoke.
"Well, now I know." What was that? A little bit of jealousy in his eyes. Yeah, maybe. He couldn't help it. Envying this girl. She was definitely from
the Shore and that meant that she was raised in the place that Mauli had taken him from in his infancy. She grew up around the myths and stories of
her people. She learned the language, knew the history and the culture. The customs. She was immersed in everything that his uncle had tried so hard
to keep him away from. And even though he'd been spending a little more time in the South Shore than he had in his childhood, as Mauli worked out of
the police department in Kapu'aina, he still knew close to nothing about the blood that ran through his veins. And nothing about the language that
should've been as fluent to his ears as the English that poured from his lips.
Without a reply to Kaili's snappy question, he blinked slowly. Of course he knew that conversation wasn't a death sentence, but he didn't exactly care
to HAVE conversation, whether it was fatal or not. He just wanted to go...and breathe in the fresh, hibiscus-scented air of outside. He wanted to get
on his bike, start her up and just...ride. Ride until it was time to go home and face his uncle's sure wrath.
Hesitantly, he tuned back into Kaili's questioning. Her wondering why he hadn't learned the language and wondering what type of parents he had that
didn't teach him the language of his ancestors. Oh, well there was an easy answer.
"Uh, I don't exactly...have parents." His words were slow as his hands found his pockets. He hated this conversation. The "my parents are dead" convo
that started up whenever he ran his mouth for more than thirty seconds. THIS was why hospitality was a no-go. People asked questions and questions
needed answers. When he didn't speak to ANYONE it was easy to avoid having to give answers. "They died. So, I guess that kinda nulls them being able
to speak the language to me, right?"
Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man...
It wasn’t that he owed her anything, she just didn’t see a reason why being nice had to be a big fucking deal! She wasn’t asking him to be her
BFFL. She wasn’t asking him to come to her house for a sleepover so they could gossip, paint each other’s nails, and fucking synchronize their
periods; she was just talking to him. How was that so awful?! She had already been here for about half an hour. Any minute now, her father would be
out of the front office and she would be free to leave. After that, she didn’t care if she never saw this guy again. She just wanted someone to pass
the time with. Selfish? Maybe, but he was rude and would probably prefer this be the only time the two of them spoke anyway. And she was fine with
that. But he was damn sure going to talk to her now.
He repeated her translation, something like a smirk coming to tug at his lips before his tone went just a bit sour. “Yeah, I guess you do-,” she
said triumphantly, a shrug to match the one he had just given her on her shoulders as she folded her arms across her chest. Finally, Kaili could say
their conversation was taking a turn for the better. Even if all of their words were laced with sarcasm and irony, at least they were having words. He
was no longer actively attempting to escape her, so she would take the opportunity to find out more about him. Like why didn’t he know the language
of his people? Surely, his parents...shit.
The phrase ‘stepping in it’ would not have done what she had just said any justice what so ever. Not only had she criticized his parents for
giving him little to no information about his history...she’d criticized his dead parents. Her arms fell to her sides once again as her
eyes grew wide with his confession. Bitch. She was an evil, evil bitch. Her cheeks grew hot and she was sure her complexion had gone fire engine red.
“I’m...the world’s biggest dick-,” she said quickly, more to herself than him as her eyes found her Chucks and stayed there. An awkward
silence settled and she took that as her cue. “Well-,” she began, looking in his direction but not exactly at him. “This has been sufficiently
awkward and I’m really, really sorry for...well right now, living, but mostly for being an ass-,” she looked away again stepping to the side to
let him pass. “Sorry...”
I'll let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans;
be your teenage dream tonight.
Of all the ways that Jude had hoped that the conversations with this completely intrusive girl would end, he hadn't meant for it to end in her
embarrassment. The parent thing? That was just him being truthful. No, he didn't know the language and no, there were no parents to teach him the
language either. There was only an uncle who seemed, at times, to be so turned off by the full Hawaiian descent in his blood that he was happy
pretending that it just didn't exist. It was no surprise that the language was so foreign to him, having Mauli as an uncle. There was no trace of
pride in him, no desire for the place that he'd grown up in, nor the people. Every once in awhile, Jude would ask him about the South Shore, about his
childhood there, just hoping to get some answers to the questions that he couldn't help BUT have. But all he got in return was the usual, "There's
nothing TO tell, Jude.", signaling the end of the discussion and the end of Jude's hope to find out about the place on the other side of the
island that held so many answers.
All of the distance he felt, all of the ignorance that was there about who he was, it made him feel...lost. And completely envious of people like this
Kaili girl who knew the very secrets that he longed for. And even though he couldn't help but feel that way when he'd heard the native words flow so
comfortably off her tongue, he didn't mean to embarrass her. Awkwardly, he stood there as she stepped aside, probably tired as hell of trying to get
more than five words out of him. He stepped forward, ready to ignore the oddness of the moment, but he stopped when he stood beside her and looked
down at her, a forced and very painful looking smirk on his lips.
"You're not the world's biggest dick..." Turning on his heel and facing the direction he'd just left, he pointed to Mr. Reeves' door as he walked
backwards, his steps short and slow. "THAT room contains the world's biggest dick. Sorry, but you don't come close." His voice was calm, but he was
sure that the smirk that slid off of his face and turned into a grimace would probably display the anger that he was truly feeling.
"And that dick's the reason why I'm getting the hell out of here. So..." With a pause, he pointed his thumb backwards, towards the exit, at the end of
the hallway that led to the stairs. "You comin'?"
Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man...
She was hoping he would just walk away and never look back. She was such a fucking idiot! The boy had already told her, in more ways than one, that he
wasn’t interested in talking to her about anything and now she was pushing what was probably one of the most painful reminders a person could get on
him. Her and her BIG mouth. Kaili found herself hating her father sometimes, but she could never imagine her life without him. Hell, she
remembered when a couple of the guys from the Pueo brought him home with an injury that left him in a coma for three days. She had nearly
cried herself into oblivion then. She didn’t know what she’d ever do if she lost her dad for good. This kid knew though. Both of his parents were
gone and here, some girl he didn’t even know, was bringing it up.
He moved to walk past her and leave her to choke herself with her embarassment, but stopped as he drew beside her. She looked up to something that was
probably supposed to be a polite smirk, but she could tell it was forced. He was trying to spare her feelings even though she obviously didn’t
deserve it. She could have told her to go fuck herself, but he didn’t, instead telling her that she wasn’t, if fact, the world’s biggest dick.
He pointed toward the classroom door she assumed he’d come out of and explained how she was losing to some jerk in there. Nice.
She smiled a little at his comment before her eyes fell back on his face and she saw that the awkward smirk on his lips had been replaced with a tight
line, his expression turning to one of annoyance and maybe a hint of rage. She guessed she wasn’t the biggest dick...she hadn’t gotten that look
from him...Wait. What? Was she coming?
As awesome as getting the hell away from AJW sounded, her father would be furious to know she’d gone off with some strange boy to the Gods knew
where to do the Gods knew what...But she really didn’t want to be out here alone and she was sure he didn’t mean literally come with him where
ever he was off to... “Yeah, sure-,” she said, her smile widening just a little. She’d walk with him out and come back before her dad even knew
she was gone.
“So who are you getting away from? Teacher or student?”
I'll let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans;
be your teenage dream tonight.
Parents weren't something that Jude thought about too much anymore. When he was younger, growing up with just Uncle Li, instead of a "mommy" and
"daddy", was odd to the other kids. They just didn't get it. How he could even exist when his mother and father were beneath the ground, "sleeping"
(as his Uncle would say), confused them. Made them think he was weird and completely different from them, with their "happy families", light
complexions, rosy cheeks and perfect lives. And he thought the same thing. When he didn't know simple fairy tales because Unc' Li never read him to
sleep and when he didn't know how to play a simple game of catch because Unc' Li never had the time, he hated himself. Hated the hand he'd been dealt.
Now, he lived with it. Adjusted to it. Instead of going "teary eyed" like he had in his childhood whenever the kids left him out, he kept to himself.
Ignored their rejection and gave himself the genuine company that they would never give. He learned, too quickly, to be...alone.
Still standing beside Kaili, his smirk returned at her answer. He nodded as he turned around and felt her fall in step with him. Company wasn't common
to him. Even at AJW, he'd made it his purpose to keep to himself and keep his head low. He showed up for school and actually gave a half-assed effort
when he felt like it, a requirement from his Uncle. Then he was gone. On his bike as soon as the bell rang for dismissal. He didn't hang around for
long. For what? Nothing that he wanted was in those halls. And definitely not on that side of the island. No, when he had the chance, he got as close
as he could...to the South Shore. The air there was thicker, crisper. It felt more like...like home...something he wouldn't tell anyone. And
definitely not Uncle Li.
"Teacher." Jude answered simply, still walking slowly beside Kaili. He seriously didn't even want to think about Mr. Reeves and the call that was
probably ringing his Uncle's cell phone at that very moment. "Let's just say, I said something that I probably should've just...thought."
Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man...
Kaili couldn’t imagine her life without friends. The girls from the gym, the kids at school; she was never without someone to hang out with, never
without someone to talk to. That was just the way the Shore was though. Sure, there were a few people who had earned outcast status, but for the most
part your family didn’t stop at the people with your last name. The tribe was your family and when you needed a little more, the rest of the
Mokukeiki was there for you. No one was ever really alone in South Shore. It was just their way. It was one of the reasons she found herself
so friendly now. At some point, his people had been Mokukeiki. To Kaili, that was enough to consider him family...especially after hearing he had lost
some of his.
She kind of wanted to ask more questions. Who did he stay with if not his parents? How did his parents die? She was curious, but she would bite her
tongue. It was none of her business and she had done enough already by bringing it up. Plus, he had been kind enough to forgive her awkwardness and
was even asking her to stay in his company. She couldn’t exactly tell him no and she really didn’t want to. Jude was...well, she wasn’t sure
yet. She was still feeling him out, but something about him reminded her of...home.
He responded to her question with one word, his steps matching hers as they made their way down the hall toward the exit doors. Teacher.
Well, she could have guessed that much. Arguments with other kids where she came from ended in fist fights, not storm-outs...Of course she wasn’t
where she came from. She was somewhere else completely. Somewhere where haoles called the shots and kids fell in line. That was something she
would probably never get used to. Sure, there were a handful of foreigners that taught at Kahealani. The ones that thought they were doing to poor,
poor citizens of South Shore a favor by educating the keiki...but they weren’t. In her short years of life she had come to discover most outsiders
were just as pompous and sinister as the legend foretold.
“Hm. They can be sensitive-,” she said with a little shrug, “You were probably right about what you said anyway. That what gets people the most;
when they know it’s true.” She smiled at him a little, looking up as she came up with something else to keep the conversation going.
“So where are you going?”
I'll let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans;
be your teenage dream tonight.
As they walked down the hallway, Jude could almost see the urge to find out the underlying shit in his life in Kaili's face. The face when someone
nearly is bursting at the seams to ask something that they KNOW is none of their business? Yeah, that was the one. It made him a smirk a bit, mostly
at the fact that someone wanted to know something about him THAT much. No one ever wanted to know about Jude Kāne, the weird, loner kid with way
too much on his mind and much less leaving his mouth. Nothing about him was interesting enough for anyone to ask. He was just...Jude. The orphaned kid
who's Uncle was forced into taking him after his parents died. The kid who nearly failed every class, just making enough effort to get by without
getting noticed. The kid who drove to the Shore every free minute that he could slip from under his Uncle's gaze, just to pretend. Pretend like he
belonged...somewhere. Who could honestly say that they wanted to know that kid?
"Or they can just be douches..." He cut into Kaili's statement and tried to keep from grinding his teeth together in annoyance. It took
everything...everything for Jude to keep his anger and fury to himself at that dumb school. Some of the teachers were so judgmental. Seeing
this awkwardly tall kid with long hair and enough black clothes to dress everyone at a funeral...including the corpse. It just said "slacker" or
"trouble" to most of them. Without even KNOWING him, that's what they thought. And that was what this side of the island meant for him. Stereotypes
and stares. And even though he'd steered clear of interaction with anyone on South Shore, to Jude, the Shore just meant something different. Something
that kept pulling him back to it, whether he belonged there or not.
Looking down at Kaili, her question made him shift uncomfortably. Where was he going? Did he really want to say? Especially with this girl most
definitely being a Shore chick? Was it even OKAY for him visit the Shore the way he did? He wasn't sure, as Mauli tirelessly warned Jude of going
there without him. He always stayed low, never caused any trouble. But he didn't know anything about the rules or laws about...outsiders.
"Uh...the Shore...I-," Hesitantly, he looked away from her, finding his words carefully. "I mean I might go there....I guess."
Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man...
He really didn’t care for the teacher that had obviously pissed him off. She could see it in the way that his jaw clenched at the mere
mention him...or her. Kaili had had an issue with her Japanese teacher her freshman year. Apparently, public embarrassment was adequate punishment
when you didn’t know the answer to something. And telling her to “fuck off” in English before Kaili laid into her in a language she could speak
wasn’t acceptable either. Things might not have gotten so bad if the bitch hadn’t place hands on her to get her out of the class. She may not have
been a descendant, but she was still Akame and her blood was still sacred. Or didn’t she get the memo?
Kaili pulled her brother from class that very second and told him what happened. The next day, there was a sub for that class “until they could
find another permanent instructor”. Kaili never knew what happened to the bitch and she never cared. She wasn’t her problem anymore and she
wouldn’t have to think about it...but Jude still had to deal with his tormentor. She knew how thinking about someone you hate could wear on you so
the least she could do was change the subject of conversation. But when she did, she noticed a change in him then too.
What? All she’d asked was where he was off to in such a hurry. Damn it. If she’d stepped into dead parent territory again she was going to have to
kill herself. What if he was going to...visit them or something? And here she was bringing up things he...oh. She smiled, a small giggle on
her lips at his obvious nervousness. Why? They didn’t bite in the Shore...well they didn’t bite first. And they definitely didn’t bite local.
Sure, they might ask where you were from and what tribe you belonged to if they hadn’t seen you before, but usually local outsiders were
welcome...usually.
But it wasn’t Kaili’s place to tell him he couldn’t be there. “It’s not a crime, y’know? As long as you’re in town, there aren’t many
who’ll mess with you-,” what? It was honest. Most people only got questions on their way to Pali’elemoku. She smiled at him as he looked back at
her, “But if you want to see all of South Shore I could show you around sometime...-,” By the Gods, that sounded a lot less flirty in her
head. It wasn’t a come-on, she was just being friendly. If he wanted to know the Shore, having the same skin tone wasn’t going to get him far. It
was her turn to be hesitant as she tried, yet again, to clean up her mess.
“I mean...y’know...it’s easier when you’ve got someone to vouch for you and...well it doesn’t get much better than me-,” Oh shit. That
sounded bad too! And she had basically dropped her own name. Damn it! She just needed to shut up...Great. They were back to awkwardness.
I'll let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans;
be your teenage dream tonight.
It wasn't a crime to venture into the South Shore, huh? As far as his Jude knew, anything South Shore related was "off limits". For him, at least.
Sure, his Uncle informed him, with very limited detail, that some parts were "friendlier" than the others. But in Mauli's eyes, that didn't make the
Shore any less dangerous. Finding out where to trod and where not to? That was a game that Jude played on his own, against his uncle's advice. A very
dangerous game, too. One that made his heart beat twice as fast whenever he crossed over into the South Shore, only the road sign signaling his
arrival. There was no welcoming sign with some cute quip about being "the Sunniest Place on Earth". No, just the tropical brush getting thicker, the
skin getting darker, hair getting blacker. And that feeling. In the pit of his stomach. The loosening of the uncomfortable knot that was always there.
It wasn't hard to believe that life on the Shore, that Mauli's warnings of danger there were pointless. Maybe...maybe because the words that Kaili
spoke were what he wanted to believe all along.
"I heard that..." Jude started, letting his words drift off as he thought about them. "I mean, I thought that Pali'elemoku was closed off to
people...like me." His eyes shifted away from Kaili before she could look in his direction and see the embarrassment in his eyes. The look that would
have told her just how humiliating it was to look so much like the girl standing in front of him, but to know that they were nothing alike. That she
knew things about who he was that he would never know.
"I mean, if you wanted to..." Take me around and show me shit that I should already know. Carry me around like some...outsider when the South Shore
should be anything but foreign to me. Expose me to people and places that, had it not been for a past that I still don't know about, I would've grown
up around and probably visited every day. Even though Jude felt the unmistakable pang of envy and...nervousness, he couldn't help but want to take
Kaili up on her offer. There was so much he would never know about the land he supposedly came from. There were so many things that his uncle had YET
to tell him about it all...about everything.
Without betraying the silent monologue going on in his head, full of confusion and doubt, he listened to Kaili. It would be easier for him to walk
around if he were with her? Well, he guessed that were true as she grew up on the Shore. People there had probably known her from...diapers, he
guessed. That would work for him. Getting into the part of the Shore that was completely out of bounds, not having to worry about crossing the
imaginary, dangerous lines. And...and finally finding out about the blood that ran in his veins?
"Uh. I guess, if it's okay. Yeah, I'm in."
Man has a choice and it's a choice that makes him a man...
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