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“Don’t call her names, loser!” The tall boy shoved him in the shoulder, causing him to overbalance. The name-caller took a step backwards, yanking the girl’s ponytail in the process.
“Why?” He jutted his chin out and sneered. “She’s a slut. She’s doin’ all of youse at the same time. Or just one in particular!”
The girl’s lips parted in horror, but the tall boy moved before the words escaped her. “I’ll kill you!” he snapped and his fist shot out in a deadly left hook. The name-caller went down like a stone.
“Aw Tane!” A dark-haired teenager stepped forward and tugged on his friend’s sleeve. “That’s what he wants. He knows he can’t fight you, but he wants his mates to see he tried.”
Taller than any of the gathered crowd, Tane balled his fists and channelled his rage into giant bunched fingers. “I wanna kill him!” he growled and his friend nodded.
“I know, dude. We all do.” He aimed a feckless kick at the boy on the ground, contacting his outstretched leg. “Let’s go. We’ve got places to be and this ain’t it.”
Tane’s jaw worked in his face and he snatched up the girl’s slender hand, towing her behind him like a tiny trailer. “Kid kills me,” he grumbled. “I hate him.”
“Tane, stop!” They reached the other side of the playing field before she wrested her hand free with a protest. “You’re hurting me.”
“Sorry, sorry.” Tane stopped and released her wrist, an embarrassed blush touching his tanned cheeks. Blonde hair stuck up at different angles on his head and a dusting of teenage whiskers coated his chin. “They can’t keep saying stuff about you, Leilah. It’s not right.”
She tossed her dark hair and shrugged, rubbing her right wrist with the fingers of her left hand. “I don’t care. It’s us against the world remember?” She widened her eyes in expectation, hope fading as Tane turned away. She appealed to their companion. “Tell him, Dante. Tell him I don’t care.” Escaped chestnut curls blew into her face and Leilah brushed them away in irritation. “Tell him, Dante!” she demanded.
Chiselled features graced Dante’s face beneath wavy hair which always behaved. Handsome and clean cut, he exuded the charisma every mother sought for her daughter’s perfect mate. Except for the company he kept in the form of his three unruly friends, including Leilah. That ruined the image. He rolled his head and cracked his neck. “Dude. Hater’s gonna hate. Leilah doesn’t care so let it go.”
Tane shook his head. “We’ve been friends for years. The fat kid, the foreigner, the foster kid and the female.” He gritted his teeth at the label. “Now Leilah’s grown up all gorgeous, it makes us a target.”
Leilah grinned. “You think I’m gorgeous?”
Dante laughed. “In a horsey girl, ripped jeans kinda way. Yeah Lei, you looked in the mirror lately? Everyone wants to date you. Ya just don’t notice.”
Leilah wrinkled her nose. “We don’t have mirrors at our house. Dad says they’re for vain people with nothing better to do.”
Dante belted out a laugh and helped Leilah over the stile into the paddock beyond the school grounds. “He just doesn’t wanna see his own ugly mug every morning.”
Leilah sniggered. “Yeah. I think you’re right.” She looked around her at the lush green grass and halted, listening for the sound of the river to her left. She caught the strains of its song, birdsong and rushing water and felt the tension melt away from her body. “Where’s Vaughan?” she asked. “He said he’d be here yesterday, but didn’t show up.”
“Dunno.” Tane shrugged and caught her around the waist, swinging her in a wide circle. Leilah squealed and held onto his shoulders.
“Quit it you two!” Dante frowned and steadied Leila as she hit the ground and stumbled. His expression darkened. “I should go. Dad’s waiting. He needs help with some stuff.”
“Okay bro’, see ya.” Tane shot him a sympathetic glance but Dante waved it away. They watched his rigid spine as he staggered through the long grass. “He doesn't want to go home does he?”
Leilah shook her head. “No. It’s rotten how the whole town’s talking about his dad.” She hefted her bag onto her shoulder. “It makes a change for the gossips to start on me instead, but I don't mind if it takes the heat off him for a while.”
Tane smirked and sank into the grass on the edge of the riverbank. “That’s why I hit Malcolm. I figured if I made a big deal out of it, he might think it’s true.”
Leilah’s expression of misery wiped his smile away. “But if my dad hears that particular rumour, he'll kill me!”
Tane flopped onto his back. “He doesn't listen to the townsfolk. Anyway, he knows you’re better than that.”
“Thanks.” Leilah plucked a daisy and lifted it to her nose. “Wish I shared your confidence. He already hates Vaughan.”
Tane sighed. “Na, he hates Vaughan’s Uncle Horse. That’s different.” He rolled onto his ample stomach. “Why is that?”
“He won’t tell me.” Leilah snagged another daisy, punctured its stem and threaded the new one through. They wilted in the heat, but she persevered until she achieved a reasonable length chain. Leaning forward, she hung it around Tane’s head like a drooping crown. He lay on his front with his head cradled in his forearms and Leilah leaned closer, hearing the muted snores. She sighed and her shoulders slumped. “Great.”
Leaving the school bags next to Tane’s head, Leilah rose and followed the sounds of the bubbling river. It called to her, reminding her of stolen moments amid its icy folds. She ventured to the lower reaches of the bank and stripped off her school sandals, testing the water with her toes. A jolt shot up her body, involving every nerve ending and she bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. She tasted forbidden fruit for the first time in this water, sampling the delights adults wished to keep a secret. The evidence of her lost virginity washed downstream and Leilah hugged herself and wished for more. Her father’s best friend warned her of the dangers of sex, giving her a negative view. Mari’s eyes held sadness as she spoke the harsh words. “They love it, kōtiro but for us, it’s something we endure. Eventually they get too old and it stops.” The fiery Māori woman folded her arms across her breasts in challenge and Leilah nodded in her memory, believing every word.
With her bare toes in the running water, she grinned and hugged herself. “You’re wrong, Mari,” she whispered. “It’s amazing. You just weren’t doing it right.” Leilah inhaled the dusky aroma of native palms drifting down from the bush around Pirongia Mountain and imprinted the scent in her mind. She wished she could be seventeen forever.
“What are you doing?” Tane yawned and dropped the school bags with a thud He bent to loosen his black sandals. His huge knuckles looked like skeletal outlines in the afternoon sunshine. “Is it cold?”
Leilah turned back to him with a grin. “You always ask the same question and I give the same answer every time.”
“It’s cold then,” Tane grumbled. He shivered as his toes contacted the stream and the water bounced around his hairy shins like an excited puppy. Staggering over the rounded stones of the riverbed, he reached for Leilah’s outstretched hand.