Lea-rough drafts

Part 2

Click. Lea watches the clock move closer to the end of the school day.
Click. She packs her papers and scrolls in her bag, but leaves the seal open to add
her gear from her cubicle before leaving.
Click. The clear tone signals the end of school and the crowds rush out of
classrooms into the long, underground hallways. Lea edges into the throng. She reaches
her cubicle and pulls books from the wooden storage box she was assinged at the
beginning of the year. She also grabs her safety helmet and gloves for Polo practice.
"Hello, got everything?" Yuli's black hair is pulled tightly to the back of her head.
Her straight woven skirt and dark blue blouse wouldn't dare wrinkle even after six hours
at school. Yuli looks down the hall for Meike, the final member of their trio. "I'm so
ready for the weekend to start"
Meike rounds the corner and staggers down the stone carved passage. His arms
are overladen with art supplies. Legs wide, back arched, he struggles to carry
everything. It weighs a ton. He's braced to prevent the mountain of supplies from
crashing to the floor.
"Kare, really?" Lea uses the Maori term of endearment for a close friend and
holds back a smile. She rushes to pull varied size boxes of paint and an over sized
canvas off the pile. Yuli just laughs openly at his ridiculousness and shakes her head the
way only a best friend is allowed. She grabs a few things with no wet colors. After some
lucky juggling he balances his art supplies and walks normally again while his friends
carry the slack.
"You're lucky you live near by and can walk home. There's no way you could get
all this home through the portal," Lea teased him.
"We're headed to Mari's for pizza right?" Yuli asks once she is able to stop
giggling. Meike nods and nearly upsets everything in his arms.
Out into the city passageway, the trio starts through a carved tunnel. Stores built
into the mountain on one side face open glass windows on the other. The rough red rock
on the floor of the new school transitions into well used cavern trails through the
marketplace.
Fish jerky and assorted snacks, then rare carved wooden tables. The next entrance
is crowded with sinew string musical instruments. Curling and flat horns of all sizes fill
shelves and corners. Preserved vegetables floating in salted brine line the shelves of the
next bubble; flaunting their orange, purple, and red color like the tropical fish through
coral beds. Out a glass window a school of blue cod spins past their view.
Turning right, past the Hawaiian clothing store, the friends speed up. Their hunger
spurs them on. The delicious aroma of baked seaweed crust fills the air and broiled clam
makes Lea's mouth water. She practically flies toward the eatery.
"I'll get the pizza," Lea announces, dropping her bag at a table. "Is clam and
pineapple okay with you two?" she questions over her shoulder as she walks away.
Yuli and Meike stare at each other trying to decide if Lea paying for the pizza is
worth eating their friend's favorite combination. Both opt to give in and take advantage
of Lea's generosity.
Yuli glances around the dining room at other students who have arrived at the
popular hangout. Meike builds small piles of paint supplies on the chair next to him.
"Stay," he tells them as if they were a trained pet. He confesses to Yuli, "I'm just
hoping they don't end up spilled beneath our feet."
"Why don't you get an organizer or a cart or something to haul all that mess
around?" Yuli asks him, a little rhetorically because she already knows the answer.
"A cart? Like kuia has for shopping?" his horrified tone tells her all she needs to
know. "I don't want to look like an old weird grandmother."
Yuli chokes on the water she's sipping, "Oh, sure, you don't want to look weird,"
A small tone comes from Lea's bag. Yuli fishes the communicator out of a side
pocket and answers, "Hello." Lea's mom responds to her friend's greeting, not at all
surprised Yuli answers instead of her daughter.
"May I speak to Lea?" Moana Ariki asks, trying not to sound anxious.
"Lea, your mom is calling," Yuli shouts across the room, then returning to the
communicator lets Moana know that Lea is ordering pizza and will be there in a
moment.
Moana suddenly announces, "Romo is calling, Yuli, I need to go. Please tell Lea it
is very important she come home immediately. I need her right away. It's critical you tell
her."
A little worried by Moana's tone, Yuli assures her "definitely will, right now."
"Your mom wants you home immediately," Yuli emphasizes as soon as Lea
returns to the florescent green table. "She sounded weird, like something important."
"It's probably nothing. She's always got some meeting to rush off to and just needs
me to baby sit. Probably something stupid like that argument last week between Old
man Kenu and Young man Babi. She's out mediating squabbles and I have to rush
home."
"Lea, it's a bummer you can't relax with friends at the end of the week, but that's
what you get when your mom's IN CHARGE," Meike knows his mocking tone will draw
some fire from Lea and reduce the flame aimed at her mom. Meike has enjoyed teasing
her since they learned to speak. He knows her mom's position is the easiest button to
push and this afternoon uses it to calm her down.
"Parents are so demanding. She could be upset about some small thing I forgot to
do. You know those dumb chores that are only important to moms." Resentful, Lea still
climbs off the stool. "Meike, can you carry all that home yourself?" She motions to the
full chairs around them.
"Yuli will help me, won't you? The colors should be dry by the time we finish
eating. It'll be safe," he assures her. Yuli looks skeptical but nods not wanting her friend
to use it as an excuse. "Have fun babysitting the little monsters".
Reluctantly, Lea slips her bag over her shoulder and walks toward the exit. Meike
watches her leave and then turns to Yuli, his eye brow arched, "I think that if we hurry
we can change the pizza order." Meike smiles and rushes to the counter.
Sitting on the bench at the exit Lea pulls her green swim fin from her pocket. The
long woven fabric tube glitters slightly like fish scales. It covers her legs completely and
holds them together in a dolphin tail. At the bottom are fins extending from her feet and
once on she is able to swim across her whole city in minutes. She slips it over her legs,
then seals up the sticky closure to make it water proof. Lea double checks her bag is
also sealed and slides into the water. With a deep breath she moves quickly out the exit
and dolphin kicks her way into the ocean.
The trip will only take her ten or fifteen minutes through the water. She speeds
toward home still wondering why her mom has to ruin a nice