Telesa - The Covenant Keeper by Lani Wendt Young Read Free Book Online

my fate, sauntering to find his seat beside another suspiciously beautiful boy.
    “Oh. I see. Welcome to our class, Leila is it? We were just starting our reading of Macbeth ,we had better find you a seat.”
    A broadly built boy with a ducktail haircut, leapt to his feet, a huge smile on his face.
    “She can have my desk Ms Sivan. I’m happy to go looking for more furniture.” His tone was hopeful and I was suspicious that the search for furniture in this school would not be an easy or speedy errand. Ms Sivani must have harboured similar suspicions because she shook her head and pointed to her desk at the front.
    “That’s very kind of you Maleko. But I wouldn’t dream of making you miss our reading of Macbeth this morning. You can sit at my desk and at first break you can acquire some extra furniture for our new student.”
    Maleko scowled with disappointment, the hopes of a chance to escape from English class dashed. Great, another potential enemy I thought, taking the seat he vacated. Ms Sivani handed me a tattered copy of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and resumed her reading.
    Macbeth had been the topic of my final English essay three years ago in Freshman year so I was sure it wouldn’t hold any surprises, but I dutifully turned the pages so I could follow with the class. Vaguely aware that the entire class was finding the arrival of a new girl more captivating than Shakespeare’s masterpiece, I hunched my shoulders even more than usual and slunk down in my seat, aiming for invisibility. I hadn’t been the new kid twice in two years without picking up a few tips about the best way to deal with curiosity and zoo animal watchers. Be as boring and non-descript as possible and the fascination usually dies. Stare at the ground, keep to yourself, don’t speak up too much in class. Stay away from the class ‘elite’ and don’t rock any boats. I had only ever been trapped in girl’s schools but heck, I was sure a co-ed one wouldn’t be much different.
    My first morning passed swiftly, the only real struggle being the oppressive heat. There were no fans in any of the rooms and while the coconut palms outside constantly rustled in a tropical breeze, little air found its way into the square blocks, crammed as they were with students. By second period my orange blouse was sticky with sweat and I felt like I had spent two hours in a sauna. It amazed me that anyone could live in this heat – let alone work or study in it. Ugh. Remembering Tuala’s gruff advice about avoiding dehydration, I kept taking furtive sips from my water bottle.
    It was a relief to find that every lesson was conducted in perfect English. Several of the teachers were Indian and so I had to listen carefully to get accustomed to their accented nuances. But all the teenagers around me spoke with faultless grammar. It was a little unnerving that English in Samoa was more English than in America. A throwback maybe to the colonial days? And of course, the absence of slang and profanity made for more ‘civilized’ conversation. I had been dreading the possibility of cliques openly talking about me in rapid-fire Samoan, but thankfully, the ‘No Samoan speaking’ rule put those fears to rest.
    English was followed by Math. The only surprise being how far ahead I actually was. Another cause for celebration because Math was not my strong point. I could do the day’s worksheet in my sleep so that meant one less subject I would actually have to study for. In Biology, the class was sitting a test that the teacher, Mr Matau, graciously exempted me from. Instead, I got a ragged textbook to read through at the back of the room, giving me a golden opportunity to study my classmates. Real, live Samoan teenagers. How did they stack up compared with American ones? It didn’t take rocket science to figure out that Samoan teens functioned in a classroom according to a markedly different code from those in the States. Here, the teacher’s word was law and the