Chapter Three
Our large group assembled to head back to Golden Isle after the brief postgrad reception and final pictures.
I was half listening to Nana Ama discuss the art of peach growing with some guy she knew from the farmers market, until I caught sight of Naira returning, but not alone.
I glanced around for Sekou, hoping he was around to figure out this whole scene with me, but he was in the wind.
Probably chasing after some girl who swore he was Nyame’s gift to women, if I knew my friend.
I tracked the trio as Naira approached, arm linked tightly with the prep from earlier, strolling along as if the rest of us weren’t baking under this hot-ass June sun.
A girl who shared his same features, delicate, very fair like they’d be sensitive to burning, with dark brown hair, walked with them, looking chummy.
I studied them, a bunch of questions running through my mind like I was some detective on Law & Order.
I joined Naira’s parents as she walked up and introduced the two of them.
“This is Luke Hall and his older sister, Hailey,” Naira announced.
“Only by a year and a half,” Luke chimed in to Hailey’s eye roll.
“Luke and I were in the same online history class from my dual-enrollment program. He goes to Charleston City University.” Naira grinned sheepishly in my direction, but I only narrowed my eyes in response. I had never even heard of this guy.
Beside me, Sekou materialized, bumping me lightly with his arm. “What’s this?” he half whispered in my general direction.
“No idea,” I mumbled, watching the show and wishing I had a remote to turn it off.
Luke and Hailey—who looked about as out of place as I felt—took turns shaking hands with Naira’s parents and waving at her younger brother and sisters.
Naira turned to Sekou and me, her hands held out presentation style.
“These are my best friends. Sekou and Ada.” She giggled. “This is Luke and his sister.”
“Yeah, Hailey,” I said. “I heard.”
Luke’s face brightened, recognition breaking his expression.
“Ada, short for Addae.” He looked up like he was trying to get it just right.
“Ah-dye-yee. Means morning sun. Last name Ewiem.” He slowly enunciated each syllable, “Ehh-we-em for sky.” His smile widened even bigger than Naira’s, he was that proud of himself.
“So, like, morning sun of the sky. That’s beautiful. ”
I think I grunted in response, my gaze sliding slowly to Naira in disbelief. I felt my top lip start to curl, baring teeth, but I caught myself in time, remembering where I was and who I was with, and fixed my face.
“Naira talks about you all the time,” Luke said, too enthusiastically for my taste.
Too bad we couldn’t say the same, I wanted to shoot back, but another bump from Sekou signaled me to behave in front of company. My mouth slammed shut to imprison what I really wanted to say.
Meanwhile Hailey sulked, a step behind her brother, wearing a long-sleeved white button-down in this disrespectful heat.
Luke was pretty covered up too. The only other people dressed in long sleeves and suits were Principal Khan and the other admin and faculty.
Everyone else was decked out in short sleeves, khaki shorts, and sleeveless summer dresses.
I guess Luke and Hailey didn’t get the weather memo, or didn’t care.
“Easy, killer,” Sekou said under his breath, sensing my growing tension. “Play nice with the in-laws.” The tips of Luke’s ears reddened, signaling Sekou needed a lesson in proper whispering.
I turned to my so-called friend to remind him that I didn’t need to be told how to behave. Somehow, I’d moved back when Luke was stepping forward. We crashed into each other, and my grad cap flew out my hand and onto the ground, landing in an especially thick pile of reddish dust.
As I reached for it, an icy hand met mine. Hailey. I shivered without meaning to—the sense, or vibe, I was getting from her was … no sense at all. She was a black void, and around me, no one ever was. Everyone always had something to say, even when they didn’t speak.
Hailey caught me before I had a chance to play off my initial reaction and snatched her hand back. “Sorry.” She sounded offended.
“It’s fine,” I muttered quickly, feeling like complete shit for her reading me wrong. She just startled me, that’s all.
No one else caught the awkwardness. Everyone was still chitchatting like they were all old friends.
There wasn’t a stranger Sekou didn’t know or wouldn’t get to know.
I guess he never took to the “stranger danger” lessons we learned back in elementary school, or he forgot how we ended up on Golden Isle.
We stuck to our Kin, and outside of Kin walls, in the rest of the island where Nana managed who lived there like a huge private community, we maintained our privacy and our distance.
History had taught Black people to move in non-Black spaces with caution, and when you had something everyone wanted—Golden Isle—we learned to be even more careful.
Developers often tried to buy our land from us though it had been in our family for over two hundred years.
We had to learn to be wary of strangers. You never knew their true intent.
I snuck a peek at Hailey. The elders have always said eyes were a window to one’s soul.
Looking into Hailey’s dark coal-like eyes, I saw mystery instead.
I wanted to dislike her from hello because she was a mainlander, or because I couldn’t catch her vibe like I could most others.
I couldn’t put my finger on it. Maybe it was the way Hailey matched my stare with her own curiosity and without fear, like she was trying to read me like I was trying to read her.
She was the first to break away, handing back my cap. Her fingers were like icicles.
She turned on her heel and started toward the parking lot and called over her shoulder, “We need to head back to Charleston, Luke.”
I dusted my cap off gently, even though I’d never be able to get all the dirt off.
Someone from our group announced the buses were ready to head back to the dock, and we all began to move collectively to the parking lot too.
I ended up trailing behind, using my cap as a distraction from having to talk, especially with Nana surrounded as usual and Sekou flitting around like the social butterfly he was.
“Text me when you get back?” Luke bent down close to Naira, sharing something private between them in the middle of this very public place.
I watched Mr. and Mrs. Russell, wondering if they were seeing their beloved daughter getting all cozy with a mainlander boy of the preppiest persuasion.
They didn’t seem to notice, too busy corralling the other four Russell kids from running around all over the place as if they’d never been out in public before.
Naira nodded, ducking her head shyly at whatever Luke was whispering in her ear.
He pulled away, saying wistfully, “Wish I could celebrate with you all tonight.”
I stared her down, willing her to feel my vibe.
She wouldn’t dare invite him …
“Maybe another time. This is for family.”
That’s what I thought. My body and attitude relaxed, and I felt relieved that Naira still had some sense.
Sekou lowered his giraffe self until he was close enough to keep his words private.
“If you death stare them any harder, you will make him combust. Chill out. You know it don’t take much for Naira to clam up. ”
This was true. While Sekou was an open book, Naira was closed tighter than the leather over one of Sekou’s sacred djembe drums.
I shrugged him away, punching him in the arm for good measure for his earlier crack. I knew how to act. I wasn’t one of the Russell kids running around like no one ever took them anywhere.
And then I heard Luke say to Naira, “I’ll call you tomorrow? Tell you about the big reveal my uncle Simon wants to show us back at the research lab.”
Naira nodded. “Thanks for coming down.”
Luke looked like he wanted to eat her up.
He couldn’t take his eyeballs off of her, even when we reached the parking lot and his sister was waiting in a cherry-red Camaro with its top down.
The Russells waved their goodbyes at Luke, while Sekou and I hung back waiting for Naira because we were, like, good friends and all despite the fact that clearly we were kept in the dark about this online love connection.
Hailey called, “Luke!” I could tell from the single word she meant business.
Luke held up a finger asking for another minute.
He touched Naira’s chin. “I hope you decide to come. I can show you everything.”
She managed to sneak a quick peek at me and Sekou, both of us staring open-mouthed at her public display of affection with her parents and my grandmother in plain view.
Luke kissed her lightly on the lips and my jaw dropped.
I think I actually saw Naira melt. Okay, meeting a new dude was one thing, but when had they gotten so serious?
Luke finally made it to the Camaro before his sister up and left his ass.
Luke twisted in his seat, glancing back at Naira as they drove off.
She stared after that car, not moving until the red death trap NASCAR’d away.
It was only after the roar of the revving engine faded that Naira finally snapped out of it and remembered the rest of us.
Her shoulders sagged, as if the last thing she wanted to be doing was getting back on the bus with us. Ouch.
I opened my mouth, about to unload the boatload of questions that I had bottled up, but she held up a hand.
“Can we talk later?” she said. The space between us cooled in the sweltering heat.
“I didn’t even say anything,” I said, following her up the steps of the bus while Sekou brought up the rear.
“But it’s coming,” she said stiffly, looking for an empty seat and plopping in next to Peter Brooks, whose family ran the Bait and Tackle shop on the Isle. “I just want to cherish this moment for a little while longer, please. Then we can talk.”
“My bad,” Sekou said, bumping into my back when I’d stopped short, shocked at Naira’s from-nowhere attitude. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought she was mad at me, as if I were the one who made Luke go home.
I huffed. Excuse me for intruding was what I really wanted to say.
I nodded nice and dainty, while confused as hell about what was going on and how I’d become the bad guy. I hadn’t even done anything yet. I kept my mouth shut, trying extra hard to keep it classy and be the mature one for a change.
And you know what that was called?
Growth.