chapter thirteen / lift your voices

   Once upon a time, five teenagers spiraled into a hedonistic maladaptive daydream. Like all dreams with symbiotic machinations of a hive mind, there's a point where the rubberband snaps, and with the full force of life, you are all pulled earthside. To an anticlimactic reality.

Desperate eyes endlessly fixed their gazes as Pope guided the drone to search the remnants of the shipwreck entombed to the sea, the only fragment not yet lost to time being Gabriel the Archangel eternally sounding the trumpet of the last day of judgment. Coral and corrosion worked in tandem to alchemise the structure into a psychedelic paradise teeming with life as fish and ghost crabs climbed beams and retreated within near-invisible cavities, hope lying amongst those ruins by a bare thread as they awaited the gold-flecked moment to reflect off their irises that would never come.

  John B balled and released his fist, giving a sigh. "It's not there," he threaded his fingers through his hair, his tone growing more vexed. "Just—just pull the drone up."

  "Look, we can do another pass—recharge the battery," Pope attempted to reassure him, "we can go back down."

   "We've done it three times, there's nothing there!" JJ yelled from the wheel, inflaming Kie as she bit back at him. "What? It's true!"

  Kiara anxiously cried out. "The gold could be buried, we don't know!"

   "If it was there, it would've been found on the metal detector!" John B exclaimed, pacing out to the edge of the stern. "Somebody beat us to it."

Ilyshah looked to the fallen gazes of the Pogues as JJ made a passing comment that it was never there to begin with, and turned to John B with pleading eyes. "John B, we still have the museum," he avoided her gaze, clenching his jaw, "it could be a lead to—"

  "There was nothing my dad mentioned about the museum, Ilyshah. Nowhere," John B protested hotly, "they won't even let us in, for all we know it's a dead end." 

"We could, I don't know . . . sneak in somehow."

Pope tiredly added, "and commit more crimes?"

  John B interjected before she could argue, his voice rubbled into gravel. "You guys, I'm calling it off! Just . . . take me home," he sunk down to the floor and retreated into his faded salmon pink hoodie.

Tangaroa carried their weary souls along the fickle offshore waters back to the Outerbanks. Every one of them fell to a dead rest with no words spoken and certainly no golden daydream on the horizon to fall back into as they buried it nine hundred feet below. All the summer misadventure left them with was the thunderous rumble of a displeased nature mirroring their own within, an untraceable greenstone, and a loaded gun.

   John B abandoned ship first, skulking to the HMS Pogue docked by Heywards. Next was the boundary line between The Cut and Figure Eight where Kie lived, her goodbye being slightly more vocal than John's yet still soured by what they had just been through. The cruelly long journey ended two nautical miles down the marsh at the Tūrei residence, where sweet citrus and jasmine trees entangled the air on approach. Forcing a faint smile and a kind murmur of thanks to JJ and Pope, she grabbed her weighed down woven tote and hopped out onto the jetty, the wooden slats creaking under her weight as she began to cross it until a pair of boots joined her with a loud thump.

"Eh? Did I forget something?" asked Ilyshah, frowning softly as JJ caught up to her and pulled a face as he spun his trucker hat forwards.

"For one, maybe that I work for you," he dryly quipped, stifling his chuckle through a huff as she rolled her eyes. "C'mon, I have a pool to clean then I have a date with my couch."

"Just wait here a minute, if undool thinks I spent the night with—"

He interrupted gruffly. "A Pogue?"

  "—a boy," she corrected without hesitation as his lips threatened a smirk, "he'll crack a shit, so let me go first."

He bowed theatrically and outstretched an arm. "After you, partner," then pointed to the non-existent watch on his wrist when she turned around halfway to catch another glimpse, "time's ticking!" he exclaimed as she glowered with a finger pressed to her pouted lips.

  Up the hill lined with a grove of sunburst tangerine trees and towards the main house, Ilyshah passed the deserted pool house and circled the connected lap pool and hot tub still polluted with debris at the surface. The forecast for the remainder of the summer looked sunny with a shower of Maybank every day of the week, a projected months worth of work ahead of him from poolside polishes to minimal landscaping. The naked truth of it all—she silently thanked mother nature for her poetic rage.

   Clawing at her salt scrunched wavy locks, she fantasised about sticking her head under the cascading falls of her brass shower head and working an ivory coconut soap bar into a lather across every mile of skin. Cleanse the soul, then face her family and roll it in filth again by lying through her teeth, regrettably using Sarah as an eternal excuse for every Pogue induced affair all the while ignoring the five unread texts that just pinged on her phone backdating to the morning before. She felt like a shitty friend for it, and all for a dead end.

   So lost in a dream, she didn't clock the distant strum of a guitar until Uncle Kahu's booming voice barked directions from the detached garage turned kapa haka recital hall. By then it was too late to walk by without acknowledgment as she was in direct view of the wide open garage door. A peek in saw Lani at the centre fully fitted in her flax woven piupiu, rolling her hips to the beat of Rob on the guitar and the melodic voice of his partner Teira as their three children consumed by joy ran circles around the hall. They all lived on The Cut, Kahu once worked with Rob when they were both fishermen and Ilyshah would help them out with babysitting every once in a while, they weren't from the East Coast back home but they were close enough to be called whanau.

  Every facet of the Tūrei spirit lived within those four walls; in the framed vinyl collections of Rufus & Chaka Kha, The Drifters and The Temptations that her kuia cherished in her 20s when she first fell in love with her koro, the restored posters hailing from 1984 of her kuia and koro's vocal group The Spindlers once plastered across the walls of the Ruatoria Hotel. Curtaining one of the windows, the tino rangatiratanga flag billowed in all of its red, white and black glory and hailing below it stood a keyboard, saxophone, and set of cajónes, shedding its old second skin of dust.

Kahu motioned to silence Teira in the middle of her note, flipping Lani's radiant smile into a scowl within half of a millisecond as she picked up her water bottle off the polished floorboards and chugged it until half-full.

  "Lans, what is this?" Uncle Kahu ruefully questioned as he mirrored her movements by placing his hands on his hips and circling them around in a fluid feminine movement. "What is all of this? It's not the waiata, we're not going around seducing the crowd here. We get it, you're pretty—pull back," he snapped his fingers then caught Ilyshah in his line of sight.

    "Ah finally, your Highness is here," he clapped his hands together, "wanna clue us in on where you've been?"

Ilyshah played off his question after she entered the hall and warmly embraced Rob and Teira. "I thought you knew I spent the night at Sarah's."

"You don't think I have eyes, girl?" prompted Kahu, pulling a confused hum from her, "acting like I didn't just see you come back with that boy," he nodded his head towards JJ emerging from the tool shed in view of the doorway as Lani licked her top teeth and suppressed a chuckle by taking another sip from the water bottle she was nursing.

     "Yeah, he saw me at Tanneyhill before and offered to give me a lift."

  "So when I ask Ward if you were there, he'll say yes?"

She dropped the futile act with slouched shoulders and a disgruntled sigh. Empty threats weren't in his rule book and he had equipped on his person a potent bullshit detector, approaching her with a reproving pointed finger.

   "I can't have you distracted, Lysh. We have the kapa haka at Midsummers to focus on, you of all people know how important this is to me, to us," he gently lectured as she stared at the floor and gave into his words with an obedient nod. "Now go for a wash and come back for practise, you look paru and everyone will be here soon."

   With a phone on zero percent and no music to blast into his eardrums until they near bled, JJ Maybank settled for the stop-and-start music coming from the Tūrei's garage. He knew it was Ilyshah causing the mayhem from the periodic looks he cast from the side as he fished out leaves and sticks from the murky pool water. Every time Kahu spun like a broken record 'Lysh, your footwork!' it became more evident on her face and in the way she would slump her body into an arch like a zombie despite the pearly facade forced on her that she was about ready to crack.

To him, she resembled that of an untouchable divine image. Every movement of hers seemed effortless, infused with a strained silkened honey as she rhythmically flourished the poi balls, ensnaring his fixation like the very first time he watched her perform at The Island Club. Tables were routinely left less than pristine for the country club crowd every Friday night since then with a scolding from his manager and a new threat to fire him delivered each week, like clockwork.

He hastily diverted his attention back to the rippling surface of the pool as the figure of Sarah Cameron emerged from the leafy alfresco in her white jeans and honey gold tube top, the Kook princess skeptically eyed him before she made her presence known to the Tūrei's in the hall. Ilyshah's face giddily lit up at the sight of her, skimming her way out of Kahu's jarring tutoring as they both exchanged their newly invented secret handshake of puffing their cheek up with air and colliding it with the others, a lowly giggle and a tight hug following a resounding fart noise.

"Hey uncle!" Sarah cordially greeted inside of a stifled giggle, "—hope I'm not interrupting."

Kahu kept his arms stiffly folded as he kissed his lips. "Not at all, Sarah. Maybe Lysh won't be off-beat for her solo if you're watching."

"Undool!" Ilyshah dragged out a groan, guiding Sarah to sit on the front-facing bench beside Lani who instantly took her into her embrace before Kahu shouted 'top drop!' and clapped for the resumption of the waiata ( song ).

Call it intuition or an unsurprising effect, there was no doubt the Cameron girl possessed the Midas touch. Spurred on by Sarah's longing gaze following every move as her smile inched higher and higher until her cheeks ached, Kahu didn't stop the music once—only giving sparse corrections. After Teira's last drawn-out note, Ilyshah jokingly lowered into a curtsy as everyone in the room applauded her.

    She gripped onto her waist as her chest rapidly rose and fell, breathlessly remarking. "How's that for off-beat, undool?"

  "Ka pai baby girl," he kissed the top of her head as she genially smiled up at him, "glad you finally decided to show up, now if only the rest of them weren't on Māori time I'd have more people to yell at."

Droves of people young and old descended upon the palatial residence, all greeting one another with foreheads and noses pressed together, some bearing tattoos on their chins and others across their entire face. As they gathered inside the hall, it looked like it shrunk in size with the sheer amount of bodies circling around, and if the roof wasn't already knocked down by the raucous laughter, it was about to be raised to the heavens by the rich acoustics of the keyboard, drums, guitar, and saxophone all swelling in unison.

Their harmonised voices rung in his ears and likely through the entire neighbourhood, touching the same breadth as the hymns and praises in the holiest of churches on a Sunday morning. Ilyshah led the first rehearsal side by side a boy with a caramel bleached fleecy afro who looked only a few years older than her, tribal tattoos marking from his neck to his shoulder. Coy side glances between them to the love-heart shaped harmony flowed into warrior like chants of the group of sixteen people; eight boys and eight girls, all armed with bone scaled paddles and wooden staff weapons as they closed out the performance of tempered beauty.

Incapable of prying his eyes from the sight, the music bypassed his head rush and struck at his very core. It knew no language as the group lured Sarah Cameron into the heart of the circle they formed for the second song, the golden girl taken under the wing of Ilyshah as the two twirled under and out of each others arms with infectious smiles suspended from ear to ear that spread to even the most cynical of spirits in Lani Tūrei who got roped in with them.

JJ was tuned out of the rehearsals at this point, less he was caught looking every five minutes. He didn't notice it winding down, not until a voice called out from behind him as he raked up the twigs and leaves scattered across the lawn. He turned to it, facing the figure of the boy who duetted with Ilyshah as he flashed a bright grin.

"Hey bro, come play footy with us," he said, pointing his thumb behind him at the open grassy area not far from the jetty where most were now gathered.

JJ picked up a larger log and tossed it into the nearby slip bin. "Don't think the boss would be too happy about that, man."

He clicked his tongue and wavered his hand dismissively. "Ah, don't worry about him. You've been out here for ages and we need to even out our team against the wahine."

"I can play in these?" He gestured towards his work boots.

"Play barefoot like the rest of us cuz."

JJ slapped his arms down at his side after propping the rake against the wall, "then I'm all out of excuses."

   "Chur my bro," he chuckled lowly, wrapping an arm around his shoulder as they moseyed down the hill, "besides, Ilyshah will be happy to see you."

JJ paused and furrowed his eyebrows as he continued cackling. "You don't think I see? You were looking at her allll day, and hey. . . she was looking too," he drawled in a taunting sing song as they both raked their eyes over Ilyshah glowing under the hazy golden sun in her moss dyed bikini top and loose denim capri shorts, giving a farewell kiss on the cheek to Sarah before they parted ways.

   "Gotta be careful with these Māori wahine though eh, she looks like an angel at first as they do but you just wait until—"

  "Tino!" Ilyshah exclaimed, approaching the two with a burning yet playful glare, "don't tell me you're shit talking again, and to poor JJ."

   Tino's bronzed face scrunched up in hilarity. "Eh? When have I ever shit talked in my life? The bro and I here were just coming up with a strategy to beat youse."

    "Oh, so you know how to play rugby?" She questioned, folding her arms across her chest.

"Sure, I've watched a few—"

   "Never you mind Lysh," Tino snaked his arm around JJ's shoulder, "go off and come up with your own strategy uce."

  She wore a smug grin as she paced off, shouting behind her. "Better hope I don't beat you again, JJ!"

    She should've known better than to be so cocky, sure the girls on her team were built and agile but with two handpicked under 20s professional rugby players on the opposite side—they were doomed. The first half had them in the lead by one try and a penalty goal, but it was JJ's surprising try off a dummy pass in the second half that saved the entire game for the boys team, Ilyshah shook her head with an all-knowing wry smile as full time was called and the boys lifted JJ onto their shoulders in a celebratory cheer. Dirt and mud bedaubed his cheeks as his dishevelled blonde hair had been swept every which way with a smile hard to bite back and she had never seen a more beguiling, enough to make your knees weak sight.

With grime built up in a thick layer under her nails and a can of crush orange soda to wash the bitter loss down, Ilyshah sat elbow to elbow with JJ on the large tree swing Kahu once built as they kicked their legs back and forth and watched on as everyone else kept playing capture the flag and bullrush.

  "Anything to say now that we're even?" He taunted, sniggering into his drink as she jabbed his side with her elbow.

  "I'll get you next time, besides there's always mario kart. . . bowling," she trailed off, pouting her lips and screwing up her face in thought, "scrabble?"

"I assume that means we'll keep hanging out," added JJ as she stared at him with confusion playing on her eyebrows, "I just thought since this morning you'd see no reason to cross the ditch for us Pogues anymore."

  She softened her eyes and hummed serenely, "it's not hard to cross for you."

  "I'm sure your Kook lady in waiting Sarah will just love that," he retorted as she rolled her eyes at him.

    "She's not so bad," she objected, but the remark prompted her to check her phone for the first time since Sarah left to fetch them mango smoothies and that was a while ago.

(1) new message from : scooby

dad called me back home lyshie, sorry :'(

  Brushing off the heart sinking disappointment behind the text with a soft sigh, JJ changed the subject as she hid behind the lip of the can. "So these guys, they're your family?"

"Yes and no, just not by blood—undool formed our kapa haka group five years back for all the Maori kids living over here, keeps us close to our culture," she explained, playing with the rim of her soda can as she chuckled to herself, "except for Tino, he's from home as you could probably tell by his accent so we're the closest and lead everybody else."

  "That's wholesome," he commented, then squinted his eyes in scrutiny, "almost too wholesome for Midsummers."

    She shrugged, pinning her dark coated locks back into a ponytail. "Undool wants us to perform for exposure mostly. You'll be there to watch us, right? Professional bus boy," she teasingly drawled.

   "Lysh!" Kahu bellowed before JJ could answer, framing his mouth into a makeshift megaphone. "Spencer's here!"

    "Coming!" She shouted back, grabbing the empty can from JJ's grasp and crushing both under her sandals. "Will you be at the flicks tonight? Everyone's going."

    "Kie insisted on dragging us to the thing so, yeah."

   "Mean, I'll look out for you," she winked before waving goodbye and setting off towards the main house, discarding of the crushed cans as she crossed the kitchen and threw a stray cropped tank from her tote over her bikini.

   Pacing out to the front entry expecting either a jaguar or rover to be parked in waiting for her, she frowned as Topper's black keep wrangler circled around the u-shaped driveway with no Spencer in sight—only Topper at the wheel, Rafe in the passenger seat and Kelce in the back.

   "Get in!" Rafe called out, mirroring the other two stone faced expressions reserved for her.

She warily approached the vehicle. "Where the hell is Spence? He said we were going together."

    "Oh, he won't be long sweetheart don't you worry," he nodded profusely towards her, "let's take a little drive first though, what d'ya say?" the taunting suggestion left his lips as Kelce opened the back door.

mai speaks!
✷ when will mai stop writing the most self indulgent chapters? never.
✷ not that i usually do this either but for those reading who want a visual on my inspiration behind the cultural concepts including the kapa haka ( dance ) and waiata ( song ) in this chapter look no further than the links below they bring me my daily serotonin every time i listen and watch them and i don't doubt it will for u too
✷ https://youtu.be/jEOydUQXfl8 ( 35 / ka hao, rob ruha )
✷ https://youtu.be/M6p03kjlY40 ( Te Wharekura o Rākaumanga — Whakawātea )
✷https://youtu.be/GyA5f-njkKw ( Te ara nui o te mate / muriwhenua )
✷ as always show your support by voting & commenting!! i should be bringing out 1-2 chapters a week now that i'm going on break (no promises but i've had a lot of writing inspiration lately so i want to take advantage !) muwah muwah xxx

Whale Rider ━━ JJ Maybank
Chapter Thirteen, Lift Your Voices
Outerbanks S1 ━━ Ep. 4 Spy Games.