Graffiti Heaven

by Marita A. Hansen

  A slap landed across her face, the sting bringing tears to her eyes.

  “Do you think I’m stupid?” her mother said, throwing Ash’s boots at Tiana’s feet.

  Tiana placed a hand to her cheek and looked down at them. She’d tried to tell her mother that she didn’t know who they belonged to, and that she’d only come home because she’d forgotten a school book, but she was never good at lying.

  “Tell me the truth? Did you bring a boy home?”

  “No, Mum.” When she first started high school her mother had told her that a good Tongan girl didn’t date until she was of a proper age—eighteen—and when it did happen the boy was to ask permission to see her. At thirteen she hadn’t minded the restrictions, the prospect of having a boyfriend not something she thought as real, but three years later she no longer felt the same way. Yet, apart from the waiting, she didn’t mind the rest, but only if it was Ash asking and her parents saying yes. He would court her the old fashioned way, and then after they left school they could get married.

  Sappy - check!

  Stupid - check!

  Naïve - check!

  And another giant check! for being a hopeless romantic, someone who’d seen Romeo + Juliet three times at the movies. Embarrassingly, she’d even imagined Ash as Romeo, and her brother would also be a giant pain in the arse like Juliet’s cousin Tybalt. She knew it was pathetic, but she couldn’t help making parallels between Juliet and herself—just with a happy ending.

  But, did Juliet ever give Romeo a blowjob?

  Another slap landed across her cheek.

  “You’re a liar,” her mother said. “You had a boy in here, disgracing my name, your family’s name. How am I supposed to hold my head up in church when my own daughter brings boys home to do goodness only knows what?”

  Tiana looked up at her mother’s furious face, a heavier version of herself. “I’m sorry.”

  “Do you expect me to accept an apology when you lower yourself to this?” Her mother waved a hand at Tiana’s bed. “I want to know who this boy is.”

  There was no way Tiana would answer that. It wasn’t Ash’s fault; he hadn’t a clue how strict her mother was, a woman who hadn’t been allowed to date until she was twenty-one.

  “Is he a Tongan boy?”

  Tiana shook her head.

  “What is his name? And don’t think you can lie to me again.” Her mother’s words started tumbling out in Tongan, accusations, punishments, and everything that was going to happen, occasionally reverting back to English. “Your brother will drive you to and from school, and don’t think you’ll get to see this New Zealand boy at lunchtime, because so help me God I will know. You won’t even be able to look at him without me finding out.” Her mother continued, flipping between languages, cutting Tiana off before she could respond. Tiana now realised that her mother wasn’t interested in knowing Ash’s name, because what did it matter when her cousin Monika would be grilled. But her mother failed to realise that her cousin was seeing a boy behind her parents’ backs too. So, at least she’d get lunchtime with Ash, otherwise she’d be telling her aunty exactly what Monika had been up to.

  Tiana glanced down at Ash’s boots again. Her face flushed at what she’d done. Like a midsummer night’s dream it all seemed unreal, because she’d never done anything like that before. She knew she shouldn’t want to touch his thing, or take interest in its colour, and the way it went from soft to hard, which fascinated her the most. She also wasn’t supposed to like kissing it or putting it inside her mouth, or making Ash moan, but she did and had wanted to do more. He’d looked surprised when she’d first suggested a blowjob, but he always assumed things about her, mainly because she was Catholic. But she wished he would can it with the “Good Catholic” image he had of her, because what she did at church had nothing to do with how she felt when she was with him.

  Another slap startled her out of her thoughts.

  “You aren’t even listening to me!” her mother yelled. “Well, you sure will be listening when I tell your father what you’ve been up to. So help me God, if you get pregnant I will send you back to Tonga, so you better start praying for that time of the month. Now, get to the car; I’ll drop you off at school.”

  Tiana ran to the sitting-room and slipped on her shoes, then went outside to the silver station wagon. She waited until her mother unlocked the car then got in, her mind on what her father would say. Although he wouldn’t hit her like her mother, she was more afraid of his reaction, because she couldn’t stand it if he stopped talking to her. He still treated her like a little girl, buying her a porcelain pony every few months even after she’d outgrown them years ago.

  ***

  The English teacher was already in full flight, waving his hands about as Tiana slipped behind her desk. Unfortunately for Mr. Ogilvy his enthusiasm hadn’t been transferred to the majority of his students, who were either chatting or staring out the window, and in the case of a few, sleeping. Yet he continued oblivious as he talked about Othello, the Shakespeare play being performed in a few weeks.

  Normally Tiana would’ve paid attention, especially since she had the role of Desdemona, but today she was more concerned with trying to find Ash. She glanced over her shoulder, hoping that Ash was locked away in the corner with his mates. Instead, her gaze settled on Jenna Hamilton, the blonde girl with hot pink streaks mouthing, “I hate you.”

  Hate was right, and the feeling was mutual. The girl thought she could stop her from dating Ash by bullying her. Tiana couldn’t understand what Ash had seen in Jenna... Okay, the girl was gorgeous, but still, her personality was tattooed with nastiness.

  After the lesson was finished, Tiana hung back to make sure Ash hadn’t been hiding away behind someone. Everyone filed out of the classroom, including Ash’s friends who grinned at her as they walked past. Tiana looked away, wondering whether Ash had said anything to them. She had told her best friend, but had foolishly not thought about Ash doing the same.

  “Tiana, you coming?” Lavinia asked. Although Tiana’s best friend was mostly Tongan, she looked a little bit Asian, her eyes and high cheekbones inherited from her Japanese grandfather.

  Disappointed that Ash wasn’t there, Tiana followed her friend out. But it made sense that he would be late, since he probably had to go home to get more shoes, and it wasn’t like he lived that close to her.

  The small corridor of the English block was thick with students jostling to get to lessons or retrieve books from lockers. Tiana spotted Jenna Hamilton several lockers down, looking angry as she talked to her two friends. Her view was cut off as Lavinia stepped in front of her.

  “Didja do it with Ash?” Lavinia asked excitedly.

  “Lavinia!” Tiana glanced around, hoping no one had heard. Ash’s mates started sniggering a few feet away. Tiana grabbed Lavinia’s arm and pulled her towards the toilets. Tiana’s cousin followed along with her own friend.

  After Tiana had checked each toilet stall, she turned to Lavinia now angry. “I told ja not to tell anyone.”

  “I didn’t, everyone knows you and Ash left school.”

  “So? We could’ve just been goin’ to the mall.”

  Lavinia smiled. “Not according to Ash’s mates. Now, tell me everything, and I mean ev-ry-thing.”

  Tiana clung onto her books, wishing she didn’t have to talk about it, but she knew Lavinia wouldn’t let up until she did. So, she ripped off the plaster fast, her words tumbling out, “Ash had to jump out the window cos my mum came home.”

  “Oh. My. God,” Lavinia squealed. “Did she walk in on you doin’ it?”

  “No, thank goodness. We heard the front door opening.”

  “So, didja ... you know, have sex?”

  Tiana wiggled about uncomfortably, not sure if a blowjob could be counted. She knew people called it oral sex, but she never thought of it as real sex. It was just your mouth and there was no way you could get pregnant that way.

  “Not really,” Tiana said.

&n
bsp; Lavinia grabbed her arms, her face now serious. “Don’t cha dare try and get outta telling me. I told ja what Ivan did.”

  “He just felt up your breasts, and when are ya gonna introduce us? You’ve been goin’ out with him for almost four months now.”

  “He’s busy. And I told ja everything, so spill.”

  “I kissed Ash’s... Um, I sucked his ... you-know-what.”

  Lavinia stared at her with her mouth hanging open. After what seemed like ages, her friend finally spoke. “What was it like?”

  “A little salty, but um...” Her cheeks heated. “I liked it.”

  Behind her, Monika let out a loud, “Oooh!”

  Tiana turned to look at her cousin. Monika was staring at her with a disgusted expression, while her friend Sonia had a hand covering her mouth.

  “They pee out of those things,” Monika said.

  Tiana felt like shrivelling up into a tiny ball. “He was clean.”

  “It doesn’t matter; you shouldn’t put your mouth anywhere near it. I can’t believe you would do sumpthin’ so gross. And Ash is horrible for making you do it; Isaia would never disrespect me like that.”

  “Ash didn’t ask; I did! And I only thought about doin’ it cos Isaia kept bugging me to blow him.” Tiana clamped a hand over her mouth, instantly regretting her outburst. She’d told her cousin more than once that Isaia was a two-faced jerk, but never anything this bad.

  “You’re a liar!” Monika shouted.

  Horrified, Tiana removed her hand. “I’m sorry, but I did warn you about him.”

  “I hate you.” Monika grabbed Sonia by the arm and pushed through the door, leaving Tiana alone with Lavinia.

  “Oh, God,” Tiana said to Lavinia, “She’s never gonna forgive me.”

  “Yeah, you’re gonna hafta grovel big time,” Lavinia said. “I believe you about Isaia, but if she tells your mother exactly what ya did with Ash you are so dead.”

  Tiana’s anxiety spiked to another level. Her cousin was spiteful enough to do it too. “If she says a word I’m telling my aunty all about Isaia.”

  “Isaia’s Tongan, Ash isn’t, and Monika didn’t suck him off. She’ll just get a literal smack on her hand then her parents will start talking to Isaia’s parents about marriage. But you, you’ll get way more than that.” Lavinia touched Tiana’s sore cheek. “And what do you think your brother will do?”

  “He’ll kill Ash.”

  3

  Jenna

  Everyone knew what Ash and Tiana had been doing during lunchtime—each other. It was the talk of Year 11.

  “I knew that slapper would give into him eventually,” Cassidy said, her round face grinning.

  Jenna got out of her chair and sat on Cassidy’s desk. She leaned towards her mate. “Does that mean you think I’m a slapper too? Cos I did exactly the same thing as her.”

  Cassidy’s face dropped. “Of course not, Jen, c’mon girl, you know I didn’t mean it like that. Things were different between you and Ash; you can’t compare it with Tiana.”

  “Yeah, you’re right, it ain’t the same.” Jenna slipped back into her seat and turned her glare on Tiana as Ash’s girlfriend entered the maths class.

  Tiana scanned the room, totally clueless to what she was in for minus her virginity. But Jenna knew … and she had warned Tiana countless times to stay away from Ashley Rata. Because once you were around that boy, you eventually gave into those big puppy dog eyes that begged for sex.

  Though, in all fairness to Ash, Jenna had wanted to do it with him, and had only waited a bit longer because people talked like it was bad for females to lose their virginity. Oh, guys could go around sticking their thing into vaginas galore and get the stud award, but females, nope, not so lucky. You became a different, not so flattering S word: a slag, slapper, slut or a sloppy-box, and whatever other condescending name guys invented. Yeah, some girls like Kelley O’Brian deserved it, but not Jenna because she didn’t give it up to anyone.

  So, when Ash’s cock was about to enter her she’d been both excited and scared, but had still tried to cling onto her virginity for as long as possible.

  Only the head is in = I’m still a virgin.

  He’s only halfway in = I’m half a virgin.

  And when he pushed all the way in and it had hurt like crazy, she had started crying because her virginity was gone and it hadn’t even been good. A minute later he was gone too; the only person she’d used the L word on. In the end she had felt like the other L word—a right loser for having fallen for him. But the real shit uptake on what had happened was that she still loved him.

  And she’d fucked things up with Ash even more afterwards, all because she hadn’t known a first time could hurt. All that A+ study she’d thought she’d done was a giant fail, because her brother’s pornos didn’t have a clue. The supposed virgins in those videos didn’t look pained at all. Nor did they bleed like she did, which she found out later wasn’t abnormal. And after all the trouble she went to swipe the stupid things, all she needed to do was ask her best friend. Jenna had been totally shocked afterwards when the last person she’d expected to know anything about sex had been the fountain of all knowledge. According to Cassidy, the second and third times at penetration also hurt, but the fourth time was the winner. Jenna never even considered asking Cassidy, because r-e-a-l-l-y ... who would’ve thought that the plain-looking fat girl would’ve had sex before her. After this discovery, Jenna had looked at her mate in a totally different light, not as one of the S words, but with respect and awe, because Cassidy had succeeded where she’d failed—and no one had a clue.

  Since the teacher was late as usual, Jenna sized up the classroom to see if any kids would give her grief if she dealt with Tiana straight away. Tiana’s three mates sat at the front. The Tongan girls with their below the knees skirts and matching crosses would most likely complain, but she doubted they’d lift a finger against her. Why? Not because of their nationality, hell no, she’d seen one tough Tongan girl knock a guy out with a single punch, but because they were “good” Catholic girls.

  Behind Tiana’s mates sat a few boys who would probably find the whole situation amusing. The only thing about them that she had to worry about was whether they would hoot too loud, catching the attention of teachers passing by. And on Jenna’s left sat a mixture, no one of concern, though after school she was going to mash up Kelley O’Brian’s face for what she’d just told her munter mates.

  ‘Lucky cow,’ Kelley had said. ‘I’d love to have a crack at Ash… Yup, maybe I’ll get a chance now, cos he dumps bad lays.’ She’d given Jenna a furtive glance then had laughed with her mates.

  As if Ash would lower himself to Kelley. At least he had taste, because Tiana and herself were definitely catches in the looks department—just different flavours: Tiana chocolate and Jenna raspberry ripple—the hot pink streaks through her blonde hair always catching a lot of attention.

  Jenna glanced at the group on her right. Tucked away in the back corner of the room, Ash’s three mates were looking at something under a desk and talking quietly, every so often glancing up at the door. Okay, they might interfere, but she’d take the risk and whatever came afterwards when they blabbed to Ash. Not exactly something that would help in getting him back, but then again, would he still care about Tiana after he’d done the deed? Not in her experience, but that didn’t exactly work in her favour either.

  “You gonna deal with her?” Cassidy asked, looking excited.

  Jenna watched as Tiana slipped into a chair. “Do ya hafta ask?”

  With Cassidy and her other mate, Rhoda, she got up and edged between the desks towards Tiana. Even though she knew it wasn’t fully Tiana’s fault, it still pissed Jenna off that Ash had been with someone else other than herself. Plus, she didn’t like repeating herself, because Tiana had no problems in understanding English—the girl, a total Shakespeare freak.

  Jenna’s mates knew the routine. Cassidy positioned herself in front of the door, her large b
ody blocking anyone from coming or seeing in, while her other mate watched Jenna’s back just in case any of Tiana’s or Ash’s friends decided to interfere.

  Jenna smacked the back of Tiana’s head. “Get up.”

  Tiana let out a yelp and pushed to her feet. A red mark covered her left cheek, something that hadn’t been there earlier in the day. Jenna smiled, wondering whether the girl had gotten caught doing it. Her smile dropped at the thought of what Ash might have received.

  “Did something happen to Ash?”

  “No.”

  “Then wassup with your face?”

  “A netball hit me.” Tiana went to sit back down.

  Jenna kicked the chair over. “I ain’t finished with you.”

  Tiana grabbed her desk then straightened. The girl was taller than average, someone who Jenna probably would’ve thought twice about approaching if Tiana wasn’t the turn the other cheek type. In comparison, Jenna was a good couple of inches shorter, but she sure as hell knew how to pack a punch as well as fight dirty. Even some guys couldn’t get the better of her in a scrap, one of the benefits of growing up with two brothers who didn’t treat her like a girl. And anyway, Tiana should’ve known better than to piss her off, because her warnings had been pre-packaged with a touch of violence. Nothing serious, a shove here or a shout there, so that Tiana understood what she’d be in for if she didn’t toe the line.

  Jenna gave Tiana a shove, then another one, this time knocking the girl into the teacher’s desk. A can of pens and pencils fell to the floor, the clatter sounding louder in the now silent room. Behind her, she could hear one of Tiana’s friend shout, “Leave her alone!” Jenna’s mate Rhoda responded with a, “Sit down!” followed by a thud and the creak of a chair.

  Jenna didn’t bother to check what had happened, because regardless of whether she thought Tiana was a soft target or not there was no way she’d turn her back on anyone. She poked the cross on Tiana’s chest. “What did I tell ya ‘bout sleeping with Ash?”