Graffiti Heaven

by Marita A. Hansen

  Levi followed his cousin out the door, around the building, and in between a row of classrooms. “Monika, wait up!”

  She spun around. “What’re you doin’ ‘ere?”

  He stopped in front of her. “Nice welcome, dearest cousin of mine,” he said dryly. “I was just dropping off Tiana. So, why you avoiding me? Do ya know sumpthin’ I don’t, like say... Tiana’s boyfriend’s name?”

  Monika squirmed. He’d always found her irritating, her self-righteous attitude making him want to push her off her high horse—or a two-storied building. He didn’t know how Isaia could put up with her or why he even wanted to. Yeah, she was pretty, but in a snobby kind of way, the disdainful curve of her lips a permanent expression.

  She pulled her bag around, hugging it to her chest as though it could protect her from his questions.

  “Not gonna tell me?” he said.

  “I can’t.”

  “Oh, go on, she won’t even know it’s you.”

  “She’ll tell on me and Isaia.”

  “Not if I do it first.” He smiled. “Unless ya tell me lover boy’s name.”

  “You wouldn’t?”

  “I definitely would, and I’d even enjoy it.”

  “Then I’ll make sure that Isaia knows it was you who told on us.”

  He leaned his head towards her. “I. Don’t. Care. And he’ll pro’bly thank me cos at least he’ll get to fuck someone if you’re outta the picture.”

  “You’re a bastard!”

  “Hey, you even know Isaia’s nickname for me. Congratulations. Now, gimme the kid’s name.”

  Monika glanced around. “Only if ya promise that Tiana won’t find out it was me.”

  “Sure. No probs.”

  “Ash Rata.”

  “Ash, Ash, Ash, where have I…” He looked down at his new watch, his mind going back to the drug dealer’s house and the beer can getting smashed into his face. “Ashley or Ashton?”

  “Ashley.”

  “Is he Maori with black hair?” Levi asked, already knowing the answer.

  “He’s Maori and Croatian.”

  A string of swearwords spewed from his mouth. “That’s why the prick was in the alleyway next to my house, he was tryna do my sis.”

  Monika screwed up her face, her expression repulsed. “More like the other way round. Tiana said she gave him a blowjob.”

  Levi felt like Monika had punched him in the face. “What?”

  “She sucked him off. And don’t cha dare tell Tiana I told ja.”

  He nodded as if on autopilot. Chicks could give him blowjobs until all the slappers came home, but his sis wasn’t like that, and to lower herself to give that scungy bastard one—no fucking way. He was going to find him and repay blow for blow with his fists.

  The school bell rang, snapping him out of his internal rage.

  “Gotta go.” Monika went to move past him.

  He grabbed her arm. “Do ya know which class he’s in?”

  She shook her head a bit too hard.

  “You’re lying.”

  “No, I’m not, now lemme go or you’ll get me in trouble for bein’ late.”

  He let go and watched as she scurried off. It didn’t matter anyway; he’d just look up the guy’s last name in the phone book and then pay him a house call.

  8

  Jenna

  Jenna couldn’t wipe the smile off her face, not even with a squeegee. To think it was Tiana doing the dirty on Ash and not the other way round, now that was a real shocker. Well, Tiana wasn’t as bright as she thought, because that Claydon guy was clearly a player. But hell, if the girl wanted to get played then that was her business and Jenna’s gain, gain, gain!

  She stopped at her locker, thinking school wasn’t going to be half bad today. Once Ash found out about Tiana’s new man he was definitely going to lose his rag, because there was one thing she knew about her ex and that was he couldn’t stand cheaters. She’d seen him dump a girl last year after he’d caught the bobble-head kissing another guy.

  Now, if she really was into someone she could forgive them over a kiss. Okay, she would get upset, but if you loved someone you didn’t just cut ties without looking back. Love meant forgiving, which she’d done after Ash had walked out on her that day after their first—and hopefully not last—time.

  She pulled out her maths book and stuffed it into her bag, along with the stupid play she was supposed to write her English assignment on.

  Why did Othello do this? Why did Desdemona do that? Blah, blah, blah...

  Who gave a shit! It wasn’t going to be useful when she left school, and she couldn’t understand half of the play, constantly looking at the footnotes to decipher the gibberish.

  “Piss off back to Claydon where all the other slags belong.”

  Jenna’s head shot up, her eyes searching for the fight like a heat-seeking missile. Joel, one of Ash’s mates, was blocking Tiana and Lavinia from going into the maths class.

  “You can’t speak to her like that!” Lavinia shouted, the hate on her face clear. “Wait ‘til Ash finds out.”

  Joel crossed his arms, catching some of his dreadlocks under them. “He won’t give a flyin’ fuck, cos he’s gonna dump your mate’s ho arse as soon as I talk with him.”

  “Why?” Tiana cried.

  Joel looked at her in disbelief. “I thought that wuz pretty obvious.”

  “Well, it’s not.”

  Joel shook his head, sending his dreadlocks dancing. “I ain’t wastin’ my breath on you.” He turned and pushed through the door.

  Tiana took off down the hallway with Lavinia close behind, and disappeared into the mash of students. Jenna headed for the classroom, thinking the goings-on at Wera High were way more interesting than a Shakespearean play. She entered the room, noticing that Ash was absent again. Was it because Tiana had dumped him? Hell, it didn’t matter, as long as they weren’t together anymore.

  She edged around the desks, listening to Joel’s rather loud conversation, the words bitch, ho and slag peppered throughout, along with an unhealthy sprinkling of the f word. Ignoring her friends she walked up to Joel, who was perched on Ash’s desk and facing his two mates.

  “Why’d ja slag Tiana off for?”

  He looked at her. “None of your biz, bitch.”

  “Sheesh, and I don’t know why people think you hate females.”

  “I don’t hate chicks, just bitches who use my mate.”

  Jenna stuck her face close to his. “He used me, not the other way round.”

  “Get ya manky face outta mine, before I smack it.”

  “Try it and you’ll end up on your arse—hole.”

  “You really do have balls. Maybe that’s why Ash dumped you, cos he found out you were a bloke.” His mates started laughing.

  “Hardy-har-har, girly hair. Now, why’re you on the God-botherer’s case for?”

  “Men wear dreads.”

  “Whatever. Back to Tiana.”

  “She’s flaunting her new hump at school.”

  “Oh, that’s why you’re pissed. Yeah, I saw the huggy wuggies with the Claydon hottie.”

  Joel straightened. “You did?”

  “Yeah, looks like Ash got the tables turned on him.”

  “Bitch.”

  “Gaybo.”

  He stood up, his manner aggressive. Unlike Ash, she wouldn’t put it past Joel to hit a girl. Chairs scraped behind her then Cassidy and Rhoda showed at her side.

  Marko, the nicest of Ash’s mates, got to his feet. “Joel, you can’t hit a chick.”

  “Call that a chick?” Joel sniggered. “More like a dog. Woof!”

  Jenna smiled, although she felt like punching him. “You’re only insulting me cos I turned down your weeny dick.” He’d never asked her out, but the class didn’t know that, and Joel was all about image. Hitting him there would hurt him more than kicking him in the nuts. Plus, she was aching for him to lash out, the possibility of getting him expelled too juicy to pass up.


  Joel leaned his head forward, his nose almost touching hers. “You lying skank, I wouldn’t go out with you, and my cock’s bigger than your humongous mouth.”

  Disgusted, Jenna covered her nose. “Your breath stinks of weed.”

  He moved his head back and glanced at Cassidy with a lopsided grin. “At least it doesn’t smell of Tub-a-lub’s manky cunt like yours does.”

  “Bastard!”

  Both Jenna and Cassidy shoved Joel. He fell backwards, taking his chair down with him. Marko grabbed Jenna around the waist as she went to jump on Joel, while Ant pushed Cassidy back and shouted at Rhoda, “Back off!”

  Jenna tried to stomp on Marko’s feet. “Lemme go!”

  A head taller than Jenna, Marko lifted her off the floor. “Calm down, Jenna.”

  Swearing, Joel jumped up and lunged for Jenna. Marko swung her around so that Joel couldn’t touch her. She felt like a rag doll being shaken about.

  The door banged open, and the teacher’s voice followed, “What’s happening here?”

  Everyone froze.

  “Well?”

  Marko let go of Jenna. “Nuthin’, Teach, we we’re just mucking about.”

  Mr. Kennan focused on Jenna. “Was he hurting you?”

  She laughed, hoping it didn’t sound as fake as it felt. “Nah, Marko wouldn’t hurt me. We were just playing.” She glanced at Joel, praying he didn’t say anything, because there was no way she could go back to the principal’s office.

  The teacher frowned. “You sure?”

  Relieved that Joel didn’t rat her out, Jenna squeezed Marko’s cheeks together, hoping it came across as playful. “Yeah, we we’re just having fun.”

  “The next time I see you—” Mr. Kennan did quote marks with his fingers—“‘having fun’ you can go tell the principal about it. Now, sit down.”

  Jenna moved in between the desks, glancing back as Joel righted his chair. She slipped into her seat and watched him sit down. He sneered at her, his expression promising more trouble. She turned to face the front of the class, her gaze landing on Lavinia’s empty chair. Man, she felt sorry for the girl, because it would be hell having Joel for a stepbrother.

  9

  Ash

  From under a tree, Ash watched the silver station wagon drive out of the school car park and head down Wera Road, Tiana’s brother unaware of his audience. Had the guy dropped off Tiana or was he after him? Ash thumped a heel against the tree. He didn’t need all this crap right now; he had enough to deal with his father’s impending prison release on Saturday.

  “Ash, the bell went ages ago.”

  Ash jumped. He hadn’t heard Mr. Daniels’ approach.

  His gym teacher stopped in front of him with a long bag slung over a shoulder. “You alright?”

  Ash nodded.

  The man stared at him a bit longer, making him feel uncomfortable. “You don’t look it. You wanna talk?”

  Ash forced a smile. “Nah, I’m okay, Coach.”

  The teacher patted his shoulder. “C’mon, ya better get to class then. I’ll walk ya there.”

  No telling offs for being late or mentions of possible detentions, just friendliness—that was Mr. Daniels through and through. Ash thought the man was the nicest teacher he’d ever met. Plus, the guy was also a great rugby coach, someone who gave the players a lot of respect.

  “How’s our li’l mascot doin’?” his coach asked as they headed across the car park. Mr. Daniels had nicknamed Ash’s eight-year-old brother the team’s mascot, because Sledge was always trying to run onto the rugby field to join in the game.

  “He’s good. Well, not gooood, but you know what I mean.”

  “He’s certainly good at throwin’ tantrums.” Mr. Daniels grinned. The bloke looked similar to the actor in Hunter’s old Karate Kid videos—Ralph something or rather. In his mid-twenties, Mr. Daniels had boyish features along with matching lingo. It had gotten the bloke mistaken for a student more than once, the teacher’s first day at Wera High the most memorable after Kelley O’Brian had pinched his arse. The girl was nice, but man, the stuff she did wasn’t normal. He’d never met such a sexually aggressive chick, the pool incident last summer when she’d dived under the water and bit his... Yeah, he wasn’t going to go there, because that definitely wasn’t normal. Though, she learned not to do that again after Jenna punched her for it.

  They entered the main building, their footsteps sounding loud as they walked through the empty hallway.

  “You sure you don’t wanna talk?” Mr. Daniels asked as they neared Ash’s first lesson.

  “Yeah, I’m okay.”

  The teacher patted his back and walked off. Ash entered the classroom. For once the maths teacher was doing what he was paid for—teaching—a strange concept for Mr. Kennan, who seemed to skip school more than the students.

  Disappointed to see that Tiana wasn’t in her seat, Ash apologised for being late and made his way to his desk. Jenna smiled and said, “Hi,” as he passed by. Ignoring her, he sat down next to Joel. His mate mouthed what looked like “Bitch” in Jenna’s direction. Jenna gave Joel the finger.

  “What’s happened now?” Ash asked.

  Joel wrote something in his maths book, then passed it to Ash. Nothing that a bitch slap won’t fix, it said.

  Ash wrote back: If you touch her I’ll slap YOU about.

  Joel snatched his pen out of Ash’s hand and scribbled: She insulted and attacked me for no reason.

  “No reason? Yeah, right, pull the other one,” Ash whispered. “I bet you insulted her first, cos I’ve heard the shit that comes outta your mouth.”

  “That crazy bitch came up to me, not the other way round, so she had no right to go postal on me. You’ve got crap taste in chicks.”

  “Tiana’s nice.”

  Joel let out a loud laugh then closed his mouth when everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him. The teacher cleared his throat and started talking again.

  Ash glared at Joel. “What’s wrong with Tiana?”

  Joel scrawled something in his book and passed it to Ash.

  Ash read it, his anger steadily growing as he neared the end. “Bull-effin’-shit!”

  “Ashley!” Mr. Kennan snapped. “If you or Joel utter one more sound, you can both go to the principal’s office.”

  Ash gripped onto the desk, wishing he could pick it up and throw it at the bastard’s head, but instead he nodded. As the teacher turned back to the whiteboard, Ash ripped the page out of Joel’s book, screwed it up into a ball and threw it at his mate’s face.

  Both of them eyeballed each other before Joel broke the stare and started writing again. Ash looked across at Tiana’s desk. If she wasn’t at school today then her supposed cheating must’ve happened yesterday after her brother had grabbed him.

  Joel prodded his arm. Ash almost yelled at his mate, but instead bit his lip. He grabbed the book that was shoved in front of his face and read the scrawl:

  The guy was hugging the two-timing ho. If you don’t believe me ask Marko and Ant. Even that bitch Jenna saw it.

  Refraining from punching Joel, Ash dumped the book behind their seats. “Tiana’s not like that.”

  “You said the same thing ‘bout that other ho until you caught her red-handed,” Joel whispered as he leaned back to pick up the book.

  Yeah, he hadn’t expected Katy to cheat, but Tiana was sweeter, she wouldn’t do that, especially not straight after what she’d done for him yesterday. Another thing he hadn’t expected either. He frowned. No, Joel must’ve seen wrong, they all must’ve seen wrong. He looked down at the book Joel placed in front of him. His mate had written something new on a fresh page:

  If you’re really her first and only boyfriend then why did she blow you yesterday after only a few months of dating? Only Kelley O’Brian and her slapper mates give it up faster.

  Ash stared at the words in surprise. Too scared to jinx things, he hadn’t told anyone why he and Tiana had left school yesterday. How the hell do you kno
w about that? he wrote.

  “Your girl’s got a big mouth, blabbed everything to her mates. She also sucked off her own cousin’s boyfriend.”

  Ash fisted his hands. The teacher continued to drone on, pens scratched paper, people shifted about in their chairs, the combined noise adding to his anger. He looked across at Tiana’s empty desk. “Who told ja this?” he managed to get out.

  “Monika.”

  10

  Levi

  “Monika said my sis gave that Wera kid from the alleyway a blowjob. That’s why he was there.”

  Isaia’s face darkened, going from his normal brown complexion to black rage. Levi knew his mate had a thing for his sister, but Isaia’s vicious expression still took him by surprise. He’d thought Isaia had gotten over her after hooking up with Monika, but it looked like his mate had just hidden his feelings well—until now.

  “We’ve gotta find that prick and bust the shit outta him,” Isaia said.

  “That’s the plan.”

  “Boys, can you please stop talking?”

  Levi glanced across the classroom at the small blonde chick behind the teacher’s desk. She wasn’t a teacher, but an outside educator from one of those organisations that taught people how to raise kids. Bernardos? No, it wasn’t that. Possibly Plunket? Hell, he couldn’t remember, he’d only taken the class because it was an easy pass, plus there were loads of chicks that had signed up...

  Okay, okay, that was the bullshit he’d told his mates, but if he admitted the truth they would laugh at him. He liked kids, and thought it would be kind of cool to interact with the mothers and their sproglets on the practical days. Maybe his parents had dropped him on his head when he was a baby, because none of his mates felt the same way. They always went on about how annoying their little siblings or cousins were. But unlike them he didn’t have any… Well, Tiana and Monika couldn’t be counted because at sixteen they were hardly small, especially with their big butts.

  And whenever he did see kids, he liked the way they ran around striking unholy terror into their parents’ hearts. So, in all truth, if any of the birds that he did ever fell preggers he’d be stoked, happy, whatever. Yup, it would be cool to have a little Levi running around and smashing up crap. Plus, it wasn’t like he had to raise the kid, because a mate had told him that the government forked out to do it for you, which was damn good, because there was no way he was getting married in the near future. Shotgun wedding, stuff that, he just wouldn’t admit to being the father if it came down to pissed off parents.