Teine Sā Series - Sacred Guardian

Handsome lecturer

‘Rise and shine Sas, it’s your first day of school, you cannot be late, and you have to dress to impress.’ Iva screeched as she barged into my room and pulled open the curtains letting the bright light into the room.

‘What’s your deal anyway? Why make such a fuss over such a normal thing?’ I brushed her off, already feeling bored.

‘Because first impressions matter, precious. It reflects on the type of person you will be in the future, say five to ten years from now. Also, you will be hanging out with me and my friends for most of the day, so you have to look the part,’ she winked at me.

‘Arggh, okay, okay, I’m up. You sure you want me around your circle of friends, I’m not a quiet girl, quite outspoken really and I fear I might slap the b***h out of someone today,’ I warned her before I pushed her out my room so I can get ready.

‘Don’t be long, we’re leaving in ten.’

‘Sure thing, princess.’

After quickly refreshing myself, I grabbed the first jean short I could find and threw on a black tank top over my head to complete my outfit. I grabbed my handbag that I found in my luggage, packed it the night before with a few scribbling notepads, and made sure to include my charger, headphones, purse and glasses – my survival kit.

I was ready by the time I heard Aunt Repa knock on the door to let me know breakfast is ready.

‘Sorry Aunt Repa, Iva already gave me a speech about punctuality, I’d rather avoid another one. But I’ll make sure to grab something on the way. Love you and see you later.’ I gave her a peck on the cheek as I dashed outside.

Our ride was an old red Toyota Camry 1999, she is old but a beauty, nonetheless, and she is a smooth runner. Iva honked the horn twice in annoyance while I was admiring the beauty that she is.

‘Ugh, come on. We’re late already, do you have any idea how bad traffic is, here in Samoa? It’ll take us an hour to get to school at this rate, which is otherwise a 25-minute drive normally,’ she grumbled.

I quickly got in the passenger seat, buckled on my seat-belt and put on my glasses. Iva turned on the music and sped off down the road, with Beyonce blasting through the stereo.

It was a humid day, the sun shining brightly, and the heat is becoming more tolerable for me. The drive to town was beautiful, albeit a few potholes that we had to drive through. The road was very narrow compared to the roads I was used to. It only had one lane on either side of the road, until we approached the industrial area of the island, where is split into 2 lanes on both sides. This somehow eased the traffic as we got nearer to town.

As we approached the university, Iva suddenly became a tad more serious than her playful self and sing-song voice earlier in the car. I followed her gaze to a group of boys gathering outside the gates of the university, having a heated argument with another student.

‘These little shits don’t know when to stop, they keep harassing the poor kid into giving them what they want,’ Iva said with gritted teeth. ‘It’s always the same with these idiots, bullying the younger ones to hand over their lunch money, or do their assignments on their behalf.’

As we drove by, I noticed that the group of boys are not too shabby looking, in fact they are dressed quite well and groomed from head to toe. You can’t tell they have smug attitudes by their get-up and pretty boy looks, I guess you can’t really judge a book by its cover. Some things are the same, even here in this small slice of paradise thousands of miles away from where I grew up.

Iva parked our car under the trees, and I followed her into the building ahead, a two-level oblong shaped building painted in undertones of grey and white. As we entered the building, I was surprised to see that it was open and only pillars supporting the upper floor of the building, and about a hundred students scattered around the picnic tables situated at random spots around us.

‘Hi girl, thought you were gonna skip class this morning and chill, out back,’ one of the students approached Iva.

‘’Rena, you know I don’t skip classes, except only when there’s a hon worth skipping class for!’ Iva rebutted jokingly, ‘Meet my cousin, Sulu. Sulu, this is my friend Rena who loves to look for any excuse to bail on classes, but fair warning, she gets into a lot of trouble unnecessarily, be smart.’

‘Eh, don’t listen to him, always so uptight. Malo, where are you from? We don’t get many new students halfway through the semester,’ Rena turned to address me.

‘Hi, I’m from the States, and this is my first time visiting Samoa and my Aunt decided it beneficial that I attend uni with my cousin, socialise with people my age and make new friends.’

‘Ah, well couldn’t hurt to learn a few things while you’re at it then, we have an amazing English tutor, the computing classes are the only ones I enjoy, but other than that, I like to chill with the boys out back.’ I like Rena, she seems to be friendly and confident, maybe even a little rebellious from what Iva mentioned.

Iva gestured that I follow her and we made our way up the stairs. There’s another group of students gathered outside a classroom, all looking at a notice on the door.

We passed several rooms and made our way to the last room at the end of the block and walked in with only three other bodies in the room.

‘Morning Iva, how’s it going?’ one of the girls asked. ‘All is good, pretty bird,’ she replied.

We sat in the middle of the classroom by the window waiting for class to start, when a young man walked in, looking quite handsome, holding a small file in his hand. He sat in front of the room where a teacher would sit facing the class. How is this young man old enough to be a lecturer? He looks to be no older than nineteen, well according to my observation, unless he inherited good genes to keep a youthful appearance.

As the time on my phone read nine in the morning, the man in the front cleared his throat and motioned to the rest of the students to take their seats. He briefly looked at me and then scanned the rest of the class.

‘It seems we have someone new joining us today. Can you please introduce yourself to us and then we’ll make a start?’ the man asked me.

Blushing a little, I stood up from my seat, but made no attempt to move anywhere, I faced the group before me. ‘Hi, my name is Sulu, and I will be joining your class. I am here with my cousin Iva, with whom I am currently staying.’ I quickly informed them and sat down.

‘Hi Sulu, it is a pleasure to have you join us this morning. My name is Karl and am the lecturer for this class. All right, the rest of you had a relaxing break over the last week, I assume, but it’s time to finish off this semester. A reminder that your assignments are due yesterday, and there will be no accepting of late submissions.’

The rest of the hour went by in a breeze, while I tried to keep my focus on the topic of discussion, I couldn’t help but admire how good looking this man is. For someone who looks young, he is quite knowledgeable on the subject of biology and human sciences. He seems passionate about discussing the different topics pertaining to human and animal biology.

‘Alright, that’s it for the day, I’ll see you back here at the end of the week,’ and with that he snapped his book closed, interrupting my train of thought.

Gathering my things in my bag, Karl asked if he could speak with me for a few minutes before I left. Not knowing why he needed to speak to me, I glanced at Iva, who just shrugged her shoulders and walked outside to wait for me.

‘What can I help you with?’ I asked Karl, aware of the curious look he is giving me. Okay, it might seem a little creepy, but I am not easily intimidated or scared by anyone.

‘Where are you from? You don’t look like someone who is from around here.’

Slightly offended at his statement, ‘Well clearly, your assumption is not far off the mark, I am not from here at all, I’m just here for a little while to spend time with family and enjoy the beauty of what Samoa has to offer,’ annoyed at this point.

Sure, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I didn’t grow up here, but it’s considered rude to point that out to your face, or maybe I am just overreacting to the situation. Either way, I will not stand for this kind of attitude just because I may look a bit paler than my cousin or the way I dress.

He seems to catch the hint in my answer, then smiles in amusement. ‘Sorry if I offended you, I clearly gave you the wrong impression by my questioning, I apologize for that. It’s just that there seems to be something quite peculiar about you, particularly the colour of your eyes. I have not seen such a vibrant colour in someone as young as yourself. But nevertheless, it was unprofessional for me to have said such things. I hope you will enjoy this class for the rest of the semester, and that you find what you are searching for.’

Wait, what? What does he mean by that? How does he know that I am searching for anything? That was disturbing to say the least, and when I was about to ask any further, Iva popped into the room and looked at me questioningly.

‘Are you done? We have another class in 5 minutes and we’re gonna be late if we don’t get going.’ One last glance at the teacher, before Iva grabbed my hand and led to the other class.

The rest of the day went by in a blur, and I was not paying attention to the other subjects. Iva and I had a quick lunch with a bunch of her other friends, and then made our way home.

First day of university in Samoa was not what I had imagined, but then again, I didn’t imagine much at all, at least not an odd encounter with a handsome lecturer who seems to know something I don’t, apparently.