Chapter 3

Myah double checked her straightener to ensure she had turned it off and gave her appearance a careful examination in the mirror. It was Hawaii which meant that people dressed very casually for jobs that would have required a suit and tie on the mainland. Still Myah wanted to look appropriate if she was going to be seen with the team and since she was going to be hanging out with Kono that Monday, she had attempted to put together an outfit she thought the officer might wear. She had gone back to school shopping in August, as not only had her tastes started to change to reflect those of the island, but her figure had as well. Daily workouts, and a steady diet of whole foods had brought about a definite slimming all over her body. She still thought she had a ways to go, as in her opinion, she was still rather chunky around her waist. Being strong and healthy was the important thing though, she reminded herself. She had only purchased one pair of jeans during her school shopping trip, but she thought they looked nice enough, paired with a chunky black belt and a plain light blue t-shirt. She rarely wore close toed shoes anymore, but had a pair of black converse downstairs that she thought would complete the outfit. As an afterthought she snapped her necklace around her neck, choosing the one with the delicate chain, the fancy M imprinted on the tiny shell charm.

Steve was pouring smoothies when she entered the kitchen and he handed her a glass filled to the brim. "You look nice." he nodded approvingly.

"Thanks." Myah had no sooner spoken when her phone alerted her to a text from Kono.

"Pack your swimsuit and a towel. We're totally hitting the waves this afternoon."

Myah tried to hide a grin at the text. Kono had started taking her out paddle boarding a few weeks earlier, saying that it would be a good precursor to learning to surf, and so far, Myah absolutely loved it. With Steve's frequent lessons she had become a much stronger swimmer and he had agreed to allow her to start learning under Kono's watchful eye and expert tutelage. However, she was pretty certain that spending the afternoon on a paddle board was not exactly what he had in mind for her week of school suspension. When she quickly added a swimsuit and towel to the carefully printed out homework and books in her backpack, she decided not to volunteer the information.

Nahele made a face at her when she descended the stairs for the second time. "Lucky."

Myah shrugged, not disagreeing with him. "You'll have to be the academic for both of us today."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. That's going to be hard with a delinquent haole sister dragging down my reputation." His words lacked heat however, and he reached over to mess up her hair while simultaneously pouring the strawberry banana mixture Steve had concocted down his throat.

"Do you mind?! I straightened my hair this morning."

"Who are you trying to be all fancy for?"

"Uh… I just wanted to try and look like Kono."

"Hmmm…" Nahele gave her a once over appraisal. "I think you've got a ways to go."

"Are you calling me ugly?"

"Did I say that? Don't be such a girl. I've got to go. I'm picking up J."

"Guess I'm easy to replace."

"No, but consider yourself booted to the backseat."

"Nahele." Steve stepped into the living room and gave him a serious look. "Remember what we talked about. I'm fine with you giving J a ride, but you better stay focused on what you're doing."

"I will."

"Isn't J sixteen?" Myah asked. "Does he not have a car?"

"Uh…" Nahele hesitated. "No license. He's taking the test again this week though. His dad travels all the time and his mom is on the mainland so he hasn't had many practice hours. It's kind of a sore subject, so don't bring it up."

"Okay." Myah felt a wave of sympathy for her brother's red haired friend. He had presented as so sweet and confident, she wouldn't have suspected his homelife was less than desirable. "Are his parents divorced?"

"Separated."

"Alright, guys, let's roll."

Myah climbed into the passenger side of Steve's truck and rolled down the window.

"You're in a good mood." Steve observed.

"I probably shouldn't say this, but it doesn't bother me not to go to school."

"No?"

"No. I mean, I don't hate it and I like hanging out with my friends, but it's just not my favorite thing."

"What's your favorite class?"

Myah pondered. "My science and history teachers are cool. I like those classes. And I like JRotC of course. Instructor Kuntz is really nice." Her teachers hadn't crossed her mind other than when she'd had to send emails requesting homework and she suddenly pursed her lips. "I hope he knows I didn't vandalize Ms. Coleman's car."

Steve gave her the side eye. "How would he? All he's probably heard is that you've been suspended."

Myah was more bothered by this than she would have thought. "I don't know. Could I be homeschooled?"

"Not if you're just trying to run away from your problems."

They pulled into the parking lot of the Iolani Palace and Myah gave a brief nod as was her custom to the statue of King Kamehameha.

They were the first ones to arrive and Myah settled herself on the couch in Steve's office to start looking over her homework. The other team members arrived shortly after and Myah waved at Kono through the glass. She remained in the office when Steve and the others met up around the briefing table.

"Alright, kid, I'm out of here." Steve stepped back inside his office.

"Have fun at your meetings." Myah stood up and wrapped her arms around his waist.

He snorted in response. "Definitely not my favorite thing to do. You be good. Remember what we talked about. I expect perfect behavior from you this week."

"I promise." Myah said.

"Although… having to come deal with you would be a good excuse to get me out of a meeting."

"Yeah, no can do. I don't feel like that would benefit me at all."

Steve chuckled. "Probably not. Love you, kid." He kissed her head and exited the room.

Kono knocked on the door a short while later. "Ready, sweetie? We're heading to the lab."

The morning went by quickly, and Myah enjoyed her time at the lab. She met a friend of Kono's, who introduced himself as Charlie Fong. Kono was working a smaller case, regarding a string of robberies and had quite a bit of evidence and lab work to go over with Charlie. He was friendly and took the time to explain the workings of several pieces of equipment to Myah, and she found herself thinking that science was actually quite interesting when used in the real world.

They picked up taco salads before heading back to the palace, where Kono needed to do some documentation. Myah spent part of the time doing homework and then pulled out Hunger Games. After about an hour and a half, Kono stretched and then with a wink at Myah, suggested they change into their swimming suits and hit the water. They drove to a cove they'd frequented several times as the water tended to be calmer.

"This is a perfect afternoon." Myah sighed. "Thanks for bringing me."

"No problem. You're doing really well." Kono pointed out a person who had their dog riding on a paddle board with him, both wearing bright green life vests.

"I love dogs." Myah said. "I'm trying to talk dad into getting one."

"I've heard him and Danny go back and forth on that." Kono chuckled. "Your dad definitely leans more towards cats."

"Yeah."

"So how are things going?" Kono's tone stayed light, even as her words were more serious. "You know I love having you with me, but is everything okay? I don't like hearing that someone set you up at school."

Myah sighed. "I know. It's fine, it really is. I don't really know now if I made the right choice honestly."

"Are you afraid of whoever did that to you?"

"No. But if I tell, it could affect someone else for the negative. I don't think dad understands."

"I think he's worried that you feel like you can't trust him."

"Well he shouldn't. I want to tell him. Maybe I still will. I don't know. I don't really want to risk having to go back to school early though."

Kono laughed and used her paddle to splash water at Myah. "That's what you're worried about?"

Myah splashed her back and then sobered. "I just hope… I mean I always worry in the back of my mind that dad will decide he made a mistake in adopting me. That I'm too much trouble. Sometimes I feel like I can't stay out of trouble."

"Adopting you is one of the best decisions he ever made. And you're a teenager. Everyone makes a few choices that they regret. I certainly did. It's all part of growing up. The important thing is that you learn from them."

"Yeah?" Myah looked at her friend questioningly.

"Yeah. When I was your age, surfing was my life. I was also pretty sure I was invincible and that certainly led to some less than stellar choices. I have to give Chin a lot of credit for trying to keep me on the straight and narrow. I didn't always appreciate it at the time."

"Well, you clearly turned out pretty amazing." Myah said.

"Eh… I think my path is a little clearer now. But life doesn't automatically get easier when you get older."

"You mean… uh… like with your boyfriend?" Myah had met Adam and thought he seemed nice, but knew something in his background gave the rest of the team cause for concern.

"Probably, but I wasn't thinking about that. Do you know that during my first year with Five-o, I lost my badge?"

"What?!"

"Yeah, it happened around the same time Steve figured out the governor was corrupt. I won't go into all of it, but I got talked into going undercover and I couldn't tell the rest of the team, not even Chin. They thought I had completely gone to the dark side and actually put me in the interrogation room. Being on that side of things sucks."

Myah was staring at her with an open mouth. "And you couldn't… you couldn't tell them?"

"I didn't think I could, but I should have. I should have trusted them to have my back, which they ultimately did. They helped me finish out the case."

"That's crazy."

"Yeah. I guess we'd better head back in."

Back at the palace, Myah and Kono entered to see Steve, Danny and Chin standing around the briefing table.

"Hey guys." Kono greeted. "Boss, did you survive your meetings?"

"Barely." Steve shook his head. "I swear, that all could have been accomplished in an email." He eyed the girls. "Is your hair wet?"

"Don't worry." Kono assured him. "We worked before we played."

Steve gave her an exasperated smile. "Thanks a lot."

"It was a good day." Myah broke in. "I learned a lot. I got to see the lab and Charlie was really nice. And I heard about you interrogating Kono."

"What?"

"You don't remember, boss?" Kono tossed her hair. "During my undercover stint? I certainly remember. Getting yelled at by you may have scarred me."

"You yelled at her?" Myah's jaw dropped. "At Kono?"

"I was not my best self." Steve said. "Chin called me out for how I was handling that, so you should probably thank him for the fact that I don't yell at you when I'm pissed now."

Chin shrugged. "I can't disagree."

"Thank you for your service." Myah said. In her opinion, Steve's stern voice was plenty scary, but now that she thought about it, she realized he had never actually yelled at her, and she was very thankful for that. She didn't like the idea of Steve seeming out of control.

"Alright, kid, we've got a few things to finish up, so go hang in my office." Steve said.

H50 H50 H50

Nahele slammed his notebook shut. They were supposed to have been using the time to work on their projects, but all he had achieved was a list of bands that he had decided he would love to see in concert. Haukea, the girl that sat behind him in that class, frowned and shook her head.

"What?"

"I just don't get people like you." she shrugged.

"People like what?"

"I saw what you were doing. Wasting this whole class time, being lazy."

"I'm not lazy." Nahele said, inflamed. Haukea was known for setting the curve and getting the top grades in every class, but she certainly didn't know anything about him. She continued to speak, her tone condescending.

"I know you're smart, but you clearly have no direction. What are those, band names?"

"So?"

"Pointless waste of time."

"I don't think so." Nahele was hard pressed not to add that he thought talking to her was a pointless waste of time. Stalking out of the classroom and heading towards the parking lot, her words burned in his mind. She was a snob, but she couldn't have known how hard her words would hit. He desperately needed a physical outlet for his frustration and for once wished he didn't need to head straight to Kamekona's Shrimp Truck. The passenger door to his car slammed and Nahale looked up in surprise to see J. "Don't you have practice?"

"I don't care. Don't you have work?"

"Well, seeing as how I'm apparently lazy and have no direction, I don't care either."

J smirked. "Who said that?"

"Doesn't matter. Haukea. My mom."

"What?"

"Haukea said it to me. My mom said it to… Kaili. I remember. It was over the phone, one of the first times he got sent to jail."

"Shit. Well, are we going to be responsible human beings or are we going to find something to hit?"

After a very brief exchange that could hardly be called a discussion the boys headed for Kellogs Batting Cages, deciding to take out their respective rage on balls hurtling towards them. Nahele felt a pang of guilt about being late for work, but pushed it aside. He couldn't very well perform any sort of decent customer service when his emotions were so jacked up. "What's with you, anyway?" he asked J during the drive.

J shrugged. "I asked if they were going to find a sub for the driver's ed class, but they said since Murray is out with his stroke, they haven't found anybody. And my mom emailed and said she just took another 6 month assignment. Not here. Whatever."

Nahele frowned. "You could use my car to practice in."

"Nah. If I wreck it, we both lose our ride. And I wouldn't want to face your dad."

"Me neither." Nahele admitted. He could only imagine what that discussion would look like. Plus, he loved this car and remembered how happy he was the day he and Steve had driven it home.

"Hey, did you take pictures of the board in music theory?"

"Yeah." Nahele indicated his phone sitting in one of the cup holders between them. J picked it up and started scrolling. He chuckled when he came across a picture of Steve and Nahele flexing.

"Arm day gainz!"

"You know it, bro."

"You know, you really look like him in this picture."

"Like Steve?" Nahele was caught off guard. "Like dad?"

"Yeah."

"How? We look completely different. Myah looks like him, because they actually are related. People take one look at me and know I'm adopted."

J shrugged. "It's weird though. How long have you lived with him? The way you stand, and talk… I think you guys are similar. Your ugly mug. You look more alike than me and my dad."

"Does he have red hair?"

"No, that'd be my mom."

When Nahele arrived at work an hour later, he was prepared for and accepted the chewing out from Kamekona. He offered a brief excuse about needing to take care of something after school, which Kamekona accepted with a glare before telling him to get to work. Nahele threw himself into the task, but his muscles ached as he still felt stressed about the school assignment he was continuing to ignore, and the conflicting emotions he felt from hearing the words spoken about his father directed at him, and then what he considered the ultimate complicement, which was the statement that he resembled Steve. He'd never known J to blow smoke so he tended to believe him. He just wished he could see it himself.

H50 H50 H50

Author's note: Hey you sweet 5-0 family. You guys seriously blow me away with your taking the time to read and review. I love seeing your perspectives and ideas. This update is short and sweet. We have some major teenage angst going on here, with the golden child finally starting to push back a little. Hope everyone has a good weekend!