Chapter 9
Maya fell asleep early that night and woke to find 2 text messages from Andrew:
10:30 pm: Goodnight beautiful, pleasant dreams.
7:30 am: Good morning Maya, I hope you have a great day.
Maya got up and headed to Riley's, feeling tingly inside. Once she got there and had eaten breakfast, Riley pulled her into her room. "Maya tell me, how was the date" Riley squealed and she bounced on the bed. "Ok Riles, you have to take it down an octave and maybe lay off the coffee." Once Riley settled down a bit, Maya showed her the messages. "Maya, this is really sweet" Riley gushed. "It is, and the date was fantastic. It's so weird, it's like I barely know him but he can see right through me. All I really know is how happy I am when I'm with him. Oh, that, and he's a really good kisser". Seeing Riley was about to spontaneously combust, Maya gave her a play by play on the date, and then they hung out the rest of the afternoon. Before she went to bed that night, Maya saw another text from Andrew:
10:02 pm: Goodnight Maya can't wait to see you tomorrow.
Gulping, she responded: Goodnight Andrew, looking forward to seeing you too.
The next two weeks went by in a blur for Maya. Every morning Andrew sent her a good morning text and met her for a few minutes by her lockers before classes. She rushed to Mr. Matthews's class to catch up with him after their separate mornings, then they wouldn't see each other for the rest of the day, but they always finished the night talking by phone, after which Andrew followed up with a "sweet dreams" message. They spent all day on Saturdays together, going out for breakfast, lunch, and the movies, all of which Andrew paid for. Maya would have loved to see more of him, but besides the writing seminar he was enrolled in a second class at NYU and was working part-time at a grocery store. With both Riley and Andrew working, Maya began to feel lonely in the evenings. She was caught up in school (for the first time ever) and had no interest in wandering the streets like she used to. Katy seemed more tired and distracted, so Maya didn't spend as much time with her as before either. On a whim, Maya decided to check out the art center a couple of blocks from her school, maybe Shawn would pay for additional afternoon art classes if they weren't too expensive.
Entering the art center, Maya was greeted with bright colors, lots of windows, and a bulletin board full of children's art projects. Reviewing the bulletin board, Maya was disappointed as she realized the art center was for children, with the classes geared for ages 3-10. Just as she was turning away, another notice caught her eye: Wanted, an assistant for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon classes, please see director if interested. Maya assumed the only office door she saw was the director's and knocked hesitantly. Once bidden to enter, Maya met a bright, vibrant women in her 40's. "Hi, I was wondering if you are the director? I saw the notice about an assistant" Maya asked. The woman bounced up to shake Maya's hand "That's me, Ms. Lydia. I put that sign up hoping one of our student's would have a big brother or sister interested, do you have a sibling that takes classes here?" "Uh, no" Maya gulped "I didn't realize this was a children's art center. I'm pretty passionate about art and wanted to stop in and check you out for classes, but I would be really interested in helping". "OK" Ms. Lydia responded, motioning for Maya to take a seat, the position is very part-time, Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons from 3pm until 6:30, helping with the classes and clean up, pay is $15/hour, are you still interested?" At Maya's assured nod Ms. Lydia motioned for her to take a seat and continued "Well then, tell me about yourself and your passion for art". Maya found herself talking rapidly about her classes, her painting and drawing, and how she always just knew what she wanted to create, even if it wasn't always what the teacher assigned. At Ms. Lydia's request, Maya pulled her sketchbook out of her bag. "This is very good" Ms. Lydia announced, "Since you are working with kids, we require a background screening before we can officially start you. I like your passion, but I need to know how you behave around kids as well, come on". Ms. Lydia hurried out of the room with a bewildered Maya in tow, stopping outside a drawing class of about 25 2nd and 3rd graders with one teacher. "As you can see, with the larger classes we don't have enough staff to work one on one, that's why we need an assistant. Why don't you go in and see how you can help?" Maya was a little unsteady at this trial by fire but entered the room and surveyed the kids from the back. Most seemed to be happily sketching the vase of flowers set up in the front, but one little girl was clutching her pencil with a furrowed brow. Maya walked up next to her and crouched down to her level. "Hi, I'm Maya, how's it going?" The little girl looked up, extremely frustrated. "I can't get the color right, this red is too dark, but the teacher doesn't have a pink pencil". "Can I show you something?" Maya asked as she reached for the red pencil the girl reluctantly turned over. Maya showed the girl how to use the side of the pencil for a softer color, and then was pulled away when a boy asked her how to make the petal turn, and another student asked how to draw water. Once Maya stood up, she saw Ms. Lydia motioning her back to her office. "You are a natural Maya, it will take a week for the background check to clear, but if you are interested, we can start the paperwork now." Maya eagerly agreed, she had loved helping the kids.