April 11th 2021

Chapter 101
Our Start For Seniors

Maya began to suspect something was up by the way Stella behaved as she helped her set up in class before the start of first period. There was something funny in her determination to keep her jacket on as she moved around and put materials on the stations. She was clearly encumbered by it, and after a while it was just as clear that she was getting hot under there. But she kept her jacket on anyway. When Maya suggested that she might take said jacket off, Stella went the slightest bit 'deer in the headlights' before shrugging and insisting that she was fine with it.

"Alright…" Maya told her, in a tone that said, 'if you're sure, but I don't exactly believe it.'

She had the boxes of diaries stacked next to her desk, and it was almost a shame to shuffle the stack, but then she needed them in the order she'd be emptying them, didn't she? Seniors stayed on top at least, but then all the others switched spots.

Maya loved this room. It had really become hers, these past three years. Even when she hadn't been there the year before, it was still hers, it was just being seen to by someone else, someone who tended to it much as she would and who would make it the kind of place that she always tried to make it for her students. In this class, whatever was going on in their lives beyond these four walls, they could take a break from it like they could embrace it, whatever they'd need, but they were always given the choice and the space for it. For the span of that one period, they would get to have all that, but it went beyond that, and the two girls who helped her this morning were proof enough of it. They'd had lunch in here, through most of freshman year. She'd given Phoebe her very own dance class in here, too. Her door was always open.

By the time Phoebe came back around, after taking her brother around and leaving him at his first period class, there were other students going along the hallways. Several of them had poked their heads in to say hello as they went by. It wasn't until Phoebe was there though that the curiosity over Stella's jacket came back around. Phoebe was all too purposefully keeping hers on, too. Come to think of it, all those students of hers who'd stopped by, they'd all been going around with their jackets on, too. It wasn't just that they had them on, which was to be expected so long as they hadn't made it to their lockers, but they were all good and buttoned or zipped up. The others she'd seen go by, those of them who'd even come with a jacket that day… It wasn't hot out, but it wasn't cold either. Something didn't add up. And those two… They were whispering to one another, on the other side of the room, and oh, it looked so very…

"What are you up to?" Maya asked, and they sprang up as one.

"Nothing!" they spoke, deflecting. Maya gave them a look. They turned to one another.

"You'll see," Phoebe laughed now, evidently choosing the path of least resistance, while Stella looked in the throes of attempting to stamp out a telling smile.

She wasn't so far gone as to miss details when they just kept on adding up right in front of her face. She was still the great schemer, wasn't she? And as more of her brand new seniors started to arrive, showing their range of excitement over having her back, the greatest indicator she had at her disposal was… jackets. Coats. Hoodies. Vests. Any and all manner of what boiled down to… coverings. Means to cover up whatever they had to be wearing underneath. If they were this intent to keep her from knowing it, then she could imagine it had to do with her, right? So then, with all this in mind, and this being her first day back from maternity leave…

These kids were definitely, definitely going to make her cry before the day was out.

"Hi!" Missy Sanderson was all smiles as she and Kai Avelino walked in, both in hoodies emblazoned with their school's name and crest. Maya squinted suspiciously at the pair of them, crooked her finger for Missy to approach her, which her neighbor did.

"What are you all up to?" she whispered. Missy snorted, innocently shook her head. "I'll give you extra credit," Maya offered. Another head shake. "I'll make you GiGi cookies," Maya raised the stakes, and oh… she almost had her, but then the bell rang. Missy smiled and flounced off to sit at her station. A quick head count told her everyone was present and accounted for. "Alright, hello!" she called across the room, clapping her hands together. There were still whispers and giggles going around, enough so that she had to go a second time. "Exactly how long are we going to play this game?" Maya inquired, a smile bordered at her lips, "Or are you guys just going to keep boiling?"

Maya wasn't too sure about how the whole thing had come together, though she would get to see more instances of it throughout the day. All she knew was that, when her students finally ditched their jackets and hoodies and other coverings, every last one of them was wearing a TXNY shirt.

Much as she'd sort of figured out there was something about their shirts by now, the sight of all those shirts, worn by all those kids she'd been with from day one of her teaching career… It made her laugh out loud as much as it sent a first rattle of tears through her. It was like a shockwave, caused by the collision of 'I'm so glad to be back' and 'I'm not ready to see these guys graduate.' One thing was for sure, and it was that this surprise derailed some of what she'd envisioned for her return and the start of this day, but in such a way that she could never really mind it. She still got to hand out the new diaries, which were gladly received, and she got some stories of everyone's summers, which became compounded with stories of the year before while she'd been away, and requests for updates on how Marianne was doing. The period ended with Maya getting hold of a neighboring teacher to come and get a picture of the whole class with their shirts and Maya's insistence that they not pose so much as pose, exactly as they wanted to be remembered.

"Maya, can I have a word?"

She looked back from where she'd been starting the process all over again, setting up for the next group to come, after this free period. Cory stood at the door, and the look on his face concerned her. She waved him into the room, and he shut the door. Without having to ask, she had a feeling she knew exactly what had happened. The classroom Phoebe Munroe had escorted her little brother to, for his first ever high school class, had been Mr. Matthews' History class. And suddenly, the man had been brought to face the young man his infant grandson might come to strongly resemble someday, if he also looked anything like his father, which he did do, at just three and a half months.

"Alright, look, there's no easy way to say this…" Cory started, and he looked so much like a man who was about to drop many more bombs than he needed to… She had to bail him out.

"This have to do with the Munroes and Dylan?" she asked. He blinked, and she let out a breath. "Yeah, I know."

It was more than knowing about what could only be suspicions to him up to now, when she had actual facts, facts which she now shared with him, to the best of her ability. He couldn't look too far off from what she must have looked like, the first time it had all started to come together for her. For a while, she'd been so sure that he must have known, but then he clearly didn't. Sometimes it was so easy to be blind to what was right in front of you, wasn't it?

"He told me about the job this morning," Maya informed her former teacher. Cory looked at her now like he'd completely forgotten that part, and suddenly it was all worse than he'd imagined. "He hasn't given his answer yet, but I think he'll take it anyway, and he should. Running away from this, it won't fix anything. Right now, you have to keep it a secret. That means you can't behave any differently with Phoebe, or Taylor, or… Stella Buckley, she almost knows something's up," Maya shook her head. "You have to act like nothing's changed, and I know how hard that is, believe me, but you have to…" She might have come off more intense here than she'd intended to, but she didn't mind it. It mattered that much.

"I… I-I don't know what to say," Cory shook his head.

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way," Maya sincerely told him, and he slowly nodded. "How was it this morning?" she asked now, tapping his arm as though to say, 'get back on track, Matthews.' Cory leaned against the edge of the desk behind him as he considered the question.

"Freshmen," he told her, and she chuckled, understanding. That reminded her… Lea, the crutches… She'd completely forgotten how she wanted to get out there, show her around. Everything this morning, with Dylan, it had let the Lea side get lost along the way. When she asked Cory about her, he nodded.

"I don't know when it happened, between getting dropped off by one of her dads and making it to first period, but she had one of the boys carrying her bag for her," he reported, and Maya laughed before asking which boy.

"Gabe Birmingham?"

"Huh… Not one of mine," she waved back to her boxes. "She might end up with more than one helper…" The urge to go 'oh boy' was strong, but she held it down.

"Alright, well, I'll see you around," Cory stood back up. "I need to get to…" he gestured out the door.

"Hey," Maya stopped him. "If you want to talk some more, you know you can just…" This made him smile, and he nodded, looking like the man she'd grown up with all these years.

"Thank you," he told her, and she assured him that he was most welcome.

Left to her classroom again, Maya sighed, running a hand through her hair. This first day back was definitely not what she'd expected to find, but at the same time… Wasn't it? Expecting anything to go exactly as planned around here… When did that ever really work? It was like the harder they insisted on it being a thing, the more things went against expectations. Maybe that was just some of the times, but when things did veer off course, it always felt more like 'oh, here we go again.'

Maya: Just to let you know, I had to tell Cory about what we know. T was in his class this morning.

Dylan: Right. Thanks for doing that. Don't know that I could have.

Maya: Are you doing alright?

Dylan: Riley and I talked about it. I'm going to take the job.

Maya: Good. We can have lunch together.

Dylan: I like the sound of that.

The two of them, joking around, sidestepping the potential trouble, focusing on the good news, the one part they could control… That was always the way, wasn't it? He was coming… For better or worse, their school was gaining a great asset.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners