April 14th 2021

Chapter 104
Our Start For Juniors

There had been enough things happening in the time up to her extended afternoon break, because of the classes themselves and because of everything else that was going on around the school with the Dylan of it all, for Maya to cope with being away from home. She didn't suddenly forget about Marianne, not by a long shot. Several times, she'd found herself standing there, listening to one of her students, and all the while her right hand would be pressed to her upper left arm, at the inside of her elbow, over the tattoo there. Lucas & Marianne. It was strange how just this simple act could help steady her.

Halfway through that long break though, there was nothing left to help her. She missed her daughter… missed her to the point of aching. Letting out a breath, she pulled out her laptop and opened it before putting in a call. Seconds later, the screen was filled with the image of Lucas' smiling face.

"Afternoon, Mrs. Friar," he greeted her.

"Hey, I've been really good about this so far, haven't I?" Maya squinted at him, even as she held little to no ground. She was so happy to see him.

"You've been excellent, as usual, so here comes the reward." He'd been standing with his phone, and now he moved to sit all the way on the ground, where he stretched out his free arm and scooped up the happy little blonde and settled her in his lap. Maya saw how Marianne's face lit up when she spotted her on the screen, and it squeezed at her heart.

"Hey, baby girl, hey, pumpkin… Hello," she laughed. Marianne had attempted to come closer to her, to no avail. "I miss you so much, I do," Maya went on while her daughter looked on with curiosity. "I'm going to be home soon, alright?"

"How's it going out there?" Lucas asked.

"Oh, it's been great, all of it… most of it," Maya told him, running a hand through her hair as she reflected.

"What's the hang-up?"

"Did Dylan call you or write since earlier?" Maya asked.

"He wrote, said he decided to take the position," Lucas nodded. "Why? Did he write you, too?"

"He did, and then he came here. And in between those, he got himself a haircut," she informed him, passing her hand along the shape of her head now. Lucas blinked.

"Wait, he shaved his head?"

"No, not all of it, he's got like this much left now," she pinched her fingers together. "He looks completely different, but that was kind of the idea, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess so…" She had a feeling he'd been thinking about his old friend a lot today. Without classes to focus on while he looked after the baby, it might have been a constant for him. "If I call and see about all of us having dinner together tonight, you in?"

"Absolutely," Maya readily agreed. "Let me know once you know."

"I will. In the meantime, do you want to hear all about today now or later?"

"I think I need to save Daddy-Daughter Theater for when I can be with you two again," she sighed, her smile permanently fixed to her face as she watched them both sitting there.

When they finally hung up, Maya breathed in and stood from her desk to get the class ready for her last group of the day. It felt so weird to think about them being juniors now. Technically, they were just starting, so they were still just halfway through their time here, but because she'd left them as freshmen before her leave, finding them again as juniors now, it felt like they were already on their way out. Two years… She still had two years with them.

"Did you run here?" Maya bit back a laugh when Rochelle popped up in the doorway.

"No," she replied, while clearly lying and trying to play it cool.

"The last period just ended, not a minute ago. You wanted to get here as soon as possible, to maximize your time to question me about the freshmen for the quiz team," Maya stated plainly. Rochelle stared back at her, considered her options. She let out a breath.

"Well… What do you have?" she asked with a hand pressed to her side.

"Just… breathe a little, yeah?" Maya guided her to go and take her seat. "It's the first day, I barely got to know them. You need to give me a week or two. You can still get started with the rest of the team, you know? Stella… and your boyfriend?" she whispered, her educated guess paying off with how fast Rochelle tried – and failed miserably – to save face.

For a girl who had been all about that goal in the distance, graduating top of her class and ignoring absolutely anything and everything in her periphery, she stood here now as someone who embraced more and more of the full world around her, even as she discovered she could have all of this and excel academically, which she did. She remained the top student of her graduating class. And she had great friends, as good as family. And now, she had someone in her life who clearly made her very happy, in the form of one Bodhi Thompson.

"Fine. Two weeks," Rochelle informed her, and Maya smiled as she offered her hand to seal the deal. Satisfied, the girl left her bag behind on her station and went to get some water.

It was a few minutes more before the other students started to arrive, those who hadn't in fact come dashing here from their previous class. Like the sophomores and the seniors, they were all wearing their TXNY shirts, and they were happy to have her see them.

"Is it bad if we made them ourselves?" Roman Day asked when he walked in.

"Bad?" Maya asked.

"Well, you guys sell them, don't you?"

"Yeah, we do, but it's fine," Maya promised. "You made yours then?"

"We made a lot of them," he nodded. "I guess the plan came together just a few days ago, and there was no time to order them. My dad helped to get them made, and then the quiz team delivered them to their classes." He said all this very matter-of-factly, and Maya could have hugged him.

"Then, tell your father a big thank you from me, alright?"

"I will," Roman smiled before moving to take his seat.

Counting heads as more of them arrived and settled in, Maya soon found herself one short of a full set, and when she figured out who it was, she moved into the hall. It was nearly empty now, everyone in their own classrooms. No sign of him.

"Is Khalil Russell here today?" she looked back into the room. She got several yeses all around. The bell rang, and he was still a no show. According to the rest of the class, he'd been in English before this, and he'd left with the rest of them. So where had he gone off to? "Alright, well, we'll just have to start without him… Welcome back, everyone. And thank you so much, the shirts…" she gestured around at all of them. Last period juniors had always been – in her experience – an odd combination, like somehow being on their way out of the day in this class of all places helped them relax like nothing else. It showed here in their cheering loudly and happily in response to her thanks. "Okay, okay," she laughed, calling them to silence again. "Well, you guys have all been through this with me before. I'd like to hear about your summer, but also about how last year went, and what you're looking forward to this year. While you're doing this, I'll be getting your new diaries out to you, we're doing it again this year, yeah?"

It went as smoothly as she could hope, station by station. As one station would start, she'd pick out their diaries from the box and bring them over, repeating this again and again, until there was only one left in the box. Khalil Russell. The class was nearly done, and still he was not here. No notice, nothing, and something in her gut couldn't help but worry. Some of her students, she could suspect them to skip out, sure. They rarely did, but it happened. Khalil… It would not be in him to do it, no.

Class ended, and everyone started to leave. When it was just her, Maya looked back to the box, the lone diary. She picked it up and went out to administration. She was nearly there when the vice-principal came striding out. By the look on her face, Maya would say she'd been on her way to find her. What was this? What was happening? She looked upset…

"What's going on? Where is he?" There was no point asking more than this; they both knew who they were talking about.

"He's with the nurse," Vice-Principal Ríos motioned for her to follow in that direction.

"The nurse… Is he sick? Hurt?" Maya followed at once.

"In shock. His grandfather asked for us to keep him here until he and his wife could pick up the younger sister from her school." No… No, no… More unspoken words, more pieces coming together, terrible pieces, jagged…

"Which one?" her voice trembled to ask, afraid somehow that it could ever be both of them.

"The mother," the vice-principal informed her, and in her head, Maya saw a girl, a violin case, faded gold letters. Monica Joy Hayes. "They're trying to get hold of the father, but from what I understand, he's on a mission, they can't reach him…"

She had to keep it together. Her insides felt twisted, but she had to go forward as though they weren't. It would have been enough that this was a student's mother, but this was Khalil, and Desi… Desi, who was her little sisters' best friend, a wonderfully happy girl whose handling of being far from her parents had been a model to Nellie and Gracie as they missed their own parents, too. And Khalil, oh… From day one, he had just been this presence in her classroom, so much dignity in him, so much care for the little sister he felt responsible for as they stayed with their grandparents. When she'd been in the early stages of her pregnancy, he'd been her ally in keeping the secret, from bringing her paper towels to seeing that she didn't fall if she needed anything from the supply closet. Such simple things, and yet they spoke volumes, and now… On the first day of school. She couldn't bear the thought of this happening to anyone, but she knew these kids, she knew…

He was sitting there, in the nurse's office. His body sat there, but his mind… it felt so far away. He was hunched over, elbows at his knees, head in his hands. Maya sat next to him, put her arms around him. He wouldn't even know who was there with him, the state he was in, but he must have felt something enough to let go, because he did. In seconds, his shoulders slumped, and he let himself be held, and he cried… He cried so much she thought he might be sick. No matter how strong he'd been before, right now, he was seventeen, and his mother was gone.

She stayed there with him until his grandfather arrived to get him. Maya escorted them out, back to the car, where she could see the grandmother in the back. Desi was there, too, lying across the seats and sleeping, with her head in the woman's lap. When she saw her, Maya almost lost it, thinking how this would affect her.

"If there's anything I can do…" she told the grandparents, and they nodded in thanks. Maya watched them drive away. She still held Khalil's new diary in her arms. She brought it all the way back to the art room, set it in the empty box with a shaking hand before reaching for her phone. Right now, she kind of really needed to hear her mother's voice.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners