April 17th 2021

Chapter 107
Our Opening Into Support

"Mrs. Friar?"

Maya turned to find Rochelle standing there, holding her freshly returned diary in her arms. She closed her eyes and bowed her head. It was Monday, the start of the third week of the school year, which meant two weeks had gone by.

"Rochelle, I know I told you I'd have an answer for you by now, I just…" she let out a breath.

"It's not about the quiz team," Rochelle shook her head at once.

"It's not?" Maya blinked. The girl shook her head again and held out a folded piece of paper. Maya took it, unsure what it was until her student went on.

"Don't open it. You gave Khalil his diary, didn't you?" She was surprised that she would know this, but then Rochelle was as clever as they came, wasn't she?

She was correct. The first time she'd gone to see the Russells, when she'd spoken to him and the diaries had somehow come up in conversation, Khalil had asked if he might have his. He thought maybe it would help, for him to have this one thing to do. Maya had agreed, if only for the chance that the exercise would in return have some deeper benefits for him, as he dealt with his loss. In his case, the schedule was no different. She'd pick it up from his house on Fridays and she would bring it to him again on Mondays. She was taking it back to him today, after school.

"I did," she told Rochelle.

"Can you give him that from me? I go to my dad's church with him and my stepmom and the boys sometimes, to humor him, I guess. Khalil and his family, they go there, too, his grandparents and mine know each other, so we talk sometimes… Anyway, I just wanted to… you know…" she shrugged, trying to find the right words. Maya didn't force her to keep trying. She was just touched to see her do this.

"I will put it in there, like we did last year," she nodded.

"Great, can you put these, too?" Rochelle produced a small stack of papers, in various types and colors and folds. "Some of the others figured out what I was doing, and they wanted to write to him, too."

"I was wondering what that was about," Maya's smile quivered with understanding. Those kids… "Thank you, Rochelle. I'll make sure he gets them."

"Good," she nodded and turned to leave.

"Hey, Rochelle?" Maya called to her before she could get too far. She turned again. "Have you seen a girl going around on crutches? Cast on her leg?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Her name is Lea, she's a freshman…" Maya explained, and she watched the understanding light up a moment later.

"Got it, thanks!"

Maya let out a breath that seemed be as heavy as a boulder. The last two weeks had felt like a test… beyond anything she had imagined, coming into this new year. It was a constant stream of feeling, more than she could have expected, and she might go under this assumption like it was due to the fact that she was a mother now, which to a certain point wouldn't have been entirely wrong, but it would also be diminishing the full reality around her. More and more over the years, she had become so in tune with her feelings, maybe… since her father had died, probably.

And right now, with everything that was happening around her, there would just be… no escaping any of it. There was sadness, yes, so much of it, in considering the effect of losing their mother for Khalil and Desi. There was uncertainty and apprehension, as they stood under the potential of the Orlando/Munroe secret. But there was so much more, there was… love, kindness, and empathy, as she felt it right here, holding the stack of notes from Khalil's classmates, who wanted to show they were with him. There was… hope, hidden away behind secrets.

"Is my nose playing tricks on me, or do you have GiGi cookies in here?"

Maya turned around, and she was almost proud for the fact that she didn't jump in surprise this time. She was actually getting used to this new look of Dylan's, his 'undercover' haircut.

"Go away, Bloodhound… Cookiehound," Maya laughed before moving to slip the notes as best she could inside Khalil's diary. The covers had been blank until she picked it up from his house last Friday. Now, the front showed a very simple design, a single flower, a sunflower, planted in the soil, and the rays shining down on it from above. And the back… He'd given it over for Desi to draw; Maya recognized her hand. She had copied over a partition, notes and all, and because she could read the music, Maya knew the song. It was a favorite of Desi's to practice on her violin, because it had been a favorite of her mother's.

"But…" Dylan playfully pleaded.

"They're for…" Maya started to tell him, then paused. She'd been bringing some of those cookies, too, when she brought the diary back. GiGi Babineaux may have been gone, but she would have whipped up as many cookies as those kids could need, knowing it would be something good for them to have. She wasn't wrong.

"Of course," Dylan bowed his head, serious again at once. "How are they doing?"

"Last I saw them…" Maya shook her head. "I think at this point Khalil wants to come back to school, maybe just because it would be something to do, but then Desi… He won't leave her, not when she's not ready, and no one would force him either way. She's taking it very hard, and she relies on him right now… He can't come back, not now."

"No, of course not," Dylan leaned to one of the stations.

"You didn't just come here because you smelled cookies, did you?" Maya guessed. Maybe it was that they were in her class, and he was almost sitting there like one of her students, but she suspected she still had some of that teacher voice in her.

"I guess with me coming a week into the year, they forgot to inform me that Family Day was coming up?" Dylan told her, and Maya closed her eyes. She'd been meaning to bring it up with him, too, but then it had completely slipped her mind.

It didn't happen every year, and it was the first time they did it since she'd started teaching. In her memory as a student, it had happened twice for her, once as a freshman and once as a senior. The whole goal of Family Day was for the students to invite a family member or two, whichever one they wanted, a parent, grandparent, sibling, cousin, aunt or uncle… They would do a presentation connecting with them, in a class of their liking, and their family member would be there. It was extra credit, something practical especially in classes where they might have been doing worse, but others would just as easily make their presentation in a class because they were doing well in it, too, because it would be their favorite.

"It's my first time getting to do it, too," Maya told Dylan. "It's probably a bit more sudden for you, but you should…"

"What if she shows up here?" Dylan cut in, and Maya bowed her head at once. Right… of course… "Taylor told me today that he was doing his presentation in gym, with his dad."

"Makes sense," Maya nodded.

"Has Phoebe said anything to you about who she was bringing? Is she doing hers here?"

"She is," Maya nodded again. Today had been the deadline for the kids to tell their teachers. They had to keep lists, to mind the available time. "But she's bringing an older cousin, a photographer, so… you should be fine." Dylan took this in, and he looked lost in thought for a few moments. "Did you want her to come?" Maya slowly asked. He turned back to her.

"I… Maybe," he admitted. "I don't know… how I'll react if or when I see her, and I'm not eager to find out, I'm really not. But I think part of me just wants to get it over with, I guess. I'm so… tired of having it turn over and over in my head, I…" he ran his hand over his head, the contact with his shortened hair leaving him to give a dejected sort of laugh. His situation was just taking over his life, to the point of making his dream job feel like a gamble, a potential error. But it meant so much to him, and because he had… one of the most gently kind hearts Maya had ever known, he was here anyway.

"Well, she's not going to be here… this time…" Maya stated, the tag on the end being as caring a nudge as she could give, reminding him that this was not a fix. He knew it, how could he not, but he looked like he'd needed to hear it anyway.

"No… yeah…" Dylan stood back from where he'd been leaning. He let out a breath, made a gesture that looked like 'sorry for bothering you with this again.'

"I'm getting home tonight and I'm baking you a batch of GiGi cookies, alright?" Maya gave him a nod, which made him laugh.

"You don't have to do that."

"I know, but I want to, so either you take them, or I'll give them out in class…"

"No, no, I'll take them, I will," Dylan promised at once and Maya laughed.

Her present batch of cookies travelled with her as she left the school shortly thereafter. Coming up to the Russell house, she could see them, outside. Desi sat on the front steps, watching as her brother tossed a basketball at the net hanging over the garage door. Khalil looked so focused on the activity, and yet she could catch him stealing looks to where his little sister sat, watching him with so much intent. They both looked over when she came walking from her car though, and Desi quickly bolted over to her, nearly bowled her over for how she locked her arms around her.

"Hi, hey…" Maya spoke with all the comfort she could muster, closing her free arm around her. "Got you something for after dinner, yeah?" she smiled as she rubbed at the girl's back. Once she clamped on, she didn't release easy, and Maya just let her be. "Hey," she looked to Khalil now. "This is yours," she held out the bag with her other hand. "Be careful when you open the sketchbook, there are some things inside." He took the bag, looked inside, and she guessed he'd pushed the cover open just a bit, enough that he saw the layer of notes topped with his name in so many hands, which let him figure out their nature without unfolding a single one.

"Will you thank them for me?" he asked.

"Consider it done," Maya nodded. She closed her second arm around Desi now that it was free. It was probably just as well that Khalil wasn't in school this week, wasn't it? Family Day… It would have been too much for him now. "How was it?" She felt like the question was terrible to ask, but then what other choice did she have? She had been through a parent's funeral before, she could sympathize.

"It was what it was, I guess," Khalil shook his head, trying to explain it. "Like we were there, but we weren't…" By the way he would look to Desi, Maya could surmise she had struggled more than he was letting on, but he didn't want to say it in front of her and have her feel in any way like she'd done something wrong, when she really hadn't, when she couldn't ever.

"How's your father doing?" She'd briefly met him, last week, when she'd dropped off the diary and more cookies.

"Gone again. He couldn't stay, he had to go back," Khalil told her. Here again, she suspected a half-truth, for Desi's sake, and she didn't push.

"Maya?" the girl looked up now.

"Yeah, Des?"

"Can I have a diary, too?" she asked. Maya held back tears.

"I'll bring you one tomorrow morning. Name on the spine and everything, Desiree Joy."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners