May 22nd 2021

Chapter 142
Our Time With School

"She's not getting better, is she?" Maya looked to Lucas as he sat on the kitchen floor, examining Trix. Not so far away, Lou was lying on the floor as well, observing the man with the same question seeming to emanate from her eyes.

They'd been seeing the change take place in her for a little while, seeing how she was just… slowing down more and more, but it had really come to a head the day before. Of all people, it was Marianne who alerted them. They were all in the living room after dinner, having hosted the weekly friends gathering and seen their guests off, most of them on the couch and loveseat. Marianne had been on the ground, with the dogs, where she liked to be. She would be seen most often sitting with Crowley at her side. Sometimes she'd be holding his paw or leaning to hug him, and the dog would happily participate.

Last night, she was most concentrated on Trix, playing with her. At one time though, she moved to stand on her feet and walked up to the couch where her parents sat. Lucas had bent forward to smile at her and ask what he could do for her, which made Maya smile as well. Marianne had responded by getting hold of his hand and doing her best to tug at it. 'Come with me,' it said. Lucas had complied, seeing this as a game of the one-year-old's. But then she'd only taken him as far as where the dogs were, and she'd pointed to Trix before looking up at him. This had all the makings of 'this thing doesn't function the way I've learned to expect it, can you do something about it?' but with a dash of genuine concern, because as little as she was, the thought that there might be a problem with one of those three…

Lucas had taken a look at Trix, not just to humor his daughter but because… well, he was a vet, or near enough to one, and even if he hadn't been, he would have noticed very plainly that something wasn't right with the dog. Once he added the fact that he did have all this knowledge to work off of, no longer needing to consult anyone to fill in the blanks, he was left with… with…

"I'd be surprised if she did," he was forced to admit to his wife the following morning. It had been easy to just say 'let her rest for tonight, we'll see how she is tomorrow,' but now they were here, and while he'd still take her in for tests, it would really only be confirmation for what he felt deeply was already fact.

They'd had Trix, and Lou as well, since their first year of college. The pair had been part of their family for near on a decade by now, and they'd seen so much of their lives that it felt impossible that they would ever be gone from them, but… They could only expect for them to remain for so long, couldn't they? And if this was to be Trix' time, all they could do was see her through to the end, make it peaceful for her.

"I'll take her and Lou with me today," Lucas decided. "Whatever happens, I'll be nearby."

Maya had held and kissed both dogs before leaving for work, as though she didn't expect to see either one of them again. It made for a slightly emotional drive up to the school, but then what could she do? Those two weren't just pets, they were family by now, and it didn't matter that she knew this was as inevitable as when she'd lost Ghost, and Tuck, and Queen. She still missed them, so Trix…

She'd pulled herself together by the time she drove into the lot. Out came Grandpa the trolley, and she loaded it up with the boxes of diaries. She wasn't so finely tuned as to feel that tiny dip in weight, but she still couldn't help thinking how she was one sketchbook short. Stella's was back at the Buckley house, where it would remain until such a time as she could add to it again, as her student had requested it. At this rate, there was no telling when exactly that would happen, and she hated to think how much that book had to be a reminder for Stella that she couldn't draw. Then again, she doubted that the sketchbook would stand alone. There would be plenty more of materials and works around the senior girl to be reminded plenty, regardless of her art class diary.

As much as the 'alternative assignments' had been beneficial, Maya could see that Stella's heart wasn't entirely in it. She missed her own methods. Maya would look at her in class sometimes, which wasn't hard to do unobserved, as Stella was so lost in her thoughts, half of the time. She'd seen her stare at her one good hand on the tabletop of her station, and it had taken Maya a while to figure out what she might have been thinking. It was only her own observation of how clean it was, not one speck of paint as had usually been the case no matter how thoroughly she would scrub at them, that put her on the track. Of course. To some people, it might have been disruptive to find that her hands were never entirely clean, but to Stella… it had been like a touchstone. Now her hands had not one drop of paint on them, and she couldn't stand it. Maya could almost feel her closing back in.

But then, there'd be the musical, too, and it might have been the saving grace.

It had been a number of things to all the students involved, from something they'd desperately hoped to see happen at their school to, in Stella's case, a challenge. She had never imagined herself taking the stage like this, she'd said as much, and the part she hadn't said was the one where taking the challenge had been one thing… Now she had to follow through, and there was no escaping that it would all lead to her, standing under the spotlight, looking into a crowd full of people who would be staring directly at her. And that was squeezing the voice out of her.

"You should come to Stage Ready with me!"

Maya overheard the voice from the hall. When she looked up, there was Lea, tagging along with Stella and Phoebe on their way into class.

"Hey, Mrs. Friar!" Lea waved before turning back to her quiz teammate and her friend. "It will help you, I'm sure it will. Or ask Mrs. Ortiz, I'm sure she can think of something to break through that. I know people weren't sure about you being in the musical at first, but what do they know? You were picked, that's not a hand-out, you have a great voice. You're probably not going to do it all your life, so might as well do it now!" she tapped her good arm encouragingly. On Stella's other side, Phoebe was giving a big grin and nod to show her approval of this statement.

Stella's response was to look up to Maya, her eyes spilling with pleas for rescue.

"Lea, time to get to class?" Maya smiled as she approached her cousin. The girl straightened at this, checked her phone.

"See you later, think about it!" she called back to Stella as she went.

"She's not going to let this go, is she?" Stella winced.

"It comes from a good place," Maya promised sympathetically. She knew this, yes, but it wouldn't solve her problem either. "Just tell her that I'll take care of it?" Maya easily offered.

"You mean… my stage thing?" Stella asked, blinking.

"Yes, your stage thing," Maya smiled.

"But how?" Stella couldn't help but be apprehensive. What would she be made to do?

"We'll find a way, you've got… a lot of people who are looking forward to see you there, and they'll be happy to help, I know it. As for Stage Ready, that might not be a bad idea. You'll have people there to listen to you, and they'll be receptive because they're there to learn, too, you know? They'll get it. That's why I made the program in the first place. Even before then, I mean… I wasn't much younger than you are now when I started with my band. I might not look like it now, but in the beginning, going on stage was very different. No, I was never exactly shy, like you are, but that doesn't mean I wasn't terrified. We all have our own ways, and that's fine. Do you like what you're doing now, for the musical?"

Stella let out a breath, but she couldn't hold back the smile that wanted to come. She gave a nod.

"Alright," Maya smiled back. "And you want to get to the end of it, don't you?"

"I do," Stella confirmed.

"We will get you there then, yeah?" Maya turned to Phoebe, who replied by locking her arms swiftly – and safely – around her best friend, which made her laugh. "So, we're on then?"

"Yeah," Stella agreed.

"Great, I'll see you at lunch then," Maya nodded and turned to walk away, only to stop and turn to the girls again. "This is your class, sorry, go on and have a seat."

Her breaks that morning were spent talking with Morgan and Miranda ahead of the lunch break, and frankly she was glad for the distraction away from wondering about Trix' condition. By the time the bell rang to send the students off to eat, she was ready to go.

"Hey, wait until you see this video of Nicky from this morning," Dylan came into the room with his big Dad Smile. It was easily identifiable and a whole separate entity from any of his other smiles, as any of her parent friends possessed.

"Yeah, hold that thought, give me that, come with me," Maya swiped his phone before guiding him back into the hall.

"Where are we going?" he asked and, because it was Dylan, he didn't resist for even a second. He followed her.

They made their way to the auditorium, there to join the other invitees. There were her other muses, Morgan and Miranda. By the message she'd sent along the Born Curious line with Bodhi in third period, he was there, with Rochelle and Lea, the three of them around their captain Stella, and of course Phoebe by her side. Going off of the still half confused look on Stella's face, Maya guessed she hadn't put together the nature of this 'kidnapping.' She was supposed to be going to the art class, no?

"Alright, in you go," Maya told everyone, and they went.

"We're making an exception about eating in here, let's not make a habit of it and scorn the janitor," Miranda declared.

"I-I'm not sure I…" Stella stalled and turned to Maya.

"No pressure," Maya smiled. "You've got this. You're going to come up here, every day. You're going to make it your own, okay? Make that stage as comfortable to exist in as my classroom, and your room back home, you know?"

"Every day…" Stella repeated under her breath.

"Every day," Maya nodded. "Pick a song, any song." She watched her walk off, going slow like she was rolling through potential selections in her head.

"This should be good," Dylan told Maya as he stood by her. Just ahead, before she could follow her best friend, Phoebe saw him there, only now noticed him, and her eyes became sort of… determined. She walked up to her teachers and addressed them both.

"When this is done, can I talk to you about something?" she asked Maya and Dylan. "I… I think it's time."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners