July 9th 2021

Chapter 190
Our Goals For Class

"Seven, eight… nine…"

Maya counted under her breath as her finger ticked along the row of blank sketchbooks in her supplies box. She was missing one. Had she miscounted? She'd put ten in there when she'd finished identifying those books bound for the other boxes, freshmen through seniors. But this morning, day one of the new school year, as she and Lucas were getting ready to head out, she'd found the lid from this box hanging off the edge. It wasn't the dogs, no, the whole reason why they were still up here and not piled by the door like they'd been a year ago was to prevent any well-intentioned pups from accidentally damaging the students' new diaries. And if Lucas had knocked the lid off, he would have put it back, so…

"Pumpkin?" Maya turned around.

"What's up?" Lucas asked, turning from his desk where he was sorting through his bag and looking down to the floor. On this side of the bed, he could see Marianne sat there, and she was holding…

"Now, where did you get that, huh?" Maya asked when she came and saw, too. Marianne looked up to her, little arms looking even smaller around the large black book.

"Mine," she told her mother. She wasn't afraid of having the book taken from her so much as she sat determined to keep it. Those blue eyes of hers were like two coins and they could look so like her father's one moment and then, oops, flip, there were her mother's eyes. Those were the eyes she showed this morning, holding the sketchbook.

"Yours, huh?" Maya grinned as she crouched. Marianne nodded. "Alright, well in that case we need to make it official, don't we?" Picking up her daughter and the book together, she brought her back around to the open box and knelt next to it. "May I?" she asked after finding her gold pen.

"Mine?"

"You'll get it back, I promise. Okay?"

"'Kay," Marianne let her mother take the book. With all the care she'd given the other books, Maya traced the name on the spine. Marianne Christine Friar.

"We have to leave it here to dry for now, okay? You'll get it back later," she put the book on her nightstand. Marianne looked at it, at the golden words. She'd seen her mother do this on all the other books and seeing that she'd done it on this one, too, seemed to satisfy her enough to do as told. She didn't touch it, though she did point and look back at her parents, both of them.

"Annie," she stated. That's me.

"Can't wait to see your masterpieces, huh?" Lucas lifted her up into his arms.

"It's like she doesn't want me to leave," Maya sighed, smiling, as she closed the box again and stacked it on top of the senior box. She carried both of these closer to the door. If she could stay here all day and doodle with her baby girl, oh…

Not that she wasn't looking forward to heading up to school, not in the slightest. She was excited to be reunited with her three returning groups, to meet her new freshmen. But Marianne never had to wonder who came first in all this. Her students may have been her kids, but she outpaced them all without trying. Tonight… That was the big reward for leaving, wasn't it? She got to come back and find her daughter, her husband, her grandmother, her sister, and all the dogs…

So, the day soon began. Breakfast was as busy as any meal in the house these days, with so many pups looking for offerings and a kindly toddler who might not get to have a bite off her own plate if she wasn't stopped from playing 'who wants this next bit?'… Once it was over, Lucas and Cara helped Maya get the diaries into the minivan and she took off for school. New year, here goes…

Her fifth year as a teacher… When she'd gone and identified all those sketchbook spines, her gold pen etching each of their names, her fine black pen inscribing a note on the inside, it had been a much needed revelation. Yes, it was her first year without the one group who had been there with her from the start, and as sad as it made her, it was part of the job, and she'd always known it. But more importantly, it made her remember how, even if those kids were gone now, the ones who were still there, well, they were just as important to her, and she'd be as sad to see them go when their graduation year rolled around. Even those kids she was getting ready to meet today, one day, they'd be cherished to her, too, and they'd go. And the next, and the next…

What made her go around to the front of the school that morning, like she had been doing so many mornings, waiting on that familiar call when she knew it wouldn't…

"Hey, Mrs. Friar!"

It wouldn't have surprised her one bit at this point if she'd imagined it in her head, but no… As soon as she turned her head, pure reflex, there they were, running her way.

"Hey!" Maya laughed as she watched Stella Buckley and Phoebe Munroe dash for her like no time had passed and they were still students here instead of college freshmen. When they very nearly collided with her and they had to brace together not to fall, the art teacher's heart suddenly felt very big in her chest. Hadn't she just been thinking that she was fine, that she wouldn't get overly emotional because her constants were gone? Now here were these two, giving as good as they could give in hugs, and she was matching them all the way. "What are you doing here? Don't you have class?"

"We do," Phoebe nodded with that big grin that made her look like her big brother.

"Neither one of us starts for another hour or two," Stella added.

"So, we decided to come and surprise you," Phoebe continued. They both looked very proud of their trick, which had clearly worked. She was surprised. "Is Dylan here yet? I want to go and say hi real quick if I can."

"Uh, you'd have to check, but I think so…" Maya barely got the chance to tell her, and Phoebe was gone at a run. "So, how's the apartment?" Maya turned to Stella, who was looking to the boxes she'd decorated just a year ago.

"It's good," Stella nodded as she looked back at her. "It was strange at first, just… being on our own," she explained, and Maya nodded with understanding. Beyond having gone through the whole first time living away from home thing when she'd started college, she never doubted for a second that it would be difficult for Stella in the beginning. "But we're having a lot of fun, Phoebe and me. We're thinking of getting a pet."

"What happened to your other roommate?"

"Oh, she left. It was a mess," Stella simply replied, relieved. Maya tried not to laugh.

After her former seniors went on their way, Maya was able to turn and concentrate on her new and current seniors. As ever, they went from having been the end of her days last year to now being the very start, in first period.

It would be an interesting group, to say the least. There would be some, like Roman Day, who would just be glad for their last year, mostly because it meant that they were nearly through with high school and would be moving on to the next step in their lives. Then there would be those, like new Born Curious captain Rochelle McNeil, who were by no means done leaving their mark on the school and looked at the start of senior year as the time for them gear up and give everything they had. The moment they saw one another, Maya could just see in the girl's eyes how tempted she was to inquire after the freshmen, even though she wouldn't see them until after lunch, as Rochelle would know.

Her biggest concern in that group that day was Khalil Russell, who would have to be thinking about the first day of the previous year, the day when he'd found out that his mother had died. It wasn't the exact anniversary today, but just to look at him, Maya felt as though Khalil found it difficult not to associate the event with this day, like he expected someone to come and fetch him out of class again. When he volunteered to hand out the new diaries, Maya let him do it. He needed this, to just go through his day as normally as possible.

"There's a new girl in our year, is she in here, too?" Lea Sullivan-Reyes asked when she walked into the room, two periods later, the first of the sophomores to arrive. She had something in her like an extension of Rochelle's freshman hunt, but Maya ignored this and focused on her spoken question instead.

"Yes, she is," she gave her a smile.

"She seems nice, bit quiet," Lea informed her. "Not like she's shy, more… I don't know… in her own head?"

"Why don't I see for myself, huh?" Maya casually nudged her toward her preferred station. It wasn't her first time with a student that came into school and joined an existing group. There'd been Helena Zimmerman, of course, who'd returned after being kept out of class by illness. Then there was the occasional addition of a student or two who had not taken art from freshman year but did so later on. This one, as far as she knew, had only just moved to Austin from San Antonio.

Maya was just greeting Lambert Day and Taylor Munroe, telling them about her encounters with both of their older siblings – in class and outside school respectively – when the girl walked in. Her immediate impression – other than how Taylor already appeared a bit smitten – was that Lea hadn't been far off in her description of the new girl. She was here in body, but her eyes suggested that her mind was in a whole other place, nowhere near here. It was forced to return, in some brief capacity, as Maya approached and introduced herself. The girl's demeanor changed at once, like she'd been noticed not paying attention and she didn't want to be known for that.

"Do I have to introduce myself?" she asked.

"Well, everyone does so at the start of freshman year… or whatever year they come into this class for the first time," Maya explained. "I guess it's up to you, if you don't want to, I'm not going to…

"I can do it, I don't mind," the girl insisted.

"Alright, then, I'll let you know when the time comes," Maya smiled. The time in question would be once the rest of the group had arrived and the bell had rung and started the period. Maya welcomed back the rest of the group and, before they could really get into their catching up from the summer, she turned their attention to the new girl. She stood up and gave her introduction.

Her name was Summer Levesque, she was sixteen years old but would be seventeen in mid October. She had moved here to Austin from San Antonio, arriving just a few days ago, which meant that a lot of her things were still in boxes. She had not considered herself an artist in any way until very recently, when she'd started getting into painting and found she enjoyed it very much. She was still developing and discovering her style, but she hoped to do some more of that here. Maya thanked her for the introduction. Maybe for her being new, she found herself keeping a closer eye on Summer than most of the group, mostly to make sure that she was doing alright, adjusting. What she mostly found was that, left unattended, she could easily slip back into that headspace from earlier, her mind abandoning her body for whatever reason, whatever thing was pulling it away. Just what that thing was, if it could be pointed to any particular thing, Maya wouldn't find it today. All she could do was get through class and wave Summer off until the next morning.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners