July 11th 2021

Chapter 192
Our Goals For Newbies

If it were up to her, Miranda would already have announced the year's musical and scheduled the auditions. But, as she told Maya and Morgan over lunch on the first day of the new school year, she'd been told to wait at least two weeks and let the year gain some traction first. It gave the drama teacher the look of a sullen child being made to wait before she opened her Christmas presents, which was hilarious in its own way. It wasn't as though the three of them weren't looking forward to going all 'three muses' on the student body once again, but they understood the reasoning.

"Everyone's so eager to get started with everything," Morgan shook her head.

"Oh, I know," Maya agreed. "I've got Rochelle and Lea already giving me eyes about finding them a new freshman for the quiz team even though I haven't met them yet. At least I have Bodhi at the end of the day, and I don't see him going all…"

There was a light knock at the closed door. Looking up, the four teachers – Dylan was with them as well – spotted Bodhi Thompson waving from the other side of the window. Morgan, Miranda, and Dylan turned to Maya.

"I know, I know…" she sighed as she got up and waved the boy in. When he came, they discovered that he wasn't alone. So maybe this wasn't about the quiz team after all. "Hey, welcome back," she smiled to Bodhi, Abby and Ruby Shelby, and Talia Ríos. The first three she could understand, as they were in charge of the fundraising and other activities to get their class off on a senior trip, after their graduation the summer after next. The vice-principal's daughter on the other hand…

"Thanks," Bodhi nodded to her, all four students passing a smile that showed they were happy to be reunited with their art teacher, too.

"What's up?" Maya asked them.

"We were talking, back in the cafeteria," Ruby told her even as she stole a look to her twin.

"We want to give a big push this year, for the trip, that way next year we'll have a better handle on things," Abby followed with a nod.

"Sounds good," Maya replied.

"Then Talia gave us an idea," Bodhi indicated the girl standing quietly behind them. "About doing something at the Fall Festival."

"But we figured it might be too late to… sign up, or whatever it is you have to do to have a booth or a table or something," Ruby went on.

"So, we thought we should ask you, since you work on that. Right?" Abby asked.

"Right," Maya nodded. "What were you guys thinking? Food, or product, or activity, or performance?" she rattled off the categories. The kids looked to one another. They had no idea. "Think about it, get back to me in last period, okay? I'll start looking into it."

They were satisfied, as much as they could be for the short notice. They thanked their teacher and went on their way before their afternoon classes could start. It wasn't long that the other teachers exited the art room for the same reason, which left Maya to go about setting up for the arrival of her new freshmen. This was always the part of the first day that had her the most excited and nervous all at once. How could it not? She loved meeting new students, seeing new stories open before her for the four years to come. At the same time, since they didn't know each other, it would as usual be something of an unknown factor. Maybe they wouldn't gel, maybe this would be the group she couldn't win over when she'd been doing so well before. As was getting to be expected for her when it came to ideas put in her head when she didn't want them to be, she had Zay to 'thank' for the notion that the longer they taught, the harder it might be. She'd been twenty-five and her students were anywhere between seven and ten years younger than her. This year, the gap would be eleven to fourteen years.

She would really need to smack him upside the head for that one. No, this would be nothing, and they would be okay. Besides, as she'd been able to count on for most of her groups since she'd started to teach, her students weren't all strangers to her.

"Hi, Maya…" Henry Hillard appeared as she was finishing the room set up. "I mean, Mrs. Maya… I mean… Friar… Mrs. Friar…" he frowned to himself.

"Don't worry, you're not the first to get tripped up over this," she smiled, and he relaxed. "So, as a member of the familiar, would you prefer not to say that we're family, or is it okay…"

"No, please, tell them," Henry cut in at once, catching her by surprise.

"Oh, yeah?" she asked.

"I mean, it can't hurt, right? You're famous, and I'm a loser," he shrugged.

"Okay, first off," Maya raised her hand. "I don't want to hear that out of you again, okay? You're not a loser."

"I am, though," Henry insisted. "It's just the truth. I don't have friends, and no one likes me."

"Well, not with that attitude," Maya resisted the urge to hug him. This wasn't the place, even if it might have been the time. "Henry, come on, just… It's the first day, give things a chance. Please?"

"Okay…" he sighed. Maya cranked up 'the eyes.' "Okay, okay!" he couldn't help his smile from coming. Maya smiled back and nodded for him to go and pick a seat.

Luckily, for so many reasons, the next person to come along, was Stephanie Brett, or Stevie, as she'd have people call her. The younger daughter of the school's science teacher looked very similar to her big sister, Daphne, enough so that it gave Maya a jolt to see her. The older Brett girl had graduated the year before last, and from what Maya had been hearing out of Stephen Brett, she was doing great out in college. Now here was Stevie, who for the longest time had been little more than the subject of one anecdote or another. Maya had not seen her in person more than a few times, didn't really have a good feeling of knowing her yet, but now it would all change.

"Hi, Mrs. Friar," Stevie greeted her with a smile that easily telegraphed, 'I sort of know you, but not really, and now you're my teacher, so it's weird.'

"Afternoon, Miss Brett," Maya smiled back, and for her part she hoped the expression could be read as an invitation for her to feel at ease. "I ran into your father earlier, he…"

Maya and Stevie were both startled by a sudden thudding noise. They turned at once to find Henry's face reappearing from below the top of one of the stations in the back. He looked very unnerved by this call to attention.

"I-I, uh… I dropped a pencil, knocked over a stool when I grabbed it," he explained, showing the pencil. Right about now, he might have wished to be small enough to disappear behind that pencil. Stevie said nothing and went to sit at one of the other stations, while Maya bit back whatever word might have come out in that moment. Really, she was better off not speaking in this instant. The last thing Henry needed was for her to call any excess attention to whatever was going on in his head right about now.

In no time, the room was filling up. This was always the weirdest time, when she knew everybody's names already, but she didn't know which name went with which student, so she'd be left to wonder as she saw this one or that one. On the flipside, there was always the portion of those new kids who would look at her and do something like a double take because they recognized her, which meant she'd have to do her usual basic introduction, explaining who she was and why they might recognize her.

She counted the kids as the bell rang and, like that morning with the sketchbooks, she was coming up one short. She recounted, came up with the same number. A quick look into the hallway led her to spot a boy coming along in her direction. Without a word, he walked past her and into the class before sitting at an empty seat. Right. It was the first day of class, and these kids were all new to this school, so she would give him a pass on the slight tardiness for today.

After giving her own introduction, she opened up the floor for the kids to do their introductions. It took a few seconds, but finally someone raised their hand and so they started. The more kids spoke up, the easier it would get for the others to toss in their own greetings, which was a relief.

"Stevie Brett," the girl started after having raised her hand. "I'm fifteen, and my dad teaches science here," she went on, in a tone to show that both Maya and her classmates would be aware of this by now. "I'm not… really an artist or anything, I guess I just… Well, my sister kept saying I should take this class, so… yeah…"

"Thank her for me for the endorsement?" Maya smiled, which got a chuckle out of Stevie and a few others. "And don't worry about it. If you're not into art, what are you into?"

"Gymnastics… cheerleading… Star Wars," Stevie replied, after a beat of consideration.

"Alright, good to know," Maya nodded. Knowing Daphne, she could imagine she'd been the gateway for Stevie to get into that universe… or possibly their father. Buttoned up as he was when school was in session, Maya knew that Stephen Brett had a whole sleeve of Star Wars tattoos. "Okay, so who's next…" she scanned the room, and her eyes were drawn to Henry, not because he had his hand up but because he was almost leaning over the table, she realized, to get a look of Stevie. She mistook this for his wanting to speak, and it was too late for her to back up. "Oh, well, another fan right there, right, Henry?" He looked up at her now, and she almost cringed as she realized she hadn't been meant to call on him.

"Uh… yeah…" he had no choice but to speak. Maya quickly intervened.

"Now, I know you," she started, turning to the others. "He and my husband are cousins. But why don't you go ahead and tell us about yourself." Henry hesitated a moment, looked around. Maya could see that Stevie was leaning on her elbow, the better to see him.

"My name… my name is Henry Hillard, I… I grew up in Houston, but my parents moved my sister and me out here two years ago. I have three older siblings, they're in college now. I… play soccer, or I used to, I'm not on a team right now. And I… I love Star Wars…" he called back what Maya had already revealed for him. A few of the other kids in the room snickered and were quickly silenced with a look from their teacher. Stevie was not among those.

"Thank you, Henry," Maya held his gaze. Thank you.

As ever, it was inevitable for whoever went and spoke last to stand out, whether they meant to or not. In this case, her final introduction fell upon her tardy boy. By process of elimination, she knew who he was now, though she wasn't about to take that from him. Then again, to look at him, maybe he wouldn't have minded. He had the look of someone who really didn't feel like making any announcements of any sort. She coaxed him into speaking regardless. He slowly looked up, at her, at the class of kids staring back at him. There was an odd tension in the air before he finally sat up.

"Cade Foster. Sixteen." He stalled there, and the look on his face made it clear that he didn't really have anything else he felt like sharing or could think to want to discuss in this time and place. It wasn't about being rude, he just had nothing to say. She could have tried to get him to keep going, but it didn't feel like the way to go. So, she left it alone.

"Nice to meet you, Cade," she tipped her head to him. He looked back down to the bracelet on his wrist, which he had been picking at before being called on. As freshman starts, it was definitely the oddest bunch, but then it was still day one, right? There were so many places for them to go from here.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners