July 27th 2021
Chapter 208
Our Party For Pumpkins
The day had not gone by quite how she would have imagined or hoped, but it hadn't been a complete disaster either. Maya had done as she'd said. She'd escorted Cade to his first class and immediately followed this up with a trip to the principal's office... after a detour to locate the seniors who'd put the costume in Cade's locker. They hadn't been hard to find and having them perp walked out of class by the Sun was a good bonus. Having them bury themselves in the process of proclaiming their innocence was even better. They would get detention for this, no more, but it was enough for Maya to plead her case once more. How many more times would they allow Cade Foster to be targeted this way? The principal vowed to crack down on the situation, and after getting the vice-principal in on it, it was a double promise. If they didn't act, this would just keep going, and Cade did not deserve this to be the story of his four years at their school. Maya wouldn't allow it, and neither should any one of them.
Half of first period had gone by when she managed to get back to her class. When she arrived, she found Khalil had been watching over his classmates. They were seniors, they knew what her Halloween classes were about, and this right here would be the first pinch of senior nostalgia she'd feel toward the class of 2032.
At lunch, while she was joined in her class by Morgan, Dylan, and Miranda, Maya shared what parts she could of the morning's encounter with Cade and the prank. All this time, the rest of the faculty had seen the boy as 'trouble' for his behavior or simply as 'troubled,' leaving them perplexed as to how to deal with him. The introduction of his story helped to restore something like balance. They couldn't just brush aside his actions without consequence, but they could offer support and hopefully give him alternatives.
When she saw the freshmen again after lunch, she had a thought. All this time she'd been resisting the urge to play matchmaker between Henry and Stevie, no matter how much potential she saw for them. Instead, she should have been arranging another match, one for friendship. She might not have had much luck before today's breakthrough, but that was then, and now... Well, actually, she might be able to hit two birds with one stone...
Henry had come to school today dressed as Luke Skywalker. At fifteen, he had a solid look about him to carry that vibe, and the costume proved it. Whether he'd done it just for that or because he knew that Stevie Brett was going to come along in her own 'destined' role as Princess Leia would remain to be seen. It was obviously not the first time they'd seen each other today, so the costumes weren't a surprise to either one of them, but they were a delight to their art teacher.
"This is like Sophie and Chiara as the Owens sisters all over again..." Maya chuckled when Henry came up to ask her about the Halloween games at the house.
"What?" Henry blinked.
"Never mind, never mind. Hey, so I had a thought. You should ask and see if Stevie would like to go to the games tonight. We're doing a costume contest and you guys could win."
"You are?" Henry blinked, a moment before he realized the implications for him and Stevie.
"Yeah, new things are good, you know?" Maya told him, even as she told herself to text Lucas as soon as possible to discuss prizes for this contest she'd just invented. "But you know what would really clinch it for you guys? Han Solo. Gotta have one of those."
"Right..." Henry naturally agreed. "I have that costume, too, but I don't know who..."
"You should ask Cade. He kind of has the look, doesn't he?" Maya carried right along. If Lucas were here, he would shake his head at her 'subtlety.'
"Cade..." Henry repeated, turning to look to where the boy sat, in his usual corner, focused on his diary cover. It was still blank. "He doesn't talk much, I don't really know him," Henry looked back to his cousin and teacher. It wasn't complaint, just facts. But being who he was, he understood the logical next step was not to refuse her but to do something about his lack of knowledge. The easiest way was to start with hello.
What would come of that discussion, she wouldn't know, not until that evening at the house. Would Henry arrive alone, or with Stevie, or with Cade, or with Stevie and Cade?
By the time she hit her long afternoon break before last period with the juniors, she had already half checked out. Her mind was home, with her daughter, the birthday girl. She would be spending today with Pappy Joe and Patty, though as generous great grandparents she wouldn't be surprised if they took her - and Tori - around to see her other weekday guardians, like Shawn and Katy and the Clutterbuckets, and Melinda, before bringing the girls back to the house and Granny Lizzie.
At the end of the day, Maya kindly offered to give Miss Levesque a lift out of school. Normally, she would go and take the bus and meet her teacher back home. But today, with everything that needed doing back at the house even before the dinner, and the games, and the party, Maya and Summer both agreed this would be more efficient.
"Today was good?" Maya asked as they drove on. What she'd seen of the girl today had been as encouraging as anyone could hope, especially with regards to someone you cared for. After having Summer and her daughter living with them over a month already, it was truer than ever. And today, whether in class or out of it, she'd always seen 'Flower child' Summer with a smile, a genuine, happy smile.
"It was great," Summer promised, 'in character,' complete with a peace sign. As she'd told it when she was figuring out her costumes, she'd had to do a paper on the era for history class last year, and she'd really fallen for it. Even her name felt 'time appropriate.' "Should I get changed into my other costume when we get h... to the house, or should I switch to normal clothes until after dinner first?"
The correction had happened easily, barely a misstep, but Maya had caught it, and it had made her smile.
"Well, I guess it's up to you, whatever you feel like doing. It's not any regular birthday party, it's Hallowannie, you know?" she explained, with a bit of dramatic flair.
"Right," Summer laughed as she picked out one of the flowers they'd woven into her hair in the morning and set it on the dashboard like ornamentation.
"You can call it home," Maya spoke after a beat. Summer looked at her. "That's what it is, for however long you'll be living with us, yes, but even after that... You and Tori will always be welcome with us, it'll always be home so long as we're there. Okay?"
She didn't respond right away, but even as she had to keep her eyes on the road, Maya knew that the silence was born of Summer's heart feeling full. She'd been tossed out of her home, and even when she'd lived with her sister she hadn't felt at home, but now everything was different. Now she and Tori had a home. She'd go so far as to say she had a family.
"Okay," she finally replied, then, "Thank you."
"You are so very welcome."
"I think I'll keep this costume on until after dinner," Summer finally decided.
"Sounds good."
They arrived at the house to find that the collected party of great and grandparents - save for Katy, who'd gone to pick up the little Hunters from school - was already here. They were busying themselves at putting out some of the 'day of' decorations and installations outside the house. Granny Lizzie was going around with Tori in one arm, while Tanner Clutterbucket was being assisted by a small, dedicated pumpkin fairy. When he saw his granddaughter's minivan coming along, he reached down to take his great granddaughter by the hand so she wouldn't run. Once Maya was out of her seat, he let go, and she was off.
"Hallowannie, Mommy!" she squeaked as she was swept off her feet.
"Hallowannie to you!" Maya laughed. "Look at you, little fairy," she held her back to look at her dress. She had made it for her, she knew the dimensions, so this was the first time she actually wore it, and it was everything. It came complete with a little hat which looked like a pumpkin stem, as sparkly as her dress.
"Get to be magic today," Marianne whispered.
"Yeah, we do," Maya kissed her cheek before setting her down again. At once, the little fairy went running to Summer, who had gone to collect her own daughter.
She had Tori now, the two and a half-month-old batting her tiny hands with noted excitement, and oh how it made her smile. She saw Marianne coming their way and crouched to greet her. Next thing she knew, as she went to greet the others, Maya found they'd gone to sit on the bottom step leading to the house. Tori was set in her car seat, and Summer was undoing the flowers from her hair and entwining them into Marianne's hair while the two-year-old sat as still as she could even as her eyes were turned up, trying to see what Summer was doing.
By the time Lucas came home, the little fairy girl was flitting along with flowers in her hair and feeling extra magical. He took one look at her, and he already knew all too well that he and Maya would have a hard time convincing her to take them out later on. They'd have to wait until she'd fallen asleep to do it, but right now all he could care about was that his baby girl was living her very best toddler life on her birthday, and nothing else mattered.
The Hallowannie dinner was even more festive than it had been a year ago. By next year, they had to imagine, it would only get better. Lucas and Maya looked to each other, as Marianne dug into her slice of cake, and without a word they knew the other was thinking the same thing. A lot less on her hands and face this time.
After dinner, it was time to get started for the next phase of the busy day. They had to get changed before the kids started showing up for the games and the maze and the candy... and the costume contest.
When Lucas came striding down the steps in his Peter Pan costume, it received about the exact reaction he'd expected. Maya was already giggling her head off, and with these people, he could only really count on his mother to just smile, while the others tried not to laugh. Most of them failed, as good humored as it was. Lucas Pan merely tipped his green cap to them in passing.
Some of their guests had left by now, and Tori was gone for the time of the games and party. Meanwhile, others were arriving, regulars, friends...
"Oh, hey," Lucas laughed when he opened the door to find Taylor Munroe and Lambert and Anton Day.
The brothers were dressed as characters he couldn't quite identify though he had definitely seen them somewhere before. And Taylor was dressed exactly as his big brother was, which Lucas knew, as Dylan and Riley were already here with Nicky and Hunter Matthews. Emily was with her grandparents. As was to be expected, the matching costumes, 'elite thieves,' as Dylan had declared, highlighted their resemblance.
"Dylan said we could come early."
"Of course, come on in," Lucas stepped aside, an easy invitation for the dogs to come sniffing about.
At the same time, Maya came down from upstairs, 'all fairy and ready to party,' with Summer on her heel. Her two classmates would have been hard pressed to recognize her, with the makeup work Maya had done on her. This second costume was so completely transformative that even Lucas would have had trouble recognizing her if he hadn't known that it was her.
"Hey guys!" Maya greeted her students and future student. Anton was presently in 8th grade, so he would be with her in the coming fall. "Meet my dearly departed friend. She's not a big talker." Compared to the flower child of earlier, this sort of ghost/zombie hybrid was on a whole other register, but Summer played it brilliantly, with an almost sinister but ethereal shuffle.
"How'd you do that?" Anton blinked, notably impressed. Maya looked like she'd been waiting for someone to ask her that, or anything, just so that she could then give a casual shrug and reply.
"Magic, how else?"
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
