October 11th 2021

Chapter 284
Our Outlooks For Newcomers

She'd made a point of not seeking them out this morning. Sure, she'd brought Anton, given him and Taylor and Summer a ride to school, but once they'd gone on into the building and split off, she hadn't tried to seek him out. He would come, first period after lunch, like all the freshmen. Yes, she'd promised Roman to look after him, now that Lambert couldn't be here to do it, and she intended to keep her promise, but there had to be limits. This was his first day in a new school, and the last thing he needed was a teacher hovering by, treating him like a fragile boy. He would come out here when the time would arrive, and she might ask him how his morning had gone, but she wouldn't go and question him like she was his mother or anything.

For similar reasons, she hadn't tried to track down Olivia Zhu. Nadine's littlest sister was out there, Maya was sure she'd spotted her walking through the halls, and sitting in the cafeteria at lunch, but she hadn't immediately run toward her and started chatting. She'd known the girl all her life, had held her as a barely born babe. She'd seen her grow, year to year, and she'd had the privilege of essentially being adopted in the girl's eyes like one more big sister. She knew how excited Olivia was to finally be here and to be in her class, she'd told her as much just the previous afternoon, when she'd called the house and asked if it would be weird if she wore her shirt from the For Starters tour.

It was just something she would have to keep dealing with, for a few years still, and even further on, whenever she'd start a year where a freshman she already knew would suddenly become one of her students. She'd had at least one of those… Actually, she'd had at least one, every year. Missy and Kai, and then Roman because of Dakota, Talia for her mother, and also the Shelby twins, then Lea, and Taylor… and Lambert for his brothers, Stevie and Henry… Next year would bring the next Sullivan-Reyes girl, and the youngest Hillard, and the year after that… Nellie and Gracie…

For today, she couldn't get caught up in the past… or the future. A new group of freshmen were about to come through her door, and she was ready for them.

Maya happened to be looking at the door just at the right time. Out of nowhere, someone leaned their head through the doorway, scanned the room before seeing her there. Her face broke into a grin, and she slipped inside, dropped her bag on the floor and did something between a skip and a glide as she approached and came to stand in front of her new teacher, gesturing at the front of her shirt. She'd been all of twelve years old when she'd gotten it, at the closing Austin performance, and she'd gotten it one size too big, the better to grow into it. She'd always been as willowy as her sisters, so it still looked kind of large, but it suited her very well.

"Nice shirt," Maya smirked, and Olivia laughed before reaching up to hug her. "Oh, okay," she laughed, too, and she hugged her back briefly before they pulled apart.

"I wanted to come and say hi this morning, but I ran into some people, and we were talking, and then I had to go to class, and I never got around to it. Saw you in the cafeteria, too, but I wanted to get to come when there'd be no one. It would have been weird if I came in like that otherwise, right?" Olivia rattled off, and Maya resisted the urge to laugh again. Nadine always said that her little sister's energy felt a lot like what her own brain was like on the inside, working at warp speed.

"Don't worry about it, the important part is that you're here now. And you are first, so you've got your pick of the seats."

Once she'd collected her bag, Olivia stood there for some time, considering where to go and sit. Maya briefly worried that she'd just keep standing there and people would start to arrive, but finally she made up her mind and settled in at the front of the first station by the window. It made Maya think of her school days with Nadine and their own seating arrangements. There weren't rows of desks in the art class, but if there had been, Olivia would have been just about in the exact spot where her big sister once sat. She'd have to tell Nadine about that; she'd get a laugh out of it.

Anton came into the room without her realizing. She'd been caught up thinking about Nadine and the rest of their group, and then she'd turned around and there he was, standing quietly staring at a drawing posted to the wall. Lambert's artwork. It had been there last year, and even if she usually rotated the displayed works every year, this one… She couldn't take it away, just couldn't, and now to see his young brother looking up at it, she couldn't tell if he was happy to find it there or if it would be a strange reminder to him, every day for the next four years of his schooling.

"Hey," she greeted him. He turned around to look at her. "He made that the first week of last year," she revealed. "He said it was the family cabin?"

"Yeah," Anton nodded. "Mom and Dad sold it a few years ago, but it's not that far away, so, every summer, we would go out there on our bikes, the four of us, and just kind of… I don't know, look at it, hang out at our old spot. That's kind of the view of the cabin from where we'd sit," he pointed back to the drawing.

"If you want, you should take it home," Maya offered him. She hadn't known the whole story, and now it kind of meant more, didn't it?

"Can we leave it there for now?" Anton asked.

"Tell you what, we can leave it there until you graduate, then you go ahead and take it with you," she suggested, and he approved of the idea. He went and found his seat, choosing a stool that would allow him to see his brother's work whenever he lifted his head.

By now, more students were coming along and sitting around the room. Between Olivia's arrival and then her conversation with Anton, she hadn't even remembered the usual bit of wide-eyed recognition she'd get from some of the new kids. She welcomed them all as they sat and either tried not to look like they were staring or whispered with a friend or started tapping at their phones. She'd give them two more minutes before those needed to be put away.

There was one girl who recognized her, she was sure of it, and at the risk of sounding like she expected the opposite at all times, this one didn't seem to care. More to the point, she gave off the impression that she was deeply annoyed at her classmates for reacting the way they did. Maya would say that she had experience, both having been and interacting with teenage girls as much as she did as a high school art teacher, enough to make an educated assumption. This girl would give her trouble. I've cracked tougher nuts before. Bring it on.

Just a minute before the bell was set to ring, Maya had just finished a quick count to find she was still missing one student when said student came in. She'd been sure that she was missing at least the one even before the count, because she'd been expecting her. She had never met the girl, never heard her name before she got the information on her new students, but she had somehow gotten a call from her mother, a couple of weeks ago. She'd wanted to ask after the desks or tables in the art room, specifically their height, to make sure that her daughter's wheelchair would fit, or else they'd have to bring in one in the right size. Maya had first measured it from memory, picturing herself standing next to one of the stations, but that hadn't been enough. So, the next time she'd come into the school, she'd measured, and she'd called the woman back.

The stations were fine. Immediately the woman's tone had changed, lost some of its intensity. Here she'd explained that her daughter had always loved to draw, and she'd wanted to make sure she'd be alright. Maya guessed she would do just about anything for her girl. Sympathizing with this emotion, she'd asked if her daughter would have any preferences for where in the room she'd like to be, so that she could save the space for her.

By some chance… or misfortune, who could say at this point… the girl rolled up to the chosen station, ending up with Olivia Zhu and Captain Eyeroll. She smiled to Olivia, who smiled back, and to the other girl, who decided to inspect her nails instead. She wasn't bothered. She just kept on smiling and, after her usual introduction, when Maya asked everyone to introduce themselves, she raised her hand first.

"My name is Kelsey Farrell, I'm almost fifteen. I was born in Japan, that's where my mother's from, but we moved back here when I was six. My father grew up here, but he was adopted from Haiti when he was a baby." Despite her easygoing tone, Maya wondered if maybe she subconsciously wanted to show that there were plenty of other interesting things about her besides the fact that she went around in a wheelchair. "I've loved to draw all my life. My dad says that he always made sure to leave paper near me, or else I'd just draw on the table… or my clothes… or my arms… Then he got me a tablet, so I could draw on that, too," she lifted this from a zipped pocket inside her chair. Going by all the stickers overlapping the back of it, the object was well-loved and very precious to her.

Maya thanked Kelsey and, almost as soon as she did, Olivia raised her hand and had her turn. Unlike any of the others Maya had known at the start of the year, Olivia had the distinction of being the first of those she had known from when they'd been born. All the others, she'd met as kids or teens. Did she share this distinction with her classmates? No, of course not. The last thing she needed was everyone asking if their teacher had ever changed her diaper, or for Maya to reveal that yes, she had. Instead, she talked about being a dancer, having two birds, and being the youngest of four girls, happily revealing herself as a slightly unplanned 'oops' baby.

Little by little, the group went along doing its introductions, and Maya figured out early on who would be the last two to take their turns. Deciding to give one of them a break, she called on the other to say her part. The girl sighed.

"My name is Ava, Ava Nash. I turned fifteen yesterday," she started, resting her chin in the palm of her hand, elbow planted on the table before her.

"Happy belated birthday," Maya nodded. Ava wasn't impressed. "Anything else?"

"Not really, no," she frowned. Maya didn't push.

"Okay," she let out a slow breath before turning to their last student.

He looked back at her, and she gave him an encouraging nod. He turned his head again, his eyes finding Lambert's drawing on the wall. His mind was gone for a moment, but finally he looked to his classmates. Maya hadn't understood what the issue had been until now, but suddenly she had to wonder. A good portion of the kids here would have been in school with him last year, would know he had been pulled out of school for a few weeks, following his brother's death. Was he thinking about them, and how they might have reacted back then, or about the others, who'd been at a different middle school and had no idea of what he'd gone through?

In the end, he just sort of introduced himself as Anton Day, fifteen years old, and didn't elaborate further. Again, and for different reasons than with Miss Ava Nash, she let it be. Here they were, a new class, on a new year. Whoever they were today, they would become brand new people by the time they reached the other side.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners