November 24th 2021

Chapter 328
Our Music For Recruits

"Hey, Maya!" Olivia waved as she walked past her teacher and Ella on her way out of school, with Kelsey at her side. Her fellow freshman looked up at her in surprise. "What, school's out for the day," Olivia shrugged, looking back to her sister's friend. "It's fine, right?"

"Absolutely," Maya chuckled.

Even after having been in class with her for about three quarters of a school year already, it would still astound her sometimes how much Olivia did and didn't resemble her oldest sister. In looks, oh, they were very similar, with Olivia being the near spitting image of a fifteen-year-old Nadine. In character however, that was where the differences became particularly noticeable. She wouldn't go and suggest seriousness as a telling trait, because what would it even be referring to? They were both of them excellent students, with a dedication to their schoolwork that was reflected in their grades, so that counted as serious, right? As far as who they were as people, she could say that people would look from one sister to the other, see how energetic and silly Olivia would often be, and decide that Nadine was the serious one by comparison. To that, as her friend of some near eighteen years, Maya would firmly object. Oh, the stories she could tell…

"On your way to take the bus?" Maya asked, and the two girls nodded. "I can drop you off if you want. Headed home?" she looked from one to the other.

They both were headed to their own homes. They would get together to do homework and hang out some afternoons, but today Kelsey was unavailable, so they would be getting off at their respective stops, or they would have if not for their teacher's offer. After some hesitation about inconveniences, and a subsequent promise that it would really be no trouble at all, the quartet made its way to the faculty lot.

"Do you need any help getting in?" Maya asked Kelsey as they approached the minivan.

"Oh, no, I'm alright, thanks," Kelsey assured her. A few minutes later, everyone was buckled up in their seats, the wheelchair was stowed away, and they could start on their journey.

Maya had grown up with a firm belief that a good car ride had music in it, and the best car rides had sing-alongs. That afternoon, she had one of those, thanks to Ella, Olivia, and Kelsey. The first two had already been in rides with her, but it was the last of them who sat in the front passenger seat that day, at her teacher's side no less. When Maya turned on the music, Kelsey looked happy, but also like she wanted to ask if she could play with the stations. She was invited to it without having to ask, and she gladly did so. In no time, she found something that started Olivia singing, then she jumped in, too, and Ella with her… Maya just smiled and drove.

Ella's apartment was the first stop. She looked like she might have decided to stick around and go to her parents' house just to keep singing and dancing and laughing along with the others if she didn't have homework to do before work. Olivia and Kelsey waved her off, while Maya took a moment to get out and hug her good night, with 'an extra hug for the grandkid.' It was an essential practice where she was concerned, to continually show love as much as she spoke it. Ella appreciated it as much as she sought to do the same, always.

From this point on, the next closest would have been the Zhu house but, to the benefit of the friends' continued 'fun ride,' Maya decided to head to the Farrells' first and double back afterward. The girls fully approved this plan, and the singing went on. When they arrived, Olivia went to get the chair.

"Thank you for the lift, Mrs. Friar," Kelsey turned to her teacher with that serene smile Maya had come to know. Today, it felt particularly bright. "This is much more fun than the bus."

"Hey, you say the word, the 'stage' is yours, anytime," Maya gestured around the minivan, making her laugh. She might take her up on that.

Now that the front seat was vacant, Olivia moved up to take it, and they took off toward her house. The music was still on, and for a while Olivia continued to sing along on her own. She hadn't been next to her before, so Maya hadn't gotten to see as much the way her hands would move along to the music. She'd played the violin from childhood, same as Nadine, and she'd taken up the piano later on. Maya easily recognized some of this in the way the girl's hands followed the music. She sounded nothing like Nadine when she sang. She had a rasp in her voice, and it was so unexpected by comparison to her speaking voice, but it suited her very well.

Maya allowed the rest of the song to play out before finally going ahead and turning down the volume. She could finally act on the original reason why she'd offered the two freshman girls a ride.

"You know, I've been wondering why you never auditioned for the musical. You definitely have the voice for it," she pointed out. Olivia considered this for a moment.

"I don't know, I just didn't feel like it. Don't get me wrong, I like watching them, but I wouldn't see myself actually being in them…" she explained.

"Yeah, I can see that," Maya slowly nodded. "So, it's not the actual singing on stage part that's the problem."

"Oh, no," Olivia shook her head at once. "When I was little, I would play your albums in my room, and I'd pretend I was Nadine. I didn't have drums, but I'd use… pencils, and like, cushions, and I'd do like she did…" She wasn't even the slightest bit embarrassed at sharing a story that other girls her age would have seen as childish and never to be spoken ever.

"Wow…" Maya laughed. She had a very small instance of feeling her age, hearing of the girl's childhood games, even if she had known her all her life. But she set that aside and recognized the 'in' she'd been given. The line of questioning had all been to get them here, and now here they were. "Is that something that would interest you? Being in a band? You know, with more than pencils and cushions," she smirked, and it made Olivia laugh.

"I've never thought about it, but… I don't know, maybe. I'd kind of need other people for that, right?" she shrugged.

"That could easily be arranged," Maya reasoned, and here the youngest Zhu showed her resemblance to her oldest sister, with a look in her eyes like she could feel the unspoken question hanging overhead and she intended to catch it. Maya didn't keep her waiting. "You know how, the last few years, whenever any of us in TXNY have had to… withdraw for a while," she pointed down to her belly, "Cara has been stepping in as a substitute."

"Yeah," Olivia nodded.

"Right, well, as you know, it's not just me who's expecting right now. And once the two of us go on leave from the band, there'll be Cara to step in for one of us. It's never happened before that we've had two members down, and we started talking about bringing in a second sub. It wouldn't be just about stepping in for a few months, there's more to it. Cara, she's not always performing with us, but she still opens for us, because as a sub or not, she's part of the band. So, we're looking for someone else like that, to bring on as a new member to the band, sometimes as a sub, and then other times as an opening act, depending on the situation. We all talked about it, and we've been trying to figure out what to do. And me, from the day we first talked about it, I've had this idea in my head, and I've been thinking about it a lot. Now, here we are, you and me, and what I'm trying to say is… Would you be interested?"

Olivia didn't reply right away, possibly out of nothing more than shock. Once her functions appeared to come back, she sat there, thinking to herself. Maya would guess she was going through a list of questions in her head, going over what her schedule was like at the moment, and what her parents might have to say about it, and then actually being on the band, and being there with her sister, and two of her teachers, and one of her teachers' wives who had been like family all her life, too… The more she stayed there thinking about it, her hands would just sit balled up in her lap, like they were containing her energy. They were vibrating just a little.

"I…" she started to say, then paused, swallowed up the words again, thought some more. "When we get to my house, can you wait before you go?"

"Sure," Maya nodded.

When they did arrive, the minivan had barely stopped moving that the girl was bolting out of the passenger seat. She went and let herself into the house with the key from her pocket. Maya watched her go, then checked the back seat. She'd forgotten her bag in her haste, so it was just as well that she didn't just take off, right?

X

Maya: Band meeting tonight? Practice optional, maybe an hour?

"Here, what do you think if I add a bit of this…" Maya looked to the second swivel chair after making an alteration on the controls before her. The tune playing inside the studio responded to the change. "Better?" she asked. Sitting well against the backrest, little hands holding to the arms of the chair, Marianne had her head tipped back as she listened.

"Better," she repeated.

"Yeah?" Maya smiled. "How about if I do this?" The new alteration made the three-year-old giggle. "No? Not good?" She kept laughing. "Alright, fine, everyone's a critic," Maya changed the tune back.

When the rest of the band started to arrive, it was a tough sell whether any of them would be permitted to take the second chair. Marianne finally agreed to give it over to Morgan, but only if she got to sit in her lap. It was a satisfactory transaction for both parties.

"At least you didn't summon us in the middle of the night, unlike some people," Cara joked, sitting on one of the couch's arms.

"Who's summoning you in the night?" Rosa inquired, but Maya got to the point before this could derail into talking about their project, which was generally something they kept to themselves.

"I found our recruit," she revealed, and that did it. They all wanted to know who it was. "Just a second," she took out her phone and sent off a text. "She'll be here in a minute."

"Wait, she's in the house? Since when?" Cara asked. "I thought I heard something in the basement…"

"Yeah, well, once I knew what time you guys would be coming over, Lucas went and picked her up, secreted her in," Maya explained. Oh, she enjoyed this bit of mystery. When they heard a knock at the door, she reached over to the console to flip the switch to the signal light on and off, and the door opened. "Ta-da…" she gave a small flourish.

"Liv?" Nadine got up from couch when she saw her little sister standing there, all smiles.

"It's perfect, right? My little sister, and now yours. Keeping it in the family," Maya explained. Even as Nadine went and hugged her sister, the others were just as eager to welcome her. They could have been good with a stranger, maybe, but this girl here, oh, they knew her well, and she already felt like she made sense for them. She would fit right in.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners