November 29th 2021

Chapter 333
Our Focus on Legacy

"Do I get to tell people that I'm going to… you know?" Olivia asked, coming into the art room a few minutes after everyone had been sent off to lunch. Maya was just there, drawn to dig into her meal even though she'd intended to wait on the quiz team's arrival. She excused herself long enough to finish her bite before she finally replied.

"I'd say be logical about who you tell or not at the moment. When the time comes and you'll be about to step in, of course we'll want to do a big reveal. You know, back when we brought on the college wave, we did this whole thing where we teased who our new members…"

"Oh, yeah, I remember that!" Olivia grinned. Maya blinked.

"You… What were you, four? Five?"

"Something like that, yeah," Olivia nodded. "You're going to do that for me, too?"

"Well, I don't know, we haven't figured it out yet, but we can discuss it at practice. Until then, just…"

"I just want to tell Kelsey, mostly."

"Oh… Yeah, go for it," Maya smiled, and Olivia smiled back.

"Great, thanks! See you later!" And she was off. Maya sat back in her chair, let out a breath, and went back to eating.

This was actually longer than she'd imagined the freshman would have been able to keep the secret from her friend. It had been a few weeks since she'd been offered the position and accepted it, and as far as they could tell she had kept the secret all this time. They'd expected no less from her, of course, but at the same time they could see she was eager, and they wouldn't have faulted her for being so excited as to spill the beans, especially to her best friend. But she hadn't told anyone. The only people who knew, outside the bandmembers and their husbands, fiancé, and girlfriend were Olivia's parents and her other sisters. Marley and Michaela Zhu were very happy for their baby sister, and they looked forward to seeing a 'double dose of Zhu' on stage together.

For now, they had been focusing on getting Olivia ready. At least they didn't have to worry about her knowing all the songs. She'd been around as long as the band, and between her sister and her sister's friends being a part of it, she'd been a fan for as long as she could remember. She knew the words and she could sing them well. As to the instruments, she had the keyboard down, and she could bring in her violin, just as Nadine had done for a while. And after having played pretend drums when she was a kid, she was interested in learning to play them for real. They would see to it that she got to do that eventually, but right now it was sort of preferable for her to learn the guitar. They could have parked her at the keyboard, taking Riley's place, and put Cara to take Maya's place with the guitar the whole way, but they wanted the option of swapping the two of them out. It had been Cara's idea, and the others had supported it.

Olivia was game, so she would be at the house, every afternoon after school, for guitar lessons. According to Nadine, she had told Kelsey the partial truth, told her she was taking the lessons, just not the reason why. Depending on the days, her teacher would be Maya, or Cara, or even Lucas. She'd only been at it these last few weeks, but she was really getting better every time. Maya had leant her one of her guitars so she could keep practicing at home. Soon, they would go ahead and start to see how she would do, being folded into performing a song with the rest of them.

That wasn't for today though. No, today was for a whole other kind of event.

"What happened to 'we're having lunch together tomorrow, don't be late?'" Ava asked, coming into the room with Rosemary, Lea, and Bodhi right behind her. They could all see that the plastic container was empty on her desk, while she was eyeing her dessert.

"Four stomachs to satisfy, that's what," she informed her students as she got up. By now, that was definitely starting to be an issue... sometimes... She was already having to consider what would happen when she'd get bigger, and she'd have to drive. "Sit, come on. I'll try and eat this slower, but I don't know if that's a reasonable promise," she told them. Oh, she could smell what was in here, and all she wanted to do was eat it in one go, manners be damned.

Ella had made these. She'd said how she used to make them when she was living at her sister's, when she was pregnant with Tori, and she had to resist eating only that for the rest of her pregnancy. They'd been her comfort, in a strange time, and now she wanted them to be her mother's comfort, too. Just receiving them had achieved that, but now eating them… They might have been right up there with GiGi cookies… Underneath, naturally. Nothing could beat GiGi cookies and suggesting otherwise would get you haunted.

"So, as you three will remember," Maya looked to Rosemary, Lea, and Bodhi, "Our… esteemed former captain had a new clause added to the team charter last year." The easiest way to confirm that they did remember was just to look at their faces when she brought up 'the clause.' Meanwhile, Ava, she who was like the sun only in how she burned, was left perplexed.

"Meaning what?" she asked, looking so suspicious about what she might be made to do in the name of 'team spirit.' She could be counted on to participate in many things, usually with a marked feeling of disdain but an active presence nonetheless, but she had her limits.

"The Olympics," Rosemary grinned.

"The what?" Ava asked.

So, they explained Rochelle's idea. Ava knew Rochelle, who'd been advising them across the year, whenever time allowed. She knew her, she showed… the closest thing to open respect and appreciation toward her. Whether she got on board with the idea because of her involvement or just for the sake of this competition, who could say? What mattered was that they would receive, in a few days' time, the likes of Helena Zimmerman, class of 2029, and Ariel Su, class of 2030, and Stella Buckley, class of 2031, and Rochelle McNeil, class of 2032, and the active team would face off against these former members, former captains. And it would all be done with the intention of raising funds for a cause of their choice, on both sides.

"It's actually happening? They're coming?" Lea asked, sitting forward on her stool until she almost sent her water toppling over. She saved it, only losing a few drops which she quickly dried up with her sleeve.

"It's happening, I confirmed with all of them," Maya smiled.

As excited as Lea would be to see them all, especially those of them who had been her teammates, there was no way she could be as excited as her teacher was. She'd kept in touch with plenty of her students over the years, some more than others because they were actively in her life, like Skylar and Roman Day, Phoebe and Stella, and Rochelle, too… Her quiz team captains couldn't help but stand apart. Helena and Ariel had left Texas when they'd gone to college, but Maya could count on letters from them, on cards, easily once ever two to three months at the most. They were happy to share what was going on in their lives, just as they wanted to know what was going on with their former teacher and advisor, and the team, too…

Helena, Ariel, and Stella had all been happy to hear about Rochelle's idea, and they were all eager to make it happen. All they'd needed to do was find a date that would work with all of them, allowing them to make the trip down to Austin. Maya had put it up to the four young women to talk amongst themselves, to come up with some possibilities. From what she heard out of a couple of them, this chat alone had made the idea of coming over worth finding the space in their schedules. Finally, they put it to their former teacher, who agreed, and now here they were.

"Are you going to have to stop talking to Rochelle?" Rosemary innocently asked Bodhi, making Lea snicker.

"Yeah, you can't go fraternizing with the opponent," she teased her teammate.

"Please, she's my girlfriend, don't you think she's said the same thing to me already?" Bodhi shook his head and laughed.

"What does it matter if you do, it's not like either of you have the questions we'll be asked… Or the answers," Ava cut in to point out.

"She could distract him, psych him out," Rosemary stated.

"I don't know. That'd be playing dirty, and I'm not seeing Rochelle playing this thing dirty. No, she won't tell you a thing, same as you won't. Right?" Maya looked to her senior. He cleared his throat, and he shook his head. "That's what I figured. So, let's get started. As much as we want to and should put a lot of our focus on our causes, and we will… I think you can see as well as I do that what a lot of it will boil down to will be that everyone has a great time, and then just… bragging rights." This got her a good chuckle out of three quarters of her team there, with the remaining quarter settling for nothing short of determination. This would be about more than bragging rights for Ava, it would be a great win, against a very good lineup.

By the time the lunch period's ending forced the others to leave, Maya was on her own with She Of Perpetual Frowns, and she asked Ava to help her set up for the period about to start. Ava looked like she would have preferred to find a reason to say no but, contrary to the front she liked to present, and it did feel more and more that way to Maya as the weeks went on, whatever was an act and what wasn't, this girl would find it impossible, between the time and the sight of Mrs. Friar walking around with her belly out to there, to just leave. So, even as she gave this impression of her endless annoyance, Ava assisted her in the class set-up. Whatever was going through Ava Nash's head, Maya didn't push about it once. It wouldn't have felt right.

Despite how little Ava 'gave back' about clues, about… anything, it wasn't in Maya to give up on anyone, especially someone like Ava. After nearly a year of being her teacher, it did feel like she was getting somewhere. She didn't regret her choices in recruiting her to the quiz team, or to the hair and makeup post for the musical. Her one regret, at this point, was that she'd be teaching her from a distance in the year to come. Then again, who knew? Maybe doing the diaries from afar would open a door for them, for Ava. For all her attitude, the thing Maya found was what she figured had to be true here as it was in her other classes, where she was pulling in the grades she did. She applied herself in her assignments. Was she the world's greatest artist? Who was to say? But she expressed a lot on the pages of her diary, whether she meant to or not. From everything she'd seen there and in class, from the Parent's Night where she had met with Ava's mother, she still felt like she had no idea who this girl really was.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners