June 21st 2022

Chapter 172
Our Time to Remember

Dear Mrs. Friar,

I've been meaning to write to you for a while now, since I heard about the new baby. Congratulations! You know, speaking as the last of eight kids who all played for either the girls' or boys' team at our school, I can't wait to see if your daughters will do the same. Is there a limit on how many people can come from the same family at try-outs? I hope not. It'd be great to see a bunch of them out there together. I know it's still a long time from now, but I'd definitely want to be there to see it. Anyway, I hope everything's going well with the baby and everyone else.

For myself, I'm really looking forward to the end of the semester. Abby and I are planning to go on a trip over the summer with a few of our friends from back in high school, kind of like a mini reunion from our Europe trip. I know it's only been two years since then, and maybe we could have at least waited until after college, but we just figured why not? There's no telling where all of us will be by then, right? Abby's got her boyfriend, and just between us there's a strong chance that she'll be engaged pretty soon (I helped him shop for a ring last week!) so there's also a chance that the summer we graduate she'll have another trip on her mind and I won't be included, will I?

Classes have been very busy this semester. They're good, but I definitely struggled to keep up in places. The break will be really good.

Oh! I almost forgot! I was talking to one of my classmates out here the other day, and she was telling me how her whole end of semester project was on the album you did with Ree Forster. She's in the music department. Anyway, I didn't tell her that I knew you because you played basketball with my sister or that you were my teacher, but I was wondering if you would be okay with me giving her your information. I won't if you don't want me to. I just thought, if there's this connection right there, I couldn't say nothing, right? Please don't feel obligated in any way.

Much love,

Ruby Shelby

.

Dear Ruby,

I received and read your letter no more than an hour before Julianne called me with the news about Abby and the proposal. I may not have seen her face, but just the surprise in her voice when I told her I already knew… It was priceless. Please give your twin sister a big hug from me and give her my congratulations? Even though I have seen a few of my former students be married by now, it still never gets old to feel that thrill, like something halfway between mother and big sister…

Everything is going great here with the baby, thank you for asking. It was a challenge in the beginning, balancing a newborn with four more children, three of those under the age of two, but we have been adjusting, slowly but surely. The nights are definitely easier now than they were on those first few weeks, though they still have some way to go before they level off. Whether that will happen in the next few months or the next few years, well…

All kidding aside, Mackenzie, like her sisters before her, has been a joy to get to know. She's still very little at this point, so it's difficult to describe her as far as any personality developing, but we still see something like quirks in her, though they're hard to explain. If you ask me, she's going to be a funny one…

Thank you for letting me know about your friend. I have to assume by now that she will have handed in her project already, but yes, by all means, let her know how to reach me if she wants to. I would be more than happy to talk with her.

Have a wonderful summer and let me know how the trip goes, alright?

Take care,

Mrs. Maya Friar

X

"Allie… Santi… Mack!" Kacey intoned as she gazed upon the three babies resting together.

The Mantovani twins may have had four months over the two-month-old Friar, but whenever she'd be brought to join them like this, it would feel as though they counted her as one of their own. They certainly hollered if she was taken away from them. Valentina and Santiago were maybe the quietest among their siblings, to the point where their parents would joke that they barely counted for one noisy child, so the fact that there had unexpectedly been two of them was not as big of a change as it could have been. Anyway, between Giulia, Connor, Jae, and of course Tori and her mother and Lea, on top of Sophie and Chiara, and Asher and Ray, those two babies did not lack for any attention.

"Yeah, that's them," Ray smiled, crouching next to the little blonde. Kacey looked at him, pointed at Mackenzie again.

"She mine," she informed her uncle.

"She's your sister, yes, I know," Ray promised with a chuckle, and the girl smiled before turning her attention back to the trio. She repeated the names again, looking pleased when the twins recognized their own.

Soon, her twin and triplet came to join her in this activity, as did a few of the other kids gathered in the Orlando living room for the week's dinner. The rest of the kids were outside, tossing the ball at the new hoop that Nicky's grandparents had sent for his birthday, under the supervision of Ella and Jenna. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, a discussion had taken off, inspired by Maya's telling her friends, most of them former classmates, how she'd been preparing for the end of the school year, the upcoming graduation… And this in turn had the effect of getting them reminiscing.

It had been fourteen years now since they'd graduated high school, which was already something on its own before they started to think of other things. It had been four years already since they'd had their ten-year reunion, and the old team/new team face-off… And they could take it further than that, like how it would be twenty years, in the coming fall, since Maya and her mother had moved to Austin. The thought of that anniversary had the most effect on Maya herself, and her mother, and of course Lucas, as it would mean twenty years since they'd met. It was still important to their friends, too. Zay, Asher, Dylan, Nadine… Every time one of them had come along, they'd made their group richer for having them, so really any milestone with them was worth noting.

"You know what I miss?" Zay started.

"I don't know, you get attached easily, you're going to have to be more specific," Nadine teased her husband, and his look of 'afront' made the others snicker. "What do you miss, Z?" she asked, now with a sweeter tone and a smile. Zay could not resist this. He smiled back at her before getting back on track.

"Team parties, at the Shelby house," he gave the answer to his question, and the immediate reaction from those who'd had the privilege to attend, as team members or as very specially permitted guests, like Riley, was a burst of varying noises, all of them saying in their own way how deeply they agreed with Zay's sentiment.

Those had really been some of their best times back in high school. The pool, the music, the food, the shoot-offs… and just the people… Theirs was really a special time, they had to remember it, and none would forget. They had spent the better part of their team days with a fixed line-up that only dwindled and didn't grow, thanks to the teams being shut down. It had given their status together a completely different meaning than those before and after them, and those parties had been a symbol for all that they represented as a unit.

"Do they still have those out there?" Sophie asked. "With the last of them graduated…"

"Oh, yeah, didn't you hear?" Dylan turned to her. "Nathan and Riya bought the house from his parents." No, she had definitely not heard that, and clearly neither had a few of the others. "Yeah, they're living out there now, and the house is open for parties to go on, same as ever. This year's one was last week, I think."

"Yeah, it was," both Maya and Nadine chimed in, which made them turn a smile to one another. It had been a particular delight this year to watch their little sisters become teammates. Olivia, Nellie, and Gracie all knew it, too, and it meant a lot to them that they got to do that, knowing their big sisters' history as teammates. For the Hunter twins, the fact that the parties were still a thing now that they were on the team, even if a couple of those nights had happened before they were born, was like finally being granted access to something out of legend.

"Do you think they'd still let us in?" Asher joked.

"Ah, come on, we're us!" Zay extended his arms. "They gotta!" Both Nadine and Lucas, as wife and best friend respectively, seemed taken with a reflex of intervention, and they looked at each other as though to say, 'you or me?' Lucas tipped his head in deference, and Nadine reached over to pat her husband on the back.

"We can have our own party, in the basement. All of us, Nathan and Riya, anyone else who wants to show up," Lucas offered, and this definitely sounded like a plan with some promise, better than crashing the kids' party.

"End the night with a shoot-off though, right? Us versus them?" Dylan added, and the smirks all around said it all.

"I'll keep score," Riley raised her hand. The others nodded. Naturally.

"This would have been a good idea to have a week ago…" Maya reflected, and the others had to realize that she had a point. They'd have to wait until next year's party. "We could just have one of those now…" she added, as a way to lift their moods back up. The effect was fairly instantaneous. They couldn't say no to that, especially when the challenge had been put on the table.

"After dinner," Chiara cut in, still the group mom even when most among their group were parents themselves.

Soon, dinner was served, the children gathered from their activities so they could eat. The discussion would shift this way and that now, between summer plans, and anecdotes from home, or work, and still more memories from school days. Once the kids started to catch word of what their parents wanted to do after dinner, they became very intrigued and excited. As soon as they were done with their dessert, they wanted to get outside, but they still waited a little while longer, to give everyone a chance to pick up around the kitchen, to digest…

In due time however, the hosts and their guests reconvened outside, where the former players decided whether to make this about one team over another or everyone out for themselves. In the spirit of inspiring teamwork, they chose to split off, following the old classic of girls versus boys. Some argued that, even after all these years, this would be an uneven match, but the women just grinned and assured the men that they wouldn't go easy on them, so they had better bring their best.

Whether they liked it or not, the lack of practice for some of them was evident, but then again, their version of a lack of practice probably looked like a casual player having a very good day. As much as both sides wanted to win, for little more than bragging rights, what they loved the most, apart from getting to play together to this day, was hearing the children and the way they cheered for their parents as well as their aunts and uncles.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners