October 16th 2022
Chapter 289
Our Peace in Returns
Far be it for Maya or Lucas to suggest that any of it had been done with the intent to delay her inevitable return to work, but Mackenzie was sick on the night just before Maya's return to work. Marianne came dashing into her parents' room to alert them and bring them back to see to her, and so they did. This was one sick child, not like when all the triplets had been sick at once – which tended to be the case, like they couldn't do so individually – and so they were able to deal with it easily enough. Of course, once the dust settled, they still had a little girl in some distress, and so she would be on their mind as they went back to sleep – keeping her close – and then as they woke up in the morning and had to start thinking about getting themselves and everyone else ready to leave for the day.
Lucas went ahead and called his mother about as soon as they'd woken up, knowing she'd already be up and about at this point. All he had to do was tell her about what had happened, and he knew that she'd be as good as on her way. He never liked leaving the girls when he knew they'd been sick, and he could imagine how Maya felt about doing the same right about now, like all she could think was 'of all the days.' All it would take would be a really simple plea and she would feel it impossible to leave their daughter… and he wouldn't blame her so much as he'd want to do the same.
But then Granny Mel swept in, like the Fairy Grandmother she was, and she had things so in control that they knew there was little point in arguing. Mackenzie would be just fine with her, as would Aubrey, so the rest of them had best get off to school and to work. Even Mackenzie didn't seem so concerned over her parents saying goodbye and going on their way. Maya gave her mother-in-law as solid of a grateful hug as she could ever give, a very mother-to-mother kind of embrace.
With Maya back to work as of that day, the drop-offs and pick-ups were able to reflect that change. For the remainder of the year, Lucas would continue dropping off the triplets and picking up Marianne, while Maya would do the reverse. They could have easily kept on sending the triplets to Donna at the ranch on the afternoons when their big sister was at blue group, but then seeing as they would be entering the ranks of green group in the fall, it had felt better this way. Plus, it gave them all a chance to have their turn. On this morning, that meant Maya taking off with Marianne to bring her to the elementary school.
By now, between preschool and then kindergarten, both Maya and Lucas were getting to know a lot of the parents milling about along with their children, some as friends and acquaintances, others as those same people you might spot on your regular morning commute. But the greatest bit of amusement would come in how, as their children grew, they found themselves attending the same school, if not the same grades, as their own friends' children. As Maya brought out Marianne, there was Zay along with Mia, and Riley with Nicky… And if it wasn't their friends, then there was also…
"Nana!"
"Hey!" Maya laughed as Tori came dashing over to her, leaving her father to come jogging after her once he'd given the all-clear. Now she was hugging around her grandmother's legs and looking up at her. "You're going to come and say hello every morning now, huh?" Maya asked her, and the girl nodded. "Good," she grinned.
Had it all been an easy adjustment for her to move back here with her father, leaving her mother and seeing her only on weekends? It had not, neither on her nor on Ella, but they were doing it, and they were better now than they had been at first. They had found their routine now, they knew that it all worked, and no matter what, they all got to see each other sooner or later, and that was what mattered.
After her dose of granddaughter hugs and saying goodbye to Marianne for the day, Maya finally made her way from the elementary school to the high school. Maybe for it being the first time she was coming back after that day, she couldn't help but smile to herself, recalling the look on Dylan's face when she told him about Riley and the baby. He was there now, in the parking lot again, when she arrived, just as she would have expected him to be, and he continued to have some of that buoyant feeling in him as he'd had over the weekend, too. It was no wonder that the rest of their group had seen right through him. By now, despite how they all kept tight-lipped about it, giving their friends the chance to make their announcement when they were ready, she was certain that they all knew.
Even though she had yet to provide them with their new freshman, the quiz team had by this point resumed their morning sessions in the art classroom, so they were there to welcome her when she arrived. Nika, Rolly, Maia… They were all so happy to have her back, and that feeling would echo throughout the day. As much as they had all loved Barton Day and would have been happy with having him again, there was no contest if they could have their Mrs. Friar back.
After Rolly and Maia went off to head to their own first period classes, it was down to Maya and Nika, and the senior girl went ahead and helped with the set up, giving the immediate impression that she'd done this before, which she had, in the month since she'd started off being a senior. With just the two of them there, they got to discuss the ongoing plan for Nika and her post high school dreams. The goal remained for her to go to art school, in England, even if she had yet to let her brother know about it. To Maya, it felt like she was guarding herself, in the event that it didn't work out. She could have told her that she deserved to be confident, but it wouldn't have worked nearly so well as her just continuing to show Nika that she had every right and reason to think she would make it.
"I haven't told the band yet," Nika mentioned, that morning, and this Maya had figured as well. If being across the country had been a deal breaker for half of TXNY, then being an ocean away would do the same to We Are Sisters, wouldn't it? "I don't want it to just end…" Maya understood that, too. She'd had to go through it, same as her.
"It doesn't have to. Olivia and Kelsey and Ava are still here, and we don't know what Jenny's going to do yet, do we?" she asked, and Nika shook her head. The Marshall girl had yet to make up her mind or at least to let anyone else in on what her intentions were with regards to college and an eventual career. "Cara's back now, and I know she's been encouraging the rest of you to replace her to make things easier, but I'm sure she'd stick around, if on a semi-regular basis… If you're concerned about making sure that the band survives, then maybe you all need to start thinking about recruiting a new member or two."
Even as she said it, all she could wonder was whether Ash Bell would be interested. They had put a cross on being involved in anything like musicals, but Maya had seen them coaching Angel last year, and she knew that there was still very much a part of them that thrived on music, so… It wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility. And right now, with their school situation, it might not have been a bad thing to be able to lean on. She couldn't give them Born Curious for that, much as she would have wanted to, but she could give them bandmates… unless of course if joining a girl group called We Are Sisters would not work, but… names could be changed, couldn't they?
Whatever they would all do about the band, it wasn't going to happen today. For now, the class started to fill up, and it was already a good day before the bell had rung to kick it off. Even though they knew this would be the day, the students were still so glad to have their teacher back that it felt like an extra boost of energy to get them going. Some of them wanted to hear about how the girls were doing, wanted to see new pictures of the baby, who would surely have grown since they'd seen her a month before. Maya was very glad also to finally get to be in the classroom with senior XC Lupe Acevedo.
She had been seeing her diary assignments every week, getting to know her through there and also from Lucas talking about her time at the ranch, but she knew there was so much more room for her to get to know her, and finally she had her chance. So far, especially from her diary, she had found that, in a lot of ways she had a quality inherent to a lot of the riders she'd seen over the years, the kind she couldn't describe but told her immediately 'that one is a consummate horse rider.' It was undoubtedly the thing she was most comfortable discussing with people she didn't know too well. What she liked to discuss with those she did know, well, Maya hadn't seen it yet. As far as her art, she was one of those who appeared most comfortable in drawing scenes and elements of nature, to the best of her ability.
"Mrs. Friar, can I talk to you about something?"
Jenny had whispered this to her when she'd passed by her station, and at once Maya had directed her to follow. Now, they stood out in the hall, which was empty save for the two of them. Once they got there, and she got a look of the senior again, she had a distinct impression somewhere between anxious and excited coming from her, suggesting that whatever she had to say had the potential to be good but also terrifying.
"So, there's this boy…" Jenny started, and Maya grinned. Ah. "He doesn't go to our school, but he's a senior, too. His younger sibling is on the LGBTeam, and he comes to a lot of their practices to drive them home after, sits out on the sidelines…" Maya didn't have to ask how she felt about this boy, not with that tremulous little smile on her face.
"And this boy has a name?" she tested, knowing the easiest way to confirm her assumption.
"Jack," Jenny replied, and there was the bloom right there, the flush of the cheeks, the spark in the eyes… Oh, she had it bad… Of course, that was only one side of it, and from there the concerns resurfaced. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
"He knows that you're…" Maya started to ask, and Jenny cut in.
"Trans? Yeah, he does. He's always been great with Cy, with the whole team, I just… I don't know…" She was worried that, as okay as he was, it would never so much as cross his mind to be romantically interested with a girl who'd been born a boy. "It feels so silly to still think that way, and I know that's just issues that I'm still carrying around, but I can't help it, I've never been in a relationship, never known anyone I've been interested in like that and…" Her words drifted off, but Maya understood them anyway.
"Maybe just… find a way to interact with him directly when he's not sitting on the sidelines. Let him figure out how great you are," she smiled at her student. Jenny considered this, saw the merit in it. She could do that, yes… She would do that.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
