November 2nd 2022

Chapter 306
Our Hands to Support

"Are you getting sleepy over there?" Maya asked Tori as she approached her station. The five-year-old was looking just a bit like she was holding on to the surface now for support more than anything else, and she blinked a pair of clear eyes at her that looked intent on shutting.

"No," she shook her head.

"Are you sure about that?" Maya asked her, reaching out to brush at her hair, grazing her forehead. The way she leaned into the touch, her argument over not being sleepy was falling apart quick. She rallied just a bit when she spotted a familiar face in the door though…

"Super Nana!" she gasped. That was what she called Katy Hunter. She couldn't be her Nana because that was Maya's title. Katy was her great grandmother, but rather than call her Great Nana or something of the kind, Shawn had innocently suggested that she call her Super Nana, and Tori had loved it so much that there'd been no going back. Katy had commended him on his ability to help his great granddaughter in the same breath as he complimented his wife.

"Hey, this is a nice surprise," Katy beamed as she approached, she and Maya exchanging cheek kisses before she approached the small girl.

"I told Theo to leave her with me while he saw Nika's teachers," Maya explained. "Now she's getting sleepy on me."

"Tell you what, I've got a few more to go for MJ, but I can keep her with me, or get her back to Theo if I run into him." Tori would spend the minutes her Nana and Super Nana would discuss her uncle sitting in Katy's lap and quickly falling asleep.

It had been a lot easier for her to adjust to looking to one of her siblings as a student now that she'd done it with the twins for a couple of years. There was still the occasional moment where she had to make herself think about it, to keep that separation where it needed to be during class time, but still she was able to do it. She would be lying if she said it hadn't been a bit harder when she'd started, both from a distance with the diaries and then once she'd gone back to class, but they'd found their rhythm, her, and him. She was Mrs. Friar, and he was Mr. Hunter.

From what she'd heard from colleagues and now from her mother, she knew that he was doing alright in his classes. He wasn't doing great, in a couple of subjects especially, but he had room to grow, and they were optimistic, though they would of course encourage him to do better. For what Maya had seen of him over the last few weeks, she had a sense that her brother could sometimes be distracted, which was understandable at his age, but still, she could see how it could affect his performance in class. It would definitely be a point where the line between teacher and sister would be more difficult to navigate. It was anyone's guess whether his new relationship would help or hinder.

Despite what some portions of the school had been led to believe, MJ Hunter only now found himself having his first proper boyfriend, and it was… well, exactly who they'd believed to already be his boyfriend, which could only have made it easier for everyone to get confused. Hadn't he already been dating Lamar Whitley?

Whatever the two of them had discussed at Halloween, it had evidently been enough – before they'd been spied making out by MJ's sisters – for Lamar to accept the truth that he had real feelings for his friend and to want to let it be known to any and all who could hear it. He wasn't sure where he fell, if he was actually gay, or bi, or something else, and he didn't feel that he had to decide one way or the other. All he knew just now was that he really liked MJ and wanted to be with him, as actual boyfriends, not only pretending.

Maya had been unable to keep from thinking about how this whole thing was going over on the other side, with Lamar. Katy and Shawn had long known about MJ's sexuality, but clearly Lamar had still been figuring himself out, still was, and now he was out in the world with this boyfriend, so how had his parents taken it? Nothing she saw suggested that they had taken it badly in any way and having Carla Whitley-McNeil in her class that evening proved as much. According to her, both she and her husband had sort of suspected as much about Lamar for a long time, especially in recent months. They hadn't said anything because they wanted it to be up to him to say it, so when he'd come out to them, his mother and stepfather had shown categorically that they would stand by him and anyone who had a problem with him would have a problem with them. The only one who might have caused problems, as Carla knew how he had been, was Lamar's biological father, but he was long out of the picture, with him and with Tre, for which the boys were better off.

It still amazed her sometimes to consider how the family had come together, and how those connections even touched Maya's own family in a small way. Carla Whitley's mother-in-law, from her first marriage, had been the one to make it all happen in a way. She was a middle school counsellor, the very one who had suggested for Rochelle McNeil to take art… and the very one who Lucas had once had to go see once a week after returning from his suspension, the one he'd be seeing before going outside to sit with new friend Maya. She had been of the type to stand by her former daughter-in-law and her grandsons more than her son, so that when she'd come across the divorced father of two, Malcolm McNeil, and thought that he and Carla might be a good match… As devoted as she was to all the kids who'd come by her office, surely, it had still reframed a lot of Maya's perspective on Rochelle's placement once she'd found out the woman was her grandmother by marriage.

It was almost a shame that Tori was already gone by the time Keith Reyes came along for Lydia's appointment. She would never play favorites with him or Michael, but then Keith was the one with the best big hugs, and he had that deep, deep voice that was enthralling to small children like her… Maya was not wholly immune either, so she gladly took a hug out of him.

He was so glad when he'd heard that Lydia had taken up the position with the quiz team, both he and Michael were. They knew that it would be really good for her, as it had been good for Lea. The two of them had a completely different approach to how they competed, as far as Maya could describe it. Lea, the natural performer, had had about the best poker face out there, and it worked very well for her in not letting the other team figure out where her head was at throughout a match. Lydia… Well, Hypnoteyes looked keener on destabilizing her opponents with the look in her eyes, though it remained to be seen whether she actually did this on purpose or not. It seemed far likelier, for having known her all her life, that she wasn't even doing it on purpose. This was just the power that she exuded, her thoughts on display and saying very plainly 'I will own this.' She usually did.

Maya didn't bring up her reasoning for finally choosing her over someone from beyond her class. It had made sense to her, and every day it felt more and more like it had been the right call, and that was what mattered. She'd followed her gut.

With a couple minutes left before her next appointment, Maya asked about how things were going with the Rafa situation. Any developments? There weren't any, not really, although his mother had been coming around to finally letting the boy know about his would-be family, letting him meet Michael and Keith and their children. It was a big step, and there was no telling exactly how he would take the realization that his mother had given him up, even if she had taken him back no more than eight days later. They all wanted to do their best to make it easy for him if he was going to know. If he didn't want to meet them, that would be his choice, but if he did want to know them… oh, nothing would make them happier.

Her last freshman appointment was with Ash Bell's mother, Terry Bell. Just like last year, the woman was elated to see her, recalling the days when Ash had been a part of Stage Ready as a small child. According to her, it had been like kismet, a sign that Ash needed to get back on the stage. Terry Bell had without a doubt had the makings in her of a stage mom, and the more Maya recalled their interactions back then and considered those they had now, she couldn't help thinking that maybe it had had something to do with why Ash no longer wished to perform. With that in mind, too, it was to wonder how Ash's little sister Kennedy was faring. She was eight years old now and had yet to show any inclinations toward performance, but that was unlikely to matter so much to Terry.

As much as part of her wanted to walk this notion back, not to mark her as a problematic mother, it was difficult. She couldn't just say 'oh, but she's been so accepting of Ash as being non-binary even if she trips up on the pronouns and still calls them Ashleigh sometimes,' because it wasn't the win that it could be construed to represent. Respecting her child's identity felt like the bare minimum. But then they'd be here, and Maya would be showing her Ash's artwork, which was truly some of the most stunning work she'd seen in her near decade as a teacher, and all Terry wanted to talk about was the Stage Ready days, and the musicals here at the school. She had no idea that Ash had coached Angel last year, and Maya wasn't going to be the one to tell her, because it would bring nothing good to Ash at all. To Mrs. Bell, Ash's voice was a much grander asset than what they could put on paper or canvas, and Maya didn't see herself as able to convince her otherwise. So, she did her job for the night, and they eventually parted ways.

Maya let out a sigh, wandering over to the station where Tori had worked. Right about now she would have given a lot for a hug from her sneaky granddaughter, but she'd either be out there with her Super Nana, or she'd be back with her father, and that was just as well. Maya went ahead and picked up the paints, and the brush… empty juice box, empty cookie wrapper… She looked to her painting, and it made her smile. She wasn't sure whether Tori wanted to have it for home or not, but for now Maya brought it over to sit where it could be on display on the side of her bookshelf. Where it sat, only she or anyone who stood at the board could see that panel, and that was where she had several of her daughters' artwork, and already some from Tori, too. She'd get to see it, and it would make her smile, every day.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners