November 13th 2022

Chapter 317
Our Shock of Scandal

Going back to school, the first day after the holidays, sometimes felt like a soft reboot on the year, like once again this was a brand new year, and everyone was starting from scratch. That wasn't everywhere, especially not where activities were concerned, but still, there was the sense of renewal. And Maya loved it. This morning, she'd dropped off Marianne at the elementary school, and Mackenzie and Aubrey over with their Granny Mel and Pappy Tom, and then she'd started off toward her final destination for the better part of the day. She was nearly there when she received a message, letting her know that teachers were expected to meet up in the gym before classes began.

The moment she saw this, Maya felt tense. It had been nearly five years, almost to the day, since the morning they'd learned of Lambert Day's passing, and on those rare occasions when she'd gotten a summons like this, it had always made her think about that day, that moment. In her mind, she would tell herself that this couldn't be it, that when it had been Lambert, she'd been called, before ever leaving the house. It had spun her world upside down. So, whatever this was, it couldn't be… that. Please, don't be that…

"Hey…" Dylan was there, in the parking lot when she arrived, as he so often was. "Any idea what this is about?" he asked, the furrow in his brow telling her his mind had not ended up too far from where hers had gone.

"No," Maya shook her head, briefly reaching over to squeeze his arm, thankful that she had him there to acknowledge the chilling memory.

When they'd all arrived, they had first been put back at ease, to a degree, as they were told by the principal that they would be holding a few events in coming weeks to raise funds for some families who'd run into financial difficulties due to the storm. They were all of them more than happy to contribute, in whatever way they could. For a moment, Maya and Dylan looked to one another with this thought like they'd feared for nothing.

But the principal wasn't done. He'd given them the lighter notice first, getting it out of the way before tackling what was going to be a much rougher pill to swallow. It seemed that, in grading pre-holiday tests, Stephen Brett had discovered some suspicious results. The science teacher had done his best to be absolutely certain of this accusation before taking it to the principal, but then he'd had no choice. When he'd done it, he had been shocked to learn that he wasn't the only one to have raised this alert. Algebra, History, Spanish… All of those teachers had reached out, and on the other end of the line, the principal was hit with a bit of déjà vu at the names he was given again, and again, and again…

Freshmen. Three of them. It was already like a nightmare of a different kind than the one Maya had envisioned, no less shocking. Matt Cullen. Lamar Whitley. And Lydia Sullivan-Reyes. According to the principal and those teachers, they had somehow gotten their hands on test answers, in four different subjects. They were reviewing all students who were in all four of those classes, in the event that any of them had been craftier than the others in hiding their cheating, though at this moment they didn't believe they'd missed any. Either way, there would be an assembly, school wide, after which the trio would be brought into the office to discuss these accusations. Their parents would be called in, those of them who were in Austin. The exchange camper's parents would have to be 'met' over the phone. The important part, where the teachers were concerned, would be, for the time being, not to discuss details, not to reveal the names of those involved.

There was a lot of talking among the teachers, once the meeting was ended. The four involved had clearly been told not to talk about it over the holiday break. Maya had seen two of them, Cory, and Stephen Brett, and neither one of them had said a word. Some were all too happy to say that they had mistrusted the accused three, that they'd been trouble. Maya's ears perked whenever she heard their names, and she had to hold her tongue. They had not said anything of the sort before today, had even praised them all at one time or another. It was hypocritical, saving face because they hadn't caught on to it any more than the rest of them had. Dylan almost had to guide her away when she caught someone talking ill of 'those exchange kids,' as though it was Lucas and Sullivan Stables' fault for not vetting their choices before bringing them here, like Matt had been some ill influence on the others.

"This is just… I can't believe it…" Maya shook her head as Dylan accompanied her out to her classroom. "Maybe I'm not awake yet. You ever have those moments where you're having the most vivid dream and then nope, you just fell asleep folding laundry, or playing with the kids?"

"I have, yeah," Dylan chuckled before looking back at her. This wasn't that, not this time, and they both knew it. Maya sighed, pressing her hands at her face, like she could have screamed into them.

"I mean… I saw them all, over the break! And I…" she shook her head, thinking back, her face struggling to rise. If she thought about it, really thought about it, maybe… maybe they did look strange, like they had something on their minds, or… Didn't they? She couldn't even be sure anymore, but also…

She stopped, so suddenly that Dylan took a few steps before he realized that she'd fallen behind. He looked back at her.

"Maya?" he asked. She blinked, looked at him.

"I gotta go," she turned back around and sped off down the hall.

"Where are you going? Maya!" he called after her, but she didn't stop. She had to know, she had to… Where are they? Are they here yet?

Between siblings and significant others in different grades, there was quite a group hanging about her old bench that morning, especially with the return from break. She might have hoped to find them not so bunched up like this, so she could talk to all of them at once, but with so many others there, she had to get to the heart of her question.

"MJ! Hey!" she called out and the group all looked back at her, her brother, her sisters, cousins, all their friends… "Get over here for a minute?" she focused on her little brother, doing her best not to alert the others. By the way he jogged over, while the others went back to talking, she was relieved… if she could call it that.

"Morning!" MJ smiled and hugged her. Maya took a breath as she hugged him back, and when he stood back, he looked like he'd caught on to her mood. "What's wrong?"

"Come here," she guided him further away, to somewhere she could be sure to not be overheard. He had so much of their father's worry brow going right now that it was distracting. Finally, she sighed, had to just get to the point; they didn't have much time. "Did you know? Were you involved?" she asked, curious to see if that would be all he'd need to hear. He blinked, caught halfway between clueless and afraid. "Matthew Jonathan Hunter," she spoke through gritted teeth.

"Okay, hey, it's weirder when you do that," he gestured at her.

"Talk to me… Please… Did you?"

"No! No, I wouldn't, I swear," he quickly answered, and she believed him. After a moment hesitating, he asked, "Who…"

"Lamar, Lydia, and Matt Cullen," she told him, watched him… "Someone else?" she tilted her head. He muttered that there wasn't, but it didn't sound convincing, especially to his big sister. "Matthew Jon…"

"I talked them out of it, okay?" he cut in, another bit of burden removed. "I thought I'd talked them all out of it, but then over the break…" he sighed. "None of them owned up to it, but I knew."

It took Maya a moment, replaying his words in her head to understand what he'd meant with the first part. Ash Bell… He'd talked them out of participating, but they would have done it if he hadn't.

"They're in trouble, aren't they?" MJ quietly asked.

"There's going to be an assembly," Maya told him. "And their parents are going to come in to meet with the principal… I don't know what's going to happen after that. MJ… Why didn't you come to me? I could have stopped this, could have found a way to help them when they hadn't done anything. But now…"

"I know, I know…" he frowned. "I wanted to, but then they said they'd all changed their minds, so I figured… it was over, so there was no point. I should have done it anyway…" He hadn't wanted to get his friends in trouble, she understood that. And yet here they were… "What do I do now?" he asked. There was no way he would be able to collect himself by the time he went back over there. They'd know something was up the moment they saw his face.

"Might as well tell them what's coming," Maya sighed. "There's no getting away from it and… at least they won't be blindsided." It would be kinder, and regardless of what they'd done, she knew that they deserved that at least. There was no denying what they had done now, and they were going to have to live with it and with the consequences.

Maya couldn't bear to watch him go back there, watch him tell them they were busted. She made her way back into the school, on her own now with the morning's events. She felt sick to think about it. She wanted to tell herself that it was impossible, that they wouldn't do anything like that, surely not them, but then who was to say what a pack of fifteen and sixteen-year-old kids would or wouldn't do? If they were desperate enough… But even so, the thing that kept spinning through her head, as selfish as it could have sounded was just… Why hadn't they gone to her? Wouldn't they know, those of them who had known her before the start of this year as much as those who'd known her for half of one… Wouldn't they know that they could have come to her instead of… of doing that? As much as she'd do her best to speak on their behalf, now that they'd done all that and been found out…

She did see them, not long after, out there among their schoolmates as they all sat packed in the stands around the gym, listening to the principal and others who spoke. They were doing their best not to look guilty, because, while they weren't named openly, not even identified as freshmen, there were a lot of eyes roving about, some students trying to figure out who the guilty parties were. It had all the makings of a witch hunt, and Maya would not stand for it, but again… What could she do? For now, she had to teach her classes. It would be impossible to expect the subject not to creep up in each and every one of her classes, and the moment parents started to show up, and those three disappeared from one class or another… Maya would do her best to get in front of this, in what ways she could. There would only be so much for her to do to keep this from spiraling out. In fact, she didn't see this going any other way. Whatever she'd been feeling about coming back to class this morning, now… now it had become this.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners