November 15th 2022

Chapter 319
Our Shock of Choices

The morning classes had been what they were bound to be, after the way the day had started for everyone, which already gave Maya little hope that the afternoon would be any different. If anything, she suspected it might be worse. After the assembly, everyone had been sent off to their classes, like there was any way that any of them would go smoothly now. She couldn't say how the others went, only her own, and that in itself was complicated. Hers wasn't a class where she spoke, and everyone was expected to be quiet unless called upon. She encouraged discussion, most days, while everyone worked, so long as they didn't just sit the whole period and did nothing but talk. Except today… Today there was the assembly, the news, the scandal… and all they wanted to know was who had done it.

She absolutely understood not wanting to air out the trio's names, understood and supported it, but at the same time, that choice in itself would have consequences. There was no way that the other students, with so little information given to them, wouldn't slowly but surely whittle it down and eventually figure it out. Word would definitely spread when they got called to the principal's office. It was a no win situation.

Maya figured she had about her easiest group to deal with right off the bat, with the seniors. For one, they'd lost a good portion of their period to the assembly, and maybe most importantly they were on their fourth year with her. If she asked them to focus and do something, they would do it. The conversation came a lot quieter than usual, in whispers that buzzed around the room, isolating everyone to their stations. Did they wonder if the cheaters were in their class? Did they have suspicions on anyone? This one has bad grades or that one might not get into college… Maya did not like the looks being tossed around.

She'd just about forced herself to stay in her class and keep busy in second period, resisting the urge to go out there and see if the kids had been called out of class yet. Oh, she wanted to go and try to speak on their behalf, but what was she supposed to say or do at this point? They had done what they'd done, and things were going to happen as they would. She spent the entire period trying to find something, anything, that she could clean, or organize, or do anything to in order to keep busy. It was the first day though, so she'd had little success there.

And then she'd had her next class, with the sophomores. They'd had one and a half classes' time to ponder and investigate, and by the time they'd landed in art, things had not slowed down in the slightest. Instead, they had suspicions. They couldn't speak on the other grades, but it seemed that they were sure some other kids in their year were of a kind they wouldn't be surprised to learn had cheated, and they were stunned to see how little they acted in any way like they felt guilty or remorseful after having been busted. It got to the point that Maya asked them to work without talking. They were surprised at this, and finally she'd decided she'd put out a lot more fires this way and revealed that the cheaters were not sophomores. It was as far as she would go.

After that, she'd had to go and see Lucas, to talk to him about what had happened and what might come his way because of the association with the XCs. When she'd left him to head back to school, she'd stopped to grab something from their regular coffee shop. Her head was pounding with the events of the morning so far, and she'd just needed to take a moment when the world wouldn't feel like it was spinning. She sat there, back in the minivan, drank her coffee, and then she continued on toward school.

Lunch had just started by the time she came back, and she was really glad she didn't have to go to the cafeteria today, because she could just imagine what that would look like right about now. No, she'd brought back food from the coffee shop, and she would sit in her class, and stay out of there… thinking about what it would be like, when classes were called back in, when she'd be receiving the freshmen…

She came to a stop when she turned the corner and spotted them waiting outside her door. MJ, Lamar, Ash, Lydia, and Matt. With the cloud of emotions hanging over all of their heads, it was a wonder that it wasn't all over the school who 'the cheaters' were. By the looks of them, they didn't want to be in the cafeteria either. With a sigh, Maya moved to get the door open before waving them inside. As they filed in, she watched them go and finally followed, shutting the door again and the curtain in the window before finally turning to look at them. No one had gone to sit. They just stood there like, for once, they didn't know how to exist in this classroom. Freshmen though they were, they all looked like they felt that they'd disappointed her, and they really wished they hadn't, whether they had cheated or not.

"Looks like none of you knows what to say. At least we have that in common," Maya spoke evenly. She was disappointed, she couldn't deny it. And at the same time there was this tiny part of her, strange as it could sound, that felt guilty, that felt that she should have seen this coming, should have been able to prevent it. That wasn't true, and she knew it, but…

"Maya…" Lydia was the first to speak, and she wasn't Hypnoteyes right now. Her eyes were shining with tears, like she'd been holding them back all morning, and now, with one word, the barrier had been ruptured. "I'm really sorry…" she managed to speak. She was hugging herself, unable to figure out what else to do with her hands.

"I don't know what you want me to say," Maya told them. "That I understand? That it's not a big deal? I don't know how this is all going to turn out, but it is going to be a big deal, for the three of you, for the school, your families… maybe the ranch, too," her eyes flicked over to Matt Cullen, who bowed his head at once. "I really don't… I don't understand why you would…" She sighed, moved to put down her bag and her lunch before motioning for all of them to sit around one of the stations. They went quietly. "You know I'm always there to help any of you, with anything, but I don't know how I'm supposed to help with this one. What happened?" she asked them, almost desperate.

They looked up at her, at each other. None of them seemed to know what to say, where to start… To Maya, it was like she couldn't quite recognize them the same way. It wasn't like she was under the impression that, seeing them in her class every day, she knew every single part of their lives, even her brother's, her cousin's… But right here, she had been made aware of this particular event they had been involved in, one way or another, and she didn't know how to integrate it back with what she'd known.

"Have your parents come yet?" she asked, maybe just to break the silence. Lamar and Lydia shook their heads. "And what about yours?" she turned to Matt. He shook his head, too. They hadn't called them yet.

"They're going to suspend us, aren't they?" Lamar asked. As long as she'd known him, even before this year, he'd always come off as close to 'happy go lucky' as she could think to define it, one of a few like that she'd had over the years, even as he'd been figuring his way to where his heart lay, with MJ. But now, even as his genuine boyfriend sat by his side and held his hand, the boy looked as quiet and small as she'd ever seen him. Maya's silence at this was interpreted just as though they'd pulled the thought from her head. "They're not going to expel us?" Lamar blinked. The thought had been shared by the others, too, whether they expressed it aloud or not, and now that he had, it felt more possible than ever. It frightened them. "A-are they?"

"I don't know what they're going to do," Maya admitted, though a suspension seemed to be a very definite possibility.

"This is my fault…" Ash spoke up, and the others looked at them. Maya blinked, looked at MJ, who'd sworn that they hadn't been part of this in the end. He shook his head.

"It's not," Lydia tried to tell them, sniffling.

"It is," Ash insisted. "This all started because I was so worried that I'd fail again, and then everything just sort of… got bigger, and bigger, until…" they gestured. Until the three of them had gone through with it. "And then I didn't even go with you… I should be suspended, too," they declared.

"Well, if you are, then so will I," MJ spoke up. Maya looked at him. "I knew they were going to do it; I didn't say anything, I didn't stop them…"

"We should have listened," Lamar shook his head, squeezed MJ's hand, and Maya hated to think that, to her, it sounded more like he was upset that they'd gotten caught, less so that they'd actually done what they'd done. It might have sounded like that to MJ, too. He held his boyfriend's gaze for a moment, looking like part of him wanted to pull away his hand. Lamar seemed to catch on to this, too, and he let go, brought his hands into his lap.

"I don't think I'll get to stay here," Matt broke the awkward silence that was threatening to set in. He looked crestfallen at this thought, like it had only just occurred to him that one of the biggest consequences for him, in his status as an exchange camper, might be that he would have to pack up his things and return to New York, disgraced, no more ranch time. He looked at Lydia, his host, who had been as a sister to him since he'd arrived at the end of August. She was realizing that he might well be sent home, too, and to her it was like one more bad thing on top of everything else. So much of Maya's brain wanted to shout just now, to ask them exactly what they had expected when they'd done this.

"In all the time it must have taken you, to figure out how to get what you needed, from four classes, you're telling me not one of you realized that this was a terrible idea?" Maya shook her head. Lydia started to cry again, Ash looked helpless, Matt seemed lost… MJ and Lamar wouldn't look at each other. "Look… I'm going to do what I can to help you after… whatever comes, but that's all I can do, you know that. I can't imagine it'll be very long before everyone knows it was you, and frankly it's probably for the best. It's been a nightmare with the other classes, too," she told them, and they all looked like it hadn't occurred to them. She turned to MJ and Ash. "Whatever you two decide, whether you'll step forward and tell your part, that's up to you, so just… choose wisely." Silence held again. "Now… Did you all bring your lunches, or…" They had. "Alright, go on and eat. I'll be over there."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners