January 20th 2022
Chapter 20
Our Connection to School
Getting through four boxes of diaries, containing near on a hundred sketchbooks, always required some discipline. Whether she collected them in person, or they were delivered and retrieved again by a kindly colleague, she still received them on Friday afternoon and had to bring/send them back on Monday morning, so she had to keep to her schedule. One box on Friday nights, one and a half each on Saturdays and Sundays, and maybe a few diaries on Monday mornings if she somehow hadn't finished in time. At one point, she'd tried to do them all on Friday, in her break between classes, but she hadn't liked the feeling of it, like she was on a clock. The diaries only really worked if she gave them all the same attention.
This year, not only did she have to take a bit more time, to respond to communications left in the diaries, but she also had to divide her attention between the work and her new daughters. At least, because the boxes came on Friday in late afternoon and were with her through the weekend, she could count on having her very special assistant by her side.
"Next one?" Marianne asked. Maya laughed.
"That's my line," she teased before passing her the sketchbook she'd been looking through. "But yes, next one, please." At once, Marianne very carefully set the book in line with the already completed portion of the box before pulling up the next one. She took a moment to look at the cover. She didn't know them all by heart yet, but she had a reasonable number of them associated to the names on the spine which she couldn't read yet.
"You really like that one, huh?" Maya smiled, seeing how Marianne was genuinely mesmerized by the Greek landscape before her.
"Nika," Marianne stated as she nodded to her mother.
Finally, she had to agree to hand it over, so in compensation she climbed down from her parents' bed and went to find her own diary, along with her box of crayons, before settling down on the floor. When Maya looked down over the edge of the bed a few minutes later, she saw that Marianne was filling up a new page with her own attempt at something like what she'd seen. She may not have been four years old just yet, but compared to a majority of her contemporaries, she showed a lot of skill. Not unlike those of her students, her daughter's sketchbook showed an evolution of creative talent, and without doubt or surprise it was Maya's favorite one to leaf back through.
"You know, she's going to be here this afternoon," she pointed out, achieving the desired effect of getting the little blonde to look up. She showed her the book, and she understood the double meaning: Nika was coming, and also it was time for the next diary. Marianne stood and gladly performed her task. "She'll be here with the rest of the quiz team for a little bit."
That was great news! She loved Lea the most, naturally, but it was by no means that she didn't share a special bond with Rosemary, too, and with Ava, though the girl still appeared puzzled by that fact. Now, as it was the first time the team would come over to the house in its new lineup, it would be the first time Marianne met Nika... or that any of the team, save for Lea, met the babies in person.
Until they showed up, Maya needed to keep at her boxes. She wouldn't rush through them, never, so it was a matter of not letting herself get too distracted by one thing or another... unless said 'thing' could cry like her life depended on it until someone picked her up. She went through the rest of the freshman box and what part of the junior box she could manage before the team arrived, rotating between holding one or another of the triplets. Marianne wanted to hold them, too, but in the spirit of efficiency... and the desire to have her drawing finished to show Nika, she continued to work, with the box at her side, so she could also hand her mother the next books and receive the previous ones. She just really loved to help. Diary time had always been something they shared, for as long as she could remember.
Finally, after lunch and a brief return to the boxes, there came the doorbell, announcing the first arrival. It was just as well that they'd taken up residence in the living room this time around, or else Marianne might have tried and rushed her way down the stairs, diary in hand. Instead, she only had to go from the couch to the door, which she was permitted to open.
"Mary-Mary!" she happily greeted Rosemary.
"You got bigger again!" the junior girl proclaimed in matched happiness.
"You're telling me," Maya chuckled to herself.
"Come see the babies, come!" Marianne took their visitor by the hand - forcing her to quickly reach back and shut the door as she was pulled along - up to the bassinet. "That one's Kacey, that one's Lucy, and that one's Remy," she pointed to each one.
Lea was not far behind in arriving, and so they went about getting the girls up to the second floor. Eliza and Emma were off at work, while Lucas had been called to look in on a horse who'd been injured at the ranch. So, Maya, Lea, and Rosemary each took one of the babies up the two flights of stairs, to the bassinet waiting up in the art room. They'd barely gotten them all settled in that the bell rang again and brought Ava Nash.
"I can't stay late," she informed her teacher upon hearing that they were still waiting on their newest member. "I have to leave in two hours."
"Got it," Maya assured her. "It shouldn't be long. You can go ahead and join the others upstairs; you know the way."
"Okay," Ava moved past her, only to be accosted by the small blonde with the big book.
"Hi!" Marianne beamed at her. Ava continued to appear entirely baffled by the child, and Maya was kind of curious about how she'd fare with the babies.
"Hey, kid," she tipped her head to her, having no idea that she only endeared herself more whenever she called her that, because that was what her Grandpa Shawn called her, too. She went on her way up the stairs, and Marianne almost followed her until she looked down to the book in her arms and recalled what she was waiting on.
They only had to wait about three minutes before one more ring of the bell brought Nika Petrelis in their midst. This was the first time she and Maya met in person, and even with how they'd had their cards on the table from day one, and even though Ella was now communicating - if mostly in pictures and videos of Tori - it was... Well, it was awkward, no other way to put it. There was this thing between them, and it wasn't directly connected to them, they were outliers if anything, but still... Luckily, they had an ice breaker.
"Hi!" Marianne came up with her giddy grin full of teeth. It made Nika blink and look down. "I'm Marianne," she announced.
"Hi!" Nika brightened into a smile, looking down at the toddler. "I'm Nika."
"I know," Marianne nodded, tapping her diary's cover before opening it. Lucas had fixed an elastic band to the back, to be wrapped around and hold at wherever she was up to in the book, so all she had to do to find her latest works or a blank page was pull back the bound side.
"She loves your cover," Maya explained just as Nika was presented with the crayon rendition. There was not as much detail, not even close, but could it be identified as being at all similar to the freshman's work? Absolutely. And Nika was nearly floored to see it.
"Wow..." she smiled, almost looked like she would cry. "That's so good!" she complimented the little artist. If seeing her work hadn't already made Marianne like her, this encounter would cement it. In a flash, her book was closed, and she took the newcomer by the hand, leading her to the stairs so she could come and meet her baby sisters.
In the five minutes or so since they'd sent Ava upstairs to join the others, Lea and/or Rosemary had evidently convinced her to pick up one of the babies. They all had one of them, sitting around the table Eliza and Emma had set up for them. It was kind of important to Maya that they continue to hold these sessions the way they'd always done, up under the skylight, but it would not have been a good idea for her to sit on one of the bean bags just now. So, for the time being, there was the table.
"They looked like they were going to cry," Lea informed her cousin's wife. "We weren't sure if they needed anything, so we picked them up. Looks like that was all they wanted," she smiled, looking back to Lucy in her arms. Rosemary had Remy, while Ava held Kacey. It especially struck Maya to look at the sophomore. She looked conflicted but at the same time clearly very able to hold the babe and make her feel comfortable.
Soon, they were all seated around the table. Marianne ended up sitting in Nika's lap as they got started, leaving Maya to look upon the teammates, all of them with one of her daughters in their arms. She almost had to snap a picture, but she resolved to draw it later. They were on a clock, as Ava had reminded her upon arrival.
The team still had sessions together at school, with Cory and Barton sharing the advising position, but just as had been the case when these separate home sessions had started, the team looked to Maya as their primary advisor, and they felt the need to turn to her now and then. They were always welcome. Today, they wanted to discuss their upcoming meet, their first with Captain Lea and newbie Nika. It would be their earliest in a school year, with how fast their freshman had been selected this time.
The other purpose of this meeting was to present their new member with her 'gear,' her jacket - ordered on rush so it would arrive on time - and her t-shirt, printed by Maya as she'd done with all the others. This one was inspired by her diary cover, too, a vibrant blue, printed with golden brown. Nika received these things, looking so touched and honored. She had already shown herself for the great asset she would be to the team, but there had still been this feeling, as expressed by her advisors and her captain and now seen by her lead advisor, like she just felt uneasy, that she had not quite found her place in the team. But now she had these things, showing her as an official part of them, and it meant a whole lot.
"Your brother is picking you up?" Maya asked, later on, as the girl moved to depart. Nika paused, briefly at a loss for words.
"Uh, yeah... I'll just go and wait outside," she nodded with a smile.
"It's alright, you can stay in here until he comes," Maya assured her. It wasn't lost on her that the girl was trying to be considerate, aware again of The Situation between their families. All the same, Maya would be lying if she said she wasn't curious to meet this boy in person.
"It's okay, I don't mind. Anyway, it'll be quicker this way. We have things to do."
"Alright, well, if you're sureā¦"
The best she got was a brief glimpse out the window, as Nika jogged over to the car and climbed in the passenger seat. Theo Petrelis, what little she saw of him, looked like he'd had plenty on his mind, too, coming up in front of this house and knowing whose it was. At the same time, he gave off the same impression as others had recounted, one of respectful distance, keeping away until he might be welcome in his daughter's family.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
