April 25th 2022
Chapter 115
Our Transformation Into Self
Another week went by, no changes on the Cody front, or at least none along the line of the drawing he'd left for her. Along the line of the relaxation in his tension, it did feel like some things were advancing. They went at a fraction of an inch, maybe, but progress was progress. What Maya could observe, from seeing him in school, or what Lucas observed at the ranch when he accompanied Carina, or what was in his diary… It all gave the impression like things were happening behind the scenes, in his mind. Something had started there, and whatever it became, Maya hoped, would be for the better.
In the meantime, life carried on. The baby was doing well, everything on track. Kelsey's mother's condition had not improved much more than what it had been when she'd been discharged from the hospital. Ava and Olivia continued to show great support for their best friend and her family, Ava in particular. The quiz team had its friendly match against Rosemary's cousin's team, where they found that Rolly more than earned his spot among them and that this new team of the Quizzicals was showing great potential to be worthy opponents. The musical's lineup had been assembled, as had the basketball teams, and all around they were shaping up to make their school proud.
Over at Sullivan Stables, which had recently taken on its Halloween décor thanks to Lucas, Marianne, and many more volunteers under the father and daughter's leadership, everything was going as it should. Beyond their regular activities, the business, the lessons, and the horses, the series was working away to film its second season, which had recently premiered, much to its most ardent young fans' pleasure as family watch nights had resumed with new material. Carina and Johnny, their new XCs, were both getting more at ease with the day to day of the ranch. Well, Johnny had been at ease from day one, since he'd arrived with his horse, Sable. He was always the first ready and willing to help with anything if he could.
Meanwhile, Carina had been slower to get started. It was all so clear, when they'd watch her out there, how she'd grown up around horses, how she'd had such a deep love and appreciation for them, but also that she'd drawn back after the accident where she'd lost her horse. It had been two years, but she hadn't been on horseback once since then, not even now, at the ranch. After she'd arrived, it had felt as though she didn't entirely want to be here, not with everyone knowing her story, watching her, waiting to see what she'd do. She was loosening up on that front now and, in Lucas' opinion, some of that had to do with her staying at the Marshalls'. Both she and Cody had things to work through, and maybe they were working through some of those together.
In the middle of several situations and problems throughout her days at school, Maya was happy to say that class with her freshmen was a daily bright spot. Had there been some uncertainty about what it would be like to teach her own sisters? Yes, naturally, and Maya was confident that Nellie and Gracie had felt it, too, having their big sister as their teacher. What might their classmates say? But after over a month of the twins and their friends sitting in Mrs. Friar's art class, none of those awkward issues had materialized, all for the simple reason that the three sisters had adopted a policy of just… running with it. What would they earn from tiptoeing around who they were to each other? Maya wasn't going to treat Nellie and Gracie any differently, which was to say that if they did badly, they would be treated the same as anyone, and they would expect no less from her.
With that out of the way, the class as a whole functioned very well. If anything, the happiness that they had for just being together seemed to invade the rest of the students in the room. This was a great place for all of them to be, for that one period after lunch. They were maybe the most collectively invested group Maya had had in all her years. There wasn't a single kid in that group who looked like they had taken art as an easy pass. They all wanted to learn, to try things, and oh, was Maya ever ready to give that to them.
One of those exercises was inspired by Tre Whitley. Rochelle and Rolly's stepbrother had two passions beyond this room: he loved basketball, but more than that he loved to dance. It almost felt like doing him a disservice to just say 'he loved to dance.' Maya couldn't recall one day where she hadn't seen the fifteen-year-old let his feet absently follow the beat he heard in his mind, either strolling down the hall, or standing at his locker, or in line at the cafeteria, even sitting at his station while he drew, or painted… So, one day, she'd made a request of him. She'd asked for him to come up at the heart of the classroom and show them some of his moves. His classmates were then instructed to watch him and draw him. They'd all jumped on it, and Tre had very gladly given them a demonstration of what he could do. It was so much more than what she'd seen him do up to that point, and it had been amazing. The students' work showed how much he'd inspired them.
Since then, they had repeated the exercise a few more times, with different students coming up to be their 'action models.' They weren't all dancers like Tre, though a few of them were, in their own styles, so they'd had one girl come in and show her ballet training. One time, Nellie and Gracie had gone up, pulling Bobby and Ethan along, for what they called 'a study in twins.' Everyone was looking forward to having their turn, and Maya was looking forward to introducing new exercises for her motivated class.
In the last couple of weeks, the one sort of question Maya had had with regards to the freshmen had to do with Desi. It felt to her as though she had something on her mind. It didn't look overly serious, but it was enough that when she'd come up to her on Friday before class started, Maya was ready for her. As it turned out, she had been debating/waiting on a decision for some big change in her life.
Some years back, she and her older brother, Khalil, had come to live with their grandparents in Austin, while both their parents were deployed. This had gone on until Khalil moved out and went to live with Phoebe. Her grandparents were still so good to her, and she was in no way unhappy with them, but… she missed her brother, and she wanted to be with him. Plus, she knew that her grandparents, even if they would never say it, were getting older and sort of wanted to go and enjoy their retirement, which they could hardly do when raising a girl who'd just started high school. So, after much consideration, and discussion with her brother and his girlfriend, she'd finally made the pitch for her to go and live with Khalil and Phoebe, for them to become her guardians until she was of age. Though it had taken a lot of back and forth, they had finally agreed. Desi would be moving in with her brother this weekend, taking up the room previously occupied by Ella and Tori.
"I was wondering if you could help… with my new room," Desi told her teacher with a shy smile. Maya smiled. She wanted her to help make it her own, with paint.
"Count me in," Maya told her.
So, that was their weekend. Maya certainly didn't go out there alone. She had Lucas and Marianne with her. The triplets were left to their aunts. On Saturday, they were starting off by helping with packing up her old room… well, mostly Lucas did that, while Maya – and Marianne – took Desi's plans and started sketching a plan for the walls of her new room. Once they were good to go, they made their way to the apartment, where Desi's furniture and belongings were for the time being stuck in the middle of the room and covered over for protection while the painting began. Khalil, Phoebe, Desi, and Lucas did the walls. That was day one. They returned the next day, where finally Maya could do her part. Here, she might have been in her class again for how many of her students – past and present – were involved. Desi had the Hunter and Davis twins, plus Tre and Rolly, but there was also Khalil, and Phoebe, and there was Stella, who'd brought her boyfriend, François. They all helped to add the personal touches to Desi's walls.
Stella and François were both caught up in a bit of 'home decoration' themselves. When they'd come back to settle in Austin last year, they'd had this plan of buying a house, a fixer upper that they could… well, fix up. They'd found it, finally, last spring. They were still working their way through the process of tearing down everything that had to go down. It was a lot of work, very time and energy consuming, but they both loved this kind of thing. For Stella, it was all about turning something desolate into something beautiful, her biggest project ever, and for François, it was just the kind of thing to help him recenter himself, to figure out what he wanted to do next with his music career. Several of them helping Desi that day, along with family members and Born Curious teammates of old had been pitching in whenever they could. In the meantime, Stella was back in school, and after struggling to figure out who she wanted to be and what she wanted to do, she'd finally come to it. She was going to be a teacher, and every part of her knew she was right this time.
"This is going to be really good for the both of them," Phoebe told Maya with a smile as she watched her boyfriend and his sister work together. They were creating a tribute to their mother, not on the wall but a canvas, so it would never be painted over if they moved.
"I think so, too," Maya smiled along with her. From day one, Khalil's top priority had been his little sister and her wellbeing. After all they'd gone through, he'd hated having to leave her, but it was just the right thing to do at the time. No matter what, he'd always been there if she needed him. But now they were together again, and it was clear to see, watching them work together, that they were finally back where they belonged. "What about you in this?" Maya had to ask. Phoebe looked at her and grinned.
"Are you kidding? I always wanted a little sister, and now I have one," she shrugged, which made Maya laugh. "Plus, with Taylor off in Indiana…"
"Big sister's feeling lonely?" Maya gave her a sympathetic shoulder squeeze.
"Yes, and I'm not ashamed to say it," Phoebe lifted her chin, making her former teacher laugh once more. "He better come back, Mr. Bigshot Basketball guy…"
"Bigshot?" Maya's lips twitched against the urge to laugh harder.
"Oh, yeah, if he keeps this up… I mean, I'm happy for him, I am. And proud, so… so proud, but…"
"But he's your kid brother and you miss him," Maya nodded. They'd been through a lot of things, too. Like the Russells, they'd never depended on anyone so much as one another. "Hey, you never know. Stranger things have happened. I think he'll be back."
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
