May 15th 2022

Chapter 135
Our Needs to Learn

With all the developments happening around her in recent days, Maya had honestly not known what to expect when Stella Buckley had called and asked if she could come and have lunch with her at school. Naturally, she was more than happy to receive her… especially as she offered to pick up something for them on the way. When she did arrive, Maya was unable to keep from smiling for a while. She got to see her former student on a semi-regular basis these days, but there was something about when she'd see her here, in the school, in her classroom… It would take her back, force her to realize how it was coming on eight years since those shy bird eyes had first been turned to her. The young woman she'd turned into still had a lot of that spirit in her, but from there she had evolved into someone who was as true to herself as she was a glowing example of growth. And now… now she was on her way to doing something that would already have left Maya humbled if it wasn't also this former student of hers: she was working toward becoming a teacher, and she had freely stated that she'd been inspired toward this choice by her art teacher.

"Long time, Miss Buckley…" Maya beamed as she arrived, and Stella laughed; they had seen one another only days ago, at her birthday party. After setting down their lunch and her bag, Stella hugged her, and Maya smiled to herself, recalling how prone the girl had been to show her affection just like this, only to realize it might not have been 'proper,' with their being student and teacher. They no longer had that distinction anymore, and so the hugs came, and they were happily received and returned.

"Yeah, that didn't end up exactly how I thought it would…" Stella stated as they pulled back and moved to sit and dig into their lunch. There was no need to wonder what she meant, not when Phoebe Munroe had been her best friend for about as long as Maya had known both girls.

"Did you talk to her since…" she asked, not pushing but at the same time opening the door if she could/wanted to talk about it.

"A lot, every day since," Stella confirmed. "She's still kind of processing it. It's like… It wasn't necessarily something she expected to get caught up in when she and Khalil started seeing each other, but then once she knew about him and his family and they started to get more serious… She wasn't completely surprised that he'd make that decision." Maya wasn't surprised either if she really thought about it. "But… Not being surprised is one thing. Now it's happening, and she fully supports him, sure, but…"

"She's scared," Maya filled in, and Stella nodded. "She's not the only one…" she thought aloud, thinking of Desi. All this week so far, anytime Maya had seen her, she'd just been sort of off in her own world, in her own head. In class, she'd try to let her be as much as possible, not calling on her unless she felt like she'd be able or willing to speak up. If she needed to talk at any time, she'd know by now that she could come to her. In the meantime, she had her friends, there around her to support her. Maya mentioned all this to Stella, and she nodded again.

"Deep down, I'm sure she gets it, too, but… after losing their mother…"

The conversation turned quiet for a few beats, both of them concentrating on their meals. They were not as close to all this as Phoebe or Desi were, but they both had connections to Khalil, to the girls… Finally, they veered back toward the actual reason for Stella's visit that day. She had big news, news that would impact many a thing, one in particular she was sure would make Maya happy.

"So…" she started, and there was just a hint of giddiness in her voice, which made Maya grin already. "It's all kind of a long story, but I think it started somewhere with Mr. Matthews and Phoebe's brother, and then Mr. Day got into it, too, and then they discussed it with me, helped to see if it would be possible, sort of… working around the details and whatnot, since it wouldn't exactly be the normal way of doing this, but under the circumstances, they were able to make it happen…"

"Make what happen…" Maya asked, following the many twists and turns but still not quite seeing the finish line, whatever it may have been.

"I'm going to be doing my field work here… here in the school and here in this room… I'm going to be your substitute when you're on leave," Stella revealed, tipping her head to her former teacher's belly for emphasis.

Maya nearly dropped her lunch.

"Are you serious? I…" she blinked, putting the bowl down and wiping her hands as she sat up. "I know you're not usually the type to make jokes like that, but… You're really…" In response, Stella reached into her bag and produced several papers that indicated that yes, she really was serious.

"Just need to know when I start," she beamed with pride.

"Stella…" Maya didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she did both, rising from her chair just as the young woman did, the better to pull her into a new embrace. When she pulled back, she took hold of her hands, gave them a little squeeze. "Oh, you don't know how much this means, I…"

"Truth be told, I was kind of hoping I'd get to do this with you," Stella told her, and she was near to tears as well. "If it wasn't for you, I don't know that I would have made it the way I did, coming here."

It took a few minutes to get back to their meal, as Stella filled Maya in some more about how she'd ended up at this point, what it had required and would require, seeing as she'd have to step in and lead the class outright, for however long she'd be needed once Maya's leave started. Even as they went on eating and continued talking, Maya just felt like her heart could burst from her chest. She would never even have dreamed for this to be possible, so it was a big shock but a thrilling one more than anything. She had to resist the urge to immediately jump into discussing how they would proceed. This was not the day or the time, not when she'd be receiving the freshmen in a short time.

Stella had barely left – after having taken the time and the giddy pleasure of helping set up the class – when along came Echo.

"Mrs. Friar, do you have a minute?" she asked.

"I've got several for you," Maya smiled, waving her in. When she walked in, she turned and shut the door before approaching her teacher. "I thought you looked like you wanted to talk earlier," Maya mentioned, calling back the sophomores' period in the morning.

"I did," Echo confirmed. "It just wasn't the time, had to get to class…"

"Well, you're here now, so… What can I do for you?" Not unlike Stella earlier, Echo looked like she'd looked forward to sharing whatever it was she had to share.

"I told my parents," she revealed, and Maya stood straighter at once, eyes widening.

"You did? Were they…" One look at her face would suggest things were good, but she had to make sure…

"They said they sort of started catching on. They'd been trying to let me know, without being too obvious… They weren't good at that because I had no idea," Echo admitted, and Maya chuckled.

"But you still told them," she smiled.

"I… I didn't want to have to hide who I was at home anymore, and I didn't want to go around every day, wondering, so I told them." She paused, memories coming. "My dad said that, when I was little, I would do things that suggested this was who I was, but then when I was like seven or eight, I just stopped, and I was Cody all the time." She paused again. She didn't remember that time all that much, but there was still a feeling, like pieces of a distant memory. "Anyway… He didn't think too much of it then, but now… He said he wished he'd noticed more." She looked so lifted by this, and Maya was happy for her, more than she could say.

"So, you get to be Echo at home, that's wonderful."

"Oh, that's the other thing," Echo smiled. "I explained to them where I was, as far as… out here, what I wanted to do now, and… the name thing. Echo, that's really just a nickname, a friends thing, especially because I didn't know what else to call myself that wasn't Cody."

"But you do now?" Maya assumed, and her student smiled.

"I asked my parents what they wanted to call me, before I was born, if I would have been born a girl. My mother looked all happy when I asked her that. She was really attached to her girl pick, but she never got to use it because I came as a boy. Turns out she had it right all along," she grinned.

"Just a few years late, huh?" Maya laughed. She had a thought now and took the couple steps that would bring her within handshake distance. She extended her hand. "Good afternoon, I'm your art teacher, my name is Maya Friar." With such a smile as she wouldn't have known to expect from her mail man's kid at the start of freshman year, her hand was grasped for a shake of re-introduction.

"Jennifer Marshall… Call me Jenny," she told her, then, as they both had the same thought…

"Still 'Marshall' when we're in class," Maya assumed, and Jenny/Echo nodded. "But we're not in class now, are we?" No, they were not. "It's good to meet you, Jenny."

"I think… I'll finish this year as Cody, but after that… I don't know anymore," she admitted, as their hands released. "I know it'll cost me some things, and it's going to be hard, but… The last few months, I've been able to just be me, more and more, and… It makes it harder to be him every day." She would never have to go through the world living experiences as Jenny would, but to hear her talk about it… Yeah, she could see how important it could become, to realign things and live as she was meant to.

"Well, whatever's going on, whatever will happen, you've got your mom and dad now," Maya stated, and there was that bubble of joy in the sophomore's heart, lifting into her features. "And you've got Carina, and Nika, and Ava, Kelsey, and Olivia… And you've got me."

"I know," Jenny vowed, letting her know in just those words how glad she was to know it, to have it to hold on to as she continued to find her way. "Thank you."

There was very little time now before the freshmen would arrive, and after Stella's news and now Jenny's news, she decided to afford herself a brief trip into the supply closet, to pull herself together. It wasn't as though she required or expected to have such significant connections with all her kids, but… when she did have them, it was everything. It was what she'd hoped to achieve, and it was every reason she could ever need to want to keep doing the work that she did for as long as possible. They were the reasons why going on leave was always so hard. She hated not being there with them. Stella will look after them… They'll be alright. That notion kept her smiling all through the afternoon.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners