May 19th 2022
Chapter 139
Our Needs to Reach Out
For once, the fact that Kelsey Farrell had been out of school for a week was a good thing. After everything her family had been through in the past few months, Brian and Haruna had decided that what their daughter and son needed, what they needed, was some time away from everything. Time together, time to disconnect as much as to reconnect… They flew away to Japan, to their old hometown. They hadn't been back, not since they'd moved to Texas when Kelsey was six and her brother Max was just a baby, so it would be a discovery for him, but for her… A lot of her memories were faded, supported on pictures, videos, and stories, but according to messages she'd sent around, being back there had really helped to bring back some things she'd forgotten, either in part or entirely. There was apparently talk of the family heading down to Haiti over the summer. It had been a years-long goal of Mr. Farrell's, to see the place of his birth, before he'd been adopted and brought to the US, and now with everything else… He really thought it was time to make it happen, and his wife and children agreed.
Well, now, as good of a thing as it was for the Farrells that they'd had this time together, the timing of their departure had inadvertently been just sort of… awkward for one outside of the family, namely Ava Nash. A whole week sat between the day when she'd made her secret confession to her art teacher and the next time that she was to see the girl who had become as much one of her two best friends as someone who had captured her heart. Whether or not she'd intended to say anything about it after her conversation with Maya, that week of carrying on without Kelsey there had not been without its effects. For one thing – as it was sort of inevitable for Maya to pick up on these things, especially when the people in question were already 'on her radar' – it took until Thursday before Olivia caught on to the truth. Maya hadn't witnessed it, but she'd clock it and put money on it, just by the way they were by the time they showed up to class that afternoon. Olivia would keep her secret… as best she could.
And it was Monday again. Two days after the great bed installation, Maya was happy to report that the triplets were not only loving their new set-up, but they were doing very well with the change. There were no more crib escapes to worry over, with visions of tiny babes potentially falling on their heads or hurting themselves in any way no longer haunting their parents. They still 'visited' one another, maybe more than ever, enough so that just this morning they had been found all three of them squeezed in together in Kacey's sunny bed.
"Hey…" Nika appeared at the door to the art room even as Maya approached, pulling the grandpa cart along. She looked like she'd been keeping an eye out for her, waiting for her to come so she could go and intercept her. Stepping out of the room, she signalled for her teacher to follow her, taking her out of earshot from the room where the rest of the quiz team could be seen sitting around their usual station.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Maya whispered, unsure what it was that she was walking into.
"Nothing wrong, or… I'm not sure what it is, it's just… I don't know, Ava's being a little odd this morning," Nika whispered back. Maya hesitated at this, taking a moment to walk back enough that she could then spy into the room. The auburn-haired junior was looking at her notes, but anyone who would bother to stop and look at her would be able to realize that she was not reading anything. How could she, when her mind was clearly somewhere else… She looked anxious, the happy kind and the nervous one, too. Kelsey's coming back, of course…
But it was more than that, wasn't it? Aside from Olivia's finding out her secret, the other thing that Maya had been picking up on over the past week was how this awareness and this revelation was sitting in Ava's mind. It sat there, and it stirred around, and as the days added up, days where Kelsey was far away on her trip… Suddenly, there was this thought as though Ava might well burst when she saw her again, and what would come out if that was the case except all those things that she'd been keeping guarded in her heart? Oh, as much as she really rooted for her, Maya also worried that it could just happen in all the wrong ways, not what Ava would have wanted and only what she'd feared.
Maya stepped back to look at Nika.
"I'm sure she's just looking forward to…"
"Kelsey!" Nika blurted out, looking past her.
Even as Maya turned to see, Nika was bolting over to greet her friend and bandmate, even as the scratch of a stool on the floor tiles soon brought Ava from the art class and into the hall. Nika bent and hugged the returning junior, who had such a smile on her, reminding Maya of the very first day she'd come into her class. This was a smile stripped of all the shadows that had moved into her mind since September.
"So glad you're back, I missed you," Nika told her as she pulled back.
"I missed you, too," Kelsey beamed. "Oh, look in my bag, there's something on top with your name," she pointed and Nika went as instructed while Kelsey looked up, finally seeing her teacher and the rest of the quiz team. "Hi… Oh, Nika, can you get the one for Mrs. Friar, too?" she looked back.
"Got it!"
"Thanks," Kelsey took the second marked bag from Nika before offering it out to her teacher. "Saw these, thought of you," she explained. "Also, I put in my travel sketchbook, to show you. I remembered you showing us some of yours and I decided to do one, too."
"I can't wait to have a look," Maya smiled as she stepped back.
"Hi… Hi…" Kelsey waved to Rosemary and Rolly in turn before finally looking to her best friend. "Hi," her smile brightened, and Maya didn't need to be a mind reader to guess that there was a cacophony in Ava's brain right about now, trying to think of how to respond like a normal person.
"Hey…" she finally managed to say, coming off a lot more casual than she had to feel.
"I know you've got the team thing, but can we talk? I…" she looked down to her lap, her hands sitting on top of a box, this one's tag showing it was for Ava, the souvenirs and other things Kelsey had brought back from Japan for her. "I got these for you, and…"
"Sure, yeah," Ava cut in before turning to her teammates. She didn't even need to ask them, they all nodded and headed back into the art room. Rolly took the time to go and bring the grandpa cart with the boxes of diaries in for Maya, who followed him with thanks even as she watched the two girls make their way down the hall.
She didn't see them again, not until the end of the day, but the moment she did, she knew something had changed. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes and had enough experience and awareness to see it for what it was. Even so, she couldn't help but make a near beeline to the girls' station when everyone had been set to work with the day's assignment and she started to make her rounds.
"Alright, so, everything all set here?" she asked the trio, and no matter how good she could be – and was – at acting like there was nothing out of the ordinary about her question, all three of the girls had a look about them like they saw right through her.
Olivia looked to her friends like she definitely knew something and was eager to see if they'd say anything about it. Meanwhile, Ava looked uncharacteristically humble, innocent, but also lifted as she turned to Kelsey. The newly returned girl, not unlike her, looked like she could have sprung wings. That was all there was to it, a quiet liberation happening just underneath the surface.
"Everything's great," Kelsey informed her teacher with a smile, and Ava echoed this statement with a slow nod and a small smile of her own, even as she remembered where she was and tried to give a more neutral expression again. It wasn't so easily achieved; her face just wanted to smile, and she finally had to resort to propping up her cheek into her palm, giving the impression of focused work to everyone on that side of the classroom and likely leaving that smile fully exposed to the other side, which was just fine. The only ones who'd be able to see it would be Kelsey and Olivia.
"Great… Great…" Maya nodded, experiencing her own share of difficult discretion. "Well… If you should want to share… anything… you know where to find me…" she declared before moving along.
Her message could not have been that much clearer, and after class ended, she got her response. They were not in any way obligated to tell her a single thing, but as she was this close to the whole story, it was understandable that she'd be curious, right? She quickly guessed that, at some point during the day, Ava had shared her conversation from the Friday before last with both of her friends. Olivia had to hurry off to basketball practice. Kelsey went to her locker, but as she left the classroom, there was a brief look between her and Ava, like she knew what she and their teacher were going to talk about. She smiled and told Ava she'd wait for her to catch up. Once she was gone and it was down to the two of them, Maya looked to Ava. There was something so inexplicably sweet about how… happily uncomfortable she was. Something big had happened, and she might struggle to process or express all of it, but it didn't change the fact that she was so irrevocably happy in that moment…
"You actually told her?" Maya asked, feeling like she could have hugged her. If anything, it would have helped the girl to relax, to let it out…
"I didn't," Ava looked at her and shook her head.
"Oh… Oh, but I thought…" Maya gestured out the door for a moment, until closer inspection went and opened a new door ahead of her. She blinked. Could it be… "She…" she pointed again, and Ava, looking like she still couldn't quite believe it, nodded. "I have to say, I like when I don't see these things coming…" she let out a small laugh.
Without going into minute detail, Ava revealed a bit of what Kelsey had said, how while she had been in Japan, letting go of all that had been on her mind the last few months, she'd been listening to their small but growing list of We Are Sisters songs, and she'd ended up listening to the one Ava had written, that weekend ahead of the show with TXNY. She'd listened to it on repeat, until suddenly it wasn't just her mind that was clearing up. It had made her realize what she'd been feeling, more and more, especially lately. And maybe in the spirit of not letting chances pass her by, knowing how quickly life could change, she'd come into school that morning and decided to tell Ava the truth. She'd been so taken by surprise that there'd been no chance of her hiding what she was feeling, too. So, she'd shared her own truth in return, and now… now they had a date, or they would, on the coming Friday. Ava continued to be the picture of stunned as she relayed this fact.
"I'm… This is so good, I…" Maya didn't know what to do with all this giddiness in her, and Ava gave her a look like she understood what she was trying to say, and she appreciated it.
"This week is going to be so long…" Maya heard her say to herself as she left, and again she smiled. It reminded her of her own anticipation ahead of her first date, with Lucas, and no matter how many years went by, she knew just how her students would be feeling as they counted down the days…
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
