A/N: The new chapter "We Three Hearts" is now available!


June 24th 2022

Chapter 175
Our Time to Graduate

Dear Mrs. Friar,

I'm hoping this will reach you before graduation day. I know you'll be there on the day, and I wanted to say a few things, for you to know before I go up there to get my diploma. For one thing, I don't think I would be getting that diploma if not for you.

Freshman year feels like a whole other life ago, like I was a whole other person back then. I barely remember what it felt like back then, or at least I feel kind of detached from that part of my life where I was so angry, and closed in, always on the defensive. I remember some people tried to get at me, and some just didn't bother, but you were the only one that really did anything that mattered. There are so many of us in that school, and I'm sure others will have connected with this teacher or that one, because they were the ones that could be that person for them, but you were definitely mine, my one who saw me. You brought Henry and Stevie and I together as friends, I know you did, and you looked out for me when the older kids would beat on me. You helped me see that it wasn't because of my mother, that it was just an excuse they were looking for to pick on someone who couldn't fight back.

When I hit my growth spurt, when I became the older kid, the bigger kid, all I wanted was to turn back around and be able to do something, not to stoop to the bullies' levels but to be there to make them think twice about trying it. My father nearly pulled me out of school before all that got to happen, and instead I got to stay and become this, and I'm so glad that I did. I don't know what it's going to look like after I'm gone, but I hope that I left an influence somewhere, so kids will go on looking out for each other instead of beating on each other.

Lately, I've been visiting my mother more. I think that, when I was younger, I was ashamed of what she did. I'm not saying that I approve of it now, but I think she's changed in the years since she's been locked up. And even if she never gets released, I think I'm ready to see if we can have a relationship again, as mother and son. I like to see how happy it makes her every time I go, as much as it makes me happy that I'm… happy. Does that make sense?

Anyway, what it comes down to is that I wanted to say thank you for all you did, wanted you to know for when I go up there at graduation, because… well, you should get to know. It's important to say things when they matter. I think you taught me that, too.

Thank you for everything,

Cade Foster

.

Dear Cade,

Even though you won't see this response until after graduation, and I will undoubtedly have talked to you about your letter out there, I did get it before graduation day, and I will have read it and responded to it by then. I suppose I could hand this to you on the day, but I don't think I will. I think I'll drop this in the mail anyway. It'll be more fun that way, won't it?

You know, I only wish you could have seen the look on my face when I read your letter. A lot of people would want to try and hide the fact that anything made them cry, whether it was for happiness or sadness, but I don't see the point in that, not at all. If something makes you sad, you should be able to share it if you want to, with someone who can help release some of those feelings, and if something makes you happy, as your letter made me, then what's the point in hiding, right? Better share it.

This all may be a long-winded way for me to say thank you right back. All those feelings you had, that made you want to turn around and do something for the younger kids, I had a lot of feelings like those, too. They were the ones that made me want to become a teacher. I don't know what the future has in store for you, but I think that everything you did in the last two years is only the beginning. Now you get to take that spirit into the world, and I hope you'll let me know how it all turns out.

I am also genuinely so happy to hear about your progress with your mother. I remember how much that weighed on you. I wish you both nothing but the best.

Congratulations on your graduation. I will miss seeing you in class every day, but I don't think this is goodbye for us at all, so…

Until next time,

Mrs. Maya Friar

X

"Moo-ooom! They did it again!" Marianne's voice reached her parents' room, where both Maya and Lucas were finishing up getting ready to go. They looked at each other, almost reached out fists like they were about to pull a 'rock paper scissors' on who would do what before Lucas offered to take care of the shoe conundrum. Maya smiled and let him go; this would put her in the position of getting the baby ready to go, which was just fine by her.

Lucas walked across the hall, into the triplets' room, to find the three of them stood there, already in their dresses, hair taken care of, everything… but feet bare, feet that had not been bare when he'd last seen them, which could only mean one thing… They had hidden their sandals, taken them off their feet and hidden them somewhere. For being not quite two years old, they were very good at hiding things where it could take minutes, or hours, or – frustratingly so, one time – two whole weeks before the objects were found again. It was their favorite game lately, and one look at their faces would make it clear that they knew near to exactly what they were doing, and they thought it was hilarious. One of their favorite things to hide was whatever pair of shoes had been put on them on a given day.

Marianne was looking for them now, crawling around in her own graduation-ready outfit. Did they have other shoes that could be put on them and would not mean everyone being late to the ceremony? Yes, but the sandals were just going to be preferable for today, so they needed to be found. Lucas crouched down in front of the girls, doing his very best to plead his case to his little daughters. Thankfully, he knew from experience that he only really needed to convince one of them for the others to follow suit. Would that always work? Probably not, but right now it did and that was what mattered. He got to Kacey, and she went off to find her sandals, so then Lucy scurried to do the same, and finally Remy imitated her sisters. Lucas and Marianne helped them all get their sandals back on, finishing up as Maya appeared with the baby in her arms.

"Crisis averted?" she asked. Remy tipped on to her back and threw her feet in the air, showing that they were no longer bare. "Alright," Maya laughed. "Then let's get going, huh? Bunch of people in caps and gowns? You'll love it."

As invested as she would be once the actual ceremony started, Marianne would spend the better part of their day out keeping an eye on her sisters' feet, ensuring that all six sandals remained present and accounted for as much as the wearers themselves, who might wander off. Meanwhile, Maya and Lucas found themselves in the midst of this yearly event of theirs. They would be a constant, as other teachers and their families would be, while for the most part – except in the case of multiple kids of high school age in a family – everyone else changed from year to year.

Maya knew that she was inwardly looking out to find Cade even as they went around and spoke to this family and that one, all the while thinking about his letter. This wasn't to say that she didn't enjoy seeing and speaking to everyone else, far from it. Each family she got to see here, even though her presence had been interrupted here and there with being on leave, had been part of her life for the past four years, some of them longer. While some had younger kids and thus would very likely come back around, others would almost be graduating away from her, too.

"Is my cap on alright? It flew off my head before and I had to chase it. I can't run in these shoes," Rosemary looked down at her feet, one hand to her cap like she was afraid it would escape her again.

"Oh, I've got a trick for that. May I?" Maya asked, and Rosemary nodded, so she fixed it up for her. Even as she did this, she could see how Mr. and Mrs. Adewumi were all smiles over the cluster of Friar girls, from Marianne, Kacey, and Remy on their feet, to Lucy in Lucas' arms, and Mackenzie in her stroller. As was to be expected, they were a big hit wherever they went. "There, should be good now. I'd say not to overdo it, but I think you'll be fine."

The fact that she had skipped a couple of grades before coming into high school freshly fourteen had made her notably small among her classmates when she was still starting out in the ninth grade. She was seventeen now, weeks away from eighteen, so it definitely didn't stand out so much anymore, but to Maya she still felt so notably petite among the others and would likely continue to in whatever interaction they would get to have in the future. Maybe for that, seeing her graduate today was really catching her now former teacher deep in her feelings. She always believed that her students had potential in them to do great things after they left her, but some had that belief in double and triple dose, and Rosemary was one of those.

"Lucas!" they heard as they were moving along, and when they turned, they spotted the Hillards coming their way.

It was still relatively new for them to cross 'attending Maya's students' graduation' and 'attending a family member's graduation' into one, but here they were today, for Henry's day. They were all there today, Lucas' uncle Hank and aunt Tanya, and Henry's siblings both younger and older. Maggie was about to be the last one standing in high school, with two years to go, but then there were the older Hillard kids, the ones who'd already moved on to college and living on their own by the time the family relocated to Austin.

Sarah and Evie continued to be a unit, permanently settled overseas but having flown home for their little brother's big day. Lucas and Maya knew how much their parents wished they'd come back stateside but also didn't want to prevent them from following their dreams wherever they took them. Meanwhile, they still had eldest son Joseph to look to, he and his spouse, Leigh, now the proud parents to one-year-old Joseph Jr, little JJ looking as though he found his suit highly inconvenient. He remained stuck to Leigh the entire way, and any attempt to remove him would make him start to screech, so they let him be.

With the Hillards converging, the Bretts were sure not to be far behind, and here they came, Stephen Brett looking as quietly emotional as they would expect him to be, seeing his younger daughter about to graduate. Meanwhile, older sister Daphne looked like she'd taken on the charge of standing by her little sister with the memory of their late mother, so she could 'be here' to see it. The way Stevie held her hand even as she advanced to join her boyfriend and his family, they knew it meant a whole lot to her that she had Daphne here for this.

"You alright there?" Maya asked her colleague with a smirk. Stephen laughed, even as he gave her a quick hug and leaned to get a look at baby Mackenzie.

"Talk to me when they all start walking around for one of these," he turned back to Maya and waved his finger around them. She knew this was no sleight on Ella, who she had seen through graduation. Like it or not, it just wouldn't hit the same once it was Marianne or her little sisters, who they would have watched grow from newborns to this, nearly two decades of experiences culminating in this big moment. Yes, she had a long way to go before she knew how that felt, and that was fine by her.

"Cade! Mr. Foster! Over here!" Henry called when he spotted the last of their trio. Now it was the Friars, Hillards, Bretts, and Fosters together. Maya did not miss a chance to quickly thank Cade for his letter, confirming that she had received it and responded to it. Looking into that tall boy's face it was almost impossible to see the smaller, closed-in version of him, and maybe she didn't need to, not anymore. This was who he was now.

Mr. Foster had overheard them talking, and while he hadn't known about these letters exchanged between his son and his teacher, he turned to Maya and felt the need to thank her as well. He knew how much she'd always looked out for his son, had thanked her in the past, but now today, getting to see him happily running off with his best friends as they had to get in place for the ceremony, it was really sinking in, and he wanted to make sure to express it with words.

Maya watched them, too. Henry and Stevie, arms twined together, meeting in joined hands, even as Henry had one arm around Cade's shoulders and Cade had one around Henry's… Every year, she had the privilege of watching small clusters of friends come together. From her perspective, it was this thing that happened everywhere, but to them, who wouldn't realize how they were being seen from the outside… These four years had been their journey, together, and like so many before and so many yet to come, they would go and embark on to what came next, not knowing whether or not they'd stand the test of time but going into it believing with all their might that they would. Maya liked to think how she stood here as proof positive that it was possible.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners