July 18th 2022
Chapter 199
Our Legacy of Spirit
For the connection that Maya had with her sophomores, it would sometimes catch her off guard when she would be reminded that they were their own thing, that what they had did not necessarily translate beyond this one group. They had something special, and they knew it, but then there was the rest of their graduating class, the ones who had not been in that class with them all through last year and the first month of this one, and everything their class had together meant nothing to the rest of them. It was very rare that they all got to intermingle like this, the art class, art teacher, and everyone else. Put them all in a museum, too, and then… then there was just this awkward feeling, like the ones who weren't in their class were intruding on something that prevented the rest of them from just enjoying their thing, so they wouldn't know what to do about it. They'd just try and keep going, but it'd feel strange and out of place.
Lucas was the one to pinpoint this very issue, after he'd seen how Maya frowned, observing the sophomores as they moved along through the exhibit. And… yeah… he'd kind of nailed it, hadn't he? Well, what can you do? It was natural that not every single student in the school would be in her class, and she liked her group as it was anyway. They would get over it in time. There was the exhibit for them to take in, and if they weren't going to have to do a project on it with her, as her students would, then they'd be doing a paper for Mr. Matthews' class. So, they had to pay attention, maybe take notes…
"You know, I'm not sure if it's because there's your sisters in there, but I have a feeling like some of these kids are going to wander off on purpose," Lucas quietly told his wife as they followed the group. Maya snickered.
"Weird stuff hunt?" she asked him, and his smile only made her stifle a laugh in her hand. "Would it be completely irresponsible if we went on one of those? It's been so long…"
"It has, hasn't it?" he slowly nodded, almost as though he was genuinely considering it… But, of course, he tipped a look back to her and she sighed. It wouldn't be a good idea for the chaperones to leave their charges, would it?
"Well, if they do go, it will kind of be my fault anyway," Maya admitted. Off his questioning look, she gave him a full mischievous grin. "I may have made this week's diary assignment for them to find a weird thing and sketch it." Lucas looked around. So that explained why most of her students already had their diary in their arms, along with whatever they used to take notes. A couple of them had apparently found their thing already, going by how they had their books open and were quickly doing their best to capture the thing that they'd selected. They were aware that the tour would go on without them if they weren't quick.
"I can hang back with them and get them back to the group if it helps," Lucas offered.
"That can degenerate very quickly," Maya pointed out, and as he thought about it, he could see that she was right. "They'll be fine. Plus, the time constraint will help them focus on the important details… hopefully." Lucas smiled.
"Alright, fair enough. But what about you now?"
"What about me what?" she asked.
"Shouldn't you be drawing one, too?" he wondered, and it made her chuckle, drawing some nearby students' eyes. She gave them a quick 'ignore this, focus on the exhibit' gesture and they turned away with their own quiet laughter. "Oh, no, am I being a bad influence?" Lucas teased in a whisper and received a 'gentle' smack in the arm for his troubles.
In all the organized chaos that was the second of these four field trip days, there was still plenty for the chaperone couple to take note of as far as the students were concerned. Oh, there were definitely several attempts for some of those kids here and there to try and wander off, but for the most part, these were easily spotted, long before they even went for it. They had no subtlety in them. The ones that did succeed, well, those had clearly thought this through better than their less successful classmates.
"You don't look too surprised," Lucas stated. They'd just noticed that they were down a few students, three of them… and two of them were Maya's own sisters.
"And you are?" she countered, and… okay, she had a point. They may have been her sisters, but for years now, before and after their wedding, they had been like his own sisters, too. And the two of them, in here, with their sister and brother-in-law as chaperones, the very two who had so long told them about their museum escapades, and searching for weird things… There was no way they weren't going to try it, and they'd taken their best friend Desi along for the ride.
"So… we leave them be?" Lucas wondered.
"I am texting them, same as I've done in the past," Maya told him as she tapped at her phone. She paused then, considering. "They're lucky I have their numbers, otherwise this might be worse, but now I'm wondering if that's fair for everyone else I don't know that way, if they're the ones who wander off."
"You've had one of those happen before, haven't you?" he reminded her.
"Yeah…"
"And what happened with them?" he asked. She thought, shrugged.
"Told them not to do it again."
"And did they?"
"Not really, no." He gave her a look. So there. "Okay but one of these days, someone is bound to get in real trouble, and then what happens?" she reasoned. "I don't know, maybe it's that we're in a museum, and I can't see myself penalizing anyone for curiosity in a museum… What do they do, what does any kid do when they wander off from the group? They go around, they look at the art by themselves… That's not a bad thing. If it wasn't that we're responsible for them, I'd say go ahead and disperse."
"That's because we're museum people," Lucas smiled. He understood exactly where she was coming from. She hummed, satisfied by this statement. "Think we should come back a fifth time, after this is all over, you, me, and the girls?" Now she grinned. Oh, yes, she really wanted that. Just the thought of the four little ones going around with them, and then Mackenzie… It would be the second time they brought her to the museum, and even though she was still very small, she deserved to be included in this family outing.
While the three girls were off on their own sneaky adventure, the four boys were looking as though they were considering their own escape, too. Unfortunately for them, Bobby, Ethan, Tre, and Rolly were all their own worst enemies if they expected to achieve a proper sneaking away. They kept looking at each other, and at their teacher, and doing too many things to not make it clear that they had designs on splitting off. As sixteen-year-old boys went, they were just the kind that would make Maya and Lucas smile and think back on the days when they had been in the tenth grade. It took them back to the high school turtle days, enough that they quietly debated whether or not to throw them a bone and facilitate their 'escape.'
But then by the time the boys and their chaperones seemed on the verge of making a move, the three girls performed a very skilled reintegration. They just popped out of nowhere, suddenly back among their classmates as though they'd never left. The boys looked like they were disappointed over their missed opportunity, which had their teacher stifling a laugh in her husband's arm. Nellie and Gracie turned a look back to their big sister, showing their own struggle about keeping it together, so Maya waved them over while Lucas moved forward to keep on doing what they'd been doing. Maya looped one arm with one twin on one side and the same on the other side.
"Did you find anything interesting?" she asked them, and they nodded, tapping their respective diaries, which they held close to themselves. "You know, the boys tried to get away, too," she told them, and by the looks on their faces, they had been aware.
"They wanted to come with us, but we told them that there was no way we could all do it and no one would notice," Gracie explained.
"Then they wanted to wager and see who would manage to get away," Nellie added.
"What was the wager?" Maya wondered. The girls exchanged a look. "Will it be my solemn duty as your teacher to put you in trouble if I know the answer to that question?" Maya gave them each a look.
"No," Gracie shook her head.
"No," Nellie did as well. Both of them had this look at the back of their eyes though, one that made it feel like a question mark was being forced out of their voices, suggesting it was more 'it depends on how you look at it.'
"Hey, you know I can't just look the other way because you're my sisters, yeah? We talked about this before," Maya told them. The girls exchanged another look, and then Gracie stretched to whisper at her sister's ear. When Maya heard what the wager was, she snorted. "You guys are so weird…" she told them, which was as good as saying 'you two are so related to me.' It made the twins very happy. "Just do me a favor and wait after the trip is over… And none of that on school property?"
"Of course," Nellie promised her, with an air so sly that Maya had to beam with sisterly pride. After this, the twins returned to their friends, so Lucas moved back to rejoin his wife.
"Hey, so I had an idea…" he told her. Maya smiled eagerly. Ideas were always good, especially when they came from him, and he had that look in his eyes.
It was not difficult to split them off. All they had to do was tell one, and then the message passed on, and little by little, all those students walking around with sketchbooks in their arms pulled back from the rest of the group and converged on their art teacher. While Lucas and the other chaperones continued to do what they had to do with the rest of the sophomores, Maya got to check in with her kids and see how the weird stuff hunt was going. She was happy to see that all of them had selected something, and they had a solid start on their sketches. Best of all was getting to hear what all of them had been observing and taking away from this trip to the museum. After having been disoriented away from their usual art class atmosphere, they had pulled it right back together, right here.
"Hey, you're nice," Maya grinned as she and Lucas finally reunited when they'd reached the 'gift shop and bathroom break before we head to the bus' portion of the trip.
"I'm going to get… Huckleberried for this," he squinted at the consideration of the verb form to his nickname, which already had her snickering, "But what can I say… You make it easy," he told her, and her nod confirmed that yes, turning her compliment as an indication that it also applied to her definitely earned him a Huckleberry out of her. Then again… "I lost points for saying it before you could, didn't I?" he asked, and she smiled.
"Little bit…"
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
