September 22nd 2022
Chapter 265
Our Hope For Knowledge
Over the latter half of this past school year, since their return from the holidays, Jenny Marshall had been using her lunch breaks not only to eat but to keep working away at an art project that had nothing to do with art class except for being the place where she worked. Until she'd finally gone and started her leave, Maya had had the pleasure of watching her work. She'd watched the junior sit there, balanced on her stool, her food or drink in one hand, paint brush in the other, and a look of deep concentration as she worked. It was slow going, but she wanted to do her very best. Sometimes, if she wasn't sure, she would ask her teacher for advice on how to go forward. Maya would help her, and then she'd get back to work. It had meant that she was unable to attend the knitting club's meetings, but she'd kept it up on the side. Michelle Day had been more than happy to schedule an extra meeting time, at the end of the day.
After she'd gone on leave, Maya had needed to hand over duties to Barton, so she hadn't seen how the work had progressed over the rest of the year, but she knew from having spoken to her substitute and to Jenny that she had worked nearly up to the final day of class, and that she'd finally gotten to put the finishing touch: her signature. On the last day of class, when Maya had been there along with Aubrey, Jenny had expressed how she wished she'd known that her teacher would be there. The painting had spent all these months right there in the class before being taken home… just the day before, and so it wasn't there for her to show.
"You could come over to my house to see it," Jenny had invited her with an eager smile.
Now here she was. On Saturday morning, she made her way to the Marshall house. From what she knew, Andrew and Laura Marshall would have received their gift just hours after Maya had been invited over. Today, she would get to find out how it had gone, and she didn't have to wait long. Barely inside the door, she could see the canvas propped up against a bookshelf in the living room. There was an empty space on the wall, and she knew that it would soon be filled with Jenny's painting.
"My dad went to see about buying a frame," the girl smiled, equal parts pride and teenaged parental 'embarrassment.' She would take her father being corny in his support of her, any day.
She'd wrapped the big canvas before giving it to her mother and father, which had really been a task, what with the size of it. The entire reason for her having worked on it at school all this time was so that it would be a complete surprise to her parents, and was it ever… They'd had no idea she was working on this painting, that she'd put so many hours and careful attention into it, but once they did find out, once they saw her painted representation of their Christmas together and how happy they had made her… According to Jenny, they'd both cried, and they had now been in a bubbly, wonderful mood ever since, which was just the kind of bonus she would have wanted out of this.
This year had not been easy, not by a long shot, but she'd gotten through it, and she knew a lot of it went to the people in her life who stood by her. Friends, teachers, all of them were deeply loved for it, but none so deep as Jenny's own parents. Already she'd felt this back in December, at Christmas, which had been part of the reason why she'd wanted to do the painting in the first place. But what made it that much better was to go through those months that followed, to feel that conviction grow stronger even as she continued to paint. It was like proof, telling her she was on the right track, and it made her want to finish the painting and give it to them that much more.
By the time Maya would leave the Marshall house, the painting would have its frame and would be hanging on the wall. She got to play photographer, snapping a shot of the trio standing under their painting in the same pose as the original picture. Following the buzz of good feeling that the visit had given her she decided to stop and pick up some ice cream on the way home. She went into the shop and was about to put in her order when she noticed someone sitting at one of the tables, leaning on their elbow, staring off into nowhere, the straw from their milkshake having been bitten well out of shape, until it was debatable whether or not it could ever draw any contents from the cup anymore. Turning back to the girl behind the counter – another of her students, this one former – she signalled that she'd be back before approaching the table.
"Ash?" she spoke quietly, so not to spook them. They turned their eyes up, only now recognizing her. For her part, Maya didn't know that she'd seen the soon-to-be sophomore look this much like the small child she remembered on the theater stage for Stage Ready all year. She was so used to seeing them with dark and rich makeup on, but just now, Maya couldn't see a speck of any of it on their face at all.
"Hey, Mrs. Friar," Ash sat up, noticed the straw now and frowned.
"Here, why don't I get you a new one?" Maya quickly offered. One new straw acquired, the chewed one was replaced, and Ash started to drink up what was getting to be a bit of a melted cup of ice cream. That was fine by them. "Do you mind if I…" Maya indicated the chair opposite, and she was invited to sit. "What's the matter?" she asked. There was no need to ask anything like 'is something wrong?' Clearly, there was. She thought for a second that maybe Ash and their girlfriend had had a fight, that they could have broken up, which would be worth a makeup-less ice cream escape, but thankfully that wasn't it… not that it was any better.
"I… failed," Ash declared, before bearing down for another pull of milkshake. "I have to do this year over again," they finally went on after releasing the straw. Saying it out loud seemed new… and like they were officially committing to the truth of it. "Maia is on her way to meet me here. I was going to tell her over ice cream, but then I got here early… way early…" they started to play with the straw again, frowned, and just went ahead and pulled the cap from the top of the cup, to drink from it outright.
Maya let out a breath, sat back in her chair. She'd known that Ash was at risk of this happening, and it wasn't as though this was on her, but she still felt like she could have done something more to help them. Here she'd been, so focused on getting Bobby Davis into junior year, when she should have been doing something for Ash, too, or at least she would have wanted to… The way they talked about it now, there was nothing more to be done for it. They would be a freshman again in the fall, and that would mean that all their classmates, everyone they'd been going to school with for years, would be moving forward, their girlfriend included, while they would become like the new kid who'd just moved in, among all these students they didn't know… well, mostly didn't.
"Ash, I am so sorry that this is happening to you…"
"No, but it's my fault," Ash shrugged. "I didn't work hard enough, or I'm just too…"
"Hey," Maya cut in before they could call themself anything they didn't deserve to be called. "You are a wonderful person, and as someone who's scraped by in the past, I get this feeling, I do. This is a setback, yes, but that doesn't mean it should hold you back from moving forward."
"It's going to be so embarrassing," Ash shook their head. "Everyone's going to know. I would have asked to go to a different school, but if I did that…" Then they'd be away from their girlfriend, their best friend, and they didn't want that.
"We will help you…"
"Maia tried that, all this year. You don't know… how many hours we spent studying, really studying, but then…" They shook their head, holding to the milkshake cup, staring at its strawberry contents. "She's so smart, she's in the quiz team and everything. And then there's me…"
"And you are not defined by what grades you get," Maya cut in, determined not to let Ash tear themself down. "This happened, there's no changing it, but now that it has, we know what we need to do. If you want to, you and I can get together over the summer, figure out a plan for you, for this coming year." There was still so much shame on the sixteen-year-old's face, and Maya felt every inch of her mama side wanting to reach out. She did so with words. "We're going to get through this. Together." Ash looked back up to her, and Maya smiled. She had not felt this deeply into teacher mode over the last few weeks, and it felt a lot better than she could have imagined it would.
"Your brother's going to be there next year, isn't he?" Ash asked, after a moment, and Maya lightly laughed.
"Oh, yes, he is," she confirmed with a nod. "And I think you and MJ could get along really well," she added. If Ash's repeating of ninth grade could have been called timely, the fact that it landed them in the Hunter boy's class, well…
"Yeah, he's been fun, the times I've seen him," Ash had to agree. The two of them would have been at the same schools, growing up, just one year behind one another… until now.
"And I can't speak for everyone else who'll be in that class, but I know of a couple other kids who'll be coming in. Lara's little sister will be there, Lydia. Since she was a kid, we would call her 'hypnoteyes,'" Maya revealed, doing her best impression of the girl's signature expression. It made Ash chuckle. "And then Rolly and Tre's younger brother, Lamar, will be starting, too. I don't know him as well, but what I've seen of him, he could be a friend, too."
It was all speculation at this point, and a lot of it was weighing on Ash's mind, but they appreciated it, nonetheless. They were still going to struggle with the idea that they wouldn't follow with Maia, with the rest of the new sophomores, still afraid that they could fail a second time and be forced to do freshman year for three years, four years, and maybe doing the same if they ever managed to make it to the next grades… It was not the kind of spiral that she could fully pull them from, but thankfully, there was her namesake inbound. Maia Bennett came around even as her art teacher was making her way back to the line to order her ice cream. She looked surprised to see her there, happily so. Maya smiled back before nodding over to the table. The girl looked and spotted her enbyfriend, immediately catching the wave of distress coming off of them and moving to join them. She sat right next to them and hugged them, stayed close as Ash revealed everything that was going on. Maia didn't look entirely surprised that it had happened. But just like her teacher, she had an immediate determination in her, to see Ash through this year, even from one grade apart.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
