July 17th 2020

Chapter 199
Their Art of Morning

Maya opened her eyes that morning, and the first thing she saw was her new bag, sitting on top of her dresser. It had been a gift, from her parents, for her to take along as she started her very first teaching year. She saw it now and it reminded her… this was it… Today was the first day of school. Today, she was officially a high school art teacher.

She was thrilled. She was terrified.

She had not felt this particular mix of feelings since… oh, she couldn't even say that she ever had. This was her future, right here, opening up ahead of her. What if she messed it up? It had taken her so long, just to get this one shot, and if she lost it, she didn't see herself getting another for a long time… if ever at all. What if… what if…

No, no, she wasn't going to do this to herself. She'd done that before, of course she had, because that was just the kind of nerves she'd dealt with for the better part of her life, this belief that good things happening to her were just too good to be true. She'd gotten so much better at managing it, but today… How could she expect anything else? She wasn't going to let it take hold though. She had worked for this, for a long time. And she was going to be a great teacher.

Now that her nerves had been dealt with, she realized that she was alone in bed, with no big spoon at her back. It was barely five in the morning, and even though he had started his semester already, today was his bookstore day, and he really had no reason to be up and about already… Well, he'd have one reason.

Walking out of the room, Maya found little Crowley at the top of the stairs, sniffing at the gate preventing him from going down the stairs. These had been installed, at the top and bottom, after the adventurous dog had very nearly taken a dive and just barely been rescued by Sam. So far, they had been effective, even if Crowley showed a distinct dislike for them and continued to look for ways around.

"Foiled again, huh?" she asked, as the puppy saw her now and came barking up at her in greeting. Maya picked him up, giving some good smooches as she unlocked the gate and headed down. They were awaited at the bottom by both Peanut and Lupescu. So many dogs in the house was, at this point, an acceptable chaos, as far as they were all concerned. "Hey there, hello," Maya opened the bottom gate, careful to come through and shut it again before anyone else had any ideas. She set Crowley back on the ground, and the puppy took off for the kitchen with a bark, shortly to be followed by his sister and her new friend, the better to find the others, human and canine both.

She'd been certain to be the first one up that day, that she would come down to the kitchen for a quiet cup of coffee, looking over everything for that day as she had a quiet breakfast, finding no other human until after she was out the shower and started to get dressed. Instead, she came along to find her husband, her brother, and her bandmate, them and all six of the dogs presently calling this house their home, awake and awaiting her arrival.

"Shouldn't you guys be asleep?" Maya couldn't keep from smiling. They were all looking at her like they had pulled off some master plan.

"What, and miss this?" Rosa asked, snapping a photo with her phone. "I'm on chronicling duties."

"Noticed," Maya reached up to check her hair, as unkempt as it was bound to be.

"Breakfast is almost ready," Sam reported, holding out a cup to her. She accepted it, giving her brother a shoulder bump before turning to Lucas. He stood there, one hand behind his back and a very specific grin on his face, all of which suggested…

"You have an apple for me, don't you?" Maya stared up at him. Without any shift at all, he pulled the fruit into view, all shiny and red. "You are such a nerd," she hummed, accepting and returning the kiss he gave her. "You had one of those on your first day of school, didn't you?"

"If you mean that my mother insisted I bring my teacher one and a bunch of other kids laughed when I did it, then yes, I did," Lucas told her, and Maya had to laugh. Every now and then he would pull out a story like this, something she had never heard in all the years they'd known each other, and it genuinely felt like he would still have some of those to spring on her, years and years from now.

"You really didn't have to get up for this," Maya told him, her face saying she was very touched regardless. "I'm just going to work, and no one should be up this early if they don't have to."

"Too late now, we've committed," Lucas told her. "Besides, if this is 'just going to work,' look me in the eye and tell me you haven't been freaking out over it since you woke up."

"I…" Maya started, but there was really no use trying to get around it, so she sighed and kissed him again before taking her seat at the table.

After breakfast, Maya hurried up for a quick shower before getting into the process of picking out her clothes for the day. Part of her had wanted to pick everything out the night before, leave it hanging in wait, but in the end she'd decided against it. She was going to decide this morning, basing herself on whatever she was feeling would fit her mood now.

"Should I hide the tattoos or leave them in the open?" she asked, catching Lucas' reflection in the mirror as she tested out one combo in front of herself. "Does it say 'I'm trying to make a good impression' or 'I think people won't like me if I show them' if I hide them?"

"Well, they'll be there whether you show them now or not," Lucas shrugged. "And you didn't get them to pretend like you didn't have them, did you?"

"I would have put them somewhere people couldn't see," she turned to face him, showing a smirk as she left him to decide where those places might have been.

"Me, too," he simply told her, holding up his arm, where he had those same two tattoos she had on her own. "Just wear what you want to wear."

"Right," she agreed, tossing him her previous pick before turning back to the closet.

Picking the right outfit had really taken no time at all. As she went about dressed, Lucas went ahead and started getting ready for his day of work. He could have waited a while longer, but it was really better off if he started now. He had a feeling some other 'crisis' would present itself when it came time for Maya to decide how she would do her hair, up or down… She'd already started the familiar 'up/down' match in the mirror. She made up her mind on her own though, and he watched her pull her long hair into a high ponytail she then twisted into a clean bun. When she was done, she turned on her heel to face him with 'well?' in her eyes.

"I think I'm ready for some remedial art, Teach," Lucas smiled.

"You've got husband eyes, I can't use you," Maya waved at his face with a laugh. "Sam!" she called out.

Once he had been able to get up the stairs without causing a puppy pile-up, her brother had confirmed Lucas' appraisal that she had picked well.

"You sure?" Maya asked him.

"I'd listen to you if you stood in front of my class," Sam declared.

"Like you haven't paid attention to every one of your teachers growing up," she pointed out. "Rosa!"

"How many people are you going to call into our room before you believe us?" Lucas laughed.

"She's definitely got the authority thing down," Sam told him, his grin righting itself into a polite smile under his sister's squint. "See?"

"What's up?" Rosa appeared, with Crowley and Lupescu under either of her arms.

"Tell her she looks fine already?" Sam told her.

"Hey, let her decide," Maya shooed her brother off. Rosa motioned for her to turn around, and Maya did so.

"Again," Rosa told her, and she turned again. "Gold star from me."

"Great, okay, thanks," Maya went on to finish. Lucas and Sam looked to Rosa, who gave a self-satisfied smile and marched off with the dogs.

With the rest of her look completed and Sam gone off to his room, Maya picked up her bag and turned to Lucas. He could just see that bit of nerves still coursing through her, mixed in with trepidations for what she was on her way to do. This day had been so long coming, and much as they would go around and tease her about it, Lucas knew that they shared an understanding, too, of how important this day was for her. She had gone from a girl who struggled to thrive in school to a woman eager to become part of the education of student upon student for years to come. She had gone from someone who could hardly see a future for herself to now knowing right where she was going and making steps day after day to make it happen.

"Can I drive you to school?" Lucas asked, and oh how those words, in that tone, could take them both back to days when they were both bound for that school, as students…

"I don't know, can I pick you up from work?" she inquired. He could grab the bus from the high school over to the bookstore, and as she would be done with work before he was…

"I like that plan," he agreed.

After allowing Rosa to take a picture of her on her first day of school, Maya hugged her and Sam both before getting in the car with Lucas. On top of any number of reasons why she would be glad to have him along for the ride, Maya decided maybe it was a good thing that he was the one behind the wheel this morning. For all she knew, she could have ended up nervous/excited all the way off the road. Probably not, but… well, better safe than sorry, yeah?

When they pulled up to the school and turned into the parking lot, Maya was very happy to show that she had her own reserved space.

"Do you have to go inside already?" Lucas asked.

"Hey, it's me, I'm early," she pointed out.

"Right, what was I thinking?" he smiled. "Come on."

They found their way over to their old bench, where they had spent so many mornings waiting for their friends to come along, for the time when they had to go into the building, to get to class…

"Does it feel different to you, too?" Maya asked. "Not bad, just… different."

"Kind of does, yeah," Lucas nodded. "We started sitting out here, maybe exactly ten years ago now," he pointed out, which made her sit back, reflecting on the notion.

"Nine years ago, we found out they disbanded the teams…" she recalled.

"So eight years ago..." he started but didn't say the rest, didn't need to. The accident… It still felt like yesterday sometimes.

"We got the teams back, the year after that," Maya told him, bringing them away from the bad memory and into a good one.

"Then there was that six-year gap…"

"… and now we're back," Maya nodded, with a smile made for being kissed. Right in that moment, she had never been more ready to get started.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners