September 26th 2020

Chapter 270
Their Party For Surprises

Ever since they had moved to Houston after high school, ever since they had gone from being children in their parents' homes to being young adults making the rules in their own homes, they had developed something of a persona: they were the hosts. They'd had so many parties and gatherings, and as much as this pleased their friends and other recurring guests, it made them happy, too. Maya and Lucas had made their home, whether it was the one they shared with their friends for four years in Houston or this home, their own home, back in Austin these past three years, into a place people felt welcome. They had made it into the place to be. Many of those who would be in attendance that night knew without having to ask that they were welcome to drop in at any time. Several of them had been given shelter for days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months, and any one of the others could count on that same gift, should the need present itself.

Tonight though… Tonight was about nothing more than many friends getting together, several of them celebrating the end of a school year, the rest celebrating… well, the start of summer, or just an invitation from Maya and/or Lucas. That was good enough.

"Oh, they're here!" Maya called, when she happened to see out the window and catch the arrival of the familiar car. She couldn't say whether her words had reached the ears they were destined for, as the guests had already started to arrive and dot the living room, spilling into the kitchen. She didn't wait to know for sure. She was already out the door, jogging down the steps and toward the vehicle, giddily stepping in to offer a hand when Chiara moved to get out from the back, led by a belly seven-month-strong.

From everything Sophie and the guys had been saying, everything they had been seeing for themselves, Chiara had been cruising through this pregnancy in such a way as to annoy some of the expectant mothers she'd run into at prenatal classes, or at the doctor's office. To look at her now, Maya definitely saw it. She wore that infamous glow to the point of being almost intimidating to look at.

"Hey…" Maya laughed as her friend and former roommate hugged her and, pressed to her belly, she felt the echo of a solid kick. "I didn't forget you, kiddo," she promised, pulling back to lay her hand where she'd guess the contact had started. "Oh, what, you're being quiet now, Jujube?"

"If you would like to see some real action, you need to feel for it at about three in the morning. That's when she likes to put on a show," Chiara informed her with a grin.

With not one but two nurseries to set up and decorate, both households in 'Team SCAR' had finally and collectively decided to find out what they were having and received the answer that they were expecting a girl. She was to be called Giulia, and it had taken no more than a day for her Aunt Maya to bestow a nickname upon her unborn head. It had evolved almost in the same breath from Giu-Giu to Jujube, and then it was settled.

Possibly the funniest thing Maya and soon Lucas and the others, too, would look forward to seeing that night once they got a taste of it, was seeing how the other three were doing with their impending parenthood. Sophie, Asher, and Ray all seemed to trail after Chiara like they expected her to either need something or go into labor at any second, when she wasn't due until August. Anyone lacking in any amount of patience would have quickly told them off, but Chiara displayed the patience of a saint, promising at every turn that she had everything she needed, that she would get what she needed should said need arise, and that there were no signs whatsoever that baby Giulia would be born even a minute ahead of her due date.

"I don't know about you, but I feel like I could ask her for the secrets of the universe right now and she would be able to give them to me," Maya smiled when she made her way back to Lucas a few minutes later.

"I think… we have a Code Ninja," Lucas responded, and Maya frowned, not following for a moment. When he nodded past her, she turned and scanned the room until she saw what he'd seen and understood what he meant. It had become less of a factor to think how Rosa was a few years younger than them, but when she had first come into their lives, as Lucas' sixteen-year-old co-worker, it had been more complicated when she'd basically snuck into their first Houston Halloween party, dressed as a ninja, thinking maybe they wouldn't figure her out. That plan might have been more successful if not for her telltale glasses sitting over the mask which covered her face.

The Code Ninja for this party was brought on without the help of a giveaway trait. There were no costumes at this party, and the presence of a cluster of young teenagers was enough to get anyone's attention. As promised, Missy Sanderson had accepted the invitation, and she'd brought along her 'boyfriend,' Kai Avelino, sure. But then they weren't alone. Moving along with them, and looking just a bit more uncertain, were Stella Buckley and Phoebe Munroe. All four of the now former ninth graders looked like they had dressed for a party, whatever their interpretation of that dress code was, so how they had ended up here tonight was easy enough to figure out. Word had travelled from one to the other, from Missy on down, and it was a wonder only these four had popped up, although… No, there weren't any others, but Maya and Lucas both would be keeping a lookout. Until then…

"What are you going to do?" Lucas asked.

"Right now, I'm thinking of going up behind them and shouting 'busted!' Too much?" Maya wondered.

"Well…" Lucas hesitated, and the fact that he actually considered it was almost amusing enough for her to go through with it.

In the end, she decided on something a bit less mean. By chance, the quartet had come across Crowley. Neither Maya nor Lucas generally saw any need to put the dogs in the basement or anything like that whenever they had a party. They didn't need to, as Trix, Lou, and Archer would more often than not go off and hide upstairs whenever there were a lot of people around. Crowley though, he was of a different mindset on most days, and tonight… Tonight he'd been drawn out by a familiar scent. There was someone here he loved very much. He'd found Missy and immediately stood on his hind legs and barked until she gasped and crouched to pet him. The other girls, enchanted with the pup as anyone would be around charming little Crowley, had joined her to say hello.

All Maya needed to do now was to give the short whistle Crowley responded to at once, calling him back to her and in the process making the girls and Kai look up to find where he'd gone off to. Finding the dog now in the arms of their art teacher, they all had more or less the look she would have expected to find on them if she'd pulled her 'busted!' maneuver, minus the shouts of surprise. Set back on the ground, Crowley had gone bounding back to his mother's owner, while both Maya and Lucas walked over to their unexpected guests.

"Hey, uh…" Missy started, and the way she paused showed plainly that she wasn't sure what to call her in this moment. The rule usually was that, when they were at home, she was free to call her by her first name, as she had always done before the two of them had become student and teacher, and to use the more formal surname when they were at school, with everyone else. But now here she was, in her teacher and neighbor's home, but also surrounded by classmates and friends. "Evening," she finally tipped her head with a nervous smile.

"Okay, first of all, you all really need to pause and take a breath. When did I ever give you the impression of being the type to bite anyone's head off?" Maya asked. The quartet breathed, possibly a bit more pronounced than they ever needed to. "Good, keep doing that… at your own pace."

"We can go back to my house, if you don't want us to be here," Missy finally found her voice again. "It's just that I'd invited them over tonight, and then Lucas said I could come here, and I'd forgotten they were coming, and then, well, I thought it might be fun if they came, too."

It was very hard for both Maya and Lucas to keep a straight face, looking at all of them there. Missy had Crowley in her arms, and the dog kept licking at her fingers. Meanwhile, standing at her side, Kai looked very much like a guy ready to defend his fake girlfriend/real crush's honor. Phoebe was trying to pay attention but kept getting distracted by the music playing and also by the snack table just a few steps away, while Stella… sweet, shy Stella looked like she might well succeed in making herself shrink into nothingness if it came to be that she had upset her teacher in any way.

Really, if she had to pick any four students of hers least likely to make waves at a party…

"You guys can stay," she finally put them out of their misery, almost feeling the relief as it settled over them. "What time are your parents expecting you back?" she asked Missy.

"Eleven," the girl replied at once.

"I'll walk you back at a quarter to," Lucas told her, and all four kids agreed gladly. Now that they knew the full story, Maya and Lucas could easily imagine that Stella and Phoebe had been incited to raid Missy's closet for more 'party appropriate' wear, and they both decided in their heads that maybe they could see the whole thing as something good, if it meant it had provided these four with a memory they would share among themselves as friends in the years to come.

"I have to go around and say hi to some people, but please, help yourselves," Maya nodded to the food. "Get dancing," she followed this motion with another toward the 'official' dance floor, turning a smile to Phoebe, who looked momentarily caught between two choices. Sure, she had been making eyes at those sandwiches, but there was another beast in need of feeding, and it was her beast of motion, fed steadily over many a lunch break, in the art room. Eventually, she decided on pulling her best friend off to do a bit of dancing, where she was joined by Missy and Kai. They could work up an appetite, couldn't they?

"What do you think's going to happen when they find out about the trampoline?" Lucas asked, leaning at his wife's ear and making her laugh halfway into a cringe.

"I really don't want to be the one to tell them they can't go in case they get hurt and I get sued or something. I mean, sure, Phoebe isn't nearly as accident prone as she used to be, but then neither is Dylan, and he still almost broke a couple of his fingers earlier."

"Doesn't count, he wasn't on the trampoline anymore," Lucas told her, and she turned a look to him. "I'll keep an eye on them. You'll have plausible deniability or something like that. Come on, go mingle, Mrs. Friar," he kissed the side of her head and she breathed. "Good, keep doing that," he smiled, laughing when she smacked his arm.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners