October 15th 2020

Chapter 289
Their Work With Freshmen

Maya could easily have led the charge as far as the teasing went, that morning back at the house. Lucas and Sam both were well at ease with pointing out her exuberance over the start of the new school year, but frankly they were right on the money, so what was there to say? She was so excited to be going back, to find her former ninth to eleventh graders, now tenth to twelfth graders, along with this batch of shiny new freshmen. Her first year had been its own thing, with everyone being new to her, whether this was their first year, too, or their last one. But now… Now she had returning students, and though most of her experience at the school still fell in the realm of being a student there herself, years earlier, she wasn't the brand new teacher anymore, and she could welcome these new ninth graders as a standing part of the faculty.

"Mrs. Friar!"

She had barely made it out of the parking lot and toward the building, and then there was that call, in a voice which made her smile. Turning about, she found the two girls making a dash in her direction. The first to reach her was Stella Buckley, and her shy little bird practically bolted into her arms. Maya laughed, hugging her briefly before she sprang back, a look of uncertainty in her eyes.

"Wait, is it okay for me to do that?" she asked.

"Why don't we just agree to let that one slide?" Maya told her, and Stella nodded at once. "I like your hair," she pointed. The once full-back length of hair had been significantly shortened, now reaching just above her shoulders. The old look tended to make her come off like she might have been twelve or thirteen when she'd been fifteen. Now she looked much closer to her sixteen years.

"Thanks," Stella's smile came timidly, showing that no haircut could change who she was on the inside.

"Are you doing the fall festival again this year?" Phoebe asked.

"Yeah, preparations are starting soon," Maya confirmed. "Can I count on you two to help?" she inquired, already guessing the answer. Of course, they were on board.

It was going to be something for her to get used to, she soon realized, to see her returning kids at different points in the day. Her periods remained the same, with the seniors in first period, and sophomores in third, her freshmen just after lunch and her juniors at the end of the day, except the groups had leapt from one spot to another, all through the day. The kids she used to see at the end of the day were now going to be starting them out.

After a quick check of supplies, and plans for the day, Maya had all of a few minutes to stop, and breathe, and look around her classroom. Oh, she was just so… so happy to be back here. The sound of voices in the hallway allowed her to rein in that bit of excessive smiling before the first of her new seniors started to come in. The thing which set her even further on the path of trusting that this day really would be as good as she had hoped it might be was that, as happy as she was to see them all again, they all looked as though they felt the same way toward her. Even those of them who could not help but fall in the category of 'occasional troublemaker' came along without incident.

"Hey, Mrs. Friar," Derek Boggs greeted her with one great, winning smile, and it warmed her heart to see it, especially for knowing it had a whole lot to do with the girl now standing at his side.

"Hey, Mrs. Friar," Helena Zimmerman echoed her best friend. Her slowly regrowing hair had gained just a bit of length over the summer, but it was still enough that she looked that much more confident in not wearing her wig over it.

"Welcome back, guys," Maya smiled back at them, the words feeling that much more important when aimed at Helena, who had been out of school since midway through tenth grade, when she'd fallen ill, and was now reintegrating the graduating class of 2029 to spend her senior year among her classmates.

When the bell rang and she turned to her students, Maya looked to all those faces around her, her new seniors. Last year, she'd had them all introduce themselves to her, since she was new, but now, what she really wanted to know was what they foresaw for this last year of high school, and for life beyond this school. Before she could do this though, there was one order of business to attend to, and it fell once again to the returned student. She asked Helena if she would introduce herself. While it was partway for her own benefit, to get to know her, it was in another big way for the benefit of her classmates, who had last known her before her life had gone and changed the way it did. Who was she now?

"Alright," she tipped her head, considering this for a moment before looking to her teacher, to her classmates. "I'm Helena Zimmerman," she started, a smile on her face as though to say 'but you knew that.' She'd barely said this much that several in the classroom pounded their hands on their desks and called out a rousing sixty-five!, which made her laugh and made Maya smirk curiously for a moment before she remembered that Helena had been on the basketball team before her absence. "Eighteen years old, as of this summer, and I have never been so happy to be back in high school." This made the others laugh. "I used to get by on average grades," Helena went on, feeling just a bit more introspective now, and the others listened. "But after everything that happened in the last year and a half, I realized I didn't want to just get by anymore. I got to live, to come back, and not all the people I met along the way got to say the same thing. So, I'm going to make it count," she nodded, determined.

Her words had resonated with her classmates, and with her teacher, who had a feeling this group of seniors might have been on their way to something big together. After the bell had dismissed them off to their next class, Maya had spent her free period reflecting on everything the group had said, when their turn had come, to speak of their outlook on this senior year. She only realized now how she'd forgotten to share what her departed seniors had written for them. She would have to pass it on the next day.

The day had carried on, with her sophomores, and eventually with lunch, and then finally, finally, her freshmen would be on their way. Like the year before, they were mostly names on a piece of paper at this point in time, but that was all about to change. And at least one of those names, she suspected, would go along with a face that wasn't entirely unfamiliar.

They all started to come along, a mixture of the usual first day of high school responses Maya had come to know, both as student and teacher. It mostly fell somewhere in either one of two camps, either 'this is so exciting!' or 'this is kind of terrifying…' And then, once they came in here and they saw her, there was once again a parade of occasional recognition from TXNY, and possibly her performance with Ree a couple years back…

So, she'd kicked off her class much in the way she'd done the year before, which she suspected now would have to be the norm with her ninth graders every fall. Right now though, after her own introduction, she asked the same of her new group. It took a few seconds, but finally she had a volunteer, and they were off. As soon as she saw him, she had to smile. Maybe he spoke because he'd heard of her from his older brother.

"My name is Roman, Roman Day," he nodded, dislodging a sizable fringe of blond hair to swoop into his face, which he pushed back with the reflex of one who had to do so many times a day. It got him a few looks from some of the girls in the class, a couple of them trying to hide a flush, a smile, or a laugh, so clearly he and Dakota had that in common. Where the older Day boy was sort of off in his own world a lot of the time, Roman came off as the opposite, someone who was all about the things he saw around him, the better to take it into his world. "I'll be fifteen next month. I have a cat, found her in our garden last spring, she didn't have any owners, so I got to keep her. She's called Sunny. This summer, my family and I went on a trip to Greece, that was great. My brother kept drawing everything. He's a junior here. I collect model cars, little ones, you know? And… oh, I love to swim. I'm going to try out for the team."

Maya was sure that he would have provided several more pieces of information about himself if allowed to carry on, but seeing as they had other students to get through, she thanked him and asked for someone else to go on. The kid was a talker, for sure. The next few who went ahead and spoke all looked like they wondered if they had to say as much, but Maya steered them back on track without a word. About midway through the introductions, there was a knock at the door and a boy came in, holding a tardy slip which he handed over with an apologetic look. As they had only gone through half the group, Maya had to rely on the paper to identify him.

"Khalil Russell?"

"Yes, ma'am," he nodded as politely as he spoke. According to the paper, he was late because of a meeting with the principal. It didn't specify what the meeting was about, so Maya indicated for him to take a seat and decided to ask him after the period was over.

"Well, while I've got you, would you go ahead and introduce yourself, tell us a bit about you?"

"Uh… Okay, yeah," he replied, looking around uncertainly for a moment. "Well, I'm… Khalil," he gestured to the paper still in her hand. "I'm fifteen. Just moved here from New Mexico last week, so I don't really know my way around the city. I have a little sister, Desi. She's nine," he went on, and the mention of his sister brought on the first appearance of a smile. "I'm learning Japanese right now, and… yeah…" he shrugged and looked up to Maya like he wanted to know if he had to say more.

"Thanks," she smiled at him before looking to the class. "Who wants to go next?"

One by one, the others took their turns, and all the while, Maya would see who was left. By now, she had done this enough to know the ones who went at the end usually had a reason, just as the ones who went first did. As the leftovers dwindled, she had one girl pegged for ending up dead last, and she was proven correct. This one looked like she really didn't want to even be acknowledged, and not for any shyness, more like she didn't want to be there. As it turned out, that was not so far off.

"One name left. I have a list, so I know what it is, but how about you tell us yourself," Maya approached the station, waiting for the girl to look up.

"Rochelle McNeil," she stated, meeting her teacher's eye with the slightest defiance. She didn't know what she was facing up against, and each bit of information that followed felt like a concession. "Fifteen… Top of my class." A boy laughed. Maya gave him a look and he retreated. "I suck at drawing, didn't want to be here," Rochelle shook her head, finally airing her frustration. "The counselor made me."

"What would you rather be doing?" Maya wondered.

"Studying," Rochelle replied at once, just before the bell rang, and then she breathed a sigh of relief, scooping up her bag and rising to leave along with the others.

Maya watched her go, watched Khalil disappear in the shuffle before she could speak to him. Alone in her classroom again, she let out a breath of her own. New year, new kids… This was going to be something alright

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners