December 22nd 2020

Chapter 357
Their Plans For Leaving

"I was just up at admin, I overheard they're interviewing art teachers?" Morgan's voice almost made Maya drop a box of paints from the shelf in the supply closet. She sounded so stunned and halfway ready to riot to safeguard her friend's job, which made her smile to herself.

"Oh, they are? That's good, maybe I can go and see who they've got," Maya casually replied, still fishing out what she needed for the freshmen.

"How is that a good thing? Maya…" Morgan had not come off her fury.

"Alright, just relax, please? It's really not what you think. Here, this might help," she turned to face the music teacher.

Morgan's immediate reaction was a laugh which felt like a clap of thunder and made Maya jump. Remembering where they were – and the fact that she was only halfway through her reveal tour – she moved to shut the classroom door again before turning to her friend.

"Woah!" Maya had all of a second before she was being happily hugged. "Okay, but really, what did the subs look like? Did they look nice? Smart? Are they just going to turn my class into Doodle Town?" she asked. When Morgan pulled back, her gaze and her hands landed about her small belly.

"You have been holding out on me," she shook her head. "I could be wounded here. I might re-examine our friendship…"

"Yeah, yeah, give it five seconds," Maya smirked. Five seconds went by, with Morgan's hands keeping to their hold.

"And I'm over it," she nodded now, hugging her again before finally stepping back. "Alright, come on, tell me everything."

"I will, but can we please talk about the subs?" She hadn't known they'd be here today, of all days, and now she really needed to know.

Morgan hadn't paid that much attention to the candidates specifically, not once she'd been given cause to worry for her friend's job, but she did her best to convey what she remembered. In return, Maya told her what she could of the weeks she'd spent navigating the early stages of this pregnancy and keeping it a secret. In return for this, Morgan had gone back to the administrative office and had a chat with the secretary, the better to bring back 'the facts' to Maya, still hiding back in her class.

Evidently, she'd also made a pit stop in the teachers' lounge, as all through the lunch break, the closed door to Maya's classroom was knocked on several times. Each knock brought one teacher or another, who would be let in, the better to see for themselves and congratulate the art teacher.

"Look at you…" Lindsay Alcott looked ready to cry when she'd had her turn. She might not have known her nearly as long as Cory had, but she had been her teacher when she'd been all of thirteen, and while they had evolved as colleagues and friends, the memory appeared to have crawled right back to the top of Lindsay's mind's eye. "You know, I did wonder about those applicants in admin earlier."

"Seriously, did everyone see them but me?"

After the parade of teachers had been forced to end by the approaching afternoon bell, Maya opened her door and resumed her post behind the desk and her laptop. The freshmen… She had only known them for half the time of the others, but that didn't make them any less important, wouldn't make her miss them any less. That group, like her first year's freshmen, had represented just… so many blank slates, and she was going watch them grow for four years. What would they be like once she came back?

When Khalil Russell came into the room, Maya guessed he'd understood what today would be. He'd continued to just be her covert helper, all these past few weeks, and she'd been freely thankful for him, even if they both would play the innocence game. He knew nothing, she had nothing for him to know, and that was all. Today though, the cards were going on the table.

If she had any last minute nerves at doing her third surprise of the day, she couldn't have asked for a better ice breaker than to see Rochelle McNeil come into the room that day, taking her place at her station, inspecting the materials laid out for that day with the eye of someone already halfway coming up with ideas, ready to get started. She might not have been setting herself on a path to making art her future, but at some time this year she had discovered a perspective in all this which she could gladly embrace, and really that was all Maya could have hoped for her. She was actually speaking to the others at her station as they waited for class to start.

"Alright, hello, good afternoon," Maya called the students to attention at the sound of the bell. "How was lunch? Good?" she asked, something which had grown to be a customary greeting to her post-lunch crowd. They would report on what the cafeteria had to offer that day, for good or bad, or what they'd brought from home… It was probably a good thing that my lunch was cold, with how many times I had to stop while eating it to go and open the door. "I… Yes, Roman?" she turned to look at him when he raised his hand.

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

"You just got here," Maya pointed out, and he shrugged. "Can it wait? Five minutes?"

"I'll try," Roman reported.

"Try hard," Maya told him before looking to the group as a whole. She'd almost gotten up again, and she settled back down like it had been her means of saying 'anyway.' "Okay, before we start today, I need to let you guys know something, about next year's art class." At this, Roman's hand went back up. "It really can't wait?" Maya tried not to sound too exasperated, as though the kid was stealing her moment when he just had to use the bathroom.

"Well, it could, but I already know this part, so can I go now?"

"What do you mean you know?" Maya didn't follow.

"My dad's here today, he's interviewing for it," Roman explained, pointing out toward the hall.

"He is?" Maya's eyes widened. She'd met the man, spoken to him a handful of times. He had mentioned being a substitute teacher…

"Interviewing for what?" someone asked. Roman opened his mouth to reply, and he could have easily said too much without realizing, so Maya hurried before he could say a thing.

"Roman, go ahead, take the pass. Make it quick, yeah?" The boy got off his stool without any question, grabbed the hall pass and headed off.

"What's going on?" Rochelle asked now. She was too smart not to be able to figure something out.

"Right," Maya sighed. "I'm going to be absent, all of the next school year," she informed her class, and as before it caused a stir. "I will be back the year after that."

"Where are you going?" Rochelle cut in once again.

"Uh, nowhere exactly… Mostly going to be home, I guess," Maya took this as her cue to stand up for the 'show' part of her bit of show and tell. At least this part went much as it had done before. She stole a glance to where Khalil sat, the two of them exchanging a knowing tip of the head.

Maya had known to go into this day with an awareness to anyone in her classes who might have taken the news with incertitude, and really there had only been two who'd stood on that list, with no need for her to search very long to find them. Stella had been one of them, and Rochelle was the other. As much as she looked happy for the news of her teacher's having a baby, just like the others, there was almost a split in that reaction, and underneath the smile brewed concern. She'd come into this class absolutely dreading the experience, but somehow she'd gotten to this new perspective, and now Maya could see how much of that Rochelle had fused to her being the one leading this class. Without her, by that logic, it would all fall apart.

So, like with Stella, she'd pulled her aside at the end of class, and she'd promised she'd still be involved, in some capacity.

"Yeah… Okay…" Rochelle quietly nodded, but even as she watched her go, Maya feared she would start pulling away again, turn back upon herself.

She had two free periods ahead of her, and she needed to clear her head of those worries before she spoke to her juniors. That one was probably going to be the hardest for her. She'd known those kids for two years, and though she would find ways to involve herself in the following year while she was home with the baby, she would miss their senior year. They would be gone by the time she returned, which meant what little remained of this year would be the last she'd have with them as their proper teacher.

She entertained her curiosities regarding her sub, as the means to refocus herself. She hoped to put in a good word for Barton Day. She already had a connection to him, through his sons, and it would make it very easy for her to communicate with him throughout the year. This involved some amount of sneaking along the halls, careful not to run into anyone who might have been late to class, ducking around windows in doors… The applicants were no longer at admin, but a quick chat with the secretary had told her that things looked good for Mr. Day as far as she saw.

As last period loomed, Maya was back at her desk, and her laptop, and her paintbrushes… The students came along, took their seats.

"Hey, Dakota," Maya called to the boy as he came in, hand in hand with Daphne Brett. "Come here," she motioned, and he came forward. "Did you talk to your dad earlier?" she whispered.

"Uh, yeah," he whispered back, leaning as well. "How come you're not…"

"I'll explain in a minute. Do me a favor though? Can you ask him to call me? Here," she passed him a sealed envelope. Dakota nodded, slipping the envelope in his bag as he went to sit. Maya sighed when the bell rang. Here goes. She opened her mouth to speak, but then she had to pause, rethinking her sequence for this revelation. She had to start with the good this time around, had to make them understand before she told them the rest. "Good afternoon, everyone, uh… so… something I need to let you all in on," she started once she had their attention, letting the positivity she held within her be felt, and remembered, above all else as she stood and walked out from behind her desk.

By the looks on some of their faces, even as the room became a noisy bit of happy congratulations, there had possibly been some suspicion that this was happening even before she'd said a word. Mostly, there were smiles, and questions. Daphne Brett looked like she might have jumped around. Ariel Su might have cheered loudest of all, for her teacher and advisor. Of course then, after they'd had a moment to take in the news, it wasn't a far leap for them to grasp what she was about to tell them even before she got to say it.

Maya confirmed their suspicions, told them how they would have a substitute for their senior year. But she also told them directly what she had only told two girls as of yet, that she would be involved from a distance, as best as she could, and for them, her future seniors, it might have been the truest. She needed to know that she was sending them off as she'd done last year's graduates and as she would this year's, and if they knew her at all, they could trust she would hold to her word.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners