December 17th 2022

Chapter 351
Our Future to Find

All of a sudden, it was the last day of class. That was what it felt like, truly. The school year had just sped on by and come to an end, hadn't it? This year, her tenth as a teacher… Soon there would be a tenth star carved into her drawing desk back home. Not long ago, her resident star boy, her little brother MJ, had suggested that she might paint the stars in gold, and she had half a mind to do it… once that tenth star was added, for the class of 2037. It wouldn't be long that she'd be seeing them walk the stage and receive their diplomas, as astounding as that was to consider.

But that wasn't now. Right now, it was the last morning, for once kicking off with an empty classroom instead of the buzz of the quiz team working away together. The quiet felt almost too present, too heavy, but then again, she didn't completely mind it as she went around, preparing for the last period with these seniors. As ever, the last day of class meant the freedom of the supply closet, whatever they chose, but she still had the diaries to return, one last time, and these were special, of course. They had her own art on the inside of the back cover, along with a note, wishing her upcoming graduates good fortune with… everything, life…

This was the first time she'd made it to this point in what felt like an eternity, so maybe the silence was earned, for reflection's sake. Two whole children ago… The last time she'd finished out a year, she didn't have Mackenzie, and she didn't have Aubrey, and that felt impossible. So… yeah… maybe a bit of silence felt good, as she finished placing the diaries on their given stations. Not total silence, just the specific stillness of a high school in the morning. A clock faintly ticking, the echo and squeak of activity in the distance, footsteps and voices made distinct for not being caught at the heart of a hundreds-strong drone… It was sometimes hard to believe how much she'd come to take solace from it all. This was her world, and she loved it.

She wasn't the only one to love it, if in her own way. For her students, she knew, there would be beloved parts as there would be those less so. She'd had them, too. She'd always strived to make sure that her class would be one of those for the kids who spent time in it, and she had accomplished that. She was always glad to see it, and it would make her smile… or sometimes laugh. That happened when she'd see some of her seniors walk into her class for what they knew would be the last time as students and find them looking like they were about to cry.

"Hey…" she chuckled sympathetically as she approached the incoming quartet. Nika Petrelis, Jenny Marshall, Lara Sullivan-Reyes, and Maggie Hillard… To look at them, she'd guess most of them had been fine coming in, but one of them had been particularly in her feelings and she'd brought them down with her. That someone, going by the fact that she actually was tearing up, was Jenny. "Hey, hey… come here, it's okay," Maya put an arm around the girl's shoulders and, though she was taller than her teacher, Jenny felt like a small and fragile child, the way she rested her head at Maya's shoulder. She didn't want to leave here, she was good here, in this room most of all.

There weren't words needed for Maya to grasp that, just as there were no words needed for her to telegraph that Jenny would be okay out there, and that no matter what, Maya would continue to have her back. The words weren't necessary here, no, but they existed, in an image, too, at the back of her senior diary, and Jenny would soon find it for herself.

The feeling, in the face of this year's end, was generally familiar to her as she moved through the day. The seniors had the nostalgia. The sophomores were excited to be moving into the second half of high school, like they were in the sweet spot, not brand new and scared and not on their way out and wondering about what would come next. The freshmen had made it through that first year, but now they would be wondering what came next, even as they were looking forward to not being 'the new kids' anymore. And then the juniors, at the end of the day, were always a lively bunch, but none more so than on the last day of the year, the last day of classes where the next one they had, in the fall, would be as seniors. It was a mixed bag between excitement and dread.

Of course, this year, her juniors were her gold stars, and not the kind she'd have carved into her desk. With them, the feeling seemed to have settled in a year early, as it dawned on them that they only had one more go of this, another September through June, and if she'd ever needed proof that this feeling she had toward this particular group was mutual, she had it right there. They loved their art class, felt how different it was from everything else in their high school experience, and suddenly the supply was starting to show itself for running low.

"You know we're still sisters, right?" Maya snickered at the way the twins went all wobbly-lipped at her. "Why are you like this?" she sighed, opening her arms up for big hugs. She'd made it through the whole day without coming close to tearing up, and they were going to do her in?

"What's your point?" Nellie asked, still holding on to her, which made Gracie laugh.

"You've still got a whole year in here, and after that there's still us… weirdo," Maya squinted at her, making Nellie respond with mock affront.

"You're the weirdo."

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," Maya smirked. The twins looked at each other, sharing just the kind of look that would have their family joke that they genuinely had some telepathic link.

"We were wondering something," Nellie went on, and Maya nodded for them to go on. "Well, it's just… since we are going to be seniors next year, and looking at colleges and all that…"

"Don't remind me," Maya sighed. How were they supposed to be turning eighteen this year?

"We kind of wanted to know if that would mean that, when we do go, if we decide to go to school right here in Austin…" Gracie took over now, and Maya smiled.

To be frank, it hadn't even occurred to her until now. It wasn't that it was something strictly reserved for her Hart-Lane siblings, but as they were all older than her Hunter siblings – except for Maisie – it hadn't come up before. But now… It hadn't even been meant to be tradition, not at first. It had all started with Sam, who found himself starting college at the ripe old age of fifteen and had seen in his out-of-state big sister a chance to have some kind of 'regular' college experience. Then, a few years later, this had compelled Cara to want to do the same when she would start college, which in turn made Eliza and Emma want to do it, too, and now there would be Wyatt, just this fall.

And now? Now, she stood before two more little sisters with designs for calling her home their home for their college years. The distinction here was that they had shared a home before, but… But they'd been not quite two years old when she'd moved out, so they had no recollection of a time where she had lived in that house, with them or at all. There was evidence of it, but memories were faint for them, while they were nonexistent for the likes of MJ and Haley, because she'd already moved out by the time either one of them was born. She didn't often consider what that could mean for them, but just now, as she faced her little sisters, she had to wonder. They wanted to live with her again, wanted to experience what they'd missed out on, she could see it, and… she wanted it, too. Would it make things even more complicated? Oh, no doubt. But…

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, alright?" she told them, for now, and her expression told them all that they needed to know: she wasn't saying no, was very likely saying yes, but it was early, so the subject would have to be benched for now. For all any of them knew, they would end up going to school somewhere outside of Austin, outside of Texas. She didn't want them to commit themselves to something like this without considering all their options. They understood that and they appreciated it.

With the last of the classes ended, it was nothing short of a mass exodus as the students cleared out, but it wasn't completely over, not for all of them. It felt unnecessary to have this last detention, on the last day of class, but it was as the two freshmen had been ordered to do, and so they did. While all their classmates couldn't get out of there fast enough, Lydia and Lamar wound their way back to the art class. Neither one of them looked happy to be there.

"Sit, right there, please?" Maya pointed, and they went. She pulled up a stool so she might sit across from them. "In a little bit, I'm going to take care of closing up my class for the summer, and you guys are going to help me, yeah?" They both nodded in silence. What choice did they have? "Before that, I wanted to talk. We've been spending our afternoons together since January," she reminded them. "I want to know if the two of you have been thinking about what you did to get yourselves in here with me." They both nodded, again in silence, but Maya pressed them with a look. She'd need more than that.

"Well, I won't do it again, obviously," Lamar averted his eyes. He just wanted this to be over, to put it behind him, even if he knew that it would continue to follow him, through high school and very likely beyond, too. There had been no means for him to step away from the spotlight he'd been forced into, and he was tired of the reminders.

"I know that you've helped us, through all of it, whether we deserved it or not," Lydia told her cousin-in-law and teacher. Whenever she'd have to talk about it, she'd still get this reflex of looking sad and ashamed, genuinely so, and it was the same now. This had been the lowest point of her young life, and she wished that she could make it disappear, but she couldn't. "I'm still so sorry that I… I let you down."

"Some of the other teachers were under the impression that the two of you needed to continue being punished next year, to continue being in detention every afternoon," Maya revealed, and they both looked at her at once. She raised her hand, silencing them before they could speak. "I talked them into letting us just have… this, talking, at the end of the week. I told them that I'd hold myself responsible for your behavior. Please, don't make me regret it."

They looked at her, and they understood. They wouldn't let her down. With that settled, they got up and went about the cleaning of the art room. When it was all said and done, they left the school together. MJ and Ash were waiting for them outside, along with Maia, and so the five of them took off together, as eager as everyone to jump into summer the moment they could.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners