A/N: This chapter gets a little cheesy lolol, but I loooooove cheesy moments. Last "set up" chapter because we're switching gears now. Things are going to move faster from here on out :)
Hi GryffindorHearts! Aww you're so sweet! It's something I considered once upon a time, but I still have a lot to learn and improve on and life gets in the way so often :/ I think I'm going to wait until I'm done with all schooling and then figure out if I still have that interest :3
Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate them a lot and I thank you for taking time out of your busy days to drop a comment! It's always a lot of fun to read what you have to say! You guys are the greatest! If I can help provide an escape in some way for you guys, I will! :D
Disclaimer: I do not own Girl Meets World, but… eh I got nothing…
Maya stepped onto the chair and stapled another macaroni math project onto the top row of the classroom bulletin board outside of the room. She just wanted to get the day over and done with. Today hadn't started well at all and it didn't help that she hadn't gotten any further on her search for her baby in a week. It was draining her morale.
"Your picture looks silly." Maya heard Mark say.
"No it doesn't!"
Maya sighed when Anna's indignant voice carried out of the classroom. It'd been a week since Anna had gotten sick and the minute she'd returned to school a few days ago, Mark had been nonstop bugging her. Anna generally ignored him or retorted something that made him pipe down, but this was the thousandth time that day he'd tried to pick on her and it was only a matter of time before an actual argument ensued.
Maya had been hoping arts and crafts time could be more calm and quiet. She was developing a small headache after Riley couldn't sleep the night before and kept her up all night because she wanted company. Maya was too exhausted to deal with bickering children right now. She could tell clearly that Mark had a crush on Anna, but clearly he didn't get that being mean to her was not the way to impress her, especially since Anna tended to fight back.
"You can't draw Miss Hart in your picture just because you don't have a mommy! She's not your mommy, stupid!"
"I didn't draw Miss Hart, you dumdum head!"
"Hey! No name calling, you two." Maya scolded, leaning inside the classroom and peering at her students.
They all quickly returned to colouring their own pictures and the murmuring and hushed lull of a burgeoning fight dissipated. Anna and Mark were glaring at each other though and Maya wondered if it had been a terrible idea to put them at the same table. She rotated the seating chart biweekly so all the students would get a chance to get to know one another by the end of the year, but those two had been troublemakers since the beginning of the year every time they sat near each other. She knew their argument was far from done and they looked like they were gearing up to continue it, despite her attempt to stop it.
"I mean it, you two. You can have a healthy and quiet discussion without insulting each other."
Maya went back to her work, sighing in relief when it seemed like she'd quelled the tension. She could hear the students chatting calmly in the room. But it didn't last, because a handful of seconds later, it started up again.
"You're the dumdum head!" Mark hissed.
"Yeah?" Anna yelled. "And you're a wiener, and I'm better at baseball than you!"
"No you're not!" Mark yelled back.
"Yeah huh!"
"You two stop this right now!" Maya called into the classroom.
They ignored her.
"No you're not!"
"Yes I am!"
"Yeah, she's better than you!" Romina piped up. "She got a home run yesterday, and you didn't."
Maya frowned and stopped stapling the macaroni projects on the board as she listened to the worsening argument. She'd been hoping they both would cool off a little, but she could tell this was about to get bad fast. Especially since other kids were now clearly joining in. She carefully got off the chair, setting the remaining projects and stapler down to intervene and diffuse the situation before someone's feelings really got hurt.
"So what?" Randy threw in. "The pitcher went easy on her cuz she's just a stupid girl."
Maya heard a chair scraping loudly on the floor.
"Take it back!" Anna shouted.
"No!"
"Take it back, you, you… you ass!"
Maya didn't clearly hear what Anna said because she'd said the end of her sentence fairly quietly, but from the collective gasps from the other kids and the way the argument and noise died quite suddenly, she knew it wasn't a good word.
"Oooooh! I'm telling on you!" Randy shouted.
"What is going on here?"
Maya marched into the classroom and every kid turned to her, wide eyed, jittery, and buzzing with the energy of kids who had witnessed something taboo. Anna was standing with her fists clenched by her side, an angry flush to her cheeks.
"Anna said a bad word!" Randy screamed at the top of his lungs, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"He called me stupid!" she cried indignantly.
"Well she is!" Mark said. "She drew you in her picture! And we're supposed to draw our family."
Maya glanced at the drawing Mark was gesturing to on the table. There was a rough coloured pencil drawing of a tall man with green circles for eyes and a little blonde girl with wild, curly hair and blue circles for eyes. Beside her was a rainbow coloured, polka dot dog. And at the top of the page was another figure, this one a blonde woman with long hair and blue eyes. If Maya was honest, it really did seem like her which was surprising in and of itself. Had Anna drawn her?
"Mark, you're all allowed to draw whatever you want in your family pictures. There are no guidelines," Maya responded. She turned to the girl in question, whose face was starting to twist up in the way Maya knew was impending tears. "Anna, what did you call Randy just now?"
She clammed up, her eyes tearing up and lower lip quivering a bit as she shook her head rapidly. Maya crouched down in front of her, looking her in the eye seriously.
"Anna, what did you call him?" she asked calmly. "Tell me the truth."
"She called me the A word!" Randy said loudly.
"Only because you and Mark kept calling her stupid!" Romina argued. "I was there Miss Hart! I saw the whole thing!"
"Anna, that's not a nice word," Maya said sternly. "We don't say things like that in this classroom. That's a time out from recess for a week."
"You're gonna get kicked out of school, Anna!" Randy said.
"Randy, stop it. This ends now, okay? I want you all to apologize to each other. Mark, what do you have to say to her?"
"I'm sorry I called you stupid," Mark said in annoyance.
"Randy?"
"…Fine." He pouted, looking put off. "I'm sorry I called you stupid too."
"And what do you have to say to Mark and Randy, Anna?"
She swallowed thickly, sniffling the slightest bit, but didn't say a word, crossing her arms in front of her chest and frowning at the ground. Clearly she wasn't planning on complying today.
"Anna."
She looked up then, and Maya could already see a familiar defiance in her red rimmed eyes before she even opened her mouth. Maya knew that she was about to say something that wasn't anywhere near an apology.
"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you're stupid dweeby boys!"
There were more gasps from the other students and Maya pinched the bridge of her nose, letting out a breath slowly from the renewed problem.
"Anna! That is unacceptable."
She stuck her tongue out at both boys and turned away from them petulantly. Maya sighed in exhaustion. This was not the day she wanted the kids to fight, and Anna to decide to be as stubborn as all get out. She tended to have days were she didn't listen as well as she should, but she wasn't usually this aggressive or combative. Something clearly was bothering Anna if she refused to apologize and even continued to provoke the others.
"Anna, go sit in your seat," Maya said. "You and I need to talk."
The other kids were dead quiet, staring at each other wide eyed, some in concern. Anna stomped over to her seat, plopping down with a lot of noise and slumping in her chair. There was a moment where no one really moved, the room silent as if waiting for a pin to drop.
Maya turned to address the kids. "The rest of you, it's almost time for gym. Who's line leader this week?"
Emily raised her hand.
"Good. Emily, you know what to do. Take everybody down the hallway for bathroom break before Coach Morris comes here to pick you up. No horsing around in the bathroom, okay? If anyone talks or plays in the line, let me know."
The kids lined up fairly quickly, everyone on pins and needles and not wanting to also get in trouble. Following Emily, they quietly left the room, many of them turning around and staring at Anna and trying to see what was going to happen. Maya waited until they all had cleared the room before she walked over to Anna's table. She pulled out the seat next to her, sitting down and facing her. Anna kept her eyes on the table, trying to hold back her tears through her sulking.
"Alright, Anna. What's going on with you? This isn't like you."
"Am… A-am I in trouble, Miss Hart?" she said in a quiet voice.
"You know the answer to that. Using bad words in our class is unacceptable and calling a classmate something like that is never okay no matter how angry you are, Anna," Maya replied. "I have to call your father about this."
She sniffled. "He made fun of my picture."
"I know it made you mad, but that's no excuse to call someone a word like that, do you understand?" She nodded, her lower lip quivering. "It doesn't matter what he said about your picture. There are other ways to express your anger."
Then again, Maya did feel like she was being a hypocrite telling her not to call people names when she'd done the very same thing to Lucas for questioning her abilities as a teacher the first time they'd met. And that didn't even account for all the names she would call people through her youth, especially when she was in elementary school.
"I know he made fun of you, but don't let it get to you. Have confidence in your work. Even if you did draw me it's—"
"But I didn't draw you! That's my mommy!" Anna said emphatically, her voice cracking and eyes welling with more tears as she turned to Maya, imploring her to believe her. "Daddy said she's with the angels. And, and, and everyone else at my table had a mommy in their picture, and I wanted to draw mine too. I-I was going to make her an angel in the sky."
"Anna…" Maya's heart sank as she watched the tears start to trail down Anna's cheeks, crouching to her knees in front of her chair and cupping her cheek. "Do you wish you had your mother at home with you?"
Anna hesitated, chewing on her lower lip. She nodded slowly, her face contorting as she broke down and started crying. And Maya's heart broke into pieces looking at her pain-stricken face.
"Oh sweetie… Come here."
Anna got off her chair and wrapped her arms around Maya's neck, her face buried in Maya's shoulder as she sobbed. Maya held her, stroking her back and rocking her gently. She felt so small and vulnerable in Maya's arms. How long had she been holding this in for? She had to have been bottling it up for quite a while for it to all come out this way. She acted so tough that sometimes even Maya forgot that she was a little girl whose mother died right when she was starting to forge an innate connection with her.
"What happened?" Maya asked when she calmed down a little bit.
"M-Mischa Cooper in Miss Patel's class is having a Teatime With Mommy party next weekend," Anna blubbered, her shoulders shaking as she cried, "a-and she said I wasn't invited because I-I don't have a mommy, a-and she doesn't want to get my No Mommy cooties."
Maya was thrown back to elementary and junior high memories of being the only girl left out of father-daughter events and dances. She knew how bad it had hurt. It was a feeling of raw pain and uselessness, and one that Maya 100% knew felt like crap. She'd always seen herself as less important and less loved than her classmates and watching everyone else with their fathers had been a source of pain for her well into high school. Sure, she had people who watched out for her who became her pseudo fathers and mentors, but it still didn't change the fact that she'd wanted her father and not having him in her life made her feel inadequate compared to the other kids. She'd always thought she wasn't a real kid. The memories were still painful to this day, and it had taken her the better part of her young adult years to finally stop seeing herself as lacking. Seeing Anna this way, it was like Maya was reliving those heartbreaking memories all over again.
"…Anna, listen to me." Maya stroked her head soothingly, trying to help her calm down. "First of all, you don't have any cooties, okay?"
She held Anna slightly away so she could look her in the eye. Maya wanted her to know she was entirely sincere with what she would say next. She'd never had anybody to say anything to her when she'd been struggling with those feelings, but Anna had her. And she was going to make sure she was there for Anna.
"And second, I want you to know that not having a mother around doesn't make you any less of a person. It doesn't make you inferior to anyone else, and it certainly doesn't change the fact that people still love you immensely," Maya continued, wiping away a couple of the tears on her red cheeks. "Just because you only have a single parent in your household doesn't mean that you can't achieve the same things as anyone else. The only thing you lack is your mother, nothing more."
Anna sniffled, nodding her head as she wiped her nose with her sleeve.
Maya smiled. "Do you want to know something about me that none of your classmates know?"
She stared at Maya, a curiosity in her watery gaze.
"It'll be our little secret, okay?" Maya held out her pinkie finger. "You promise you won't tell, Anna Banana?"
Anna's eyes widened slightly, and she nodded more rapidly, linking her pinkie finger to Maya's. They shook them.
"I'm in the No Daddy club." Maya whispered conspiratorially. "I don't have a father anymore."
She gasped slightly. "But you're a teacher. I thought all teachers had both their mommy and daddy?"
"That's a misperception."
Maya thought it was a little amusing how kids didn't tend to see their teachers as normal human beings with lives outside of their job.
"A misper… misperspectors? Huh?"
"Misperception. An assumption that is mistaken or misunderstood based off of some internal notion, but not necessarily based on fact." Maya explained, chuckling a bit at her mistaking the word. "In fact, a lot of people don't have Mommy and Daddy living with them. Your friend Amber for example. Does she live with both her mommy and daddy?"
Anna shook her head. "But she still has a mommy."
"Very true. But do you see that not all families are perfect? Just because a family doesn't have two parents doesn't mean it's not a family. Even families that may look perfect on the outside might not be perfect either," Maya said. "Let me ask you something. Do you think I have No Daddy cooties?"
"No."
"Am I less of a person?"
Anna shook her head.
"What do you think of me?"
"You're really nice, Miss Hart. And you're really pretty. And you're really smart and really cool."
"All things that you are too, Anna Banana. You're a sweet girl, caring, strong, intelligent," Maya replied, smiling warmly when Anna blushed a bit. "Do you get my point? I lived with only my mom. And you live with only your dad. But your value—our value—is in who we are as people. Not what we have. You have a lot of worth and your life has so much value. Never forget that."
"Yes, Miss Hart."
"I know it hurts to not have your mom, but instead of focusing on it and letting it or anyone else hurt you with it, cherish all that you do have. Because you still have all these wonderful people and things in your life." Maya cupped Anna's cheeks, stroking them gently. "Nothing could ever take the place of my father, but I still had a lot to be thankful for. And I was. I was very thankful for what I did and do have."
Including the blessing that was her baby. Until she messed that up and gave away the bundle of joy that she'd loved for nine months.
Anna nodded. "Thank you, Miss Hart."
"If you ever need to talk, you can always come to me, okay? I'll listen.
"I will." Anna rubbed her eyes with her fists, sniffling brokenly. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, Miss Hart. And that I used a bad word."
"The ones you should apologize to are Randy and Mark." Maya stood up, taking both her hands. "Can you do that for me? You hurt their feelings too, you know?"
"Okay," she said, looking remorseful. "Miss Hart… Can I go home?"
Maya figured she would want to after an afternoon like that. She could hear footsteps in the hallway and the quiet chattering of her students returning to class.
"I'll ask your father when I call him. In the meantime, think about what you're going to say to the boys."
The kids came back into the classroom, their eyes all zoning in on the red nosed Anna, trying to see what the aftermath of the confrontation was. She kept her gaze away from the students, still sniffling erratically as she wiped her eyes and nose with the sleeve of her sweater.
"See what you did!" Romina said to Mark and Randy, gesturing to Anna. "You boys made her cry and now she's never coming back!"
"Miss Hart, Carlos and Addie kept talking in line even though I kept telling them to shush," Emily said. "And Damion and Tyler kept trying to give each other wedgies."
"Tattletale…" Damion muttered.
"Teacher's pet," Tyler added.
"Hey now. No more of this name calling. I've had enough for one day. Anyone who calls someone else another name is getting timeout from recess today. Now line up for gym. Coach Morris will be here any second." They stopped talking quickly, hurrying to straighten up their line. Maya bent down and helped Anton whose pants zipper was still open. "Emily, thank you for letting me know. Those of you who had been playing around or talking during bathroom break, you're going to sit out of recess for five minutes."
There were unhappy groans from the ones who had broken the rules, and Maya felt bad. Maya hated to dole out punishments to any of the students, especially this many in one day, but she had to maintain discipline in her classroom.
"Miss Hart?" Mark said, looking kind of scared. "Is Anna okay? I didn't mean to hurt her feelings."
Randy fidgeted uncomfortably. "She's not going to get kicked out of school, is she?"
"Boys, Anna's not going to get kicked out." Maya smiled, crouching down and taking both their hands. "She's just going to go home early. Thank you for checking up on her."
"Are we in trouble?"
"Both of you are also sitting out of recess today for calling her names. I want you to use the time to reflect on why calling people names is not okay."
They nodded in understanding.
"Good." Maya stood up. "Now Anna, do you have something you want to say?"
She scuffed her shoe on the floor, hanging her head and staring at the ground. "I'm sorry for calling you a bad word, Randy… And I'm sorry for calling you a dumdum head, Mark."
"I don't want a repeat of this to ever happen again," Maya told her class. "And that goes for all of you. The name calling has got to stop."
Though she knew it was only a matter of time before it started up again once the fear of this situation wore off. It was just about that time of fall when the students had been with each other long enough that they grew more comfortable with each other and in class. They'd already pretty much developed their classroom friend groups and enemies and Maya knew the harmony of the class when they had all been new and scared had now dwindled. The problems would only increase from here on out and she'd have to find a way to keep the peace as best as possible, especially when she had pretty zealous and energetic students.
"Yes, Miss Hart."
"I'm glad you guys understand." Coach Morris waved from outside the classroom, and Maya nodded in greeting. "Time for gym class. Have fun. When you get back, we'll be practicing our multiplication, okay?"
"Okay kids!" Coach Morris said. "Ready to play with the hula hoops?"
The class followed him out of the room, many of them still turning around to see what was going to happen with Anna. Maya knew it was the default morbid curiosity of children. For some reason, they equated someone getting into trouble in class with going to jail.
Once they were gone, Maya turned to Anna.
"Alright. Let's call your dad."
~.~.~
Maya was scrubbing some glue off of one of the tables when Lucas walked into her classroom, glancing around and looking for Anna.
"You're here."
"Hey." He greeted. "Where's Anna? You made it sound like something bad happened."
He'd wanted to know the situation, but Maya had told him it would be better if she addressed the entire thing with him in person. All she'd told him was that Anna wanted to come home early and he had promised he would pick her up.
"Something kind of bad did happen. She's at the front office waiting for you to sign her out for the day."
"So what happened?" Lucas asked, leaning against the corner of her desk. "It's not like Anna to want to go home because she got in trouble."
"Well she's not exactly herself today…" Maya sighed.
His brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I'll tell you, but first. Lucas, do you curse a lot around Anna by any chance?"
He looked a little guilty. "I can't say that I haven't. But I try not to curse in general, especially when she's around. Why?"
"Anna called someone an ass today."
Lucas didn't react to her comment at first, staring at her as if trying to consider if she was telling the truth or not. Then he snorted and started chuckling, shaking his head in amusement.
Maya glowered at him. "Lucas, that's not funny."
"I'm sorry. You just said it so seriously and your expression..."
"It is serious!" she said in exasperation, tossing a crumpled ball of paper at him. Lucas caught it, a small amused smile on his face. "Children pick up the language their parents use. She already knows the F word because you use it when something goes wrong. Do you see what I'm saying? She's already figured out that the connotation of the F word is for something bad that happened. And soon enough, she'll start using it when something bad happens."
"Was it unprovoked? Her using ass."
"Someone made fun of her. But unprovoked or not, she's seven, Lucas. There are other kids in my classroom—other seven year old kids—who will pick up bad words from her if she keeps using them. Other kids who will say it at home or tell their parents or even ask what the word means. This doesn't just affect Anna. It'd be one thing if she was in junior high, but she's in second grade."
Lucas' amused look dwindled, a slight look of alarm on his face.
"You never realised that?" Maya rose a brow. "No offence, but you're kind of clueless, you know?"
She knew it was kind of a mean thing to say, but she was on edge from the events of the day and agitated from her growing headache. Anna's melancholy had opened Maya's old wounds and made her relive the childhood memories she'd wanted nothing more than to shove out of her head. And to top it off, for some reason, she felt kind of antsy around Lucas and it didn't help that she could feel his gaze on her as she bustled about to fix the room up for the multiplication bingo when they got back from gym.
"Hey, I take full offence at that." Lucas rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm still rusty on this parenting thing. But it's not like I go around dropping bad words left and right. I barely curse."
"Is there anyone else other than you who Anna might be picking up some words from? Mrs. Coleman maybe?"
"I highly doubt Mrs. Coleman is the culprit. She's as prim and proper as they…" He looked like he had an epiphany. "Oh… I think I know where she got it from. Zay. He's a vet tech at the clinic. He watches Anna from time to time if I'm working late and need to bring her to the office with me."
"Is he a potty mouth?"
"…Yeah."
"Then you'd better ask her just how extended her vocabulary has become."
"I'm sorry about this. I take full responsibility."
"Good. You should," Maya said, glancing at him. "But that's not the reason she wanted to go home. Lucas, I think she's been struggling with the fact that she doesn't have a mother a lot more than she's let on. Last week when she was crying in her sleep? That should have clued both of us in."
Lucas' expression grew serious. "What happened today that has her wanting to go home?"
"Someone didn't invite her to a party simply because she doesn't have a mother. I know it might not sound severe, but as a kid, being excluded for a reason like that stings and cuts into your self-esteem and self-worth."
"No I get it." Lucas sighed. "And this happened today?"
"I think so. Anyway, I had the students draw pictures of their families today." Maya picked up the drawing, walking over to Lucas and handing it to him before going back to her task at hand. The kids would be done with gym in about a quarter of an hour. "Some kids made fun of her because they thought she drew me. As you would expect, Anna being headstrong, she fought back, the situation escalated, and here we are. She told me she was drawing her mother as an angel."
"…I didn't know Anna remembered what she looked like." He stared at it pensively.
"Like I said, I think Anna remembers and notices a lot more than she lets on. She's an incredibly bright child and very perceptive. And I think from an early age, she's been practicing bottling in her feelings and pretending everything is okay. She wants her mother, that much is clear."
"How much do you think she remembers?"
"I don't know. You'll have to figure that out, but all I know is that poor Anna was an emotional wreck today and it was heartbreaking to watch her cry." Maya paused in putting the coloured pencil bin back in its storage place. "I don't know if I even helped, but I hope I did something to alleviate her pain."
Lucas folded up the picture and put it in his pocket. "What did you say?"
"It reminded me of when I was a kid and how I struggled to find my worth. I kept wondering if I wasn't good enough for my dad to stay." Maya let out a long breath, her mind going back to those trying times. "I told her I didn't have a father growing up either. I tried to make sure she knew she had value because the rejection probably chipped at her self-esteem. I wish I could do more for her, but…"
"I'm sure you did plenty. It sounds to me like that's probably exactly what she needed to hear." Lucas supplied. "You grew up without your father around too?"
"Yeah," Maya muttered unhappily as she started gathering the extra paper on one of the tables, nearly crumpling them with the force of her motions. "The selfish jerk left our family when I was seven… He tried to make amends when I was fourteen, and I basically kicked him out of my life—"
"Maya."
"—I told him I didn't forgive him for leaving us. Two months later, he overdosed on narcotics. Ironic, isn't it? I told him I'd never forgive him as long as he lived. And then he d—"
"Maya."
She didn't realise how badly her hand had been shaking until Lucas suddenly filled her line of sight and took her wrist to stop her. Maya inhaled sharply when she felt a jolt of electricity from his touch, nearly jumping out of her skin at his proximity. She hadn't seen him walk over to her in the first place.
"You don't have to talk about it if it brings up painful memories, Maya," he said, concern in his expression. "I didn't mean to pry. Are you okay?"
She glanced up, slowly meeting his gaze and letting out a long breath. "Uh, yeah…"
"Your hand is still shaking," he murmured, shifting his grip so his hand was gently enclosed around hers.
Maya felt goosebumps run up her arm, frozen in place from the warmth in his steady gaze. His eyes really were calming. She felt comforted, a lot less on edge and surprisingly relaxed.
At least until he smiled and her stomach fluttered.
She was suddenly very aware of how close they were, and what someone might think was going on if they walked through those doors. Hell, what if Riley walked through those doors that very second? She knew Maya's entire schedule and it wasn't uncommon for her to drop in unannounced.
"Better?"
She nodded, taking a step back and breaking eye contact, taking her hand out of his and immediately missing the warmth. "I'm fine. It was just an unpleasant time and I still don't think I'm ready to think about it. Anyway, you should get Anna home."
Maya walked out of the classroom with Lucas beside her, heading back to the front where Anna was waiting. She could feel him watching her and glanced at him, wondering what his expression was on his face. He looked like he was about to laugh, a small little amused smile on his lips. A suspiciously annoying little amused smile.
"What?" Maya rose a brow. "What exactly is so amusing?"
"Nothing. I just didn't realise how shy you are sometimes." He shrugged, slipping his hands into his pockets. "It's cute."
Had he just…? Maya faced the front, heat flooding her face and she upped her pace, pretending she wasn't a little flustered by what he'd said. He easily matched her pace, his stroll more languid than hers as he chuckled.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were hitting on me," she said dryly.
He was quiet for a bit, their footsteps echoing down the hallway.
"I kind of was."
She stopped and turned at his answer, facing him with a quirked brow. Lucas stopped as well, his expression fairly neutral though she could still see the amused look dancing in his eyes.
"Was it necessary, Mr. Friar?" Maya snarked.
"I guess not since I've been demoted from first name basis." He chuckled. "You looked kind of stressed. I thought it would ease up the tension."
It didn't. Not that she would tell him why though.
Maya sighed, shaking her head and turning around to continue on their way. She didn't know if this was normal for him and what he considered his brand of joking around, but she didn't have time for antics. They rounded the corner and made their way to the front office where Anna was sitting on a chair in front of Mrs. Carpenter's desk, counting the marbles that were inside of a potpourri jar.
Maya could tell as soon as Lucas saw Anna's red nose and tear stained cheeks that all pretenses of joking around left his demeanor. He crouched in front of her immediately, brows furrowed in concern.
"Daddy, I wanna go home…" she mumbled, hugging her father.
"I know, Sugar Plum," he said softly, holding her gently as he stood up. She burrowed her head in the crook of his shoulder, looking to Maya for the first time like the pretty small, young child she still was. "Anna, if you're sad or bothered by something, you don't have to hide things from me. It's my job to be there for you. Why didn't you say anything to me about this?"
"Because I didn't want to give you problems," she said, her voice muffled in his shoulder. "Or worry you."
"Nothing you're going through could ever be a problem for me. I want you to talk to me, okay?" Lucas said. "I'm your father. I'm supposed to worry about you, but if you don't tell me what's wrong when something is wrong, how am I supposed to help you? Also, I'm disappointed in you for using a bad word. You know better, Anna."
"I'm sorry, Daddy. You're not mad at me, are you?"
"I'm not mad." He rubbed her back when she started sniffling again. "I just want you to think about the consequences of your actions. We don't want a repeat of last year, do we?"
"No…"
"What happened last year?" Maya asked.
"She had a small problem with biting the other kids," Lucas said, tucking one of Anna's loose coils behind her ear. She looked sheepish, hiding her face in Lucas' shoulder again. "It got to the point that the principal had me on speed dial."
Maya supposed there was a good chance Anna had been acting out her aggressions and anger back then too. The poor girl had been through a lot, and she wasn't even at double digits yet. Maya just wanted to protect her heart so she wouldn't have to go through more pain.
"What do you have to say to Ms. Hart, Anna?"
"I won't make trouble for you anymore, I promise," she said emphatically. "I'll be a good girl."
"You are a good girl, Anna." Maya smiled, trying to let her know everything would be okay. "And I appreciate your sincerity."
Anna smiled for the first time since the incident occurred. Maya felt warmth in her chest, relief flooding her when the smile actually reached her eyes. There was nothing Maya wanted more than her students' happiness. She knew Anna probably wasn't quite okay yet, but being with her father had clearly helped her mood.
"Where's your stuff, Anna?" Lucas asked.
"It's in Miss Hart's classroom."
"Alright." Lucas set her down on the ground, tweaking her nose. "Go get your bag. You can stay with me at the office until it's time to go home."
"Can I play with the dogs?"
Lucas shook his head. "Absolutely not, Sugar Plum. You're still in trouble for using a bad word."
Anna groaned, pouting and slumping her shoulders. "You're no fun."
"Yeah, yeah…" He ruffled her hair, unfazed by her response. "I know."
Anna dragged her feet out of the office, heading down the hall back towards Maya's classroom. Maya was glad to see that she looked noticeably happier and more energetic.
"So are we good, Maya?" Lucas asked Maya as he signed the early check-out log on Mrs. Carpenter's desk. Maya must have made a confused face because he chuckled to himself. "Am I forgiven for calling you cute… even though it's the truth?"
Maya stared at him, wondering if he was serious. He sounded genuine in his inquiry, but it definitely seemed like he was playing around.
"It depends." Maya crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Are you still trying to hit on your daughter's teacher?"
Lucas set the pen down, turning around, and contemplated her silently for a few seconds, his expression pensive. Maya felt a little anxious under his gaze, unable to tell what could possibly be going through his mind and why he had even said that in the first place.
"Yeah," he said simply, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Did I fail?"
Maya turned around before he could see the smile that was threatening to force its way on her face.
"Do you always make it a habit to hit on teachers?"
"Oh yeah, definitely," Lucas said playfully. "It's been a lingering fantasy of mine since I was in high school."
"Goodbye, Lucas." Maya made her way out of the office. "If you'll excuse me, I have a class that's about to return from gym."
She wasn't going to humour him when she didn't know what his motivations were for even bringing it back up again. She hoped Mrs. Carpenter wouldn't gossip to the other teachers about it because she was sure she'd seen the secretary watching the interaction with interest. The last thing she needed was rumours of a burgeoning romance when that would never happen. Maya had time for only one thing and that was finding her daughter.
Maya sighed, pulling out her wallet from her pocket and growing even more disappointed at the continued lack of success as she stared at the picture of her baby. She definitely needed a drink to wash away the day from her mind.
She tried not to become too discouraged with each failure, but Maya had been searching for years to no avail. It was starting to take its toll. She just needed a sign. One sign or something that would tell her she was on the right track. She just needed one thing to give her some hope because she didn't know how long she could carry on like this before people started to notice.
"I know you're out there somewhere…"