January 4th 2023

Chapter 4
We Discover New People

No level of administrative curiosities could make this part of their first day back feel any less thrilling to Maya. First afternoon class: freshmen. And this year was the first in a long time where she had no connection whatsoever with any of those kids. Oh, there could have been some glancing connection, an unknown familial link, or the child of some acquaintance in town… If there was, she didn't know about it yet.

If she didn't know them, at least many of them were bound to know each other already, from middle school or earlier maybe, or from some budding friendship planted no earlier than that very morning. The first pair that came into the room that day looked like they existed somewhere in the middle, like they'd known each other a long time but also not. And they looked so caught up in this, talking to one another, that they didn't spy their new teacher right away. They came in, chatting along, and went up to the first station they saw, dropped their bags on top… and paused.

Freshmen always felt so small to her, more and more each year. Maybe it was the 'deer in headlights' look that seemed to be a prerequisite on the fourteen and fifteen-year-olds on their first day at their new school. Even the coolest and most casual of kids had a version of it… Alright, maybe Ava Nash beat the curve there… These two today did not.

"Hi," the girl spoke first before turning to the boy. "It's okay if we come in, right? We can wait outside," she declared, already reaching for her bag.

"Yeah, yes, you're good," Maya smiled and motioned for them to settle down. They relaxed. "Maya Friar," she held out her hand in introduction. As before, the girl was the first to respond. She held out her hand, too, and they shook. The clasp was as confident as Maya had predicted it would be, though with something extra which Maya had not predicted. It was this feeling like it either mattered so much to her that she be seen as mature and well-behaved, or she'd grown up that way and it just came out in certain circumstances.

"I'm Noor. Noor Kaur, nice to meet you, Mrs. Friar."

"Nice to meet you, too, Miss Kaur," Maya beamed. After sharing in that smile, the girl turned to her friend, her eyes flashing with a look like 'say hi, idiot.' The boy instantly blinked and stepped forward, offering out his hand and already looking heaps less confident, or at least less practiced than his friend.

"F… F…" he started and stopped twice, like the words were caught in his throat. He paused a moment, seeming to tell himself to slow down, or just try again. "Freddie Jacek… Hi… I mean h… hello, Mrs. Friar." He breathed. Maya shook his hand rather than call up his impediment. For having heard him and Noor speaking, she imagined it only arose in certain moments, but she had to consider this day, starting at a new school…

"Good to meet you, too, Mr. Jacek," she smiled at him, then, seeing that the name made him feel awkward, like he most heard it for being in trouble, "Freddie. How's it going so far out there, good?"

"Yes, ma'am," Noor politely nodded, and Maya bit back a chuckle. So, she would be one of those. "Actually, I… we…" she turned to Freddie, like she was asking him permission to say. He nodded. "We sort of found each other again this morning, coming off the bus," she revealed with a smile both glad and relieved. Freddie's was that way, too.

"Found?" Maya asked, catching on to the likelihood of this being the operative word in more ways than one. She was absolutely correct. Once upon a time, they had been each other's family.

They had, at one time, been foster kids in the same house. They didn't get into the full details of their history, and Maya didn't fish for it. But Noor and Freddie had been as sister and brother to one another… until Noor had been adopted and they'd lost track of one another. Freddie had bounced around more houses in the years since and was looking likely to continue doing so until his eighteenth birthday. They had never forgotten one another, and then this morning…

Their lives had changed over time, naturally, but the moment they had seen each other, recognized each other… They had missed each other dearly and finding one another had made the prospect of starting at a new school feel infinitely less scary. They couldn't believe their luck.

The class soon filled in. Maya spotted her fair share of kids who looked at her and either recognized her or thought she looked familiar without knowing why. She either confirmed or clued them in once she introduced herself. Then it was their turn. They were about a third of the way through these when Noor and then Freddie had their turn. Even as Maya was wondering how he would do, he was interrupted by a late arrival; a boy who came along, escorted by their new vice-principal, keeping an ice pack perched on his shoulder.

"Sorry to interrupt," Mr. Song tipped his head. "Mr. Abbott got… lost… on his way to class. New school, you know how it is." His shrug was so innocently put upon, and it told Maya plain and simply that this was the vice-principal's way of saying 'unkind minds would give him trouble, but I'd prefer to cut him some slack.' Maya decided right then and there that she liked Alastair Song. Now, if they didn't have to deal with the… Sandra Davenport of it all…

"So many hallways," Maya replied with a similar tone before motioning for the boy to step forward. "Is that how this happened?" she quietly asked him, indicating his shoulder. The boy – Austin Abbott, she had to guess, from her list – just shrugged. He clearly would have rather been allowed to go and sit instead of standing there. So, she invited him to go and grab a seat somewhere while she briefly stepped aside with the vice-principal. "Real story?"

"Got stuffed in a locker over lunch, tried to bust out," he whispered. "I found him; he was embarrassed…"

"Right. Thank you," Maya tried to keep her expression from going swiftly over the Mama Bear edge. The more she showed, the more people might catch on and start talking. "Really," she added, and the two exchanged a friendly smile.

"If you happen to get more details about who's behind this…"

"I will let you know," she promised, and after a brief greeting to the class, Mr. Song departed. "Right, uh… Where were we? Freddie, yes," she indicated the boy.

Freddie got through his introduction with only the slightest of hiccups. Maya's impression was that he wasn't a big talker in public, but whether that had to do with any speech troubles or not remained to be seen. After him, a few more students took their turn, and Maya kept a discreet eye on her late arrival. Austin just sat there, perfecting his disappearance act but coming off more like a statue. Boy With Icepack. Maya wasn't going to force him to talk. If his introduction ended up coming thanks to the vice-principal, then so be it. Maybe he'd be up for trying again in a few days. The more she looked at him though, he looked mildly familiar. Abbott… Yes, a senior girl. She'd been to the twins' birthday parties before, played basketball with them. She wasn't in art, but maybe they could track her down later.

Most of the students had been falling into one of three categories so far as Austin's arrival was concerned. Either they paid him no mind because they were barely paying mind to the class to begin with, or they paid him way too much mind, to the point where she'd try and draw their attention back as discreetly as she could, or they would stay quiet but clearly be curious. One girl looked like she might have been somewhere between the second and third groups, so much so that it slipped her mind that she still hadn't introduced herself. She wasn't staring at him like she wanted to gossip; she just looked concerned. Did they know each other? Were they friends? He hadn't gone to sit with her, so maybe not? Maybe she was just very caring? It reminded her of how Marianne would get when she'd see anyone that was hurt. Little empath…

"Oh, my turn?" she asked when Maya got her attention, and the rest of the class quietly laughed. The girl smiled, and she spoke on. "I'm Agnes Killian," she presented herself, a thought flashing across her eyes that suggested she realized plainly her teacher would have figured that one out if she was the last to go. "I'm fourteen years old, I have one brother, couple years younger than me. The two of us and our mom just moved here over the summer, so we're still getting to know the city. I was almost late to school this morning because she wanted to drive us… She's really bad at directions," Agnes confided with a smile.

"Well, the important part is that you made it," Maya chuckled and tipped her head. "Welcome."

She finished the period with the handing out of the diaries, explaining to everyone what they'd be doing with those all year and likely over the next four years of their lives. She handed them out herself as everyone made their way out. She'd call the names and they would come up, take their book, and leave. Did she purposefully keep Austin's for last? Maybe not at first, but then she'd see his name, traced in gold, and her hand wouldn't go to it, every time. Eventually, he was the last one there, in the box and in the room. When he came up, she pulled out the sketchbook.

"How's the shoulder?" she asked. He tried to answer quietly by shrugging, which he quickly realized for the mistake that it was, going by the wince. "Listen, I won't pry. I just want you to know, if you ever need help, or someone to talk to, or… just a place to lay low… you can always come around here." He took his diary, not a word, but he nodded before heading out. Maya watched him go, feeling the dread radiating off of him about whatever the rest of the day could be.

She couldn't stop thinking about him, all through the long break. Even as Melinda brought the little girls over, as Maya held Mackenzie and Aubrey in turn, she told her mother-in-law about her new students. She didn't tell her about Austin's locker misadventures, but she thought about them anyhow. She couldn't get the image of him walking away out of her head. Who had it been? Another freshman or someone older? They'd have to look into it.

Before she knew it, she was bound back for class for the last period of the day… her juniors. To no surprise, the news from the morning was still causing waves, and with the juniors in last period being what they had always been, it made for a rise in chaotic potential. They got through it well enough though. The students shared their summer stories. Misha Makovetsky introduced himself, sharing his experiences in the short while he'd so far spent with his hosts, Luke, Meadow, their parents, and baby sister Mary.

Then there was Angel Ríos. As reserved as she'd ever known him, he'd never been so closed in, and she didn't have to wonder why. Whatever it had been like to have his mother as his vice-principal, it was a whole other thing now to have his mother removed from her post in this way. His classmates looked no more certain about how to deal with him either. Maya would keep an eye on him. It was the least she could do.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners