March 29th 2023

Chapter 88
We Celebrate New Names & Faces

Dear Mrs. Friar,

The other day I found a letter I wrote to you last year. I never sent it to you because I felt weird doing it. Not the writing to you part, just that letter. I wrote it right after I found out that my mother had lost her job at the school. I don't know why I reacted that strongly when I wasn't even the one who was let go. I guess it came from a place of knowing how wrong it was for it all to go down like that, you know? Like even if she didn't get made principal, she could have stayed the VP. I felt so bad for her, but she took it so much better than I did, at least as far as she showed.

I guess what I take away from finding that letter was that, when I was feeling all those feelings, you were the one I wanted to talk them out with. I felt okay about letting you in on it, or at least I did in the moment. Once I'd gone to sleep and woke up the next day, I just sort of hid it away and forgot about it until I found it again. I'm not going to send it to you now, it doesn't feel right anymore, but the meaning stays the same, so I wanted you to know about it.

Angel keeps telling me about the woman who became principal now. I think he tries not to talk about it too much around our mother, but he's the only one of us who really gets to see what she's like out there. He said she was after the arts, and I didn't want to believe it. When I was in school, your class was one of the only ones where I felt happy, you know? And maybe the classes for music, and dance, and theater weren't my thing, but I know that they could be what your art class was for me, for other kids, like Angel and the musicals. There's no way they can take that away from the students and if they try, then I want to help and stop them. If there's anything I can do, please let me know?

Thank you,
Talia Ríos

.

Dear Talia,

It makes me glad to know that I could be there for you even without physically being there. I think it's fair to say that both of us would have rather you not needing me at all in that situation, but here we are. You and Angel both have been so good about showing up for your mother after what happened last year, and if I'm as proud of you as I am, then I can only imagine the level your mother is at.

As to her, I'm with you in thinking that she would have made a much better principal if she had been given the chance, not to mention that it would have been a much more logical choice. Sometimes I wonder how they could have ignored that, but that takes me down a whole other path that borders on conspiracy, so let's not get into that. You know plenty about what's been going on thanks to Angel, so we might as well leave it at that. The less I need to think or talk about the woman, the better.

I completely agree with you about the meaning and the importance of the arts at our school, at every school. I only wish everyone else agreed with it, too, but that is not something in my power. What I can do, and what I can promise you I will put every effort in doing, is making sure our school doesn't lose this part of itself. There's no telling yet what that will require. For now, the best that we can do is exactly what we've been doing all along. We have all these classes, these activities, and we do what we can to help those kids who come along and become part of them, to help them thrive. We show the value of what we all do, and the power as well. If ever the moment comes where we need people like you, ready to fight for it, then you can be sure that I will let you know.

Until then, just keep doing what you're doing, take that energy in the world. For a girl who was usually so quiet in my class and everywhere else, too, you've shown so much power in that quiet, just as your brother is now. And for knowing her as long as I have, I think you both have a lot of your mother in you to account for that.

Until next time,
Mrs. Maya Friar

X

The Hunter twins' drunken letter to their big sister did not have time to arrive yet by the time their first full day in her house came to pass, which was probably for the best. They'd spent their arrival day for the most part breaking in their new room by being crashed out for a good, long nap in their beds, reappearing in early afternoon, after which they'd spent the rest of the day as peacefully as possible playing with their little nieces. They mostly stayed in the living room for this, but they had fun anyhow.

Now, the following morning, feeling markedly improved and energized, they'd set out to properly unpack and decorate. The girls were all of them as curious as could be, and they wanted to see, but they'd been told that it would be a surprise. They were disappointed to hear this at first, but soon a very lucrative compromise presented itself: Their father was going to pick up the year's diaries, and they knew what that meant. That meant it was time once again for one of their favorite things every year: the identification of the diaries.

As excited as they were, it would not be exaggerating to say that Maya was the most excited. Every late summer, she'd get to prepare another year with her returners, and that was always great, but the bigger bonus would come in the form of those people she didn't know. Last year, this had been particularly true, seeing as she had not known anyone in any real way on day one, but this year… This year, like most if not all of her other years previously, she would find amid the strangers some familiar names she was excited to welcome into her classroom.

Three names in particular stood out immediately: Farrell, Bennett, and Dixon. For two of them, this conjured up images of students past and present, namely Kelsey Farrell and Maia Bennett. However, the names here, so far as her list of the year's freshman students stated, belonged to both of their younger brothers, Max Farrell and Jake Bennett. Maia had met the former, most significantly, when his mother had been in the hospital. He'd been much younger then, and a lot had come and passed since then, but she was confident that she would have a very good time with Max, too. It might be complicated just a bit by the presence of a second Max that year, this one a girl, but then from what she'd heard through Kelsey, this was actually Max(imillian)'s best friend, Max(ine). They were used to it.

The second big name was that of Jake Bennett. Aside from the impression that his older sister had left and was still leaving on their school, she had known him since he was even younger than Max Farrell, thanks to the games, Lucas' team, which was also the Bennett siblings' mother's team and their grandfather's before her. She knew him as a very kind boy, his confidence acting like a shield between him and negativity of any kind, just as she knew he would be an instant asset the moment he presented himself at basketball practice, which she knew he would do. He and Maia, like the McNeils/Whitleys had done before them and were doing at the moment, had some more younger siblings, all sitting in wait of the moment when they would have their chance. Jake would have his now.

The plan was thrown momentarily off course when a phone call summoned Lucas off to the ranch, preventing him from heading to the mall to pick up the diaries. This was unfortunate, but not so much of an issue. If anything, it presented an opportunity. Knowing that there would be more than enough hands at the ready to see to them, Maya left her girls in Nellie, Gracie, and Wyatt's care while she headed to her car and… paused… She had a thought, and rather than driving off one way, the way to the mall, she made a brief detour down the lane.

The Friars and the Dixons were about as far apart from one another along the lane as the Friars and the Sandersons were in the other direction. And for as long as Maya and Lucas had lived in their home in the middle there, they'd had the pleasure of watching the Dixon girls grow. Cole's younger half-sisters, Missy's sisters-in-law now, had been growing up before their eyes, and now one of them was about to start high school. When Maya had seen Amy Dixon's name on her list of freshmen, she'd at once felt very happy and very stunned to realize she'd made it this far already. Meanwhile, her little sister, Julie, was two years behind her, starting middle school in a few weeks.

They'd both become well aware of the diaries, through their interactions with the Friars but maybe most of all through Missy's telling them about it, and Maya knew they were looking forward to it, so she decided, with the change of plans, that it could be fun to invite them. Julie was out when she pulled up, but Amy was right there, outside the house, tossing a ball at their hoop. She had a lot of potential as a player, so time would tell if that translated into a position on the school team.

Maya soon had a very eager companion as she drove on to the mall. They went and collected the diaries, got the piles in the boxes along with the gold pens, and they were good to go. By the time they made it back, they had several small blondes eager to help in the preparation of the diaries - and a couple of taller brunettes, recently done with their room - and they also had a just returned Lucas.

"That's not a relaxed face, is it?" Maya joked as they watched the rush of everyone trying to get the boxes into the house. "What happened at the ranch?"

"One of our XCs had to pull out at the last minute," he revealed.

"They did? Why?" Maya asked, surprised.

"Didn't really get into it, but now we were going to be down one exchange camper, so we were having to decide if we would just go on with the one camper or try and get a second one to take her place."

"Is this... you said a sophomore and a freshman this year, right?"

"Yeah. Our sophomore is still coming. Dean Winston, he's being hosted by Austin Abbott and his family."

"Oh, that'll be good for him," Maya briefly considered to herself before looking to Lucas again. "Then the freshman pulled out."

"He did, and he was going to be staying with the Farrells, with Max, so that... that gave me an idea."

"Kimiko's coming back?" a happy voice called so suddenly that it startled them. They looked to find Marianne stood there, grinning. "For a whole year?" Maya looked to Lucas now, awaiting confirmation as she faced the prospect with a smile of her own.

"For a whole year," Lucas nodded, and it was fair to say he'd made his firstborn's day.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners