May 15th 2023

Chapter 135
We Love To Prepare

Every so often, Maya would have the pleasure and privilege of being out and about with her granddaughter, just the two of them together. She knew how much it meant to Tori when they did this, and the feeling was mutual. They both saw it that way, and all was well. Of course, when people would see Maya with the seven-year-old girl, they would assume that this was her child and not her grandchild, something she would easily correct. People would be surprised, as was to be expected. Maya had children of her own who were younger than her granddaughter, whether they knew this or not. Some of them would be weird about it once they knew, and it would always be so important to Maya that Tori wasn't made to feel weird for it. She was her grandmother, and she loved her so very much, as a grandmother should.

It was not yet widespread knowledge that she was about to be a grandmother again, no matter how much she could just have told every single person she met, and she was curious about how people would respond to this news. To her, it would only ever be the best news, and that was all that would matter in the end.

She had told a couple of people, as Ella and Taylor had done, all with their blessing. They trusted her judgment. She'd told the bands, and some of the teachers at school... Dylan had already been told by the time she'd first seen him again, she knew, as he had met her in the school parking lot with a giant, giddy, off the ground hug, which made her laugh as much as it made her certain that Phoebe would have had the same reaction over the fact that their younger brother was going to be a father. For Dylan and Maya, of course, friends for as long as they had been, it was compounded by the thought that his brother and her daughter were about to have a baby together, which even after those two had been a couple, dating and then married for a time, had to be the wildest thing. They would be friends who shared a grandchild and a niece or nephew. According to Dylan, it would be the greatest accolade, and as soon as he could go and tell people, he'd be all over the place.

Right about now, there was an event coming that felt very much like a challenge to his holding his tongue. With such big, exciting family news, what better thing than for their school to once again host Family Day?

They didn't do it every year but, when they did, it would be the kind of event that would divide the school between excitement and dread. The latter would come of anyone working at the school not looking forward to the added presence for any reason, or of the students who were not looking forward to their parent or parents being on the premises for all to know they belonged to them. Maya inevitably sympathized with this group more than anything. She remembered very well not wanting her mother being anywhere near her classmates, even if that mentality had changed completely since those long ago days. She remembered a very wonderful Family Day in her own high school days, as she'd also seen with the twins while they'd been here. And now it would be MJ's turn.

"I don't know about this," MJ frowned when class ended, the day the event had been announced.

"What do you mean? I thought you'd be excited about this," Maya looked to her brother, surprised.

"I am," he sighed. "Sort of."

"What's the hold up?" she had to wonder.

"I don't know... Me? Maybe? I'll probably get over it."

"Just saying, you can pick anyone you want for this, Mom, Dad, one of your excellent sisters..." she gave him her best humble smile, which was as easy a way to break her brother's resolve and make him laugh as she could think of.

"I don't know, I was thinking I'd pull one or more of my nieces into this. It would mean getting them out of school though…"

"I can think on that and get back to you, but maybe in the meantime consider other options," Maya smiled. Oh, she could just imagine how excited any one of her daughters would be at the idea of coming over to the high school for something like this, but Marianne most of all.

"Why do I see the two of you doing some kind of… 'Save the arts' protest number together?" she asked with a smirk, which soon turned into a look of mild concern at what she'd just put into her brother's head. "Let's just… let's please remember we're trying not to give anyone ammunition to gain ground, yeah?" she gave MJ a look, which he met with a confident flare that left her worried… just a bit.

There were so many avenues for the students to take on Family Day. They could make their presentations in the class of their choosing, but they could also do it through one of their activities, provided that they could connect to a class and have their teacher sign off on attending. Those spots would be few and would need to be claimed as soon as possible.

It was to no surprise, to Maya and most of the faculty, that Principal Davenport was very invested in this day going well. With the family members milling around, it would be a reflection of her and her work at the school. She wasn't going into very much detail on the whole, not where it counted. They couldn't say for sure if this was going to be her day to strike or if she'd give them a reprieve. They were almost sure that this was her plan, and that she was delighted to leave them all hanging.

They had been doing this dance long enough, the teachers, the students, that the response was unanimous on the whole. They were just going to keep going and prepare with the Family Day that they all foresaw, and they weren't going to worry themselves over what the principal may or may not do. There would be no better way to ensure that they would have a wonderful time, all of them and their visitors together. Maya was already seeing several projects coming through her classroom, as students had started to lay claim on her available slots. She had also received requests for a few of the rare activity slots, which she had already told herself would be met on a rule of 'I will take however many I can fit into my schedule, no turning anyone away if I don't have to.'

Something that was equally important to her, if not more, was for her to focus on those she knew would run into issues, for one reason or another, with something like Family Day. She could easily think of anyone in a position like Freddie Jacek, who had no family to call his own except a couple of foster brothers and foster parents he had made very clear he did not get along with. He had Noor, who was his best friend and the closest thing to a genuine sister even though they had not lived in the same house since they'd both been children, and Maya could see the girl offering herself and her adoptive family as his own, especially as she'd honestly lobbied for something like that for as long as she and Freddie had found each other again. Maya had told him that he didn't have to do anything that day, not if he didn't want to, but if he did, then she would be there to see him through it if he needed her to. Freddie was very thankful for the offer and promised to think it over.

In another line of thought, they had the exchange campers from Sullivan Stables. On the one hand, they had Kimiko Matsuoka, who may have presently been far away from her parents but had some level of backup options in that she was spending the year at her aunt and uncle's house, living with her cousin, Max Farrell. That wouldn't mean she couldn't miss her parents, or her little brother, Haru, because she did, very much. But she was genuinely excited to set her project on one of her Texas relatives, so she was in the clear.

Their other exchange camper, Dean Winston, was another story. When the sophomore had come along, it had become very clear, very quick, that the idea of being away from home, as much as he'd wanted it when he'd signed up for a spot as an exchange camper, had demanded some manner of a reality check once he'd landed in Texas. Being away from his parents and four older siblings was so not something he had been ready for. Maya had guessed on her own as much as she'd filled in the blanks from listening to Lucas, and Ella and others at the ranch, and Austin Abbott and his family whenever she'd seen any of them, that there had been some moments, more than a couple, where Dean had been very close to asking to be sent home. There had been less of that as time had gone on, especially when they had all flown out to Texas over the Christmas break and spent the holidays with their son and his host family, but now that they'd gone home again and left him in Austin, the feeling had started to resurface. The fact that they were now heading into this big Family Day thing… That only made it more difficult.

"Hey, can we talk for a minute?" Maya asked him when he and Austin arrived for their art class. As uneasy as he'd felt about being in a new school, new town, away from his family and all, there were plenty of things to make him feel more at ease, and Maya was happy to know that her class was one of those things. He met the summons with curiosity, no uncertainty. "Listen, I was thinking about Family Day coming up, and I thought about you."

"You did?" Dean asked, surprised, his brow furrowing as he wondered why she'd go and do that. Maya smiled and nodded.

"It doesn't happen every year, you know, so we don't have to worry about it too much most of the time," she told him, and he nodded. Yes, of course, that made sense. "And I know how much you have struggled, being away from your family." The statement made him awkward, but he also couldn't deny it, so he nodded. "So, I called your parents, talked to them, explained what this was going to be, asked them what the best course of action would be." There was intrigue on his face now, maybe a heightened heartbeat. "They thought, and she agreed, that if you had to pick anyone for this project, you would want your sister, Laura." His instant smile gave him away, thinking of his eldest sister, the firstborn of the Winston children. "Then they put me in touch with her, and I explained the whole project again, and she thought the same thing. So… She'll be flying in, the day before Family Day, and she'll spend a week out here." The way his face lit up, his entire posture changed until he looked restless, she didn't have to ask him how he felt about this. "Does that help you with figuring out what your project is going to look like?" she asked.

"I… Yeah, I think I have an idea, can I…" he indicated back to his station, where he'd left his things.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead," she waved him off, and he went. He went on scribbling in his notebook even after the bell rang and class started, but she didn't say a thing and let him continue as long as he needed. She couldn't wait to see what he came up with.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners