August 18th 2023

Chapter 230
We Bloom As We Dance

It would feel like a gift they could not squander, for them to have the school dance to look forward to right after the Equestrian Ball. Sure, the two of them specifically were not so much attending as they were chaperoning, but that last part was so familiar to them by now that they could be doing their jobs and doing them well, and at the same time they would be having a laugh, enjoying themselves as though they were still some of those kids themselves, having a great night together. That was on their mind as something to look forward to that morning when they woke up, a pair of happy valentines turning to one another. They'd carry that spirit as they saw to their cupid of a baby boy and as they saw him and his sisters through the morning routine. There was no better way to send their girls on to school for the day than by sitting firmly in that bouncy sort of excitement. It was enough that Marianne, Kacey, and Lucy all looked at their parents like something was up with them, and both Maya and Lucas were having too much fun to do anything to correct them.

Maya fully embraced her mood as she headed into school, recognizing it for the great shield that it would be for her against whatever issues she may encounter along the way. All she wanted right now was to carry her joy and allow it to spread among her students as they looked forward to their dance that evening.

"Good morning," she greeted the six members of the quiz teams as she found them working in the art room. They all greeted her back, if with a very slightly dismissive tone. It was the kind that came from being very focused on whatever one was doing, being mindful of having a very narrow time window to fit through before they had to move along. For that, she stayed out of their way for the most part, in the minutes that followed, allowing them the space they required before finally being able to ask, once she saw that they were winding down, if they were all looking forward to the dance that evening. The responses varied from 'yes, much much,' to 'absolutely not,' and then a range of responses somewhere down the middle.

Agnes Killian had fallen somewhere in the middle, nearer to the side of no in her response, but very soon something came along to challenge that resolve, and that someone was Freddie Jacek.

He just showed up, out of the blue, and he had a look on his face like he'd finally worked up the nerve to do something, and he was scared that he didn't know how long it would stay functional. He walked into the room, just on this side of sweating nervously and apologizing for interrupting the teams. The others promised that it was fine, even as they followed his attention, turning toward Agnes. He approached her, and to see how nervous the both of them were… Maya resisted the urge to pull out her phone and record, something that a few of the others did not feel the need to resist in the slightest. Agnes gave them a look, but she maintained the vast majority of her focus on Freddie, as he managed not to trip over his words too much as he asked her if she would go to the dance with him.

"What did she say?" Lucas asked, that afternoon, as Maya told him about the moment while getting changed for the dance. He was ready to go, as he'd been able to do his part ahead of her arrival. Now he played around with Ezra, mindful of any incidents that might have happened there and forced him to change again.

"She looked as nervous as he did," Maya shared, smiling as she fixed her dress. "But she said yes. They were both so sweet about it," she happily recalled.

"Good for them," Lucas decided, and Maya agreed, only to curse a moment later. "What is it?"

"Stain…" Maya reported with a disappointed sigh as she indicated the skirt. "I have no idea where it came from or how long it's been there… I really wanted to wear this one," she gave a pitiful little sigh, and all Lucas could do was hug her and try to soften the disappointment.

"Can I pick the new one?" he suggested, knowing it would be an easy way to make her laugh a little. He was correct.

"Go ahead, just remember this is a high school dance, yeah?"

"I don't know what you're insinuating here, but I promise to behave," he teased, and she nodded indulgingly.

He dug through her closet for a few seconds before spying what he felt would be the only appropriate alternative to the spoiled first choice. He presented it to his wife, and she looked happy with his selection, so he did his best to help her through a prompt wardrobe change so that they could get on their way. They first submitted themselves to an inspection from their daughters, who all looked pleased with their parents' look, and then they were finally on their way.

Maya thought about Agnes and Freddie on the way over to the school. It was hard to believe that the two of them would be seniors in the fall, but then that was generally true of all her students when they reached this point, and she knew that she'd had this same thought several times before, just as she knew that she'd have it again, time and again in the years of her career as a teacher. As for these two in particular… It wasn't as though they'd had this big will-they-won't-they over the past almost three years of being in her class, but they'd always been there, and she had felt the occasional spark between them like maybe they could be something good together, but nothing had ever manifested… until now, and the way she saw it… This was just when it was meant to happen, if it was going to happen. There was no real reason for that, but it still felt deeply true.

When she'd see them out in the gym that evening, they'd be so sweet to see together, nervous as they held hands, and danced, and hung out together… She had a great feeling about them, and all she could hope was that this would be the start of something great for the two of them.

Whether or not the same could be said for Maya's little sister and Lucas' would-be cousin, in a lot of ways it felt too early to tell, despite their having been drawing closer to one another over the last few weeks. As both Maya and Lucas would see them go along that evening, the feeling would be that both Haley and Rafa were not so much focused on the future or the what ifs. They were thinking a lot more about how they were so glad to have one another, about how much fun they were having together…

They were coming along strong after the Equestrian Ball, so to now have the Valentine's Dance to turn to, it was like they had partied all night and found themselves into another party as soon as they'd left the first. In time, it became clearer why they needed all this that night: they weren't staying until it was over. They were fitting the whole of the dance into half as much time, all so that they could then leave and go join Madelyn for the rest of the night. No one was about to stop them, and Lucas went so far as to leave briefly to drive them to the Carter house.

"Isn't Mr. Friar doing this with you tonight?" Maia Bennett asked as she stopped near her former teacher with her enbyfriend. She'd been so happy when Ash had asked her to accompany her for this evening, and the two of them had set out to make it their greatest school dance together. That was more or less the plan for all the dances they had attended together so far, but then they always succeeded, as far as they were concerned, so maybe they were on to something.

"He is, he is," Maya promised with a smile. "He's just giving Haley and Rafa a ride," she explained, and the pair nodded at once, knowing where they'd be headed. "Glad to be back?" Maya asked the girl who shared her name.

"I don't know if I'd say glad, but for them…" Maia looked to Ash, who had wandered over to pick up some snacks for the both of them, "Yeah, I'd say I am." They were both looking forward to Ash graduating, not only for knowing how much it had pained them to have to repeat freshman year, and then for how glad it had made them to know that they were improving each year and doing better than ever in class, but most of all for what it meant for the two of them together. Yes, Maia was still and would continue to be a year ahead of Ash, school wise, but the perk now was that They would both be in college, and living together… and they'd looked forward to that moment for a long time.

When Lucas returned to the gym, he did so by escorting Maia's younger brother and the Friars' neighbor through the doors. Jake Bennett and Amy Dixon both looked somewhere between mortified and amused, and Maya moved to join her husband to know what that was about. Lucas looked uncomfortable enough in sharing the answer that she could guess what it was to some degree already. They always knew that they and the other chaperones could only do so much each time, and this time, if it wasn't that Lucas had been out driving Haley and Rafa, no one might have been the wiser in discovering Jake and Amy as they snuck off for a bit of alone time in the middle of the dance. Lucas had spotted them by chance, and so he'd gotten them to follow him back into the school and the gym.

"Oh, no," Maya had to laugh, and Lucas joined her despite himself. Now that they were on this side of it all, it was still not something he liked to have to think about, especially as he'd known both those kids since they'd been… well, actual kids… but they could kind of laugh about it. Others might not have thought the same thing in their position. "So, now you're back…" Maya smiled, and he nodded as he locked his arms around her waist and she draped hers around his shoulders. "And we're dancing…"

"We kind of have to, don't we?" he smiled back at her.

"At a dance, yes, I'd say dancing is encouraged," she nodded, and he imitated her, which made her laugh. "But also we're keeping our eyes open…"

"Always," he hummed, looking out to where Jake and Amy were talking with Maia and Ash. The other pair looked to be somewhere about where Lucas and Maya had ended up, especially Jake's older sister. She looked like she wanted to smack him upside the head and he looked like he was getting ready to dodge her when she did. "Even if we weren't here tonight, I'd want to be dancing with you," Lucas commented as they both kept looking around.

"You and me both," Maya promised, with a tone that left him smirking, imagining any number of ways she would have found to get them dancing on Valentine's Day.

"Now I kind of wish we hadn't been here with this dance handed to us…"

"Don't worry, the night's not over."

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners