January 17th 2023

Chapter 17
We Haunt the Halls

When she had first started as a teacher here, at the same high school where she'd herself been a student, Maya had needed to adjust not only to her post but to the freedoms and privileges which it allowed her. She remembered, for a week or two, several very silly thoughts invading her mind whenever she'd be allowed 'unsupervised' in the building, making her then brand new husband chuckle whenever she'd recount it to him. Now, a decade onward, she was thinking about those stories again, had been thinking about them all day long as they went through classes. Halloween was still a day away, but as it would be on a Saturday, that had meant a costumed Friday, decorations, and candy, and any number of… shenanigans.

That was how it usually was, every year, but Maya and several of the other teachers had naturally been left to wonder how it would fly, if it would fly at all, with their brand new principal having the final word on the matter. Once Maya had gotten the okay for her sleepover, it seemed most likely that all would go well, but as with anything to do with Sandra Davenport, it had felt more prudent to go in with caution and uncertainty. There had not been any opposition though, and their spooky day had gone without incident, at least where the principal was concerned. Over lunch, sitting in her transformed class with a few of her colleagues in their array of costumes, the question had been examined. They all existed in this bit of self-awareness, telling them that they were right to doubt her motives still, but here they imagined maybe that they could find loopholes, pockets where desires could align… even if drawn by contradicting motivations. Maya and the teachers wanted the students to have a good time. The principal, for what they saw of her that day, they were sure, didn't so much care about Halloween as she did scoring points with people both in and out of the school, like here was this nice thing she'd done out of the kindness of her heart.

Maya wasn't going to let that part of her day be the thing she'd hold on to. There was so much more for her to think about instead, the things she would happily and eagerly share with Lucas, with their daughters, with her brother… The day itself, whether across art class with the seniors, the sophomores, the freshmen, and the juniors, or in the gaps and free periods that surrounded them, had been loaded enough with goodness to make the spectre of Sandra Davenport feel insignificant.

The seniors, her gold stars, had come in force, and Maya had expected no less from them. They got to start the day with something they loved: a speed round of portraits, thanks to all of their costumes, and the backdrop of the classroom only made it that much better. By the end of the period, Maya would guess that several of them had been hit with the reminder that this would be their last Halloween with their art teacher, that they would be leaving high school at the end of this year, and they didn't know how to cope with the looming shadow of college. At the other end of this day, some of the juniors had looked as though they'd had a similar realization. The year was still young, but it was moving fast enough that they had to know… They'd be seniors before they knew it.

"You guys are coming by tomorrow afternoon, yeah?" Maya asked Luke Ryan and Meadow Bailey as they gathered their things. They'd offered their services to look after some of the games and tables outside the Friar house.

"Yes, well…" Meadow started, then paused, looking to her stepbrother. "Not sure what time yet… We're supposed to have Mary to look after."

"Oh, bring her," Maya told them at once, smiling at the thought of the pair's little sister, who'd be turning one shortly before the upcoming holiday break. "We'll be more than happy to have her around." Whether this would have to do with the fact that both Maya and Lucas were feeling the slightest twinge of baby fever creeping up and they didn't know whether or not to cool it down, well… they weren't about to discuss it with anyone, least of all her students.

As in previous years, she had most looked forward to the arrival of the freshmen. Maya was still getting to know them, and this would be their first Halloween with her just as it was her first with them. Her favorite part was when she got to see them step into the class, to see the surprise in their eyes and know which of them would align with their art teacher as 'Halloween nuts.' Of this year's lot, the predictions were spot on in places, and completely and wonderfully wrong in others.

Despite his introduction into the newly returned cheerleading squad, she had been sure that Austin Abbott would not be into dressing up for Halloween, at least not at school. Later on, tomorrow, who knew? A sure fire for the other side though had been Agnes Killian, and there again she'd been correct. This year's Born Curious freshman had been figuring out her costume all month long, and Maya had been seeing that progress in the pages of her diary, which had become the means of her brainstorming. Maya had fully welcomed this and had done her best to give feedback to aid her on her way. Today, she was presented with the final result, and she was as proud of her student as she was happy for her, seeing how happy she was about that result, too.

Maya had not known which way some of the freshmen would go. She hadn't known what to expect of Noor Kaur and Freddie Jacek, for instance, but she'd been so pleasantly surprised to see them come along, costumed and with that air to them that told her they would be happy to hear about the games at her house the following day. As they told her, Halloween had been one of their favorite things growing up, those years when they'd been in the same house. When they had gone their separate ways, their connection to the day had varied, but now that they had each other again, they had been determined to have a Halloween like they used to, so here they were.

No one was as eager for this day to be over for the weekend to begin than the sophomores this year… some of them at least. MJ, Lamar, Lydia, Ash, and Mila Makovetsky… Considering the previous year's scandal, it was a wonder that they were granted their 'school sleepover,' that group especially, but then Maya would have fought for them regardless of whether they were under the old administration or the new, and because they were reporting up to Sandra Davenport, it had been that much more important. Would it fall back on her if something went wrong? Did she think the new principal was almost counting on it? Yes, and a little bit. But they were here now, classes were over, the school was emptying out… and Maya had five students to look after for the evening and the night. It helped that one of them was her brother, one her cousin, and the others connected to her to some degree, too, but it wouldn't change that she'd have to keep an eye on them.

"It's so quiet…" Mila commented as she returned to the art room along with Lydia and Ash. They'd all had costumes today, but they'd decided to resume their 'civilian personas' for the night, donning their chosen PJs. "Is everyone else gone? Teachers and all?"

"Almost," Maya told the exchange camper as she went to check the hallway. This was less so to check on her colleagues and much more for her brother and his boyfriend's sake. She trusted them, yes, but she could easily see them losing track of time and the fact that she was responsible for them on this night. She didn't want to feel as though she would have had better luck wrangling six little girls than a pack of fifteen and sixteen-year-old kids.

But MJ and Lamar soon appeared, looking like themselves again, so they could focus on what would come next. While they were waiting out the departure of whoever was left, they figured out what they would do about dinner, which turned into a huddle around Maya's phone as she put in an order that would be delivered to the school. When they saw that it was about to arrive, the group scurried through the empty halls to meet with the delivery boy. This briefly threatened 'the peace' as the boy in question, a junior from another school who had played against them with his basketball team, very plainly flirted with MJ. It couldn't be said that MJ had flirted back, no, but going off the look on Lamar's face, he hadn't done enough to make it clear that he was already seeing someone, seeing him. Ash broke the tension by asking everyone where they should go to eat.

"We can go kind of anywhere, can't we?" they asked, looking back to their teacher.

"Maybe not anywhere, but you've got options, yeah," Maya followed along. "Any ideas?"

They ended up eating up on the stage in the auditorium, where Maya got the group discussing this 'rumor' of the school's haunting. There were enough among them who were eager not to have things turn weird, so they were glad to tell her all about it.

"We started hearing about it while we were looking into why the old cheer squad got disbanded," Lydia sat up, stealing a look to Ash but more so to MJ and Lamar, a flash of friendly concern that they could end up arguing about what had happened. "It's probably just a silly legend people made up, but we wanted to check it out anyway… just in case," she ended on a whisper, hypnoteyes on high. It got her friends laughing and their teacher with them. Now that was more like it.

Dinner was a mix of the kids going over what they had read and heard about the school's 'haunting' and the ongoing cheer mystery. They wanted to wait until later before they went and explored the building – with Maya's supervision – for better spooky vibes, so until then they remained in the auditorium. They had a stage, so it quickly led to some pile up between dance moves, and cheer routines, and songs. As they descended further into evening, they took their 'show' on tour, carrying on in the halls, in the cafeteria, some of the classrooms… It eventually wound down to exploration in earnest. It was hard to tell what exactly they were looking for or where they would find it, but they were enjoying themselves, and that was what mattered.

The search hadn't yielded any results by the time they all settled into their sleeping bags, in the art room. With it still being in Halloween mode, they could not have asked for a better location. After having checked in with Lucas and noted that midnight had come and gone, making it officially Hallowannie day, Maya settled down, thinking that this night with the quintet around her had some potential to expand in the future. Just what it would expand into remained to be seen, but still…

"Did you hear something?" MJ whispered to his sister. Maya turned her head to look at him, those eyes that would forever remind her of the small boy he had once been.

"Hear what?" Maya tried not to smirk, thinking how she wished Marianne could have been a part of this, ghost enthusiast that she was. She would have gone investigating. As for MJ and his classmates, well… His face seemed to say that maybe they were better off leaving the spirits at rest.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners