A/N: APRIL 9TH - Hey, guys, so we had a big storm up here on Wednesday the 5th, most people in the area lost power for the last few days, I got mine back yesterday but didn't get my internet back until today, so I couldn't post anything. Going to get the last few days' chapters posted ASAP!
April 5th 2023
Chapter 95
We Change Years
Aubrey's arrival outside the school was a string of giddy calls to her Mommy, running toward her the moment her grandfather let her hand go. Maya caught her mid dash and lifted her up into her arms, held her close with just as much happiness. Oh, she was always glad to get back to school in the fall, but it would be hard at times to start again and give up the extra time she had with her daughters. And today, knowing how her littlest one was having to adjust to being without the other half of her 'little sisters' duo...
"Hey, Lucky," she cupped her face in her hand, kissed her a few times and got some of the same in return. "Did you have a good morning with Pappy Tom?"
"Yeah, yeah," Aubrey nodded, and it was plain to see in her eyes that, while this was absolutely true, she also felt kind of thrown off by her new situation and she felt the absence of Mackenzie by her side.
"Guess what," Maya whispered, and she almost lost it at the way Aubrey leaned in as though thinking 'oh, we're doing Secret Stuff now.' "There's someone here to see you."
She also nearly lost her composure in watching Lucas sneak out of hiding and move quietly to face her, putting him at Aubrey's back. Then again, it was already a miracle that she hadn't been caught up in a laughing fit when Aubrey and Thomas arrived, as she'd just watched her husband bolt to hide behind a tree. It was probably a good thing that no one spotted him there and thought him a prowler on school grounds or anything.
For now, what mattered was how Aubrey started to look around for this mystery visitor and, upon seeing her father, was a whole person-sized smile. She was stuck, wanting to be held by her mother as she was now but also wanting to be held by her father. They finally compensated by sitting, Maya and Lucas side by side on their bench, which allowed Aubrey to be with one but also the other at the same time. She spent the better part of their time together at the school regaling her parents in stories of her morning which, going off her grandfather's smiles, were at times exaggerated by her two-year-old imagination. It was a wild ride, and they were only sorry to see it end. Lucas definitely had to go back to the ranch, but Aubrey, and Thomas...
"How would you like to sit in on last period?" Maya asked her father-in-law while Aubrey was busy hugging her father goodbye.
Thomas was all for the visit, his granddaughter even more. She didn't get to do it very often but, when she did, she loved going into her mother's school, her classroom, especially when there were students there and Mommy became Mrs. Friar. Apparently, she wasn't the same when she was in there, or so she'd been told by her aunties at home. According to Aubrey, they gave hilarious performances, pretending to be her, information which was so, so very interesting for Maya to hear... She couldn't wait to mess with the twins a bit when she'd get home, and in the meantime...
"Oh, wow, hello!" MJ stopped in the doorway with such a comical gasp, the better to get his little niece to sprint toward him. He scooped her up at once. "You're coming to sit with me, right?" he asked, looking Aubrey in the eye, and she giggled and nodded. MJ responded with a quiet fist pump of victory before offering his hand for a high five and receiving it at once.
"Hey, that's not fair, what about me? Who do I hug?" Lydia popped up behind MJ to wave at Aubrey. When she spotted her uncle Thomas, she had her answer. She went and embraced him even as he opened his arms to her. They had already been close for as long as Lydia had been alive, but then after Melinda's passing, he had come to live with her and her family for a while, and in their shared grief they had come to mean that much more to one another. "Are you staying for class? Both of you?"
"You bet we are," Thomas smiled. "Aubrey and I helped with the room, didn't we?" he turned to his granddaughter and, though she was presently enthralled by her uncle's earring, she nodded in acknowledgment of her contribution.
She would be a very popular guest on this first class back for the new juniors, as was to be expected. She spent most of that period sat on MJ's knees, dangling her legs and leaning to him, but when she got restless she was allowed down, the better to walk around the room, getting a lot of smiles, and waves, and high fives as she went. When she circled back, she ended up tapping on Ash's leg, and they gladly reached down and pulled her up to sit in their lap for the rest of the period. She would be asleep in their arms by that time, so much so that Ash had pre-emptively worked to cover the toddler's ears so that she wouldn't get startled by the noise.
"How was that? Fun?" Maya asked Thomas as the students started to head out. She'd been returned her sleeping girl and she held her, moving gently to keep her as she was.
"Made me want to pick up a paintbrush," Thomas commented with a grin.
"Hey, it's never too late. I can get you your very own diary," Maya returned the expression.
"Oh, I don't know if I'm quite there... yet..." he chuckled, then paused, staring at the door. Maya turned to look.
"Thomas Friar..." Sandra Davenport spoke the name with something between curiosity and nostalgia. It made Maya very glad to have her sleeping child to hold on to in that moment, or else her true feelings might have shown, calling her boss on the subtle disrespect she showed to the memory of Melinda Friar. She would have done the same either way, whether his wife was alive or not.
"Principal Davenport," Thomas responded, and Maya felt renewed pride in her father-in-law that he knew exactly what she was about, and he was letting her know without saying the words that she was barking up the wrong tree. She had never seen the principal so blindsided by something so evident, which maybe went to show that Thomas continued to be someone she could not be impartial around. She had tunnel vision when he was involved.
"If I had known that you had visitors, I would have come along sooner," she turned a smile to Maya, pressed a hand to her heart as she looked to the small girl curled up against the art teacher. She might have had it in mind that she came off genuinely enchanted, but Maya wasn't buying it one bit. She didn't even want to think what her reaction would be if the woman went and tried to pat her baby girl, whether or not she woke her up in the process.
"Was there something you wanted to see me about in particular?" Maya asked, civil, polite, but setting boundaries just as easily. This, at least, still worked, even if it sent Sandra's attentions sliding off of her and Aubrey and right back to Thomas.
"You know, it's completely slipped my mind now," she shrugged and laughed.
"Well, in that case…" Maya very barely kept her hands on the 'wheel,' "The three of us do need to get going. I'll see you tomorrow?" She might have handed it to Aubrey here, as she chose this moment to start waking up, momentarily confused about her surroundings and giving the warning bells of imminent tears.
"Why don't you let me have her?" Thomas turned to his daughter-in-law and opened his arms. "I'll get her home, you finish up here."
It was undeniably the easiest solution here, so Maya passed Aubrey to her grandfather, and he went on his way with her, coming off instantly like an image of what his son could grow into. That was the good part of all of this; the not so good part meant that she was now alone with the principal, and that was her least favorite place to be nowadays.
Miraculously, Sandra Davenport found what had previously 'slipped her mind' very easily once it was just the two of them. She wanted to talk about the cheer squad and the position of assistant coach. Now, to hear it out of her, she had been supremely gracious by allowing Maya complete oversight over the hiring, but she was concerned that she had not yet heard any news from her, especially as the new school year had officially begun. Had she struggled more than she'd believed she would to find someone? Wouldn't she know that she could always come to her for help?
"I don't need help, because I've found the person I need," Maya proudly announced, and she might have let her grin get away from her for seeing how the information settled on her boss. "The only reason I haven't told you or anyone yet is that I thought it would be the best surprise to spring it all out when try-outs happened. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. You do trust me, don't you?" Oh, she wasn't going to smile too much, she couldn't.
"Why wouldn't I?" Sandra 'smiled.' "I'll be looking forward to the big reveal then. You have a good evening now."
And she was off. Maya watched her go, watched and waited until she was absolutely certain that she wouldn't get a return visit just when she was getting at ease. When she knew this, she breathed out, chuckled quietly, sat down for a moment. Oh, how she couldn't wait to tell Betsy how the promise of her arrival was leaving Sandra Davenport rattled. Maya had had a whole summer to consider the position she'd very nearly had happen to her far more than become hers because she'd wanted it. She hadn't chosen this, no, but that didn't mean she couldn't find the good in it. Of that whole search, there was no doubt that having the stars align until she could ask her mother's cousin to become her assistant coach had been the best part, because from there… From there, she had started to feel excited, and that could take her very far.
"Kinsey," Maya smiled as she came upon the freshman girl on her way out of school. The blue hair had been pulled into a hasty bun over her head by now, her pale eyes hidden behind dark, heart-shaped sunglasses. "How was your first… day?" she paused as she was presented with the envelope the girl had had tucked into the front of bag. "What's that?"
"A note, for my stepdad," Kinsey frowned. Maya opened her mouth to reply, to ask what had provoked it, on day one, when there wouldn't have been many if any opportunities for something to happen. What could it possibly be except… except of course Kinsey herself. Maya could forget at times that what she saw and others likeminded to her would see would not necessarily be near to what everyone else saw. And to one of those people, the fifteen-year-old's style would maybe not have found very many fans. She could think of one in particular, and she hated that her mind kept going to Sandra Davenport, but could it be helped when she was more than likely correct. "I am not changing," Kinsey declared, and her eyes may have been obscured, but the way her expression reshaped the scar snaking into view despite the frames, Maya saw a fire that would not be put out very easily.
"We're going to do what we can, so it doesn't get to that, okay? I promise, I'll do what I can."
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
