April 26th 2023
Chapter 116
We Become Distracted
Maya had missed one day of school since that night at the ranch. She might have missed more and decided to stay by Lucas' side the entire time, but they'd both agreed that it would be better for everyone if she was at school. They would call one another and talk through most of her free periods, and they both found this to be a better alternative than for them both to sit in that room from morning to evening. They got to tell each other about their sides of the days, whether it was him and the hospital life or her and the latest school happenings. She would go out to the hospital in her long breaks whenever she could, especially as it would give her a better chance to talk to Lucas' doctor about how he was progressing. They weren't ready to send him home yet, so they had no choice but to keep being patient and wait. It was not easy.
So, she was at school throughout the week, and she would drily joke with her husband about how she'd been 'miraculously' given a reprieve from Sandra Davenport's strike back. The way they figured, she knew that it would have been in poor taste to do anything that would directly or indirectly affect Maya at this time, and it would have hit her more than the art teacher or her fellows. So, she was being nice, almost too nice, as far as Maya was concerned, like she'd decided to get back at her by annoying her while she was unable to do more.
As much as Maya would have delighted in getting out her emotions by squaring up against the principal, she supposed that it was better for her to focus on being there for her students, the way she was meant to be. It helped to take her mind off of everything else outside of school.
The worst part was nighttime and the morning when she'd wake. It was one thing to go to bed or wake on her own because he'd had to go to the ranch or for any other casual reason. But this wasn't one of those days. She'd go and turn down the covers and she'd remember where Lucas was and why, and she'd feel a swell of distress for his absence. She'd lie down in their big bed on her own and she'd suddenly feel like a small child, afraid of the dark and every little noise around her. And once she did go to sleep, if she had the misfortune of waking up before morning, it'd mean starting back from the bottom of the ladder all over again. Once she did make it to the other side, when she woke up to her alarm, no big spoon at her back, no arms around her, no sleeping breath, or whispers, or kisses at the flowers on her shoulder, nothing… She'd be so lonely, so painfully lonely, that she'd feel like crying. And then she'd remember that Lucas was in the hospital, that he was recovering and would return to her in time, and some people, some of them in her life, had not been so fortunate. So, what did she have to complain about, right?
With that, she would get up, and the day would be upon them. She would turn her attention to tending to her daughters, getting them through breakfast – joined by their father over a call – and then ready for school, and they'd be off for another day. She'd want so much for them to feel like all was well even as their lives continued to be disrupted. It worked with most of them, and the ones who had more difficulty with it – Lucy, Marianne – she would have already expected as much from them, so she'd be ready to compensate. With her littlest triplet, that meant copious amounts of spontaneous cuddles. With her firstborn, mostly, that meant honoring the fact that her experience was unique when put alongside that of her younger sisters. It wasn't as though none of them were affected by their father's absence, as though none of them understood what was happening, but then what she'd go through at nine years old would be vastly different from what the five-year-old triplets would go through, or the little sisters at three and two.
She always wanted Marianne to know that she had a safe space with her to let out whatever she was feeling, and she did know that… It didn't mean that she always listened or allowed herself to go there. That had been something they'd seen about her many times over the years, whether it was as a nearly four-year-old only child suddenly with three baby sisters, or as a six-year-old nearly losing her mother, or an eight-year-old losing her beloved soulmate of a grandmother. She was always so focused on everyone else's emotions that she sometimes didn't seem to know what to do with her own.
Maya couldn't be thinking about that when she was at school. She still did, now and then, because she couldn't help herself. But even if that happened, she never had to think about it very long. She had more than enough to keep her occupied. She was presently overlooking both quiz teams, with Cory Matthews and Lindsay Alcott to help her advise them now that Stella had gone and started her maternity leave. Both teams had been as supportive as could be after what had happened to Lucas, horrified at the thought of what could have happened, eager to pitch in where they could. Did the Friars need any babysitters, or help with chores and errands? Anything they could offer they were happy to give. Maya thanked them all, especially aware that this would have come as much for this being her husband as his being Lydia's cousin, and Maia's mother's teammate… Max's mother's student's father… She doubted that she could have turned them away entirely, so she would call on them if ever she found a way to include them, and they would be there in an instant.
If the quiz teams weren't enough, she also had the cheerleaders. The squad was as protective of their coach as they were inspired in all their efforts, and it had really been paying off. They had made such a turn ever since their summer sessions, and through the year as it had started and the squad had come together again, bolstered with new members. Could they stand up to the best of the best just now? Probably not, but the way they were going, if they kept at it, the idea wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility… not for much longer. Much as she would wish that it didn't become a notch in the 'win' column for the principal, Maya could only be very, very proud of her squad. And now to see the way in which they had rallied around her and her family, around the ranch… The story of the theft and the attack was hardly what they wanted the world to talk about when they talked about Sullivan Stables, but all they could do right now was try and move forward, and that was what the cheerleaders wanted to help them do. They had a good way of going about it, too: they wanted to help the seniors get to their post-graduation trip fund goal with an event that they hoped to have hosted by the ranch.
The campaign was spearheaded this time around by Angel Ríos, along with his friend, Maia Bennett, and the Bailey-Ryan siblings, but it was really Angel's show, as far as the others were concerned, and it was really something to see how far the young man had come over the past few years, from the quiet freshman he'd been to now, as a self-assured senior. He had such a fan and supporter in his art teacher. The ranch event would do very well, there was no doubt about that, with him there to lead the charge, while on the other end, now, with Lucas out of commission… Juliet might have been called upon, once again, to reclaim her old post, but they had gone another way, deciding to 'keep it in the family.' Taking up the head of the ranch while Lucas recovered, they had three people working together instead of one alone.
Michael Sullivan was doing his part, despite having never had any interest toward taking up a position at his mother's business, and he would be joined and assisted there by Thomas Friar… and Ella Friar. Everyone could see the future veterinarian taking up her well-earned place alongside her father, but just now she was still in school. That wouldn't stop her from jumping in with her grandfather and uncle, the better to keep things afloat while her father was in the hospital.
"What are you giggling about?" Maya wondered, amused, when her brother came into her class at lunch time, Lydia, Ash, Maia, and Angel trailing in behind him with similar expressions on their faces as they joined Kinsey, Max, and Max, already sitting with their lunches. The art room had really started to turn into a bit of a secondary cafeteria, with how many of them were coming along to eat there, but then what else could she expect?
Kinsey and the Maxes, that was a given. The others, that had started to happen after the break in at the ranch. It was no wonder that MJ would want to be there for his big sister, the same for Lydia and her cousin by marriage, and after that, well, it was one friend tagging along, and then that friend's girlfriend, and that girlfriend's other friend… Maya was more than happy to have them all there, so there was no complaint on her end.
"Oh, nothing," MJ tried to say, but he only snorted, and then the others just laughed, so clearly this was not 'nothing.' "Alright, fine, we just saw You-Know-Who on our way here, and she was so sulky about the whole thing… It was beautiful," he finished with a dramatic flourish, and the others clapped their approval.
"Is it true that she had the hots for Uncle Tom once?" Lydia asked, and the others looked at her like they were at once scandalized by what she'd suggested and by her use of the expression 'having the hots.' "That's what I heard my dads say," she shrugged. "So, is it true?" she asked, and the others turned to Maya once again.
"I don't think I would feel right about getting into that with all of you, especially here."
"Why, she talks about you all the time," Kinsey shrugged, and it took her a moment to realize all eyes had gone to her. "What, she does."
"How do you know that?" Max F. asked.
"I spend a lot of time sitting outside her office, whenever she tries to write me up for something I didn't do," Kinsey frowned. Almost like she'd heard them all, the secretary's voice came up over the P.A., requesting for Kinsey to present herself to the principal's office. "See? I'll let you know what she says this time," she marched off, grabbing her tray and finishing the last of her food as she left the class and walked down the hall.
"Alright, now you have to tell us," Lydia declared, turning back to Maya. After Kinsey's exit, the others tended to side with her.
"Not going to, alright?" Maya held her ground. The students looked mildly disappointed, but they didn't push any further. Maya let out a sigh. Lucas' pocket watch had been entrusted to Marianne over the last week and a half, so Maya had since turned her attention to grasping her engagement and wedding rings where they sat on her left hand, as though being in contact with them and turning them around and around would put her mind at ease. It sort of did, a lot of the time, but it also made her feel her heart beat a little faster, foreseeing another night on her own. This is temporary. Soon, it'll be a bad memory, in the past where it belongs.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
