July 6th 2023

Chapter 187
We Surround This Day

The long afternoon break was particularly long today. She had no small visitors. All her little daughters were in school, and Ella had wanted to bring Sunny over to see her, but the one-month-old was just not having it that day, so she'd ended up staying home. Could she have reached out to Lucas, to some friend or another, a family member, and gotten them to come over to sit and chat, seeing as it was the first day of the new year and she had little else to do? Sure, but if she'd done that, then she would have spent the whole double free period discussing all this new Davenport information, and she really needed to keep the lid on that one until the day was over and she had left the premises. So, she stayed on her own, pulled out some materials, and started to paint, didn't stop until the alarm she'd set on her phone – knowing she was bound to lose track of time – told her to pick everything up and get ready for last period with the juniors.

Quick to arrive was their second XC, Gianna Longo, along with her host, Noor Kaur, and her best friend, Freddie Jacek. Without a doubt, those three had a curious vibe together. There was Gianna, as ever going around with such warm spirit in her that it seemed to leave a trail that swept people along, and then Noor, looking at her like she didn't always know what to make of her but also was absolutely – if sometimes clumsily – swept along by her trail. And then there was Freddie, who didn't actually look like the exchange camper was putting him off, but at the same time he looked immune to her, keeping to himself. It didn't look like he was jealous about how Noor was getting along with Gianna, not at all, so then… what was it? Could it be, as others in their class were showing in a much more overt way, that he had developed some feelings for their Italian guest? Maybe he just didn't know how to speak to her yet. Knowing what usually set off his speech troubles, this would for sure set him off, and he'd have to know that. Maya wouldn't do anything, not now. She could have been completely wrong. She didn't believe so, but who knew?

At least he wouldn't be the only one in class that day looking distracted. She'd figured that Agnes Killian, in her infinite pull to be welcoming and caring, would have been all over Gianna – not literally – in making sure that she was adjusting well enough to her new school environment. And she was, as far as Maya managed to observe that afternoon, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel as though something about it felt off, a bit put upon, like a performance of what was expected of her, done by an actor who'd only studied the basics, the surface, without factoring the layers underneath.

It was finally enough that, as everyone set off to work, Maya went up to the girl's station and casually started to talk to her. She didn't want to make it sound like she was prying, even though… well, she sort of was. They talked about Jonah's starting high school, and Maya shared her perspective of his first day, the one she'd been able to see. It made Agnes smile, a real smile, and it was good to see it. Agnes was glad, too. She mentioned how great grandfather, who was about as spry a man as she'd ever known, had been having some health issues of late, and though he was doing better, it had brought up this idea of how much longer she'd have him around. With this new bit of information, everything fell in place, and as reassured as she was for the answer, Maya now felt terrible that this had to be the answer.

On the flipside, as she got to hear from Austin Abbott that afternoon, and even earlier with others of the previous year's cheer squad still in attendance, there was a distinct impression as though MJ and his fellow sleuths' adventures had made the rounds, getting them intrigued, too. When it came to someone like Austin, it brought out the very qualities in him that continued to make him the unexpected asset to Maya and her squad. For how she'd first gotten to know the kid, he was a whole other person two years later. Or maybe he was just the person he'd always been meant to be, and they were getting to see it more. Whatever it was, she would take every part of it that she could. As for the 'cheerstery,' well, they'd have to wait and see.

The day was over before they knew it. For Maya, while some parts had ended up feeling longer than others, it still very much got to feel she'd blinked, and the day had ended. As the juniors started to clear out, she caught on to the fact that, while Gianna was set to go to the ranch for the remainder of the afternoon, Noor and Freddie were aiming to spend some time together. So, without missing a beat, she offered to drive the girl out to Sullivan Stables, taking it one step further by suggesting that Gianna track down Brett, so she could bring them both at once.

She was very glad to see that, since she'd last seen him with the sophomores that morning, Brett had had a reasonably good first day, and he was leaving school with a happy feeling in his chest that made him even more excited to go to the ranch. He tried to hide it, but it was a feeling that was almost unfamiliar and new to him, so he struggled to keep it in. Maya pretended as though she didn't see through him and, to her credit, so did Gianna.

By the time they arrived and drove through the arch, the first day of the year for the after-school program was already underway, with clusters of children visible across the property thanks to their bandannas. Children… They still had the greens, their youngest, aged four and five, their blues at six and seven, reds at eight and nine, and their yellows at ten, eleven, and twelve. But now, for the first time, they had the thirteen and fourteen-year-old members of teal group, the fifteen and sixteen-year-old of purple, and the seventeen and eighteen-year-old of orange.

The three new groups were not nearly as populous as the four standards, nor had they been expected to be, but they had a turn-out significantly more numerous than Lucas and the others had first expected. A lot of them were for sure former campers who had previously aged out of yellow and were now getting to jump back into something that had been one of their best childhood memories. Rafa had been so happy to be handed a purple bandanna that he'd spent the rest of the summer wearing it in as many ways as he could think of.

They had to come up with a different kind of plan with these new teen groups. They couldn't take them through the standards of stories, and arts and crafts, and interactions with the horses, and everything else they'd do with the kid groups. The first few weeks would for sure be a period of adjustment for all of them, but they were looking forward to it, and they hoped that the new groups would be, too. They really hoped that this idea would take flight and not crash unceremoniously.

As Gianna and Brett went off to explore and see what all these groups were up to, Maya was very happy to spot one little group coming toward her in a mad rush of colors. Yellow, and red, and blue, and blue, and blue, and green, and green… Six young daughters and one granddaughter, all beelining for her while their father/grandfather followed at a walk, knowing better than to assume he would get ahead of any of them. Maya was never shy about how emotional they could all make her, and to see them now, all adorned in their colors, even her baby girl, getting exceptionally brought into green group a year ahead… No one was about to argue with that one, and if they did, well they could try it on her, or Lucas, and see how they fared.

They all had so much to say, and it could have been so hard to understand a single thing in that chaos, but to Maya it just felt like home to hear her girls go on, and on, and on… Aubrey had had a wonderful time with Miss Alma who had already achieved legendary status in the three-year-old's heart after a single day. Mackenzie had tripped on the playground, and she'd scraped her knee, but did her mommy see what a pretty band-aid Miss Alma had put on her! She hadn't even cried all that much, she claimed, before Aubrey snitched on her by saying that, actually, she'd cried a lot, even after getting her 'pretty band-aid.' Kacey, Remy, and Lucy collectively told of how they were sitting all in a row in their class, and because they were in 'letter order,' Lucy was in the middle, with Kacey in front and Remy behind her. It caused some occasional disruptions to have them that way, because the twins would be drawn to look at each other and would be too far away from one another, but their teacher didn't seem too upset at them for it. Tori had been split from her best friend, the two of them ending in separate classes this year, which they'd already known would be the case, but now that it was happening for real… she was bummed out, and she stuck to her nana's side all the time they spent together before everyone reintegrated their groups. And Marianne… Oh, she couldn't get enough of Uncle Zay as her teacher. She'd been lucky to have him there, especially as she'd had to move on from her beloved third grade teacher. It was unlikely she would have this same fortune in the fifth grade, but they would not go there, not now, not until they had to.

As they walked together, with their youngest two bound back for green group, Maya couldn't help herself anymore, and she read Lucas in on what she'd heard that day, about the 'cheerstery,' about the secret cap on her classes… It was oddly reassuring to her that he initially looked as overwhelmed as she had been, thinking of all these possibilities, and implications, and possibilities… Just as she'd done, he quickly came around to wanting to know more, to needing to get to the bottom of it… whatever the bottom was.

"If my mother were still here…" Lucas found himself saying, and he had to shake his head to himself, invoking her in this circumstance, but it was the truth. Melinda would have known something, he was sure of it, and if they weren't going to let it go so easily, she… "Her journals," he spoke, as the thought flashed in his mind, this image of a box full of those familiar volumes, of page after page filled in her writing. It wasn't all just birthday plans, recipes, and lists, no. This was Melinda Friar's life, and whether or not it had been intended as a chronicle, looking back on it now, the way they would… maybe it would have a lot to say about all of this. They'd only need to know where to look, and to read between the lines if they had to.

"Imagine if we find something in there," Maya smiled, feeling like she could just feel her mother-in-law's presence with them. "Imagine if we finally got what we needed, and it was all thanks to your mom."

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners