July 12th 2023

Chapter 193
We Cultivate Our Knowledge

Back at the school today, even as the busses carried off the juniors on this final field trip day, the new cheer squad's list would be discovered, posted for all to rush at and seek their names. Any and all of those who were on one of the busses that day would get confirmation through her of their status, which, as far as these were concerned, would be little more than saying 'you're still with us.' But for the others, including the freshman class, where the vast majority of their new additions came from… They had just pulled up to the museum when Morgan wrote to let Maya know that the principal had gone and called an assembly to do this announcement. Everyone – or three quarters of everyone – had been summoned to the gym so Principal Davenport could call up (most) of the year's cheerleaders.

"Look at her," Maya shook her head, trying not to swear as she showed Lucas the picture that Morgan had included.

"Why would she do that today when you and the junior cheerleaders aren't even around?" he asked, noting Betsy in the picture, who had a smile that illustrated very well how she felt about the fanfare.

"If I had to guess…" Maya sighed, sticking her phone back in her pocket, "This was supposed to be her thing, and I went and made it mine, so she's trying to get some it back when I can't do a thing about it. What am I going to do, rush everyone back there? There's no point."

"Yeah, well, maybe not forever," he countered, and his grumbling sort of frown reminded her so much of Remy for a moment that it nudged the bad mood out of her.

"I hope you're right, I really do." It was one thing that they had turned to Melinda's old journals, to see if maybe Lucas' mother would have written anything to give them what they needed, the better to see the last of their principal. They had half a mind to pass everything on to MJ, Ash, and Lydia, to see what they'd make of it, but Lucas felt better about holding on to the books in the house, and so they did. If they found anything, they'd pass it on.

In the meantime, they were at the museum, and for the last time that fall they set off with their group of kids to take in the exhibit. Very true to the juniors – so far as Maya thought of them, as she saw them at the end of the day – the energy was different, a bit more all over the place. Really, it was not a question of who would try and split off and only who would pull it off first, because there'd for sure be more than one trying it, but if they weren't the first, then there was no way it would go unnoticed, and then what would be the point?

She would give good marks to Austin Abbott and Kip Perreault. The latter may not have been one of her students, but as a member of the Critically Bookish since its inception, Kip had been part of her school life for just over three years now. His track was very much running parallel to his best friend Austin in a lot of ways. The two of them had started off as bully bait – their words, not hers – and had forged their friendship for it. They'd broken away from their less than stellar beginnings in their own ways. Austin had done it via the cheer squad, though it had for sure not gone quite how he would have wanted it at first. Kip had done it through the new quiz team. It might not have looked like the thing to get bullies off one's back, but then in their school, it kind of was. The first quiz team had this sort of unofficial position as the 'school network.' With the way they were set up, it was just very easy to go through them sometimes to make something happen. And that gained them a sort of respect, which the second team had quickly gained for themselves, too.

As far as the museum and the 'runner run-off,' the two boys for sure tried to find an opening so that they might slip out and do their own thing for a while. But they missed their shot and had to stick around. Lucas spotted the realization hit their faces and tapped Maya's arm for her to look. She reined in her laughter as best she could, as much for the boys as for museum etiquette. It wouldn't be so bad for them to take in the rest of the exhibit, which they would figure out sooner or later, and she was glad for them. They might not remember this day years and years from now, and maybe she wouldn't either, or maybe it would be a memory for the two of them friends as they grew and moved on from the school in a couple of years. She didn't even reveal herself for knowing about their failed 'flight,' figuring that they'd at least have this, thinking that they could have managed it if they'd been faster than the others.

And she had to hand it to them, to slip away – allegedly – unnoticed as a group of three, that was something. Sure, if she was honest with them, Maya had witnessed the many points leading up to their escape, but being as big a fan of 'independent discoveries' as she was, she wouldn't have had it in her to stop them. And when the time would come to recall Freddie Jacek, Noor Kaur, and XC Gianna Longo, Lucas had the last one's number on his phone, and he would be ready to send a discreet message so they could reintegrate the group as though they had never left. That was all part of the fun.

Maybe another part of why she'd let them go – possibly made it easier for them to get away – was that she knew how much Gianna had been looking forward to this trip. She was so happy to be here in Texas this year, happy for all that she got to do, and this was definitely one of those things she was happy for. She loved museums and, for having been to several of those back in the girl's home country, Maya could imagine why. Their museum here may not have looked nearly as impressive as hers, but it was up there with some of her favorites, sentimental value or otherwise. Now, she truly hoped that Gianna had a good time and that she found many things, weird ones, beautiful ones, and maybe some right in the middle, too.

Maya was glad to see that it was three of them out there, too. She wouldn't go so far as to say that things had been bad between Freddie and Noor lately, but they'd for sure been different, enough that their teacher had noticed and was left understandably concerned. It remained little more than speculation as she tried to understand what was going on between them, and her top hypothesis was that it had to do with love, or at least some crush, some infatuation, which was throwing conflict between the two friends. If that was the case, then she had to think it all came down to the introduction of Gianna, that Freddie might have caught feelings for her and it made things complicated for Noor.

She really didn't think it could be that the feelings, wherever they originated, would have been between Freddie and Noor themselves. They were not siblings, whether by blood or by their both having been adopted by the same family, and they had only been foster siblings for a small period of their lives, after which they'd been separated, but in their heart of hearts, Maya knew that they still saw each other as brother and sister. She supposed that if one of them did start feeling otherwise it would make things complicated, but… no, no, this wasn't it. Maybe she was way off, maybe it wasn't a matter of love, but then whichever way it manifested, with her students, it so often came back to this…

"Hey, are you alright, sticking around with us today?" Lucas asked the boy who trailed along at his side, definitely not attempting to make a run for anything. By all rights, Brett Wilson-Anders should have been part of the trip two days prior, with the sophomores and his host, Jake Bennett. He would have been, too, except that fallen under the weather and been kept home by Jake's mother. Sydney Carter – no relation to Madelyn – was an ER nurse and mother of four, which left her more than able to look after the boy.

"It's okay," Brett shrugged. "It's nice here."

"Yeah, I always thought so, too," Lucas chuckled.

He definitely looked a lot better, and with his teammate on the case, he had never been worried. It was strange to say, but getting sick here might have been the best thing to happen to Brett. Lucas and Maya both had a feeling that the care he had received at the Carter-Bennett house had been some of the best direct attention from a parent he had gotten in a long time, if ever. It would have been better if he hadn't needed to come that far for it, but they'd just put it down to their being glad he'd gotten it.

"You know, if you keep this up, you're not going to wander off so much as you'll end up getting left behind," Maya told Agnes Killian after she'd noticed the girl trailing off, taking in one of the paintings. She'd let the group continue on ahead, the better to go and lead her back, and now the junior had a wobbly sort of reaction to the sound of the voice, breaking her focus, leaving Maya to reflexively reach out to steady her.

"I'm okay, sorry," she laughed, steadying herself well enough alone. She hadn't heard what had been told to her, but she quickly picked up on the fact that the others were significantly ahead of them. "Oh, I didn't realize…"

"Trust me, happens more often than you think. As far as I'm concerned, it's the opposite of something you need to apologize for. Good to go?" she asked, and when Agnes nodded, they walked off together. In all three years and some that the girl had been at the school, and part of the quiz team, Maya had not really seen her hang out much with anyone from her year, except Kip, naturally, and it made her think after a while that she really did not mind so much being on her own the rest of the time. She never lacked for anything to do, never appeared lonely, but then she was always one of the most caring and welcoming people that Maya knew, so was it any wonder?

She would have preferred spending all of her day with the likes of Agnes Killian rather than think about anything like Sandra Davenport and her grandstanding back at school, with the cheer squad. Every now and then the thought would weasel its way back into her head, and Maya would do her best to get rid of it. That would only work so long as they were in the museum, she realized that. Some of the spell would keep holding while they rode the bus back to school, but then it would officially be spent once they arrived, and she'd have to pull on her best fake smile in order not to give herself or her feelings away. She wasn't afraid of losing that battle anytime soon. She was made of stronger stuff than that woman realized, but oh, how she hated having to use that strength on her. It always just came back to her, no matter what she did.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners