A/N: Nineteen days behind...


September 12th 2023

Chapter 255
We Prepare the Floor

The invitations that went out to the many students of the senior and junior classes in the last week of classes were very much a labor of love in their design and their intent. They were possibly also a tiny bit of a labor of revolt. They couldn't say for sure that the principal would try and get in their way with this one as she had - allegedly - gotten in the way of the one before, no, but there was enough of a chance that she could that they all felt fully warranted to go at it the way they did.

After its predecessor had been so vaguely delayed, they had known that, left unattended, the year's proms would 'unfortunately' and 'unexpectedly' never end up getting rescheduled, and the students - whether they had another shot at it or not, would lose their prom. It was really as pathetic of a strike back as they had seen out of their principal, and it simply would not be allowed to stand. So, they had been working to remedy the problem.

The new prom would be a joined event, between the juniors and seniors, which the students involved in the planning had assured Maya and the other teachers involved would not be an issue. They would welcome it, if it all went the way they were making it out to be. It would also take place off school grounds, bringing them all somewhere a bit grander and more fitting to the situation as it stood.

Maya had been in charge of the invitations, though she had taken great input from her students. She'd worked at it in class, while the kids were doing the day's work, and every once in a while one of them would come skittering over to her desk to get a look and make suggestions. It might have been her favorite part of this project thus far.

Once the invitations had gone out though, she got to witness another great chapter in Prom 2.0, which was the preparations. The promposal season had already come and gone before they had been 'postponed,' and a lot of the shopping had happened, too, but now with this new prom, a lot of the students found it important to up their game, make adjustments to their looks to get them to the next level and beyond. She was lucky enough to be in a position where those kids were eager to share this part with her, too, to call on her opinion and her ideas, and she merrily helped them in any way she could. Once classes had ended, she was free to devote as much time as she could toward being what MJ had called their Fairy Prom Mother. She accepted the title gladly. If she could give them the best night of their young lives, she would do it. And if she got to stick it to Sandra Davenport just a bit, then that'd be the cherry on top.

Now as big and as important as the new prom was, she could not forget the smaller and just as important Home Prom of the year. Some of the girls had not been happy to see it delayed as well, some of them more cranky and vocal about it than the others. But they were told of how this was so that they got to keep up the tradition, and to stand in solidarity to the students, and once Marianne had been made to understand that, she could be counted on to turn right around and help her little sisters understand it, too.

If they needed further motivation, Lucas pointed out that it would be Ezra's first home prom, and Sunny's, too, and so they had a chance to make this one extra special, too, like the school prom. They jumped on that at once. There were shopping trips to get all of them set with their prom wear - whether for it being their first or for their having grown out of the old one - and the decorations had been given a boost... To hear it out of the home planning committee, the snacks would be fantastic.

"He's so cute," Aubrey declared with a giddy smile before crouching and kneeling on the bed next to her baby brother where he sat, freshly done up for his home prom debut. "You're so cute, my Ezra," she informed him, and he matched her smile for smile, which earned him some careful big sister cuddles.

"It's too bad he can't dance yet," Lucy added as she and the twins crowded at the bed's edge to look at him, too.

"We can put him in the stroller!" Remy suggested, standing back up enough to demonstrate holding on to the handles. "And we move him around. You'd like that, huh, E.Z?" she leaned in again, the better to take hold of the baby's foot. Ezra squealed and batted his hands forward. "See?"

"I think he doesn't like you pulling his foot," Kacey suggested, making her twin frown.

"We can give it a shot," Maya piped in with a smirk. "But not so much that you'll make him sick, yeah?" The girls promised over one another.

If each of them were asked what they liked best about home prom, Maya and Lucas would each have their own answer, though Maya would insist that Lucas was not entirely honest with himself in his choice. He would say that his favorite part would be watching their girls interact with one another, enjoying the night. She would say that her favorite part would be watching him go deep into girl dad mode, because every time they did this all over again, he would be reminded so well of what their girls had been like, one year before, and then it'd all be about how much each of them had grown, in every way that a person could grow. Now they were getting to start and do the same with their son, and they wondered how they'd feel next spring, thinking of their fairy boy when he'd still been a baby…

With home prom behind them now, Maya and her 'favorite co-chaperone' set themselves to getting ready for the senior and junior classes' big night, with the delayed and now joined-up prom. This was the kind of 'date' they had on the books every year, like their anniversaries, like Valentine's, like class reunions, and as nice as all the other ones were, in many ways this one was their favorite. There was something about the spirit of that night, what it became for them, right down to the outfits they'd both choose… It turned into a bit of a competition, as they both kept their looks secret until the day finally came. Lucas would insist that he had less to work with as far as choices, but Maya would beg to differ… if she was not at a loss for words whenever she'd see him for the first time. He'd be the same with her, and they would be all set for a fun, magical night of prom.

"Oh, of course she's here…" Maya groaned as Lucas pulled into the lot. The students hadn't arrived yet, save for the planning committee, only some of their fellow chaperones, which was just as well. They needed to fix this quick, before everything spiraled.

"She did not call the cops on prom, did she?" Lucas asked, in full disbelief.

"Bet she'll say that wasn't her, just watch." Maya was not going to lose her cool over this, no way. She had nothing to lose her cool over. They had done absolutely everything by the book, had foreseen any and all ways in which someone could try and shut them down. Sandra Davenport had no idea how thorough she could be, and that was one more mistake on her part.

The principal was not out there shouting and pointing fingers, no, that wouldn't be her style, would it? No, she'd cast herself as their friend, equally disappointed that they had to go and cancel prom. On the inside, she'd probably be dancing her own victory already. Maya almost felt sorry for her… except not. She was being petty and going after the students, their night. It wasn't going to happen.

She didn't know what felt best, whether it was how easily she made the 'problem' disappear by simply showing her work, or if it was watching Sandra Davenport fight for her life and sanity as she tried not to let her façade break down and show what she was feeling on the inside. Either way, she soon had no choice but to leave, and the party would be free to begin. It didn't come a moment too soon, as the students very quickly began descending upon prom, and prom was ready for them.

Whether or not the juniors and seniors had known one another as well as they did their own classmates, it didn't matter. They all mostly knew each other to some degree, having been one behind the other for all these years, or sharing teams and clubs as they came up in school. And now because of what had happened, the delay, the near cancellation, the new prom… It reminded Maya and Lucas of what it had been like, back in their high school days, their basketball days, when their teams had been taken from them. The way they had been bonded to one another, to their teammates… The two classes sort of felt like that here, until it didn't really feel like the junior prom and the senior prom mashed together. It was just prom, and everyone was having the time of their life.

Would they all come away with some level of teenage drama by the end of the night? Naturally, they would. How could they not? Dates would not go as planned, that was the nature of it. Relationships, friendships, hit the crossroads of senior year or college and life beyond high school that they always did… But it was a great night, and the overall feeling was that they loved this special setup brought on by Prom 2.0. It was enough that both Maya and Lucas were willing to bet that the newly minted senior class would remember it fondly come the following spring, and they might want to forego the old, separate proms, in favor of something a lot more like this one.

"Do we have to do this now?" Lucas asked as he and Maya snuck down to the basement after arriving back home. It was a silly question to which he already knew the answer, yes, but he had to ask it anyway. Whatever she said, he would still follow her into the dark little room where she still developed pictures when the need came along. The way she cradled her camera as she went down, shoes abandoned at the top of the stairs, the need had for sure come along.

"I am going to get these out as soon as I can, alright? It'll be great," she told him, stopping at the bottom of the stairs and looking back at him as though she challenged him to suggest otherwise. He raised his hands in surrender, and she grinned before leading him off to the dark room.

They would work together for hours, talking and laughing all the while, as the pictures they'd captured from prom came to life. In what felt like no time, after a short but helpful night's rest, they would find their way to their subjects, many of whom would come to cherish them for as long as they lived, leaving behind the kids they had been on that one special night.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners