February 13th 2023

Chapter 44
We Wonder How Time Flies

"How did it go? Did you get it? Tell me everything," Maya brightened when she turned and spotted Angel Ríos making his way down the auditorium aisle to join the rest of the musical's cast and crew. They were using the day's lunch break to work a few things out, like the upcoming start of show nights at Chubbie's, which allowed her an earlier opportunity to run into the junior and talk to him.

Even before this year, all the way back from the moment when he'd started as a freshman and before that, too, she'd been unable to look at the quiet boy and not feel the need to protect him. But now, after his mother had been so suddenly removed as vice-principal, it was even more so. She knew that former VP Ríos didn't go around tagging her son from morning to afternoon, but she had been there, right in the school if he ever needed her. Now that she was gone, it left Maya wanting to make sure he knew… if he needed her, she was there for him, and she had been. He'd lined up an interview for a job he really wanted, and he'd asked if she might help him prepare for it, both her and Lucas, because he saw them as the most logical ones to consult. She knew the place so well, the people, and Lucas… He'd held this post before. Angel had spent his Valentine's Sunday interviewing to be a museum tour guide, and…

"I don't… I don't know, b-but… They called while I was in class," he pulled his phone from his pocket and looked like he might drop it with how his hands were shaking. So long as he hadn't listened, it could say anything, right? He could have been told no – which he probably assumed he would – but he could have gotten his yes. He didn't want to find out and he really needed to, all at the same time, so he didn't know what to do.

"It's okay, hey, we can listen to it together. Whatever it says, it's fine. You'll just try again later, yeah?" He had big, spooked eyes, calling up memories of older sister Talia, but finally he took a breath and went for it, pulling up the message and holding the phone so they could both hear. Not a minute later, the chatter clustered here and there around the auditorium was cut through by the loud burst of Mrs. Friar's happy shout and everyone looked over to find out what it was about. Maya looked around and clasped Angel's shoulder, pointed at him. "He got the job!" Oh, his classmates and castmates knew all about his interview, and now they cheered for him. "Anyone wants to go take in a tour at the museum, it's on me!" She turned back to look at him, halfway hugged him. That baffled smile on him just now, it was everything. He had surpassed all his expectations. "I'm going to be there, you know that, huh? Me, Lucas, the girls… I won't be weird about it, I promise." Angel laughed. "I'm really proud of you," she whispered, and he thanked her just as quietly. "Go on, get up there," she nodded to the rest of the cast, now gathering on the stage.

Oh, how she wanted to text his mother, let her know the good news, but it was really up to Angel to do it and, foretold or not, she would find a way to celebrate this happy turn with him as he deserved it.

Going around town, Maya didn't know that she often managed to go somewhere and return without having to stop because she ran into someone or was approached. There would be those who came because they recognized her, knew her in her capacities as a member of TXNY, as a songwriter… But much more often, she would meet parents, those of her students, especially those of her former students, who would have known her longer, one way or another. The way they'd come to her smiling, it would touch her so, she'd know how it came from a place of knowing that their children had loved being in her classroom. They would tell her about what they were up to, how they were doing in college, what jobs they might have gotten, if they were in a couple, engaged, married, if any of them were going to be parents… They'd get this look in their eyes like they couldn't wait to tell her, couldn't wait to see that she'd be almost as excited as they were. She'd never yet let any of them down.

As they finally got down to the conversation about the Chubbie's shows, Maya found herself thinking as she so unfortunately often found herself thinking about Principal Davenport and her position on the arts. There hadn't been any push about it yet, not so far as she could tell, but she fully expected it to come sooner or later. And when she thought about it, of the many targets she could think of, one of them was this, right here, the school musical. She could try and tell herself that it wouldn't be everything, that this might survive, but how certain could she really be? What was there to stop the principal gouging out their budget as it was before the addition of things like bake sales, ticket sales, and the shows up at Chubbie's? She could come at them, whatever way she chose to, and they might not be able to hold her back enough. They could lose all this.

"Is You-Know-Who giving you trouble again?"

"Huh?" Maya looked back as she moved to leave the auditorium at the end of their meeting and was approached by MJ and Gracie. Like they could have been the twins here, the two Hunters indicated her face in the same way and at the same time, and she took this to translate as 'you've got Davenport face.' Apparently, that was a thing now. "Don't worry about it, alright? Just… get to class," she waved them off, smiled when they still took the time to hug her before they went.

She had to get her classroom set for the freshmen, who'd be on their way for class before long. She tried not to think about the principal, but it was hard not to sometimes, especially once she'd already let the thoughts in. After considering the loss of the musicals, it was hard not to get underway and arranging everything for the freshmen without considering whether or not they would all still have art classes to attend by the time they left this place. She really didn't even want to have to consider it, but she wasn't being given much of a choice, was she? Sandra Davenport wasn't giving her a choice, but oh… she knew of many ways to… return the favor, she might say. If she thought she was determined, then she really had to wait and see just how…

"Maya…" She pivoted on her heel with a smile, having recognized the voice of her former teacher and now colleague of more years than she'd ever been his student.

"Cory Matthews," she greeted him.

The comic flip in her voice felt as though it lost flight in mid air and plummeted to the ground when she saw the look on his face. It only inspired exactly one thought, and apprehension struggled to raise around her as a solid shield. She felt defenseless.

"What happened? Wha… Wh… Who?" she asked, her throat gone dry. He didn't answer, only took a step forward, nearer to her, which introduced a new and far more terrifying notion into her mind. This wasn't about the school, this was about her, about her people. "Mr. Matthews?" she found herself asking, like he'd catapulted her back to a time where she could not know him by his first name, where she was small, and he was an adult, someone she looked to as a safe haven, almost fatherly… She found just then that her mind could work remarkably fast and go to horrible places, the first of these being the thought that anything might have happened to Lucas, or to any of their girls, or… "Please…" she breathed. Please tell me what this is so I know…

Cory held up his hand at this in a sympathetic way that momentarily leeched away a great swelling of fear. Her husband was safe, her children as well. And again, her brain compensated with new notions, new ways in which the floor was about to crack out from under her.

And when he told her… When he described the call that he'd just received, the message… her brain slowed down again, slowed, and crawled to a stop. She couldn't move, couldn't think, could barely stand on her feet, so she half tripped, half moved herself to sit on the empty crate that acted as much as a seat as it did a step ladder. Cory moved to help her down, but she'd already made it, and once she did, her thoughts started to move again, some slowly, sluggishly slow, while others could hardly be followed. And all the while… all the while there were the same words, the ones he'd told her. She felt numb. Surely, she would react, but in that moment she just… she…

"I… I have to go," she frowned, thinking to herself.

"Don't even worry about it," Cory told her. "I've got you covered. Are you okay to drive?"

The thought of getting behind the wheel just then didn't scare her nearly as she thought it might. If anything, it filled her with a strange sort of clarity. It wasn't just that she had to get up and leave the school; there was somewhere she had to go, and it was very important. That was all she could think about, and it was enough.

"Y… Yeah," she blinked and moved to rise.

"Hey, hold on," Cory touched her arm, and she shuddered, like the contact was trying to break through her numbness and threatening to access her feelings. On the inside, she knew exactly what that would look like and… she couldn't… she couldn't… She stepped back, almost fell right back down to her seat but pulled herself up.

"Really, I'm good, I… I'll call you later, yeah? Thanks… Thank you, for…" she gestured around to indicate her class and his seeing to finding her a replacement for the coming period with the freshmen, for the juniors at the end of the day, too. After that, she moved to leave the class, remembered her bag, and returned to grab it before making the quickest and most covert exit she could manage. If anyone saw her, if anyone called out to her, she wasn't aware.

Next thing she knew, she was in the minivan, driving out of the school lot and away from the building. She drove for several minutes on something like auto pilot before she had to make herself pull over to the side of the road, stop, breathe… Hands still on the steering wheel, she looked to the passenger seat, her bag open there, her phone. She thought about… She thought… Her eyes stung momentarily, threatened to spill over, but she quickly batted at them, took one deep breath, then another… She pressed the heels of her hands at her eyes, let out a frustrated sound, the best she could do in that instant as she contemplated even the surface of not only what had happened but what it would mean for so many people. She couldn't break apart right here, right now, no… but oh, her heart wanted to, her heart was feeling all the cracks splitting violently through and could only keep its pieces together for so long before what had to happen would have no choice but to happen. Not now… Not now… She took a breath, and she got back on the road.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners