July 4th 2023

Chapter 185
We Surround Hidden Truths

"Hey, Mrs. Friar."

Maya looked up and smiled when she saw her first sophomores walking in. The first of them was Jake Bennett, who came and played escort to his guest and theirs, exchange camper Brett Wilson-Anders. She was happy to see that the boy looked a bit more relaxed than he'd done when she'd first met him, the day he'd been dropped off at the ranch. She knew enough about his story through Lucas and had been able to reach the same conclusions he did upon meeting him and his mother. She hated that he was being put through this, hated just as well that he should be made to feel this way by his parents of all people, and it was just as important to her as it was to Lucas to ensure that he had the best year while he was in Austin.

"Welcome back, Jake. Welcome, Brett," she greeted the boys in turn.

"Thank you, Mrs. Friar," Brett mumbled.

"How's your first day going so far?" she asked him.

"We haven't done much yet," Brett replied with a shrug.

He'd been adjusting to being in Austin, in a new home, with a new family, and now he was having to adjust to a new school. She got that, and she wasn't going to push him more than he was ready to be pushed. The other students started to come along and take their seats, so she let him be and focused on everyone else. She already knew she'd have to deal with a wave of curious eyes when Max and Max came along. The rest of the tenth graders would have had a couple of periods already to gawk at Max McAllister, six months pregnant and showing it, and she would do what she could to ensure that she was not made to feel more uncomfortable than she ever had to. For that, back from summer talk did wonders.

If they wanted someone to get them started with the right energy, they only had to look so far as Amy Dixon. She'd had a wonderful summer, and she was very happy to tell her classmates about it. She and her younger sister, Julie, had done plenty to enjoy the summer weather, and the time away from school, sure, but they had also put in a lot of time as the excited aunties that they were, going up the road, past the Friar house, over to Sanderson Farm to see their brother's baby boy.

Missy and Cole had welcomed their son, Cameron, on the last day of June. The pregnancy had been a difficult one, with Missy on bedrest for several weeks before she'd finally gone in and had the baby. Neither she nor Cole lacked for willing hands to help them in the weeks that had followed, from their families to those families that lived on the lane with them. Cole's half-sisters were for sure at the top of the list, and they were both deeply appreciated for it.

Jake Bennett had also been seen occasionally, at the farm, as he'd come and collect Amy to take her out. He loved kids, was great with them, and babies most of all. It was almost too much, seeing the way 'Cam-Cam Cammo' would calm for being held by the teen boy.

Evidently, a lot of Jake's summer had been devoted to caretaking. With his older sister Maia off on her senior trip and then preparing for college to begin, and moving out of the house, it had been very important to him to keep an eye out on his younger brothers. As he told the class, they were good kids, but sometimes they were just that, just kids, and they would act like it.

And now, over the last stretch of the summer, he'd gotten to introduce his guest to the city, to the places he liked best, to really make him feel like part of the family, because as far as Jake was concerned, that was what he was this year, and beyond it, too, for all they knew. There was no doubting his sincerity in the statement, and Brett knew it. There was a calm in his face, in the way he sat... Maya was very happy to see it.

She wouldn't have pushed too hard if he didn't want to present himself to the class, if he needed more time, but he went ahead and spoke a little, telling his name, his age, and where he'd come from. He spoke of his city in a way that let it be known without a doubt that he was happy there, that he was comfortable there... that he had very much regretted having to leave it for a year because his parents had decided it. He didn't vocalize that part so much, only sort of fell quiet until Jake gave him a light nudge of encouragement.

He talked about what he liked to do - read, play video games, ride his bike - and said nothing regarding his family except that he was an only child. He'd been close to his cousin, who'd been a year younger than him, but she'd passed away almost two years back, from heart failure. It was an unspoken fact again, but it was clear that the loss had weighed on him, for their bond and maybe for the loss of what he could have considered his only ally in life.

Rafa had a lot of stories that revolved around Sullivan Stables, and it was understandable. It wasn't just that he and his mother lived on the property, with her running the B&B. There was Bishop at the retreat, too, who was getting to hold more and more of an important place in his heart, but it was the whole ranch, really. He'd always been so happy to be there, even before the move, and now it felt like his community. There was so much for him to see and do, people he could help, things he could watch... What more could he want?

Alright, he didn't spend his entire life there, and he did leave to do things outside of it, not just when his mother told him to go and stop just hanging around. His classmates laughed at this, and he did, too. Maya smirked, especially as she saw the flash of a thought on his face she was certain had to do with her little sister. When he looked over at her though, another thought passed through, and this one was different, uncertain...

The thought was set aside in favor of hearing from the other students, which soon came down to a boy and a girl, both named Max. The former went first, stealing a look to his best friend to make sure this was fine by her. She quietly nodded, so he went ahead, but he only got about three words in before one of the boys across the room called out, calling him 'baby daddy' and getting some snickers out of his station buddies, right up until Maya walked up to them and gave them one good look.

They got quiet after that, but the damage was done. Max Farrell was visibly upset for his friend, and she rounded her shoulders down, blocking out the room as she hugged her hands around her belly. All he could do now was try and remember what his summer had been like, with some prompts from his teacher, who knew the answer so far as how Max had hosted his cousin Haru, while his other cousin, Kimiko, was still at the ranch. From there, he was able to talk some more about what he did, but he kept it brief and Maya was fine by that.

Max McAllister was the last of them to go, and whatever everyone else might have assumed they knew of her summer, she still wanted to talk of her experience. A lot of it of course came down to her being pregnant, and taking care of herself through the weeks. She was six months along, and by her form beforehand, she was growing larger than Maya might have expected she would. That was not by chance.

"My moms have been really good, helping me get ready. It was a big decision already, choosing to raise this baby, but they promised they would be there, and I know they will. I'll find a way though. It shouldn't be up to them to raise my siblings and me and then on top of that, well..." Her eyes had come back drawn to her belly, her hands cradling it protectively. "We found out a few weeks ago that there's two of them in here," she revealed, to gasps and whispers from the room. "Second one was hard to detect at first, but then they found it. I'm... scared... It was already something to be having one baby now, but two..."

As the talk shifted into art, Maya couldn't help but go and look in on Max, to hear more about this added piece of information and maybe to lend some guidance, as a mother to multiples herself. To listen to her, it felt very clear that beyond the fears, beyond the unfortunate time, and beyond having to live this while in school, Max McAllister had one thing in mind and it was that she could and would be a good mom to her child... children... She was still in awe to know that there were two of them inside her belly. Maya made a mental note to recruit Michelle Day and the knitting club for a project...

"I have to tell you something."

Maya jumped, startled, and turned to find Rafa stood there, looking back at her and – now – regretting his quiet approach. After taking a breath, she signalled to him that it was fine and he should go on. He looked concerned, afraid almost, so she went ahead and closed the door, pulled the curtain, and turned back to him.

"What's up?"

"You know how I got to do work in admin over the summer, because of student government and all?" Rafa started. Maya did, so she nodded. "Well, Freddie and I worked together all those days," Rafa went on, and she nodded again. Freddie Jacek wouldn't be in her class until the end of the day with the other juniors, but she could imagine the two of them being a good team. "Well, we started noticing some things in there. It didn't happen all at once, just sort of… we started noticing patterns."

"What kind of patterns?" Maya frowned, unsure where this was going but assuming already that she was not going to like it.

"Requests made and denied," Rafa revealed. "Requests that students made, when they picked out classes, when they asked for this class, that were denied out there. It didn't feel right. There were way too many of them. It was like suddenly there were all these new people that wanted to take art but they wouldn't let them. I know that there's a limit to how many people can be in a class, but if there were that many, then wouldn't they just… create a second group? You have free periods…"

"It happens, the class filling up, that's not…"

"We looked at the numbers. We looked at last year, and the year before that, and before that… as many years as you've been here by the end of it, and even if you did max out before, the overflow… It didn't feel like that, this felt more like… there was this sudden interest spike, but it's being kept quiet. I mean, did you know about this?"

He gave her a piece of paper, torn from a notebook. On it, she recognized both his hand and Freddie's, as they'd chronicled their discoveries. She had to admit they made a compelling argument, both of them, and after what she'd heard from her brother and his friends earlier, it looked like more and more kids at this school were starting to connect dots, and all those dots were making arrows, pointed at their principal. If what the boys suggested was true, then Sandra Davenport was doing all she could to bury the fact that the students at this school were clamoring for more art, because it meant that the scales were tipping in the creatives' favor.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners