Chapter 26 Then Maggie
THEN: MAGGIE
The winter seemed to have blown through at a record speed, but Maggie supposed that’s what happened when you were happy. Time sped up. It seemed like a cruel reality, but because Maggie had been subjected to much crueler, she supposed she should be grateful.
“Mags, wait for me!” Diana called from behind her and then wrapped an arm around her as they walked the halls of the school on their way to Diana’s car and the orchard.
They had forgone hiding or avoiding each other after midterms. Maggie was no longer a cheerleader, a fact made abundantly clear by both Em and Mary in the way they sneered at her or ignored her presence.
As expected, the rest of the school followed suit.
Maggie became lackluster overnight, and no one gossiped about her, aside from noting how she was always hanging out with the allegedly snobby Diana Blake.
Those rumors she welcomed getting back to her mother, who had gone from openly admonishing her existence to tolerating her, thinking her new friendship would lead to a rich man who would whisk them both away from their lives.
“Hey Janny,” Maggie heard Diana say from beside her, and she turned to see Janice walking out of a classroom they were passing.
“Janny?” Janice said, looking slightly perplexed but laughing slightly.
“I thought I would try it on,” Diana said, dropping her arm from Maggie’s as they stopped to chat.
Janice had also been more of a fixture for them, which Maggie loved.
Janice was funny and smart, and Maggie found herself wishing she had spent more time getting to know her rather than spending all her time with Em and Mary.
But, given that Janice was both Black and not a twig, she never would have been on their radar.
Maggie was so thankful that was no longer her reality.
“How about you call me J?” Janice said to Diana, and Maggie saw her girlfriend’s face freeze.
She knew it was because Diana was still wary of Jay coming up in their relationship.
Diana had made good on her promise to be completely open about their relationship, but Maggie couldn’t help but sometimes find herself a little jealous.
But she knew Diana and Jay were a package deal, and she had decided long ago that she’d never actually make Diana choose.
So if Diana was trying, she could too. After all, they’d all be in California together soon.
“Hmm Jay is already taken for us, belongs to someone very special,” Maggie said, making sure to keep her tone even and light, because she meant it. She felt Diana’s body beside her relax.
“What about your pen name, the Nisey part?” Diana offered up instead.
Janice was known as Nisey Jayce online. Maggie had read some of her fanfic along with Diana, which had led her to other online stories featuring relationships that would make her mother’s head explode.
But Maggie was happy to know it existed, almost wishing she’d found it sooner.
Again, she wished she’d become friends with Janice sooner.
“Sure, why not, it’s what my uncle calls me,” she said, smiling.
“You want to come over today?” Diana asked, grinning widely because it had become very clear to both Maggie and Diana that Julia had a huge crush on Janice. Unfortunately, Janice didn’t seem to notice.
“I have dinner with my folks tonight and they really want to talk about college stuff, but raincheck?”
“Yeah of course, and hey, any ideas on where you’re going to end up next year?
We’ll be in California.” Diana gestured to both her and Maggie and Maggie felt her heart flutter.
Just the way that Diana said “we” and seemed to beam every time she expressed that they were going to college together was enough to send her heart racing.
“California? Far away, but very cool. I don’t know, which is why I need to speak with my folks. My dad really wants me to stay as close to home as possible, but my uncle went to Brown for undergrad, and well, I guess he’s turned me on to the idea.”
“Oooh fancy,” Diana said, and Maggie elbowed her in the ribs.
“That’s amazing Janice, congrats! I mean, Brown has a good writing program right? Is that what you think you might want to study in school? I mean, you are so freaking good at it.”
Janice beamed at Maggie, but Maggie also caught the way her dark brown cheeks deepened in color.
“Yeah, I mean my parents are supportive, they’re just a little afraid of me being able to make a name for myself, given the type of stories and people I write about.”
That made Maggie pause and then she blurted, “Wait, they know about what you write about?”
Janice looked at her for a few beats as if it would be obvious, and then shrugged and said, “I mean yeah. They don’t love the sex stuff, but they think it’s important that I write about people with different backgrounds and tastes and whatnot.”
Maggie just gaped at her. Next to her, she could feel Diana’s stare as well.
“My uncle is a writer and writes about Black people from all walks of life. It hasn’t been super lucrative, which is why my parents worry, but you know, like I said, they are still supportive.”
Maggie knew both of Janice’s parents were in medicine and quite well off.
She hoped that would be enough of a help for Janice to find her footing, because Maggie could only imagine what a gift it would be for some confused sixteen-year-old to be able to see themselves in a story.
To see themselves happy and silly and real.
“I think you should do it,” Maggie said, and then added, “I’m really glad you have your parents’ support.”
Understanding washed across Janice’s face as she nodded sadly. “Yeah well, if you’re all the way in California, you’ll be far enough away to explore whatever and whoever you want.” Janice’s eyes went between her and Diana.
They’d never told Janice that they were together, but considering how much time they had been spending with Julia back at the orchard these days, Maggie assumed she’d guessed.
This all but confirmed it. But Maggie didn’t mind.
She trusted Diana and Diana’s safety; she knew she wouldn’t have invited Janice into the fold if she was a threat.
“Well, anyway, I need to head to the main office and drop some things off before I head home,” Janice said.
“Mind if we walk you? We are headed out that way anyway,” Diana said, and she put her arm back around Maggie, which she loved. Diana was maybe an inch shorter than Maggie, but the way she gathered Maggie into her, no one would ever notice.
The three of them made their way towards the front of the school and the main office, which sat next to the school’s entrance.
As they approached, Maggie noticed the energy had shifted and that there were students, and more surprisingly, several adults, gathered in the hallway.
As they got closer, Maggie realized all of the adults were mothers she recognized from various years and school functions.
There was a loud slam and then the front office door opened.
Mrs. Wright, Mary’s mother, a woman who Maggie had met a number of times and was always polite and demure, strode out of the office with her face on fire.
Her typically neat brown hair had worked its way out of the low bun she always kept at the base of her neck, giving her a disheveled and wild appearance Maggie had never seen on her.
“Alright ladies, I have filed our complaint, however,” she said the last word loudly as she rounded on Principal Shelby who had made his way out of the office as well.
He was just as red-faced as Mrs. Wright, his pale doughy skin redder than Maggie had ever seen it, not that she saw much of the man.
No one really did unless you were in trouble, and Maggie was never in trouble.
“Mrs. Wright, please,” Shelby said, but Maggie recognized the glint in Mrs. Wright’s eyes; she had seen it many times in Mary’s. It was the glint when Mary had an idea, and when Mary had an idea, an agenda, there was no stopping her.
“No, I will not, they all need to know that there is a lesbian teaching at this school with children,” she said, scandalized, and Maggie watched as the other mothers shook their heads, finally recognizing Em’s mother, Mrs. Jacobs, in the cohort too. She moved to stand right next to Mrs. Wright.
“We need to keep our children safe, they are impressionable and fragile!” Mrs. Wright’s face was wild with rage Maggie would have never guessed she possessed.
Not the reserved woman at church meetings and parent bake sales.
Not the woman who had gladly ironed all of their cheer uniforms every year when they first arrived in the mail.
Another woman happened to turn her head in the direction of Janice, Diana, and Maggie, and Maggie felt her gaze fall to Diana’s arm around her shoulders.
Diana must have too, because she dropped her arm almost immediately.
But it was too late; the woman had grabbed Mrs. Wright and pointed at the three of them.
Maggie saw the dawning of recognition on Mrs. Wright’s face, and then something else, something she couldn’t describe other than it looked as though another gear clicked into place for the woman.
“This explains so much, oh my God, Shelby, how could you? You know I would never come down here and make a scene like this if I weren’t fighting for my child, for these children!
” As if it was all too much, Mrs. Wright stole another glance in Maggie’s direction, and she felt her face grow hot.
Beside Mrs. Wright, Em’s mom, Mrs. Jacobs said, “Shelby, I would have expected better than this. We simply cannot have our children exposed to that—-that lifestyle. You have a duty to us mothers and the students. I don’t see what there is to think about, what there is to investigate, we have given and shown you everything.
You need to do what is right, you need to go back in there and tell that woman to leave immediately!
You need to go in there and fire Coach Matthews. ”