Flor De Muerto

Eliya

Going into school today felt different, I was looking forward to seeing Octavio again. I shuffled into school, my eyes heavy from a sleepless night, but the moment I spotted Leo leaning against the lockers, a smile broke through my fatigue. "You look like you've been hit by a bus," he teased, grinning wide. "And you look like you just got off a rollercoaster," I shot back, laughing despite myself. 

We shared a quick laugh, the warmth of our friendship melting away my exhaustion. "But seriously," I said, lowering my voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I can't wait to see Octavio today. I've been thinking about him all night." I blabbed.

 Leo raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Are you blushing? You've got it bad, huh?" 

I rolled my eyes but felt my cheeks heat up. "Shut up! I just hope we get more work done and he actually notices me." Leo chuckled, nudging me playfully. His smile faltered for a second, and I caught a flicker of jealousy in his eyes, but it quickly went away.

"With the way you light up when he's around? Trust me, he'll notice. But I don't know what you see in him."  My heart raced at the thought, excitement bubbling up to chase away my weariness as we made our way to class together. I pushed off Leo's petty comment and continued walking.

I try to shift my focus towards the project I have coming up with Octavio. He thinks I'm going to make our logo, which normally wouldn't be a problem... Except one look at his stupid brown eyes and all the wind gets knocked out of your chest. You cannot focus worth anything when he's around. 

Octavio is pretty popular, which is also why I'm so nervous. I hate being looked at; I hate attention in general. Our last time in class was spent with him goofing off with his soccer friends, so we didn't get much done– hence the reason why we met up at the field. I can only hope that he actually puts more effort in this time. I hate when my partial grade is in the hands of someone else, if he doesn't actually help it will reflect on my work.

I finally got to class and was surprised to see Octavio sitting there, writing stuff down in a notebook. I take my seat next to him, but his focus remains on the page he's writing.

"Smart and a writer?" I playfully tease, Octavio jumps a little and immediately covers his notes.

"No, just smart..." He laughs off his awkwardness as the late bell rings. I start gathering my supplies for class when Octavio turns to me. "So, who's the blondie?" At first, I was confused, but then realized he was talking about my best friend.

"Random question, I'm assuming you're talking about Leo?"

"Yeah, you guys are always an arm's length apart. Is he your boyfriend?" I couldn't help but notice how embarrassed he looked asking.

"He's my best friend, I've known him since I was like eight. You must be filled with questions today, huh?"

"I'm just curious. I actually have some ideas for our project, maybe we can meet up after school today and actually start working on it?"

"What makes you think we can't start it in class?" I give him a confused look.

"Okay, okay. You're right, how about we just hang out then? Same place and time?" My stomach did one of those flutter things causing me to shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"Oh, uh... Sure I guess."

"Alright everyone, you will have to have your project prompts turned in at the end of class. Get to work." Mrs. Cardell seemed a little annoyed when she directed us.

Octavio grabbed another notebook and handed it to me, inside of it was an entire list of logo ideas and even digital art websites that we could use. I stared in awe as he explained each and every idea.

"These are great!"

"Will you please draw one, Elia? We both know I lack artistic skills." I giggle, his drawings were completely horrendous.

"Fine. Only if you help me choose one."

"Hm..." Octavio started crossing off logos one by one. "How about..." He finally circled one, "This!"

"A withered flower?"

"It kind of makes sense, remember 'they're slowly deteriorating and dying.' It's perfect." I smile, how is it that he remembers every little thing I say? I feel flattered. I take out my pen and begin the sketch. Once I finished, I showed Octavio, proud of my work. 

"It's perfect. You're perfect." Octavio quickly corrects himself, "I said "you're" as if I was talking to the plants, they're beautiful." He blushes, causing me too as well. 

"Thank you." My heart was beating out of its chest. 

Class ended on a high note, we had some interesting conversations and Mrs. Cardell really liked our prompt. There were only two classes left before I met with Octavio again. Needless to say, I'm more excited than I was when I aced my history final. (And that's saying something).