The room was filled with the smell of dusty concrete floors and hairspray. Marisse saw one of her classmates fixing their collars, adjusting ribbons, and doing their makeup, while the others complained about the heat. The click of camera shutters echoed against the walls.
She wasn't excited. It was just another school requirement. Another reason to wait, to smile for a few seconds before going back to scrolling on her phone.
While waiting for their turn, she sat in one of the chairs in the room with Angel and Andrea. Andrea sat between us, tall and chubby, squinting as I leaned in to fix the uneven line of her eyeliner. Angel, also tall and chubby but with softer features, hovered beside us, commenting on Andrea's look.
"Stay still," I told Andrea, holding his chin steady. "You're going to look like a clown if you keep moving and blinking."
"You know I'm not used to this," Andrea muttered, trying to stay still.
Angel chuckled. "Don't worry, Marisse will make sure that you'll be the most gorgeous here."
I laugh. "I still exist, you know."
We laughed, the sound blending into the noise of the crowd. As she finished doing Andrea's makeup, they decided to start writing for their creative shot. But just as she was about to suggest something, a shadow fell over them.
"Need help?"
She looked up and saw him. Axel Arenez. He was tall, with black hair, and wearing a casual shirt that had a name on it, called 'Intern.'
"We're trying to come up with something cool for our creative shot," she explained, holding up the blank bond paper.
"But this one," she gestured to Andrea, "wants to write 'I survived in senior high', it's too boring, but it's not bad, too."
Axel chuckled, leaning down slightly so he was at our eye level. "Then what about 'Graduating without a boyfriend but has a lot of fictional men'?"
"That is not a bad idea. Andrea and Marisse are more likely to fall in love with fictional men lol." Angel said.
For the next few minutes, three of them shared ideas, some of them serious and some of them ridiculous. Axel writes his suggestions on a scrap of bond paper while Andrea rejects some of them.
Axel smirked at me. "You're quiet. No idea to share?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I'm letting you work on it. I don't want to disturb you."
Angel looked at me. "Ooooh, she's flirting!"
"I'm not," I replied.
He then came up with something clever that made all of us laugh, and Axel wrote it neatly. Angel uses it while Andrea and I are using his first idea for our creative shot. As the photographer called us, we walked towards the backdrop and glanced back at him. He was still looking at me.
When the graduation pic finally wrapped up, we all went our separate ways. The heat of the afternoon clung to Marisse as she walked home while listening to music.
Once she got home, she kicked off her shoes, tossed her bag on the floor, and sat at the edge of her bed. That's when it hit her.
A warm, fluttery feeling she couldn't explain. She replayed every small detail from earlier. The way he leaned over, the way he laughed, and the way he looked at her.
It was strange. Marisse never felt anything like this before. It was her first time having a crush, her first time feeling something for someone she had just met.
And the strangest part was... she's not usually like this. She lay back on her bed, smiling while thinking of him until she fell asleep.