Maeva sat, curled up on the couch, staring out the window. Shannon was too busy to hang out, and her parents had gone out with her younger sibling. So she was home alone, again. Heaving out a sigh, she switched her gaze to the book listlessly held in her hand.The weather outside was nice. That perfect blend of warm and breezy, puffy clouds drifting across the scene she could see outside. The windows had been cracked open in the room, and she could hear the occasional nightmare walk by, most of the time in chatting pairs. Soon she'd be taking senior classes, and while she had straight A's, she couldn't name a single friend she had aside from her siblings. 'Am I too strange?' she wondered. Shifting to prop her head up on her hand, she looked back out the window at the sky, hoping it would have some answers. Not only that, but she couldn't recall anyone that had caught her fancy. Sure, she'd noticed a couple nightmares as pretty cute, Kean immediately came to mind, but she hadn't seen anyone that had made her heart flutter. No one who made her stumble over her words or nervous beyond thought.
Was it because she was too focused on her studies? Had she missed stumbling across the love of her life because her nose was in a book more often than not? Had she failed to notice her soulmate because she'd wanted to make sure she did well in every class she took? Maeva didn't know.
Unable to stay seated a moment longer, Maeva set her book aside and rose from the couch. Then, struck by the urge to go outside, she strode towards the backyard, throwing open the back door and stepping lightly down the small set of stairs they had. Taking a deep breath, she threw her hands into the sky and stretched as tall as she could, eyes closed.
Exhaling slowly, she lowered herself back to the ground, she opened her eyes and looked around. Her fluffbees and pumpkas were doing well, and got along surprisingly nicely. There was a small garden she'd started, back in the corner where it couldn't be trampled and she made her way over to it. A small stone bench sat nearby so she could admire her work, or just to think quietly on. Nowadays she found herself more and more outside in the garden.
Instead of the normal vegetables, she'd planted a variety of flowers. Not only were they good for her fluffbees, but they smelled nice and brought smiles to nightmares faces. Normally she was glad to see her hard work paying off, the a variety of different flowers blooming each day, but today her mind was caught on her problem.
Not only did she not have any friends, but she didn't think anyone particularly noticed her. She went to class, did her homework, participated in the festivals that occasionally happened, then came home. Nobody sought her out throughout the day, nobody waved at her between classes. Maeva wasn't even sure anyone knew her on a first name basis, just as that orange-ish demon at the front of the class.
The other thing on her mind most recently was the sheet that had been passed out to all the juniors and seniors recently. What do future occupation are you planning for? the top of the paper had read. There had been some boxes to check mark, but the bottom half had been lined for them to write something down. She'd filled out the rest of the paper and then drawn a blank when it came to what she wanted to do.
She hadn't really thought about it. Of course with her grades, she'd be able to go to one of the universities, but. . .what would she go for? What would she do after? What would make her happy? She just didn't know. The paper sat in her folder inside, waiting for her to fill it out.
Making an aggravated noise, she fell forward, dropping her face into her hands and just breathing for a few minutes. Slowly, she realized that the scent of the flowers she'd planted drifted towards her. A small smile lit her face and she peered between her fingers at the colorful array strewn before her. There were daisies, pansies, hyacinths, asters, crocuses, irises, daffodils, dahlias, and a variety of night blooming flowers all planted neatly and arranged to her liking.
She wasn't sure why she'd planted the first flower, back when she was a freshling. Probably some sort of school assignment if she were being honest with herself, but she'd been so fond of it, that she'd begged and pleaded to plant more. So each year her garden had grown a couple more and new and different flowers had bloomed. As she smiled, looking down on the results of her hard work, she had a thought.
Maeva had never thought of the garden as more than a hobby, but maybe, just maybe, she could do something with it. After all, there were florists in town, they handled flowers. Maybe she could sell some of hers to a store or something? It might not be a definite plan, but it was enough to ease the restless thoughts. She had a bit of time to figure out something more definite before she graduated.
Her main problem was less easy to solve. More and more often, recently, she'd found herself longing for some company. Someone to talk to, people to hang out with. Shannon had grown distant to the point she couldn't remember the last time they'd hung out, and while she loved her little sibling, they were too young. Maeva bit her bottom lip, getting up to go smell some of the flowers that were currently blooming. Friends had never been her strong suit, and now that she was going to be a senior, she didn't know how she was going to find some.
Groaning, she sat down hard on the ground and ran her hands across her face. Then, giving up, she laid back on the ground. She was definitely going to have to shower at least twice after this, but for a few minutes, she wanted to stare at the sky in the hopes it had answers. Countless minutes later she got up, no further enlightened and covered in dirt and bugs. Regretting the decision she'd made to lay down, she brushed herself off as best she could and then sped inside to shower. She'd simply have to figure it out along the way, she supposed.
Word Count: 1,100
