The Tree

Over the next few weeks, Brian and Shay met at the tree at two o’clock, usually not leaving until six. They always started the afternoon on separate branches of the tree, talking for hours. At the end of the day they were lying on their backs underneath the tree, usually holding hands for Shay’s comfort. Shay had gotten much more comfortable with Brian than she had originally planned. Though she told him she would try to trust him, she had a mindset to keep her walls high. And every day, she was never able to keep them up.

There was something different about Brian. He was nice and polite. He listened to her and remember things about her that people never noticed. She felt safe around him, the kid she knew almost nothing about. She had told him the basics of her life; her writer mother, her lawyer father, her other family dead or didn’t know she existed, the pressures of everyone assuming she’ll be just like her parents. All she knew about Brian was his name and what bands he liked, seeing as how he always wore a shirt advertising one of them every day.

That’s why, on her way up the hill, Shay decided she would get to the bottom of her mystery companion. She took her usual pause at the top to get her breathing on track again. It was getting shorter and shorter of a waiting period and she was proud. Soon she’d be completely used to the effort. Shay stood and walked to the tree, climbing on the knobs she had burned to her memory. She sat on her usual branch, smoothing out her purple dress. It was Sunday and she had been forced into the dress to look ‘presentable’. Sunday was the only day her mother and father tore themselves away from their work so they could all go to church. That was the only time they could be mistaken for a normal family.

She turned to look when she saw Brian trudging up the hill from his usual direction. He was also dressed in his Sunday best. His family was Catholic, which meant they could never sit through the sermon together and had to wait to see each other until after the service was over. His tie was loosened and his jacket was opened. He has also traded out his dress shoes for his Converse today. After giving each other a short smile, Brian began the treacherous climb to the branch Shay sat on. He plopped down next to her, resting his hand on top of hers.

“How were they today?” Brian asked. He always did and Shay always felt her heart swell. She knew Brian was concerned with the treatment her parents gave her, something most would look over. But he was worried about her. She would never get used to the idea; someone being worried about her.

“Better than usual. They actually took me out to eat after the service,” Shay replied with a light shrug. “Even listened to my input on what I wanted to eat. After that they ignored me, but it was better.”

“Good.” Brian flashed her his radiant smile, truly glad that her parents had given her such a small amount of attention. It was like he secretly met with them to tell them to treat me better and he was just following through to make sure it had worked successfully.

“Bri, can I ask you something?” Shay spoke hesitantly. She knew it would only be fair to ask about her friend’s personal life, but she still felt like she was invading his privacy all the same.

“Of course,” Brian spoke, an encouraging smile on his face.

Shay took a deep breath, but chickened out last minute. Instead of the question burning on her tongue, she asked, “Are you going to be attending the elementary school down the road?”

Brian quirked an eyebrow. Shay could tell he was confused in the question. He had probably been mentally preparing for a deep, personal question and he was being asked what school he would be attending. Instead of making a comment on the weirdness, however, he simply answered, “No.”

“Oh.” Though it was an out of the blue question she made up, Shay couldn’t help but feeling disappointed. She was finally hoping to have a friend with her at school, but it didn’t seem meant to be. “Where are you going then?”

“My dad’s sending me to some stupid private school,” Brian replied, scowling at the city. “It’s supposed to be the best educational program in the state, but I don’t care. I have to wear some stupid uniform and continuously be told why God is the best thing to have existed.”

Shay knew that neither Brian nor her were very religious. They went with their parents because they had no choice, but they didn’t fully agree with the teachings. But, trying to be good children, the two just went and prayed and pretended to care about the ideas of God and Jesus and Heaven. Shay felt terrible Brian had to attend such a school, but at the same time she was ecstatic that she would not need to join him. Though, in the back of her mind, Shay wish she did just so they wouldn’t have to suffer through school alone.

“I’m sorry, Bri.”

He waved it off. “Now, what were you really gonna ask me?”

Shay’s face turned red, knowing Brian had caught her. “Okay, well....why don’t we ever talk about your family?”

Brian looked at her with wide eyes. He blinked every couple of seconds, seeming a mix of surprised and thinking it was the strangest thing to ask. “What are you talking about? We do.”

“No, we don’t,” Shay argued. “All you’ve ever told me is your dad is, sometimes, a tight ass and you don’t agree with your stepmother. You never mentioned if you had siblings or any kind of quirks they have or even how your dad is a tight ass. There’s nothing! In fact, I don’t know much about you in general. All this time we spent together, I know little about you. I don’t know what you do in your spare time, where you go when we don’t hang out, any bad habits you have, nothing!”

Brian was silent, staring at Shay’s face that was constricting with emotions no eight year old should have. As her breathing started to get labored, he began to rub her back and coo sweet nothings to her. She wanted to shove him away, wanted him to leave her alone, but she craved the warmth and understanding he was offering her. Shay finally took a deep breath as her breathing calmed again. She turned to look at Brian, tears threatening to spill over her cheeks.

“So,” she breathed out. “Do you have anything to say?”

“I’m sorry I haven’t been so open with you.” Brian wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her back into his chest. She blinked, dazed, before relaxing into his touch and leaning back against him.

“I have no siblings. My dad likes to watch me all the time and criticize everything I do. I play guitar and he expects me to be as spectacular as him when it’s just a hobby. I hate snakes and being compared to my dad. I dislike people who chew with their mouths open. I don’t go places when I’m not with you. I don’t like people and my dad won’t let me anyways. I have a habit of biting my nails and being too closed off from people who care about me. Is there anything else you want to know?”

Shay slowly shook her head as all the information sunk into her mind. Brian sounded just as lonely as she did, perhaps worse. Unlike him, nothing was expected of her. Her parents were much too smart to have any hopes of Shay being able to keep up so they simply left her in the dust. Brian’s dad expect him to do much more than someone his age could physically do. She felt lucky to have the problems she had and not the ones thrusted upon Brian. And that made her feel guilty beyond belief. She frowned, detaching herself from Brian and turning to face him.

“How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Deal with the loneliness,” Shay sighed. “I know we’re both only eight, but we both have our equal amount of loneliness. It hurts, a lot. Don’t you ever feel sad about it all?”

Brian was quiet for a few moments, thinking over her words. Finally, he gave a weak kind of shrug. “Yeah, I guess so. But it got better when I came here, because I met you. You are what gets me through the loneliness, Shay. I don’t feel so alone when I think about you.”

Shay’s face turned a deep red, making her quickly turn her head away from him. That was nothing she had expected him to say. She had expected a long pep talk about how to overcome it all, but nothing so meaningful. She let out a forced laugh. “You’re just saying that.”

“No, I’m not,” Brian argued. He grasped her hand and waited until she looked at him again. Her cheeks were still a faint pink and he couldn’t help smiling. “You’re my best friend, Shay. You mean more to me than anyone else in the world.”

“You do too, Brian,” she admitted shyly. He smiled, giving her hand a squeeze.



It was a few months after the interaction. Shay and Brian both were attending their separate schools and Shay was having the same amount of luck at making new friends as she always had: none. Shay didn’t want to let Brian know, however, since he seemed happy enough with his school life. So she hid it behind a smile and pretended to be having fun at school. When she was home, however, she simply locked herself away in her room. Her parents attitudes still didn’t seem to change on how they viewed her, but she was too tired to care anymore.

Shay was almost tempted not to go to the hill today. It had been a particularly rough day at school and she didn’t really have the mindset to play off that nothing had happened. But she knew if she stayed home Brian would be worried all day. And with that thought she pulled herself to her feet and headed out the backdoor to climb the hill. By now she didn’t have to pause to catch her breath and the cooler air felt nice. Being winter in California didn’t really bring much difference except for that now the weather seemed to reside in the seventies.

Shay plopped down at the base of the willow tree, taking a deep breath in the cool air. She leaned back until her body was being caressed by the soft, fresh grass. She folded her arms under her head, letting her eyes slip shut. That was all Shay really wanted to do; sleep. Maybe she’d just nap. When Brian showed he would probably just lay next to her and fall asleep too. They’d done it plenty of times so it wasn’t very strange for them. As she was musing over what she would do, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

Shay propped herself up on her elbow as she waited for Brian to reach the top of the hill. When he finally did, he smiled at her and came to lay next to her. They were both on one of their sides, staring at one another. Brian broke the silence with his signature grin. “So how was school?”

“Fine enough,” Shay lied, sitting up and running a hand through her longer hair. It was finally reaching her shoulders, something she was ecstatic about. She had been forced to cut off her hair after a particularly bad lice infection. Now that she was fully taking care of her hair, she was allowed to have it grow back out. Brian frowned and sat up next to her, placing his hand on hers that rested on the ground. Shay pulled her hand away, dropping both into her lap. “Don’t start, Bri.”

“I will start, Shay. What happened?” Brian demanded, trying to be gentle, but Shay could tell he was angry. Not at her, never at her, but at the situation that was obviously upsetting her. She refused to answer, glaring at the town below them. “Tiffany did something, didn’t she?”

“No, she didn’t. Tommy did,” Shay spat. She knew her annoyance with the whole day couldn’t go away until she confessed to Brian what happened. Since she had already screwed up by letting him know something had happened, he would continue to bother her about it until she spilled her guts. “He called me a freak and friendless and that I should just go away and never come back.”

“But you’re not friendless, you have me,” Brian argued, smiling when Shay turned to look at him. She snorted, glaring back into the distance.

“Fat bit of help that is when the kids at school make fun of me. They say you don’t exist, that I just made you up.” Brian flinched, attracting her attention. She frowned, placing her hand on his. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s what kids say to me too,” Brian spoke, laughing without a trace of humor. “Y’know, kids bully me too.”

“No,” Shay gasped, actually surprised by this news. He had never suggested the like and she suddenly felt guilty she couldn’t see through his lies before. He could read her like a book and she had no idea. “But you’re so nice! And a great listener! You wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Brian shrugged, nodding a little. “That might be true, but I’m a loner kid. Even at the private school people bully kids who are different. I’m different. Everyone can tell I don’t really care about the school’s teachings and that’s how we’ve all been raised to act.”

“I’m sorry, Bri,” Shay murmured, running her thumb over his knuckles. He smiled, shaking his head.

“Don’t be. You, of all people, don’t need to apologize. You’re an awesome friend. My only friend. Just promise me you won’t listen to those kids. You’re funny and sweet and anything but a freak. You’re going to turn out to be better than those kids one day and I want you to see that day.”

Shay smiled, resting her head in Brian’s lap as he began to pet her hair. “I promise.”

“Good.” He planted a kiss to her temple and began to braid her hair. Shay would never admit it out loud, but she felt safest when she was curled up with Brian. It was like he had been sent from some kind of heaven just to keep her company and watch over her. She knew it was ridiculous, but that’s just what happened when he showed up. He was her light in the expanding darkness. She ran to him and took in his warmth. Over the last few months, nothing had made him shun away from her or have him stop coming.

“Hey Brian?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I love you.” Brian looked down at her with a quirked eyebrow. Shay blushed, looking away from him sheepishly. “Not like that you numbskull. I mean like a brother or something.”

“You sure?” Brian teased, poking her nose. She blushed a deeper shade of red and smacked his hand away, scowling. “I’m just kidding, geeze. I love you too.”

“You better,” Shay retorted, a wide grin on her face.