Tales From Under the Maple Tree

Under The Maple Tree

I, of course, didn't want to lose my best friend either. We had been like brothers since, not long after we had both been born in the same hospital nine hours apart, twelve years ago.

He told me, that last afternoon under the tree, he would do absolutely anything if it meant he could stay.

Once it started to get dark we headed for home. When we got back to my house Kyle announced that he was gonna go down to Jule's house and say goodbye to her.

Kyle and his family left early the next morning before I woke up and I never heard from him again.

That same morning after breakfast, I headed across the field and up the hill to the tree. I didn't know what else to do, nor was there anything else I wanted to do. I was already missing my best friend.

Hanging out at the maple tree just wasn't the same without Kyle there, so after a few boring hours, I decided to head home.

It was around lunchtime, and i was in the middle of getting up off the ground, when I got a surprise. Jule walked right up and asked if she could sit with me.

I told her yeah, and she plopped down next to where I had been sitting, with her back against the tree. Right in Kyle's old spot. I almost asked her to move as i sat back down, but then told myself it didn't matter since Kyle wouldn't ever be back.

I then asked her how she found me and she said something about Kyle telling her I would need a friend.

After that day, she and I quickly became best friends. It was amazing to me, how different she seemed now that Kyle was gone.

Before she had been quiet, shy, and kept to herself, but now she was very confident, outgoing, funny, a blast to be around, and it was as if she knew me. It quickly got to the point we were as close as Kyle and I had been. It felt like our friendship was meant to be.

People sometimes would wonder if we were a couple, but no, we were not. That's not to say she was unattractive. She was maybe a couple years away from being a knockout, but still the cutest eighth grader in our small school.

I think she had gotten to the point she knew it, but she didn't play into it that much. She didn't dress fancy, wasn't a flirt and didn't act like she thought she was anything other than ordinary. The most down to earth girl you'd ever meet. If anything, a little awkward in her own skin.

She didn't date either. She had guys asking her out, but she always turned them down. Well, almost always. She did go on a date with a sophomore, once, but it didn't work out. She wouldn't tell me the details, but it seemed like she might have refused to go out with him again, because of me. I couldn't be sure, but that's what I assumed.

To me, she and I were more like cousins than anything, although we did make out once in seventh grade, just to see what all the fuss was about.

It was nice but felt weird to me, because of how close we were to each other, so I never allowed it to go any further than that, even though I felt like Jule wanted it to.

"Alright," Jule said, jarring me from my reminiscing, my arm still throbbing from where she had punched me. "I'm gonna run. I've got chores at home I've been avoiding."

"Hey, thanks for listening and not being stupid about my confession."

"Don't mention it. Who am I gonna tell that you want to experience a period? You can trust me," she laughed as she started to run home.

I laid back on the grass. It would be too cold to be outside in a few weeks and I wanted to enjoy it as much as possible, while I still could.

As I lay there I noticed a strange feeling in my arm where Jule had punched me. It felt almost like the same way your tongue feels when you touch a nine-volt battery to it, just a little pin-point tingle.