The day was normal, just like every other or so she thought. The soft fall breeze brushed through Aiyana's hair as she carelessly walked through the tawny field. The golden leaves fluttered past her while the trees whistled as if they were saying goodbye before their winters sleep. In the middle of the field, stood a large solo tree waving its brittle branches against the wind. Aiyana always thought it was a willow, just like the one in the cartoon Pocahontas. She climbed up to her favorite spot between the largest branch and one that curved to form a perfect seat. From there she could see everything, say anything and it wouldn't matter. Setting her camera on one of the branches she closed her eyes and went into a trance. The tree wouldn't talk back. Only the breeze had something to say when she was in deep thought. This was her place. No one….

Vrooooom vroom vroom!!

Aiyana looked over her shoulder to see the Parker boys on their dirt bikes charging to destroy her moment. The boys were no older than she was, and has been pestered by them ever since she moved to the small town of Kogan. Dust flew in the air as the testosterone filled teenagers circled the tree. She covered her eyes and gasped for as much air as she could without giving them the satisfaction of her distress. All in a quick moment, the sounds of the engines faded away back to the main trail that led to the bike ramps. She felt a small sense of relief that they wanted to go try and kill themselves on death defying jumps more than bother her today. When the dust cleared she looked down to see the new torn up vines that once covered the bottom of the tree. The zigzag tracks almost looked like a new trail that would leave you endlessly going in circles and not knowing it because of the large tree. The concept was so intriguing to her she had to get a picture. When she reached for her camera, her anticipating fingers only hit the rough texture of the bark and not a cold soft plastic of a camera. Her heart sank at the thought of it falling and being shattered into pieces and run over by the merciless apocalypse boys. "Shit!" was all she could think of to say. Her camera was her only way of capturing how she felt and what she sees. She couldn't draw, or write well. It was her way of expressing herself, even though she had no one to express herself too. A slight thought of hope hit her, thinking it might of fell into the leaves on the side. Quickly without thinking she jumped down from her branch only to land on the side of her foot. Crack! Her ankle popped and she fell on her side to the ground. The sudden pain reached up her nerves sending her into a loud groan. Her ankle began to swell as she tried to sit up and untie her shoe. Her whole ankle was getting fatter and fatter by the moment and she still couldn't find her camera! This made her feel even more helpless because she couldn't finish what she started. The motivation of finding her camera subdued the pain for a moment as she used tree as a brace and stood up. While looking around for her priceless friend, a short chuckle rang through her ears. Looking up in the tree was Soren sitting in her spot, in her tree, and holding her camera.

"You're pretty pathetic when you're desperate."

His light brown hair dangled freely over his eyes as his green eyes complemented his skin tone. He was her best friend of course, but that didn't keep her from checking him out. Rolling her eyes she grunted.

"You had to wait for me to fall on my ass, before you say hello? "

He smirked showing his perfect smile and shrugged. "I wanted to surprise you, but you seemed to beat me down the tree when I finally got to the top. Did you hurt yourself? Well knowing you I take that back. Where did you hurt yourself?" He laughed and jumped down the tree landing more gracefully than she did. Her pride swelled up more than her ankle making her lie "What are you talking about, I never get hurt!" She foolishly let go of she tree and crossed her arms causing all her weight to shift on her bad ankle. Instantly she bit her lip trying to hold in the cry that desperately wanted to escape her lips. Catching on to her obvious pail Soren rolled his eyes and said "Your such a bad liar, here sit down so I can have a look at your ankle, its going to swell to a point where your shoe wont come off …" Aiyana sighed that her acting skills failed once again. Sitting down against the tree she watched carefully as he untied her shoe. Any girl in Kogan would be going crazy if they were in her place, he was always followed by a posse of girls at school. She never saw him in that sort of way. She used to crush on him when they were close but certain circumstances forced her to only love him as a brother. "It looks like a pretty bad sprain; let's take you back to Misses Morins house so she can fix you up." Shaking her head, she protested "I don't want to bother her right now with just a sprained ankle, I'll be fine." Trying to quickly change the subject she asked "Why have you been hanging out with the Parker Boys lately?" He sighed and tilted his head back against the tree. Knowing he would not be able to convince her to leave just yet he went along with her distraction "just helping out around the house…taking care of the boys while Gary gets better. Ever since their mom died my family has been really close to them and I don't want them getting into any trouble."

"You're doing a good job…"

"Hey! I haven't seen any mailboxes broken, or cows tipped in the months that I have been taking care of them!"

"They wrecked my tree…"

"Hey it's our tree and I that was my fault. I can do what ever I want to this tree!"

"Not with out my consent!"
"Well I just did..."

"Then your tree rights have been diminished and I have sole custody of the tree."

"You can't do that! Who made you the tree mayor?"

"Me. As of right now I declare this tree to be mine and no boys allowed"

She laughed in self victory as she tried not to move her leg. After a moment of silence she worried she might have actually offended him or he was annoyed by her. The ice finally broke with the words that caught her completely off guard.

"What about men?"

Her cheeks quickly filled with color as she quickly scavenged for a comeback or something to say. Finally she just blurted out the only thing that could defuse her awkward moment. "Sure men can come in my tree, but that still leaves you out because you're still a boy in my book" He winced slightly to her comment and said in defense "I think I'm more manly that you think" She chuckled and bit her lip slightly while shaking her head. "I think your getting a little too confident with all those girls following you around all day" He grinned and said "That's what comes with being manly, confidence, hot chicks following you, coolness, smoothness…"

"Your sooooo not smooth"

"Really?"

"Your not manly, your arrogant, retarded, and only blessed with good looks"

"So even you have at least checked me out then."

Her cheeks were again replaced with the deep redness as before. She slipped. "No, I am just saying you're not ugly, nor are you hot. You are just decent looking" His lips crooked into a side smirk as he noticed her coloration.

"I think you're the one being overconfident…"

"What?"

"You're the one blushing trying to hide the fact you check me out, thinking I wouldn't catch on. Seriously don't ever go into the acting field when you go to college"

She was shut down. Giving up on arguing with him she admitted "Fine, you win I check you out sometimes, I'm a girl I can't help it"

"So you see me as a man, not a boy right? Or have you gone pedophile on me?"

"Fine you're a man in my eyes, but that still doesn't mean you can go in my tree"

"Are you going back on what you said?"

"Would you be mad if I said yes?"

"I would be jealous…"

Jealous? That was a new vocabulary word for her. She never thought he would ever be jealous of anything. He had the perfect car, house, body, bank account, and anything else he wanted he could probably get it.

"Why? It's just a tree. You don't even come here anymore"

"But its our…..was our tree and I would feel jealous to see another guy up here with you"

She bit her lip in disbelief. What was he trying to say to her? Before she could even think of anything to say her heart began to flutter as he wrapped his arm around her and rested his head on her shoulder.

"You're my best friend Aiya…even if you won't let me come up the tree that won't ever change"

She smiled and fitted her head over his. She softly sighed and said in defeat "Fine…you earned your tree rights back…" Felling his head shift she knew he was smiling as well. The sun was beginning to set over the swaying grassy hill. "Aiya, how come me and you never…" Soren started but was quickly silenced when Aiyana finished "were both too busy, and have different lives. This is our last year of high school and it would be painful when we would have to leave to college"

"What if we went to the same college?"

"You want to go to England for college! That's way off from what I want to do"

"Then I will go where you go…"

"Now you're just being naive"

"I don't care…"

"Am I the only adult in this situation?"

Soren sighed and sat up so he could see her face. His eyes looked as if he was not willing to give up so easily.

"Maybe being the adult is not always the greatest answer..."

His face was only a few inches from hers. His break on her skim made her hair rise. She wanted him hold her more than anything at that moment. She felt herself loosing in this battle of 'why not'. He didn't care about where he was going to end up. She would miss him desperately if he went away from her. She was right though, it would be even more painful if they did become more than friends. He just wanted her while he had her, knowing he most likely wouldn't be to make her feel the same. It made her body melt. The silence only caused him to pull closer to her. His other arm wrapped around her as if he was trying to keep her from disappearing into thin air. His forehead rested on hers while his eyes closed as if he was reading her mind and understanding what she was thinking.

"It would hurt me even more, if we never tried"

His words made her heart slow down. She could feel his breath deepen and relax when he waited for her answer. He was right for once. She knew it would hurt her when she left. The thought of him with anyone else drove her mad; the thought of him leaving her has been making her depressed. She knew what had to be done. She slowly angled her chin to his level and placed her lips gently over his not moving at all. This was her answer.

That was all he needed before he began apply his own warm pressure to her lips. His lips gently glided over hers like the pilgrims hands in a familiar situation in Romeo and Juliet. His grasp around her tightened with passion that it almost suffocated her, but in a good way. Her own hands traveled up his chest and around his head. This only encouraged him more as he trapped her against "their" tree. The fire inside her was blazing she could melt the sun. All of their feelings for each other were admitted by the movements of their lips. As the heat intensified, it was quickly extinguished by something that was the last thing they wanted to hear.

"Soren!"

Their lips parted regretfully as they still clung on to each other for dear life. Their breaths still were intensified as he couldn't rip his gaze away from her eyes.

"Soren!"

The Parker boy's voices were getting louder as they were approaching the large tree. Aiyana finally got back to reality and said softly while her breaths remained heavy "They're calling you, you should take them home" He rested his forehead on hers one last time before releasing her. He sighed and yelled back to the boys "I'm over here, One of you guys grab my bike, I'm helping Aiyana out" She blushed slightly when he said her full name. He swiftly, with out warning, swooped her up and carried her out into the open field. His chest was so warm to her, she for once didn't protest to letting him carry her like that. If it was any other time, and if her leg didn't hurt so badly she would have tried to kick him. The boys looked at the pair in question but did not ever dare argue with Soren. After a long awkwardly silent walk Aiyana fell asleep in his arms. This was not the happy ending they are hoping for. Things are going to be going off-road soon.