Julianna Baker wasn't sure how she felt about Bryce Loski.

Needless to say, when she walked up to his front porch, her mind was a confusion of thoughts and feelings.

I shouldn't be doing this. He's a jerk. He'll just break my heart again.

But he planted the sycamore tree for me…

But he hates me. And he's a jerk. And a liar. And a coward.

But he tried to kiss me!

…Does he like me?

Ugh. Let's just get this over with.

Juli swept one long look over the Loskis' front yard: neat, perfectly manicured, with roses and gardenias in tightly trimmed flowerbeds. Perfect on the outside—just like Bryce, she reminded herself. But Juli's always been an idealist, and the winged hope inside of her still believed that Bryce Loski was worth waiting for. With that thought, she rang the doorbell.

Bryce was roused from his veg-out in front of the television by the sound of the doorbell. The Discovery Channel program about ancient saber-toothed tigers was kind of interesting, but his thoughts had soon drifted to the one thing they seemed to be able to linger on these days—Juli Baker.

Maybe the tree was a dumb move. Maybe it was too much.

What if she doesn't even want a tree in her front yard?

What if she still hates me?

What if she doesn't like me at all and avoids me forever because I tried to kiss her?

…she has really nice lips…

It would be an understatement to say that when the doorbell rang, he was glad for the distraction. That is, until he opened the door.

"JULI," he choked out eloquently.

"Hi Bryce," she started uncertainly. Bryce was aware that he was staring at her openmouthed, but he couldn't help it. All he could see was the golden glow of the sun through her hair…the numerous freckles on her nose…her lips moving…Juli…Juli…

Wait, her lips were moving!

"Bryce? Did you hear me? I said how is your family?"

"Oh, ummm, they're just fine," he said, visibly flustered. "They're all out, though. Except my granddad. Did you come to see him? 'Cause if you did, I can go wake him up, it's no problem. He sometimes takes naps in the den—"

"Bryce, Bryce, that's okay! Really, it's fine," she laughed, clearly amused by Bryce's nervousness. Juli had never thought she'd see the day that she made Bryce nervous.

It was kind of a neat feeling.

"So…do you wanna come in?" Bryce asked hopefully, running his fingers through his mop of black hair. He smiled a lopsided, unsure, utterly charming smile, and it took Juli all the will power she had inside of her to remember that she was supposed to focus on the inside…not the outside…inside. Breathe. You can do this, Juli.

"No, actually. But thank you." Bryce's face immediately drooped like a flower without sun, and he only half covered it up with his I-got-this-under-control face. Come on, Juli, he deserves to be a little disappointed, even if he planted the tree.

"I just came over to say thank you for the tree." She turned to her house to look at the newly planted sapling, then smiled at Bryce—the first real, true smile she'd given him in months. "It's beautiful."

At seeing Juli smile, Bryce couldn't help but grin back. Somehow, it felt like he couldn't be whole if Juli was unhappy with him, and he was going to do whatever it took to get back into her good graces.

"I'm glad you like it. For a second while I was digging that hole it looked like you wanted to murder me," he joked easily, happier than he'd been in a long time. "But honestly…I understand now why you loved that sycamore so much. You always asked me to climb it with you and I never did—which sucks because I've heard from a certain local chicken farmer that the view is unbelievable—so this is my way of making it up to you." Juli smiled, but it was a forced smile that didn't quite reach her glistening eyes, and Bryce knew that he'd hurt her again, even if it was indirectly. Automatically he reached out and gently squeezed her hand.

"I'm sorry." For everything, his blue eyes whispered. Juli closed her eyes and held her breath to keep the tears from spilling out; miraculously, she was successful. Though she wanted oh-so-badly to keep it safe in Bryce's palm, she drew her hand away.

"I know."

Every bone in Bryce's body wanted to hug her, to drop to his knees and wrap his arms around her legs like a two year old and beg her to forgive him, but he'd been a complete douche to her for the entire time he'd known her. That wouldn't just go away. He'd have to be patient and give her a lot of space if he ever wanted her to forgive him. He sighed, and there was a tense silence as they both glanced at each other, then looked away, hating all the mistakes they'd made.

Then Bryce remembered the all-important object stuffed into his third drawer.

"Wait here, I have something for you. Don't get that look, Juli; it's something I owe you anyway." He slammed the door shut unceremoniously, reopened it ten seconds later to apologize for slamming it, shut it once more (this time very gently), and came back with a wad of crumpled cash in his hand, which he promptly handed over to Juli.

"One hundred eighteen dollars-and another twenty-five for home delivery," he added with another crooked, self-deprecating smile. "Like I said, what I owe you."

Juli was stunned. She'd never received that much money all at once from anyone in her whole life. She couldn't possibly take it, could she? But she'd felt so used, so cheated when she found out that her generosity was being thrown in the Loskis' garbage bin.

"I—I can't—Bryce, how did you even know—"

"—how much you charged? I asked the lady down the street that you sell them to, then tacked on fifty cents because you're setting your prices way too low—"

"That's what Miss DiLuigi said!"

"—and yes, you can take it because it's yours anyway," he finished triumphantly before she could cut him off with and protestations. "Who knows? Maybe you'll be the next Eggland's Best or something."

Juli couldn't help but laugh, and Bryce felt like flying.

"I have to go, Bryce, I promised my mom I'd help her clean the house today. Unfortunately for me and my dad and my brothers, my yard project made my mom determined to clean up what she calls our 'pigsty of a house,' which I guess is kind of a good thing, because then Matt and Mike's snake will be easy to find if it ever gets loose again—it only happened once," she added quickly after seeing the horrified look on Bryce's face. "Anyway…I'll see you at the bus stop on Monday."

Bryce nodded eagerly; then frowned as she turned to go.

"…the bus stop?"

"Yes, the bus stop. The place where the school bus comes to pick kids up. The site of my first act of civil disobedience." Sarcasm was sort of fun. Maybe she should try it more often.

Bryce ignored it. "But what about your bike?"

"It's not much fun getting to school dirty or soaking wet when you don't have to."

With that, she walked down the driveway and back to her own house, leaving Bryce to mentally high-five himself and whisper "Scooooooorrre!" under his breath.