Sweet Birch trees symbolise new beginnings. I think Brittany was my version of a Sweet Birch tree; she was showing me something even my big smart brain couldn't figure out - feeling complete. I didn't know how she did it but she just seemed so whole and perfect, just like a Tansy flower. In case you didn't know, Tansy flowers originally came from Europe and Asia and the Greeks were actually the first to use them in medicine in the 11th century bc. Brittany was just like that, a perfect flower that could melt away all your problems whilst still staying very simple and kind.

I liked Brittany's front yard a lot, I liked watching her dance around more though. She seemed so carefree and content doing what she loved. Perhaps I was acting a little different to normal, especially in this new place. I had barely known her for an hour, yet here I was, sat on her swing set, watching her do cartwheels along the grass. I think I was too busy thinking about Tansys to realise Brittany was gone.

"Brittany? Where did you go?" I tried not to sound worried, she was probably just twirling around somewhere else. I didn't even know how to get back in her house though and Mama was definitely too busy to let me in ours.

"I'm hiding, silly, you have to find me." I followed the sound of her giggles straight up to the Alder tree I had seen earlier. Of course she was hiding, she wouldn't just leave- she's not like that. Smirking, I pretended not to see her at first, only looking up at her when I was standing right under the tree. She sighed dramatically and it made us both giggle. "Come up here with me."

The tree was very tall, if you think about the fact an Alder tree can grow to be 28 metres tall - that was a very big tree. In fact, I worked out it was over 17 times my height. I hadn't told her I was scared, but somehow she knew just by looking at my face, so she climbed down a few branches and reached out her hand.

"Don't be a scaredy cat, I do this all the time Tana." Somehow her using the nickname Mama made up for me made me feel less nervous. I liked how she said it so simply, like she'd known me forever. She was stretching her hand further, so I grabbed it before I started climbing. It took me a while, but the branches were wider near the top so I managed to wrap my arm around the biggest branch I could see, right next to the one she was sitting on.

"Woah, this tr- the view of your house is really good from up here," I didn't know what I was saying and I was pretty sure I would start rambling about plants she didn't care about if I didn't close my mouth. We sat in silence for a while, letting the breeze brush over our faces. She was starting to shiver and I knew it would be getting dark soon, so I wanted to talk to her more before I had to go home and finish sorting out the boxes in my room. I wanted to see her again, at least before summer ended.

That reminded me - school started in a week or two. I do like school a lot, but I can't say I am excited for the first day. The first day of school is always the worst because everyone is really judgy and people will make fun of your clothes and stuff. I already know I'll spend hours the night before trying to find the perfect outfit to wear and I'll probably still hate it in the morning. When I'm old enough I want to be Head Cheerleader like Addy and I'll be the most popular girl in school. I also will only have to wear the cheer uniform so no one will care about my outfit. Win win for me.

"Hey Britt…"

"Mhmm," I heard her slightly mumble.

"Are you excited to start school again?" The question came out quicker than I had meant for it to and she looked a bit suspicious. I just wanted to know if she was as nervous as me.

"Huh? Oh, well I'm not really bothered. School is quite boring, but afterwards I always have dance or gymnastics, so I just sleep through the first half and then it's only been an hour and school is over!" Her response made me laugh a little bit because I could have guessed she'd say that. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Did she mean how I felt about school? If so, I couldn't tell her the truth. It sounded so dumb…

"So… Do you have a boyfriend?" When I didn't answer she must have known I didn't want to talk about it. The look on her face made me think she was the kind of person to talk about this kind of stuff a lot though.

"Ew. No, definitely not. Boys are gross and they all act like babies. I don't have time for their stupid antics," I made sure I was extra clear on how much I hated boys.

"I'm not sure you need to bully they're aunties about that, that wasn't their fault." She defended.

There it was again. I didn't know how half of these thoughts formed in her brain but I laughed anyway, which I think confused her more so I tried to change the subject. I liked talking to her, it was easy.

"Do you have a boyfriend Britt?"

"Well… there's this boy that goes to my dance classes sometimes," she was blushing and she turned her head away. "His name is Mike Chang and yesterday after ballet he told me that my purple ballet shoes looked pretty. I think he might be my boyfriend now, everyone says we're going to get married. I don't know about that, but it's made more people like me so I guess that's good." She nodded her head almost like she was convincing herself as well as me.

I wasn't expecting that. And she seemed so happy when she talked about him. I wanted people to like me too so I should probably think about getting a boyfriend when we started school again. But I didn't want one. Boys are mean and stupid.

"That's stupid, you can't get married until you're older. My Abuela said it's not right and God told her you should say I love you to someone before you get married. I don't think saying your purple ballet shoes were pretty is the same thing Brittany, don't be an idiot." I'd said it angrily but I didn't mean it. All the things Papa had said were coming true. I wasn't usually mean, was I?

"Brittany, I'm so sorry I didn't mean you were an idiot, I promise. I'm not like the other boys at your school." She seemed sad but she wasn't crying or anything. I'd messed it up already. It wasn't my fault all the anger Papa had thrown at me since I was little was coming back now.

I felt sad, or maybe jealous. Why though? It felt weird, I hardly knew Brittany and I didn't even know if she wanted to be my friend yet so it was selfish of me to be angry at her relationship with someone I didn't even know. I started to climb down the tree, why did I think this was a good idea in the first place?

"Wait, where are you going? I'm fine, I know you didn't mean it. Tana wait!" She yelled after me before I got to the branch below. She leant down and pressed her hands firmly on top of mine - stopping me from moving mine to climb further down. I looked up and glared at her- she was the stupid one, keeping me around. "Please don't go, it's high and I'm scared of being by myself." She was just making excuses now, she had just told me she went up the tree all the time. I pulled my hands out from underneath hers, maybe a bit too quickly and slipped, praying I wasn't too high up as I fell. I hit the ground and it hurt a lot, I didn't scream, I knew it would be loud and I didn't want any more attention on me. Brittany screamed though. It was more like a cry - maybe for help, but I didn't care. I think she was shouting me but her voice sounded kind of distant even when I was looking straight up at her from the ground. I guess I had fallen from pretty high after all.

My back hurt a little but I was fine, I wanted to go home very badly though. My cheeks were burning with embarrassment as Brittany jumped down and crouched beside me, touching my face where I think there was a graze, because it hurt when she stroked it gently. She was crying, was it really that bad.

"I- I'm sorry Santana I shouldn't have forced you to climb up there at all. Do you want me to get Mommy to help you or she can call your Mama if you want? I'm really sorry, this was all my fault." She was choking back heavy tears now and I think I had started crying as well. Not because I was hurt but, because, well I didn't exactly know. Usually I never cried, it made me look babyish and I am 8, not a toddler. I thought of Papa and when he had said crying made me 'weak' so I wiped away my tears and got up quickly. I was wrong before, my back hurt a lot now and everything was spinning around me - like the leaves from a Sycamore tree.

"I think I'm going to go home if that's ok, but I'm sure we will see each other at school in a few weeks and maybe I could meet Mike," I was trying very hard not to cry anymore and I smiled until my face was burning.

"Wait please, we haven't even eaten yet." She pulled on my arm and I froze, the memories of a larger hand leaving bruises on my arm came rushing back from years ago. Brittany didn't know about that though. She didn't need to know. "Mommy said we could have turkey dinosaurs, you would really like them, they look like mini T-rexs. But don't worry they don't taste like dinosaurs. I don't think they do anyway, I've never eaten a dinosaur so it could, but I don't think they would do that." She put her hand over her mouth to stop her rambling and more tears were spilling out of her eyes. I felt bad but I really wanted to go home so I kept my head turned and pulled away from her grip, crossing the road back to my grey house. When I got to the front door I turned around one last time but Brittany had already gone inside so I just shouted Mama and she let me in.

I couldn't sleep at all after what had happened. It also didn't help that I couldn't find my bear, Lavender anywhere which made me miss New York even more. I liked my bedroom lots but I just felt so small and alone in it. We had brought my bed from New York so it couldn't have been that but still I couldn't work it out. I kept turning over to find a comfy spot that I could sleep better on but nothing was working so I got up and decided to unpack some more boxes. There was only one box left, it was filled with picture frames of me and Addy and some of me and Mama. There was also one of me and Papa but I left it in the box. I could just tell Mama there wasn't enough room for all of them.

I didn't know where to put them so for now I just decided to arrange them on my window until I could get some plants to put there instead. I took out the photo of me and Abuela first, it was my favourite photo ever and I had six different versions of it. I think I had a pillowcase with it on as well. I was sitting on her lap and it was my birthday. She had just given me a small Japanese Maple tree in a bright blue pot ( the one that lives with Rachel now). Mama says the look on my face is 'priceless' because I was in between shock and happiness. I think that was one of the best days of my life.

Once I'd finished I put the box with the photo of me and Papa under my bed, I didn't really want to see it anymore. I went to close my curtains but ended up sitting on the window ledge staring at Brittany's Alder tree. The one I had fallen out of. Mama said there was a big bruise on my back and I had seen that my face was a bit grazed but my head hurt less now and I wasn't dizzy anymore. I could see the exact branch that we had been sitting on, it was about a third of the way up and from here it looked very very high. I looked over to Brittany's house and what I guessed was her bedroom because the wall looked like it was filled with posters of dancers and there were trophies in the window. I must have been staring for a while because all of a sudden a lamp flick off and I saw Brittany run to her window to shut the curtains. I didn't want her to see me but I guess the light from my bedroom was quite bright.

She waved. I didn't wave back. I could have, I wasn't mad at her or anything. I was just sad, maybe, or embarrassed, I didn't know. I could work it out though. I was the top of my class in New York. I'm sure this was a puzzle I could solve. She's just not like my old friends- sure they were all nice enough, but Britt's different. It's only been a day and I can't stop thinking about her. Maybe I'm just some weirdo or whatever. It'll be fine though, I probably won't even remember in the morning.

The next day I didn't really do much. I tried to help Mama as much as I could to try and distract my mind, so we set up the dining room for when Papa got here later in the week. I forgot about Brittany eventually, but then I just started thinking about Papa so that wasn't any better. Mama knew something was wrong, I don't know how she can tell, so she took me out for ice cream to help make me feel better. It didn't. Lima ice cream is disgusting and I swear the chocolate-cherry scoop that I had was made of dirt, I hated it and I started crying. As I said I never cry. Ever. I wasn't even crying about the stupid ice cream, I was just thinking about too many things and my brain couldn't control it all at once. Mama suggested we had Brittany over for dinner because she thought talking to someone who 'understood' me would help me. I thought that idea was stupid but I said yes anyway because I had been thinking about the look on Brittany's face when I left last night all afternoon, and at least this way I could say sorry. Maybe. Probably not.

Brittany was supposed to come over at 6 o'clock but obviously she came 10 minutes early because Mama said it was polite to arrive early. It was actually annoying though because I hadn't been fully ready, and by that time I was too tired from being sad all day so we just watched Hannah Montana, because that's my favourite show ever. I don't think Brittany understood it though because she kept asking how she changed her hair all the time. I didn't answer though. After a while I could tell she was bored so we just went upstairs because I wanted to show her all my plants.

"Wow, your bedroom is so pretty. I love the colour." She smiled gently. I copied her, looking at her for the first time all afternoon.

"Thanks, but I'm getting it repainted anyway, I want it grey." I got excited thinking about what my room would look like when it was finished. Brittany didn't look as excited though. In fact she turned her nose up and looked away. "What? Don't you like that idea?" I glared at her.

"Oh, n-no I like it, but don't you think your room will look a bit… dead?"

"That's the whole point, grey is emotionless - that's why I like it. Duh." She giggled when I rolled my eyes playfully. I still wasn't in the mood to play but talking to her wasn't as bad as I thought it would be after last night.

That reminded me, "Oh, by the way I'm really sorry about last night, I was just overwhelmed." I tried to keep eye contact but she just looked confused. Figuring she probably didn't understand I tried again, " I mean like I have just moved house and you know it can be quite scary coming to a new place, I'm sorry again." She just shrugged so I decided to drop it and maybe we could just move on.

"It's ok," She answered after five minutes of staring at the wall, in silence. "I was probably being too jumpy and I kind of forgot you were a stranger who hardly knew me," She looked sympathetic, why though she didn't even do anything? Were we even thinking about the same person?

"Oh, well then hopefully we can move on and considering you're my only friend right now I'm glad I didn't lose you on the second day." That clearly saved both of us from any more awkwardness as she smiled and looked at her feet. I gave myself a pat on the back. In my head though, that would be weird.

Reaching forward, I grabbed my book off the makeshift bedside table, made from an unpacked box. I started to flick through the pages when I heard a slight sigh from Brittany which made me a bit sad but honestly, I was too tired to really care that much.

"So uhm.." I barely glanced up as Britt started to talk, "What are you reading?" There was a slight desperation in her voice which I chose to ignore.

"Diamond, it's by Jacqueline Wilson. Abuela got it for me when she went to England last year and I thought I'd lost it until this morning." I have to admit it was a really good book, but again, I wasn't in the mood to embarrass myself by blabbing about it. "Hey, look the girl kind of looks like you," The main character was basically a cartoon version of Brittany. She had wavy blonde hair and I was pretty sure she was a dancer as well.

"Woah she really does. I'm not a very good reader but I like cheer magazines. Only really for the pictures though... Will you read me some of your book?"

"Oh, um yeah if you want me too." I was a bit surprised but I couldn't control the words coming out of my mouth anymore. "You might want to sit down if I'm going to be reading for a while," I had just realised she'd been standing against the wall the whole time. I moved up on my bed and patted the space I had been sitting in. I cleared my throat before I started and shuffled down a bit to get more comfortable - I was nervous. "Do you want me to start from the beginning or go from where I last read?"

"I don't mind, but wait a second," She muttered before scooting down right next to me and resting her head on my chest. My eyes opened so wide and my body had frozen. I cleared my throat again and this time it hurt. "What are you waiting for, go then." Her voice rose and she giggled again. Usually when people laughed like she did I found it irritating but Brittany's laugh calmed me and I started reading the words on the first page.

"My name is Diamond. I used to be called Ellen-Jane Potts, but my dear frien-,"

"I like that name, it sounds like a flower." She looked up at me, as if she wanted a response.

"It is actually, but you don't want to hear about that, we can carry on," I wanted to tell her about the flower but I knew it sounded boring, she definitely didn't want to know.

"Nope," she plucked the book right out of my hand and threw it across the room. "Tell me right now." She was smirking so I gave in.

I sighed. "There's this flower called the Ellen rose. It is one of the most beautiful flowers from the rose family. I've never had one though. It's kind of pink but sometimes its petals can grow to be orange because it originally came from Mexico - where there's lots of sun." Brittany sighed happily and nuzzled further into my chest. "The pink petals represent joy and usually you give them to someone who is a little bit sad, to make them feel happy. But, if you get an Ellen rose with orange petals that's a little bit different." I paused and Brittany looked at me, urging me to carry on. "When a rose has orange petals it's a symbol of infinity."

"What does that mean?" Her voice was sleepy and slightly slurred.

"It means something that will last forever. When someone gives, maybe, their best friend an orange Ellen rose, it's because they want to be best friends with them forever and ever. All the way until they die. The only problem is that roses usually only last for one week if you keep them in a vase, so they might have to keep buying more roses every week if they don't want they're friendship to end," I made a note in my head to think about that more later.

"Maybe not." Brittany interrupted my thought. "I think that when you give someone an orange rose it's like a promise. They're trying to show that they will always be best friends, not the roses. I think it's silly of them to think roses control their friendship and I think you need to visit them and tell them some of your plant facts so they stop wasting their money on new flowers every week." She spoke very matter-of-factly and I thought hard about what she had said.

"Hey Britt,"

"Hmm?" She didn't look up and I saw that her eyes were closed.

"You know you're a genius? That was one of the smartest things anyone has ever said. Even I didn't know that and I'm meant to be the 'plant expert'. Look at you being all clever." She laughed softly into my chest and it made my heart inflate, like a balloon.

"Don't be silly Tana, I'm dumb." She spoke quieter now than before but still kept her eyes shut.

"Well I think whoever told you that before, is the actual dumb one. And I bet they're just jealous that you know all these things about plants now like me."

"Yeah right, I could never be as smart as you. You're like... Albert Frankenstein." I didn't want to ruin her moment so I didn't correct her.

"Hmmm Albert Frankenstein you say? Yeah that's pretty hard to beat Britt, are you sure I'm as good as him?"

She didn't say anything for a while and the sound of her breathing distracted me. "Brittany?"

"I like it when you tell me about plants." She said all of a sudden. "I think it's the best thing ever and it makes me sad that you don't like talking about something so wonderful more often. I want you to tell me about trees and flowers and… bottles, whenever you want. Especially orange Ellen roses because I want us to be friends forever like the people in the story you told me about. But don't worry I won't make you spend all your chore money on them every week." I didn't know what to say, and Abuela said I had a big mouth so I found it hard to believe I was truly speechless.

"Wow," Was all that came out and all I needed to say.

I closed my eyes after that and I guess I'd forgotten how worn out I was because I think I fell asleep quickly.

I don't know what time it was when I woke up but it was definitely morning because it was bright outside and the sun was pouring through my window. I'd forgotten to ask Mama to put up my curtains last night. I was going to do it after Brittany left.

Brittany.

I sat up too quickly. Holding my forehead, I looked around. She wasn't next to me anymore. I don't remember her leaving though.

"Mama!" I shouted as loud as I could. I think she'd been upstairs anyway because she came in straight away.

"Are you ok? Did you shout me?"

"Mama, where's Brittany? She was here a minute ago." I was out of breath for some reason.

"Oh, her Mommy came over last night to take her home and when we saw you two were sleeping we didn't want to wake you." She was rubbing my arm gently.

"So she's ok?" I was still worried.

"Yes, yes she's fine. Susan said something about her having dance class early this morning so she wanted to get her home quickly." We'll see them again though tonight. Susan has invited us for dinner, apparently she has some exciting news." She pinched my sides, making me double over before she left and I laughed as I went over to my window.

Brittany had left already because there were no cars in her driveway. I looked over to her window and I could see something hanging on the glass. I didn't know what it was so I had to put on my glasses to see it properly.

"Oh my god." Usually I wasn't allowed to say bad words but no one could hear me so I wasn't going to get in trouble.

In the corner of her window there was a small A4 piece of paper with a giant drawing of a pink and orange flower right in the centre. I think it was meant to be an Ellen rose but it looked more like a daisy. I didn't care though. Underneath the drawing was a small sentence written in black sharpie.

'Infinite friendship'

A small squeal fell out of my mouth and I laughed in disbelief. I think Brittany was my best friend. And if she wasn't yet, I was going to make sure she was by the end of tonight.

Thank you for reading once again. Sorry this took a while, Google Docs crashed and it took my ages to rewrite. Please leave feedback xx