It was lunchtime now... and I haven't said a word. Drake and Lila were with us at the time, but it only brought upon an awkward silence. I can somewhat blame that on myself, though, because all I did was quietly wait for one of them to say something... and they were waiting for me to say something... So, none of us got what we wanted.

Elliot looked at us, amused. "Ode? Lila? Quiet? What is this?" He darted his eyes from person to person, making the awkwardness even more apparent. I dismissed the fact that he called me by that stupid nickname again.

Iden looked at me with worried eyes. "Are you alright? Are you not feeling well? Do you need anything?" he asked.

I wore a fake smile. "I'm fine, Iden. Everything's alright. Don't worry." After my sort of obvious lie, Drake was about to open his mouth and say something, but it quickly shut, shattering my hopes. Are you going to explain yourself? Is Lila? Or is there nothing to explain?

I sighed heavily and leaned on the edge of the table. Tyler put his hand on my head, checking my temperature. "She's not sick."

Cass put two fingers on my neck, seeing if I still had a pulse. "She's not horribly dying."

Iden moved some of my hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear. "...Yet, you act as if you are." He rested his chin on his hand and raised his eyebrow at me. "You can't lie, Odette. Even you know that you're a bad liar." Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, he kissed the the side of my forehead and whispered softly as if he were speaking to a sleeping infant, "...But I won't make you talk about it if you don't want to." I nodded in reply.

I still wanted to ask him how he got into the school without anyone knowing, but I decided not to ask right now. They were all so worried about me, that I felt like I'd get an even worse reaction if I tried to turn the attention to someone else. Also, I wanted to talk to Iden in private; I don't know why, but I wanted him to be the first to know that I somehow got a crush on Drake. All the other people in the group– discluding Lila and Drake themselves– would probably spread the news. Even Cass would do that kind of thing. Plus, Iden seemed to be the most "detached" compared to the others. When we were little, he was never this quiet.

I went through the rest of the school day in a daze. Because of that, I even forgot to shout out my daily chant during math class. Plus, I couldn't bring myself to attend the soccer practice. Okay, I know it's not good to ignore two of my best friends, but it was kind of hard not to. When I forced myself to walk up to them, I ended up making a U-turn and steering myself in another direction. Before I knew it, I was scolding myself in a dark, shadowed corner.

There was also that one thing that most girls do where they tell themselves "Right now is the time to make up with my friends" or "Today is the day that I tell him how I really feel". But in the end, us girls almost always end up postponing the situation. This may be the only subject a guy can tease us about, and still get away with it... because, after all, everyone knows it's true.

"Odette Harte?" said a soft voice calling out to me. I looked up and met gazes with Paten. She's just so cute and petite that I feel like I could just, you know, snap her in half.

Hello, Paten, I thought in my head, Nice of you to greet me. Can I just... maybe... break you apart like a toothpick? It's nothing personal. Just... when I see something cute, I want to harm it. Kind of like squeezing a dog too hard just because it's fluffy. I'm sorry if this sounds really– "Hi, Paten," I said in return.

She brought me back into the real world where I realized that I was sitting on the curb next to the school. I don't even know how I got there...

"Are you doing well?" she asked. "N-not that you don't look it or anything! You were just... um... how do I say... Um, spacing out." Her eyebrows suggested that she was worried.

I smiled, once again trying to make it look real. "I perfectly fine! How are you?" I asked, trying to change the subject even though I know that I'd fail miserably.

She pouted. "It has something to do with a relationship... huh?" I nodded in defeat. On the other hand, it seems that my sulking caused her to smile. Yep... she smiled. Too happily, I feel. "I know just the way to cure you!" she exclaimed, grabbing onto my hand and pulling me away to the back of the school.

I was a bit perplexed at first because, well, the back of my school is a dump. Why the hell would she bring me back there? But then, she didn't stop walking. So, instead of the dump behind our school, she brought me into the forest behind the dump behind our school... There's a lot of stuff back there, okay? You might be wondering why I let myself be dragged into a forest, and the answer is: "I don't know." I'm stupid and, at that time, I was desperate.

After taking twenty or so steps into the "wilderness", she stopped. Grinning at me, she pointed upwards. I followed the direction of her finger and my eyes met with a treehouse. Okay, this sounds really fishy, but it wasn't just a tree house. The base was a balcony circling around a thick tree. When I say "thick", I mean thick; if it wanted to, it could fit four grown men inside and still have a little more space.

The balcony had a ladder leading to some sort of crows-nest. Attached to the balcony were several bridges leading to other trees with a room built onto each one. It was incredibly amazing to say the least. Paten knocked on the main tree and the wood swung open, revealing the center to be hollow with a ladder that led to the top. "Come on up," she said in a whisper-like voice. "This treehouse isn't mine. A friend owns it, though, and she let's me come here whenever I like. So, I visit her daily. Whenever I have a bad day at school, she comforts me and gives great advice."

Paten began to climb up the ladder, her white-looking hair bouncing against her shoulders. "So, what's your friend's name?" I asked, starting to climb up myself.

She giggled. "You'll see."

Once we got to the top, Paten led me across one of the bridges and into the smallest of all the rooms. Right when you go inside, you could tell why it was the smallest; it only held one piece of furniture– a chair. The chair was extremely fancy with its red velvet seating, the shimmering legs, the glistening armrests, and there was even a few steps leading up to it. In other words, it was a throne. The room... was a throne room.

Upon the throne was a girl my age with a crown resting on her dark brown hair. Her chin was placed on the back of her hand as she leaned on the seat lazily. She had on those red, soft cape-things that a stereotypical king would wear. Other than that, she wore a dark beanie, a thin sweater, jeans, boots, and looked like a hobo over-all. I easily recognized her as the girl this morning who was playing an instrument in front of the school in order to earn money.

I pointed at her immediately. "Ah! It's you! Guitar-girl!" All of a sudden, the girl was gone from the throne and she was standing right before me. She was shorter than me, but taller than a few people I've seen.

A hand struck across my face. It didn't exactly hurt, though. It just... stung... and shocked me. The fingerless gloves she was wearing seemed to cushion the slap. "It's called a ukulele," she said defensively. After a moment's silence, she smirked. "My name's Kaira. Anyways," she mumbled, "what are you doing here, Miss Stranger?"

"Umm... Paten brought me here." I ended up telling her my story despite the fact that she slapped me mere seconds ago. Maybe when you're confused about your feelings, you end up doing the craziest of things. I'm not one to know. The only other crush I had was on Iden when we were little kids.

She nodded slowly along, listening to every word. I hadn't even noticed the fact that she was sitting on the throne again. Or the fact that Paten was no longer standing beside me. Lately, I've been losing track of people's locations. But I guess it couldn't be bothered with.

"The answer is simple, my friend," Kaira said in an almighty-tone. "All you have to do is..." She paused for effect, put one hand on her hip, and pointed at me with the other. "Don't make things awkward!" She began to walk around the room, using hand gestures along with her words. "See, I bet those two people are waiting for you to say something, but considering the fact that you're extremely self conscious– since, you know, you like the guy– then if you say something, I bet it'll make them pretty darn relieved."

I let out a big sigh. She was sure to say something like that, but I was kind of hoping that she wouldn't. Let's be honest, I'm naturally awkward. If I so much as walk up to them, I'd probably yell out a long string of word-dirrahea. Then again, I knew she was right. And I hated how right she was. "Thanks," was all I was able to say.

It turns out Iden wasn't the first person I told... but I hoped that second would be good enough. Turning on my heel, I got ready to leave.

Smiling, Kaira sat back on her throne. "People are like trees that only grow depending on their conditions. Simply put, a person who receives love will send it back. A person who doesn't, won't. The more love that a person gets, the more they grow. Trust. Give. And, eventually, their branches will surface, spread out, and reach for those who need it." She reached her arms out in the area in front of her and spread her fingers, looking as if she were trying to grabbed onto something. At the end, she waved slightly with bright eyes. "Bye bye!"

I smiled back, left the room, crossed the bridge, and stood near the edge of the balcony. The sun was near to setting, so I decided to stay up in the treehouse to get a better view. The leaves on some of the trees were turning red, orange, brown, purple, and yellow. The sky looked like a peach with its pink and yellow shades and orange undertone. Everything around me looked as if there was nothing wrong at all. Yet, of course, in my mind, there was an entire war going on.

It wasn't long before someone knelt down beside me. I didn't bother to look because it would've just been either Paten who decided to come back for me or Kaira who chose to leave that throne of hers. Either way, I would find out if they were to just say something; their voices were pretty different. Turning my head to the side took too much effort. But there was another reason why I didn't want to turn my head and let whomever-it-was see my face. I was crying.

I don't particularily know why I was crying or anything. I guess my body just felt like it was the right time, place, and atmosphere to do so. After a while, the person hugged me from the back, making me open my eyes really wide. The suspense forced me to find out who this mystery person was. I twisted my head to the side and looked straight into the person's eyes.

"I-I-Iden?!" I nearly screeched. I felt my face heat up and I froze in place.

"Please don't cry," he beckoned. "I never know what to do when you cry." I stiffly nodded in a slow, odd motion. He rested his head on my shoulder. "Tempus Fugit."

[]Author's Note[]

Hello there, my "Buds", friends, Muggles, and strangers! How art thou this fine... evening(?)

Whatever. I give up.

So, what did you think my dear people? Sorry, nothing really happened. Well, once again, you got to see Kaira the Tyrannist and Paten the Breakable-Toothpick! That's not such a great name, is it?

Anywho, please vote, comment, and follow if you haven't already. Most of all, please continue to read this story! Thank you for getting this far! Bye!

This is Iris! Signing off~!

        -!Ri$