I knew there was something wrong the moment I woke up on Tuesday morning; and it wasn't just because Mrs. Castellano had cancelled dinner with my parents for the millionth time, nor was it because my mom wouldn't tell me the reason why. It was because I woke up to a muffled screaming from outside my window and it occurred to me in practically less than a second that the screaming was none other than Orenda May Castellano... on a Tuesday morning... outside my window.

If that wasn't the strangest thing, I don't know what is.

Anyway, I got up, tossed my cold blanket to who-knows-where and felt my way slowly to the window. My feet scrunched up at the cold hardwood floor underneath them, but I ignored that I just pulled up the blinds, and slid the window open. Orenda's voice was intensified by a whole lot all of a sudden.

"Finnegan Annson let me in." She didn't have any conscience about the time it was apparently, because when I pressed my clock, it said, 'it is 7:09.' Which, obviously, is early.

She suddenly pounded the outside wall a million times angrily. "FINNEGAN ANNSON HURRY UP AND LET ME IN!"

"Orenda! Shh! Be quiet, my gosh. One second." I unlatched the screen and set it inside against my wall. She grunted and climbed in, as I helped her. It took her a while to catch her breath, and the whole time she did she held onto my arm like I was the only thing that would keep her from toppling.

"THE WORLD IS FULL OF CRAP!" She finally shouted - no, belted - out at my face, and I cringed, even though her breath smelled really minty and nice.

"You don't have to tell me twice," I played along, and she finally let go of my arm.

"I'm not one to judge, but you might want to put on some pants."

"Huh?"

"You're only wearing boxers, Finnegan." Her tone was a bit too bitter for my liking so I quickly did as she said.

"I'm sorry," I whispered cautiously, but she didn't respond. I zipped my pants. "Why exactly is the world full of crap?" I tried my best to keep my voice lowered, but Orenda didn't even try the slightest bit.

"The freaking government is cutting Willow down to build an apartment."

I scoffed, "that's it? You woke me up at seven o'clock to tell me that?"

"Which means Willow is a goner, you idiot," Orenda said, her tone even more bitter than before, if that was even possible.

The information finally sank in. "What?" I cleared my throat.

"I saw it in the news. There's gonna be a pretty new apartment for lots and lots of new people to move in and frolic and destroy the little peace this neighbourhood has and make roads to run over all the flowers in the garden and that is the exact reason why the world is full of piles and piles of crap." She took a deep breath.

"Oh," I was all I managed to squeeze out of my brain. I racked my brain for anything I could say to comfort her, but nothing really came to me, mostly because I had to comfort myself first. If Willow left, it would almost be like losing a loved one, which sounds pathetic, but I couldn't bring myself to think of it any other way.

"You want to know why I care so much about a stupid tree in the middle of nowhere?"

"I-"

"Every day my parents and I would walk to Willow and back, as I told you before, and everytime we would talk about how we would have picnics underneath her leaves after my little sister was born. We planned eighteen years underneath that tree, Finnegan. It's because Willow is a bit like a memorial tree for Arabella - my little sister - and it kind of sucks that both of them have to die now." Orenda ended her sentence sharply. The noise around us dropped to the floor.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, and she sighed.

"I don't know if you know it, but it really sucks to lose something that you never even had, no matter how stupid that sounds. It's like having the possibility of a million memories ripped from your fingertips, and then tossed into a void of nothingness."

"I'm... so sorry, Orenda."

My feet remained scrunched up and now I had goosebumps from the coldness of her words. I would have figured I would be used to her by now, but Orenda still was a mystery to me. There were so many different versions of her and I just couldn't keep up. Suddenly, she put her hand on my arm and I immediately flinched at the touch of her hands. "No, I'm sorry. I'll go home now, sorry for bothering you, I didn't... I didn't think. It was, instinct, I guess. To come to you." She patted my shoulder awkwardly.

She was almost out the window when I grabbed her hand in mine.

"Wait," I made sure to keep her still as I tried to think of exactly what I wanted to her to wait for. Nothing happened for a long time, but finally I walked over to my desk and guided my hands towards my braille machine, and typed for a little while, going as fast as I could. I yanked the paper out and threw it on top of my desk. Orenda's hand relaxed against mine, and she laughed suddenly, almost as if I had done the funniest thing in the entire universe.

Sure, Orenda was a hard person to decipher, but the more I talked to her the more she seemed like a real person and not so much a mere idea. It was like, 'hey, Orenda May Castellano - the girl with the garden hair, the bubbly laugh, and the way to light up your entire world - was real and normal and had moments when she would cry in a non-bubbly manner'. And the more I was around her the more I realized that she was not an object to keep around just so you wouldn't feel sad anymore. She was a person to keep around that made you feel like the sadness would eventually end.

She chuckled, "I don't even know what you're writing."

"Well, you're uneducated. At least they can read braille," I retorted jokingly, slipping on my shoes that I kept underneath my bed for Orenda's (Saturday) visits, and I walked over to the window, accidentally kicking the screen onto the ground with an ear-shattering crash. I picked up my cane swiftly, kind of like a superhero, if I do say so myself.

"What are you doing?" Orenda asked me, a mischievous tone in her voice. I didn't answer, because it was pretty obviously she knew exactly what I was doing - and that was leaving with her - in the middle of the week and in the earliest hours of the morning. She crawled out the window and landed with a grunt, and I followed her, popping a mint in my mouth on the way. If I was going to do something for Orenda I figured I might as well have good breath so that I didn't knock her out just by smiling.

-----/////-----
I remember when Egan first moved to my neighbourhood (or our neighbourhood, as he likes me to call it) and his mom was a) very confused about the English language, b) completely broke, and c) in desperate need of a friend. So basically they were lost and very helpless in the way that they needed an income or whatever, so when my mom dropped me off at Egan's house for our begged-for second playdate, she stayed a while and talked to Egan's mom about job opportunities.

The thing that Egan's mom had always loved to do was plant any stuff, and by any stuff, I really do mean anything at all. She would plant flowers everywhere there was the warmth of sunlight, and she even bought an apple tree sapling a while after they moved in, and after a few years it was tall enough for Egan and I to sit under and pick apples from. We don't do that anymore, though, because we had kept growing while the apple tree had reached its potential height. Anyway, their house smelled like an orchard and garden mixed into one, and Ms. Tanakado was absolutely keen on watering, making Egan and I water the roses periodically. So, the obvious thing that Egan's mom chose to do for a living was to be a gardener and start her own gardening business, which basically meant that people came to her for gardening supplies and seeds and soil, etc.

A couple years back Ms. Tanakado signed a contract to be on the town council's environmental team, ergo, she would be a really good choice if someone was to, say, want to save a tree's life. And Willow was a plant, in the simplest forms, so a typical Ms. Tanakado would want to save her.

"So, where are we going?" Orenda asked me after we walked for a little while. I had been counting the steps to Egan's house in my mind, but the entire time the only thing my subconscious could muster was 'don't do it', and 'I hope it's Ms. Tanakado and not Egan, please don't let it be that butthead answering the door.'

"We're going to my friend's house," I told her.

"Egan?"

"Gee, thanks for making it very clear I only have one friend," I said, and she laughed.

"Why, though?" She coughed and I waited for the fit to be over.

"His mom really likes trees," I explained. She giggled, and by then we had reached Egan's front yard, and I could tell because I could hear their tiny windchimes on the front porch ringing away.

"Hey, are there windchimes and is the grass really long and luscious?"

"Uh, yes," Orenda replied.

"Okay, I guess this is Egan's house. Please don't... I mean, it's... we're um-"

She cut me off. "It's okay Finn, I won't."

"Do you even know what I'm-"

Before I could finish my sentence, the door to Egan's house opened, and immediately Orenda said, "hi!" I clenched my fists and prayed over and over that the person coming out of Egan's house was hopefully not Egan, yet it was.

"Finn?" I heard his footsteps pattering over to us, and Orenda introduced herself while I stood there, rigid. I honestly couldn't remember why I was so mad at him, but I was, and I could feel a bit of his irritation radiating off of him too.

"Yep," I finally said.

"What...what are you doing here?" Egan asked.

Orenda started explaining again, but I cut her off before she could say too much.

"Is your mom home?" I asked Egan, and he laughed.

"No, why?"

"Nevermind. We'll be going now. Bye," I grabbed Orenda's hand, but she shook it off, which startled me, but at that moment something must've clicked in Egan's tiny little brain.

"Wait. Orenda? Like, Orenda May Castellano? THE one and only?"

Orenda laughed. "I knew I was famous but not this famous."

"Orenda?! Holy, Orenda? You're Orenda!" His excited voice reminded me of when he was ten years old and his mom had bought him a bike that was proven to go 100 kilometres an hour with only a little kick. I smiled.

"What's going on?" Orenda asked, and the excitement was immediately covered by a thin layer of awkwardness, because how the heck would I explain that to her? Oh, just I was utterly obsessed with you for about nine years, until you tapped my shoulder at the zoo and disappeared right away. Egan thinks you're my wonderwall. I think I'm screwed.

"It's not important," I covered quickly, and Egan was laughing right beside me. He laughed and laughed and soon we both started laughing; I just couldn't keep it in anymore. Orenda started laughing too, even though she probably didn't have a single clue what was so funny.

"Finn has a major crush on you," Egan muttered.

"I don't. Orenda, you're great, but I don't like you in that way." I may have lied, but it shut Egan up. We stood in silence for a while, and I felt, honestly, semi-normal.

A car rumbled past, and I heard the windchimes sound, then for a moment I felt empty. I don't know what that feeling is, but I suppose it had something to do with being a teenager - as Orenda would put it. I felt too normal standing here with two of my friends in the morning, without anyone else beside us. I almost didn't even care that Willow was going to be cut down, or that my parents could be worrying their heads off at that time. I felt normal.

"Wanna come in?" Egan gave me a friendly pat on the back. I pat him back.

I contemplated that for a second or two, but finally said, "sure." I felt Orenda cling onto my arm. It was the first time I actually felt more accepted than people around me.

"Orenda - gee, I still can't get over the fact it's you - you can come in too. If, you know, you're okay with it."

"You're not a murderer?" She said softly.

"Not that I know of," Egan joked.

"Then thank you. I'd love to come." She clung onto my arm for the entire time we walked in. It was uncomfortable, but I figure if I was to do anything even half-amazing for Orenda, I would let her cut the circulation out of my arm.

-----/////-----

I hadn't been to Egan's house in only a month or so, yet the smell of flowers and the warmth of the sun had already engulfed the entire place, and was overwhelming to me. Egan's house was also a bungalow, just like the entire neighbourhood I lived in, so that meant Ms. Tanakado's orchard would not only be in the living area, but also in the bedrooms and even down the small flight of stairs to the basement. I tried to remain as non-awkward as I could, but it wasn't easy with a girl clinging onto my arm and a friend that I still semi-hated beside me, trying too hard to be nice. He kept babbling about how he got Outlast Corruption 2, but every once in a while his voice faltered, which usually meant he was getting too excited. It was an Egan-thing he did - he always thought that his excitement wasn't quite valid enough.

"Anyway," Egan poked me with his elbow, "maybe we could go to your house and try the game out! I heard it comes with the visually impaired controls. You already knew that though, of course."

"Yeah, maybe," I cleared my throat.

"So, Egan," Orenda started, and I started cringing immediately. I hadn't told Orenda many nice things about Egan, and I haven't told Egan that I even knew Orenda... until he figured it out himself. It doesn't get more awkward than that. She continued, "there's this tree that hold a whole lot of significant meaning to Finnegan and I, and sadly the stupid government is cutting her down. Finnegan will elaborate."

I stood and fumbled around with the hem of my shirt until Orenda lightly kicked me on my shin. "Um, we need your mom to maybe file something to the government and make sure Wi - I mean, the tree - doesn't get cut down. For environmental purposes, you know."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Maybe," Egan muttered, "I'll ask when she gets home."

"Cool. We'll be going now," Orenda had finally let go of my arm, but I grabbed her hand right away and started walking towards to the door. I had memorized the entire layout of Egan's house to the very inch, so before long, I was opening the door.

"Wait! Finn, how 'bout I bring Outlast Corruption 2 and we can try it out at your house? If, well, that's okay with you, Orenda." Egan called over to me.

"Yeah, sounds fun." Orenda replied, and I sighed exasperated.

"What are you doing, Orenda?" I said through gritted teeth. She chuckled.

"Can I, Finn?"

I tried to delete the conversation we had in my basement before, but it wouldn't work. It was even worse now that Egan could see Orenda and I still couldn't, and it sounds stupid, but honestly I was jealous for what could happen between them. Nothing had even happened between me and Orenda anyway, I don't think.

"Sure why not," I deadpanned, and walked out the door, Egan and Orenda trailing behind me. "As long as you make sure that tree doesn't die," I added.

Orenda pushed me playfully, "Willow's not going to die, Finnegan. None of us are going to die."

A/N

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