The morning after Orenda had come and painted 0.5 of me maroon, I woke up and lay in my bed for several minutes, surrounded by the lingering smell of acrylic paint and practically all of her art supplies piled up in my closet haphazardly. Long story short, when Orenda told me that her mom was probably freaking out about where she had gone, we had tried our best to clean up the mess that Orenda had made whilst painting me, and in the fastest amount of time - but in the end we kind of gave up and just stuck all of her supplies in the closet and she took off just like that. The overwhelming smell started bothering me after a while, so I got up and opened the window to let some air in to sweep away the stench, and consequently the smell of Orenda as well. And then I crawled back into bed.

After about two eons of me sitting and sulking on my bed (as per usual), my mom burst into my room, followed with the smell of bacon and eggs wafting in. She told me that we were going to church for Easter Sunday; which we did, after my dad made about three million puns about his new runners (ex. "wow these will make me extra sneaky today!")

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

The church that we attended semi-occasionally resided in a sort of creepy little neighbourhood and was made up of mostly old grumpy people and smelly toddlers, but was amazingly nice nonetheless. Well, amazing as in the building didn't smell like mold. Our social rankings weren't something to be proud of; the old and grumpy people knew the other old and grumpy people, and we didn't - but maybe that's because we weren't old nor grumpy. We could very well be thought of as the outcast group in a typical 90's highschool setting.

As my dad circled the parking lot for a good spot, my mom and I got off first and went into the building through the side doors. The hallway leading towards the main always smelled like coffee that was brewed a bit too much, and once that smell started fading into the smell of old fabric, I knew that we had entered the actual church part of the church. Our church was small, and since it was small and located in a small place, we didn't have much funding. And since there was no funding, that meant that there were no fancy chairs, but rather cold plastic chairs that were positioned in a drafty room in front of a podium, which, as my mom explained, looked like it would collapse any minute.

We sat down in our usual seats at the back and I felt someone come up and tap on my shoulder. It was Egan, and his mom had joined us as well. They had been joining us for a heck of a long time, actually, because back when they had immigrated my mom was over the top friendly and had asked Ms. Tanakado if she would like to join us for church on Sunday, and I guess they never really stopped going to church on Sunday.

"Hey Fish," Egan said. I said hi back. The worship team started singing.

"Outlast Corruption 2 today? I'll help you beat the next level," he whispered to me as a familiar song played in the background.

"Sure," I whispered back.

A few songs passed.

"Is Orenda going to be there again?" Egan whispered again.

"Orenda May?"

"Are you saying that Orenda 'may' be there or are you asking if I am talking about Orenda May?"

"I'm referring to her name, Egg."

"Oh. So, is she?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just wondering. Oh, by the way, I need to-" The pastor suddenly raised his voice and cut Egan off.

"Shut up, he's talking about the Resurrection," I said, deadpan.

He did shut up, but it was mostly because Ms. Tanakado was having some trouble understanding what the pastor was saying, so Egan ended up translating the pastor's sermon for her the entire time.

After two hours of sitting on a cold, lumpy chair, we left the church and sat again, on the car.

"Barry's coming over for dinner today," my mom announced when we started driving. The car went over a speed bump and my dad shrieked because his coffee spilled. I laughed.

"Anyway," my mom sighed, "Barry's coming over today. He's finally feeling better after his whole heart attack situation and I thought it would be nice to invite him."

"Barry's coming over for dinner?" I sat up at the mentioning of his name. "Barry? As in, tutor Barry?" I asked.

"Yes, Finnegan, your only Barry - tutor Barry - is coming over for dinner." My mom said, enunciating clearly. I think she was sick of me pretending that there was always more than one Barry.

"Bud, it's kind of a thank you for him," my dad started. "Well, a second thank you. More like third, really. My point is, we just can't thank him enough for what he's done for you and for expanding your brain for so long. Plus, he seems kind of lonely - aside from his 24 hour nurse - and he did literally have a near death experience."

"He had a heart attack, dad. That's pretty near-death, so, of course I'm going to thank him. The thing is, well, I'm not saying that I don't want him to come over. I just, it's um, yeah okay. It's going to be a blast, I guess."

"Finnegan, you had better be polite," my mom warned.

"Of course! I love that old guy," I joked.

"I think the real question is: does Barry love Finny?" My dad said, choking back his laughter. My mom scoffed and I heard her hit him on the shoulder, and we all burst out laughing. Well, because we were all very certain that the only reason Barry even made contact with our family was because we paid him.

After driving for a while, our car pulled up onto the driveway with a bump, and I got off quickly, slamming the car door behind me. I helped my mom carry some of the things that she had picked up from the church planning committee (i.e. a club she joined so that we could "connect") and placed them on the porch steps. I moved swiftly, eager to get back home and possibly sleep or stress about my unfinished homework.

"Hey! Finn!" A voice shouted from afar.

I set a bag on the ground. "Egan?"

A scuffling of shoes neared me, "yeah, it's me. Oh! Here, Mrs. Annson, let me lend you a hand."

"Thank you, Egan," my mom said sweetly, and I followed the two of them into the house.

Egan helped my mom bring several bags into the kitchen and I helped bring a couple, and then she went off to wash the dishes.

"I didn't know you were going to come over right away, Egan," I stated as we walked downstairs and sat on the couch.

"Oh man, did I interrupt something?"

"Yeah, I was planning on a bunch of murders to get out of the way today. God, Egan, now I can only finish off one or two."

He groaned. "You're so sarcastic, it might as well come leaking out of your ears," he said, and turned on the TV. Outlast Corruption 2's dystopian theme song blasted and I turned down the volume. Egan turned it back up higher.

"Okay, so my friend from school also has OC2 and apparently there's a whole bunch of cheats that you can use. For example, when you jump," he grabbed the controller from my hand, "press both side buttons twice, and then you get some weird power that makes you immune for about ten seconds - but that's plenty of time to wipe off an entire wave of zombies." He handed my controller back.

"Awesome. That's real useful."

Egan agreed, then directed me though the whole cheating process and told me which buttons to press, and I did as he said; which resulted in me dying and being in desperate need of re-spawning, but he was determined to teach me how to use cheats one day. He then insisted on switching to multiplayer so that we could beat that stage of the video game faster ("no offence Fish, you suck") and that did help a bit, until we entered a huge wave and discovered that the cheat could only be used once by each person.

"So," Egan said suddenly, "guess what?"

"What?"

"I said guess."

"Kill me now."

"Fine. I'll tell you. It's some pretty exciting stuff. Since my mom's part of the environmental slash gardening slash all things flower committee, they're giving her an important job in directing the annual Cherry Blossom Viewing. It's a really stupid tour; honestly, the people who have no life just follow my mom around while she explains about the heritage of the cherry blossoms and Toronto and so on. And usually people stay after and ask her more stupid questions about flowers and why they're pink and whatnot. But, all things aside, I'm really proud of her, since this is the biggest thing she's done since a long time. And that's also good news for you."

I sat up and listened more intently, since Egan was not one to make speeches as big as the one he had just made. Usually I was the one who rambled excitedly. "Why is it good news for me?"

"Well, not you per se, but Willow. If she can prove her worth in this town then maybe, maybe, she can talk about the execution of Willow to her superiors. My mom is, at the moment, not really in good standings with the Mayor. But I'm just saying. It's pretty exciting. But really, it's no big deal for me. I'm just really proud of her. My mom, I mean. Not Willow."

"That's great news," I said, because it was extremely true and also because I wanted to encourage his excitement.

"Saturday's the day when the trees are supposed to be at their best, apparently, and it's going to look absolutely amazing," he continued, "but that's not important. Also, Willow's execution is being pushed back, probably, because they have more important things on their hands. It's pretty cool."

"Very cool. Oh man, if Willow could be saved, that would make Orenda so happy," I muttered to myself. Egan cut off a few heads.

"You're whipped, man, I'm telling you."

I shrugged off his comment. "Egg, keep chopping heads, and maybe kill stupid Commander Smith for himself. Like, what the heck? Dude dies every two seconds."

"Right?" Egan laughed. "You hear the death ding? That's all Commander Smith. Who is our freaking Commander. He's supposed to keep us alive, not kill himself everytime a zombie comes in close proximity. Can he stop making us do all the work? Jeez."

I laughed.

So, naturally, we ignored all the cool news about Willow and we kept playing OC2 until I felt like the brains that were being blasted were literally mine. Egan kept complaining about Commander Smith, and I couldn't blame him – that character was one of the worst things that had ever happened in my life. I played for a little while and managed to survive on my own for more than 30 seconds and Egan quickly took over the role of being the saviour of the day, and I sat on the couch, my butt sank in it so deep that I couldn't even prop myself up without getting some help from the table in front of me.

And after that was over Egan left and the house was quiet again, except for my happiness about Orenda's possible happiness, and my mom's classical music blaring through our worn out stereo while she cleaned the house for Barry (who, by the way, was blind and did not give a crap about how shiny the walls or silverware was).

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

Around 5 o'clock, my dad drove out to Barry's house and picked him up, and arrived back about twenty minutes later. Barry came in first, and I knew because he had walked through our front door so many times I could hear the specific way he entered in, which consisted of mostly him stomping and his white cane clacking everything in his way. My dad came in second, and I knew because he burst in and yelled, "Honey, we're home!" And that resulted in my mom scolding him quietly while Barry and I stood in an uncomfortable closeness of one another.

"Hello, Finnegan," Barry greeted me.

"Yo Barry, what's up?"

"Finnegan!" My mom said, through gritted teeth. I stifled a laugh.

"What my son means to say is, 'How do you do?'" My dad said, and we both giggled. I don't think Barry was very amused.

For about fifteen minutes I sat at the dining table with my mom as we talked to Barry about how he was doing since his two hospital visits. He told us that it was somewhat the same, and how he was more aware of his getting older and weaker now that two dozen nurses and doctors have told him those words. He asked me how I was doing at St. Hemling and I had to lie and say I was doing well. I also lied about how I was excelling in math, when in reality I was barely scraping past a C. My mom put her hand on top of mine as she talked about how I was really missing him being my tutor and things like that, which were not lies.

I did miss Barry, but not exactly as a tutor. In fact, I hated tutor Barry. I liked the Barry that gave me the Stevie Wonder CD and I liked the Barry that talked to me about my life and how he helped me with my problems. I liked simple Barry - just Barry - but I just agreed quietly with my mom as she rambled on about how great of a tutor he was.

For dinner, we had steak and rice with beans and salad, and I spent the entire time trying my very best not to drop any food. The silverware clacked eerily because of how quiet the atmosphere was, and I frantically searched my brain for a good topic to talk about, but there was not a single topic that would benefit me. Finally, my dad took a sip of his drink and started talking about my studies some more. And then when dinner was over, my mom and dad had to take an important call. So in the end it was just Barry and I on the couch in the living room.

"So, Barry, um, have you um, uh, done anything fun this Easter? Do you celebrate Easter? Like, with food and... such..." I trailed off and fiddled with my fingers nervously.

"No, not really," he replied.

"Oh." I pushed a lock of hair out of my face. "You know, I feel like we always end up inviting you over and going to see you, just to try and possibly thank you for being a tutor and putting up with me. I feel like the attempts never work. I mean, perhaps you despise us and inviting you over is just more torture than we've already put you through. What I mean is, I think we should keep in regular contact other than forcing ourselves to talk to the other through guilt."

Barry actually chuckled lightly and said, "Finnegan, you have a brilliant mind. And I agree; we should contact each other more frequently. But I don't despise being around your family." It was the first time he had actually directly replied to something I said.

"Oh, that's good." I sighed and began to stand up, but he started talking again, so I sat back down.

"I've been thinking. Since the last time we've talked, I've wanted to tell you a story about my younger days," Barry said. He paused. I urged him to go on. "I was a lot like you in my youth. Although I was not blind from birth, unlike you, I did lose my eyesight as a boy. When that happened, I found myself doubting. I also found myself striving to become a 'Great Blind One'."

"I see," I said, but actually not really seeing the point of his story.

"Afterwards, I realized that the act of striving to be a person that was capable of everything just to prove it to others seemed extremely unnecessary." He paused for a long time. I opened my mouth to say something to fill in the silence, but he started again. "And I remember last time you told me that Orenda of yours was causing a commotion in your life, and I decided to tell you a story about when I was your age and an experience I had that was similar to yours. Right, how are you doing, Finn?"

"With?"

"That Orenda of yours."

"Oh, we're doing okay. I told her she was terrible and she thanked me for it and we painted, so, everything is as it was. But I think... I think there's a slight chance that she likes me but is afraid to express it – which, I know, is a stupid and quite arrogant thing to think – but nevertheless I think it." I stopped talking abruptly.

I felt really uncomfortable talking about Orenda with Barry, and each time he brought it up it got even more uncomfortable, but that particular time I talked a lot. Mostly about how I wish I was like the other guys that would be easier for her to like. It was possible that Orenda did like me, but didn't want to like me, which is probably why she said that I was the only person she could experience true erlebnisse with, but she didn't want it that way.

"You see, I once had a friend like Orenda. She would come over all the time, and help me with walking with my cane, and learning how to cope with not being able to see anymore. That was when we were younger. As time went by, we drifted apart, but never apart enough to forget about one another. She was the sunflower that came back, Finnegan, and I believe no matter where Orenda goes she will always come back," he sighed, "and one day when we were twenty two years old and young and stupid, I told her, this is what I told her, I said, 'all I need is twenty two seconds.' Just one second for every year that I had lived. I didn't think about what I was going to say, I didn't think about any consequences to my actions. But I felt the words bursting out, and I told her, 'all I need is twenty two seconds.' And I asked her to marry me. And she did."

"You've been married?"

"Yes. I made the best decision of my life, and it only took twenty two seconds. What I'm saying is: I want you to succeed, Finnegan, even if it is not academically. I have thought my previous actions over, and I've concluded that I had never done a good job as your tutor. But I intend to do a good job as your friend."

I smiled. "Thank you Barry," my voice cracked slightly. He cleared his throat and chuckled.

That was all he said to me that day. After I thanked him, my dad offered to drive Barry back home and he accepted the offer. And he was gone.

I sat on the couch for a little while after the house was quiet again, with my dad and Barry gone. Barry's words kept swirling in my head, but the only thing I could focus on was not what he said, but on the thought of Orenda, and the idea that maybe I was the one who was afraid to say anything to her.

So, I jumped up from the chair and dashed over to the phone, adrenaline pumping through my body, and my heart beating like a stampede. I dialed the number and stood there, my hands shaking wildly and my mouth getting dry and my brain telling me to back down and-

"Hello?"

"Orenda?"

"Hey, Finny."

"I need to tell you something."

"Okay. Spill."

"Spill what?"

"The thing you need to tell me, you idiot."

"Oh, right. Yes. Um," I cleared my throat, "yeah." I clenched my teeth and thought to myself, 'all I need is twenty two seconds, all I need is twenty two seconds' over and over again.

"Um, yeah what?"

"Are you free this Saturday?"

"Hmm. Let me check my calendar." She hummed playfully for about three seconds. "Yes, I am."

"Perfect. Are you free from, let's say, one to three?"

"Yes, I sure am!" She said happily.

"Even more perfect. I'm taking you to see cherry blossoms."

"Oh! Fun! Great, I guess I'll meet you at your house. Okay, before I forget, I need to tell you something. Did you know that Willow's execution has been moved to the summer? It's amazing! That gives us so much more time to figure out what the heck we're going to do to preserve our valued little tree friend and-"

"Orenda, Orenda! Can you like shut up for a slight second?"

"Shutting up."

"We're going on a picnic. So, dress accordingly. And, I'll pick you up at your house."

"Why don't we just go from your house? Is Egan coming?"

I bit my lip in frustration, and muttered to myself, "twenty two seconds is all I need."

"What?" Orenda asked. I took a deep breath.

"Orenda."

"Yes?"

I exhaled slowly.

"Orenda, I'm asking you out on a date."

She went completely silent. In fact, you could say that she stopped breathing. I sat down on a chair and tapped my fingers nervously. The seconds ticked by.

"Oh," she said slowly as I waited anxiously for her reply. I felt like the twenty two seconds were almost over. 

She giggled on the other line.

"Well then, I can't wait."

Three, two, one.

A/N

Hey guys, yes, I am alive.

I have no excuse as to why this update is so late so SORRY AND SORRY AND SORRY

I apologize if you cannot remember a single detail from this story anymore because of my terrible updating schedule. I even had to reread my own writing to remember who i even am.

BUT, how was this chapter? Comment your thoughts!

Question!

Are you guys on Spring Break/March Break right now? If so, how have you spent it/are spending it/are going to spend it? 

My break is over soon and I am dreading going to school for many reasons, but the most prominent one must be the actual part when I go to school. basically, I don't want to go.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'm sure the next one is going to be very cute and give off all kinds of Finenda vibes. (is that the ship name? I can't remember)

ANYWAY, LOVE YOU GUYS!!! 

(also, I'm almost at 10K reads... and that makes me feel like a very happy person!! That is all :))