Phew! It's been a while hasen't it? I've been doing too much! Every weekend since I completed updating Loving Love I've been either taking the PSAT, babysitting, or doing community service, so I haven't been able to update fanfiction until now! Before you read, you might want a little fun fact! In August, my sister's tree that was in the front of her window fell (before of course, it crushed the corner of our garage) and in return, I got this idea. Enjoy!

Tree

Going green wasn't cool five years ago. It was cool when the celebrities suddenly got the urge to save the world. It was cool when it was on Oprah. So now everyone is obsessed with going green. And okay, I admit that it is rewarding to toss a water bottle into the recycling bin instead of throwing it away, knowing that you did your part, but now every time I hear of this puke-like color, it's only to describe the process of saving the ozone layer. It's never about the color itself.

I would be a lot more into going green if I hadn't gotten the news that my favorite tree- My tree!- was going to have to be cut down because it was ruining the foundation of our porch. Who cares about the porch? It's only concrete! I'm going to have to witness a perfectly oxygen-giving plant being chopped down because a stupid landscaper put it in the wrong spot.

So that was why I was currently on my balcony, observing it as the night sky sparkled above me like it was shining one last spotlight on my perfectly healthy tree. I plucked two leaves from a branch that hung over my balcony, sticking them in my pocket to save for later when there was no longer a branch for them to hang off of.

I never knew that the tree meant so much to me, I mean, I've only looked out at it everyday of my life, but hey, it couldn't be that important, right? At least that's what my parents said.

My favorite color was green because of that tree. I had my first kiss because of that tree. My boyfriend would be pissed when he received the news.

I can't believe I'm eighteen years old, have college to worry about, money to earn at work for books and board, sleep to get and I was worrying solely on a tree. I was debating about climbing down it one last time and then climbing back up it and then repeating that action until morning, but my phone vibrated in my pocket, causing me to jump before pressing the green send button, pressing it to my ear.

"They're cutting it down." I didn't need to say hello or ask how the person was doing, I didn't care.

"What are they cutting down?" His voice was muffled like he was eating something as he talked and I sighed, looking in front of me as the branches moved with the wind, dancing as if they knew this was their last dance.

"My parents called some earth ruining villains to cut down my tree." There was a crunch on the other line, followed by chomping and swallowing.

"Your tree?"

"Yes, Troy! MY TREE." I didn't realized that I had yelled this, but when I heard Troy chuckling on the other line, clearly entertained, I knew I was border line panicking.

"You mean the tree you got in the second grade that you planted by your garage? That thing is like two feet tall. Why would they cut it down?" He asked, obviously not understanding what tree had me so upset.

"No, Troy, the tree you've mastered at climbing on your way to my balcony."

I heard something bounce on the other line. Was that an apple? Then the line went dead, and I shouted into my phone, hearing nothing but the dial tone. My tree stopped as the wind did while I hung up. It was confused too.

***

My mom grounded me for a week because when the tree removal people came it took them an hour to get me down from one of the high branches. The tree had shaded me from the hot sun, preventing me from roasting in my black mourning shirt as I sat on one of its limbs until Troy had finally convinced me to come down (that was after, of course, he took pictures of me being stubborn).

Last night he had marched right through the back doors of my house, startling my parents who were in the kitchen and had offered them a thousand dollars and some change to keep the tree up until we both graduated and weren't home to see it. My dad wasn't happy when he found out that Troy was so used to climbing up it and wouldn't except Troy's piggy bank money.

We had both lay on the hammock that was also taken down for the tree removal process since it would no longer have a way to stay up and we looked up at the tree, saying nothing as we waited until the dreaded morning came.

And it did. I was sitting at my picnic table, my sunglasses shading my eyes and Troy sat next to me, his chin propped on his hands as we both watched burly men climb the tree with chain saws, killing Troy's natural made ladder. He sighed next to me, his black t-shirt matching mine.

This was the worst feeling ever; watching something that took eighteen years to grow high above the house to be suddenly cut down in forty five minutes and raked up like it was a cool fall day and it was all in a days work. We were watching our memories being altered and neither of us was happy about it.

My parents? They were in the kitchen talking, occasionally glancing out at the work being done in their now sunny backyard, periodically looking over at Troy and I as if they had never seen two kids so upset.

"This is like watching a family tree being cut down… it can't make anymore baby trees because it was killed in some kind of redesigning war." Troy grumbled, his aviator sunglasses shinning as the sun shimmered against it.

I responded with a sniffle as my parents walked out of the house, my mom holding a pot with an ugly plant in it. She looked over at my dad when I glared at the both of them.

"We got you a plant for your room." She smiled, setting it down on the table and Troy and I looked at each other, frowning.

"I'd crush that if I tried climbing it." Troy whispered, forgetting about the fact that my dad was in hearing distance, but when my dad shot him a look, he didn't seem too worried.

"I don't want your pity plant, mother." I said stubbornly, flicking away a leaf that had fallen off of it when she set it down seconds before to get our attention.

"We don't want you to be mad at us, sweetheart." My dad said with a soft smile, looking at me sorrowful.

"Whatever. Troy and I decided to become tree farmers anyways, so we'll have hundred of trees, thank you very much. You can take your plant back, it's insulting." I frowned deeper and I could see that my parents were trying to hold back laughs as Troy and I sat completely serious on our side of the picnic table. I had a feeling they were picturing us as tree farmers.

With the silence that followed, the backyard was quiet as the chain saw stopped and my parents left us alone as we saw that the tree was now gone, not even a stump in the ground or a stray leaf was left behind. I blinked back pissed tears and Troy stood up, clearly upset himself as the workers disappeared from the backyard.

"I think I'm going to head home. I'm currently too depressed to stare at the emptiness of your backyard now." He said to me and I nodded, standing up too, grabbing his hand as he walked towards the back gate, past the hole in the ground where my tree once was. The distance from the ground to the balcony looked a lot further than it had this morning now that my tree was gone and Troy opened the gate, pulling me away from the sight.

"I actually got you something." Troy said with a sigh, shutting the gate behind him as I continued to hold his hand.

"Nothing can help this situation, Troy." I continued to frown.

"Well, I thought we could maybe start our tree farm." He smiled at the thought and I scrunched my eyebrows together in confusion, wondering what he was talking about as we turned the corner of my house, stopping by the driveway where his old truck sat, a medium sized tree sitting in the back.

"You got me a tree?" I cried, seeing Chad, Jason, and Zeke standing by the hood of the car, bored as they waited with large shovels in their hands.

"Well, since your dad wouldn't accept my bribe money, I bought a tree with it." He smiled, helping me up onto the truck bed, where a leaf brushed against my face once I stood steadily. Chad rolled his eyes with a sigh at Troy, causing me to laugh and I smiled down at Troy who was proudly watching me.

"This could be like our tree." I smiled, seeing him do the same.

"Exactly."

If I do say so myself, I really did love this story! Review!

Much love,

unknownbyhim22