The Gender of Cherry Trees

All-Human

- All the characters belong to Stephenie Meyer -

Today was another beautiful day. Trees outside were covered by the warm sunshine, shimmering quietly as the children playing under them were laughing quite loudly. Carlisle Cullen was standing by the window; as he heard the birds singing outside, he wondered why everyone seemed so eager to go outside. The classroom was quiet enough to hear the lovely songs from the top of the trees, and he decided to enjoy the gift from the nature for a while.

Just then, he saw a girl walking toward the cherry tree. He could not see her face clearly because of the distance between them, but he recognized her immediately. She was Esme Platt, the charming girl transferred from Columbus this semester. Carlisle had only talked with her for twice or three times, but she had already impressed him a lot.

First time he met her was in Charlie Swan's birthday party. Carlisle didn't notice her until Charlie introduced him to her. He remembered she gave him a soft smile, and repeated his name timidly. Carlisle. The way she called his name had him feel strangely dizzy, just like the feeling after he drank his father's whiskey when he was a little boy.

Now, Carlisle watched her with his curious eyes. She was in a pretty pale purple skirt and a simple white shirt today, which made her look even lovelier than usual. A gentle wind brought a little fall of the leaves from the cherry tree. It seemed that Esme didn't notice there were some leaves on her shoulder. She paused, and looked up at the tree, tilting her head to one side as if she was observing something.

She was staring at that cherry tree, again. Carlisle thought. He had seen her standing under that tree for a few times before.

Carlisle was curious about what she was doing; he decided to get a better view, and so he walked out of the classroom toward that cherry tree. Behind a pine near the tree, Carlisle watched her silently.

With her little hands holding a sketchbook, Esme Platt was standing near him. Under the sun her light colored hair was sparkling faintly, she looked at the tree intently, as if she would find something new from it. Carlisle frowned. He didn't understand this strange pretty girl at all.

To his surprise, Esme turned around without warning, her vivid eyes widened when she found him behind her. Carlisle couldn't help but blush furiously as a charming smile blossomed across her face. He was not good at interacting with girls at all.

"Oh! I didn't notice you're here, Carlisle!" She said grinning.

"Hello, Esme," He greeted shyly, finally came out of the shade of the pine, "What are you doing here?"

"I am just thinking," Esme answered seriously. She then gave him that lovely smile. His stomach twisted uncomfortably, as if there was a group of dancers tap dancing in his stomach.

He swallowed, took a deep breath, and then tentatively walked closer to her. Now, he was standing under that beautiful tree, too. "About what?"

"I think cherry trees are female," She said thoughtfully, and turned to look at him properly, "What do you think, Carlisle?"

What an unexpected answer and a strange question. It took him a minute to answer her question. Esme stared at him expectedly; it only made him more nervous.

"Um, I think cherry trees are male, since 'tree' is a masculine noun in French," He didn't know where the words came from. Esme's face went blank after hearing his answer. Just when he was about to explain, she suddenly burst into giggles.

He felt a little hurt by her reaction. "What? Why are you laughing?"

"Oh, Carlisle," She shook her head, still chuckling. "Do boys always think in a rational way?"

He shrugged, slightly concerned that if her words were a complement or not. She grinned at him, and then scrawled on the sketchbook in her hands with a pencil. "Well, since Mr. Cullen thinks that you are male, you should dress in a suit then, Peter," She murmured fondly.

Carlisle raised an eyebrow. "Peter?"

She hesitated, then grabbed her sketchbook protectively. "I call this tree Peter. It is my favorite tree, and Peter Facinelli is my favorite actor." She explained blushing, staring challengingly at him. "You can laugh now."

He tried not to, but he failed.

Out of curiosity, Carlisle leaned close to her to find what she was drawing – there were men and women in her sketchbook, all dressed formally. A beautiful woman was dressed in red, adorned with a red rose on her head; beside her, there was a tall gentleman with an oak staff in his hand, the man was smiling down at a little girl who was holding a bunch of sunflowers by his leg. And now, Esme had already added a boy wearing a white flower in his pocket next to the little girl - Her sketchbook was full of personified flowers.

"They are beautiful, Esme," He whispered, stunned by her talent.

"Thank you," She said softly with a smirk in the corner of her lips. "Maybe I will draw you next time." She said playfully.

Carlisle's face felt a fire. He looked down bashfully; his heart beat faster when he heard the sound of Esme's beautiful laugh that made his stomach twist again. He furrowed his brow in thought. What was wrong with him?

Esme looked down at her watch, sighed. "Oh, I need to go back to my classroom now," she half turned toward her classroom, a brilliant smile on her heart-shaped face as she looked back at him; she said goodbye to him in her small, soft voice.

"Esme!" He called before she walked away.

She stopped and gave him a confused look. "Yes?"

"Would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow?" He was completely impressed by his boldness.

She seemed slightly surprised, but grinned sweetly at him after a minute or two. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

A/N：Thanks for your reading :) I must confess that English is not my native language, so…I think it must be some horrible grammatical and spelling mistakes in it. I apologize for that *sweat*