Julianna? Julianna. Honey? What's wrong?
I can't.
Sweetheart, sweetheart you can tell me.
Bryce tried to kiss me.
He did?
In school. In front of everybody. Mom, please don't get it. It's probably him.
Sweetheart maybe you should talk to him.
I can't. I can't.
Bryce wouldn't leave me alone. He kept calling on the phone. And knocking on the door. He even
snuck around the house and tapped on my window.
Juli! Please, I gotta see you! Come on out, just for a minute!
Why didn't he understand that I just wanted to be left alone?
Please!
After two days, Bryce stopped. And I thought it was finally over. Then, one afternoon, I was
coming into the front room to read, when I heard a noise in the yard.
Hey, what's he doing?
Juli, calm down. I gave him permission.
Permission? Permission for what? He's digging a hole.
I tokd him he could.
But why?
I told him he could.
It was torture seeing him dig up my grass. How could my father let him do this? Bryce knew I
was there too.
He's gone.
A tree? He's planting a tree? Is it a?
I didn't really need to ask. I could tell from the shape of the leaves and the texture of the
trunk. It was a sycamore tree.
When she walked out of the door, I thought back to the first time I saw her. How could anybody,
ever, have wanted to run away from Juli Baker?
He looked at me with those eyes. Those once again dazzling eyes. And I knew that Bryce Loski
was still walking around with my first kiss. But he wouldn't be for long. As we stood there,
I realized that all these years we never really talked.
Do you need some help?
Yeah.
But that day, we started. And I knew we'd be talking for a long time.