Chapter 3-008

Everyone tried to talk her down. Even me. But she said she wasn't coming down, not ever, and then she tried to talk us up.“Bryce, please! Come up here with me. They won't cut it down if we're all up here!” For a second I considered it. But then the bus arrived and I talked myself out of it. It wasn't my tree, and even though she acted like it was, it wasn't Juli's, either. We boarded the bus and left her behind, but school was pretty much a waste. I couldn't seem to stop thinking about Juli. Was she still up in the tree? Were they going to arrest her? When the bus dropped us off that afternoon, Juli was gone and so was half the tree. The top branches, the place my kite had been stuck, her favorite perch — they were all gone. We watched them work for a little while, the chain saws gunning at full throttle, smoking as they chewed through wood. The tree looked lopsided and naked, and after a few minutes I had to get out of there. It was like watching someone dismember a body, and for the first time in ages, I felt like crying. Crying.Over a stupid tree that I hated. I went home and tried to shake it off, but I kept wondering, Should I have gone up the tree with her? Would it have done any good? I thought about calling Juli to tell her I was sorry they'd cut it down,but I didn't. It would've been too, I don't know, weird. She didn't show at the bus stop the next morning and didn't ride the bus home that afternoon, either.