tree climber-- clifford

i {one}

Michael spent his night thinking of this mysterious girl in the trees. He wondered about her; why was she always up there? He couldn't fathom why one would spend their whole time in the trees, but he liked that about her. She was different; different is what he seemed to like.

Autumn spent her night thinking about him too. He'd talked to her. Yes, it was just a question/statement, but they were words. Most people laugh at her, but not him. He was beautiful too, in the best way possible. His hair was a purple black color, which made her want to run her hands through it the more she thought about it. His face was beautifully shaped, and his eyes were magnificent too. The way he had looked up at her from the ground below made her stomach do flips and flutter.

Michael loved the way she sat there, unfazed. The way she sat there basically all day, reading. He'd see her with a new book everyday mostly. Her highlighting words, phrases and statements that seemed important. He wondered if it were for school, or merely because she wanted to. He'd never seen someone read as much as her in his life.

He wonders what her name could be, and she wonders the same. He looked older than her, but she had seen him at school a few times with the same constant group of guys. There was mainly four of them, he was lucky. She had no friends at all. Well, except that she managed to pretend she were part of the plot of a book; living a new life. Autumn wished she had a new life, with friends and people who cared for her.

Michael thought about how even during school hours, she was reading. That was the only trouble she'd get into. "Autumn! Put the book down, and pay attention!" The teachers would shriek, sending everyone's attention towards her for only a few seconds. Even during lunch hours, she would sit under a tree that was in the courtyard and read. He wonders if she ever gets bored of it, and her answer would be never.

Michael thought all through the night of her brownish-red, natural hair. It was beautiful, it fit her face perfectly. The way she looked could only be half as amazing as her personality could be, he thought also. He could also tell that she didn't know she was beautiful, and that upset him. Michael wished dearly that he could sit up there in that tree with her in his lap, while he whispered that and many other words into her small ears. You're beautiful, don't listen to them. You're perfect, stay the way you are.

And if Autumn had the courage to, she would say, Common highlighter hair boy, can't you climb a tree? It's not that high, don't worry. And she'd chuckle as Michael climbed the branches that led to her.

Michael even dreamt of her that night, and Autumn dreamt of him. In his dream there was a rope hanging from a tall branch above her. Autumn sat there still in the same tree. But this time, she had wings attached to her back. She talked to Michael in a whisper it seemed, but he still couldn't hear her. She was crying, trying to tell him the words she had wanted to say for so long. Michael tried to climb the endlessly tall tree, but seemed to fail every attempt. Suddenly, the sky broke in two and sunlight burst through the clouds. The nameless girl was slowly rising into the sky, and he tried again and again to get to her so that he could pull her back down. She gained a halo on her head, and he soon did after.

Autumn's dream went like this: She had fallen asleep in the tree one afternoon, and awoke to a stumbling boy walking around aimlessly on the sidewalk. It was him. Michael was mumbling incoherent things, except she had heard her name. She tried to get to him as a Ford pickup truck came swerving down the road towards this boy at a incredibly fast speed. He never had time to get out of the way, in fact he never noticed the truck. She was unable to jump from the branches of the tree to push him from the way. He rose into the sky with a halo upon his colored hair, as tears stained her cheeks.

Autumn hadn't saved him, and he hadn't saved her. Both awoke from their dreams sweating, and on the urge of tears. Why, though? They had only spoken two sentences to each other, one each. Why did they matter to each other? The only thing was, they didn't know that they mattered to one another.

Autumn woke again the next day, doing the same morning routine before walking to school for another miserably boring day. Michael did the same, without even his parents saying a simple good morning.

She noticed him at lunch, and he saw her too. Michael smiled, and Autumn just blushed and put her attention back to the book in her hands. Michael thought about how he had to get the balls to talk to her again. And not just one sentence. Right after classes Autumn grabbed her bag from her locker, stuffed her books into it and made her way to the same place she went to every day. Michael decided that after thinking about her all day again, that he should go talk to her. He knew exactly where to find her.

There she was, Michael could see her from across the street in the same tree she was in the first time they had spoken. This time though, she had ear buds in her ears. She looked just as focused on her story though. Michael was going to get her name, and hopefully start up a decent conversation for the both of them.

Michael made his way across the street, until he stood directly under the tree she sat up in. Autumn still hadn't noticed Michael under her. He grabbed a pebble, and threw it up at her lightly. Her ipod dropped from her lap, her book flying right with it.

"JESUS! What the hell? You scared the living piss out of me!" She yelled, confused and startled.

Michael chuckled to himself, "Sorry, I had to get your attention."

"Could have called my name." Autumn mumbled right back to herself, getting ready to jump from the tree to retrieve the two things that fell.

Michael watched as she jumped the five to six foot fall, without hesitation. She bent over to grab her ipod and her book, dusting the dirt from the book's cover. "Sorry about that... I'm Michael." He smiled wide, sticking out his hand for her to shake.

Autumn looked at him weirdly, with her eyebrows raised. "I'm Autumn. Next time, if you want a good first impression, don't make a girl almost fall out of a tree. Or, have a heart attack," Autumn spoke back to him as she climbed up the tree again, but she stayed lower for the sake of the boy.

"Oh, and get dirt on her favorite book too." She added, while getting more comfortable on a bigger branch.

"Sorry about that." Michael nervously chuckled, eyeing her one again from below. He decided to come up with her.

Michael struggled a bit to get up the tree at first, but made it to a branch across from the beautiful girl named Autumn. She had a beautiful name too, he thought. It suits her well.

"Why is it your favorite book?" He suddenly asked.

Michael watched as Autumn's eyes shifted from the book to him. "Because, well. Every time I read a new book, it usually becomes my favorite." She thought of Charlie, from the Perks of Being a Wallflower. He had said that each book he read, became his favorite.

"Well, what do you like about this one in particular?" Michael tried his best to sound interesting, because she was so.

Autumn looked at the front of the book, 'The Great Gatsby.' She read and reread this book dozens of times. "I've reread this one a million times, it's a classic. Have you read it?"

Michael shook his head, he wasn't a huge reader. He would only occasionally find something that he could be interested in spending his time reading. "You should read it," She said quietly, admiring Michael's gorgeous face as he looked up at the higher branches.

She thought for a second, until an idea came into mind, "You know what? Why don't you just take this one." She shut the book once again, and handed it out to him.

Michael took it from Autumn's hands and flipped open the cover. Each page was highlighted. "Why the highlight-ation?" He chucked again.

"Everything highlighted, is something I thought was significant." Michael just nodded and pat the cover.

"Thank you."

"No problem." Autumn replies with a smile.

**

Short but,

okay?

still unsure if Holland Roden should play Autumn

shes on the side, please tell me what you think.

x
also! feel free to check out my new calum fic! it's called Laundry. if you vote n stuff I'll follow you!

thanks!