Rory💋✓⃝ 10 minutes ago
Bro the lighting in this anyway the trees in the background hello ? Anyways I love spending time up in those trees
🎵- G.O.A.T - Eric Belinger
♡
999,912
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Us3728
SHE LOOKS SO GOOD
Rian McCririck
I hate it when she does that
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Walker Scobell ✓⃝
I like the think there be at least a chance the bus won't show up
Irene moore🍓 ✓⃝
RORY AND IREENE REUNITING SOON...
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Walker Scobell ✓⃝
And Walker just a reminder
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Rory💋✓⃝
VERY SOON .. Walker stfu
Amelia🪐✓⃝
MY PRETTY GIRLLLL
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Rory💋✓⃝
NOO YOUUU
Soph :)
THE LIGHTING UR EYESSS
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Rory💋✓⃝
Stoppp🤭🤭
Landon Gordon
MISS JULI BAKER
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Rory💋 ✓⃝
LANDONNNNN
Romeo 🕸️ ✓⃝
WE MISS U DOWN HERE
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Rory💋 ✓⃝
BRO ME TO MEOOOO
~💋~
Walker walked into the living room, fidgeting with the edge of his book as his grandfather ( Tom ) called him over. The old man's gaze held a hint of curiosity as he gestured for Bryce to sit beside him.
"Bryce. May I speak with you?" his grandfather asked, his voice soft yet filled with an unexpected seriousness.
Bryce shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what his grandfather wanted to discuss. "What?" he responded, a slight edge of impatience in his tone.
"Have a seat, son," his grandfather urged gently, patting the space next to him on the worn-out sofa. "Tell me about your friend Juli Baker."
Bryce hesitated for a moment before reluctantly taking a seat. He wasn't used to his grandfather showing interest in his life, especially not in his friendships. But there was something in the old man's eyes that made Bryce want to open up, if only for a moment.
"Well," Bryce began, his voice hesitant as he tried to find the right words. "Juli... she's not exactly my friend."
His grandfather raised an eyebrow, silently urging him to continue.
Bryce sighed, running a hand through his hair as he struggled to put his thoughts into words. "It's just... she's different, you know? She's always doing these... these things that no one else would ever think of."
His grandfather nodded slowly, his expression unreadable as he listened intently.
"And there's this tree," Bryce continued, his voice growing more animated as he recounted his encounters with Juli. "She's always climbing it, like it's the most important thing in the world."
As Bryce spoke, memories of Juli flashed through his mind: her infectious laughter, her determined spirit, and the way she always seemed to see the beauty in everything around her.
"It's like she sees the world differently," Bryce concluded, his voice softer now, almost reverent. "And sometimes... sometimes I wish I could see it that way too."
His grandfather remained silent for a moment, the weight of his gaze heavy on Bryce's shoulders. Then, with a gentle pat on the back, he offered a small smile.
"Thank you for sharing, Bryce," his grandfather said quietly.
Okay so Now, Juli Baker did not wind up in The Mayfield Times for being an eighth-grade Einstein.
No, she got front-page coverage because she refused to climb out of a sycamore tree. Juli Baker and that stupid sycamore tree. She always thought it was God's gift to our little corner of the universe.
" three blocks ! Two blocks !" Juli called out as she was at the top of the sycamore tree , watching the school bus making its way to its stop
Garret couldn't help but interject with his characteristic sarcasm. "Like that's valuable information," he remarked, earning a nod from bryce
"I like to think there's at least a chance the bus won't show," Bryce retorted, his tone lighthearted as he joined in the banter.
Juli, unbothered by Bryce's teasing, remarked on the beauty of the sycamore tree in the fading light. "I think the tree looks particularly beautiful in this light. Don't you?""
"If by 'beautiful' you mean 'unbelievably ugly,' then, yes, I would agree," he replied, a playful grin tugging at the corners of his lips.
Juli rolled her eyes in mock exasperation before boarding the bus, shooting Bryce a teasing glance over her shoulder as she disappeared from view.
"You're just visually challenged," she called out, her voice carrying on the breeze. "I feel sorry for you."
Bryce watched her go onto the bus students following her with a mixture of admiration and amusement, marveling at her unwavering spirit and unique perspective.
He snapped out of his thoughts and boarded the bus .
~💌~
As the scene unfolded, Bryce's dad couldn't resist chiming in with his own humorous observations about their quirky neighbors. "Oh, there he is," he remarked with a chuckle. "The bricklayer who thinks he's a painter."
Bryce's mom shook her head fondly, adding her own commentary to the mix. "No, he does landscapes," she explained. "Sells them at the county fair. People say they're beautiful."
But Bryce's dad had his own take on the matter. "Landscapes? Let me tell you something," he quipped, his voice tinged with amusement. "The world would have more beauty in it if he'd do a little landscaping on that piece of crap he calls a yard."
Patsy, Bryce's mom, couldn't help but join in with a sympathetic remark. "I feel bad for his wife," she said with a shake of her head. "She married a dreamer.Because of that, one of the two of them will always be unhappy."
"Yeah, fine." Bryce's dad scoffed "But why do we have to be unhappy?"
~💌~
Walker narrated " As annoying as the yard was to my dad... it was nothing compared to how annoying Juli Baker was in that tree."
"Three blocks away." Juli repeated the next school day Juli baker would always call out as she was at the top of the sycamore tree , watching the school bus making its way to its stop
"Every morning we had to listen to the sound...of her blow-by-blow traffic report." Bryce explained
"Two blocks!" Juli yelled
"Why do they call it The Three Stooges?" Garret asked Bryce, puzzled. "I mean, there's five of them."
"What?" Bryce glanced at his best friend, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Well, yeah, there's Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, and Curly Joe."
"Yeah, but they only have three at a time," Bryce clarified.
"Yeah. You know, I hate Curly Joe. I mean, he shouldn't even be a Stooge."
A builder approached the tree, addressing Juli sternly, "Listen, girl, I'm this close to calling the police. You are trespassing and obstructing progress on a contracted job."
Garrett intervened, inquiring, "What's going on?"
The builder responded firmly, "Either you come down... or we're gonna cut you down."
Juli urged, "You guys, come up here with me. They won't cut it down if we're all up here."
Meanwhile, Bryce observed Juli's distress. "Juli was frantic. They wanted to cut down her tree. I couldn't understand why that mutant tangle of gnarly branches... meant so much to her."
"Bryce, please," Juli pleaded.
"I felt bad for her," Bryce admitted.
Garrett interjected, "Leave her."
"But I wasn't about to cut school over it," Bryce concluded.
"Come on, bro," Garrett shouted.
"Why isn't she your friend, Bryce?" Chet, Bryce's grandfather, asked.
"You'd have to know Juli," Bryce replied.
"Well, I'd like to," Chet said.
"Why?"
"That girl has an iron backbone. Why don't you invite her over sometime? An iron backbone? She's just stubborn... and she's pushy beyond belief. Is that so? And she's been stalking me since the second grade. Well, a girl like that doesn't live next door to everyone. Lucky them. Read this. Without prejudice."
"Like I needed to know anything more about Juli Baker," Bryce muttered.
Walker narrated again Juli wasn't at the bus stop the next morning. Or the morning after that. She was at school, but you'd never know it. I told myself I should be glad about it. I mean, isn't that what I'd always wanted?
But still, I felt bad for her. I was gonna tell her I was sorry, but then I thought, hey, no...that's the last thing I neededJuli Baker thinking I missed her.
~💌~
"I see why you like to come out here," Juli said, observing her father's appreciation for their backyard.
"Would you mind explaining it to your mother?" her dad requested, curious about her perspective.
Juli reflected, I loved to watch my father paint. Or really, I loved to hear him talk while he painted. I learned a lot about my dad that way. He told me all sorts of things... like how he got his first job delivering hay and how he'd wished he'd finished college.
But then one day he surprised me.
"What's going on with you and, uh, Bryce Loski?" her father asked, sensing something.
"What do you mean? Nothing," Juli replied, trying to brush off the question.
"Oh, okay," her dad responded, though his curiosity lingered. " my mistake "
"Why would you even think that?" Juli asked her father, puzzled by his question.
"No reason. Just that you... talk about him all the time," her father replied.
"I do?" Juli questioned, surprised by her own behavior.
"Mm-hm," her father affirmed.
"I don't know. I guess it's something about his eyes. Or maybe his smile." She admitted
"But what about him?" Her father inquired, seeking clarity as Juli looked at him yet again puzzled
"You have to look at the whole landscape," her father explained.
"What does that mean?" Juli wondered.
"A painting is more than the sum of its parts. A cow by itself is just a cow. A meadow by itself is just grass, flowers. And the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light. But you put them all together... and it can be magic."
Juli reflected on her father's words
recalling a moment when she was up in the sycamore tree, rescuing a kite. It was a long way up, higher than I'd ever been. And the higher I got, the more amazed I was by the view. I began to notice how wonderful the breeze smelled. Like sunshine and wild grass. I couldn't stop breathing it in, filling my lungs with the sweetest smell I'd ever known
Then, remembering Bryce, she invited him up to share in the beauty she experienced.
"Hey, you found my kite. " Bryce said coming out of his house with his bike
"Bryce, you should come up here. It's so beautiful."
" um - maybe some other time Juli my dad needed me to do um ... fix the ... thingy "
As she cherished her spot in the tree, Juli realized the deeper meaning behind her father's analogy
and From that moment on, that became my spot. I could sit there for hours, just looking out at the world."
Some days the sunsets would be purple and pink. And some days they were a blazing orange, setting fire to the clouds on the horizon
It was during one of those sunsets that my father's idea of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts moved from my head to my heart.
Some days I would get there extra early to watch the sunrise
"One morning I was making mental notes of how the streaks of light were cutting through the clouds... so I could tell my dad... when I heard a noise below."
"Excuse me. I'm sorry, but you can't park there. That's a bus stop," juli shouted from the tree
"What are you doing up there? You can't be up there, we're gonna take this thing down,"a person shouted.
Juli stood her ground, refusing to come down from the tree. "But who told you, you could cut it down?" she questioned.
"The owner. He's gonna build a house, and this tree's in the way," came the reply.
"But you can't cut it down. You just can't," Juli pleaded desperately.
The situation escalated as the builder threatened to call the police. "Listen, girl. I'm this close to calling the police. You are trespassing and obstructing progress on a contracted job. Now either you come down, or we're gonna cut you down," he warned.
Defiantly, Juli declared, "Go ahead. Cut me down. I'm not coming down. I'm never coming down."
In a moment of solidarity, Juli urged Bryce and the others to join her in the tree. "Bryce. You guys, come up here with me. They won't cut it down if we're all up here."
Bryce hesitated, torn between loyalty to his friend and the fear of consequences. "Bryce, please don't let them do this," Juli pleaded.
What happened next was a blur
" and cut ! That was perfect guys !" Greta smiled
— Daylight —