Bryce met Juli for the first time when he came in to live in the same neighborhood as
her, with his family.
He was just about to enter his second grade in a new school.
This girl Juli however, took a weird liking to the young boy the first time she saw him.
Ever since that moment Juli never stopped trying to catch Bryce’s attention.
However, Bryce on the other hand found it very difficult around her.
She used to annoy him and follow him like a tail.
Even at school, Juli made it very hard for him.
Ever since the first day at his school when Juli hugged him in front of the whole class,
the kids in his class teased Bryce about his little girlfriend all the time.
He never missed a chance to ignore and avoid her, knowing that she was obsessed with him
for some reason.
But Bryce couldn’t bring himself to tell Juli not to follow him around, straight to
her face…
On the other hand, Juli fell for Bryce the first time she saw his dazzling eyes.
She always thought that he must also felt the same for her, but was just too shy to
let her know.
On seeing his family the first day, she offered his father to help them move in, which eventually
resulted in them both holding each other’s hand.
For Juli, this felt like a dream, she imagined that she was about to have her first kiss.
But Bryce’s mother appeared and Bryce ran behind her with his face turned red.
Ever after that incident, Juli wanted to help Bryce lose his shyness.
Following him around and hugging him in front of the whole class, was all for the same reason.
In the sixth grade, however, Bryce came up with a plan to get rid of Juli for good.
He asked out the most popular girl in his class, Sherry, who Juli didn’t like for
some reason, and it was perfect for Bryce.
He held hands and acted like a real couple with Sherry, when in front of Juli.
His plan was coming along perfectly, Juli stopped talking and annoying him at school.
But his plan soon blew up in his face when one day his best friend, Garrett who had a
liking of Sherry himself revealed Bryce’s plan to her.
On finding out what Bryce was up to, and that he was using her, Sherry broke up with Bryce
slapping him on the face.
After that incident as the word got to Juli, she got back to her usual self, even sniffing
his hair from behind.
Bryce was obviously creeped out of his skin, hoping that things would get better in the
next grade and they would have different classes.
For Juli, the chapter about Sherry and Bryce dating was very much the same.
She knew that Sherry was an annoying girl who never paid attention to anyone but herself.
Juli thought that it was Sherry who wanted to take Bryce away from her using her lust,
and hoped that Bryce would see through her and soon leave her.
Her desire soon got fulfilled when she saw them breaking up with each other and Sherry
slapping him in the face.
Soon after that, Bryce started to talk to Juli nicely again.
She sat behind him the entire year, sniffing his hair that smelled like watermelon.
Bryce’s grandfather also came to know about Juli through a newspaper, where she was featured
because of the stand she took against the cutting of her beloved sycamore tree.
She had a great liking of the sycamore tree spending every morning at the top of it, asking.
She sometimes even asked Bryce to come to join her to enjoy the view, which he avoided
every time making up an excuse.
Everyone in the neighborhood was bugged because of her habit of shouting while up on the tree.
People in the town including Bryce’s father had another thing that bugged them about Juli’s
family, their house.
It was a shabby house with vines and weeds growing all over the place, and her father
spent a lot of time painting on his lawn.
However, despite all of this, Bryce’s grandfather was very much interested in knowing about
Juli through his grandson.
He showed Bryce the newspaper, with Juli featured in it once again, praising her saying ‘she
has an iron backbone.
He even asked Bryce to invite her over to their house sometime, but the young man just
didn’t get why his grandfather showed interest in the annoying girl of his neighborhood.
For Juli on the other hand, the sycamore tree was more than just that.
It was when one day her father told her about the beauty of the landscape to her, which
she didn’t understand at first.
But on reaching the top of the tree, the girl could see the entire town, the fields, and
the sun rising over the horizon.
It was the most beautiful place for her, where she would climb up every morning to feel the
cold tingly breeze on her skin.
She understood what her father wanted her to know about the beauty of the landscape.
The girl slowly grew to love the tree for what it showed her and made her feel.
One day, however, she saw some woodcutters with their machines approaching the tree.
They planned to cut it down at the request of the owner of the land and asked the girl
to climb down.
She cried for help from the kids and Bryce, who was passing by the scene.
Despite several desperate cries of Juli, none of the kids came up to help her protest against
the cutting of the tree, leaving her alone.
The firemen soon came to the scene and her father was called.
Juli’s father eventually talked her over it, and the girl got down from the tree.
The next couple of weeks after that Juli kept silent, losing her favorite place in the town.
Even Bryce felt bad for her.
Seeing her like this, he thought of approaching her to offer sympathy, but later dropped the
idea when he was reminded that this was all he wished for.
She wasn’t bothering him anymore.
Sometime after the incident, Juli’s father gifted her a painting of her very dear sycamore
tree.
She was overjoyed seeing the tree again, hugging her father.
She hung the painting in her room, seeing it the first thing in the morning and the
last thing before going to sleep every day.
She eventually felt her perception change over things and Bryce, wondering if she felt
the same way about Bryce anymore.
Some weeks later, Juli started to grow fond of eggs.
She watched them grow, studied them, and was fascinated after seeing the sign of life up
close.
She participated and won the science fest held at their school, where she demonstrated
and explained the hatchings of the eggs.
Bryce however wasn’t really a fan of her liking of eggs and was mad at the fact that
she even won the first prize instead of him.
One day while taking care of her chickens, she noticed that her hens were laying eggs,
and that day on their household overflowed with eggs.
Soon her neighbors offered to pay her for the eggs, and she decided to give away the
rest of them to Bryce’s family as a token of appreciation for their kind nature.
Bryce’s grandfather and mother much appreciated her gift and her kind nature.
But Bryce and his father had a different view over it.
Both of them didn’t like receiving eggs from the girl.
His father asked him to return the eggs.
Bryce didn’t want to say no to her and came up with an idea to throw her eggs whenever
she delivered them to him.
She was happy to share the eggs with his family and he disposed of them with the garbage,
this went on for a couple of weeks.
But one day Juli saw him throwing away the eggs she gave him.
She was very angry at him, ignoring and avoiding him in school, and didn’t even share the
same table with him.
Bryce found it way worse than her annoying her, as it reminded him of him being a jerk.
This soon got worse when he saw his grandfather with Juli in her yard, helping her out with
it.
He was envious of the girl that his grandfather was talking with her more than he did with
Bryce himself, even though they lived in the same house.
The same night Chet came up to Bryce, telling him that he found out about the eggs.
In their small talk, Chet asked Bryce to apologize to Juli and that it would make him feel better.
The next day Bryce did exactly that, he built up the courage to stand in front of her.
He appreciated the handwork she put in the yard and apologized for throwing the eggs
off.
Juli accepted the apology and they both had a small conversation.
Juli said that Bryce was really lucky to have a grandfather like Chet, and that he mentioned
that she reminded Chet of his passed wife.
After that things started to get back to normal.
Bryce felt much relieved, dropping off the burden he carried for weeks.
But one night when Bryce was watching the TV with his family, his father got into a
heated argument with grandpa Chet.
His father was furious with Chet for spending time with a stranger, rather than his own
grandson.
He also mocked Juli’s family, calling them clumsy and weird.
To this Chet replied furiously that the family had several problems and disclosed why they
couldn’t maintain their lawn or their house.
He mentioned Juli’s uncle had a brain abnormality due to his neck getting wrapped around with
the umbilical cord when he was a baby, just like Bryce.
Bryce’s mother walked away hearing the argument, his father behind her.
Chet revealed to Bryce, that he also had his neck wrapped around, but fortunately, the
doctors managed to detangle it before any further harm.
Chet and Bryce went out to take a walk outside where his grandfather told him that Juli was
a very special girl.
He mentioned to him how they both talked for hours about the feeling she felt while she
was on that tree.
This thought was stuck in the mind of Bryce, he kept thinking of her all night, how she
talked about the feeling of being held above the ground, and having the cold breeze touch
her hair.
This was not how a kid talks and he slowly started to get fond of her.
Going back to Juli’s home, before she fixed her yard she asked her parents to let her
do it, revealing that Bryce called her yard a mess.
Her mother was shaken and hurt severely by this and insisted her husband to do something
about it, whereas Juli’s father although wanted to, but couldn’t help the decision.
It was because he had to take care of his brother, to which Juli’s mother asked him
to put his family first.
They argued over and started yelling at each other before they knew it, but later both
apologized to Juli for the argument at the table.
The next day Juli decided to fix the lawn by herself when Chet came in to help her with
it.
He mentioned that he read about her in the newspaper and that his wife would’ve done
the same if she was there, and she would have stayed up the tree with Juli all night long,
if that was what it would take to save that spectacular view.
They both talked over things like the sycamore tree and her likings the whole time they fixed
the yard.
Her perception of her friends gradually changed, eventually she found herself losing interest
in Bryce.
On the other hand, Bryce had Juli all over his mind, he kept looking at her in the classrooms.
This worsened when his mom announced at his family table, that she is going to invite
Juli’s family over for dinner, Bryce’s father and Brice himself were against this
decision but it was no use, the lady had already made up her mind.
At school, Garrett found the newspaper article featuring Juli in his folder, and Bryce had
no cover-up left on him.
He and Garrett later had a talk about his sudden interest in Juli.
Garrett told him that he didn’t actually like her, he just felt bad for throwing the
eggs she gave him away and insulting her yard.
Garrett kept making fun of Juli and eventually about her uncle who was mentally challenged.
Hearing his friend crossing the line, Bryce had enough of it.
Giving off a fake laugh to Garrett, Bryce left him in the library and went home.
Bryce then admitted that he in fact grew feelings for her, as he felt wrong when Garrett insulted
her, this was never like that before.
However, Juli heard everything that Bryce and Garrett spoke.
When she was studying in the library a friend of Juli came up to her, mentioning that she
found out that Bryce had a huge crush on Juli and that she saw him looking at her.
Juli denied it at first but then her friend dragged her to where Garrett and Bryce were
talking.
Both the girls started eavesdropping on the boys, when Garrett made fun of Juli’s uncle
and Bryce laughed about it.
Juli was devastated by this, and lost all her feelings for Bryce at that very moment.
On the same day, Juli who was watering her lawn saw her dad leave the place for his brother,
Daniels’s birthday.
Knowing this Juli insisted on going to see her uncle too, and they both went to the apartment
Daniel was staying in.
At first, Daniel was scared of Juli but they later patched things up as he came to know
that she was his niece, and Juli’s dad presented all the gifts he brought for him on his birthday.
All three of them, then went to the ice cream shop to celebrate the occasion.
However, in the ice cream shop, Daniel caused a huge commotion by dropping his ice cream.
He instantly came back to acting normal when Juli gave him another cone and the three soon
went back to the apartment, saying goodbye to Daniel.
After the incident in the shop, Juli understood why her father couldn’t take care of his
brother on his own and why things got out of hand.
On getting back home Juli’s mother revealed that their family was invited to dinner by
Bryce’s mother.
Juli and her father both were not at all excited about it, knowing what the Bryce family has
treated them like, insulting Juli and making fun of their problems.
However, noticing how excited and lively Juli’s mother was about the dinner both of them agreed
to pay a visit to the family.
Juli watched the painting her dad made for her as she got ready for the party.
She thought how Bryce never was her friend, and never was there for her in need.
She was about to tell her mom that she didn’t wish to go to his house, but seeing her mother
so happy about the dinner she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
On the flip side, Bryce was secretly excited, and was getting ready for Juli as the bell
rang and she was already at their doorstep along with her family.
As the two families greeted each other, Bryce came up to Juli.
He told her she was looking pretty, but she told him that she heard how he and Garrett
made fun of her uncle at the library and not to speak to her ever again.
Before the young man could understand what just happened she left him and went on to
join the conversation between her father and grandpa Chet.
Bryce stood there speechless and embarrassed.
However gathering up the courage to speak to her again, he apologized saying he knows
what Garrett said was wrong.
But he couldn’t justify himself by laughing about it and not saying anything to his friend.
She took a seat with her family at the table leaving him yet again, calling him a coward
for not being able to speak up to his friend.
At the table, she sat in front of him not uttering a word to him, not even looking at
him.
Unknown to the cold conflict between the two kids, the families chatted on various topics.
Bryce’s father brought up the topic of the sycamore tree, saying that he was relieved
that it was cut down.
On this note, Juli’s father commented about how for some people it was the jewel of the
neighborhood.
Bryce wanted to speak up too but didn’t as he did not want to go against his father.
The family continued to chat when Bryce’s father stirred up the conversation by asking
Mark and Matt, Julie’s brothers about their future plans.
To which the brothers revealed that they planned to focus on their music career after high
school, onto which the man’s wife also mentioned that Bryce’s dad used to be a saxophone
player.
The twin brothers asked him if he would like to come jam with them sometime, but the man
refused the offer saying it was a thing in the past.
Hearing this Bryce was reminded of something, he noticed his father trying to fake a smile
but failing.
Juli also noticed that inside his shining cover, Bryce’s father had something dark
and rotten inside him that he hid from everyone.
The rest of the evening passed pretty quickly, however, Juli still wouldn’t look at him.
Before leaving, however, Juli apologized to him for talking rudely to him.
But in his heart, he knew she didn’t forgive him he felt worthless and ashamed.
Shortly after the dinner, the family had a small argument yet again, which rapidly escalated
and Bryce’s father ended up slapping his own daughter.
On his bed, Bryce wondered why his dad was acting like so.
He wondered why did his father despise Juli’s family, her father’s paintings, his yard,
and whatnot.
He was just envious of them and was mad at himself, but the young man couldn’t think
of the reason for that.
But whatever the reason may be it didn’t matter anymore, as he was no longer a part
of Juli’s life, he thought to himself.
Whereas Juli slept peacefully that night, not having to think about Bryce anymore, and
grateful to the family she had.
Soon at the school came the ‘Basket Boy auction’ event, where the girls would bid
to have lunch with the boys presented on the stage to them.
Bryce was terrified by the fact that he was supposed to go in front of the stage where
the girls were going to bid for him.
On the day of the presentation, he was nervous if Juli was going to bid on him.
However, he heard her bid on Eddie, a nice boy in the class for who no one else was bidding
for.
While the prettiest girl in the school, Sherry won the bid to have lunch with Bryce.
At the lunch table, he could not think of anything else but Juli enjoying and laughing
behind Sherry, having lunch with someone else.
He stood up from his chair, and pulled Juli out of hers grabbing her hand.
He closed his eyes leaning in to kiss her.
Juli however pushed him back and went out of the room filled with people, who were now
laughing at Bryce for blowing up his first kiss.
As he walked out to chase after Juli, Garrett caught up to him.
He was furious at Bryce for leaving Sherry for someone weird like Juli.
This time however Bryce did not stand listening against her and pushed Garret away saying
that he wouldn’t understand.
He walked home with dirty dishes in his basket, and went directly to Juli’s place knocking
at her door.
But there was no one to answer his call.
After getting home he tried calling her cellphone, but Juli’s mom picked it up telling him
that Juli didn’t want to talk to him.
Bryce knew he wanted to talk to her and then he came up with an idea…
For Juli however, the turn of events on the day of the auction were very different.
In the morning he decided to leave her money behind at her house so that she just couldn’t
bid for him out of temptation.
But when riding her bike, her neighbor called out to Juli giving her the money she was yet
to pay the little girl for the eggs she delivered to her.
Resisting at first, Juli decided to take the money to her school and pretend that she just
didn’t have it.
Reaching school she ran into Sherry who planned to bid on Bryce.
Juli even though furious, told her to go ahead and waste her money over him, that she was
over him anyways.
But the closer his name came to announce, the more impatient she got.
However before Bryce came Eddie, seeing that no one else was bidding for him she bid for
him out of sympathy.
She then had her lunch with Eddie but her mind was continuously shifting over to his
side where Bryce was sitting.
Suddenly when he came up to her to kiss, she pushed him away and went straight to her home.
She kept ignoring him for two weeks, not receiving his calls or answering his knocking on the
door.
However two days after trying continuously to reach her, he stopped.
Juli thought she got rid of him but little did she know that he was out there digging
a hole in her garden.
She was about to ask him to leave when Juli’s father told him that he, himself gave him
the permission to dig that hole.
She gazed out the window watching him ruin her garden, wondering how her father could
approve of this.
Suddenly the boy moved out of her view, only to come back with a big plant in his hands.
He put the plant in the hole he dug and started covering it up.
Soon Juli realized it was a sycamore tree that he was planting for her in her garden.
She walked up to him, looking at her once again dazzling eyes, which she fell in love
with the first time she saw them.
He was also reminded of the first time he saw Juli run up to him as she came closer
to her.
They both got low to the ground as he gave Juli’s hand a soft touch, she smiled at
him with happiness once again as both of them planted the sycamore plant into the ground.