FREE

Chapter 5: Tree of Wisdom

Chapter 5:

Chapter 5:

"Well, Hello" Sam says, "Oh hey, look who just got out from a 2 hours detention." Lexa said. "Who?" "Uhm, you Sam." "Oh yeah". "so, Lexa, what brought you here?" "Nah, I was just wandering around and walk past your school, so I figured we could hangout after school time?" "YES. Sure. Where do you want to go?" Sam ask. "Anywhere you guys want" she smiled. And then I just realized that I am still grounded for the next 1 month. "Oh, Lexa, sorry. I can't g-go." "Why? Do you have homework or something?" "No. yeah, kind of" "His dad grounded him for coming home late last Friday, and got a C on his math test." "You serious? You're grounded, because you got a C in math test?" "Oh come on! Dude. Just come with us," Sam says. "What if my dad finds out? What should I do then?" I look at Lexa, she look at me and says, "Then runaway" "Lets go!" Sam said and start running, "WAIT. Hey! BUT WHERE ARE WE GOING?!" I shout at them and finally chase after them. "WooHoo!" I can hear Sam shouted from the distance, "YEAH! Come on Aiden Chris!"

Lexa keep running and Sam follows Lexa behind her. They ran into a forest and take a turn left then go running straightforward. I can hear water rushing in front of us. The trees become more less and lesser, until we go out from the forest and see a cliff at the edge of it. Underneath it, there is a clear blue water lake, and above us, yellow burning sun is ready to set. "This is going to be fun! I swear." Sam said, and start taking of his clothes. "What are you doing?" "We're jumping off the cliff" he said smiling. "You mean THAT cliff? I can't jump off from that cliff. Nor can you!" "Aid. Grow up will you? That cliff is not that tall and underneath it is a lake. Water. Liquid. Unharmed" Lexa take off her cardigan and sneakers, "Come on aid, trust me. it'll be fun. When I was in 8th grade, I do this a lot with my friends. And it was one of the best times in my life. And this moment will be yours. It's worth to try, right?" "Oh, what the hell. You only live once, right?" I take off my white shirt and my sneakers and socks. "Yes!" Lexa shouted, and Sam gives her 5 dollars from his hand. "Did you guys just bet on me?" "Yeah, Sam and I were betting whether if you would join us and jump from the cliff, or will come home before you dad calls you. And guess who won?" "You" I said to Lexa. "Exactly. So have you tried jumping of off the cliff before?" "No. Actually. And I think I will not going to do it either." "Come on. Just try Aiden." "Okay, but you guys first". Sam said, "No way, dude. You can runaway back home if the both off us jumped first. "OKAY. Me first." Lexa said, "Watch me". She stretch her arms wide open and push her feet up, as high as possible. And then she jumped. "Aaaaa!" she screams, and then put her hand and pinch her nose. And then I heard the sound of water splashing, and she's not coming out. "Sam? Where is she? SAM!" "She'll get out of the water in a matter of seconds. Chill." "She is still not getting out Sam!" I keep looking down the water, and her face suddenly shows up. "OH MY GOD" she screams, "This is SO FUN! Come on Aiden Chris!" "See? She's alive" Sam says, "Sam, are you sure-" " Take a deep breath A.C." Sam said and in a milliseconds, Sam suddenly push me off the cliff. "SAMMM! Fuck" My heart is beating so fast I can feel it going out of my chest, WHY AM I STILL FALLING? "AAAAAH" I can feel the cold water all over my body and my body feel so light. But the gravity from the air keeps pushing me deeper to the water. My adrenaline rushes and my hand keep pushing my body out of the water so I can see the air. And then there is this loud splash from in front of me and I see Sam swimming towards me. And then his eyes catch my panicked face and he start laughing, there are bubbles coming out from his mouth. He pulls me up and I can finally taste the cold air hit my face. At first, I was panicked and still panic, I said "HOLY-" and then Lexa and Sam start laughing at me, "Why are you guys laughing! I almost died in there." At first I was planning to get mad, but then there is this jolt of feeling that is coming out from my body and my cheeks getting red, and I start laughing. I don't even know what this is. I supposed to be mad at them, especially Sam for pushing me off the cliff. But I felt happy. Like even 10 times happier then getting an A's or when my dad is home to talk about my grades and compliment my mom's cook. I can feel thrills and happiness and alive at the same time. "I will NOT do that again." I said while still laughing. "But you have to admit that was fun, right?" Lexa ask. "It was –kind of – fun" "Lexa keeps looking at me in a cynical type of way, "ALRIGHT. All right. I admitted it. It was fun." "Told you it's worth to try" Lexa said. "I'm sorry that I pushed you dude" Sam said still laughing, "It's just I lost 5 BUCKS because of you!"

We hang out there until the sun down and

~~~

"Shh..." we're coming out from the forest when it's already dark and the moon takes the sun's place. "Where are we going?" I ask Lexa, "To the park, when we first met." Lexa answers. "Uhm.. and why are we going there exactly?" Sam ask, "Just follow me."

"The park look so creepy at night. Seriously. The swing is moving by itself because of the wind." Sam said. We keep walking to the park, and around the park. Near the big monkey bars near the tall fence, there is this really big tree and it seems like its really old. "Okay. So, what are we going to do, is to write our name on this tree." Lexa smiles. "Ayyy this is like the hash tag #Friendshipgoals" Sam said. And Lexa laughs. Lexa look around the park and found a piece of broken glass, " Wait,Lex, don't use that, you'll cut yourself." I said. "Oh, yea." "I have a pocket knife," Sam said. "You have a pocket knife? For what?" "You guys don't use pocket knife?" "Uhm, No" "UH-UHM. Well you know," Sam said, "This is just incase, something important happens. Like.. This." "You know, you are kind of creepy Sam." I said. "I noticed"

The three of us carved our names one by one on that tree. And make a one big circle around our name. "Now, since this park, is the closest place from where each of us live, this tree, will be out own crown of friend ship. If one of us betray us, or leave us, and so thou name should not be carved on to this tree or wisdom." Lexa says in an old English tone. "Why is it called 'The Tree of Wisdom'? " I asked her, "I don't know. I just like to call it that. It sounds aesthetic. Do you want another name?" She asked. Sam come up and says, "What about 'The Fabulous- ' " he said while swaying his hands. "Nope, lets just go with The Tree of Wisdom." I said. Sam complains, "But there is no wisdom that we got from this tree. Why is it named Tree of Wisdom?" "OK. Let's just call it 'The Tree' cause it's a tree. Problem solved." I said. "Okay, then."

Lexa answered too, "okay".

"Damn it." I said, looking at the clock, it's almost 12pm now. "What, A.C?" "It's already late. My dad is going to kill me," "Chill, dude, your house is like 15 minutes away" Sam said to me. "I need to go now. As much as I want to stay, I have to go before my dad gone mad and grounded me again" "Okay, then. Walk home safely. I need to get home soon too, though. Kaitlin might be wake up and wondering where I've been. So, bye! And see you tomorrow after school" "See you" I answered as she walks away. "She is awesome dude. She's different, you know" "Yea, she kinda is."

~~~

I walk home alone and finally arrived at my house. I opened the door slowly, making sure that my parents wont hear a thing. I grab a hold of my bag nervously and walking in a slow pace. Suddenly the lights are on, exposing my figure and my dad's standing behind the lamp switch, "Aiden" "H-hi, d-dad. You're awake?" "Yes, I'm still awake Aiden. And what are you doing late at night and sneaking in to the house like you just do something wrong and you don't want your parents to find out about it?" "Oh, I was j-just, I can explain" "Oh, I am sure you will" Dad said. Mom come downstairs and I can see that she has been crying, "Aiden, honey, is that you?" my mom said and come to me crying, "Oh, mom. I'm so sorry." I said and hug her, "I didn't meant to got you panicked or worried" "Well, it's my JOB to be panicked when your son was missing!" "I'm not missing, I just go out with some friends and come home late." My mom look at me sadly, and say "Honey, since you start going out with that girl and Sam, you keep coming home late and your grades have been lowering down..." "Mom, i-it's not about her! And my grades aren't lowering down , I just get a C on one test! It's not a big deal." "A girl? Who is this girl? Look , Aiden, if you keep hanging out with this young girl and coming home late at night, I will not allow that girl to hangout with you again." Dad said. "What?! Dad, she is my friend. And so does Sam. Not yours! And you can't just controlled people around when they are not even your responsibility." My dad seems to be angry "AIDEN. Go to your room, now!" "Dad, I'm not a freaking 5 years old!" "DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, AIDEN" "Oh, screw this" I said and go upstairs. I opened my room door and get in. I can hear mom's voice trying to calm dad down.

At this point, I started tor realize that I always keep being judge by them. No matter how hard I try, they can never satisfied of what I have done. I go to sleep and trying to forget the whole thing.