Excerpt: Under the Inteco Tree

“Elan,” I laughed, “what a ridiculous question.”
I thought he was kidding, but his face was locked with a serious expression. He grasped onto the lowest branch he could get a hold of, and pushed off the ground.
“Jade, you may find this a little intense, but I’m going to open the tree. Just like I would open a cabinet.”
My eyes widened. My eyebrows rose. Open the tree. That just didn’t sound right. Did he mean chop the tree so you could see the tree rings, or did he mean open the tree? I was speechless and totally dumbfounded. I found it helpful to close my eyes and not look and whatever he was doing. I didn’t want to look. I was preparing my ears and mind for a ferocious, saw-like sound, but instead, I just heard a simple click.
I opened my eyes and stared at the tree with amusement. The first branch had an drawer in it. And Elan had opened the drawer! According to Elan’s change of expression, I probably looked pretty panicked.
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY TREE?” I shrieked, not understanding the meaning of the sudden drawer.
“I know this is a little extreme–”
“Extreme? This isn’t even close to extreme – or close to crazy! This is…insanely unreasonable!” he wasn’t sure if I was excited or frightened from what he did.
“I just opened a drawer. It’s that simple.”
Finally, I calmed down, though my heart rate was still over two hundred for sure.
“Are there more?”
“YES! Plenty. But first, I think you may need to change.” Elan dug inside the drawer, pulling out several pairs of pants: jeans, corduroy pants, dress pants and sweat pants. “Here you are! I found a Mackenzie Flare, size fourteen, for you to keep. Happy birthday.”
I laughed. My tree was more than special. At that moment, I was suddenly really glad Elan was my friend. Maybe I was a little jealous of him (and of Riley) but I think I learned to like him. Even though he was really bossy and arrogant, he could make a good friend. I smiled at him and leaned over to give him a hug. I was expecting a rejection, but instead, Elan leaned over and hugged me too. That made me feel great.