FALL AWAY ⇢ JONATHAN BRANDIS

three ↠ jonathan

Seventh grade brought changes, alright. But the biggest one didn't happen at school - it happened at home. My grandfather came to live with us.

Whenever I got home, I'd always find him staring out of the window. Mom said he stared like that because he missed grandma, but that was not something grandpa would talk about with me. As a matter of fact, he never talked about much of anything with me.

That is, until Sarah appeared in the local newspaper.

"Oh, Jonathan!" My grandad called. "May I speak with you?"
"What?" I almost laughed. I was so surprised to see him take an interest in having a conversation with me.

"Have a seat, son." My grandad smiled, adjusting his glasses.

Once I was sat down, he began talking again. "Tell me about your friend, Sarah Conway."

"Sarah..." I breathed out. "She's not exactly my friend."

My grandad frowned. "Oh, why is that?"
"Why do you wanna know?" I chuckled.

Now, Sarah Conway did not wind up in Mayfield Times for being an eighth-grade Einstein. No, she got front page coverage because she refused to climb out of a sycamore tree!

Sarah Conway and that stupid sycamore tree! She always thought it was God's gift to our little corner of the universe.

"Hey, Jonathan! Do you wanna come and play in the tree with me and my brothers?" Sarah yelled as I rode past her on my bike.

"No, thanks." I replied, trying to ride off as fast as possible.

.......

"Jonathan! Come up here, it's fun! You can see everything!"
"I can't..." I began, trying to think of an excuse. "My dad needs me to... help him... fix... a thing!" I smiled up at her.

That's all I needed. Climb up a tree with Sarah Conway. I'd be dragged right back into the second grade. 'Jonathan and Sarah sitting in a tree!' Why don't you just make me eat lima beans for the rest of my life?

"Three blocks away! Two blocks!" Sarah excitedly announced to me and the rest of the people getting the bus below.

"One block away!" She yelled, as she began to climb down the tree.
"Like that's a valuable piece of information." I remarked.
"Yeah," Oliver sighed. "I hate it when she does that. You know, I like to think that there's a chance that the bus won't show."

"I think the tree looks particularly beautiful in this light, don't you?" Sarah asked me with a smile.

"Well, if by beautiful, you mean unbelievably ugly, then yes, I would agree." I smiled back.

Sarah rolled her eyes in response. I watched with a smirk as she stepped onto the bus.

She then stopped and turned to face me. "You're just visually challenged. I feel sorry for you." Sarah sighed.

Visually challenged? Visually challenged and this from the girl who lives in a house that's the joke of the neighbourhood?! They had bushes growing over windows and weeds all over the place!

It bugged my dad big time. He would always come up with some rude remark about Sarah's father, who always seemed to be painting whenever my dad looked out of the window.

As annoying as the yard was to my dad, was nothing compared to how annoying Sarah Conway was in that tree. Every morning we had to listen to the sound of her blow-by-blow traffic report.

"Why do they call it the three stooges? I mean, there's five of them." Oliver stated.
"What?" I scoffed.
"Well, yeah, I mean, there's Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp and Curly Joe."

"Yeah, but they only have three at a time." I argued.
"Yeah. You know, I hate Curly Joe. I mean, he shouldn't even be a stooge." Oliver replied.

Our attention was drawn towards the tall sycamore tree surrounded by a group of men. I wasn't surprised to see Sarah sat at the top. But this time, it was different.

"Listen, girl. I'm this close to callin' the police!" One of the men threatened. "You are trespassing and obstructing progress on a contracted job. Now, either you come down, or we're gonna cut you down."

"Jonathan! You guys! Come up here with me!" Sarah called once she saw me appear. "They won't cut it down if we're all up here!"

"Bus! Bus! Bus!" Oliver let out a sigh of relief. All of the kids hopped onto the bus before Sarah could say anything else to them. But I stayed put.

Sarah was frantic. They wanted to cut down her tree. I can't understand why that mutant tangle of gnarly branches meant so much to her.

Sarah continued to cry out my name as I stepped onto the bus. I felt bad for her, but I wasn't about to cut school over it.

"Why isn't she your friend, Jonathan?" My grandfather asking, snapping me out of my flashback.

"You'd have to know Sarah." I simply replied.
"Well, I'd like to." He smiled.
I titled my head in confusion. "Why?"
"That girl has an iron backbone. Why don't you invite her over sometime?" My grandad suggested.

I cocked an eyebrow. "An iron backbone? She's just... stubborn... and she's pushy beyond belief!"

My grandad slowly nodded. "Is that so?"
"She's been stalking me since the second grade." I admitted.
"Well, a girl like that doesn't live next door to everyone."

"Lucky them." I breathed out.
"Read this - without prejudice." My grandad said, handing me the newspaper.

Like I needed to know anything more about Sarah Conway.

***

Sarah 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 that 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 that I was sorry, but then I thought: no. That's the last thing I needed - Sarah Conway thinking that I missed her.