It's Raining Wood And Nails (Christina)

[Aaron Walker]

AJ was perched in a tree near the edge of the courtyard, holding a two-by-four in one hand, a hammer in the other, and a mouthful of nails. Below him on the ground, a good thirty or so feet away, was a pile of scrap wood and the like that he had found around the town. It wasn’t enough to build a mansion, but he was hoping to make some sort of platform he could lay on. And maybe even a roof over part of it for incase it rained.

He wasn’t much of a handy-man, but he figured he could make something stable even if it looked hideous. Not that he really cared if it looked nice in the first place. It hadn’t even occurred to him to ask if this was okay with the Hammel staff.

After nailing up the first board, he scrambled down the tree to haul up another one. But half-way up, it slipped out of his fingers and fell to the ground. “Crap,” he said, causing a few of the nails to fall from his mouth. He noticed that the board had landed about twenty feet away from another student. “You okay?” he called as he started back down the tree.

[Christina Byrne]

Christina stepped out of her room wearing white shorts and a brown top with Aeropostale written on it in white. Brown flip flops slapped on the bottoms of her feet with every step. A yellow purse sat on her shoulder and her digital camera was held in her small, pale hands. She'd been working on her homework so much lately that she hadn't had the chance to work on her photography. Her goal was to send a quality photo or two to her father every week and get advice on how she could improve.

As the small blonde walked through the courtyard, she noticed a pile of scrap wood on the ground. Curiously, Christina walked toward the pile. She didn't see anyone working on anything... That is, until a two-by-four fell nearly twenty feet away from her. Eyes wide, the girl gasped and looked up to where it came from. A boy stood atop a small platform-in-progress up in a tree. Building a treehouse? She was up for this one hundred percent. "I'm fine!" After putting her camera into her purse she ran over to the boy and waved. "I'm Christina. Hi. Can I go up there?" Without waiting for an answer, Christina kicked off her shoes and began climbing the tree, barefoot and smiling the whole way.

At the top, she was hesitant to step onto the platform. The boy building it was quite young... And he'd dropped the board in the process of bringing it up the tree. How could she be sure it was safe? Biting her lip, the girl put faith into the boy and stepped onto his creation. Christina looked around in wonder. The view up here is amazing..." Speaking more to herself than to him. There was only one board as part of his treehouse so far, meaning there wasn't anywhere to walk around. Instead, the small girl climbed out onto a thick branch and sat on it. Carefully, she pulled out her camera and took a picture of the lake from this angle. The sun made the surface sparkle beautifully... She hoped that it had come out well.

[Aaron Walker]

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know anyone would be walking under me,” AJ said as he continued to scramble down the tree. He was about halfway down when he when Christina asked to come up and then started to climb up. “Oh..” he paused confused. At first he thought he was going to be attacked. After all people usually got mad when he almost dropped wood on them. But the girl seemed to be all smiles. She certainly didn’t give off an I’m-about-to-kill-you vibe.

Smiling, he crawled back up the tree to join her on his thin and narrow platform. “I haven’t got much done, but I’ve got big plans,” he said smiling. “Oh and I’m AJ,” he considered holding out his hand for her to shake. But shaking hands in a tree isn’t all that easy. He watched as she started to take pictures with her camera, glad that someone else was enjoying his creation. “Can I see your pictures after you develop them?” he asked, climbing over towards the branch she was on.