Anne was worried as Maylie stepped away, her brown eyes shining with tears. She thought there was something wrong but Maylies words reassured her that she was fine.. although they also rendered her speechless. Melty? Emotional? Happy? She stood there gaping like a fish, not sure what to do or what to say as she tried to come up with some sort of witty retort, anything to mean she wasn't standing there gaping!

"I.. I.. I'm sorry!" She semi-stutted back. A small voice in the back of her said, in a perfecly proper british accent, complete with dry sarcasm "Well... THAT was eloquent Anne. Bravo!" She ignored this voice, although her light blush deepened a little. It seemed that saying nothing would be better than continuing speaking and making a complete fool of herself.

For a moment she stared herself, trying to come up with something but failing. As Maylie stared she looked down at herself, thinking she had something on her. "What?" She asked, her hands making little downward strokes over her top, trying to brush away whatever Maylie was looking at.

As she looked back up Maylie was looking away, her hair sheilding her face. For a moment Anne stared, not quite sure what to do, starting to feel jittery. Before she could make any action Maylie looked back, a bright beaming smile on her face.

The smile lit Maylies face up and Anne found herself beaming back too, although she had not the faintest idea what they were smiling about! But, Anne had to admit, she didn't care. She was entirely happy and had no intention of little things like that spoil her mood!

"I really am glad you love it here you know Maylie" Anne said, taking her que from the huge smile. "I sometimes wish that I didn't have class and had more time to spend here..." She left unsaid the "with you" that she wanted to tack on the end, but being overly forward, she was certain wouldn't end well.

Maylie couldn't help but let out yet another giggle at seeing her own awkwardness reflected back at her. "You don't have to apologize... If I didn't want to spend time here with you, I wouldn't have come!" although she almost had a heart attack when Anne noticed her staring. Thankfully she let it pass, or at least didn't notice the true reason behind it.

"I really am glad you love it here you know Maylie... I sometimes wish that I didn't have class and had more time to spend here..."

Maylie couldn't help but think there was something else she had wanted to say, but couldn't quite put her finger on it, her face turned quizzical for just a moment before she just brushed by the feeling and resumed her happy smile, figuring the other girl would tell her eventually. She continued to admire the beauty of the clearing as she responded, "Yeah... I can see why! It's so peaceful..."

Looking back at Anne, Maylie smiled again, trying her best to not have her true feelings plastered all over her face, but failing somewhat; ending in a very warm smile... somewhat more then one would expect from a friend, but not overly so.

Suddenly words just started pouring out of her mouth, uncharacteristically expressing her feelings, or at least some of them. "I can tell this place is important to you... I can't express how glad I am you took me here, and how happy I am spending time with you right now." Realizing what she just said, Maylie turned bright pink, hoping she hadn't said to much... hadn't put off the other girl.

“Well… its not really that important.. I mean, I love it here but I can’t say its mine… ” Anne said, feeling rather awkward under Maylies gaze, and those words… It was almost like Maylie had a crush on her! If she weren’t feeling as self conscious as she was she would have giggled at the thought… someone as bright, sexy and… well… so completely out of Annes league that she couldn’t have seen her if she stood on a crane! Maylie having a crush on her was just daft. Besides! It was more than she hoped finding a friend quite like her! She would not bloody ruin it!

Still.. what would it be like if she did… Waking up next to that blinding smile… kissing those lips and just spending time cuddled up… And what about other things! Her red hair cascading over a pillow while her voice rose, its cadences echoing around room as her hands held Anne’s hair…

She brought herself back into the present with a snap. No! Bad! What had she been just telling herself? Anne felt like she wanted to shrink inside herself. She shouldn’t be having these kinds of thoughts but each time she looked at Maylie they were there, unbidden just behind her eyes. It was maddening! Especially now she had let the silence drag on too long…

“But.. Thank you…” Anne continued, trying to pick up from the earlier comment, attempting to carry on in spite of her mind throwing up dirty (but so wonderful!) images. The thank you was entirely heartfelt and she could feel her smile still tugging her mouth into a smile you could bask in. “The feeling is mutual I assure you! I just hope you aren’t TOO happy though… What would I do for an encore to keep you smiling like that?”

Maylie watched Anne's face as it went through a flurry of expressions, the other girl clearly in deep thought. Maylie tried to make sense of it all but... she couldn't, not even recognizing a few of the expressions! She giggled though, finding it absolutely adorable that the other girl had everything plastered all over her face, despite the fact that Maylie didn't understand most of it. She was just so beautiful, standing there in that semi-awkward way of hers, looking so enticing as her features were outlined in the glow of the sunlight, yet so cute and innocent at the same time. Maylie giggled again, thinking she must look probably much the same way, her admiration plastered on her face as she stood there waiting for her friend to respond. If only I could tell her... she thought, a tinge of glumness accompanying the thought, not that there was really anything that could spoil her spectacular mood!

When Anne finally did respond, Maylie couldn't help but beam once more. This girl just had this effect on her... Maylie couldn't think of anywhere or anybody she rather be or be with at the moment.

Realizing that she should probably respond to the other girl, Maylie, still smiling, said, "I don't know... You seem to know just how to make me happy. I... I-I haven't been this... c-content for as long as I-I c-can remember..." Her face turning bright pink as she said this her old stutter shining through a little once more, trying to avoid saying too much while still trying to express as least some of her feelings. It was all so difficult, being friends with someone you had more than friendly feelings for. The last thing Maylie wanted was to scare the object of her affections away though, as Anne was quickly becoming one of the best friends she had ever had. That must have been evident in Maylie's smile though.

Not sure what to say to that Anne fidgeted a moment, a little uncomfortable. She was more than a little wrong-footed at the various emotions that Maylie was showing... One moment embarressed (although she was at a loss what kept making her blush so much! If she didn't know better Anne was positive that she could see into her mind and was getting distracted by the carnal thoughts there), and the next being happy albeit with that cute little stutter...

But, things like that weren't meant to be. Not for her. After all, the last time she tried it on with someone who was becoming a friend it killed the burgeoning friendship, and ended up causing a pile of other problems that left her being ridiculed from one side of the school to the other. A friend, even one that she found so beautiful was far better than being rejected.

In an attempt to move things on from her own rather depressing thoughts she smiled. "Well... we can't stand here all day! I'm not that interesting to look at after all!"

Without waiting for a reply she turned, taking a couple of paces towards the stream before looking over her shoulder and giving a small impish smile before digging her feet into the ground and with dozen long strides cleared the stream and jumped, her hands hooking on a low branch from one of the trees. With a small grunt of effort she pulled herself up onto the branch, turning around so she was sitting down, looking down at Maylie. It was apparent that she had done that more than a few times, knowing just where to jump to get up on the branch.

"Coming?" She asked with a smile as she sat, swinging her feet in the air.

Maylie couldn't help but disagree somewhat with Anne's words in her head. She was pretty interesting to look at after all, but of course Maylie kept this to her self. She opened her mouth to respond to Anne, but before she could say anything, the other girl was gone! Mouth still agape, she looked up to see Anne sitting on a tree branch above the stream, smiling and swinging her legs.

[b]"Coming?"[/c]

Quite frankly, Maylie was astounded. She didn't know Anne had it in her! Although, now that she thought about it, Anne had climbed that old Oak tree... but still! That was something more similar to what Maylie would expect from one of her old track teammates!

Approaching the edge of the stream, Maylie looked up at Anne and frowned, wondering how the heck she was going to get up there. While she was a great runner, Maylie was lacking quite a bit in the jumping department... and even should she make it, she wasn't so confident in her pull-up abilities either.

Her face heating up in embarrassment, Maylie replied, "Um... I'm not sure I can get up quite like you did..."

Appearing to be at somewhat of an impasse, Maylie began to look around, trying to find a way up the tree. Thankfully, when she looked over to the trunk of the tree, it appeared fairly climbable (even though Maylie had never really climbed a large tree like this before.)

Crossing the stream via some large, well rounded rocks (one might call them stepping stones), Maylie approached the tree trunk and grabbed onto a low branch within her reach, bracing her feet against the trunk as she slowly started to make her way upwards. When she had finally made her way to the branch that Anne was on, she smiled. Scooting along the trunk until she was right next to Anne, Maylie giggled lightly, "Show off!"

Anne watched Maylie much more cautiously approach the tree where she sat. Despite how easy she had made it look she ommited to mention the how many tries it had taken to be able to do that trick. How many hours she had spent running up and jumping, scrabbling up the tree like some sort of derranged squirrel or missing and crashing through the undergrowth. Oh! And there was that one time where she almost managed to knock herself unconcious by headbutting the very branch she was on.

Despite that, it had been a lot of fun learning it and she had to admit it felt really good to do it for an audience! A giggle escaped her lips as she saw Maylie scrabbling her way up, the image of herself doing that with far less grace than Maylie managed first time unbidden in her mind. For a brief moment her brain wondered just what else she would be good at doing for the first time but once again she shoved that thought firmly off to one side. Why was she so interested in doing such bad things to her friend? Was it because Maylie was paying an interest in her, something that had been absent for such a long time, or was it something more? Anne worried that it was just the former, another reason that acting on it would be stupid.

As Maylie sat to the side of her Anne stuck her tongue out at Maylies comment, a matching grin still on her features. "I'm sorry... I couldn't resist! But, you were far more successful in getting up here than I was the first time... You would have laughed so hard that you would have likely wet yourself with the amount of times I failed!"

Maylie couldn't help but giggle as the image of Anne trying to climb or jump up onto the tree limb only to fall into the stream below came to her mind. Anne getting out of the stream, shirt wet and plastered to her body, nipples pressing out against the see through fabric... Realizing that her thoughts had once again strayed, Maylie forced her mind back to the present, still locking the image in the back of her mind.

Thinking about her response for a moment, Maylie giggled again. "Well it certainly wouldn't be the first time you had fallen from a tree!" Remembering that one fateful day the two of them had met at the old oak tree in the middle of the fields. Anne had taken a tumble and landed right in front of Maylie, and the rest was history. Maylie couldn't help but smile at the memory. It really was quite ridiculous how the two of them had met. At least it made for a good story!

Maylie sighed contentedly to herself, suddenly aware of how close together the two of them were up on that tree limb. Sitting up above the beauty of the clearing, the warm sun shining down upon it... Maylie just couldn't stop smiling!

Turning back to look at her beautiful friend once more, Maylie found herself saying, "You know... I... I'm really glad I met you Anne. We haven't known eachother long but... I feel closer to you then I have anyone else in a long time." Realizing what she had said, her face turned bright pink once more, hoping that she hadn't just scared the other girl off.

With her friend blushing as crimson as her hair Anne couldn't resist and she turned slightly, her hand raising a little hesitantly and she ran a finger down Maylie's nose. It was a curious gesture, born from her affection of Maylie and how much she cared. She brought back her hand rather rapidly, afraid that if she left it there her friend might take offence. As she watched she wondered, once again why Maylie spent so much time blushing! It was completely beyond her really.

"I am really glad too Maylie" She said, warmly as she pulled back her hand. "Although I still don't understand why. I'm still surprised you aren't among the most popular people in the school! You've got the brains, the looks and instead you hand around with me!"

Anne felt her cheeks begin to flame as she realised what she just said. Before she could blush as hard as Maylie she tried her best to change the subject.

"You really need to stop blushing that much as you'll run out of blood and fall out of the tree, and you know that i'm the only one that does silly things like that!"

Maylie's eyes widened and crossed somewhat as Anne's hand approached her face, giggling a little as she watched her finger trace down the bridge of her nose. Thoroughly surprised, although not unpleasantly, at the action, Maylie couldn't help but laugh again as the heat from her cheeks began to dissipate. She couldn't help but miss the other girl's touch though when it left as soon as it came...

Listening to Anne, Maylie smiled bashfully at the complement, responding, "You sell yourself short! I wish I was as pretty as you... and everyone has their strengths. Besides, I'm not really all that special... and you're much better to hang around with then any of those other girls..."

Laughing at Anne's comment, Maylie smiled as she said, "Oh... Is it really that noticeable?" letting out a sigh she continued, "I don't know why, but I've always blushed and the smallest of things... it doesn't help that it shows so easily. I think it might be because of my hair... my face just tried to match it all the time! And you'd be surprised, I've done my fair share of embarrassing things over the years. I've just been fortunate enough to have them not happen around you yet!" letting out another giggle as she nudged the other girl with her elbow playfully.

Anne's own giggles matched Maylies, although Anne's were caused by the cross-eyed look as Maylie struggled to keep focus on her finger as she brushed that cute nose of hers. For a moment there was nothing but the sound of child-like giggles coming from the tree in the clearing, and any random passer-by would have wondered what was causing such happiness.

"As pretty as me?" Anne's voice bubbled, her giggles underlying the words "Believe me Maylie, you could make any girl here drop what they were doing and come running with a mere flick of your hair and a flash of that smile of yours if you wanted too! The best I could hope for is beating them with a stick until they came running! But I do thank you from the bottom of my heart."

With that, Anne turned herself slightly in the tree, bowing slightly from the waist towards the red-headed girl she was so smitten with. With her gaze up and green eyes shining in the slowly declining sun she got a little too carried away and bowed a little too deeply and began to overbalance. As she started to slip she let lose a startled sound and tried to turn, grabbing out for a handhold. Her hands found one, although it was in the form of one of Maylies breasts. For Anne time stopped still as her eyes widened as she processed exactly where her hand was, absolutely horrified with herself. The moment stretched, Anne being able to feel the soft brassiere that Maylie was wearing through her blouse, her warm flesh and even the hint of her nipple pressing against her hand and she found she couldn't move, her terror of what she had just done completely immobilizing her. While Anne may have been lacking in balance, she seemed to have luck on her side. Rather than staying there until Maylie punched her in the face gravity took action, pulling her from her precarious position and she fell, her body twisting as her arms windmilled as she desperately attempted to get her feet under her and line up her body as the ground approached rapidly.

Her luck continuing in its own unique way, Anne fell the short distance from the tree, managing to land on her feet. The momentum of the fall however carried her back one, two, three steps and her foot hit water, the different footing destroying any chance she had at staying upright and she fell back with another "Eeep!", her arse making a loud splash as she sat down in the water abruptly, water flying everywhere.

Sitting there, the cold water running around her arse, her cheeks went from pale to a shade of red that rivaled Maylies hair. She could feel her skirt and underwear soaked and she suddenly felt like she wanted to burst out crying. Her buttocks hurt, but not nearly as much as the certainty that she had just killed a prized friendship. How stupid could you be? What did she do that for? What would Maylie think of her now?

Maylie couldn't help but smile sheepishly and blush (though only a little bit!) at Anne's words. What else was one supposed to do when their crush was sitting their telling them how beautiful they were? Although one thing did stick in Maylie's mind...

"Any girl... best I could for is beating them with a stick..."

Does this mean... Anne... likes girls too? Maylie thought. The possibilities whirled through Maylie's mind once more before she realized that she still hadn't said anything. The matter was taken out of her hands, however, as right when she was about to tell Anne how wrong she was, everything exploded into motion. Maylie saw surprise flash across Anne's features as she began to fall, arms flailing for a handhold only to catch hold of her moderate bust.

"EEP!" a loud yelp of surprise (and some pain) came out of Maylie (after all, her breast was just latched onto not too lightly by a falling person.) However the hand was gone as soon as it left and Maylie was left watching horrified as her close friend was sent tumbling down a tall tree for the second time in her presence. If she weren't so worried about Anne, it might have been somewhat comical the way she seemed to keep falling from trees. Such things were lost on her though, as Maylie began to scramble down the tree so she might aid her friend. Half way down, however, she realized that Anne had accidentally pulled her blouse and bra down far enough so that her left breast had... "popped out."

Her face turning the same color as her hair, she quickly adjusted her wardrobe malfunction, wincing somewhat as the flesh was still quite tender from its encounter with Anne's hand. Such matters, once attended to, quickly left Maylie's mind to be replaced once more by worry for her dear friend. Finishing her descent down the side of the great tree, Maylie ran over to Anne, wading into the stream without regard for her clothing as she approached her friend, concern and worry consuming her eyes and expression.

"Anne! Are you hurt? Please tell me you're okay..."

The cold water running between her legs, soaking everything below her waist felt entirely right to Anne. With her certainty of losing Maylies’ friendship her mood was somewhere in the basement and the fact that she was soaked and getting cold felt like a just punishment.

She couldn’t quite decide whether she should stand up and run, or just sit here for a bit and let Maylie disappear off on her own. Her arse smarted a little but she felt like she was unhurt apart from that. Besides, thinking about her hurting arse and feeling the water running against her nethers felt like a much better proposal than confronting her own feelings right now. She had groped her friend and was pretty certain that she had torn her top as she fell. What was she, some kind of rapist. It had been a mistake but would Maylie feel the same? By her own track record Anne doubted it.

She had just about decided to get up, at least to apologise to Maylie and quietly leave when she heard Maylies voice behind her, sounding full of concern.

"Anne! Are you hurt? Please tell me you're okay..."

She half turned. Wallowing in her own emotions she hadn’t heard her approach! Surprise crossed with shock on her face, as clear as day. Surprise that she seemed to be genuinely concerned and shock for much the same reason… That she seemed to be genuinely concerned!

“I… I’m fine… I… I… I’m really sorry Maylie” Anne replied, stuttering over her words. “I didn’t mean to do that and I’ll just go… I’m really sorry again”

With the concern in Maylies voice a bit of her hoped that Maylie would pull her back, tell her that it was ok and quite possibly that she was just being silly, but once again she was pessimistic about the entire possibility.

Bringing her feet under her she stood, water cascading down her her legs from her sodden skirt and she turned to look at Maylies face, knowing what she expected to see but there was a small glimmering of hope at the back of her mind that prevented her sudden and violent depression from overtaking her completely.

Maylie's concern mounted when Anne did not respond for awhile, almost appearing as if she were about to cry. All she could really do was stand in the stream, the water soaking through her shoes, socks, and jeans while she waited for Anne's response. Maylie's worry even shown in her eyes. At least she didn't seem too hurt...

Relief and joy flooded Maylie at Anne's response, her expression changing from one of worry to a soft smile. It seemed the black haired girl was quite resilient! Maylie wasn't really sure if she could have fallen from that height and not been more severely injured! But Maylie couldn't figure out what she was apologizing for? Anne should be apologizing to her bottom, not to her!

"What's wrong? Sorry for what? I don't understand... you haven't done anything wrong to me..." Maylie responded, furrowing her eyebrows somewhat. Once Anne was standing, she pulled her in for a hug, preventing her from leaving, "I'm just glad you're okay. But whatever it is please don't go. I'm not mad at you for falling out of a tree!" giggling a little bit, Maylie kept a smile on her face, still overjoyed that her friend had survived yet another fall unscathed. "You really do seem to have a penchant for falling from trees though!" Maylie said with another laugh.

Pulling away from Anne, Maylie smiled, but winced a little bit at the receding pain from her apparently sensitive breast. Looking down, Maylie realized that her shirt had been torn some, and her white lacy bra was showing. Blushing pink, Maylie adjusted it as best she could, although the effort was mostly futile.

Pulled in for the hug Anne froze, every joint locked solid as if it had just been cast in steel. Frozen, she accepted the hug and it was more than a few moments before she gained enough control of her arms to bring them up, slowly, tentatively around Maylie. As the hug continued it let Anne’s own worries about being pushed away slowly receded and she let those wonderful words that Maylie had said. It wasn’t so much the content but in the happy, cheerful way that it was delivered that made that small, squishy part of herself that believed in good things quiver in delight, making her want to jump for joy, spin her friend in a pirouette and scamper up and down the tree like some sort of demented squirrel, although given her luck so far with trees perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea.

It was a shame that the very same part had been hurt so often it was far too easy for her to surpress such a gleeful response. Even so though, her smile flickered back to the surface, those unshed tears drying as she was held and her mood began to stabilize.

All too soon (from Annes point of view at least!) they separated and Anne looked into Maylies eyes, afraid as to what she might see there, hoping upon hope that they were shining bright with happiness, the look she always associated with Maylie.

She wasn’t disappointed. Maylies face was beautiful as ever and her eyes held nothing of the condemnation that she feared. It almost made her sag in relief. She didn’t know how she had managed it but somehow she had found a friend that didn’t want to condem her for sillyness, or for mistakes, or for putting her hands on her breasts! It was truly strange but also one of the best things she could dream of. That moment of pure childish glee pushed through her as her gaze followed Maylies, instinctively as she looked down at her own chest.

The tear there was obvious, and instantly poured cold water straight over that happiness she had been feeling. The tear showing off her (rather wonderful looking) bra was long, jjagged and entirely her fault. Her own hands moved up of their own violition to help pull it back into shape but she caught what she was doing an put them forcibly at her sides. She then had the task of tearing her gaze from Maylies bust and back to her face. It was harder than she ever remembered it being, her eyes seemingly gaining a small itch that made them want to keep glancing downwards but with her guilt and embarrassment as it was her fault she kept her eyes up, looking with concern as Maylie tried to futilly repair her blouse.

“I.. I’m really sorry Maylie” Anne said, her voice three steps short of breaking all over again. “I’ll buy you a replacement… ”

She didn’t know what else to say. It had been her fault after all, she couldn’t repair it with needle and thread (it was fabric, not seam and she was no expert seamstress). Not knowing what to do or say she simply blurted the next thing that crossed her mind.

“What can I do to make it up to you?”

A feeble attempt at trying to encompass all that she was trying to say but Anne had never been good around people which had left certain holes in her social abilities. Still, her concern, worry and everything else had managed to distract her from the fact everything below her waist was completely drenched.