Treehouses and Friends

Submitted into Contest #50 in response to: Write a story about a summer afternoon spent in a treehouse.... view prompt

24 comments

Kids

“Thud. Thud. Thud.” The hammer bounces up and down while I hammer a nail into place. It goes all the way in, but it’s sort of bent.


I hammer it on the side, trying to straighten it out, and it works. 


Well, a little bit.


I sit up. I look around at all of my handiwork. Almost done. I thought to myself. I’ll take a break now.


I stand up, careful not to bang my head on the ceiling, and use the ladder to get down to the ground. It’s a standard metal ladder, the kind you would use to get to the roof of your house or something.


I’m on the ground. I walk forward a little bit then stop to look back at my treehouse. It’s nice, but a little crooked. I sigh, and then walk into my house.


My brother, Alex, is there, playing Fortnite like usual. He’s obsessed with that game. Personally, I think it’s weird. I mean, you shoot someone and then they “die” while a weird camera thing takes their body away. 


Anyway, he loves it. My mom, well, she’s a nurse. She works a ton and cares for her patients non stop. 


My dad writes books. Well, in his free time. He actually works at a school. He’s a teacher. Teachers never work in the summer. At least, never my dad. But this year he signed up to teach summer school. I mean, why dad? 


I never see my dad anymore. His mom, (my grandma) died last year. I didn’t know her that well, but my dad got really depressed after she died. So he works a lot.


I go to the kitchen to make myself a snack. I look and find tortilla chips and cheese. Perfect. I make myself nachos, and then take them back to my treehouse. 


I have alway wanted to have a treehouse, but my dad never consented. He said, “Not until we have a suitable tree, Hattie.” 


But, we moved. And this backyard had the perfect tree. It had large, strong branches with a sturdy trunk. My dad said yes.


We got the wood from the closest Home Depot, and my dad let me use his tool box. It has everything I need.


At the beginning, my brother Alex helped. But then he got bored. So I am finishing it without his help.


I go up the ladder without spilling the nachos. Yay. I have lights in the tree, those little ones you could get from Dollar Tree, and it’s really nice.


I eat the nachos while being nosy and spying on the neighbors. I’m that type. Ms. Hemsworth, the lady next door, is mowing her lawn. Not interesting. She is old, but she is very active. She goes to our nearest YMCA and works out there a lot. 


On the other side, Mr. Devent is just resting on his front porch. He is an author, so he says he sits on his porch for “inspiration”. Once in a while, he starts, and jumps up to run into his house. It’s actually kind of funny when that happens. I’m guessing that's when he gets an idea, but I really don’t know.


I finish the nachos, and then go back into my house to wash my bowl/plate. I always do that. Meanwhile, my brother, who is still playing fortnite, has messy bowls of chips and candy. Wow.


I go back to the treehouse. I hammer in some more nails, and then decide it is finished. I want to invite some of my friends, but I only have one. So I decide to invite her.


Her name is Charlotte. I met her when we were just moving in. She is super nice, and she lives just down the street from us. 


I texted her to see if she wanted to come. She texted back almost immediately. 


Of course! I’ll be there in 5


I texted back:


No problem!


5 minutes later, the doorbell rang.


“Hey Charlotte! How are you?” I said, beckoning her to come in.


“Good, actually! You?”


“Normal, as usual. You want to see my treehouse?” I say, walking with her to the backyard.


“Oh my gosh, yes! I’ve been pressuring my parents to let me build one, or at least my brother has, but they say no. Oof.”


“Oof is right.” I said.


We went to the treehouse. I let her climb the ladder first, because she looked so excited.


When Charlotte saw the lights, she immediately grinned.


“It’s beautiful! I love it!” She said, looking around.


Inside, I had put some board games and books on a shelf that I had built myself. I had an old rug that I didn’t want and laid it on the floor. I loved it. It was small, but cosy. There was a little porch on the outside where the ladder peeked out through the floor.


Charlotte and I played Monopoly, each trying to bankrupt each other. I lost, because I was a terrible player and too nice. I was constantly trading properties with her because she kept on using her puppy dog eyes at me. It was hilarious.


After that, we just sat and talked. She talked about how she has two sisters and how she annoys them and they annoy her. She is the youngest, so she gets the attention. We listened to music and chatted about how Hamilton is the best musical ever. She argued about how Les Miserables and Wicked are super good, but soon agreed with me.


Finally, we read books together. Good fiction. We read The Penderwicks, and talked about Arundel and what would happen next. She had really good ideas about the book, and I said she should start a book club. She grinned, and said she wanted to.


“I will eventually. Maybe when school starts.”


“Awesome! I’ll be the first member!” I said.


We laughed and smiled. I really liked Charlotte. She was nice, and really funny. 


We talked until my dad got home. He said my mom was working a double shift, and she wouldn’t be home for a while. He was cooking dinner.


My dad isn’t the greatest chef. His idea of a meal was to throw around stuff in a pan, cook it, and serve it. My mom had told him to make macaroni and cheese from a box. Easy, right? But he boiled the pasta for too long, so it was mushy. But it was still cheesy.


Alex took a break from Fortnite for dinner, and ate like he was a hungry bear. Even after all those chips and candy, he was still hungry. 


Charlotte stayed for dinner, and complemented the food. She is really nice. She left, and me and my dad (plus Alex) were home together. We were watching tv, while Alex went back to fortnite.


“Thanks for letting me do the treehouse, dad.” I said, during a commercial.


“No problem, Hattie.”


“I love you, dad.”


“I love you too, honey.”





July 16, 2020 00:43

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24 comments

Maya -
02:18 Nov 13, 2020

Your story is so great and it flows really well. Nice job! Also, I love the Penderwicks! It's one of my favorite series ever.

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Avery G.
02:55 Nov 13, 2020

Thanks! Yeah, it is really good.

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C.j 🤍
15:21 Oct 05, 2020

Awesome story good job 👏🏼 🙂😊👏🏼👍🏻

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Avery G.
18:47 Oct 05, 2020

Thanks!

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Lily Kingston
03:09 Sep 18, 2020

Great story! It so sweet and light hearted :) keep up the good work and keep writing!!

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Avery G.
03:47 Sep 18, 2020

Thanks so much!

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B. W.
20:42 Sep 08, 2020

Hey Avery do ya think you could help me? i asked you at some point but i didn't know that you were at camping, its something different

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Avery G.
20:43 Sep 08, 2020

Yeah sure! Sry I was at camping earlier so I might have missed it

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B. W.
20:50 Sep 08, 2020

Heres my idea because maybe you could help me make it better or something: MC (main character) is taken to an au where AU MC is evil and a wanted Criminal so when MC would arrive they'd be Mistaken for the Au Version and then decide to run where MC then runs into someone who knows they aren't the Au version and don't belong there so the two of them start to become friends while trying to keep MC hidden and trying to find a way to get them home while AU MC chases after MC

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Avery G.
20:54 Sep 08, 2020

Whoa, that's cool. Hmm...maybe a twist? Maybe the AU MC and the MC are related or something? That story seems really adventurous!

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B. W.
21:03 Sep 08, 2020

I don't feel like it should have a twist and if it does have a twist its not gonna be one of those boring ones that are like "but it was all a dream" or "the character was in a coma/dead the whole time", any other ideas for it?

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02:02 Aug 28, 2020

Wow! Avery your stories are calm and soothing and refreshing. This particular one was so sweet😍🤧 I almost let out tears🙃 AMAZING work. I just have one correction: "... Playing Fortnite like usual" I think it should be, "... Playing Fortnite as usual" This is too too sweet Avery, so creative, so GOLDEN! Just amazing. The emotion in this is so heartwarming. I loved it!

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Avery G.
03:02 Aug 28, 2020

Thanks! I can't edit it anymore, but I'll remember that!

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23:24 Aug 28, 2020

Okay, you're welcome!

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The Daltons
01:28 Aug 16, 2020

OK! YESSS! No one really acknowledges how great the Penderwick books are, and I love that you incorporated it! Quick question: have you read the second? I have. I have the first and second. And I love the friendship between Hattie and Charlotte and how pure their bond is although Hattie had moved recently there.

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Avery G.
01:46 Aug 16, 2020

Yeah, I love the Penderwicks! No, I don't think I have read the second. I will try to get it, though!

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The Daltons
02:18 Aug 16, 2020

Cool! It's called "The Penderwicks on Gardam Street". I like it so much and tiny spoiler- Birdsall (the author, if you didn't know), gave us a flashback to when their mother was alive! I loved it so much.

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Avery G.
02:20 Aug 16, 2020

Oh okay! I might have read it. I have A LOT of books that I've read and it's hard to keep them straight!

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The Daltons
17:29 Aug 16, 2020

Yeah, for me too!

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Amith Shaju
02:30 Jul 17, 2020

Nice story. Very natural flow of events. You really have an eye for detail. Happy writing! :)

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Avery G.
04:20 Jul 17, 2020

Thank you so much!

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Anjali Malik
16:51 Jul 24, 2020

Hey Avery G., Hope you are fit and fine there. I read your story and I really liked the plot of your story. It was intersting to see how the story was progressing. Overall I loved your story and ya it's really good to see that at such a young age you can write so well. Well done dear, may your all future plans come true. 😇😇 💚💚💚

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Avery G.
17:09 Jul 24, 2020

Hi! Thank you! You are so kind!

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Anjali Malik
00:56 Jul 25, 2020

Always welcome dear !👍👍

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