I feel bad that I put T&J on break. >o<

I was reading over everything that I did back in June or so, also noting that I really actually did come up with the whole plot. I could write the whole thing if I wanted to, without being nearly as confused as I am with other stories. I had like 22 pages of stuff never revealed to anybody! So while going over this, I chose amusing bits and pieces. I also couldn't help but feel inspired, maybe because you just really can't take yourself too seriously with this story, and I find Jo to be an intriguing character. Maybe I'll draw him. XD

Anyway, I hope that this holds anybody over while other projects take precedence. I mean it! The fact that nothing was posted last summer doesn't and won't ever mean that I lost interest.

The cats are kind of afraid of Tilly because of how much she likes them.

-- Plotline notes

"I remember sometime in the first year I met Tilly, she thought mermaids were real."

-- Jo, from the future.

She wouldn't talk to me today, and I didn't know why. For a moment, she glanced at me, but not for long, and it was like she just really didn't want me to talk to her, to even ask why she was having such an off day or anything. As if this amazing friendship weren't rotting before my eyes for a reason neither of us understood, the sun was vibrantly shining on me as I climbed the ladder of the treehouse. It was hot on my back. The breezes were just cooling enough. It felt great. It felt like it was the same kind of day, except not.

He was lying with his knees bent, his vest removed, and using it to cover his face, even if he was veiled in shade. Tilly's flowers were wilting on the table.

-- Later Excerpt

I seeped outside into the warm air again, the crickets even louder. At the gate, I could hear Tilly's voice utter a "nuh-UH!" about something from the other side.
"You guys. We gotta be quick." I slowly unlatched and opened the gate so it wouldn't creak, and their shadowy shapes shuffled for entrance.
"What's the big rush."
"I told them I had to get something in the treehouse."
"You have a treehou-!" Jo hastily covered Tilly's mouth, then slowly released it. "Sorry."

-- Chapter 9

I realized right at that moment that there was basically no way that my own sister wasn't going to find out what I was up to. No way.
"Why're you looking out the window?" She'd be in that treehouse by tomorrow, because we hung out in there nearly every day.
"No reason."
"...I had it all to myself while you were gone." Her face gleamed. Adults were surprisingly easier to fool than kids, as well. They were slow, they gave you your space, and they were unsuspecting of crazy things and would always think of alternatives.
"....Heh, cool." I approached my door feeling a little contemplative. "See you tomorrow."
"Byeee." I closed the door on her but didn't forget her.

Dalila was going to run into one of them, and was going to tell everyone else. It made me nervous, but I knew I had time to talk with Tilly about it first.
Somehow, even though I knew how late it was (in New York), and not long ago was close to passing out, I no longer felt so tired, and I was anxiety-stricken, even if excited. I guess anybody with friends hiding in their backyard would feel the same, though.

-- Chapter 9

Cautiously, I came out onto the deck and met my first step with the wet grass from the morning sprinklers. I was seriously never awake at this time, but jetlag threw me off... At the foot of the tree, I stared back at the house, hoping; praying that nobody was awake, glancing outside, or noticing me, then started for the ladder with the basket around my arm. It kept hitting me as I climbed, so once I was in reaching distance of the surface, I plopped the basket up there and slowly rose into the structure. Tilly and Jo looked like two monsters sprawled over one another, and Jo's foot was right next to Tilly's face. Their hair and their positions suggested such unfavorable sleeping conditions, but Tilly had a peaceful grin, and Jo's mouth was gaping open. I really didn't want to wake them up, but... I kind of had to.

-- Chapter 10

"Ahem. Anyway. We have serious news. Jo is a fairy." Dalila really did not fall for this stuff. "And if you tell your mommy and daddy about us, he'll disappear forever, and no amount of 'I do believe in fairies, I do believe in fairies' will bring him back. And Gina's desperately in love with him, so why would you ever want to do that to your sister?!" I gasped loudly and put my hands on my hips with a gaping mouth. Dalila looked at me like I was insane.
"You're in love with a giant 'fairy'?!" She was a witty enough child to make quotation marks with her fingers.
"N-. I mean yes. Yes." I darted for Jo and flung my arms reluctantly around his torso. Man, was he thick. Jo wrapped his arm around me protectively and in a deadpan way, added
"Yes, please don't destroy me." Tilly made a type of giggle I had never heard from her before. She sounded like a flamboyant cuckoo bird or something.

-- Chapter 10

"...Well, what do we do now?" He paused in uncertainty, then tugged a leaf and handed it to me.
"Take this." I held the delicate flap of green in my hand, confused. "If Tilly sees you have that, she can't touch you."
"...Why?"
"She's allergic to leaves." He snickered. "She got cursed once and now they're fatal."
"Well what kind of leaves?"
"Every leaf."
"But I've seen her around leaves before! For God's sake, you slept in a treehouse!"
"...Haven't you noticed how un-at-ease she's been?" I sincerely tried to remember noticing, but couldn't.

-- Chapter 10