Obviously, I couldn’t tell Sky how I felt. I couldn’t just walk up to him and tell him I liked him. It would’ve been easier if he were a girl, but he was not.

“There’s a snake here!” Sky yelled somewhere behind the barn.

“Why do you say it like that’s a good thing...” I sighed quietly so he couldn’t hear me.

I walked closer to the barn, watching carefully where I placed my feet. I did not want to step on a snake. “Are you sure it’s safe for us to stay the night here?” I asked loudly so he could hear me.

“I’m sure, this guy’s not venomous,” Sky spoke reassuringly. “I didn’t see any tracks that could belong to dangerous animals.”

I walked around the corner and saw a huge rock right next to the barn. The sun was shining brightly, warming up the rock, and on top of it was the snake.

“Oh God, that’s an actual snake!” I yelped before I could stop myself.

“Of course it is,” Sky chuckled, standing way too close to the slithery thing.

“Are you sure it’s not venomous?” I asked carefully.

“I’m sure,” Sky said with a smile, turning to look at me. “Come! I think I saw the nest!”

Sky skipped to me and took my hand again. Then he led me towards the other end of the barn.

“Here! See! Up there!” Sky said and pointed at the roof.

I saw a small opening in the wall right under the roof, and a part of something that looked like a big, messy pile of feathers, small branches, and hay.

“Okay, so the owls are definitely here,” I said with a slightly high-pitched voice.

I’d had no idea what I was signing up for when I agreed to let Sky choose our subject. I looked around in the yard, getting more than reluctant to spend a single night at the place. I couldn’t hear any cars passing by, so there were no roads anywhere near us. There was no one living close by. The place was completely deserted.

Sky was right, I was a city boy.

But... I turned to look at him. He was still holding my hand in his. His hand was way smaller than mine, and it was warm, and his skin was soft. I stole a glimpse of his face. He was still staring at the nest with a huge grin on his lips. His blue eyes were sparkling in excitement, and his blond hair was shifting a little in the light wind.

Then he looked at me, beaming with joy. His eyes were narrowed by the size of his smile, and all of a sudden, I couldn’t see anything else except him. I hardly even noticed the stupid smirk I had on my lips when I stared at him.

And we were still holding hands.

“Should we climb up to see it closer?” Sky suggested, waking me up from my trance.

“How?” I asked, and ripped my eyes off him to look up at the window.

“I think I saw a ladder at the other side,” he said. “Come!”

He took a firmer grip of my hand, and started running around the building, passing by the rock and the snake who was – thankfully – ignoring us.

The longer I spend time with Sky, the younger I felt. I hadn’t even realized how old I’d felt lately. I’d had a heavy weight on my shoulders when I woke up this morning, and the worry over my studies and dreams had hit me as soon as I got out of bed. I honestly had felt so much older than I actually was...

But as I followed Sky running around the barn in the tall grass, avoiding old scrap-metal on the way, I felt like I was fifteen again. Or even younger. Much younger.

“There!” Sky yelled triumphantly, and pointed at an old, wobbly thing that maybe once was a ladder.

“You’ve got to be joking,” I chuckled when we stopped next to it. The ladder was leaning against the wall, and it looked rotten to the core. “We can’t use it!”

“What? It looks sturdy enough,” Sky said with a pout.

“Let’s see if we can find another way,” I told him, and dragged him away from the rotten pile of wood.

We returned to the door, and I took a deep breath before stepping back inside. The barn looked gloomy and sinister from the inside, but this time, I didn’t feel the urge to run away from the place.

“Look,” I said, pointing at the other end of the barn.

There was another ladder. A better one. It was leaning against the wall and went up through a small hatch on the upper floor.

“Yes!” Sky smirked, and let go of my hand to run towards it.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at his enthusiasm while I followed him slowly. By the time I reached the other end of the barn, he had already climbed up.

“It’s too high for me to see!” Sky shouted, sounding defeated.

“I’m coming,” I told him, and started climbing up the surprisingly rickety ladder. “Oh God, you are the end of me,” I muttered.

Once I was safely in the hayloft, I saw Sky jumping up and down near the wall. He was trying to see the nest, but it really was way too far above his head.

“I’m not tall enough,” I said, looking around.

There were more hay bales lying around, so I went to grab one of the bigger ones and dragged it to Sky.

“Hold on, I think we need a few more,” I told him, and his eyes glimmered again.

Sky ran to get another one, but the bales were too heavy for him. I laughed lightly and offered a helping hand. Together, we managed to drag enough bales next to the wall, so Sky could climb up and take a look at the nest.

“It’s empty now, but they might start nesting soon,” Sky said enthusiastically. “It’s definitely theirs!”

“How can you tell?” I asked.

Sky picked a feather from the nest and showed it to me. It was cream-white, and I’d seen enough photos of the barn owls to tell that it was definitely the same color as them.

“All right. So, what’s the plan?” I asked.

“I have all the free time in the world. I can come here almost every day and see if they’re here. If we come here and stay the night every weekend–”

“Hold on. Every weekend?” I asked with a frown.

“Well...” Sky said with a tiny voice and climbed down. “Yeah. They are nocturnal, and we’re supposed to come check up on them once a week, like it says in the assignment.”

He looked at me with a hint of sadness in his eyes, and when I was about to speak, he continued hastily, “I can come here alone too, if you can’t. I know you have an important game coming up and all the homework... and friends...”

“Are you sure you want to come here all alone?” I asked, looking around.

“It’ll be great! Don’t worry, I’m used to camp alone,” he said, but he was still talking a little too fast.

“Well, all right,” I said slowly. “I just can’t spend all my weekends here, maybe a few nights a month, but I have a lot to do, just like you said.”

“Yes, I understand completely,” Sky said reassuringly. “I think we can go now. There’s not much we can do here right now.”

“Okay,” I said, and watched Sky when he returned to the ladder.

While we walked through the forest, Sky was being quiet. Every time he spoke, he sounded like he was faking his cheery tone. I felt bad for not being able to come back with him every weekend, but it was just impossible. I had a life too, and I had to concentrate on my other studies as well. I couldn’t let this one single project to bring down all my grades. Sky must have understood that. He said he did.

So, if he was fine with it, why did I still feel like the biggest jerk?