On the Quad

I stand under the tree. It is a live oak and enormous. My favorite tree on campus. Across the quad students are hanging out, eating burgers, playing frisbee, sliding through the inflatable obstacle course the Housing and Residence have set up for their annual luau. But my group - the quirky music majors - are by themselves under the oak tree.
A group of guys are having a foam sword fight around the bottom of the tree. I look up. Two girls sit on the boughs of the oak blowing bubbles. They are wearing skirts and perfectly bare feet. They look like fairies. I wonder what it would be like to be up there. It looks nice, peaceful, comfortable. I would probably feel wild and free to the world. But I don't know.
I'm excited about life, she tells me. Really? I have never been excited about life. Only once maybe, for a fleeting moment. But I'm not an excitable person. I'm reserved and cautious. It seems foolish to get excited about something so abstract as life. It seems wonderful. I would climb the tree, but I'm worried my shirt will flip up and I'll flash everyone. Crazy worries. It would be nice to be up in that tree. It would be nice to be excited about things. About anything.