It was only a week away till summer vacation starts and as usual, Jess's plan was just to stay inside and do something productive, that, or either hang with Leslie.
Ellie and Brenda were already making up plans with their boyfriends for summer which meant that Nick and Justin were probably going to be in the house a lot. May Belle was starting to be like her older sisters, only a bit more sweeter and cuter. Dylan and her had made it their daily routine to visit each other at least thrice a week before vacation because Dylan was going to fly to Los Angeles for a family reunion.
Jess was finishing milking Miss Bessie when May Belle called him over to come to the house for breakfast.
"So I'm thinking of going to New York with Nick next week," said Brenda, pouring milk into her baby sister's cereal bowl. "Just on the weekends."
He plunked himself down on the chair beside May Belle and took a plate of pancake and doused them with syrup before eating up.
"No way. Justin and I were planning to go there next week!" Ellie hissed at her sister. "I don't wanna see your face in our vacation."
"Who's going to pay for the flights?" Their mother said, packing Joyce's lunch. "And where will you stay?"
"Nick's already covered our flight fees and we're staying at his cousin's," Brenda answered as she slurped the hot coffee.
"Same with Nick and I. We're staying at a hotel though," said Ellie, smirking over to Brenda. "Oh but don't worry. We'll be sleeping in separate rooms."
"Well you're gonna have to get your dad's permission." Their mom said without looking away from Joyce's lunch box.
The older sisters turned to their father expectantly. "So can we?"
"No." Their father got up noisily and poured himself a cup of coffee.
"But dad!" Ellie and Brenda cried in concert.
"The other girls are going out of the country with their boyfriends. Why can't we? It's in the country too!"
Their father yelled. "I already said no and that's final. Who knows what kind of things will happen in that big city!"
The sisters stopped whining and instead just sulked the whole way until they were done with breakfast. Jess for once took pity on his sisters. Their boyfriends were nice and all too. Such a shame.
Jess was happy to escape from the tension filled table when he heard the car's honk. He quickly finished up and headed to school with Leslie.
Brrrrng the school bell. Jess waited for Leslie to finish talking with the teacher before they went to get their lunch together.
They sat at their now usual hang out where it overlooked the whole field. At the corner of the field, there was a race going on which Jess noticed. Just for the sake of old times, he trotted down the field and lined up with the other boys.
He watched as the first batch raced to the finish line. A fight broke out with Greg Williams and Will Stern. Ryan Williams went up first.
"Will," John Gilard made his declaration of the winner. "Will Stern won,"
"It was Ryan, John," someone protested. "He won by a foot."
"It was Stern." He ignored the protests and headed to the starting line. "All those betting to race me, line up now. Whoever loses will give 20 bucks each to the winner."
20 bucks each. That'd be a 100 if 5 people dared to race. Jess willingly went in line. He couldn't let this chance pass by.
"Hey," Leslie had come up beside him.
He grinned at her. "Did ya hear what Gilard said?"
"20 bucks each to the winner."
"Fastest one wins," Jess smiled.
John Gilard glared hard at his opponents and then noticed Leslie. "Hey Burke girl," his voice was full of mockery. "This is just for guys and not for girls." Leslie ignored him. "Hey I'm talking to you!"
"What's the matter Gilard? Scared that a girl's gonna beat ya?"
Leslie was grinning. "You can run, Burke. But don't think we'll go easy on you." John Gilard glared at her. "Oh don't worry, you won't have to." Leslie murmured.
At the bang Jess shot forward. It felt good to be running again since it had been a long time since he raced. He was running fast. The crowd was noisier than usual. Must be because they could see that Jess was way out of reach for the other runners to catch up. He focused on the finish line, nearing with every step he took.
Of course, Leslie wasn't going to let him beat her. Jess felt it before he could see it. Someone was moving up. Quick. He automatically pumped harder until he was out of breath himself. And then there, was a shadow beside him. He forced himself to pull ahead but the figure was just too fast. He came to look at who it was and indeed it was Leslie herself. She even had a smile on her face. Leslie crossed the line 4 feet ahead of him.
He stumbled across the finish line with the rest of the runners behind him. Leslie turned to face him with a big smile as she helped him up. She didn't even look tired at all. "Gosh you're too fast."
"Okay," John Gilard came up to Leslie all red faced. "You had your fun now go."
"Not without my 20 bucks. And there are," she looked at the runners behind him. "6 of ya so I get a 120." She smiled.
John Gilard lowered his voice. "Girls aren't even suppose to be racing out here. Now go."
"My prize, now." Leslie demanded.
"Hmph."
"What's the matter Gilard? Not gonna keep your word?" Jess scowled. "Pay up."
The ones who lost willingly gave 20 bucks to Leslie, Jess included. John Gilard was the only one left.
John Gilard shoved the money to Leslie and returned back to the starting line without another word. Leslie had 120 bucks in her hand. She turned to him and smiled.
"Consolation prize," she gave him half of the money.
"Thanks."
The bell rang. They started back up to the hill to put their trays away before trotting across the field and heading back to class.
Jess and Leslie were one of the few early birds to arrive at class after lunch breaks because they knew that once class starts, there was no way they were going to communicate.
The nerds in class eventually found Leslie to be a threat to them. It started when Mrs Myers was talking about Hamlet for literature. She had asked the students about what they had thought about the main central conflicts of Hamlet. All of the geeks and nerds had raised their hands but Mrs Myers had called Leslie instead, even though she didn't want to answer.
"Leslie," Mrs Myers beamed her 'Leslie smile' at her favorite student. "Please answer."
Leslie looked up from the book she was reading and cleared her throat, so that her words would come out louder. All eyes were on her. She spoke eloquently, as if she had read Hamlet a hundred times and knew it straight from the heart.
"Well, political for starters, because Claudius usurped his father's throne. Oedipal, because of the undercurrents with his mother," said Leslie without a blink of an eye, the words smoothly rolling out of her tongue. "Needless to say that there's also the timeless question of insanity; is he really seeing his father's ghost, or is he simply mad?"
The class looked at her wide eyed with some mouths open. They were staring at her as if she was some unknown creature that had just been discovered. Jess, on the other hand was grinning over to Leslie.
"That was simply marvelous work, Leslie." Mrs Myers proudly praised her for her answer.
Leslie returned her a genuine smile and a nod before she went back to reading the book, ignoring the stares and glares she was receiving at the moment. "Now class..."
Mrs Myers's period later ended, making the school day end as well. Jess packed his stuff into his bag and went to Leslie's table.
"I'm lucky that you read Hamlet to me in 6th grade or else I would've failed our test earlier," Jess gave a chuckle and sat on the desk in front of hers. "You should answer more questions like earlier. The class was hilarious."
"How much did you get for the test?"
"76, you?"
Leslie smirked. "98."
"That's almost a perfect score..." Jess murmured.
Just then, the group of nerds that sat at the back came over to Leslie's table. One of the main reasons why they're disliked so much is because they're stuck up and just gross. (In their school anyways) For example; Henry Runst who was the smartest in class before Leslie came, was picking his nose as his group came over.
"Ms Burke," Henry Runst pushed his glasses up his nose and snorted.
Leslie got up and smiled at him, ignoring his gross unhygienic behavior. "Hey Henry," she looked at the rest and waved.
"How much did you get for the test? I got 95," he obnoxiously told her with a crooked smirk. "We have an average of 90."
Jess rolled his eyes at them. "Show offs..." He murmured.
"That's great!" Leslie exclaimed and beamed a smile.
The nerds raised their eye brow at her, awaiting for her response. "Oh Burke, did you only get 80 for the test? You don't have to tell us, we understand..."
"She got 98," said Jess dryly. "Jess!" Leslie elbowed him.
"That's impossible."
"Oh, but it's not." Jess smirked. "C'mon Les, Bill's waiting for us." He jumped off the table and grabbed Leslie's arm, pulling her out of the classroom.
Jess and Leslie sat by the couch, watching over Joyce as they ate popcorn together. May Belle was with Dylan in her room doing their homework and Jess's mom was out to do some grocery so Leslie volunteered to help him with the chores since he knew that his little sisters could be a hassle.
They had already done washing the dishes and cleaning the house so it was time for them to have a break. The movie that was on the tv was currently 'Mrs Doubtfire' which Leslie hadn't seen before. They had laughed until the quiet Joyce even giggled herself.
"Do ya wanna go to Terabithia tomorrow?" Leslie had asked him after the movie had finished.
Joyce Ann somehow managed to catch what Leslie had just said. "What's Terabithia?"
Leslie was grinning at him over Joyce's head.
"How old was May Belle when you let her come with ya?"
"Seven," he said. "Why?"
"Hey Joyce, how would you like to be a princess?" She smiled at her.
"Princess?" Joyce's eyes sparkled. "Me?"
Leslie nodded her head. "What'dya think Jess?"
"I guess it's okay..."
"I'm gonna be a princess!"
Jess placed his hand on her head and ruffled her brown hair. "But you can't tell no one Joyce. Not mom or dad, or even Brenda and Ellie," he held his pinky up. "Promise me,"
"I promise," she pinky swore to him and Leslie. "I won't tell nobody about it."
The day after their approval of having Joyce as princess, they met up with Leslie at the bridge in the afternoon for her coronation. Knowing that May Belle would probably whine and disagree with the idea of Joyce being princess, they didn't let her know about it, thus, she didn't come with them.
And when they arrived at the bridge, Leslie was already there, waiting for them. "Now close your eyes Joyce," he told her. She did as she was asked to and closed her eyes. He put flowers in her hair and led her across the bridge with Leslie following behind.
Leslie bent down to Joyce. "Now open your eyes,"
To anyone who didn't see the magic it just looked like a plain old dark forest but to Jess and Leslie, it was a magical forest with Terabithians coming out to greet the new princess.
"There's nothing here."
"Shh," said Leslie. "Can't you see them?"
"See what?"
"Just close your eyes Joyce," she whispered. "And keep your mind- wide open."
It worked like a charm. Joyce could finally see what they were seeing and she was extremely captivated by what she saw. For the past few hours they spent in the realm, they thought the new princess how to fight, defend, and lastly, about the Dark Master. Of course they also told her how Terabithia came about.
The thought of going into Terabithia and helping the rulers with the world excited Joyce. However, she couldn't enter the world without either Jess, or Leslie, or May Belle if she ever comes to find out about the new princess.
The last week of school passed by quickly. Dylan had maintained contact with May Belle when he had flown over to Los Angeles, making her hog the home telephone all the time. Leslie would come over to Jess's house sometimes and Jess would do the same. They figured that May Belle would probably find out about Joyce being in Terabithia sooner or later so they weren't surprise when she came running down the stairs, screaming.
"You made Joyce into a princess?!"
Jess sighed. "Told you she'd find out."
They were lucky that the adults weren't on the house or else there'd be a lot of questions going around.
"She's not fit enough to be a princess! She still sucks her thumb!
"Now, now," Leslie said, putting her hands on the girl's shoulder. "How old were you when Jess let you in Terabithia?"
"Seven." She sounded painfully like Jess when he was asked the same.
"Well Joyce's already turned 7, so what difference does it make?"
"She... She sucks her thumb!" May Belle's disapproval was very evident.
Jess snickered. "You sucked your thumb way back then too and slept with Mr Blankie."
"Well-" she was tongue tied. All he said were facts about her when she younger. She couldn't give a smart remark about it. She sighed in defeat.
Leslie gave her a quick grin. "You can teach her stuff about being a princess though,"
"I can... Yeah!" May Belle ran up the stairs. "Hey Joyce! Let me teach you about the first thing being a princess!"
Jess was milking Miss Bessie early in the morning when Leslie came over. His eyes were weary from staying up late last night just to draw a scenery. He was a perfectionist so he wanted it to look perfect. Getting a dull headache in the morning didn't help either and getting a scolding from his dad just made it worse.
"Hey," Leslie had come up to him.
He acknowledged her presence by jerking his head.
"I'm gonna go leave Virginia with my parents for a vacation,"
"How long?"
"Just for a couple of days," said Leslie, sitting beside him on the grass. "I'll be leaving later."
"Okay." He showed no absolute interest at the topic. He didn't even bother looking at her.
"By the way about Terabithia..."
"Can you just shut up for a minute?" He spat, almost hitting the bucket away.
There was a long silence between them before Jess carried on with milking.
"I'll see ya in a couple of days okay?" There was disappointment in her voice as she spoke and got up. Jess just jerked his head to him. She watched him milk for a few more minutes before running back to the Burke's house.
He didn't see her again later, or for the next few days.
A/N- Hey guys sorry about the long update. If you noticed at the Hamlet part, Leslie's answer was from 'Freaky Friday (2003) for those who've noticed haha... Yeah this took me long because there were a lot of different drafts that I wrote that could've continued from the last chapter and I couldn't make up my mind sooo... Mhm.