"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Jess mumbled, staring out the window.

Next to him, Leslie sighed sympathetically. "Is it the upperclassmen?"

He didn't respond for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Don't worry. You won't have to see them for that long - "

"Yeah, that's true," he interrupted. "Only before school, after school, between classes, during lunch and gym..."

"Hey, I'm sure all those stories are exaggerated anyway."

"Easy for you to believe - you're a girl. Girls don't get beat up."

"Of course not, we're too small and fragile," Leslie huffed.

"Yeah? Say that to Janice Avery."

She grinned and turned toward the back of the bus. "Hey Janice!"

"Oh, hey Leslie!" Janice called out. She waved to them. "Hi Jess!"

Jess glanced back and lifted his arm briefly before returning his attention to the outside world. The trees were flying by awfully fast this morning; bus driver was probably speeding, for all he knew.

"Don't worry," Leslie continued. "I'm sure Janice will help you if you need any."

"What?!"

"Well, she's a senior now..."

He scoffed at her. "I'm not 10 anymore, and I can't have girls sticking up for me. It would ruin my reputation."

Leslie rolled her eyes. "Boys."

Soon enough, they arrived. The two friends got off the bus together and followed a large crowd into their high school.

"Wow, this is really big," Jesse muttered at the entrance. He stared in awe of the many hallways stretching out in front of them. It looked like a maze.

"What's your homeroom?" Leslie asked.

He took out his schedule. "Uh, A-14. Should be... that way?"

"I guess. See you at recess, then?"

"Yeah, see you later." They went off in opposite directions. Before long, though, he was cursing to himself. Shit. He was lost already. It was times like this that he usually asked Leslie for help, but she was already gone in the chaos of the student population.

The bell sounded.

Desperate, Jesse began running down the hallways, looking for his class now in earnest.

It wasn't a very good start to the school year, he thought. That's for sure.

A few hours later, Jess slammed his locker shut and walked outside to the soccer fields, where everyone was milling around during recess. Nothing had gone terribly wrong since the homeroom fiasco. Classes were decent. Moreover, he hadn't gotten into any trouble and aimed to keep it that way.

He wandered around until he saw a group of freshmen guys. "We racing?"

"Yeah, I guess," Scott Hoager replied. "Let's do it quickly, before your girlfriend gets here. I want to at least have a chance this time."

Jesse snickered. For the past few years, Scott had finished in third place nearly every day. The former bully was pretty much resigned to it by now.

"Now now, be a good sport, Hoager," he crowed. "Who knows, I MIGHT have lost my edge over the break..."

"Whatever. More likely that Burke's lost her edge." Scott smirked. "I saw her in the hallway this morning... Man, what a hot piece of..." Jesse stalked menacingly towards him, and Scott quickly backed away, holding up his hands. "All right, chill. I'm just saying that there might be a couple of things slowing her down now, that's all."

Jesse considered for second. He had to admit, the bastard was right; Lord knows he tried not to stare at Leslie's chest these days. He gulped nervously but then regained his composure and just shrugged at Scott. "Fair enough... If you say it to her face, though, I'll wreck you."

Hoager scowled in response. "All right, let's line up. Who's going?" A few of the guys stepped forward.

They were just about to start when Leslie walked up, raising her eyebrows in question. "Going to race without the defending champ?" she asked. "I've never heard of such a disgrace."

Jess shook his head at her. "What took you so long?"

"Wanted to be fashionably late, of course."

The others groaned. They were sick of always losing to a girl.

This time, though, Jess actually thought he could give her a serious run for her money. The pair didn't race formally outside of school, but he'd grown three inches during the summer and now towered over Leslie.

The thought wasn't lost on her either. "I hope it's not your legs that got longer," she said, eying him warily at the starting line.

"You'll find out," he replied.

"Ready... get set..."

"Hey, would you look at the short shorts on that chick?!" she suddenly exclaimed.

"Where???" Jesse's head shot up.

"GO!"

Leslie and the other runners took off, leaving Jess momentarily behind.

Fuck, he thought angrily, finally dashing off a split second after them. She'd tricked him. Oh, is she in for it now, he muttered to himself.

Nevertheless, he quickly started passing people. Only two remained in front of him by the halfway point: Leslie and Scott.

And, in a tense finish, Jess put on an extra burst of speed to lunge ahead at the 100-yard line. "YEAH!" He pumped his fist in joy.

"Great run, Jesse!"

"Way to go, man!"

He slowed to a jog as the sideline observers congratulated him. Fastest kid in the ninth grade. Then, someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around. His eyes narrowed when he saw the culprit.

Leslie smiled sheepishly. "Nice comeback."

Jess glared at her for a second before breaking out into a grin, and they both started cracking up. "Damn you, Leslie!"

"Ha! You should have seen the look on your face! ... 'WHERE???'" she mocked his deep voice.

In response, he just picked her up and threw her clean over his shoulder.

"Hey!" she shouted, still laughing uncontrollably. "Jesse Aarons, you put me down!"

He ignored the kicks and screams and walked back towards the school, with her still in tow. "Leslie, queen of Terabithia, your people have come to take you home!"

And through it all, he couldn't stop thinking to himself: Fastest kid in the ninth grade. With a bad start, too. Visions of future track and field trophies came to life in his head.

This is going to be a good year.

Leslie finished covering her new textbooks and started on Jesse's. "So, were you shoved into any lockers today?" she asked.

"No."

"Get any wedgies?"

"No."

"Swirlies?"

"NO!"

"I told you."

"It's only the first day," Jess replied. "Just wait until Freshman Friday."

"Freshman Friday?"

"Yeah, the first Friday of the school year. That's when you can really get hurt."

She laughed. "You guys come up with the lamest ideas sometimes, that even I can't believe it."

"Better safe than sorry. I'll be watching my back for the rest of the week." He looked up. "... Hey, what time is it?"

"Eight."

"It's getting kind of dark; we should head back."

Leslie glanced out the treehouse at the setting sun. "Yeah."

8:00. It was still September, and the days were still long. They wouldn't stay long, though. Pretty soon, the rulers of Terabithia wouldn't be able to visit their kingdom at all on weekdays.

Damn high school.

With that thought, she packed up her things, and they climbed out of their treehouse. She and Jesse only had one class together, Algebra. And boy, was she glad for that; math just didn't agree with her. Jess was decent at it, though, and would probably continue to help her with the homework, as he had that afternoon.

Leslie smiled inwardly. Any excuse to spend time with Jess was good enough for her.

They walked back through the woods together, talking lightly about their school day, and swung across the chasm on the old rope. All too soon, they got to the crossroads between their houses.

"Bye Leslie."

"See you tomorrow," she said. But when Jess was finally out of sight, a big grin spread across Leslie's face.

Oh my God, he's grown so tall! she gushed to herself. And handsome. Oh. My. God. Leslie was positively floating as she walked into her house.

"Hey Mom!"

"Oh, hi Leslie. How was school?"

"Great!"

Judy chuckled. "Why are you so happy?"

"I don't know. First day of school actually turned out all right."

"That's good. Did you hang out with Jess?" the older woman asked with false casualness.

"Yeah..." Leslie paused. "You know, I've got a lot of homework, so I better get started. Later."

"Ok. I'll call you when dinner's ready."

Leslie disappeared into her room, and Judy smiled to herself. Ah, young love.

Meanwhile, Jess was making a beeline for home. He ran as fast as he could with a backpack on, slammed the front door shut behind him, hurried upstairs and tossed his bag onto his bed. Then, he turned out to the hallway... and nearly bumped into someone. He stopped short just as his mother gasped.

"Jess! You scared me!"

The 14-year old spun around her. "Sorry about that."

"How was school?"

"Fine." He quickly got to the bathroom and twisted the doorknob, but it wouldn't open. "Hey! Anyone in there?"

"Yeah, me," he heard Joyce Ann say.

"How much longer?"

"I don't know. Go away."

"Shit." He sped down the stairs and went to the other bathroom; the door was closed. He sighed heavily and knocked.

"What?" It was May Belle.

"Are you going to be long?"

"Oh, hi Jess!" she called.

"Sup."

"How was high school?"

"Great, May Belle, just peachy. Listen, are you going to be in there for awhile?"

"... I think so. Why?"

"Never mind." Jess turned away in frustration and rubbed his crotch through the front of his jeans. Not surprisingly, it was still hard as a rock... Had been ever since they went to Terabithia after school and probably would stay that way for the rest of the night... It was these damn girls, driving him crazy and not allowing any sort of relief. There was no escaping them.

So, defeated, Jesse Aarons trudged back up to his room.

This is wrong, he thought, collapsing onto the bed. I mean, it's Leslie, dammit! LESLIE!!!

What he needed was some self-control, or if nothing else, a different crush. There were plenty of girls out there - why, oh why, did he have to fall for his best friend?

"I'm not falling for my best friend," Jess tried to tell himself. "I'm NOT."

He repeated it over and over again that night, believing it less each time.

*

fin