Thanks for checking out my story. This is something that I've been wanting to work on since I saw the movie, and I'm just now finding some time to sit down and work some ideas out. I'm making it all up as I along, so any constructive criticism or corrections to mistakes I will likely make are always much appreciated.

As you will see, this chapter highly parallels the movie at some points. This won't happen as much as the story progresses and moves away from the storyline of the movie, but hopefully it doesn't get too monotonous in the meantime.

Look Toward the Sky

Chapter 1 – Ketchup

Disclaimer: Bridge to Terabithia is not mine, it belongs to Katherine Paterson.

Jesse Aarons grumbled and kicked another small rock out of his path as he walked down the side of the long road.

It wasn't extraordinarily hot outside, being November, but the humidity of the Summer hadn't dissipated just yet. Not to mention he was carrying a rather heavy backpack full of his various schoolbooks and homework assignments he would no doubt put off until the last minute. To top it all off, he was in a very bad mood. He had actually been having a relatively good day until he had gotten on the bus to head home. He had sat down next to his new friend, Leslie Burke, and he couldn't help but smiling at how happy he felt whenever he saw her. He was glad it was already Friday and was looking forward to spending the weekend in the woods with Leslie, but before he could even say hello to his friend, Janice Avery, the menacing 8th grade bully who loved to torment Jesse, walked by him and dramatically pretended to trip. The bus driver turned around in his seat and asked what the problem was, and Janice suddenly cried out that Jesse had tripped her. Despite his and Leslie's proclamations of his innocence, he was forced to exit the bus.

Jesse kicked another rock off of the road as he got closer to the mailboxes outside of his and Leslie's respective driveways. He had been mostly staring at his feet as he walked, lost in thoughts of anger, and had failed to notice that Leslie was sitting on some rocks next to the mailboxes waiting for him. He could feel his unhappiness evaporate as soon as he saw her, he was surprised at how easily he had perked up just at the sight of her. Upon closer examination, he saw that Leslie had also been a target of Janice on the bus that day; she was covered with what looked like ketchup.

As Jesse approached her, Leslie heard his footsteps and looked up at him smiling as he sat down next to her. "What happened to you?" asked Jesse, somewhat rhetorically as he had a pretty good idea already. "Janice Avery is a very talented person! She can shoot ketchup packets over four rows of seats!" Leslie said in a mock-envious tone. Jesse couldn't help but laugh a little, but he felt bad afterwards as she had not laughed at his predicament of having to walk home. "Jeez.." he said a bit absentmindedly. "Can I wash up at your place?" asked Leslie, "If my mom sees this, she'll be all over the principal and everybody, and my life will be over." Jesse nodded and they stood up to begin the walk up the driveway when suddenly Leslie stopped them.

"Hey look over there," she said, pointing down the road a bit to a big U-Haul truck parked outside of one of the smaller houses about a quarter-mile down the road, "It looks like we're getting some new neighbors." Jesse looked down the road and had to squint a bit, but he could definitely see that some people were carrying in some boxes of stuff into the house. He saw a few adults, all women, and one boy who Jesse guessed was around his and Leslie's age, but it was hard to tell from that distance. The boy had bright blond hair that contrasted greatly with his red shirt and Jesse was almost positive that their new neighbor was looking back at them for a few seconds before grabbing another box and taking it inside.

"Should we go welcome them?" Leslie asked Jesse, turning to face him. She had a hopeful smile and Jesse could tell that she really wanted to meet their new neighbor, but Jesse was a little more hesitant. "Uhm.. don't you want to wash out the ketchup from your hair and stuff?" he asked, to which Leslie responded by gasping. "Oh my gosh! I forgot I'm a complete mess! Right, well, let's go." she said and they started off towards Jesse's house, but not without looking back at the U-Haul truck a few more times.

The kids never made it to the new neighbors' house that day. Jesse told Leslie he wanted to go to the woods instead, and Leslie began to protest, but soon decided that the woods would be fun and that they could meet their new neighbor later. Jesse was silently glad that she hadn't made him go meet the new neighbor. Jesse couldn't put his finger on it, but something about the prospect of meeting someone else really bothered him. Sometimes his conscious would kick in and try to give the new boy the benefit of the doubt.

He could be really nice. Why are you afraid to meet someone new? What if he becomes your friend? Don't you like having friends?

Jesse almost felt like slapping himself across the face to try and silence the nagging voice (which strangely sounded a lot like Leslie.)

Sunday arrived quietly and with no real fanfare, at least as far as Jesse was concerned. He woke up rather early and decided to lay in bed and work on some sketches he had been making of the "Squogres" in Terabithia. Jesse's previous conception of the day being uneventful was quickly shattered when his entire family surprised him with a birthday cake and a present. He had completely forgotten it was his Twelfth birthday that day, and he couldn't help but grin at the sight of his entire family (except for Joyce Ann, of course) singing Happy Birthday to him. May Belle held the cake up and sang at the top of her lungs, and Brenda and Ellie looked rather inconvenienced by having to be in his room.

On Monday morning Jesse was a little late getting on the bus for school. Luckily for him the bus driver was willing to wait as Jesse sprinted down his driveway and practically dove onto the bus. As he walked down the aisle he noticed that a blond boy was sitting alone in the 2nd row, staring out the window at Jesse's house. The boy glanced up at Jesse as he walked by and they made eye contact, though only for a second. Jesse knew it was his new neighbor, but made way for the middle of the bus where he took a seat in front of Leslie.

The bus started moving again with a slight jerk that made all the kids rock forward a bit, before settling back in their seats. The bus was rather quiet, and Jesse was about to bring out his sketchbook when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Leslie wanted to tell him something, so he leaned back a bit to listen better. "His name is Lucas." she said simply. Jesse was a little confused, "What? Who?" he asked, but soon realized that she must have been talking about the new boy. "Our new neighbor up there. He was waiting outside our driveway when I got there this morning. Apparently my mom told his mom that he should wait with us." she explained, but didn't sound nearly as bothered as Jesse felt.

"Oh.. So, you uh, you talked to him?" Jesse said after a few moments of silence. Leslie simply nodded and kept chewing on the stick of Juicy Fruit that she had covertly popped into her mouth at some point in the last 30 seconds. "Yeah. He seems really nice, but he's very shy. Reminds me of someone else I know." she said. Jesse was looking forward again but could tell that she was grinning. He chuckled a bit at her joke, but otherwise didn't respond again.

A few minutes later, Leslie tapped Jesse on the shoulder again, this time to give him her birthday present.

Revised 06/17/08