A/N: This is my attempt at a happy ending after the book ends.

It was the first day of school in Lark Creek Virginia, the students all exited the busses and cars and headed through the crowded halls of Lark Creek High on the way to their classes. Jess Aarons seemed no different than any other student, it had been 5 years since he first met her, the girl that would change his life forever. It had been 3 years since he last returned to his kingdom, he could hardly stand being in Terabithia, without her. Jess was anxious about the new school year, it seemed everyone else had a girlfriend, everyone but Jess. The whole town treated him differently since that day, Jess didn't want the extra attention, and closed everyone out.

Jess entered Mr. Vernon's first period biology, where he settled in a desk three from the left and net to last row. It was then he saw her, Jess saw her and knew that this girl was special. She had fiery red hair and the prettiest blue eyes he had ever seen, she quickly took a seat in the front row, as the bell rang. Mr. Vernon looked up from his paper and greeted the class.

"Good morning class, my name is Mr. Vernon, and welcome to biology class, I see you have made yourselves comfortable, well that is about to change. Here is your new seating chart I trust you will find your new seats quickly, and silently."

Mr. Vernon turned on the projector and the students all gathered their things. Jess's new seat was in the second row on the right side of the room jess sat down without a sound, he wondered who Gloria was, after all he would be sitting next to her for a long time to come. He had never heard of her or many of the other people in class. Jess looked up to see the girl sit down right next to him, he quickly put his head down so she wouldn't notice him staring at her. The girl rifled through her things and tapped Jess on the shoulder.

"Hey I forgot my pencil can I borrow one?"

"Hey!! No talking over there." Mr. Vernon exclaimed "We have a lot to go over today, I'm afraid I'm going to have to give you detention."

"Wh…"

"Do you want to go for two?"

Mr. Vernon handed out the syllabus to his class that explained all of his expectations. Jess sat there dazed only looking at Gloria. The bell rang and Jess hurried off to his next class, the one he was dreading the most, Geometry. The period ended and Jess walked to his locker to put his new books away, there 5 lockers down he spotted Gloria, Jess must have lost track of time because the bell rang and there he was standing alone in the middle of the hallway. Principal Sullivan came around the corner and Jess took off running.

"STOP right there Mr. Aarons" He yelled, "You know that we do not tolerate tardiness here, I'm going to have to give you some time to think about it… after school."

"But, principal Sullivan, I will miss the bus" Jess said in a sheepish voice.

"That does not concern me, I guess you will have to walk home. Now get to class I don't want to see you in these halls after class has begun again."

Jess hurried off to class, but the rest of the day went by in a blur, he did however notice Gloria in 3 more of his classes. He worried all day about what he would tell his mom when he got home late, on the first day of school. He got to the detention room, where he found Gloria sitting in the corner working on the homework assignment Mr. Vernon had so graciously bestowed upon them. He sat down next to her.

"I see you are working on Mr. Vernon's biology assignment."

"Yeah, wait you're that boy that sits next to me and stared at me throughout class."

"Oh… I guess you noticed."

"It wasn't hard. So what brings you to detention?"

"Well I just wanted to keep you company, I'm Jess Aarons by the way, may I ask what your name is?"

"I am Gloria Templeton."

"So I've never noticed you around school before, did you just move here?"

"Yeah My family moved in over the summer, they thought it would help me… never mind, you wouldn't want to hear it, and I really don't feel like talking about it anyway."

"Whatever you say."

Principal Sullivan entered the room around 3:30.

"Okay, you guys can go, and I don't want to see either of you in here again."

"Yes sir Principal Sullivan sir"

"Enough with the smart talk Mr. Aarons, or I'll be seeing you the rest of the week."

Jess waited while Gloria packed her things.

"See you tomorrow." he said.

"Try not to stare tomorrow, its kind of creepy."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do."

Jess started out along the road that heads out of town, it would be a long 4 mile walk out to his house. Just then a yellow VW beetle stopped alongside of him.

"Hey Jess, it looks like we're heading the same way, do you want a ride?"

"Sure Gloria, that would be great!"

Jess got in the car and Gloria drove off.

They made small talk on the way home.

"So Gloria do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, do you?"

"I have 4 sisters, two are older and two are younger. I am the classic middle child." "So have you made any friends since moving here?"

"Not really I spent most of the summer unpacking, and we live so far out in here in the country there aren't a lot of neighbors"

"Yeah I guess we are kind of a ways out here, Well this is my driveway up here, you can let me out at the end, there are a lot of potholes to dodge."

"Okay, well I am just up the road there. But it was nice seeing you, See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow Gloria, and Thank you very much for the ride."

"You're welcome… BYE."

"Wait, Gloria would you like to go out some time, maybe catch a movie?"

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Thanks for reading, R&R please.