A Curve of Fate

Chapter 2

The Surprise

Wow! I have like four or five subscribers already! I'm so happy that this book is intriguing people. Chapter two is a little more dramatic, and leads up to a decent end of a second chapter, and leaves plenty of room to write for upcoming chapters. Also, thanks to Harpiebird, Pricat, Forkz94, adamash18, and the other subscribers/supporters!

Enjoy Chapter 2, Read and Review!

"Mom…Is that you?" Jesse lifted his head from his pillow as he began to regain his conscious. His mother ran towards him and hugged him. Brenda, Ellie, and May Belle where all sitting in a set of chairs in front of his hospital bed.

"W-what happened? All I remember was telling Miss Edmunds to watch out and…I can't remember anything after that." Jesse was obviously mad at his confusion, and was starting to get anxious about answers he hadn't received yet.

"You got in a car wreck Jess." Brenda snapped at her little brother.

"Brenda hush." Jack Aarons turned towards his daughter and gave her a stern look.

"Car crash!?" Jesse was racing through all his thoughts until he finally remembered. Leslie!

"Is Leslie okay?! W-what about Miss Edmunds!?" He threw his body up and frantically looked around for the two girls, but quickly dropped back down due to the extreme pain that rushed to his head.

"Be careful Jess, you cracked your head open!" Mary started crying again. "Jesse, Leslie is going to be fine…It's your teacher they are worried about…" Jesse's eyes started to fill with tears.

"She received the hit head on." Jack continued with the story. "Her arm was broken in four places…Her leg was pinched in between two spots of the car, but they managed to get it out without damaging it...Uh…" Seldom was his father at a loss of words, and Jesse knew that what he was about to hear was bad. "Julie, um, I mean Miss Edmunds, hit her head on the center piece of her car, it gave her a light concussion, but that's not the bad part. When they did a CAT scan on head they found a tumor inside her head about half the size of a tennis ball." Jack paused, and finished off his words. "Jesse, your music teacher could die because of it." He walked off into the other room, saying he needed some fresh air.

Jesse's eyes started to swell up, and he began to cry softly.

"It's okay Jess; it's not one hundred percent possible!"

"Les…Leslie?" Jesse quickly stopped crying and looked around slowly.

"Over here silly" May Belle pulled a curtain back and revealed Leslie sitting in a hospital bed right beside his. Jesse noticed the brace on her neck, and worry shot into his eyes. Leslie noticed, and began to explain.

"Don't worry Jesse; it's only to let my muscle heal in my neck. When the car was whipped on its side it caused some of my neck muscle to rip. The doctor said I was lucky that I didn't break it!" Jesse smiled. Even though she was in a neck brace, lying in a hospital bed, knowing that she could have died, she was still happy. Jesse liked that about Leslie, no matter what problem got in her way, she flipped it around and made a happy solution.

"Jesse, you can go back to school on Tuesday after the doctors remove the stitches from your head, as for Leslie…" Jack paused, and before he could continue Bill Burke walked into the room.

"Leslie will be fine, but she has to let her neck heal before she goes back to school. The doctors say around Thursday or Friday is when she can leave." Bill was over by his daughter now, looking at her, but speaking to everyone.

"Mr. and Mrs. Burke, and Mr. and Mrs. Aarons, we need to and your families to step out for a little bit while we run some tests."

"Tests, what kind of tests?" Jack Aarons walked up to the nurse, raising his voice.

"Mr. Aarons, we need to make sure your son doesn't have a concussion. He hit his head pretty hard," The doctor looked over at Jesse and smiled, "Coulda rattled your brain up." The doctor opened the door, and led the families out. He stepped outside and showed them where to wait, giving Jesse and Leslie a little time to talk.

"Jess, does it hurt?" Leslie pointed to her head.

"Not really, only if I get up too quickly, what about that?" Jesse pointed to his neck.

"Well, it is a pain in the butt not being able to turn my neck, but other than that it doesn't bother me." Leslie smiled, and pointed towards the door. Jesse looked over and saw the doctor was coming in. He looked back over to Leslie, and saw her under her covers giggling.

"Let me properly introduce myself, I'm doctor Lecter, but you can call me Mr. Han." Jesse's face went white. He remembered a movie he had seen in the fourth grade about someone named Hannibal Lecter, the doctor's name closely resembling it gave him chills.

"Don't worry, I won't eat you." Doctor Han smiled, but this joke only made Jesse quiver even more.

"Okay, I'm just going to ask you a couple of questions, and do a couple of small tests to make sure your brain isn't broken"

"When you got in the wreck, did you hear any ringing?"

"No sir."

"Well that's good! Open your eye, try not to blink." Doctor Han pulled out a small flashlight and shined it in Jesse's eye.

"Does that hurt? More than usual, I mean."

"No sir, it doesn't really hurt at all."

The doctor smiled, told the children he'd be right back and walked out into the hallway.

"Jeez Jess, Hannibal Lecter is our doctor, he's going to cut out our cheeks, cook them and eat them!" Leslie pulled her cheeks out and made a funny face at Jesse. The two children where both contently laying there, smiling at each other. They heard a faint moan in the bed that was beside them, and both turned.

"Jess, Leslie? Is that you?" A familiar voice came from behind the curtain.

"M-miss Edmunds?" Jesse asked in a frightened manor.

"Well I guess it is you two." Julie pulled the curtain back and looked towards them.

"Are you okay?" Leslie asked.

"Obviously not, I have a tumor in my head…It's kind of scary." Miss Edmunds laid her head back on the pillow, and began crying. Jesse looked at Leslie, and they where both feeling horrible for there teacher.

"Don't worry Miss Edmunds; I'm sure they'll get it out." Leslie said with her usual positive attitude.

"Guys, do you mind calling me Julie, or at least Miss Julie, maybe even Miss J? I don't really like the whole 'Miss Edmunds' thing outside of school."

"Sure, Julie." Leslie looked at her teacher and smiled.

The rest of the time the kids spend in the hospital went on with little to no drama, aside from the arguing and complaining of needles from Jesse. He was aloud to stay out of school until Leslie returned on Friday, agreeing that he would do his homework brought home to him. Everyday, and every night, Jesse was sitting right beside Leslie's hospital bed, keeping her good company. As for Miss Edmunds, she was transferred to a hospital in West Virginia for better care.

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On Saturday, after all the wounds where healed, Jesse and Leslie decided to go on a hike up into Terabithia. They packed up there snacks and drinks, and proceeded on the trail to there sacred forest.

"Wait! Wait! Can I come?"

"Sorry May Belle, you can't come with us, at least not yet anyways." Leslie turned towards her, and gave her a quick smile and wave, then dashed off to catch up with Jesse.

As the two approached the rope, they looked down at the river below them. It was almost flooding around their feet, and they barely got a hold on the rope. Leslie went first; she had to jump up a bit more on the rope than usual so she wouldn't get her feet drenched. She landed on the bank on the other side, almost falling back into the water, and motioned for Jesse to go ahead. He jumped up onto the rope, accidentally bouncing himself on it. SNAP! The rope broke mid way and he fell in straight on his back into the water.

"Jess!" Leslie yelled out to her best friend, and began to scream for help.

"Lesl" Before Jesse could get anymore words out he was thrown under the water by the rapids. Leslie ran down the side of the creek, telling him to grab on to anything he could. Barely being able to breathe, Jesse twisted his body up right, and began to float on his back. Looking around, he saw a root overhanging the creek and went to grab it. His fingers latched on for a split second, but slipped back off and Jesse was dunked underwater again. Leslie, now holding a stick that was bigger than she was, stuck it out towards Jesse. He grabbed the stick with two fingers, remained attached and finally grabbed on with both hands. Leslie pulled Jesse toward the bank and dragged him onto it. As his leg was pulled out, she saw his pants were a deep, dark red and it had been torn open on one side.

"ow, ow, ow.." Jesse moaned, trying to fight back his tears.

"Jess! Jess!" A voice came from across the field.

"Jess it's going to be okay! May Belle got help!" Leslie hugged Jesse, then stood up and waved the family over to her position.

Jack Aarons ran up to the creek, found a shallow spot, and crossed into the forest. Jesse, now unconscious from shock, was picked up and taken home for medical care. Leslie followed the family there, and just as he had done for her, she waited for him.

"Les-Leslie?" Jesse propped himself up on the couch with a pillow behind him.

"JESS!" Leslie practically screamed his name, turned around from watching the television and gave him a long hug. He was amazed at first, but then decided to embrace the hug, until his parents came in.

"Jesse, we're going to take you to the E.R. tonight. Don't worry, Leslie will be able to stay with you…At least until Sunday, then she has to be home by eight for school." Mr. Aarons had walked into the room with a cup of coffee in his hand to announce the plans.

"Dad, can I please stay home until Jesse gets feeling better?" Leslie turned to her dad who was sitting on the recliner across the room.

"Well, I mean…I guess if Judy says it's o" Bill was quickly interrupted.

"No. Sorry Leslie, but you need to get back to school!"

Leslie looked at her mother with her bottom lip stuck out, head down, and eyes looking up towards her mother.

"I'll talk to your father about it." Judy fell victim to Leslie's innocent face, and smiled as she walked home with her husband to "talk" about their daughter staying home with her best friend.

Jesse was carried to Roanoke Hospital that night, stitched up, and sent home with a pair of crutches. He walked in the door, mumbled something close to "good night," and fell sound asleep on the couch.

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Sunday started off far different than Jesse had expected. Saturday night sometime after Jesse fell asleep on the couch; Leslie called her parents to ask if she could spend the night. With a lot of pleading and begging, she was aloud to sleep at the Aarons house under a few conditions. She was to stay in May Belle's room while Jesse was down stairs sleeping, and she had to sleep in May Belle's bed while she slept in Jesse's bed.

Jesse awoke to a sweet aroma, and he opened his eyes immediately. A plate of pancakes glazed over with syrup and a small square piece of butter on top was sitting on the coffee table right beside him. He quickly propped himself up onto the couch with a few pillows behind him. Grabbing the pancakes and fork without hesitation, he quickly started gobbling them up.

"Wow Jesse, you must have been hungry…" Leslie looked at Jesse with amazement.

"Mmhyah" Jesse mumbled through his pancakes.

"Taste good?" she asked; Jesse nodded happily.

"I spit in it." Leslie put her face in front of Jesse's and smiled. This didn't affect Jesse, however. He just paused for a second to look up at her, shrugged and continued to eat. Leslie giggled at Jesse, and prepared for what she was about to do.

"I didn't spit in them, but I did make them just for you."

Jesse paused, and looked over at Leslie. Before he could respond, Leslie gave Jesse an uncoordinated kiss on his cheek. Leslie pulled back and blushed, hiding her face in her hands, and Jesse was just lying there on the couch, mouth opened with food visible, and eyes wide open. It was now that Jesse was certain about how he felt towards Leslie. He wanted her to be his Leslie, no one else's. He felt an extremely warm feeling rush through is body during and after the kiss, and after he chewed his food, he said one phrase that left Leslie the same way she left him.

"I love you, Leslie."