AN: It took awhile, but this one is quite a bit longer, and it took some more thought than the others because it has to reflect a time where we're being shown Jess' life, and Leslie is not in any part of it at the moment. I can't quote her essay exactly,m because I unfortunately do not own BtT on DVD! I also used the abbreviation for the chapter title because Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus would not fit! I want to give credit for Inkspell, which is written by one of my favourite authors, Corneila Funke. Please Review!

-Breezy.

Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

Leslie walked a few steps behind Jess as he walked toward the line of old battered school buses. She was sure he had seen her a couple of times, but he didn't say anything. Leslie wanted to apologize for beating the boys. Apologize for running. Apologize for even coming to Lark Creek. She hated the place. From the small cramped classrooms, to the smelly old bathrooms, she thought it was a horrible place to learn. All the boys hate me, and I've got nothing in common with the girls. I don't like to talk about boys or make-up... Her only chance was Jess. His eyes seemed to say; You may have beaten me earlier, but that doesn't mean I hate you. Jess got on a bus, and Leslie looked down at the faded number she had written on her hand earlier. The 668 was just barely visible. She had lost track of which bus Jess had gotten on. Oh well, she thought, there's always tomorrow, before ducking into the right bus. she sat down in the front, because she didn't know anyone. Leslie pulled out Inkspell. Leslie loved it. She always became entranced by Meggie's power of reading people and objects in and out of books. She became enthralled once more. So enthralled in fact, that when her stop came, she nearly missed it. Just as the bus began to move again, she jumped up and exclaimed, "This is my stop... Sorry," she added quietly.

"Ok," the bus driver replied gruffly. Leslie put Inkspell back into her bag and hopped down the bus steps. She was shocked to see as just as surprised Jess staring back, wide eyed at her. "Are you following me?!" What a stupid question, Leslie thought. "Uh. No. I live over there," she explained, pointing to her 'new' house. "Got any sisters?" the little girl asked. Leslie shook her head, "No. Just me." The girl looked crestfallen, "Got any Barbies?"

"Yeah. I might have a few."

"I have one... And a half."

"One and a half?!" Leslie asked, now interested.

"One got cut in half playing super extreme Barbie. You throw them out the upstairs window, flush the toilet with them in it, things like that. It's really fun!"

"Sounds like fun," Leslie said looking at Jess, her eyes asking, Is she always like this?

"Hey Leslie!" a man called out, walking towards the three children.

"Oh, hi Bill," she replied, "that's my dad," she said to Jess and May-Belle, who were looking confused at her calling him by his first name.

"I've gotta pick up some supplies, wanna come?"

"Okay! See you later," Leslie told Jess, after all, she would, they were neighbours, and they were in the same class at school, of course she would! Leslie got in the car plopped her bag down beside her, and did up her seatbelt, Bill did the same. For Leslie, it was pure habit, but for Bill, who was from the country as he was growing up, almost never put his seatbelt on, even after almost twelve years of living in the big city of Arlington. "Bill, I'm amazed!" Leslie said teasingly, "you remembered!" The two smiled at each other.

"So, was school as bad as you thought it was going to be Leslie?" Bill asked.

"Yes. Well, not really. No. But I beat all the boys in a race today-"

"Congratulations!" he exclaimed, cutting her off.

"It's not a good thing! They all hate me know, at least, almost. I don't think Jess hates me."

"Is that the boy you were talking to earlier?" Bill asked, looking at her in the rear view mirror.

"Yeah, it was." They had reached the hardware store and it was time to get out. They parked, and walked to the store, Bill teasing Leslie about her boyfriend. As if he's my boyfriend, I mean, I barely know him, in fact, I don't know him!

On the way back to Lark Creek, Leslie said nothing about Jess, but rather, she had talked about the one page essay on her favourite hobby she was to complete for Monday. "Why don't you do reading?" Bill suggested. "Well, no," Leslie said, "they already know I love to read. I completely dumped my bag today, but by accident!" she added, seeing the look on her father's face. "I think I'll do something different, and interesting, like...," she thought for a moment, "Scuba Diving!" Bill's face lit up at this, "Yeah! You can write about so much with Scuba Diving!" Bill looked at Leslie thoughtfully, "But have you ever gone Scuba Diving?" he asked with a smirk.

"No. They don't have to know that... Necessarily,"she said carefully, "I wouldn't be lying, I'd be making it up. It's different."

"Hi Bill! Hi Leslie!" Judy, Leslie's mother, called through the partially opened windows of their little car. "Hi Judy! How's the kitchen coming along?"

"Oh, it's along all right. A long job!" Judy said, grabbing Leslie's bag.

"Uh. No it's okay Mom," Leslie said grabbing it herself.

"Hey, young lady, don't give me mouth! What's going on?"

"I'm just thinking, never mind. But can I go do my homework now?" With that, she left Bill and Judy in silence. You could hear Leslie plunking up the stairs and sitting down at her desk. She dropped her bag and put her head in her hands. She had nothing. No friends, no books yet, for her parents hadn't found that particular box yet, and she had nowhere to go. All she had was running. The skill that had made it impossible for her to be accepted at school now. And writing. She had that. But writing was the very thing that had brought her here. Her parents were writers, very successful writers at that. They had probably published more than thirty books combined, but that was the problem. With success comes money, and with money comes greed and with greed comes arguments. Bill and Judy sat down one evening in Arlington, thinking Leslie was asleep, when in fact, she was not, and talked about moving away from the city, and away from the need of money. Leslie heard it all, from leaving Arlington, all the way to writing less books. Leslie prided herself in knowing that her parents wrote and wrote well. Leslie sat there for a very, very long time. Almost two hours. Leslie began to write about Scuba Diving, yanking herself away from the memories. "I am moving gently forward, over the wild and unexplored world below me. I am floating in silence, and breaking it up with the sound of my breath..." She truly was floating in silence. The world around her seemed to vaporize, making it impossible to hear anything, except her own breath. She fell asleep under the spell of her own writing, and unknown magic within her soul surfacing for the very first time.