AN: Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad I have some loyal readers. I guess this is the first chapter told in a different point of view. I focused the story about Leslie to begin with since she has recollection of her previous life as well as returning to this warped reality, but I think that every now and then it'll be nice to switch things up a bit. Hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think!
There were a few things Jesse Aarons was sure of.
One: He had brains in his head and feet in his shoes. He could thank Dr. Seuss for that one. Seriously, was that the only book Maybelle wanted for a bed time story when she was younger?
Two: He wasn't well to do. Classmates crudely put it in the term 'poor,' which wasn't exactly true. But, Jess was aware that he didn't have as much as other kids did and he knew what the value of a dollar was. He caught grief from his parents when they were struggling, and he felt like royalty when things were looking up. Of course, that was putting it in his perspective; his father ignoring his existence was far from aristocracy, but it was better than being yelled at and working overtime. All in all, Jess was alive and well. That was the important thing, right?
Three: He was practically nonexistent. When he was growing up, his older sisters would ignore him or he'd be the center of their mockery. It was the same at school too. For the most part people didn't pay attention to Jess, or they'd pick on him. There wasn't a middle ground. Jess didn't have friends, other than his little sister who was annoying as hell. Besides, Jess wasn't the 'Barbie' type. His father often ignored him too. It was rare to get praise from Jack Aarons. Sure, Jess work in his father's store. Some could say he did more work there than Jack, since Jack was always making house calls and installing hardware. But Jess never got a 'thanks' or even a 'you did good, kid.' It was usually a grunt and a bob of the head that signified Jack Aarons was pleased with his son, and he'd take it.
Four: He just got beat by a girl. Jesse Aarons, the fastest kid in school, the senior guy who raked in the medals at track meets, just got beat. By. A. Girl. He lost track of how many times his head had to reiterate the statement to convince him that it did, indeed, just happen. Where had things gone wrong?
His morning had been normal. He got up early as per usual to do his daily chores, like milking their cow Bessie and getting eggs from the chicken coop. He also made sure to clean up afterward, lest he catch complaints about his hygiene. He joined his parents and two younger sisters for a silent breakfast, the only noises being Joyce Ann playing with her food. Really, she was nearly seven and she couldn't eat without making a mess? Of course his parents thought it was cute. Well, his mom did. His dad just gave his signature grunt, but didn't complain, which meant he didn't mind it. If there was anything Jack Aarons minded, you'd hear about it.
Jess always had to get an early start to school since he had to drop May Belle off. Their ride in the old truck would mainly consist of the girl animatedly talking about nothing. At least that was what Jess thought. He pretty much tuned her out. Sometimes it was about makeup, sometimes clothes, and – worst of all, according to Jess – sometimes boys. Actually, she talked about boys a lot. He would cringe and do his best to ignore her. The last thing Jess ever wanted to think about was some punk preteen macking on his little sister.
The area they lived in was rather secluded in comparison to the rest of Lark Creek. As the low rumble of the truck helped tune out his sister, he noticed her attention drawn to something outside. His gaze followed, and he realized they were looking at the old Perkins' place.
"Hey, Jess look! It looks like someone's moved in there. I wonder if they have any girls...or boys..."
Again with the boys, so Jess tuned her out. But she had been right. There were cars in the drive. Nice ones, too. And one of them was a classic, which immediately caught his eye. It was weird that anyone would move in to the old Perkins' place. It was so far from town, and definitely antique in its nature. Jess wasn't one to judge though, and didn't pay any more thought to it.
Dropping May Belle off was pretty painless. She always wanted to get out as fast as she could to go spend time with her friends. With that done, all he had to do was drive to his school which was only about five minutes away. Traffic at the high school was terrible though. Maybe he was being a hypocrite, but the other drivers of his age were awful, and the worst part was that they knew it and didn't really care.
Things had been pretty uneventful from the time he parked in the student lot to getting to the locker room to dress out for track. A few comments from Hoager and Fulcher here and there, but nothing serious. Jess wasn't really sure when it happened, his befriending of the former bullies. Maybe it was when Jess got bigger than them and punched Hoager in the face. Yeah, that had to be it. Hoager still made rude comments, but it was more of a friendly teasing. Jess could tell that they were both careful not to actually piss him off. After all, he was around six feet and had developed muscle from working with his father. He could do some damage, and they weren't complete idiots. Most of the time.
Truth be told, Jess really didn't know why they were in track anyway. Hoager was alright, and sometimes placed in races, but Fulcher was far too bulky and short and would have excelled in football. Maybe they would have separation anxiety or something.
Warm-up had been average. A kid named Ken Walker showed up late and Coach yelled at him. And then Fulcher wasn't warming up, and when she called him out on it he must have given her a stupid expression or something because she made some comment about speaking Swedish. And then Jess noticed there was some blond girl beside coach Giles. And she looked weird. Good weird? Maybe. Her outfit was definitely unique, but she kind of looked good in it.
Oh God. He was starting to sound like May Belle.
Deciding the blond girl wasn't about to distract him any longer, he turned his attention back to his stretching and preparation. It was a known fact that Jesse Aarons was undefeated when it came to running, at their school at least. There had been a few times at meets when he was second or third, but as far as class went, he always won the unspoken competitions.
They were getting ready. He heard Hoager sniggering about something, but he wasn't about to even try to figure out that guy's mind. And then he heard the whistle, and Jess took off like a rocket.
He was out in front. That was how they usually broke. From time to time a few of the runners would test his ability, which caused more adrenaline to surge through Jess and push him to the edge, giving him enough to maintain first. As he was running the track though, Jess couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right. His usual competition wasn't there. And as he rounded a turn and glanced at the other side, he noticed some of the guys barely jogging, stunned expressions on their faces. What was that about?
The answer came abruptly when Jess caught sight of blond in his vision. It was that girl, and she was beside him, running. Momentarily dazed, something in his head triggered a familiarity about this scene. But reality hit him hard, and he realized that he was about to lose to this new girl. It took all his might to push himself even further, and for a while they were at a matched pace. And then he was looking at the back of her head, getting a good view of those wavy locks.
Jess seemed to be in a bit of a haze, along with the rest of the guys. Hoager's voice cut through the fog, jolting him out of the dreamland.
"She's kind of cute when she runs, isn't she?" His eyes were downcast as he was still watching the girl jog back to the coach, and Jess let out a noise of disgust as he got the meaning. "Oh, come on Aarons. So you got beat by a girl. It's not like she's going to be racing against you at meets and stuff. Besides, having a girl in this period will make things...interesting." The smirk was evident in Scott's tone as he made his way beside Jess, but Jess gave him the cold shoulder and continued in all his sulking glory. Apparently Hoager had been paying more attention to the exchanges between the new girl and the coach. Figures he'd pay attention to a girl, Jess thought to himself sourly.
The rest of the period was uneventful. The new girl – he didn't bother to learn her name – sat on the grass, doodling God-knew-what in that stupid notebook of hers. Maybe he'd have been interested if she hadn't trampled over what little ego he had left. What probably bothered him the most though was that every once in a while she'd be looking at him. Not at anyone else, just him. And the look on her face...she looked like she understood - not only what happened, but everything. One look and she could see his darkest secrets painted on his face, or read his emotions and understand. It freaked him out.
Thankfully track was over and Jess could move on with his life and forget about the new girl. By the end of his second class, pre-calculus, he had all but forgotten her. And in the hour it took to get rid of her from his mind, it only took one second for her to show back up, like some plague. There she was, plain as day, in his European history class. As he took his inconspicuous seat in the middle of the room, he began silently praying that she wouldn't sit within a five foot radius.
Apparently, some divine being had other plans.
Mr. Warner had instructed her to take a seat on Jess's right side, apparently the only available seat in the class. At least he didn't have to talk to her. Some others around them had already done that, and they were already making friends with this she-devil. It was then he put his tuning-out skills to use. At least May Belle did come in handy some times.
As it turned out, Jess's bad day had only just gotten started. He came to find he also had English class with the new girl, and he inadvertently learned that the reason he didn't have math or science with her was because she was smarter than him and opted to take more difficult classes. Not only had she trampled his ego, she tore his intellect to shreds. Oh, and apparently she was rich.
Just great.