Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the story Bridge to Terabithia

I am just a fan of one of the most emotionally powerful books that I have ever read.

The Phone Call

Chapter 12

As the Burke's drove away that morning, the morning that they left Lark creek, Leslie never looked back. She couldn't, it was too painful for her. She never saw Jesse standing there looking so alone and so terribly sad. The last thing she remembered was seeing his smiling face, not the wretched boy standing in the middle of the driveway.

After Leslie and her parents left Lark Creek they stopped in Philadelphia to visit Bill's parents. From there they went on to visit Judy's parents in New York City and from New York they made the flight to England. The further from Lark Creek they went the more Leslie's heart ached for Jesse. She tried to forget him but the more she tried the more the pain of missing him grew. She had to be strong for the both of them. She knew that it would be a long time before they could possibly be together again and she didn't think is was fair to Jesse to make him wait for her. She hoped Jesse would move on with his life and forget about her and be happy. It was going to be difficult for Leslie, she believed she loved him and needed him far more the he needed and loved her. She had to forget him and start a new life.

They arrived in England on Tuesday morning, it had been almost a week since she said goodbye to Jesse and the pain of missing him was still fresh in her mind. She felt that she should be excited to be here in England but all she could think about was him.

As Leslie unpacked her things she searched frantically for Prince Terrian, the little stuffed dog that Jesse had won for her in New Jersey. She was sure she had packed him, then she remembered she had left him in the tree house as guardian of Terabithia. She now wished that she accepted the ring from Jesse, at least then she would have something to remember him by. But no, that would have been cruel she told herself, it would have only encouraged him.

So with an aching sadness in her heart she realized that she had nothing of his to remember him by.

A few days after they had arrived in England Leslie had gone out with Bill on an errand. When they returned Judy told her that Jess had called. Leslie was so excited she ran to the phone and punched in the numbers but stopped herself before she finished. I can't she told herself. Then sitting down with pen and paper she wrote him a letter instead.

As the years past by, Leslie kept herself busy with her schoolwork and her writing. She dated casually from time to time, but no boy could measure up of Jesse. She made many new friends through the years and told everyone that she met that she had a boyfriend back in the States that she intended to marry someday. She knew deep inside that she was probably just fooling herself, he'll never wait for me she thought. He probably has lots of new girlfriends by now and has forgotten all about me. God I hope he's happy. If anyone in the world deserves to be happy she thought, it's Jesse Oliver Aarons, the most wonderful boy with the most beautiful heart and soul in the world.

Every night, although not a true believer in religion, Leslie would say a quiet prayer to the darkness. She would pray that one day she and Jesse would be reunited, then she'd close her prayer by saying, "I love you Jesse Aarons."

The pain of missing Leslie lessened with the passing of time but it never completely left him. He thought of her often, and would sometimes go off to Terabithia where he felt close to her. He could picture her standing there between the trees and sometimes he would imagined that she was in the tree house; it would feel to him like old times. For brief moments he would be happy with the memories of her swirling in his mind, but that melancholy ache of missing her would soon return.

When he started back to school that fall, even though filled with students, the place seemed empty without her. He was a junior in high school now; a new year with the promise of new hopes and new dreams, but it's going to be a long lonely year without Leslie to share it with him. He struggled through that first day of school. He kept expecting to see her coming up to him in the hall, or finding her at her locker. However, after he caught himself looking for her a couple of times, and then realizing that she was no longer there he cursed himself for being so stupid. At lunchtime he went to their table and her seat was empty, no one was about to sit there, at least not yet. Scott and Gary were there at their usual seats and Janice Avery, who is a senior this year, joined them. She spoke softly to Jesse, "Hey Jesse," she said, " I'm sorry to hear that Leslie's moved away. If there's anything I can do for you just let me know, Ok." Jess smiled at her and nodded, then Janice continued, "You know I'm gonna miss that little bean pole." Then she smiled at Jess and let out a little chuckle. Jesse smiled back at her and said, "Thanks Janice, You've been a good friend to Leslie and I know she'll miss you too."

After school that first day Jess was conspicuously missing from cross-county practice and the coach asked Scott if he knew where he was. Coach said that he hoped Jesse was planning to sign up and join the team, because they were really going to need him this year. Scott looked around, scanning the field, hoping to see Jesse; but there was no sign of him. Scott, who had become quite annoyed with his friend's recent attitude, told the coach that Jesse was just running a little late and to write his name down on the signup sheet. Then grabbing a perplexed Gary Fulcher by the arm said, " we'll be back in a few minutes coach."

The pair ran back to the school building as fast as they could go. Jesse's bus was just about to pull away from the curb when Scott and Gary came up commandeering it. Kenny the bus driver, startled at first, stopped the bus. He opened the door and Scott hopped on followed by Gary. Scott quickly explained why they were here and Kenny smiled, nodded and pointed back to where Jesse was sitting. Kenny had been told about Leslie leaving Lark Creek and was going to miss having her ride on his bus. She had been riding on his bus with Jesse ever since the sixth grade when she had moved to Lark Creek. She was very special to Kenny, different then the other kids, and Kenny had always enjoyed talking with her. She was so bright and refreshing, it would bring a smile to his face whenever he saw her. She would always brighten up a dull day for him.

Jesse was lost in thought and hadn't noticed the two boys board the bus. He was fully absorbed by the sketch of Leslie he was working on. Then suddenly his attention was torn away from his drawing when he heard Gary Fulcher calling to him. "Aarons," Gary shouted over the din on the bus, "You're dead meat." Jesse looked up and saw the two boys standing there in front of him. "Oh….Hi guys," he said meekly, he had a pretty good idea why they were here. "What are you guys doing here?" He asked apprehensively.

"What are we doing here? What are you doing here?" Scott mocked him, anger in his voice.

"I…I'm going home, is that ok with you guys?" Jesse stammered, taken aback by the verbal slap Scott had just delivered.

"NO!" the two boys chorused. Then Scott took to scolding Jesse, "Jesse Aarons," he began, "you belong at cross country practice, the coach is waiting for you. You have to stop this mopin' around missing Leslie crap and move on; you do have other friends you know…. I don't know what kinda' stupid pact you an' Leslie made about not keepin' in touch with each other, but I do know that you have other people that need you and care about you, like me an' Gary, and coach, and most of the people on this bus, and..."

Everyone on the bus had stopped what he or she were doing and turned their attention to Scott, every eye and ear were focused now on the three boys.

"Yeah…Yeah, Ok…Ok I get the picture," Jesse said interrupting Scott. He was red faced with embarrassment, and stunned by Scott's emotional out burst, then Jesse continued saying. "Look guys, I don't think I want to join the team this year." He wished he could run away and hide, he hadn't intended to hurt anyone.

Then a voice from the front of the bus said, "off the bus Aarons!"

"Huh?" Jesse choked; it was Kenny: he was kicking him off the bus!

"Huh…But why?" why won't they just leave me alone he thought, and let me go home?

"Hit the road Aarons," Kenny yelled back to him. " NOW!" He added forcefully.

Scott smirked at Jesse and said, "you heard the man Aarons; off the bus."

Jesse looked around the bus at all the faces turned his way; he had been defeated; he felt lost and lonely. Then feeling all the eyes on him, watching him, he sighed deeply and surrendered.

"Ok…Ok, I'm going…I'm going" Jess said as he quickly stuffed his sketchbook into his backpack, then slid out of his seat and shouldered his bag.

Scott and Gary high fived each other and escorted Jesse off the bus. Kenny smiled at Jesse and said, "good luck Jess." Jesse just glared at him for a moment then turned and hopped off the bus.

The days passed and Jesse re-discovered how much fun the cross-country team was. It helped him forget about missing Leslie, at least for a while. So Jesse soon apologized to Scott, saying that he was sorry he'd been such a jerk and then he thanked him for giving him a kick in the butt.

The cross-country season flew by and Jesse was sad to see it come to an end. As it turned out it was a good season for the Lark Creek high school boy's team; they managed five wins out of ten meets that year. Once again the coach was very proud of them. The girl's team had won the league championship again and they went on to take second place in the state finals. Jesse wished Leslie could have been here for that. He at least wished he could tell her about it. They would have won first place if Leslie had been on the team, he was sure of that.

Fall had given way to winter and soon it was Christmas time. Jesse, violating their pact, sent Leslie a Christmas card not expecting anything in return, but a few days later he received a card from the Burkes. Leslie had added a little note in one corner of the card. All it said was, 'I still love you Jesse.' Jesse tucked the card away in Leslie's sweatshirt with the letter he had received from her last summer.

By February Scott had convinced Jesse to start dating, it had been over six months since Leslie left and Scott and Gary had been hounding him to go out and have some fun for a change. So he tried dating a couple of times, but he wasn't very good at asking girls out on dates. Not that there was any shortage of girls interested in him, after all he was athletic, smart, good looking, and his long term relationship with Leslie intrigued many of the girls. Rumors abounded about Jesse's knowledge of the art of love and romance. Truthfully though, when it came to girls other then Leslie he was quite nervous, and since he had always been with Leslie he never had any reason to ask anyone else out on a date. There was just that one time back in the eighth grade, and that had been quite awkward. Besides, he really didn't have any interest in anyone other than Leslie.

Hoager and Fulcher in desperation to help their friend had fixed him up a few times with dates, but none of the girls he went out with measured up to Leslie. They were ok and he had some good times and some fun times but his heart just wasn't in it. The girls he dated usually bored him, not to say the girls were boring, it was that Jesse was bored with himself and he found that it would just make him miss Leslie that much more. So soon he avoided dating altogether. He threw himself into his schoolwork and he got a job after school and on weekends leaving little time for anything else. Occasionally he would pal around with Scott and Gary, and they would have some fun times together. From time to time they would get together for a 'guys night out' and go to the movies, or a concert, or just hanging around. Sometimes they would hike out into the woods and camp, or they would go fishing, but the only thing that Jesse really ever made special time for were trips to Terabithia. Out there in the woods among the trees near their castle, out in the fresh sweet smelling air down by the creek he felt like he could "talk" to Leslie. He would wander around in the forest where he and Leslie had played when they were children, and he would feel close to her. Just thinking about her and thinking about their future once they were together again gave him comfort. It would give him the strength he needed to carry on. But as time passed by, the trips to Terabithia became less frequent. He found he was thinking of her less often and it was becoming easier to live with the pain of missing her.

The time passed quickly and before he knew it his senior year of high school was coming to an end. The Prom was approaching and he was being pressured into going by his family and friends, they were all insisting that he had to go. So surrendering to the consensus in order to keep the peace he reluctantly attended his senior prom. He went with a friend of Scott Hoager's who had been dumped recently by a long-term boyfriend. As it turned out, they were the perfect match for each other. Neither one expecting anything from the other, each one missing their formed girlfriend or boyfriend.

Jesse did, however, feel a little bit like a traitor. Here he was at his senior prom with another girl; it was just not right, it felt so wrong to him. It should have been Leslie he was with, but Leslie was far away now and this is the way she had wanted it to be, so he made the best of it. He tried to enjoy himself for Leslie's sake if not for his own. He wondered what Leslie was doing right now. Do they have proms in England he wondered? He'd have to check it out. It made him feel dumb that he didn't know.

Graduation day was bittersweet for Jesse. Part of him was glad to be moving on and leaving the old school behind. But another part of him felt like it was one more connection to Leslie that was being severed. The school that they had gone to together, where they ran track and cross-country together, where they studied made friends and did so many other things together. There were so many memories of her here. Sometimes, he could almost see her coming down the hall toward him. But that was all gone now, long gone. Why can't he just forget about her and move on. Am I crazy, he thought to himself. He wished he could ask Leslie, she'd know. "Damn, I am crazy," he said out loud to himself and laughed. Then he said; "yeah, I'm crazy alright, I'm crazy about Leslie."

After high school Jesse worked hard putting himself through college. He had promised Leslie that he would go. It was a difficult time for Jesse but he was determined to make Leslie proud of him. Even if he never saw her again, even if she never knew that he went to college, he himself would know, and he couldn't let her down.

It would have been too costly for him to board at school, so he commuted to a nearby state university. It was about an hour drive from Lark Creek and he'd make the long drive every morning for classes. After class he went to work at a job he had found near by the campus. Then after work he'd make the long drive home and most nights he would be up quite late doing his homework. Between school and work he had very little time for anything else, but it was well worth it. When from time to time it seemed like it was all too much for him he would think to himself, Leslie would be proud of me, and it would push him on. Whenever he did, on occasion, get the chance to get away for a while he would go to Terabithia. He would study or read and it would feel almost like old times when Leslie had been there. Once or twice he had looked up truly expecting to see her sitting there, he would come crashing back to reality when he saw that she wasn't, he'd sigh and curse himself for getting so carried away. He wished he could stop thinking about Leslie so much. Over time it had become easier to live without her, but there was always something that would remind him of her and have him thinking about her again. Terabithia wasn't helping much, how could he forget about her when every time he went there all the memories of her would flood back to him. He thought maybe he should sell the land and be done with it, but no, there was no way he could do that he thought to himself, not yet anyway. It's just that it's been so many years he thought, she probably doesn't even think about me anymore; she doesn't have Terabithia to remind her.

It was a struggle for him but Jesse managed to make his way through three years of college. One more year he thought, and if all goes well I should have my degree. The pressures of schoolwork and his jobs kept him busier then ever and sometimes he all but forgot about Leslie. He felt she was becoming but a footnote in his life. Then when he turned twenty-one he took possession of his property, he now legally owned Terabithia. When Bill had deeded Jesse the land, as it turned out, he had also left a sizable sum of money that would remain in a trust fund until Jesse was twenty-five years old. It was the interest from this money that the taxes and any other obligations pertaining to the land were paid. Up until now Jesse's dad had handled it, but now it was Jesse's responsibility. Now once again, all those memories of Leslie filled his mind and the pain of missing her, although not as acute as before, raged anew within him. He pushed the thoughts of her back down deep inside his mind again and soon the memories and the pain of her absence became dulled once more.

7