Here's chapter 7! Again, sorry for the wait...school is starting soon and I've been busy trying to cram everything I've lost over the summer back into my brain. :D

Enjoy!

"I am not wearing a tie to see this Greg Jacklyn," Jess tried to tell her but Leslie was stubborn.

"You said you would wear a tie if I wore a skirt," she told him smartly. "And I'm wearing a skirt. A very short one, I might add. So now you're wearing a tie."

"I'll look stupid."

"You'll look handsome." Leslie was losing patience. "Pick one or I'll pick for you, and I'll find that one of my dad's that has butterflies on it."

"Fine...fine...the blue one."

"Good choice," Leslie said happily and Jess took it from her in irritation. He put it around his neck and Leslie tied it for him carefully.

"Where'd you learn to do up ties?" he asked her.

"My mom taught me when she had to go to a book talk," she explained, "in case Bill tried walking out the door with his tie done wrong."

"I thought he worked at home."

"He didn't a couple years ago." She tightened the tie carefully and stood back to admire her work. "There. You look very professional."

"Whoopie," Jess said unenthusiastically. "Do you have our notes?"

Leslie picked up the folder she had brought over and laid on Jess's bed. "Yep. All the reasons why our land shouldn't be destroyed and all the proof we have that makes us believe Miranda's Outfitting! is building illegally. And even if we didn't have proof they'd still have to investigate if we went to them with a problem, right?"

Jess nodded, and he and Leslie picked up their coats and walked downstairs. Brenda and Ellie were in their room, which was odd, but the rest of Jess's family was around the table, Nancy telling Joyce Ann and May Belle they were not allowed to eat Halloween candy for breakfast and Jack reading the paper.

"...it all away if this doesn't drop right now," Mrs. Aarons was saying as they walked into the kitchen. She turned around and, seeing them, a smile spread over her tired face. "Now, where are you two going all dressed up like that?"

May Belle and Joyce Ann automatically looked up, apparently already thinking of reasons for Jess to take them with him, and Jack turned around in his chair as well. Jess answered, "Oh...we've got an interview with someone downtown."

"Why?" Joyce Ann demanded as Jack asked, "With who?"

"We've got to go to some Kelly at a desk," Leslie said and Jess nodded, as that part of their story was true. "It's for our history project. We told her we need to talk to someone about Lark Creek development."

Jack let out a laugh. "Lark Creek development?" he asked. "What kind of project is this?"

Jess and Leslie glanced at each other uneasily. "Our teacher has interesting assignments," Jess said.

"Well, I don't feel comfortable with you two going downtown by yourselves..." Nancy started, brow furrowing.

"Don't worry, Mom, we're not going near the factories," Jess quickly said, referring to the place where gangs and convicts from D.C. roamed. "We're going to the nice part of town, where all the elected official buildings are."

"Well...don't do or say anything immature," Mrs. Aarons said, still looking concerned. "If you're talking to the people who run our city..."

"Oh, no, we're just talking to one of Leslie's dad's friends," Jess lied and Leslie nodded, backing him up. "No one important...no offence, Les."

"None taken."

"Can I come?" May Belle asked eagerly as Jess grabbed two water bottles from the refrigerator and Leslie put her coat on.

"We'd love to have you come," she said to May Belle, speaking over Jess, "but we wouldn't do something like that to you. It'd be really boring; you'd have to sit in the hallway like at school, and be stared at for hours."

May Belle giggled.

"Next time," Jess told her as he put his coat on as well. "'Bye, guys."

"Have fun," Jack called after them, shaking his head, as Nancy said uncertainly, "Be safe!" and Jess and Leslie practically ran for their truck.

"That was close," Leslie hissed as Jess put the keys in the ignition.

"Nice cover up, though," Jess told her with a smile. They sped off down the dirt road, arriving at their destination twenty-five minutes later on 56th Street. The building was large and elegant-looking, with two huge oak trees on either side of it, with three sets of double doors in the front and stairs leading up to them.

"Well, here we go," Leslie said and Jess nodded. He locked the truck, Leslie picked up the folder, and they set off up the stairs to the building.

Jess stopped in awe when they walked indoors. The marble tile gleamed up at him and several chandeliers glittered above him. Nice sets of furniture accented with wooden coffee tables were scattered about the wide front room while fake plants loomed impressively from each corner.

"Come on," whispered Leslie, who was obviously used to being inside buildings like this. Jess nodded again. The room was so quiet, with only a couple people in business suits wandering about, that whispering felt like an unspoken rule to follow.

They set off toward a desk with the word Assistance written in shining letters right above it, Leslie's heels clacking gently on the tile. A brunette at the desk lifted a finger to signal them to wait while she wrote down something on a pad, a phone pressed up against her ear. "Thank you," she said after a couple of murmurs and she hung up the phone. "May I help you?" she asked, looking at Jess and Leslie.

"Hi," Leslie said brightly. "Are you Kelly?"

"Yes, I am," the woman said with a smile. "What can I do for you?"

"We're here for a ten o'clock meeting with Mr. Greg Jacklyn?"

Kelly raised an eyebrow, then did some clicking on the computer to the right of her. "Hmm...Mr. Aarons and Ms. Burke?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jess said.

"Right," Kelly said, still looking slightly confused. "Well, take the elevator right over there to floor three, and you'll want to tell the lady at the desk you have an appointment...with the Council President," she added, frowning slightly. "Mrs. Rimmons is the secretary's name."

"Thank you," Leslie told her, and they quickly headed for the elevator.

"Why did she look at us all weird?" Jess asked her as the doors closed and Leslie pushed the number three.

"She probably hasn't seen kids here before," she said as she leaned back against the elevator wall. "I'm surprised she didn't ask if we had IDs. Or whether or not we had parent supervision."

"Well, she didn't," Jess said. "What's with you?"

"My feet," Leslie sighed, who had lifted her left foot and was rubbing it gently. "I hate wearing heels."

"But you look so professional," Jess told her as the elevator doors opened and Leslie put her foot down. She rolled her eyes at them as they headed for the desk with a name tag on the top of it that said Claire Rimmons.

"Hello," Jess said pleasantly to an overweight woman clacking away at her computer. She looked up at them with narrowed eyes. "We're here to see Mr. Greg Jacklyn. We have a ten o'clock appointment."

Mrs. Rimmons's brows furrowed. "Mr. Jacklyn is not seeing anybody today."

"We called ahead and scheduled an meeting," Leslie told her with a swift smile. "He's expecting us."

"Well, try again later, little girl," Mrs. Rimmons told her in a clipped voice, and went back to her typing. Jess and Leslie looked at each other.

"Er...ma'am, the lady at the front desk, Kelly, I think, sent us up here," Leslie said. "We have a scheduled appointment."

"And it is urgent that we speak to him," Jess added.

"Listen, children, Mr. Jacklyn has more important things to do than listen to the ramblings of little kids," Mrs. Rimmons said crisply, somehow managing to sound menacing and business-like at the same time. "Now I suggest that you go back to sleeping in late and skipping school and whatever it is that you have to do before I—"

"Mr. Aarons?" came a man's voice from behind them. "Ms. Burke?"

Jess and Leslie turned around. Before them stood a very tall man, with graying hair and a few lines on his face, smiling at them warmly. "So you did come," he said as he stepped out toward Mrs. Rimmons's desk. "Excellent, excellent. I'm—"

"Mr. Jacklyn!" sputtered Mrs. Rimmons, standing up angrily in her chair. "You specifically said—"

"That I would be seeing no further appointments after my ten o'clock meeting," the man finished for her. "And, of course, the council meeting at three. I'm assuming you two are here for me at ten?" he asked, addressing Jess and Leslie.

"Yes, sir," Jess said as Mr. Jacklyn held out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Jess Aarons. And this is Leslie Burke."

"Yes, I thought your voices sounded familiar. Greg Jacklyn. Pleased to meet you, Mr. Aarons." Mr. Jacklyn smiled as he shook Leslie's hand. "Ah, I was right in thinking that you looked as lovely as your voice sounds, Ms. Burke," he said, and Leslie glowed. "That will be all, Claire," he said to the dumbstruck woman behind the desk. "Now, let's go to my office, shall we?"

As they followed Mr. Jacklyn down the hall he said, "I'm sorry for the way my secretary treated you. You'll have to excuse her; she hasn't been the same since she quit smoking."

"It's all right," Leslie said at once. She smiled at Jess and he grinned back; both were confident about this man.

Mr. Jacklyn showed them into a roomy office with a wooden desk facing two cushioned chairs. He sat down behind the desk and Jess and Leslie took the seats in front of him.

"Now, tell me," he said, clasping his hands together and looking at them as though he wanted nothing more than to hear them talk. "What can I do for you?"

Jess nodded at Leslie, and she took out her folder. "Well, to put it bluntly, sir," she said, voice shaking a little, "we...we think that someone is building on a property illegally, by our houses in Lark Creek."

Mr. Jacklyn's brows furrowed. He took out a notepad and started taking notes. "And what causes you to believe they are building illegally?"

"We called them a couple of months ago to inquire about whether or not the property they were building on was public or private," Leslie said. "And we talked to a woman named Ms. Thomas, and we asked her who she had bought the land from."

"And it turns out that the land belonged to a man who lives by us, Tom Strellgate," Jess added. "Ms. Thomas told us she had never heard of him before."

"She kept on saying the land was her property, and—"

"Hold on a moment," Mr. Jacklyn interrupted, writing furiously on his paper. "What property is it that Ms. Thomas is building on?"

"It's in the outskirts of south western Lark Creek," Jess explained. "It's woodland that's by the creek."

"And you have to cross farmland to get to it," said Leslie.

"I see." Mr. Jacklyn paused in his writing and nodded at them. "Please continue."

"And then we asked her...Ms. Thomas...how she got the rights to build," Jess went on, "and she told us children shouldn't be concerned about matters like where they build."

Mr. Jacklyn chuckled slightly, pen moving across the paper. "And what did you say?"

"Well...we...we accused her of stealing the land," Leslie said in a small voice. "I did, actually, not Jess. And then she hung up on us."

"Hmmm." Mr. Jacklyn looked up and eyed them, apparently thinking. "Perhaps she was just curious about why two high schoolers would care about what land she chose to build on."

Jess and Leslie looked at each other.

"Or," Mr. Jacklyn continued, "she agreed not to tell whom she bought the land from. And you say you found out she bought it from this Tom Strellgate?"

"Yes," Leslie said at once. "I went and talked to him a week ago. He told me he had sold the land to the company. He even gave me a copy of the contract," she added, pulling it out of her folder and placing it on Mr. Jacklyn's desk. He looked at it carefully then nodded.

"So she does own the land," Mr. Jacklyn said. "But you say she acted suspicious when you talked to her?"

"She did, sir," Jess said earnestly.

"What company is Ms. Thomas representing?"

"It's a clothing store, called 'Miranda's Outfitting!'," Jess said. Mr. Jacklyn turned to his computer at the left of his desk and did some typing, then he frowned as he looked at the monitor.

"Funny...we don't have anything on a store called 'Miranda's Outfitting!'," he murmured, almost to himself. "They haven't contacted us or scheduled anything."

Jess felt relief wash through him. To his right, Leslie smiled triumphantly.

"Well, Mr. Aarons, Ms. Burke, your information will definitely lead to some investigating," Mr. Jacklyn said as he pushed his keyboard back under his desk. "A company needs to contact us before they can build. And we need to arrange public hearings before land is completely ripped up..."

"We have pictures," Leslie said, rifling through the folder and pulling out the photographs they had taken of Terabithia, the trees colored and the ground splashed with spray-paint, and the wooden stakes still sticking out of the earth, and also a picture of the remains of their bridge. Mr. Jacklyn looked at them and said, "May I keep these, for evidence? Sometimes companies have a nasty way of covering up what they've done without permission."

"Sure," Leslie said. "You can keep the whole folder, if you want."

Mr. Jacklyn smiled that warm smile of his as he took the folder from Leslie. "Thank you. Now, I'd like to ask you both two questions that I have a feeling you won't like answering for me. Can you promise me that you'll answer them honestly?"

Jess and Leslie looked at each other again, a little uneasily. However, they both nodded.

"Okay, then." Mr. Jacklyn put his elbows on his desk and looked at them both carefully. "Do either of your parents know that you're here?"

Ringing silence followed this question. Jess let out a sigh and answered, "No, sir."

Mr. Jacklyn nodded. "I thought as much. And, if you don't mind me asking...well, this property must be important for you to come and speak to me about suspicions of a company building illegally on it. Is there any particular reason why you are so willing to save this piece of land?"

Again, silence came after his inquiry. Jess glanced at Leslie as though to say, I took the last one, and Leslie took a deep breath.

"It's just...that..." she said quietly, "this land is special to us. We practically grew up on it."

"Sort of like a childhood memory place?" Mr. Jacklyn asked, and they nodded.

"We discovered it six years ago," Jess said. "We...we didn't know it belonged to Tom Strellgate!" he added quickly. "And I don't think he would have cared, really...because we always crossed those fields to get across the creek—"

"And he would be on his fields and wave—"

"He never tried to stop us..."

"I understand," Mr. Jacklyn said, a small smile on his face. "So does anyone else other than you two go to this special place?"

"Our dog," Leslie offered and he laughed.

"Perhaps he can be our witness," he said, chuckling. "Now, listen," and suddenly his face grew serious. "We will investigate and if what you say is true, the construction will be delayed until a public hearing can be arranged. But," he went on gently as Jess and Leslie's faces lit up, "then, unless at the public hearing enough people speak out against the construction, the company will have every right to build on Mr. Strell—well, we'll call it your land. And there will be nothing legal we could do to stop them."

Jess's heart fell and Leslie looked crestfallen; however they nodded silently. "We understand, sir," Leslie said.

Mr. Jacklyn smiled again. "And while your parents are unaware of this meeting," he said, "I'm going to have to ask for both your phone numbers so we can contact you with information, or if we need you to appear in court—"

"Court?" Jess said in alarm.

"We don't know what else this company could be doing, and we could need witnesses. But I doubt actually going to court is likely," Mr. Jacklyn assured him. "But I do encourage you both to talk to your parents about this. Otherwise they might be alarmed to get a call from the Lark Creek Council President, asking for their children."

Jess and Leslie both smiled. "Okay."

"Is there anything else I can do for you?"

They shook their heads. "No, sir," Jess said.

"All right. Thank you for coming to me with this."

"No," Leslie said as they all stood up, "thank you for listening."

Mr. Jacklyn shook their hands, smiling gently. "It was my pleasure."

In the elevator the two of them were silent. They walked out of the building, waving to Kelly on their way to the door, and back to the truck without a word.

When they were out of the parking lot and in a drive-through at Burger King, Jess finally turned to Leslie. "Well?" he asked. "How do you think that went?"

Leslie shrugged. "They're going to investigate. That's good."

"Yeah..." Jess sighed. "It's just that...if this public hearing thing is going to happen..." He trailed off.

Leslie looked at him. "I know what you mean. But we'll speak out against the construction. And we can get other people to come, too."

"Like our parents," Jess said with a knot twisting in his stomach. Leslie nodded.

"Yeah..." she said. "They aren't going to be happy when they find out we've been in meetings with important people of Lark Creek. And we lied to your parents' faces. That won't go over well."

"And I doubt they'll be thrilled that we called the clothing company and demanded whether or not the land they were building on was really theirs," Jess added as he pulled up to the drive-through window and a man handed him their burgers. Jess rolled up his car window and drove out into the street before continuing, "But I guess Mr. Jacklyn is right, anyway. They'll find out sooner or later."

"And plus, we'd have a better chance of saving Terabithia if we had our parents speak out against the construction," Leslie added, taking the food from him. She paused as she looked inside the bag, then said, "I'm not even hungry anymore."

"Me, neither."

Leslie shook her head, then put the bag in the back seat. She reached down and took her heels off, wincing as she rubbed her feet.

"I'm never wearing these things again," she muttered. "I don't get how girls at school can get through the day wearing shoes like these."

Jess smiled. "I bet their feet are covered in blisters."

Leslie smiled back at him, her face lighting up and her eyes sparkling. "Let's go to Terabithia when we get back."

"Okay."

"We can think of a way to tell our parents without them completely freaking out on us."

"Sounds like a plan."

They were quiet for another moment, then Jess added, "And who's washing PT this week?"

"I can't remember."

"I think it's me," Jess said. "Trent just couldn't stop...what?" he said in exasperation as Leslie winced and her face went blank. "Why do you always look like that when I mention his name?"

"Well...it's rather uncomfortable having someone staring at you all the time, you know," Leslie shot at him, all traces of happiness gone. "You wouldn't like having a stalker of yours mentioned, would you?"

Jess laughed. "That's ridiculous, Leslie. He doesn't stalk you." He glanced at Leslie again. "D-Does he?"

"Of course not," Leslie snapped. "Stalkers follow you home and watch you undress at night. I think I'd know if there was someone outside my bedroom window at night trying to break in, Jess."

"Why did you say 'stalker'?"

"It's just what you call them," said Leslie, as though this solved all problems. "You know...whether or not they stalk you."

Jess frowned at her curiously.

"Well...next time I see Trent I'm going to talk to him. I mean, he could at least come up to you..."

"He has," muttered Leslie, looking at her knees.

Jess nearly crashed into the car in front of him. "WHAT?!"

"Jess, drive!" Leslie cried as the car behind the truck beeped irritably and passed them. Jess hit the gas again and she said, "God, it's not like—"

"What did he say? What did he do?" Jess demanded. His heart was pounding. "I swear to God I'll—"

"He didn't do anything, Jess!" Leslie said angrily, glancing at him. "He just asked what our math homework was. That's all."

Jess frowned. "That day...when I found out we had to go to Mr. Jacklyn and you came to class all—"

Leslie nodded. "Yeah that's when he asked. I was just...just surprised Trent came up to me. That's all."

Jess glared at her. "That's all he wanted? Math homework?"

"Yes," Leslie snapped. "God."

Jess shrugged again and kept driving. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Leslie said; this time her tone was much gentler. "Can we please let it go?"

Jess nodded as they drove onto the dirt road. PT came running out from the Burke's yard and across the street to meet them as he turned into his driveway. Jess parked and they got out of the truck, Jess grabbing the bag of food and Leslie scooping up PT.

"Hey, you," Leslie said happily as PT licked her face. "How have you—?"

"Is that Burger King?"

It was May Belle, Joyce Ann at her heels. Jess shrugged and handed them the bag.

"We got it for us but we don't really want it anymore," he said, giving the bag to his sisters. "What are you guys doing out here?"

They shrugged. Leslie put down PT and looked at them. "Are you two okay?"

"Yeah!" Joyce Ann yelped and May Belle nodded. "Yeah, we're okay."

"Well...listen, we're going inside," Jess said uncertainly. "We've got to talk t—"

"Don't go in there," May Belle said, stepping between him and the house.

Jess frowned. "Why?" he and Leslie asked at the same time.

"Just...just don't go in there," Joyce Ann repeated May Belle's words.

"Why?" Jess asked again, confused.

"Mom and Dad are yelling."

"Mom's yelling?" Jess said in disbelief. The last time he had heard his mother actually yell was the day she caught Ellie and her boyfriend making out by the side of the house. "Are you sure? What are they fighting about?"

"Oh, they're not fighting with each other," Joyce Ann said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah. They were shouting at Brenda," added May Belle. "And Ellie, too. But mostly Brenda. We didn't even try to listen."

Leslie winced. Jess asked, "Did you hear anything?"

"Yeah," May Belle told them, sighing. "And just to let you know...if you guys have something to tell them, you better not say the words "'I'm pregnant', because Brenda said them and they went ballistic."

Jess's jaw dropped, heart plummeting. He looked at Leslie, whose face also registered shock.

"What?"

"You heard me," May Belle said, sadness filling her voice.

"She's...Brenda's—?!"

"Yep," Joyce Ann said.

Jess stood speechless in his tracks. Joyce Ann reached into the Burger King bag and pulled out a box of fries as May Belle unwrapped a burger.

"You're joking," Jess said faintly as his sisters started to eat.

"We're not," May Belle said with her mouth full. "Oh, and we think that she's dropping out of college, too. Ellie told us she was."

Leslie leaned against the car, still looking horrified. Jess gasped.

"Seriously?"

"Would we lie about this?"

"How did they take that?"

Joyce Ann used his hands to imitate an explosion.

"That bad?"

"Why do you think we're out here?"

Very faintly through the door Jess thought he heard the phrase "...for life and you've got nothing...!" being screamed from inside. He shuddered.

"I guess our news will have to wait, then," Leslie said very quietly. Jess nodded.

"Er...listen, guys...Leslie and I are going for a walk. If Mom and Dad ask where we are tell them I'll be back by dinner, okay?" His sisters nodded.

"Should we tell your parents we're back?" Jess asked as they started walking down the dirt road, PT trotting beside them.

"No," Leslie said, shaking her head. "They're busy writing, anyway."

They walked all the way to their land, crossing Strellgate's farmland as they always did. Leslie looked to the sky as she often did; this time her sea-green eyes were full of worry rather than contentment.

They crossed the makeshift bridge they had put together about a hundred yards from where the real bridge had once stood and walked into Terabithia. Jess looked around as PT ran off ahead. The trees stood painted horribly and the ground was blotched with color and wooden planks stuck out of it, but the land was still the awe-inspiring place they had discovered six years ago; it was still the land that buzzed with energy and where the spirits whispered through the leaves on the trees. When he looked back at Leslie he saw her gazing at him.

"It's still beautiful, isn't it?" she said softly, a small smile on her face. Jess answered her with a weak smile of his own.

"They can't destroy this place," Jess said just as quietly as he again glanced around them. "They can't."

Leslie wasn't looking at the forest. Again as Jess turned back to her she was still gazing at him with a different expression on her face, eyes still sad but holding something else Jess didn't recognize.

"What?" he asked curiously. Leslie shook her head and looked away briefly.

"Nothing," she said, nudging his shoulder with hers as she walked past him. "Let's go to the castle."

As they walked into the clearing, they saw their tree house still standing. At least that hadn't been torn down yet.

"So," Jess said after they had climbed up to it, collapsing on the ledge that was just outside the tree house. Leslie sat down next to him, putting PT on his pile of cushions. "So," she repeated.

"Brenda's pregnant," Jess sighed, and Leslie nodded. "And she and Ellie are dropping out of college," he added darkly after a second thought.

"Your parents will let them stay, right?"

"They wouldn't kick Brenda out," Jess said, trying to convince himself as much as Leslie. "And Ellie's got no other place to go. Yeah, they'll both stay. Maybe they'll get jobs."

"Maybe," said Leslie softly.

"So we've got to tell both our parents that we've been making plans to save this land from construction. And that we had a meeting with the Town Council President without their permission," Jess said.

"Right after they found out about your sisters," added Leslie.

They were silent for a few moments. Then Jess took a breath.

"We're screwed."

Leslie nodded again. "Yeah."

Again they were quiet, then Leslie suddenly murmured, "Unless..."

Jess looked over toward her.

"Unless..." Leslie repeated, frowning as though she had just come up with an idea, "they don't know what we're doing..."

"Leslie, no," Jess told her, looking at her as though she was insane. "Mr. Jacklyn said he'd call us and how do you think our parents will take it if they get a call from the Town Council President?"

"We could call them and tell them not to call..." Leslie said, turning to him, voice getting more excited with every word she spoke. "And we can just go to the building every day to see what they've come up with..."

"Oh, okay. And how are we going to explain it when this public hearing thing starts happening and we disappear to speak up in it?"

Leslie sighed. "Well, what do you propose we do?"

Jess opened his mouth, then closed it.

"See? There's nothing else we can do."

"So we're going to lie?"

"We won't lie," Leslie told him soothingly, "we'll just...hold off the truth for as long as possible. Then we can tell our parents before they find us out and it will look like we're just letting them know we're...we're doing something important..."

Jess snorted. "Great idea."

"I don't hear you coming up with anything!" Leslie retorted. "What kind of a plan do you have that will keep us from being grounded for the rest of our lives?" "Maybe they won't be too mad if we tell them today."

"Maybe high school will turn into a fun, loving place."

Jess sighed bitterly. "Fine. But if they find out, I'm telling my parents that it was all your idea."

"No, you won't," Leslie said sweetly, poking his shoulder. "You'll take the blame with me like you always do."

"Things could change," Jess told her, both of them knowing perfectly well that he was just saying that. Leslie sighed.

"I don't like lying any more then you do, Jess," she said, looking at him sadly. "I mean...I never lie to Judy or Bill. But what else can we do right now? Your parents will kill us if we tell them now...and chances are mine will be just as mad if they see how your parents react..."

Jess shrugged. "I guess."

"We'll tell them eventually," Leslie said. "Just not now."

"You're right. We'll tell them eventually," Jess repeated.

Leslie smiled and they sat in silence for several minutes before she spoke again.

"Come on," she said, jumping up and pulling him to his feet. "I hear Squogres in the forest. They are united with the company that plans to destroy our land."

Jess leapt down from the tree house and ran after her. She picked up two sticks off the forest ground and tossed one to Jess. "We will fight for Terabithia!" she cried, eyes blazing, addressing the woods around them. "Come out wherever you are!"

"We are not afraid!" added Jess.

"Behind you!" Leslie cried and Jess turned around, striking the air where he knew the evil creature was. They fought happily, waving their sticks around and shouting warnings to one another until the Squogres had retreated.

"I fear that the Squogres have possessed you, my queen," Jess said to Leslie after ten minutes, approaching her as she stood panting. "You must defeat me in a duel before I shall accept you as Queen Leslie again."

Leslie beamed and brandished her stick like a sword. "So be it," she said, head held high. "But how do I know you're not being possessed yourself?"

"You'll have to trust me," Jess told her with a grin as they started sword fighting viciously. Leslie twisted her branch and smacked it upwards in a way that sent Jess's flying, his weapon landing five or six feet away from them.

Leslie pressed the tip of her branch up to Jess's throat. "Do you accept me now, my king?" she said, eyes sparkling with triumph.

Jess held both his hands up. "I do, your Highness. I beg that you do not harm me."

PT trotted up to them, carrying Jess's branch in his mouth and gnawing on it happily. They grinned and Leslie moved her stick away, tossing it back on the ground.

"Let's climb trees," she said, already heading for her favorite oak. Instead of joining her as she climbed up onto a branch and started lifting herself higher up the tree, Jess stayed on the ground with PT and watched as the sun caught on Leslie's skin, making it glow, and the breeze whipped her golden hair unrelentingly. She smiled widely as she lifted her arms and directed the wind as she loved to do. Jess smiled happily, because every time he looked at Leslie she gave off nothing but comfort, now more than ever; with her it was always easy to forget any worries—Brenda, high school, Terabithia—and believe that nothing in the world was ever wrong.

Okay, I'll try and make this painless. :D

As always, thank you so very much to my anonymous reviewers (just reviewer, this time :D) that I can't respond to: PollenandSalt. And to those of you who just take the time and read, I appreciate it so much!

And again, thank you millions to MadTom, who very kindly read a section of this chapter for me and gave me feedback I needed. Your help is so valuable to me!

And of course, thanks to those of you who belong to the site and leave reviews for me. You guys are the reason I try and update as soon as I possibly can!

As I said, school starts in mere days for me so it is going to be rather difficult time-wise to write; however you all have my word that this story (and So Changed, people!) will be completed even if it is the last thing I do. I will update as soon as I can.

Thank you for reading and at this point I'm not even going to ask you to please review; I know that you wonderful people out there will do so anyway. :D Thank you, all