I've got too much to say to say it here…read first and we'll chat later, my faithful readers. :D

Enjoy!

From years of knowing his best friend, Jess had come to understand that whenever something was deeply bothering Leslie, her one default setting was silence and action molded into one. Her silence was easy to understand. Her action was not.

She cleaned. She flew around like a mad hen, digging into every dust bunny, every stain, every piece of trash she could find, not leaving anything she could get her hands on untouched. Jess remembered when they were fourteen, and Judy and Bill had had their biggest fight in years, apparently about some old family strain between the Burkes and Judy's own parents, and they had been yelling at each other for days. During that time Leslie must have cleaned their entire house. When that was done, she had invaded Jess's—much to Jack and Nancy's bewilderment—armed with her cleaning supplies and staying silent for about six days straight before Jess was able to calm her down.

So that was why Jess panicked when he walked into Leslie's house one afternoon at the end of November to find her on her hands and knees, frantically scrubbing her kitchen floor; her hair was pulled up off her face and a mop and a bucket full of water were next to her. Closing the door quietly, he offered a hello and didn't say it again when he didn't get an answer. Whenever Leslie was forced into talking at this kind of stage she attacked brutally, like a provoked wild animal. After about ten minutes, however, Jess threw caution to the winds.

"Leslie?" he asked gently. "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she snarled back and Jess backed up a couple of steps. "I'm incredibly okay. I'm fantastic. I'm tired," she added as she stopped scrubbing for a moment to mop her forehead. Jess saw circles under her eyes.

"Did you even sleep last night?"

"What, you think I got up in the middle of the night and started to clean like I'm freaking Cinderella?" Leslie attacked the floor again, throwing every ounce of her energy into a questionable stain on the edge of one tile. "I meant that...that I…oh, I don't know. I'm just tired, okay?" She fell into her silence again, scrubbing the floor as though her life depended on it.

"Where are Judy and Bill?"

Leslie mumbled something. Jess watched her anxiously for another couple of minutes before, not able to take it anymore, he walked over to where she had moved to on her hands and knees. "Leslie, put the brush down."

She was either ignoring him, or else she couldn't hear him at all. Jess sadly put his hand on her shoulder and started to speak, and drew his hand back in alarm when Leslie flinched horribly at his touch, recoiling away from him as though he was a disease. "Don't do that!" she screeched, looking at Jess with wild eyes. "You scared me!"

Jess looked at her in horror.

"Leslie...are you...?"

"Yes, I'm fine, okay?" Leslie said, now looking apologetic rather than scared. "I'm sorry...I...I..."

Jess waited. Finally she sat down and threw her scrub brush on the wet floor, putting a soapy hand to her forehead and collapsing on her side, propping herself up with her free hand. "I just feel like there are voices screaming in my head. I can't think...I just..." Again she trailed off, and she looked at Jess hopefully, as though he might be able to finish the sentence.

"Maybe all the drama at my house is getting to you?" suggested Jess, sitting down next to her. "And with Terabithia..."

Leslie nodded gratefully. "Yeah. You're probably right." She looked down at her scrub brush and her bucket of water. Already Jess could see the tension draining out of her face. "The floor looks pretty good, though."

"Well, you see, nowadays we have these really cool things called mops," said Jess. Leslie grinned. "They're these sticks with stuff at the end that scrub away all the crap off your floor and you don't have to get down on your hands and knees like a house maid."

Leslie shook her head at him, eyes shining with amusement. "Maybe I'll get one of those mop things someday."

"Only if you promise to use it once a month and not every day, my Queen," Jess told her. "The last thing I need is for you to work yourself to death."

Leslie didn't look away from him; instead she gazed at him like she had the day in the forest—with something in her eyes Jess couldn't recognize—and he looked back at her, trying to figure out what it was. The sun, coming through the window and spilling out onto the gleaming kitchen floor, caught onto her hair and emphasized that new expression in her eyes. Jess gazed into them for a long time.

"Leslie," he started softly but he couldn't say anything else; her eyes softened, as though she liked hearing her name spoken that way, and her lips quivered slightly in the beginnings a smile. Jess felt something stir in his chest that made his heart beat a little faster; then he realized that her name was still lingering in the air, unattached to anything that would have made it into a sentence. He looked down at the scrub brush that lay abandoned on the floor between them.

"Er...Les, no more cleaning today, okay?" he said. "You're going to get yourself hired for work or something and…and leave me all alone."

Leslie blinked once and nodded; the magic faded from her eyes but she still smiled. "As you wish, your Majes—" She stopped, for she and Jess had both reached for the scrub brush at the same time; Jess's hand fell on top of hers and they looked up at each other again.

Suddenly a warmth flared up inside Jess; it faded away quickly as he shrank back from it, confused, not knowing what it was or where it had come from. Leslie looked down at their hands and pulled hers away.

"Your Majesty," she finished, looking at Jess again then away, suddenly extremely concentrated on getting up and taking the bucket of water over to the sink. Neither of them spoke for a minute or so, then PT came padding into the room, a yawning Bill right behind him.

"Good God, Les, if you're going to clean, work on our shower," he said as he looked at the floor, impressed. "Nice job on the floors, honey."

"Thanks," said Leslie softly from the sink. Bill smiled when he saw Jess.

"Hey," he said. "How are things going?"

There was a slight pause as Jess tried to think of an answer different from what he had said the day before, and the day before that, and the—

"Same old," he said, trying to smile.

Bill nodded sympathetically. Leslie hadn't said a word to them about Brenda's pregnancy, but Nancy had had coffee with Judy one morning the week before so she could explain, and the news had passed over into the Burke household.

"Hang in there," Bill told Jess now, as PT sniffed at the wet floors. "Brenda's mood swings will be over by June, won't they?"

"Even when they do we'll be up all night because of her dumb kid crying," Jess sighed.

"Well, you're always welcome to sleep over here, Jess," said Bill with a small smile. "As long as you don't mind PT sneaking up on you during the night."

Jess felt guilty; he hadn't meant to complain. "Yeah…thanks," he said slowly. "Who knows? Maybe she'll have her own place by then. Maybe the baby won't be so much of a pain."

"Very true," Bill said. "Maybe this baby will…well, if you don't mind me saying, Jess…"

"…Make her grow up a bit?" Jess offered, and Bill nodded.

"Exactly," he said. "We all learn things over time…sometimes it just takes a while for others to understand what's been thrown at them, you know?"

Leslie's hand slipped on the bucket she had been washing out; water sloshed everywhere and she hurriedly grabbed a towel off the rack above the faucet, flushing.

"Les, honey…you…you seem a little flustered this morning," Bill said as PT ran from the room and away from the water. "Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Of course," Leslie said in a very collected manner that was so unlike her. "I'm fine. Just clumsy."

Bill glanced at Jess with his eyebrows raised; Jess shook his head and shrugged.

"Well, why don't you take it easy this morning?" Bill asked, walking over and putting a hand on his daughter's shoulder. Again Jess saw her flinch—only slightly this time, and his confusion deepened. "Maybe read a little bit…or you could keep cleaning our house, if you'd like," Bill added, eyes snapping with amusement.

"I think she'd rather go and visit Brenda," Jess said sarcastically, and was alarmed when Leslie spun around and faced him with a smile.

"Okay! Let's bring her some of those French fries from downtown—she's been craving those lately, hasn't she?"

"Leslie, I was joking," Jess said while Bill chuckled. "Going near her nowadays is like putting your head in a guillotine."

"I'm serious." Leslie dried her hands and threw the towel on the counter. "Maybe while we're downtown we could try to look for that one thing for our project, you know?"

It took Jess a second to catch on.

"Oh, right!" he said, nodding. "Yeah…we need to get those, don't we?"

"And what project would this be?" asked Bill, looking between them with a smile.

"Oh, it's a dumb thing for our Biology class," Leslie said brightly.

"Yeah…a research paper on insects," Jess invented, seeing a fly on the windowsill.

"Interesting," Bill said. "Are you collecting insects, then?"

"Uh…yeah. We've got to watch them and write an essay on what we see."

"Well, have fun with that. I've got to go help Judy do some research myself…though I think we'll have more interesting results. And if you get bored," he added as he turned to go, "come on over and get started on our shower."

"I'd like to help with a research paper myself…on something that doesn't involve law," called Judy from the next room. "What does your essay have to be about?"

Leslie watched her father go with eyes that glittered strangely, her beautiful face perfectly blank.

"It's about what happens when other people invade territory that isn't theirs."

OOO

Nothing ever came of their visit to Greg Jacklyn's office downtown (Mrs. Rimmons had chased them away before they could get two words in) but perhaps it was a good thing that they hadn't been able to see him; when Jess pulled up into the driveway after school the next day he was surprised to see his father's pickup truck parked in its usual spot; usually his dad wasn't home when he got home from school. Leslie frowned.

"That's weird," she said, taking the words out of Jess's mouth. "I thought your dad was at the office today."

Jess shrugged and parked. They both got out of the truck and headed toward the Aarons household, planning to dump their things in Jess's room then go to Terabithia to make a warning sign for the construction workers, but when they both entered the kitchen Jess saw, to his even bigger surprise, both his mother and father sitting at the table with cold expressions on their faces. They turned to look at him and Leslie when they walked in, apparently waiting for them.

Jess and Leslie froze and Jess felt his stomach clench as he read his parents' expressions.

"Hello, you two," Jack said pleasantly as they hesitated in the doorway. "Have a good day at school?" He wasn't smiling.

"Er..." Jess said.

"Yeah," Leslie said cautiously and Jess could tell by her voice that she was confused. "Pretty good day."

"That's good," Jack said, looking from Leslie to Jess, with his brows furrowed. "We had a pretty interesting day, us two."

Jess swallowed. "Well...we were going to go put our stuff down and go—"

"Sit down," Mrs. Aarons told him, voice sharp and making Jess jump. "Both of you," she added as Leslie started to shrink away.

Jess and Leslie glanced at each other; Jess wondered what they possibly could have done for Leslie to be treated this way by his parents, but he eventually just dropped his bag on the floor and took a seat. Leslie sat down next to him.

"You know, Leslie, normally now would be the time I ask you to leave so I can talk to Jess alone," Jack said, glancing over at Leslie, "but I have a feeling that you have had a hand in this, too."

Jess felt his heart skip a beat. Oh, no.

"We got a call today from our Council President from downtown," Jack said. Nancy sat next to him with her mouth paper-thin. "He told me that you two have gone to him about a certain issue regarding something he wouldn't share with me once he found out that you 'didn't correspond information' to us."

Jess and Leslie glanced at each other again in terror. Jess felt his heart thudding.

"What the hell have you two been doing?"

Neither of them said a word.

"We're going to hear about it no matter how long you two choose to keep it in, so you might as well tell us sooner rather then later."

Leslie glanced at Jess apologetically. "We're just…we're trying to help save those forests back there."

"We didn't want to disturb you guys…we thought that you guys had your hands full—"

"And that it wasn't necessary to say anything—"

"You know, what with Brenda being pregnant—"

"Brenda's condition has nothing to do with this." Jack glared at Jess. "We are frustrated, yes, but that didn't give you permission to lie to our faces and keep us in the dark about things we should be aware of."

"Especially things that involve the law," Nancy said sternly.

Jess and Leslie looked at each other.

"Leslie, I have no control over you, but Jess, for as long as I'm concerned, you are grounded."

Jess sighed bitterly. He really couldn't see any point in arguing. "Okay."

"Meanwhile, Bill and Judy have been notified about this as well," Nancy added, frowning. "They're coming over in a little while so we all can have a little talk."

"We didn't mean to do anything wrong," Leslie said in a small voice. "We're just trying to protect our land."

"And we found out that the company building up on T…on the land…they're doing it illegally," Jess pointed out, struggling to keep his voice free of irritation. "Should we have just sat and let it happen?"

"I'll ask you both something," Jack said, looking from Leslie to Jess with narrowed eyes. "What exactly are you guys doing on that land by the creek?"

A ringing silence followed. Jess and Leslie dared not look at each other.

"Well?"

"We take PT for walks down there," Jess offered. "He likes the creek."

"I would think," Nancy said with her brows furrowed, "that you both would be a little weary of that creek nowadays…especially you, Leslie, ever since what happened down there six years ago."

Jess saw Leslie's hands clench her edge of the table.

"We don't really go across the creek," she said, looking guilty. "But…but when we do we have a safe place to cross."

"Or we did," said Jess under his breath.

"I don't like the idea of you guys going off by yourselves like that," said Nancy, "and I'm sure Bill and Judy would agree. Now—"

"That will be something else we'll talk about tonight," Jack interrupted.

"Jess, go to your room. Leslie—well, I guess you'll have to go with him…."

"Why, so they can plot their escape from this mess together?" Jack demanded.

"They won't be getting out of this," Nancy said firmly. "No matter what they do. Both of you: go."

Jess and Leslie got up silently and walked out of the room. They couldn't hear anything in the kitchen as they climbed the stairs, so they were as quiet as fully possible.

Once they were safe inside Jess's room, Leslie collapsed onto Jess's bed and Jess shut the door, heart thumping as he started to hear his parents murmur to each other in low tones.

"Nice going," he muttered without thinking; Leslie sat up slightly on his bed.

"Excuse me?"

"Iknew not telling them was a bad idea," Jess said to her, sighing angrily. "That day in our tree house, remember? I just—"

"Well, you didn't exactly come to the rescue with another plan, now did you?" Leslie shot at him, rolling over on her stomach and propping her head up with her hands, gazing at him with irritation. "We were stuck. We didn't know what to do."

"You know, I could have told my parents that this was all your idea," said Jess heatedly.

"And what would that have done, King Jess?" Leslie asked sweetly. "Nothing. So stop acting like you're four years old and let's try to figure out where we stand."

Fuming, Jess walked closer to her. "'Where we stand'? You and I both know where we stand! That forest is as good as destroyed if we're forbidden to do anything!"

"And if we're forbidden to do anything don't you think that Mr. Jacklyn might be able to stop the construction anyway?" Leslie asked with narrowed eyes.

"He said that unless enough people spoke out against the construction at a public hearing Miranda's Outfitting! would still be able to build on our land."

"Well, we might be able to convince our parents that what we've been doing is right! And they'll speak against the construction!"

"Oh, okay. Why didn't I think of that?" Jess snapped. Everything he had felt within the last couple of weeks was rushing through barriers. "Oh, yeah! Because our parents will never understand why we want to save that land! They don't know about Terabithia!"

"Let's keep it that way, Jess," Leslie growled at him, nodding to the doorway.

"Good plan. Why don't we hide everything from them, then? We can tell them that school is fantastic, that you've been acting perfectly normal—"

Leslie's eyes blazed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, please. You flinch every time someone touches you. You've been cleaning your house and…and…"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't know!" Jess said. He couldn't explain the difference he had seen in her. He couldn't even begin to describe the changes he had sensed. "You're just…ever since this whole construction came up and ever since Trent started looking at you all the time—"

Leslie stiffened on his bed. "Leave Trent out of this."

"God!" Jess nearly shouted; frustration was seeping through him. "What the hell is it with you and him? Why do you act this way every time I mention him?"

"I don't know what you're—"

"Yes, you do!" Jess cried. The construction was fading quickly from his mind "And stop acting like you don't! Trent—"

"Don't say his name."

They glared at each other for a long time, flushed with anger. Finally Jess was able to string two words together.

"Why not?"

"Just because," muttered Leslie.

"Because why?"

"Because I asked you to!" Leslie snapped at him.

"Leslie…" Jess felt lost. He saw something in Leslie's eyes that he had been trying for so long to make out, something that sent bewilderment firing into every particle of his mind. "Listen…is…" He felt himself winding down. "Is something wrong with you and him? Does he bother you?"

Leslie said nothing.

"Leslie? Please tell me."

She looked at him. "You seriously want to know?" she said so softly Jess almost missed the words. She suddenly looked so helpless, so unlike her usual fiery self that Jess's anger melted away and he sat down on the bed next to her.

"Yes," he said quietly. "What's been going on?"

Leslie stared at his blanket for a couple of minutes, clearly working up the words. Jess fought not to be impatient.

Finally she murmured, "He…he comes up to me sometimes…between classes." She stopped.

"And?" Jess prompted gently.

"And…and he talks to me. Tells me things."

"Like what?"

Leslie shook her head and laid it on her arms, defeated.

"Les? Leslie, what? What does he tell you?"

"Calls me beautiful," Leslie choked out into her arms, "tells me he loves how I look. Says he…. He says…" Her voice faltered but she looked at Jess and drew it back, "He says that he…he wants me."

"Wantsyou?"

"Yes."

Jess felt panic beating in his chest. "What exactly does he mean by that?"

"What does every guy who looks at me in that school want from me, Jess?" whispered Leslie sadly.

It took a minute for it to hit Jess. When it did he actually leapt off his bed in horror.

"Are you serious?"

Leslie turned her head away from him, ashamed.

"He's been harassing you for…for that…all this time?"

"He didn't word it like that," Leslie said almost silently; Jess had to read her lips to catch most of what she said. "He just…he thinks that just because I'm beautiful I'm the best…and…I guess he just wants the best."

Her sea-green eyes filled with tears and Jess stood, horrorstruck, gazing at her, the newly found information humming through his head furiously. That was why…that was why…that was why….

"Leslie, I'm so sorry," was all he could think of to say. Leslie didn't respond at once; instead she gazed down at the carpet and brushed away at tears spilling out of her eyes.

"Beauty is a curse," she whispered.

There was such agony in her tone Jess felt his heart ache. Again he was lost for words; again he sat down again on his bed, and simply lay down next to her because it was clear that she didn't want to get up. Leslie raised her eyes to his. The two of them were only inches apart.

"Leslie," Jess started and again, just as the day before, he found that he had nothing else to add. He just reached out and wiped away her tears with his thumb, heart leaping and warming when she reached up and placed her hand on his, pressing it on her cheek as though it could soak up her misery. She smiled and reached up with her own hand to wipe her other cheek.

"I'm being stupid," she muttered, gazing at Jess as though daring him to disagree.

Jess chose to do so. "You're not," he told her gently.

Light shone in Leslie's eyes and again Jess tried to make sense of it, tried to piece together everything he had learned, but, as before, he couldn't figure it out, couldn't put his finger on it. Nor could he define the newborn warmth inside of him….

A sudden crash on the door made them both bolt upright with a start. May Belle and Joyce Ann were barging in, backpacks over their shoulders.

"Jess! Leslie! Mom and Dad want—" May Belle stopped in mid-sentence as she saw the two of them, she and Joyce Ann halting in the middle of the room. "Um…are…we interrupting anything?"

Hurriedly Jess and Leslie scrambled off the bed.

"No—"

"Not at all…"

"We were just—"

"Nothing, really—"

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Burke are downstairs," announced Joyce Ann, she and May Belle staring wide-eyed at how flustered they were, "and they're all really angry about something."

"What did you guys do?" May Belle asked eagerly as they quickly hurried for the door.

"Nothing, May Belle…just…just stay in here, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah, we know, Jess. They told us to stay here."

"But you'll tell us everything later, right?" Joyce Ann asked.

"Yeah, sure…" Jess shut the room to his door and he and Leslie set off toward the stairs.

"Hang on," Jess muttered and as Leslie turned to him, he reach out and wiped her cheeks again with his thumbs, and smoothed back a piece of her hair that had gotten loose around her face. "There."

Leslie flushed and they both stood there silently.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you," whispered Jess quietly so that neither of their parents would hear down below. "I didn't mean it."

"I'm sorry I called you a four year old," Leslie countered, and they both shared a slim smile.

"And Les…about…about, you know…"

"Jess? Leslie?" came Nancy's call from downstairs. "Come down herenow!"

Jess took a deep breath and heard Leslie do the same. They gazed at each other again and Jess knew he didn't need to finish what he tried to say.

"Ready?"

"As always, my king."

As they crept silently down the stairs into the living room, Jess felt grasp his hand, felt her fingers intertwine with his. Jess knew what she meant.

And as that warmth flared up inside of him again, he felt all frustration and hopelessness drain away from his mind and he found that he was able to hold his head a little higher as they walked, grasping her hand tightly in return.

Okay, my amazing, outstanding readers and reviewers:

I expected to update this so much sooner, but, as those of you who read my profile can see, so many things have been going on in my life right now and I've been overwhelmed. For those of you who care to know, read on, for those who don't: thank you very much for reading this chapter, please review if you wouldn't mind, and stay tuned; and you can stop reading now. :D

I can't say this directly, and I don't know when I'll be able to, but I'll just say that Leslie and I (in this fanfic, at least) have a lot in common and even though it's been a long time, recent circumstances have brought back memories I tried to forget. In addition, my mother and step-father are splitting up and all hell has been breaking loose in my home (not to mention work and school…).

I say all this not to scare you guys off, but because I know a lot of you have been upset with me for not updating and I felt like you guys deserved an explanation as to why I couldn't work on this story. Thank you all again, so, so, so very much for your undying support and for reviewing (and I hope you will do so again for this chapter) and hopefully chapter ten will be out for you guys soon enough!

To those of you who have been reading So Changed: expect an update later this week!

Thank you again!