Chapter 8 - Families Reunite

Jess followed Mr. Burk and Leslie into their house. Jess and Leslie sat next to each other on the sofa and Leslie's parents sat in front of them. Jess was blushing uncontrollably and was afraid that Mr. Burk would be hate him for kissing his daughter like that. But Mr. Burk didn't seem mad, he just smiled.

"So,uumm, Jess, tell me, how was Leslie's back" said Mr. Burk with a small laugh. This time Leslie blushed too, but not as much as Jess.

"Honey! Stop teasing them!" said Mrs. Burk and she took Mr. Burk into the kitchen. They had a small conversation and then they came back.

"Leslie, can I please talk to you...upstairs." said Mrs. Burk and she took Leslie upstairs.

Jess and Mr. Burk were left alone in the living room. Jess felt kinda scared. He didn't know what was going on.

"Jess, you can calm down, I'm not mad at you, in fact I'm happy that you are Leslie's first love, I just don't understand why you and Leslie didn't want to tell us." said Mr. Burk.

"Well, we were going to tell you, but didn't know how and when." said Jess still blushing.

"So you thought you should tell me by making out with Leslie in front of my house?" said Mr. Burk and he laughed.

"No, that just happened...I mean..." said Jess and he tried to hide the fact that his face was very red.

"It's ok Jess, actually I am very happy that you and Leslie have feelings for each other, but I don't want to see anything else but kissing. So tell me, how did you find out that you love her?" asked Mr. Burk.

To this question, Jess didn't blush as much, because, unlike the other questions, he knew the answer.

"Well, it all started during the six months that she was missing. I was so torn apart. So i asked myself, why am I turning into such a big mess. Other people loose friends too, but they don't become so depressed like me. So then I felt it, a feeling I had never felt before. From there on, i knew that I was in love with her. That's why it was the idea of Leslie being dead was killing me."

Mr. Burk was just looking at Jess. he then got up and gave Jess a hug.

"I'm sorry that you had to go threw all that, but now she is back and I am not going to stop you two from seeing each other." said Mr. Burk with a small smile.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Mrs. Burk was having a conversation with Leslie...

"So, Leslie, you really like him don't you?" asked Mrs. Burk

"Ya, I guess I do mom" said Leslie with a big smile on her face.

"But, honey, don't you think you are too young?"

"But, mom, weren't you the same age as me and Jess when you and dad fell in love?" asked Leslie.

"Well...yes, but" Mr. Burk looked at Leslie, who still had a smile on her face.

"So, tell me, when did you start to have feelings for Jess" said Mr. Burk

Leslie thought for a seconds then said "Probably the day that he gave me PT."

"Well, Leslie, I am very glad that you found a guy that is smart, cute and kind. He also treats you right, unlike some other people in your school" said Mrs. Burk. Leslie knew she was talking about Scott and Gary, because they have been annoying and teasing Leslie since the first she came to Lark Creek.

"Well then, let's go see how your father is doing with Jess" said Mrs. Burk

"What! You mean that has been asking questions to Jess. Oh no, he probably asked so many embarrassing questions to Jess, poor guy must be blushing his face off." Leslie ran downstairs to find Jess and Mr. Burk laughing together.

"Well, now that that's over, we should probably go tell your parents!" said Leslie.

Jess jumped and turned around to see Leslie grinning at him.

"I'll call your parents, so they can come over and we will tell them the happy news that we have received." said Mr. Burk with a smile.

Leslie came and hugged Jess and they held hands and in less then 2 minutes, the whole Aarons family came in. Brenda and Ellie were shocked with the news, Maybelle was very happy, so were Mr. and Mrs. Aarons. They all sat down and talked and laughed until it was time to leave. Jess gave Leslie a small kiss on her cheek and said goodbye. Both of them were blushing, but they were very happy that their feelings were out in the open.

Jess went straight to his bed and hugged his pillow as if it was Leslie. Then he shortly fell asleep and had another dream message, but this one was a bit different. Toori told him that this time they were attacking the tree house and that the creatures had said something about a magic book hidden inside the tree house. He then suddenly woke up, sneaked out of his house and ran towards Leslie's house to warn her.

Jess threw small rocks at Leslie's window. After three trows, she opened her window.

"Jess! Did you already miss me?" said Leslie and laughed.

"No...well yes, but that's not why I'm here. It's about Terabithia. The creature are searching for a magic book in the tree house. I think it has something to do with bringing back the Dark Master" said Jess.

"Ok, one minute, I'll be right down." said Leslie and she closed her window.

Seconds later, Leslie opened her front door and she was outside with Jess.

"We better be careful. This is the first time, we are fighting in the dark." said Leslie in a worried way.

"Ya, I know, I'm kinda scared too. I hope the one searching our tree house isn't another one of those Dark Demons." said Jess, then he held his left arm and remembered that he didn't have it in Teraithia.

They ran towards the bridge. They found the tree in which they had hid there weapons. Jess tied the sheath of the sword around his weist and Leslie tied the arrow holder across her chest. They held hands and walked across the bridge. They watched Jess's arm as it slowly disappeared. It was going to be very hard for him to control the sword with one hand. Good thing he has Leslie as his backup.

They got to the tree house and they were looking at it from afar. They spotted 2 Scrogers, 1 Fulcher and a man.

"Hey, have you ever seen that man in Terabithia before?" asked Jess.

"No I haven't I wonder who he is." said Leslie

"Ok, here's the plan, I take down the Scrogers and you take down the Fulcher, then we attack the man at the same time." said Jess

"Got it!" said Leslie

Jess crept close to the Scrogers and silently killed them. Leslie did the same and shot the Fulchers down. The man realized that something was going on. He saw Jess moving in the bushes and he moved at a lightning speed and held Jess from his neck.

"Well, King Jess, I see you have come to stop me, but this time, I will not let you get in my way of reuniting my family!" said the man and he took out his sword to stab Jess in the heart.