A/N: Ok, so the first part is a bit rushed...buuut, I think I know what I'm going to do for the next chapter which is a good thing, because I'm getting interested again. Lol.

And I just want to thank you guys like a billion times over!!! I'm like soooo excited cuz I have 40 reviews!!!! I have never gotten so many good marks on my stories...well, I usually don't share loads of my stories...but that's sliding over the point. Lol, anyways: Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Ok, sorry this A/N is so long. You can read the story now :-D

Jess found that he couldn't quite keep his mind on the movie. His thoughts were elsewhere with Leslie. As Damien oo-ed and ah-ed on all the explosions, Jess found himself wishing he were back at home in Terabithia.

"Wasn't that awesome?" Damien exclaimed to Jess on the way back. Jess murmured something incomprehensible and turned to face the window. What if Leslie would go back? What was Jess going to do without her again?

"Hey, Jess, did you finish your homework for Thursday?" Damien asked.

"Yeah. No. I can't remember," Jess shrugged. Mr. Crawford laughed.

"That is such a typical answer for a teenager," he said. Jess smiled embarrassedly.

For the rest of the way home, Damien tried coaxing Jess into talking and finally succeeded when he banged his head against the window. After that, the conversation began to flow once more.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jess said as he waved goodbye to Damien and his dad.

"See ya!" Damien cried back. As Jess turned towards his house, he noticed something was different. There was an extra car parked in the driveway. Jess's first reaction was that somebody had gotten hurt, but then he saw it was just an ordinary brown mustang. Hesitantly, Jess walked inside. Everyone fell silent as Jess walked in. He looked around to see who the visitor was, but his eyes first found sight of a little black and white dog under the table. The dog barked and ran towards Jess.

"P.T.?" Jess said laughing as he picked up the little rascal.

"Hello, Jess," a man's voice said. Jess looked up and found himself staring into the eyes of Leslie's dad, Bill. Jess stared at him for a moment before saying, "Hi."

"I see P.T. still hasn't forgotten you," Bill said smiling at the bundle of fur in Jess's arms.

"Yeah," Jess said slowly as his mind tried furiously to work out why Bill was here.

"Mr. Burke has come to see how we were doing," Mrs. Aarons said pointedly at Jess, obviously seeing the puzzled look on his face.

"I also came to see how the house is looking," Bill said looking out the window at his old home.

"Well, it's looking fine," Jess shrugged.

"I hope you've made more friends," Bill said concernedly. Jess purposely avoided Bill's eyes.

"I have lots of friends," he muttered. Jess's family was staring at the two with wide eyes. Jess was feeling very uncomfortable now.

"Why don't we…go outside," Bill said smiling sadly. Jess nodded and silently followed Bill out of the house.

"Judy and I were going through some of Leslie's things recently," Bill finally said when they reached the back of the house. Jess started.

"Why?" he asked, quite bluntly.

"We haven't found the strength or courage to go through it before now," Bill said quietly. Strength and courage? Why would Bill need strength and courage? Jess momentarily forgot that Leslie was dead to the rest of the world.

"We found this," Bill said pushing a package into Jess's hands, "and thought you might like to see it. There's other things in the car that you might enjoy as well." Jess stared at the package, which was now apparent to be a notebook.

"I'll get the other things as well," Bill said moving over to his parked car with P.T. at his heels. Bill pulled out quite a few drawing books and paint sets.

"I don't know if you're still interested in this sort of thing…" his voice trailed off.

"No, I still am," Jess assured him as he set the notebook on the porch and went to take the things from Bill's hands. After quietly flipping through the books for a few moments, Jess looked up and said,

"Bill….you don't have to give these to me."

"Don't be silly, Jess. I want to give them to you. You deserve them," Bill responded waving his hand in the air as if to brush away Jess's words. Suddenly Jess said,

"She's not gone you know."

"She'll always be in our memories, yes," Mr. Burke sighed. Jess stood up from the seat he had taken on the porch.

"That's not what I mean. I see her. She's in the house. She's been with me for…for a long time," Jess said eagerly. Bill put a hand on Jess's shoulder.

"Sometimes I think I see her too, Jess. It's natural for our minds to play tricks on us like that."

Jess shrugged him off.

"No. She talks to me…she's gone with me to the woods…countless times. She's here. In the house," Jess said, a pleading note in his voice. Bill looked at Jess with a pitiful expression on his face.

"It was nice to see you again, Jess," he whispered before heading back to his car. Jess stood on the porch and watched as Bill drove away.

"But she really is here," Jess whispered.