A/N: I've kinda switched this into a BTT only category, seeing that not many have read this story yet. I'll switch this back into a crossover one as soon as I publish the fourth chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bridge to Terabithia and A Walk To Remember, and we all know that that's a fact.

He went back to the cool shade provided by the tree, the one which he had stayed at a week earlier. He tossed his bag aside, nothing inside was fragile. He clenched his fists. He wanted to think that everything that had happened last week were all just a nightmare. A bad dream. A very bad one.

Jamie having leukemia? That was such a bad dream any guy could ever dream about his girlfriend. But there's no escaping now. Jamie really does have that wicked illness, and the saddest part was her breaking up with him. It was almost too hard to bear. He kept questioning God why did it have to be her of all people?

Jess closed his eyes and started to think of only the good memories with Jamie.

~*~*~*~

"Hey! Are you okay there?" Jess asked the girl whom he saw fell on her knees when she got tripped by someone. It was a good thing Jess didn't see the person in fault or he would have had punched him or her by now. He didn't care even if it was a girl.

"Yeah, I'm okay." She lied. Jess heard her say 'ow' as she stood up, supporting herself by holding onto the locker at her back.

Jess snorted. "Hell, you're obviously not. Let's get you to the clinic. Those assholes are such a pain." Jess said, not being able to hold the curses. The girl wanted to refuse his help, but knowing Jess Aarons, it'll only complicate things, so she complied and tried to kneel down to get her things.

Seeing that she was having a little difficulty in walking, he first got her belongings and got her arm and put it around his neck to help her walk. It was one nasty trip alright.

"Okay…" Was all Jamie could say to him.

Jess Aarons wasn't exactly a jock. He was just too much of a loner.. Lark Creek High wasn't exactly that big as well, so students know each other, what's going on around, and the latest gossip and everything. Jess Aarons was a silent boy, not the geek type of silent. He just liked to keep things to himself. But he would be very confusing sometimes because he would suddenly crank up jokes and pull stunts in front of everybody. When a jock invites him to their clique, Jess would just shoo him away. He was a very sociable person anyway. The only thing that wasn't admirable about Jess Aarons was that he was very persuasive. He had been in a lot of fights too. Every image of a bad boy you could possibly picture.

When they arrived at the clinic, they saw two elementary kids being treated. The two kids had obviously punched each other. The nurse heard the door closed, so she turned to see who they were. She rolled her eyes as she saw Jess.

"You again, Mr. Aarons? What have you done this time?" She asked after dipping the alcohol-soaked cotton on the boy's wound. The elementary kid winced and complained, but the nurse shushed her. She averted her attention back to Jess. Seeing that he was with a girl, she felt kind of worried.

"Don't tell me-"

"Don't worry Mrs. Fulcher, I never punch a lady you know." He lied. He did punch a girl, three times actually. But that was in middle school.

"Oh. Good to hear that. So, what's her problem?" She said, feeling relieved.

He pointed Jamie's leg. "Um, I think she hurt her leg. Tripped by a couple of assholes along the hallway. They seriously need to get a life, and a better and far interesting one I might say." He told the nurse, as if they were discussing about something extremely significant.

The nurse gasped at the word. "Watch your tongue, Mr. Aarons. I'm starting to think that you originally came from New York, not here in Lark Creek." She warned him. Jess just laughed.

"This is after all the twenty-first century Mrs. Fulcher. Well anyway, I gotta get going. See ya around, sweater-girl." Jess said to Jamie, adding a wink before he was gone. Jamie blushed a little.

The nurse observed the two from the moment they entered the clinic.

She turned on the fan since it was becoming hot inside, she then turned to Jamie. "Do you kids know each other?" Mrs. Fulcher asked her.

"Not really… He helped me get here when I tripped." She explained to her.

"Do you know the kids who tripped you? You ought to tell the principal about it," she advised her, "kids these days." She said as she grunted. Her own son was a bully as well.

"Unfortunately, no. But it's okay, it doesn't really bother me that much. I'll be more careful next time." She assured the nurse. Mrs. Fulcher just smiled at her.

"I'll be back with a bag of ice. Make yourself comfortable dear." She said to her as she smiled and left.

"Okay Mrs. Fulcher. Thank you." Jamie thanked the chubby school nurse as she disappeared into one of the rooms to get a bag of ice for her leg.

~*~*~*~

Jess laughed a little at the memory. That was the very first time he had actually interacted with Jamie. Lark Creek High wasn't a big school, so students knew each other mostly. Jess saw her more and talked with her a few times before they actually became friends. They were classmates in some subjects as well, so that helped in improving their relationship more.

After that episode of helping her, Jamie never stopped thanking him, and Jess would only smile at her and told her that it was just a one-time thing and he happened to be in a very jumpy mood that day.

After reminiscing of a few more, Jess realized that he badly needed someone to talk to. It couldn't be his parents, they were always busy. It couldn't be his older sisters too, nor his younger ones. Being the only boy smashed between four sisters wasn't an interesting idea at all. Jamie was the only person he ever talked with about his personal problems and his life, and that was the reason why he liked her. She always understood him well. She was very good listener as too, unlike his family where communication was only one-way.

The heat was scorching. Sweat trickled down Jess' cheeks. Even the tree's shade wasn't enough to protect him from the sun. Just as he was about to stand up, he felt a presence sit next to him.

"Hi." A female voice said.

Jess turned to his side to see who it was, and was not at all surprised to see the 'snotty' girl, as he described her last week.

"Hey." He greeted her back, not even turning to her direction. Leslie Burke saw the emptiness in his eyes.

She sat next to him, feeling at ease by the trunk her back was leaning on. "Been crying again?" She asked him nonchalantly. Jess now felt offended by this.

"What's with you and all those questions?" He snapped.

She gave him a questioning look. "Huh?"

It's useless to even have this conversation, Jess thought. He stood up, "You know, I really don't like persons who feel as if they can be anyone's friend. You seem like the arrogant type, and I hate persons like that." He said to her, wanting to make her feel that she had just entered a personal space.

Standing up as well, she pointed a finger as well and poked it in his chest twice. "I'm just trying to be nice! What's wrong with that?"

"I hate people being nice to me!" He shouted at her.

"Wasn't Jamie nice to you?" She shot back at him.

He fell silent after hearing her name. "Don't talk about her. You don't even know her." He said, starting to leave. How dare she ask him if he was okay? They were strangers for chrissake. She shouldn't just butt in into someone else's business like it was normal. Leslie grabbed his arm, pulling him back to her.

She looked at him with apologetic eyes. "Look, I do know her. We're friends."

Jess raised an eyebrow. "Friends?"

"Well… Not exactly. Our moms were."

"Were?" Jess was confused at this. Leslie bit her lip.

It was like she was out of breath. "Our moms were friends back when they were at high school. Mrs. Sullivan would always bring Jamie at our house so we could play with each other." She inhaled, and then exhaled slowly before speaking up again. "My mom… she died from leukemia…" She explained to him. A wave of pity and guilt then hit Jess. His concern for Jamie disappeared for that moment and was centered at the girl before him.

He took a step nearer her. "I-I'm sorry… I didn't know." He apologized.

She smiled weakly, a twinge of sadness and pain in her heart. "It's okay." Her misty eyes were enough to tell him the emptiness in her heart.

They both fell silent for a while when Leslie sat back on her place under the shade of the tree and looked at the sky.

"I know how it feels like," she started, "the first time my mother told my father and me that she had leukemia… We thought it was one of her insane jokes." She continued. Jess sat again beside her, looking at the sky as well, which reminded him well of the times Jamie and he spent.

"My mom was a very strong woman. Too bad I never did inherit that strength of hers." She giggled a little.

Jess didn't make an attempt to speak, so she continued on with her story. "It was a sunny day, a very beautiful day in fact. My dad and I arrived home from buying the groceries. As we stepped inside our house, mom suddenly hugged both of us. I know it's normal for mothers to do that, but I felt something different at that time, like something awful was about to come."

"By dinner, we were all quiet. It was so awkward that I tried hard to start a conversation, but mom kept silent. It was just so… different of her at that time. We didn't have a single silent dinner until that night."

"After finishing our desserts, she suddenly spoke up. Without further ado, she told us that she was diagnosed with leukemia."

Jess heard her sniffle. The night that Jamie told him about her illness, he thought she was being uneasy because it was already a little past ten at that time, and maybe she was just worried that her father might get worried.

Seeing that Leslie didn't use a hanky to wipe her tears, just her hand, he offered her his. "Thanks." She thanked him.

"I'm sorry for being mean to you last week and earlier… I was just having a hard time…"

She shook her head. "I know Jess, I understand. I shouldn't have been snotty too. It was rude." She apologized to him, but Jess mumbled an okay and squeezed her hand to assure her.

"My mom then told us that the doctor said she would only have three years more to live, even with a bone marrow transplant. Money wasn't a problem at all, but my mother didn't ask for the operation, and she was final with that decision. She told us why she didn't want the operation, and said that she would want to spend her remaining time with us. She didn't want to be a burden to us."

"That's what Jamie said to me too." Jess told her.

Leslie nodded. "I think you would understand her now Jess."

"Yeah… I do." Jess said, feeling guilty that he didn't give Jamie a chance to talk after confessing to him about the illness.

Leslie hugged her knees and inhaled the scent of their surrounding.

"It was so ironic. It was such a beautiful day that day. The sky was clear and blue. We didn't expect her to say that at all. I even laughed so hard, and stopped when I noticed that my mother wasn't smiling at all. It was hard Jess. Really hard." She said a matter-of-factly.

He lowered his head, feeling ashamed of how he treated Leslie. "I'm sorry. I never should have been judgmental."

"I understand…" she assured him; even she wouldn't be happy if someone asks her things so personal like those, "I was happy that she at least made it until I entered ninth grade. She died on the first day of high school. The last memory I had with her was when she was packing my lunch." She said. She wiped her tears. Reliving the memory was too hard to handle, even after two years.

I know I should be considered lucky to have a compete family. But what's the use when you're like invisible to them? This thought was plastered in Jess Aarons' mind ever since he was young.

"I have a father and a mother, but they don't seem to notice me at all."

Leslie didn't reply and fixed her gaze at the blue sky.

"I can't help but ask God as well why Jamie had to be sick with it." Leslie said to him, as though the word leukemia was something like a taboo. Something she didn't want to say.

"Yeah… Of all the people, why her? It could be anyone. It could be me. She doesn't deserve it. She of all people… touched me, inspired me, made me hope when I thought I would never be touched, inspired or even hope again."

Leslie felt deeply touched by this. One of the greatest things she had ever heard from someone. Leslie reached for his hand and squeezed it.

"I've never met someone, nor heard a story about anyone holding such a strong love for the person he loves just like yours." She said to him and smiled. A tear cascaded from Jess' eye.

Their fingers intertwined like they had been friends for such a long time. The warmth of Leslie's touch was like an assurance of comfort and solace to Jess, one that he needed the most at that time.

Even if Jamie wasn't beside him, Leslie could be her replacement for the meantime. Jamie used to be the one who listened to his problems and provide the comfort he needed, but now she that was absent, Leslie filled her place. Although it might not be forever, Jess felt thankful and grateful to Leslie for being by his side when he needed someone to talk to.

Leslie Burke appeared at exactly the right time, when he felt so hopeless and alone.