Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Bridge to Terabithia

Thank you again to all who read the previous chapters and those that made comments/suggestions. I really do appreciate your time. Just for clarification in this story Jess and Leslie are about 16 maybe 17.

Chapter 3

Leslie and Megan waved goodbye as their friend drove away. Though it was Friday night they were not going to be joining the rest of the six-pack for a night of movies, eating pizza, and endless driving around the small town of Lark Creek. Though her friends had a wild reputation they were by her accounts fairly tame. Then again some of them did like to drink. She couldn't deny that. She didn't condone the behavior anymore then she condemned it. After all Leslie was guilty of sampling a beverage herself. Tonight, however the six-pack was minus two as Leslie and Megan made their way inside the Burke home. The two teens quickly disappeared into Leslie's bedroom.

"Hey Leslie, do you ever talk to Jess anymore?" Megan asked as she leafed through a magazine. Leslie turned away from her laptop and gave her friend a curious glance. Next to Jess and Kyle Megan was Leslie's oldest friend. She had long brown hair, a petite frame and dark brown eyes. Despite her short size she was a formidable runner and gave Leslie more than a challenge in cross-country. Of the members of the six-pack she was closest to Megan.

"Megan, you know the answer to that question. What're you trying to get at?" she asked suspiciously. Megan put down the magazine and looked up at Leslie.

"Okay, why aren't you and Jess friends anymore?" she asked more bluntly. "I saw you looking at him today Les. In fact I've seen you look at him an awful lot" she added. Megan was asking sincerely and not trying to tease and Leslie knew it. She was used to her friend's rather personal and upfront questions but Jess was still a difficult subject.

"Megan" she sighed. "Do we have to talk about this?"

"Yep, I'm afraid so" she replied. "It's time you face this demon head on." Leslie rolled her eyes and put her head down on her desk. One part of her wanted to run away and do anything but talk about Jess Aarons; the other part however wanted desperately to talk about him. Megan could see Leslie wasn't going to open up easily but she was prepared for that. "Listen Les, I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable or anything. It's just…"

"Just what?" Leslie asked.

Megan hesitated for a moment before answering. "Leslie, I know I don't really know Jess but from everything I've ever heard about you two it seems you were the best of friends."

"I never said we weren't" Leslie replied a bit irritated. "But people change, we changed, and…"

"That's just it Leslie" Megan interrupted. "You think that but…"

"But what Megan?" Leslie demanded. "Why do you even care about what happened between Jess and me?" Megan was silent perhaps stunned by her friend's sudden attack.

"Because I lost a best friend once that's why" Megan said quietly with her head tucked into her chest. "You have no idea what that's like Leslie. You have no idea how much that hurts." Megan was clearly upset.

"Megan, when you say lost do you mean…"

"He's dead Leslie" Megan answered.

"Oh, I'm…I'm sorry" Leslie replied almost in a whisper. She felt terrible for being rude towards her friend. "I never knew about…um…your friend" she said awkwardly.

"His name was Casey" Megan replied as she wiped a few tears from her yes. "I met him when I was ten he was my next door neighbor. Naturally I introduced myself" she said with a smile. Megan was the epitome of an extrovert. Leslie had never known anyone so outgoing. "Casey was beyond shy" she continued. "So much so that his parents were convinced something was wrong with him."

"Then you came along?" Leslie asked.

"Yeah, then I came along" Megan said smiling. "He opened up to me. He just came out of his shell and became my best friend. His mom said it was like magic." Megan told the tale of a blossoming friendship between two different yet inseparable kids. Two kids lost in their imaginations discovering new worlds and new adventures. Leslie couldn't help but think of Jess and Terabithia. It was hard to deny the similarity.

"We had a place" Megan began again. "There was this small river not far from where we lived. It wasn't much of a river but to us it was perfect. On one side there was a small piece of land that extended out into the water almost like a bridge. We just called it the island though. It seemed so much cooler as an island." Leslie saw a smile cross Megan's face. Her eyes seemed to gleam as she remembered her friend. "We generally stayed out of the water but it was kind of hard to resist during the summer" she added with a laugh. "Then just like you said things changed."

"What changed?" Leslie asked.

"We got older" Megan replied. "When we were in 8th grade I started making a lot of new friends, I went on my first date, which was a disaster by the way" she said smiling. The smile, however, faded as Megan's face seemed to lose its color. She sat silent for several moments before continuing. "I…I started to avoid Casey" she finally managed to say. "I made up excuses not to hang out or had my little sister tell him I wasn't home when he stopped by. Then…" Leslie could see Megan was struggling. She was fighting back the tears that wanted to fall.

"Megan you don't have to go on if you don't want" Leslie reassured her.

"Yes I do" Megan replied defiantly. "I want you to know what happened." She took another minute to regain her composure. "Casey never really made too many other friends, not close ones anyway. He wasn't treated very well either, he got bullied a lot. I started to feel ashamed of him, like he was making me look bad in front of my other friends." Leslie felt a sense of shame overcome her. The story was starting to hit too close to home. The parallels between her and Jess were eerie.

"Then one day in April…April 24th, a Saturday to be exact I came home after spending the day at the mall with some friends. My parent's were waiting for me with my sister. I knew the minute I saw my mom's eyes that something bad had happened." Leslie felt a sick sensation in her stomach. Though she knew the final outcome of the story part of her didn't want to hear it. Even though she never met Casey nor even heard of him until today, there was some part of her that hoped somehow everything turned out okay.

"Apparently Casey had gone down to the river by himself that morning" Megan said. "It had rained so much that it actually looked like a river. The island was completely underwater." Megan wrapped her arms tightly around herself. She seemed to see the events happening all over again. "According to an old fisherman who was out there that day Casey was walking along the bank and it just gave way. He fell in and got swept downstream. The current was too strong and he…he drowned." Megan buried her head into her chest as the tears flowed down her cheeks. "Casey drowned while I was at the mall eating pizza" she said as she looked up at Leslie. Her eyes glistened as she wiped the tears away. "He died thinking I hated him Les."

Leslie pulled her friend into an embrace and began to rock her gently like a baby. She found that she too was crying as she tried to comfort Megan. Leslie wanted to say something reassuring, she wanted to tell her friend that everything was going to be okay but how could she? Casey was dead and nothing was going to change that. Instead Leslie found that all she could offer was the warmth and security of an embrace. "God, Leslie, I miss him so much."

It was the first time in a long time Jess could remember feeling that peculiar mix of exhilaration and fear. Flying across the creek was always fun but the element of danger always gave it a sense of foreboding. After making it across Jess continued running through the forest towards the tree house. He quickly passed the decrepit truck noting even more decay then he remembered. He kept running all the while fighting back the nagging images of Jason Simms and the six-pack. In a moment those images vanished as he suddenly found himself standing in front of the ruins of a castle. Jess stood transfixed as he stared at it. It seemed so small. It reminded him of the first time he set foot back in Lark Creek Elementary after being gone for several years. He was there to pick up his sister and remembered how the hallways seemed smaller, even the desks seemed almost minature in size. As he gazed at the tree house he wondered how on earth he and Leslie spen so much time in there? He walked up to the base and reached out to touch the tree. The old rope that hung off the side was still there but hardly seemed sufficient to hold his weight now. Still, he didn't need the rope to get to the tree house.

Jess quickly shimmied his way up the trunk and carefully made his way into the entrance. It felt barren and claustrophobic as Jess looked around. The "drapes" they had used on the windows had long since blown off allowing leaves and all manner of nature to find its way inside. Jess knelt down in the corner. Still present were the rations Leslie and he prepared in the event of some catastrophic event. Several old coffee cans were lined up against the wall each labeled with duct tape and a magic marker. Jess carefully picked up one of the cans. He held it as though it was an ancient piece of pottery from an archaeological dig. He pried off the lid and looked inside. Jess smiled and laughed out loud. Inside was half a coffee can worth of change. Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters still sat undisturbed inside the can. It was a testament to two very over zealous twelve year olds ensuring they had all essential items in their castle. Jess couldn't remember how much money was actually in the can but he clearly recalled that at the time the young king and queen were certain it was enough to purchase any necessities they might need. He placed the treasury can back in its place and leafed through other long forgotten items. Several old maps Jess had drawn of Terabithia were carefully folded and placed inside a manila envelope like the artifacts of long ago expeditions. Propped up against the castle's back wall was a small bookshelf Leslie had built.

To his surprise several books still adorned the shelves. The Chronicles of Narnia, The Once and Future King, and several others were covered in dust but otherwise in decent shape considering. Jess picked up one of the books and carefully dusted it off. He opened it and found her name. It was written in bright blue marker. Leslie of course didn't just simply write her name. It was surrounded by a few smiley faces, something that looked like birds and two hearts, each with a pair of wings and a crown. Jess had never seen the image before. He was captivated by it. It was a simple design but pure and sincere. Why didn't she ever show it to him? Maybe she was embarrassed. Jess often felt embarrassed when he showed her his art, at least in the beginning. Jess looked over at the items he had been scrounging through. He ruffled through the papers and sure enough found an old pencil. The urge to draw often hit Jess like a sudden attack of the munchies. It was often easier to resist the munchies. He quickly began to sketch. For Jess drawing was like meditation. Once he started he didn't stop until he felt comfortable with his piece. That obsessive behavior led to more than one sleepless night and numerous complaints from May belle. Even Leslie was known to lose her patience with him when he went into his trance. He shut out the rest of the world and poured everything into his creation.

When Jess finally looked up he realized the light was fading. He looked over his shoulder and out the doorway and saw that the sun was setting.

"Oh crap" he said to himself. It dawned on him just how much trouble he was going to be in when he got home. The older Jess got the more responsibility his parents placed on him. He never understood why he was singled out. Neither Brenda nor Ellie were ever laden with so many chores. May belle was practically exempt and Joyce Ann was still too young. Over the past couple years the situation had only grown worse. Brenda moved out and Jess's mom took on a part time job. For Jess that equated to more work. Several evenings a week he had to be home to babysit his little sisters. In addition he often worked weekends at the hardware store with his dad. That forced him to quit the cross country team. He couldn't stay after school for practice or attend weekend meets. It sparked the worst fight Jess ever had with his father which in turn led to the longest grounding he ever endured. At that point though, grounding had little effect on him. Leslie was already gone and without running what else was there to care about? Jess quickly tidied up the already dirty tree house, gathered a couple items then set out for home.

A/N: This chapter was a bit shorter than usual. However, I felt I covered what was necessary for this stage of the story. I'm pushing to stay on top of this story and not go several months in between chapters like I did on my previous story. Again, thanks for reading.