Disclaimer: On First Chapter

Till' I Collapse

Part One: Discovering Leslie Burke

Chapter Three

(Please read and review)

August 7, 2007(Thursday)

The Aarons Residence

8:08 PM

"Jess the phone!" Startled Jesse turned his attention from his essay he had been working on to stare at his sister Brenda as she tossed him the cordless. He was a little shocked. He'd never gotten a phone call from anyone besides his grandmother.

"Uh, thanks?" he said, more as a question than anything else as he took the phone.

Placing it next to his ear, Jesse hesitantly said, "Hello?"

"Hi Jess!" The person on the phone sounded nothing like his elderly grandmother.

"Who is this?" he asked bewildered.

There was an answering giggle, and he almost dropped the phone. "Leslie?" he asked in disbelief.

"I'm shocked giggle man!" she crowed into the phone, and Jesse could practically taste her amusement, "I can't believe you got it right on your first guess. Was that hard for you?"

Jesse scoffed as he leaned back against the sofa, "Oh shut up, Les. It's not that often that I get confused."

Leslie laughed, and it caused Jesse to smile for some reason. "So Aarons, how was that documentary you had to watch?" Jesse cringed slightly. The idea of finding life in the ocean was certainly cool, but watching someone else do it wasn't very interesting at all.

"Uh, it was pretty boring. The only part I thought was cool was when the camera man almost got bitten by a shark," Jesse told her.

"Jesse that's horrible!" she gasped into the phone, "You shouldn't find that cool! What if it was you that almost got turned into a midnight snack for an overgrown carnivorous fish?"

Her indignation made Jesse crack up, and Leslie soon followed. The sounds of laughter must have made his mom curious because she poked her head into the room followed closely by his father.

"Who's that, Jesse?" she inquired bemusedly, and Jess calmed himself down enough to answer her.

"It's a friend," he replied quickly, before his attention went back to the girl on the phone, "I guess that if you put it that way; it does seem kind of cruel, but I can't help it, Les."

Jesse heard Leslie sigh dramatically, "I know, Jess. It's because you're a boy and you find stuff like blood and gore, and people blowing up cool."

"Hey that's not fair," Jesse protested into the phone, completely missing his parent's shared look, "You're stereotyping me, and you said that you didn't like doing that. Besides, I don't like seeing blood and gore, it actually makes me a bit nauseous."

"Fine, fine, sorry Jesse." she replied sincerely, and Jesse smiled.

"Why'd you call me anyway?" he asked curiously as he fiddled with his pencil.

"I had finished Mrs. Myers essay yesterday, and I was done with my homework, so I got bored, and I called you," When Jesse heard Leslie's reply, he almost dropped the phone.

"You called me because you were bored?" he asked, trying to make sure he understood.

"Not because I was bored, per say. More like because I was bored, and I wanted to talk to you," Leslie admission made Jesse grin widely.

"Oh," he said goofily, and Leslie burst out laughing.

"Are you grinning over there, Jesse? Or is this how you talk when you're exceedingly happy?"

Jesse wiped the goofy smile off his face, and said, "No, I'm just acting silly, because I felt like it."

"Ri-ight," Leslie's disbelieving tone reached his ears, "Whatever you say, Jesse. I have to go help my parents with some furniture downstairs. I'll see ya tomorrow, Jess."

"Goodnight, Leslie," Jesse told her quietly.

"Goodnight, Jesse."

The click of the phone did nothing to lighten Jesse's suddenly good mood, and he attacked his assignments with a new vigor. It turned out to be the best essay he'd ever written; backed up by the fact that he got an A plus the next class period.

--

August 8, 2007(Friday)

Lark Creek Elementary School

Math Class

1:10PM

Jesse was bored. He wanted to yawn so badly, but seeing as he was seated almost directly in front of his math teacher's line of vision; he reconsidered that idea. Sighing quietly, Jess rested his cheek on the palm of his hand and stared around the classroom; hoping to see something that might amuse him for the next fifteen minutes.

His eyes roamed past the door, before they flew back and Jesse inhaled sharply. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't daydreaming, but when he opened them again, she was still there.

Leslie Burke's face was plastered against the glass window of the math classroom, and Jesse could see her peering inside curiously. When she caught sight of him her face lit up and she grinned maniacally, before she waved at him. Leslie suddenly began fanning herself and pretending to claw at the door of the classroom while mouthing something that looked incredibly like I love you.

Then he figured out that she was pretending to be a crazed fan, and he burst out laughing in the middle of class, causing his teacher to swing around and stare. Jesse was too busy laughing it up to care, especially when he heard some teacher yell outside the door.

"Hey, young lady what do you thin—don't you run away from me!"

Jesse saw Leslie wave at him, before her blonde head disappeared in a flash. He briefly saw Mr. Thompson, a heavyset man with peppered hair, hobbling past the room in hot pursuit of one of the fastest runners in the sixth grade.

The thought made Jesse laugh even harder than before. Talk about entertainment Les, he thought to himself, while wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Do you know who that young lady was, Mr. Aarons?" The math teacher asked seriously, and Jesse glanced up at him as he calmed himself down.

"I think she was one of my fans, sir."

--

August 9, 2007

The Aarons Residence

8:13AM

"Jess!" Slightly irritated by his sister's voice yelling for him, Jesse glanced up from his notebook to glare at May Belle as she entered the divider between the two "rooms" without knocking.

"What now?" he growled at her.

First Brenda came along making snide comments about his odor, and how boys shouldn't be allowed to leave their rooms without taking at least five showers a day. He'd firmly told her that the reason he smelled was because he just ran almost six miles, and then asked what her excuse was.

Then Ellie had come barging in his room, right after he'd gotten out of the shower to fuss at him for losing her backpack, because her literature book was missing. Jess didn't even know that Ellie had a backpack; much less a literature book. He'd kicked her out of his room after telling her just that.

He was really tired of their nagging, and all he wanted to do was have some peace and quiet so he could draw.

May Belle frowned at him, "Jess, I called for you three times! Your friend is on the phone."

"Huh?" he asked blankly for a moment, wondering who she could possibly be talking about, before it clicked—Leslie—and he instantly snatched the phone from May Belle.

As May Belle left with a sniff, Jesse figured that he really needed to get used to having a friend. The idea seemed so preposterous that Jess didn't know whether he wanted it to be real or not. He knew that it was sad that he'd gotten so used to be friendless that having one felt weird.

"Hello?" he asked uncertainly, and was relieved when he heard the voice on the other end.

"Hi Jess," Leslie piped up cheerfully, "how has your Saturday morning been so far?"

"Horrible," Jesse told her absently as he leaned back onto his pillow, placing an arm underneath his neck.

"Why so bad?" she asked, her voice concerned. For some reason, Jess pictured her standing there with a frown on her face.

Jesse sighed, "My sisters have been harping on me all day, and now my dad will be working Saturdays. My sisters don't notice how my parents seem stressed lately—even more so than usual—and I hate seeing my mom so worn out."

Leslie didn't speak for a moment, and Jess knew the question was coming before she even asked. "What about your dad, Jess?"

Emotional rage that had been buried so deep seemed to rise in Jesse—enough to take both him and Leslie—by surprise.

"How the hell would I know, Les?" he practically hissed into the phone.

Leslie remained silent, and Jesse continued, "The man doesn't talk to me; other than to remind me to do chores or to ask me how I'm willing to help the family out. I try to be the best son possible, hoping for some sort of recognition, but all I get is silence. Do you know how much it hurts to have worked all day on something for your father, and he doesn't say he's proud of you? Not even that, but he'll tell Ellie that he's never been more proud when she comes home with a D minus on her paper; when I'm not allowed to get anything less than a B or I get yelled at?"

Jesse stopped, before he whispered, "How am I supposed to feel as though I amount to anything if the one person I want to see me as special ignores my presence?"

"You can't," Leslie replied sadly, and Jess had never felt anything like the rush of trust that filled him in that moment.

It meant a lot to him that Leslie didn't try to put a positive spin on anything he'd said or described. She didn't sugar coat the truth, and for her to be as honest as she was being with him made him grateful that they'd met. Jess realized that he'd needed someone to just listen to him.

Not discuss it, but just listen to the words he was saying and Leslie had done that.

"Jesse maybe we can make this day a little better for you?" Leslie spoke hopefully, and Jesse's eyebrow rose.

"How would we do that?"

"Meet me at the end of the road; where the bus drops us off, but tell your mom that you won't be back for awhile," Leslie instructed him mysteriously, and Jesse apprehensively agreed to do as she asked.

"What exactly are we doing, Leslie?" he questioned warily, but he only got a sly giggle in reply.

"I promise you'll have fun," Was all she said, before the line went dead.

Jesse stared at the phone in surprise, before chuckling under his breath as he slipped on his sneakers. He checked his face in the mirror and smoothed out some of the wrinkles in his black-sleeved white mid-sectioned baseball tee.

Jesse picked up a black leather belt that he'd had for years, and slipped it through the loop holes of his dark wash denim jeans, before he walked out of the room and downstairs.

As he walked out of the house, he glanced at his mother and said, "I'll be gone for awhile."

She nodded in acknowledgement, and Jesse left the house at leisure pace, his hands shoved in his jeans pockets. As he neared the fork of the road, Jesse stopped and gawked at Leslie. She was wearing a bright green t-shirt over dark denim jean shorts with blue high-tops. Her hair was loose, but she wore a bright smile.

Well, though her outfit surprised him it was the two gleaming motorbike helmets she held in her hands that took him by surprise. Leslie waved him over. He jogged lightly in her direction, and she tossed him a bright red helmet.

"What are these for?" he asked curiously, and Leslie grinned mischievously, before thumbing over her shoulder.

"Well, my parents said the only way we could ride them was if we used the helmets," Jesse vaguely heard Leslie speak as he was far too flabbergasted by the sight of two spotless four wheelers sitting in the Burkes' driveway.

"You're kidding?" he exclaimed loudly, and Leslie smirked.

"Nope," she told him smugly, "Sorry, Aarons, but you're going to tour the towns near Lark Creek; Leslie Burke style."

Jesse laughed, "As if I'm gonna have a problem with that." They hurried over to the four wheelers. Jesse instantly situating himself on the matching red one as Leslie got on the metallic blue one.

Jesse heard Leslie rev up her engine, and he followed suit. "Let's roll out!" Leslie yelled excitedly, and Jesse nodded at her as she placed her helmet on. She yelled, "These helmets have radio communicators so we can talk to each other."

Using her left hand, Leslie flipped her visor closed and Jesse copied her.

"Ready Aarons?"

He heard her voice—it was a strange, because it sounded like her voice was coming from his head—loud and clear, and Jesse replied,

"Roger that, Burke." Leslie accelerated, and she was followed closely by Jesse, who let out a shout of exhilaration as they flew down the dirt lane; kicking up clouds of dust in their wake. From the rearview mirror, Jess saw Brenda and Ellie walk out of the house wearing twin looks of absolute shock. May Belle was standing there shrieking madly, and his mom was laughing.

Leslie's voice came on again, "Seems like your siblings are a tad jealous." She told him brightly, and Jesse smiled behind his helmet.

"Yeah, but at least my mom looks better than she has in days," he commented.

"If May Belle doesn't stop she's going to be hoarse for a week," Leslie told him as they turned left onto the main road.

Jesse stated dryly, "And that would be a bad thing, why?"

Leslie laughed heartily at that.

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