Disclaimer: On First Chapter...

Till' I Collapse

Part One: Discovering Leslie Burke

Chapter Five

(Please read and review)

August 13, 2007(Wednesday)

Lark Creek Elementary School

English Class

Sitting in Mrs. Myers class between Scott Hoager and Gary Fulcher no longer posed the menace that it usually did for Jess. Now, the two seemed to be more annoying than the fear-inspiring nuisances they had once been to him. So for the first time, Jesse did not dread sitting down in his assigned seat—which might have had something to do with the fact that Leslie was making silly faces at him every time Mrs. Myers turned her back to the class.

Jesse was still tense with apprehension, but he couldn't contain the laughter that bubbled within him as he saw Leslie mock Gary's threatening voice from behind the red-haired acne-ridden kid.

He snorted once in hilarity, before smothering his amusement with his hand and pretending like he was writing notes on the current lecture. Mrs. Myers whipped around to glare at the class, and unable to spot the culprit; Scott offered his kind assistance.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Myers, but Jess Aarons was laughing after he said something terribly rude about Gary," Scott told the teacher; simpering as though hurt, and Jesse's amusement faded instantly.

"What exactly did he say, Mr. Hoager?" The English teacher asked imposingly as she sent a glare in Jesse's direction.

"He said that he had an ugly face," Scott explained piteously, before whispering, "And we all know how emotional Gary is about his illness."

"Yeah, add that to the fact that you're his friend, Hoager," Jesse sneered, "I'm pretty sure being around you made him look even more like a troll."

"Mr. Aarons!" Mrs. Myers cried in anger, and Leslie's eyes narrowed, before she dropped onto the floor. She signaled to Jesse to keep the teacher distracted, and he quickly caught on despite his bewilderment. "I will not have you speaking to your fellow classmates like that!"

"Well tell the little ding dong to leave me alone," Jesse ranted, "He's always talking about my family, and making my life a living hell. Why don't you speak to him about it, so I won't have to!"

Jesse eyed Leslie crawling along the floor, and watched in disbelief—he of course automatically tuned out Mrs. Myers and the stunned silence of the classroom out to stare at Leslie—as his friend finally edged open the door.

Leslie disappeared for less than ten seconds, before she crawled back into the room just as Mrs. Myers anger exploded. "Why I've never…"

Jesse was saved as the school fire alarm went off and the sprinklers built into the ceiling turned on, spraying with a vengeance.

Jesse gawked at Leslie, and mouthed, "You did this?" And she nodded laughing as screams and the sound of running footsteps filled the hallways.

Jesse hopped over desks as kids ran out of the classroom, Mrs. Myers shrieking louder than they were as the class emptied into the halls. In minutes, every student was standing on the lawn of Lark Creek Elementary; shaking off water and speculating about what had happened.

Jesse surprised Leslie by picking her up around her waist and swinging her around in circles while she squealed. They both fell onto the grass laughing outrageously. The students of the elementary school spent the rest of the afternoon outside due to the flooding of the school.

Jesse and Leslie sat together—their shoes kicked off—chatting like never before and making silly faces at each other to see who would laugh first.

That was the first day that Jesse Aarons and Leslie Burke became known as Jess and Les.

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August 13, 2007(Wednesday)

Cora Perry Neighborhood

The Creek

4:07PM

"We need a place," Leslie mused, and Jesse raised an eyebrow, "A place that's just ours; away from school, and all the Janice Avery's and Scott Hoager's of the world."

Leslie sat on top of a log an intense look on her face as Jess climbed up next to her. "Yeah, but when we go back to school there they are waiting for us."

"I'm not talking about just going home Jess. I mean something like a magical kingdom that only we can get to by using…this enchanted rope."

"I don't know, Leslie. What if questions are usually harder to answer than it is to ask," Jesse said picking at the log.

"Aren't all questions, Jess?" Leslie shot back absently, and Jesse gave her a look.

"You know what I mean, Les."

"Yeah, I know Jesse, but what's the harm in trying?" she asked, and Jesse shrugged.

Standing up, Leslie tightened her hand around the rope, and suddenly she was gone, swinging to the other side and landing in the brush. Jesse was taken aback by her abrupt disappearance, and worried when he didn't see her again.

"Leslie!" he called out, "Leslie, this isn't funny!"

There was no answer, and Jesse wasted no time swinging across. He really hoped nothing had happened to her. When he landed, he called her name again, and he heard her yelling for him, "Jess! Come see this!"

He followed the sound of her voice, and found her standing beside an abandoned truck. The bubbling excitement radiating from Leslie startled Jesse as he came to an abrupt halt near the other side of the truck. Leslie was running her hands over the filthy surface. Dirt cracked off and chips of paint slipped through her fingers as she bent over to study the inside of the truck.

The fierce crackling of fallen leaves and rotten twigs popping underneath her feet brought Jesse into a sort of trance. Air brushed across his face and he shivered at the sight of her turning around slowly. He could almost feel her heart pumping furiously in the thrill of her apparent discovery, and the sparkling of her bottle green eyes had his stomach feeling funny. Her serious tone of voice tugged him back to reality.

"Ah, Jess, they got so close," she sighed, her voice reflecting her sadness and Jesse stared at her open-mouthed.

"I don't know this game," he said warily, and Leslie only glanced at him over her shoulder.

"What game, Jess? This is for real," she said as she stepped away from the truck's shattered window and towards an opening in the trees. Her eyes were moving quickly around the forest, and Leslie gasped as a dragonfly blew past her, "Wow, a warrior from… the treetop provinces."

"Erm, try a dragonfly," Jess interjected, and Leslie rolled her eyes, but was distracted by another fascinating discovery. Bolting, Leslie ran towards it, and when she got to it, she stopped. She stared at the rotting old tree house, and Jesse ran to catch up with her.

"This is it, Jess," Leslie remarked dreamily as she climbed into the tree house, Jesse following her, "These are the ruins of what was once a great fortress and their people have been imprisoned. We're here to free them."

Jesse only stared in shock as Leslie spread her arms and yelled out, "Prisoners of the Dark Master, we have come to free you! Tell me if you can hear me." The wind gusted heavily, whipping Leslie's hair around her face and making Jesse falter.

"You've just got lucky timing. The wind's been blowing off and on all day," Jesse told her, and Leslie smiled.

"I can't hear you!" she screamed, and the wind blew harder, forcing Jesse into the side of the tree house, and a beaming Leslie crawled down to smile at him.

"It needs a lot of work, but Jess, this is our magical kingdom. This is our place," she told him excitedly, and Jess reluctantly nodded, before glancing distractedly at his watch. 5:42, it read, and Jesse inhaled sharply, feeling his eyes widen dramatically.

"Oh crap, Les, we've been out here for almost three hours!" he exclaimed, and Leslie whipped around to stare at him, horrified.

"What?!" she asked, grabbing his hand and moving closer so she could look at it herself. Leslie didn't notice that she was now standing directly in front of Jesse—her back almost touching his chest—but Jesse sure did, and he blushed heavily.

"Snapple biscuits Jess! My mom is gonna kill me!" Leslie cried, before turning and looking at him. Jesse felt like giggling, but of course he didn't—ahem men don't giggle.

"Snapple biscuits, Leslie?" he asked, trying hard not to laugh, and Leslie nudged him with her elbow.

"Forget it, Jesse, but we've got to get home, now! Like I said two seconds ago, my mom is gonna kill me!"

Jesse suddenly sobered up as they scrambled out of the tree house. "Your mom! My mom is going to fillet me and cook me for dinner if I'm not home by six o'clock on a school night."

Leslie giggled slightly, before they both broke into a dead sprint, running as fast as possible home. Approximately, four and a half miles later, they reached the fork where their paths split and both stopped, breathing hard.

"What time is it, Jess?" she asked, her eyes watering from exhaustion. Jess looked.

"It's 6:11, Les," he told her, and Leslie dropped her head.

"Oh my freaking giraffe, we were so close!" she fumed, stomping her foot angrily, and Jesse would've laughed if he'd been able to breathe properly, "I guess I'll go and face my mother's wrath."

Jesse smiled at her slightly as Leslie fanned herself with one hand, and used the other to push back her sweaty tresses. "Yeah," Jesse said with a sideway glance towards his house, "I guess I'll go too."

"Bye Jess. See ya tomorrow?" Leslie asked shyly, and Jesse blushed, but—fortunately for him—it was hidden by his already flushed cheeks.

"Bye Leslie!" Jesse called to her, before turning and running to his house, grabbing his backpack on the way home. He glanced at his watch, and cringed. 6:14. He was so dead.

Jesse skidded to a halt in front of his house, and took a deep breath seeing his dad's truck in the driveway. For some reason, everything looked much more menacing than usual.

He dropped his backpack by the front door, and slipped off his "new" sneakers.

Walking inside the kitchen, he was met with absolute silence, and five pairs of eyes staring at him. Joyce Ann of course was playing with her mashed carrots, and giggling whenever some dropped onto her high chair table.

At that moment, Joyce Ann was his favorite person in the world.

"And where have you been, Jess?" his mom asked, her eyes narrowed on him. Jesse gulped slightly; dropping his backpack and sneakers near the door probably hadn't been a good idea. At least with the sneakers on he could've made a run for it.

"Erm, I was out running," he muttered, internally hoping that May Belle would keep her mouth shut.

No such luck.

"You went running with Leslie, Jess? Was it fun?" she asked excitedly, popping up in her chair to look at him.

"Who's Leslie?" Ellie asked her voice tinged with curiosity. Jesse thought it odd that Ellie seemed to be studying him rather intensely, and her brown eyes combined with the disapproving look on his mother's face—made him want to squirm. He thought back and remembered when Ellie had been a bigger brat than Brenda. It hit him that his sister had been rather mellow these last couple of weeks. Something had changed and Jesse wanted to know what.

At least he did until Brenda answered Ellie's question, "Probably his freak girlfriend."

"Don't call her a freak, Brenda," Jesse snapped in sudden defense, and her eyes widened slightly.

"So she is your girlfriend," Brenda laughed. The sound of it practically made Jesse's skin crawl, and he almost felt slighted by the fact that he couldn't stand his own sister's laughter, "Have you guys played doctor, yet?"

Jesse turned crimson with embarrassment. "She is not my girlfriend." Brenda opened her mouth to respond—something nasty by the way her eyes burned with malicious anxiety—but Jesse's mom got there first.

"Brenda, cut out the nonsense," she snapped, and then barked at Jesse, "And you sit down this instant, young man."

Jesse sat down in his usual spot next to Brenda, and felt awfully uncomfortable. His clothes were damp from sweating so much and he knew he didn't smell very good.

Brenda's disgusted look confirmed it.

"You know that you're supposed to be home at six o'clock on school nights, Jesse. The only way out of it is if you call and inform us—yes that includes giving a good reason as to why you'll be late—before you come home after curfew," Mary Aarons said sternly, and Jesse stared at the table.

"I'm sorry mom, but we were running and we lost track of time. I'm sure if you call Leslie's parents they'll tell you the same thing. It's not like I deliberately came home late," Jesse said, and his mother seemed to soften.

"I'll let you off this time, since you haven't done it before, but if it happens again, I won't be so nice," she told him, and Jesse nodded.

"Now go take a shower, before you eat. I think you'll ruin our appetites if you join us smelling like you do," she told him, chuckling softly. Jesse grinned, and stood up to leave the room. His eyes met his father's but once again they were unreadable, so he turned and headed upstairs. Curiously he sniffed himself, and groaned under his breath.

Geez, he smelt really bad.

Thanks for taking the time to read! Leave me a review!

-TellNoOne