Disclaimer: On First Chapter.
Till' I Collapse
Part One: Discovering Leslie Burke
Chapter Six
(Please read and review)
August 14, 2007(Thursday)
Cora Perry Neighborhood
The Aarons' Residence
6:45AM
The next morning, Jesse rushed through his early morning run, his chores, and his shower, before hurrying downstairs to eat breakfast. Dropping his strangely full backpack on the ground next to his chair, Jesse ate quickly, stuffing his mouth full of eggs, taking a large bite of bacon, and devouring his pancakes. He was done in less than five minutes, and he washed it all down with a glass of orange juice.
Standing he saw his mother staring at him, looking vaguely amused, and his sisters looked disgusted. "What was that, Jess?" Ellie asked, and Brenda smirked.
"Yeah, just because we live on farm land doesn't mean you can turn into a pig, Jesse." Brenda shot at Jess, and her mother glared.
"Brenda, that's enough," and from there it descended into another argument on a woman's prerogative and propriety.
Jesse walked away before he heard too much; kissing Joyce Ann on the top of her head on the way out. As he hurried to the bus stop, Jesse saw Leslie standing near the road with a smile on her face.
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August 15, 2007(Friday)
Lark Creek Elementary School
Music Class
11:27 AM
The sounds of a guitar playing echoed throughout the room as Ms. Edmunds warmed up. Her students practically ran over each other to get to the instrument cart and grab instruments of their choosing. Leslie nudged Jesse with her foot as he walked past her to get to the cart.
Jesse tossed her a note and a smile before he headed to the front of the room. As he grabbed the cloth covered drum, Jesse heard Leslie's startled laughter and he glanced over at her as he sat back down in his seat.
She grinned at him and pointed to the note saying, "Nice Jess; real nice."
He winked and turned back around looking smug. He had given her a note that had a hand-drawn picture of Ms. Edmunds on it, and at the bottom he wrote, 'Turns out you were right after all, considering she's now dating my math teacher.' And he'd signed it Question Mark.
Jesse saw Leslie neatly place the picture into the inside lining of her binder, and he turned back around as Ms. Edmunds began singing, "Fifty-seven Chevy; she's low, sleek and black; someday I'll put her on the interstate and never look back. Someday I'm finally gonna let go. I know there's a better way. I wanna know what's over that rainbow. I'm gonna get outta here someday…"
Leslie and Jesse traded smiling looks during the whole song.
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August 15, 2007(Friday)
Lark Creek Elementary School
Playground
12:10 PM
Jesse and Leslie ate their lunch, but Jesse removed his sweatshirt before he leaned back against the tree.
Leslie removed her jacket too, and then swung her legs across Jesse's, before leaning against the trunk of the tree. "We should do some renovating," she said, before a large gust of wind blew across the two, making Leslie shiver slightly and she moved reflexively closer to Jess, who was warm.
"What do you mean?" he inquired as he turned his head to look at her, and finally noticed her close proximity. He didn't mind it, but it made his stomach jump and he felt funny.
"The tree house, Jess," she said, "My dad has some excess lumber and extra paint that we won't be using."
"Why aren't they using it?"
"Mom didn't like it, so they put it out back," Leslie answered distractedly, "We should have some extra canvas and some tools outback as well." Leslie looked up at Jesse, "When do you think we should work on it?"
Jesse thought for a moment. "This weekend should be good, I think; At least, if that's okay with you?"
"That's fine, Jess. We'll just have to finish before Sunday. I have to go into town with my parents that morning," Leslie replied, before she sat up suddenly. "Oh! I finally got the digital camera I've been asking my parents for."
Jesse was stunned, "Aren't those like a hundred bucks a piece?"
Leslie nodded, "Most are, but I think mine was about twice as much judging by the amount of work I had to do for it." She dug through her satchel and pulled out a thin, but square case that was covered in neon writing and smiley face stickers.
"Nice camera case, Les." Jesse commented, and Leslie beamed.
"It took me forever to color it and stuff. I love it now, before it was just a plain metallic blue color."
Jesse laughed as she scooted back beside him, and turned on the camera. Almost immediately, a funny video of Leslie doing weird poses in front of the camera appeared, and Jesse laughed at the one where Leslie had bunny ears and was nibbling on a carrot. Jesse could hear her singing in the background, "I got my camera! I got my camera!" Then the video cut off, and went to the regular picture screen.
Jesse was laughing so hard, his eyes were tearing, and Leslie was giggling like a maniac. She buried her head in his shoulder for a moment, before sitting up and quickly snapping a picture of the two of them.
They spent the rest of lunch taking pictures, but Leslie loved the last one of Jesse she took. He was staring at the crowd of kids rushing towards their classroom as soon as the bell rang, and his hands were in his jeans pockets.
His hair was messy, but not too messy, and Leslie admired the open expression on his face. It was the perfect picture, and it was so going on her wall.
As soon as she'd put the camera away; picked up their trash, and got their stuff together, they quickly realized they were the last ones out on the playground. With wide eyes they glanced at each other, and said, "Oh crap!" Jess grabbed Leslie's shoes, and she grabbed her satchel, before racing towards the school with Leslie laughing as they ran.
Both of them reached their separate classes—Leslie had history, and Jesse had math—with only seconds to spare. As he sat down in his seat, Jesse belatedly realized that he was still holding Leslie's shoes, and he burst out laughing, startling those around him including his teacher.
"Mr. Aarons, is there a problem?" The teacher—Mr. Sampson—asked sternly, and Jesse couldn't help the snort that escaped him.
"It's not a problem for me personally sir but would it be possible for me to go give Leslie Burke her shoes back?"
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August 15, 2007(Friday)
Cora Perry Neighborhood
3:07PM
Jesse had been lucky that it was a Friday afternoon, because his math teacher was in a good mood. Mr. Sampson seemed to believe wholeheartedly in the phrase, "TGIF!" and he had laughed at Jesse's question. Jesse had been told no, so Leslie had to sit through her history class with no shoes.
Jesse—even though he was mostly over his irrational fear of Scott and Gary—was still wary about doing anything else to cross them. So despite seeing Ms. Edmunds struggling with her stuff, Jess walked past them and towards the buses.
Leslie elbowed him as soon as he plopped down into the seat in front of her before she took her shoes back. Leslie was glowering at him as he felt around in his backpack; searching for his sketchbook while she put on her shoes.
"Do you have any idea how disgusting it is to walk around with no shoes on, Jess?" she huffed as she crossed her arms. Jesse wanted to laugh at the sour look on her face, but he resisted considering that she was already a bit ticked off.
"And I got a hole in my rainbow striped socks. A hole Jesse!" she exploded, her fists waving around dramatically. She almost clocked him on the head—by accident Jesse hoped, but he couldn't tell at the moment. "Now I have to go buy a whole other pair."
"Well, maybe we can go into town this weekend?" Jesse offered as he fiddled with his sketchbook, "I mean whenever we're done with you-know-what."
That statement got Leslie's attention almost instantly. "Done with it? Jesse, we haven't even made plans as to what we were really gonna do," she said, "Unless you've been super sneaky and did something without me."
Jesse cocked an eyebrow at her and shook his head. "Ri-ight Les; I suddenly have the power to transport myself to our place and fix something while supposedly sitting in math class."
Leslie's sheepish look answered his sarcasm, and Jesse laughed slightly. "Uh oh; I think Leslie Burke has finally caught…" Jesse paused in mock- suspense as he leaned over the seat. The serious expression on his face took Leslie off guard, especially when he whispered, "…the Dumb."
"Hey!"
Laughing, Jesse dodged her small fist as it headed towards his face, and he fought off her attacks as she kneeled on her seat to get more leverage. Leslie swatted at him; using elbows and fists. Jess caught her hand and laced their fingers together as she tried to push him backwards by forcing her weight over the seat.
Leslie still tried to hit him using their connected hands, but Jesse was much stronger than her, and managed to deflect each attempt. Their play fight continued until Leslie's knee slipped off the edge of her seat, and she fell forward into the small space between the seats.
Jesse—taken aback by the sudden loss—lost his own balance from where he was lying in the crevice between the two bus seats and fell sideways into the empty space. Surprised looks graced both their faces as Jesse and Leslie stared at each other from the floor of the bus. It only took a few seconds before Leslie erupted in giggles, and Jesse's laughter followed her.
"Oh my guppies Jess," she said, her sentence being periodically interrupted by giggles. Jesse was too busy laughing to speak as he wiggled and moved himself back up to his seat. Leaning over the back of his seat, Jesse helped Leslie up off the floor; her body still shaking with rapid-fire giggles. Her hair was askew and there were patches of dust and dirt all over her jeans and shirt. Leslie's face was red and her eyes were sparkling. A tummy-rumbling feeling made him feel weird as she finally calmed herself down enough to breathe.
"So what did you do?" she asked, finally getting back to the real subject, and Jesse shot her a half-hearted grin as he handed over the sketchbook. He flushed at the amazed look on Leslie's face as she glanced over the awfully detailed drawing of their castle. Leslie snapped the book closed before she quickly clambered her way over the seat and next to Jesse.
He stared at her in surprised amusement. "Couldn't you have walked?"
Leslie shook her head. "Where's the fun in that?"
Jesse grinned, before Leslie launched into a discussion about what they would need to get to make all the renovations work. Fifteen minutes later, when the bus was nearing their stop, Leslie relaxed. "It's a good thing your dad taught you all that stuff about hardware, huh?"
Jesse laughed a little. "My dad didn't teach me, Leslie," he told her, "My mom did."
Leslie's searching look made him blush and he turned his head away from her. Jesse felt grateful he had a quick getaway as the bus came to a stop near Cora Perry. He grabbed his backpack and hustled off the bus, not waiting for Leslie until he reached the first row of trees. He was a little surprised when May Belle and two of her friends got off the bus behind him, and Leslie came next. Jesse waved May Belle—along with her two friends—away and Leslie took long strides to catch up to him.
"Jesse!" she called and he paused mid-step. Jesse was afraid to look back at her, because he didn't want to face her pity, but when he did; he was awfully surprised to find anger in her expression.
"Les, what…" Jesse started, but he was caught off guard when Leslie's fist pounded into his arm, "Ouch!"
He yelped as Leslie swung at him again, but Jesse caught her hand. She pushed him away from her and stormed off towards her house. Jesse flabbergasted and confused followed after her; and caught her arm to stop her. "Leslie, what's wrong?"
"You are so—so…ugh…" Jesse couldn't believe that Leslie Burke—queen of comebacks—was speechless because of something he'd done. "I can't believe you—you dum-dum," she fumed as she tried to shake off his grip, but Jess held tight.
He was taken aback by the insult, but he also wanted to know what was wrong and why she was mad. "What did I do?"
"Damn it, Jesse!" Leslie cursing almost made him gape like a fish, but he pushed his shock away because she was still ranting, "You can't just say something like that and then run away from me. I don't care who taught you the process of reinforcing floors or even how to put bread in a toaster, but I am your friend, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't just walk away from me without any kind of explanation."
Jesse blinked. He hadn't thought about how avoiding the conversation would affect Leslie, and he briefly wondered if she was more hurt than angry. "I'm sorry, Leslie," he told her feeling like a pinhead, and Leslie deflated.
"It's okay Jess," she said, "Now let's go get that equipment." Jesse grinned as they dropped their backpacks on the ground. Both of them snuck around to Leslie's house to get supplies that they needed. Leslie took a sled type thing on which they stacked lumber, paint cans and brushes; tools; and excess canvas, before they spent the next hour hauling it the four and a half miles to their magical kingdom.
Jesse and Leslie were dismayed to realize that they needed to find a different way to cross the creek with their things, and the two eventually devised a plan—meaning they found a way to cross without having to fly.
The two trekked the rest of the way to their kingdom; both rather disheartened by the amount of work they still needed to do, but because it was Friday, the two could stay out until nine o'clock. Jesse and Leslie knew that it got dark at about seven thirty so they only had about three hours of daylight left.
On that thought they got started. Jess and Leslie cleaned out the tree house; using brooms to clean up the leaves. Leslie knocked out the rotting window frames and started measuring those; at the same time she made plans to make each of them wider and larger.
Taking her measurements, Leslie cut out new window treatments, and used a thick plastic-like sheet to fill in the holes. Jesse climbed up into the tree house, and began to fix the flooring first as it was most important. He tore up loose boards and the rotting wood, before jumping down to get the measuring tape. He measured as Leslie finished up the windows, and he began to cut wood.
Replacing the floor was hard, grueling work, because he had to cut wood, carry it up, nail it down, and then repeat the process, but three hours later, the rotting wood floor had been replaced by shiny new oak wood boards, and it looked really good. He reinforced the floor with some sheets of steel, and Leslie helped him.
They carefully used their remaining time to place everything inside the tree house and sat down to drink some water. Leslie's shirt was soaked with sweat, and Jesse was drenched; even his jeans were heavier than usual.
"What do you think so far?" Leslie asked curiously as Jess took a large gulp of water; he'd drunk almost half in one gulp. Leslie dug around in her satchel and tossed Jesse a granola bar as they sat still and watched the sun begin to go down.
"I think it'll take us along time if we only work three hours a day, but if we come here early tomorrow, I think that we could get it done before nightfall." Jesse mused as he noisily opened his snack.
"We did well today, Jess," Leslie spoke, admiring the new floor. She could already see the improvement.
Jesse looked around and nodded. "We should start heading home now. Our parents will be worried if they don't at least see us today."
Leslie grinned. "Race you back?"
"Absolutely not!" Jesse exclaimed, "You would win hands down. I'm so sweaty that my jeans weigh more than I do."
Leslie cracked up, "Okay, Jess, but we should go."
They stood up and hurried out of the forest, and by the time they reached the clearing both were exhausted again. Jesse was even wincing as he felt his legs ache. "Well, this sucks." he bemoaned as he rubbed his shoulders.
Leslie agreed silently as they walked slowly back home. She didn't even want to think about the four miles they had to go. "So, Jesse what's your favorite color?" Leslie asked, and Jesse started slightly.
"Erm, dark blue," he said, and Leslie smiled,
"I love metallic green."
"You certainly like bright colors, Les," Jessie said, and Leslie laughed.
"The brighter the nature of something; the more mysterious that something can be," Leslie said knowingly, and Jesse's brow furrowed.
"What?" he asked and Leslie laughed again.
"People are often so distracted by the brightness on the outside of something—especially when it's neon—that they never really see what's going on inside," she explained quietly, her head turned up to the stars.
"You know, when you talk like that you sound much older than a twelve year old, Leslie," Jess told her, and Leslie looked at him.
"It's more of the fact that I'm not the stereotypical clueless twelve-year old that is oblivious to their surroundings," Leslie replied, and Jesse smirked.
"Of course you are," he said mockingly, "I think you just use really big words because you heard them somewhere else. You know what they say, Les. Big words hide a small mind."
Leslie swatted at him indignantly, and Jesse dodged. The two spent the next hour walking home slowly, and talking about anything and everything that came to mind. It was the most fun Jess had had in a long time.
Jesse made it home with minutes to spare and he hobbled inside; stripping off his shirt along the way. Brenda gagged at the stench while Ellie goggled at the amount of sweat he had on him.
"What the hell have you been doing, Jesse?" Ellie asked, and Jess smirked as his mom chided her about appropriate language.
"Leslie and I went running again. It was a good workout." he told them as he headed towards the stairs. Jesse's mom smiled at him.
"It sure looks that way, Jess."
Jesse kissed his mother on the cheek for the first time in years, before he walked upstairs to the shower, leaving his mom flabbergasted, but happy and his sisters in shock.
Thanks for reading! Please leave me a review.
-TellNoOne