It was a chilly morning in January. There was a few inches of snow on the ground and more was falling.
The two friends sat in the Golden Room, both with their backs against the wall.
Prince Terrian sat curled up in a basket in the corner, snoring softly.
It was a bit too cold to venture to Terabithia. As it happened, Jesse and Leslie were hard at work on a history report that would be due the following Tuesday.
Leslie sighed and closed her notebook.
"I'm having trouble concentrating," Leslie said. She scratched her foot. Leslie's socks were a Christmas gift from some great aunt and while they looked cool and were very warm, they were still a little itchy. The socks were dark green, with two gold stripes at the top.
"A ten page report that counts for half of our history grade this semester," groaned Jesse. "This is not just cruel. It's malevolent."
Leslie smiled. Jesse's vocabulary had increased substantially over the time they had been friends. She stood up and stretched.
"Come on," she said. "Let's go take a break. I have a surprise in my room I want to show you."
Jesse followed Leslie up to her room. They passed the study where both Bill and Judy were hard at work on their latest works. Bill was cursing fluently under his breath.
"They seemed….more stressed than usual," said Jesse.
"Bill's got a major deadline in a week," explained Leslie. "It's kind of funny, isn't it? Imagine being an adult and still having to do homework." Jesse thought about the times he saw his parents spending countless hours trying to balance the checkbooks. Things had always been tight and there had been more than one Christmas where only the little kids got a Christmas present. Jesse could tell his parents wished they could do more but sometimes, it just wasn't enough. At least now with Elle out of the house, and Brenda working at the movie theater in town, things seemed a tad more hopeful.
Leslie's room was larger than Jesse's room he shared with his little sisters but was still smaller than the Golden Room. The walls were painted a light blue which matched the bedspread. The bed had three pillows on it, one white, one navy, and one shaped like a jellyfish. Leslie's bookshelves were a darker blue, almost like the ocean. They matched the curtains. Leslie's nightstand was black, but for decoration, stood a few shells from a trip to the beach the previous summer and her alarm clock. Leslie also had a large bulletin board. There were a couple of tests pinned to it, but most of it was covered with pictures. A few were of her and Jesse from the years but most were of Prince Terrian. Leslie's favorite picture was from last summer. She was getting a piggyback ride from Jesse. Her hair had just been cut. Both were beaming at the camera.
The walls did not have any posters but there was a large collection of stuffed animals in one corner.
Leslie's room looked like how a room looks when it's not particularly messy but could still do with some organizing. In particular, her desk had papers strewn about it, her bookshelf had several missing sections that seemed to be mostly scattered throughout the room, and the floor was covered with shoes. There were running shoes, a pair of sandals that Leslie couldn't wait to wear again (winter in Virginia can get a bit long), galoshes, a pair of high tops that had absurdly long laces, a pair of moccasins that had seen better days, and others that Jesse was sure he had never seen Leslie ever wear. Oddly enough, Leslie was only in her new socks today.
Leslie had Jesse sit on the shag carpet (also blue) and close his eyes. She snuck into her closet and grabbed an envelope. She brought it out to Jesse and had him open her eyes.
"It's…an envelope. How fascinating," said Jesse. Leslie tried not to roll her eyes.
"Maybe you should open it?"
Jesse did so. Inside was a folded piece of paper. Jesse didn't quite realize what it was until he unfolded it.
A bib. From last year's track season. Jesse frowned and looked up to see a rather anxious.
"It's almost time for track season," she said slowly. Jesse and Leslie had decided to join the track team, which was open to fifth graders through eighth graders. It surprised both of them how much they enjoyed running with other people besides each other. Leslie also had a talent for the high jump. That said, it did take quite a bit of time away from home.
"Two months out," corrected Jesse.
"Jess, I know that Gary and Scott were also on the team, but…" Leslie began. That was a problem too. Coach Carson was very strict but Gary and Scott always seemed to figure out ways to antagonize Jesse. However, after sabotaging the hurdles at one of the final practices of the season, Jesse swore he would never do track again.
"You brought me up here when we're working on a big paper, just to ask me to go out for track again?"
"Yes."
Jesse sighed. He thought back to the practices and all the running and jumping and more running and jumping. He thought about the long bus rides and how it felt that his parents weren't able to make a single meet last year. And he thought about how Judy was at every meet. But he thought about how much fun he and Leslie had. How it was nice to go to other schools. How nice it was to have something to run for.
"I'll think about it," he said. Leslie smiled. Then she took out a deck of cards. Leslie loved playing cards. Didn't matter the game. There was something about how it could be used so many different ways. Jesse also liked that he could play games other than Go Fish with someone. They played a quick round of War before heading down to finish their report.
The report was almost done when Jesse realized he had to get home to dinner. Leslie walked him to the door as he pulled on his coat and boots. He held still as she wrapped her scarf around him even if it was a two-minute walk back to his house. There were now six inches of snow on the ground.
"What do you think?" Jesse asked. "Snow day tomorrow?" Leslie grinned.
"If there is, I think a journey to survey the kingdom is necessary," she said in an attempt to be solemn. But when you have a chance of no school, it's hard to keep up the game.
The two friends said good night and as Jesse walked home, he wondered if there would be school tomorrow. He decided he'd wake up early and clear the area between the porch and his dad's truck. As far as the track season would go? He'd have to wait and see.