The Only One

Emergence

We ran through the musky forest. I panted hard, I could hear myself breathing loudly over the sound of the leaves crinkling beneath my feet. He wasn't far behind me, if I slowed down even a little, he'd be right at my side, flying right past me before I could blink. I pushed myself harder than I should've. It hurt, a lot. My mind was telling me to quit, but I knew better. I knew my body could keep going. Or so I thought. The next thing I remembered was the stub of my toe on the breaking point of a stud on the log and I was flat on my face. Not only that, but I had thrown up all over mother nature's ground. I was still nauseous, my eyes closed and I was consumed with complete darkness. My body shook and shook, I felt a grasp on my shoulders as my head hit the ground repeatedly. "Leslie? Leslie! Les, wake up!" and my eyes pealed open like a banana. I looked up and saw his bright and freckled face, worried expression switched to relief. "Jess?" my voice was cracked. "Leslie! Are you okay?" Jess asked. I nodded. "Yeah, what happened?" I asked. Before he could answer, I scanned my surroundings. "Terabithia" the only word that came to mind. I soon realized I was sitting in Jess' lap, my head leaned into his chest, curled up like a baby. "The race.. You tripped and fell, then you threw up" Jess reminded. It all began to come back to me. "Oh. Yeah, right. Sorry about that" I apologized for ruining the race. "Nah, it's all good" Jess shot me an awkward smile before looking up into the sky, the leaves in the trees blew in sync with the sound of the wind. "I'm getting pretty good aren't I?" Jess gloated. "You sure are. Maybe next year, we can join the track team together. And you just might beat me" I winked. "Hey Jess?" I started before he could respond to my previous statement. "Mmm hmm?" he answered. "How come you didn't join the track team this year? The team is fifth to eighth grade, division two" I asked hesitantly. Our school, Lark Creek School, goes from first to eighth grade. First to fourth is division one, and fifth to eighth is division two. "I dunno, I didn't even think about it, I guess. I was more focused on the races at recess and beating Hoager, I-I guess" Jess hesitated but covered it with a genuine smile. "We should try out next year" I suggested. "I dunno, maybe" Jess pushed it off. I smiled a fake smile, bending my head down into my chest. Thunder crashed and rain began pouring down. "We better go" Jess told. I stood up off of Jess and fixed my clothes as he stood up and did the same. He put his hood up on his orange sweater and we began running through the rain. We reached the creek, the rope dangled above the running water, rapidly flowing down the stream. I unhooked the rope from the bush we fastened it to and swung across. I leaped off and passed the rope back to Jess, who swung across as well. "See ya tomorrow!" I called once we reached the part of the path that divided our houses. "Yeah, see ya!" Jess called back. I turned the corner and waltzed up to my house.
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My first few days at Lark Creek Elementary were tough. Boys made fun of for not having a TV and girls hated me because the teacher chose me to read my composition aloud and not them. I was dressed much different than anyone else in the room. I was just different. Too different for their liking. I became an immediate target to the fifth graders. Except I wasn't the only one. Jesse Aarons had been an outcast, a joke within this group of kids for years. I didn't understand why people didn't like him. They teased him for things he didn't have much of a choice about. Things he couldn't change, things that were much deeper than they seemed. And he was cute, too. He wasn't ugly, rude or anything like that. "Why don't they like him? What'd he do to them?" And whether I like to admit it or not, I had a silly little elementary school crush on him the first day I came to Lark Creek.

The big race of the first day of school. I didn't know of this until I had gotten to the outfield at recess time, but Jess had been preparing for this all summer. "Next grade line up!" a black boy called from the side. The boys from my class lined up at the starting line. I was the fastest girl in my gym class at Goodman Elementary School when I still lived in Arlington, Virginia. So I wanted to see how many boys in Lark Creek, Virginia I could beat. I lined up on the end next to the boys when a familiar voice I heard earlier that day called at me. "Hey new girl! This is just for guys! Hey, I'm talking to you!" I shot him a look but didn't respond. "What's a matter, Hoager? Scared a girl's gonna beat you?" Jess. "Go!" then we were off. I paced myself throughout most of it, I was at about fifth of sixth place. I could see the finish line getting close, I had enough power left in me to push further up enough to pass them. Jess was in first, and the next thing I knew, I was in second, trailing closely behind him. I pushed with all my might and passed him with a beaming smile across my witty face. Jess' beat red face lit up with shock as I passed him. I felt him moving up beside me, but knew he didn't have enough time to catch me before we reached the finish line. I put my best foot forward and crossed the line. Jaws dropped within the crowd on the sidelines. I turned around to see Jess panting on the ground, his little sister, May Belle had her hand on his shoulder in attempt to comfort and support him. "Hey Jess, right?" I asked, bending down and putting out my hand. He didn't take it, instead he shot me a death glare before picking himself up and walking away. My smile faded as I watched the two walk away. May Belle looked back at me only once. That's when I realized I had this thing for Jess, I had never had for anyone back in Arlington before.