I know, I am super indecisive and have the worst attention span ever. Sorry about the billionth name change. This really will be the last one.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for me, and reading the excellent fanfics on this site has been one of the few things that has made me feel better. Thank you to everyone here for writing truly excellent stories, and thank you to the few who continue to review mine.

Look Toward the Sky
Chapter 11 - Hair

Disclaimer: Bridge to Terabithia is not mine, it belongs to Katherine Paterson.

Before he knew it, Jesse was waking up on Monday morning for the beginning of his last week of school before Winter Break. The rest of the previous day had gone by rather quickly once he had begun working out the details for the bridge he would build that would take him to Terabithia.

He had been extremely upset when he saw the broken rope hanging over the creek. For the past few months he and Leslie had used it almost every day to cross the river into their kingdom, and it was there that he was truly happy. Upon seeing the broken rope, he had a flash of panic. What was he supposed to do without Terabithia? Or without his Queen Leslie? If they couldn't be in Terabithia, would Leslie still want to be his friend?

Jesse realized that his thoughts were irrational later on that day. Of course Leslie would still be his friend. Terabithia was something they both loved and took part in, it wasn't the thing that kept their friendship together.

It had been Lucas who suggested that they could build a bridge out of the fallen tree that spanned across the river. It had no doubt fallen down during one of the many storms they had been having the last few weeks, but it was just out of the way enough for them not to notice it when they were taking hold of the rope to swing across. Jesse had been thankful that Lucas was there to come up with the suggestion, but he was still a little apprehensive about explaining why it was so important to him to be able to get across the river. All he had told Lucas was that they used to play in the woods on the other side of the river a lot. It wasn't a lie necessarily, everything he said was true, but he still felt somewhat guilty for omitting the details of exactly what they did over there.

Regardless of his lack of knowledge about Terabithia, Lucas had offered to help Jesse and Leslie build the bridge, so they all decided they would start working on it after school the next day, and Jesse would draw up some tentative blueprints in the meantime. Jesse had gone home after the discussion and began working on some drawings of the bridge, and while they were nowhere near as technical as a true carpenter's blueprints, they were descriptive and imaginative enough to give a good impression of what it could look like. After drawing the bridge at a few different angles on a couple of sheets, Jesse couldn't help but begin to draw the forest beyond it, and without thinking also began drawing some of Terabithia's creatures and, of course, the grand castle in the distant background. Before he knew it, he had made another drawing of Terabithia itself. In fact, it was probably his best one yet.

On the bus to school the next morning, all the kids were taking guesses on how much, or how little, work they would have to do in the last week before their Winter vacation. For the most part, the 3 kids weren't worried about most of their teachers giving them much, if any, homework this week. Except of course for Mrs. Myers. They all agreed that she was most likely to give them something to do. Upon entering her class 20 minutes later, their fears were confirmed by the message written on the whiteboard.

Creative Essay due Thursday
One page minimum
Select essays will be presented by their authors on Friday

"We aren't going to be able to relax until the moment our vacation begins, will we?" Jesse asked with a sigh as he took his seat after putting his backpack on the floor. Leslie smirked at him, amused by Jesse's disdain for anything that involved writing.

"It's still school, Jess. Besides, it's only one page, you can do that in an hour," Leslie said as she took her seat a few rows away.

"It says select essays will be presented, I hope I don't have to read mine," Lucas muttered quietly.

"Well, just write a really bad one, then she won't make you read it out loud!" Jesse replied with a grin that made Lucas laugh. Leslie cracked a smile while shaking her head. Lazy boys...

The bell rang and Mrs. Myers walked in. "Good morning, class," she said, obviously trying to sound friendly but failing, as usual. A couple of kids responded back to her quietly, but for the most part it remained quiet. All the kids obviously didn't want to be there, and the looming assignment written on the whiteboard was only bringing their mood down even more. It didn't take long for Mrs. Myers to address the essay.

"As I'm sure you all noticed, there is an essay due on Thursday," Mrs. Myers began and was interrupted by the sound of the majority of the class groaning, Jesse and Lucas included. "This will be a one page paper, and I want you to write about something you dream of. It doesn't have to be about a dream you have at night. It can be about your hopes for the future, or even things you daydream about in class.." She let the last words hang for a second and she looked directly at Jesse for a split second. Leslie noticed the glance and smiled to herself, but Jesse, nor apparently anyone else, didn't catch it.

"I will review the essays on Thursday evening and, on Friday, will select a few of you who have done a good job to read yours out loud," she continued. This incited even more groans from the class. "Spelling and grammar will count," she continued, but Jesse lost interest at this point and opened up his sketchbook. He flipped through his older drawings and stopped on his latest drawing of Terabithia. He began adding more creatures and details to the drawing as Mrs. Myers continued to ramble on.

The rest of the day, however, proved to be more relaxing and easy as the kids had expected and hoped for. No other teachers assigned them any last minute projects or homework. Most teachers were quite ready to take a vacation and instead of teaching opted to show movies to their classes.

After school the kids took their seats on the bus, with Jesse and Leslie sitting next to each other and Lucas sitting directly in front of them. They were all very talkative, and were talking about their plans for the bridge. Jesse brought his sketchbook out and showed Leslie the picture he had been working on for the past 2 days. Leslie's jaw dropped at seeing it. She saw the bridge in the foreground, but what amazed her was all the details in the background. There were countless trees and flowers, and even a giant castle in the background. On the edge of the forest facing the bridge, she spotted at least a dozen different creatures, some which she could identify as Terabithian creatures that he had drawn or painted before, but some of them were brand new, and they all looked as amazing as the next.

"Wow, Jess, this is amazing," she said quietly, and Jesse was surprised at her reaction. He had thought that it was pretty good, but she looked astounded by the drawing. Jesse held the drawing and Leslie tapped Lucas on the shoulder. "Hey Lucas, check this drawing out that Jess did, it's pretty incredible isn't it?" she said to him.

Lucas turned around in his seat and glanced over at the sketchbook, initially taking a quick look, but upon seeing how detailed the drawing was, his eyes widened and he fully turned around in his seat and rested on his knees while hanging over the seat staring at the drawing. "Wow, that's..amazing. You are really good Jess..." he said, sounding just as amazed as Leslie was. Jesse smiled and thanked him. Leslie was still looking at the drawing in Jesse's lap, and she looked up at Lucas who still had his head down, looking at the picture, and she noticed something weird.

"Hey Lucas, I didn't know you dyed your hair blonde," Leslie said, sounding very curious and confused. Lucas and Jesse both looked at her surprised. "Leslie, what--" Jesse began but he was cut off by Lucas' answer. "H-how could you tell?" he asked quietly, he actually looked nervous which confused Leslie even more.

"I can see your dark hair coming in underneath..." she said back, and his eyes went wide and he quickly turned around in his chair, leaning forward and running his hands through his hair. Jesse and Leslie looked at each other, both highly confused and concerned about his reaction. They both leaned forward to continue talking to him, trying to keep their voices lowered.

"Lucas, what is it? So you dye your hair, big deal, people do it all the time," Leslie began, but Lucas continued facing forward, not saying anything.

"Are you worried people are gonna call you a girl for doing it, or something?" Jesse asked with a slight grin, but Leslie gave him a dirty look which clearly read 'Don't say that', but Lucas shook his head no. "Well.. what is it then?" Leslie asked him. A few seconds later Lucas turned around and looked at both of them. He still looked rather shaken up and nervous, and he simply said, "I'll tell you guys, but not here, OK?" They both nodded at him and sat back in their seat. Lucas remained facing away from them for the last 5 minutes of the ride before they reached their stop and proceeded to get off the bus.

After stepping off the bus, May Belle quickly waved to them and took off running towards the Aarons house. Jesse remembered that there was a TV show on today that she had wanted to watch, but he was quietly grateful that she had left quickly, as he was waiting for Lucas to explain what was bothering him. The bus departed from the stop with the loud sound of the brakes releasing and the kids started walking slowly toward Leslie's house, nobody saying anything. After about 20 seconds Lucas broke the silence and stopped walking.

"OK, well.. I..y-you guys have to promise me not to tell anyone about this," he began, and Jesse and Leslie immediately stopped walking when they noticed he had begun speaking. Lucas looked at both of them for a confirmation that they had heard what he said, and when they silently nodded back he continued. They had never seen him look as serious as he did at that moment. "I never told anyone about this but there's a reason why me and my Mom moved to Lark Creek. W-we were... we were trying to get away from my..my dad," he stammered quite a bit while saying it and he was staring at the ground, obviously feeling ashamed.

Jesse and Leslie looked at each other again in surprise, not sure what to say but Leslie took a guess, "Um... was your dad mean to you and your mom.. or something?" she asked softly, and after a few seconds Lucas nodded, still staring at the ground.

"Yeah," he finally said, "and he h-hit me sometimes too if he got mad enough..And he hit my mom a lot..." he said, his voice was getting really shaky as he said it.

Jesse couldn't help but raise his voice a little, "Didn't you call the cops or anything?!" he asked in a tone that was a little harsher than he intended. Lucas nodded.

"We did, they couldn't prove he did anything.. My dad is a really good liar," he said.

Jesse and Leslie were both stunned, "Oh my gosh.. Lucas... I'm so, so sorry, we had no idea," she said and she walked forward to give Lucas a hug. Jesse stood back and watched her hugging him, and he almost was going to do the same but he didn't quite feel comfortable hugging him. Instead he ran his hand through his hair and sighed, before glancing at his own house. He had always had a miserable home life with his own father, with all the yelling, but his Dad had never hit him, and the more Jesse thought of it, the more grateful to his own father he was, and more hatred for Lucas' father kept building up.

Jesse looked back at his friends and they were now sitting down on the spot, in the middle of the dirt road. Lucas had his legs curled up and his arms wrapped around them, and Leslie sat next to him, saying nothing but leaning against his right shoulder. Jesse walked over and sat across from them.

"My mom said not to tell anybody about this, but I had to tell someone, it was driving me crazy... and.. you guys are the only people I trust," Lucas said while staring at his shoes. They both nodded and silently felt thankful that he could trust them. "So my mom was making me dye my hair blonde to try and... I dunno, disguise myself I guess, in case my Dad found us and went looking for me. But I told her 2 days ago that I didn't want to do it anymore because it takes a long time and it burns my head sometimes, and she started crying and yelling at me.. She got pretty mad," he continued.

"Well... I think your mom just wants you to be safe, but I don't think she's really mad at you.. did she say you had to keep doing it?" Leslie asked him. Lucas shook his head, "No, I don't have to keep doing it but... I.. I worry that he will come find us now... I'd rather die then go back to live with him..." he said quietly but sounding frighteningly serious. "Don't worry, you won't ever have to live with your Dad again," Jesse assured him, and Leslie put a hand on his shoulder to assure him. Lucas smiled slightly and after a few seconds thanked them.

Eventually they all got up and dusted themselves off. "Lucas, you still interested in helping us with the bridge?" Jesse asked, not really sure what to expect for an answer, but he was glad when Lucas nodded. "Yeah, sure, I'd love to." he said with a smile. Jesse and Leslie figured he would want to do anything to get his mind off of everything else.

A few minutes later the kids were entering Leslie's house. Jesse and Lucas removed their shoes on the porch and they stepped inside. The heater was on inside the house and all 3 of them sighed with relief as the warm air engulfed them. They hadn't realized how cold it was outside, and although it wasn't quite cold enough to snow, it was definitely Virginian winter weather.

They walked down the hallway into the kitchen where they found Judy Burke cooking some food. "Hey kids!" she exclaimed as they walked in. Leslie gave her mom a kiss and Jesse replied with a 'Hello Mrs. Burke', but Lucas simply smiled and waved. Judy looked at Lucas and noticed that he was wearing a T-shirt despite the cold weather outside. "Lucas! You must be frozen, did you forget your jacket on a day like this?" she asked, not exactly reprimanding him but still concerned. Lucas looked down at his shirt as if he hadn't been aware of what he was wearing. "Oh, um.. I just don't get cold easily I guess," he said with a shrug.

Judy smiled at his response. "Well, regardless, it's nice and warm in here so you kids stay a while and hide out from the winter here," Judy was living up to her name of "World's Best Hostess" that Leslie had given her when talking to her friends.

"Sorry Mom, can't stay. We're gonna be building something in the woods with the extra lumber out front. Dad said it was OK," Leslie replied while she opened the cupboard door and grabbed 3 water bottles. She handed one to Jesse and Lucas and opened hers up and took a sip.

"Well, OK kids, but be careful out there, and you can borrow one of Leslie's jackets if you want, Lucas," she offered, but Lucas declined the offer.

"Thanks Mrs. Burke, but I'll be okay," he said. Jesse smiled to himself imagining Lucas wearing one of Leslie's multi-colored outfits, or better yet, if she happened to actually own a "girly" one.

As the three kids exited the house and made their way over to the stack of lumber on the side of the house, Jesse and Lucas couldn't help but comment on how nice Leslie's mom was. Leslie just shrugged it off, obviously familiar with the behavior.

"Yeah, she always gets like this when she finishes a book. She'll be SuperMom for a few weeks and then when she starts on her next book, I'll barely see her anymore," she explained. Jesse frowned a bit at hearing this, but said nothing of it.

The kids approached the stack of lumber and found about thirty pieces of wood still remaining. They were all different sizes, ranging anywhere from 3 to 20 feet. They all stood there and examined the pile, all trying to figure out the best way to transport it the several minute walk to the woods.

"We should try to make as few trips as possible," Jesse reasoned, to which his friends nodded.

"We could use my old wagon for the small pieces and then carry the large ones ourselves," Leslie suggested and ran to go get her wagon from the shed nearby. She returned a few seconds later with the old Radio Flyer trailing behind her. They all started loading the smallest pieces of wood onto the wagon. The 3' long pieces easily sat inside but the several longer ones all hung over the edge. They figured they'd just have to go slow on hills. With the wagon filled up with about half of the pieces, Jesse and Lucas both grabbed some pieces that were about 10' to 12' long, and they all began to make their way towards the woods where the fallen log awaited them.

They didn't speak much during the trips back and forth, and it took about 6 trips to get every last piece transported out. There was an awkward silence looming over all 3 friends from their earlier conversation. Jesse and Leslie felt like they wanted to say so much more to Lucas, but they weren't sure he wanted to hear it, or anything for that matter. Finally after about half the lumber was transported they were able to start talking about other things and laugh again, mostly about the upcoming break and complaining about the essay for Mrs. Myers.

"What do you guys think you will write your essays about?" Leslie asked on the way back from their third trip.

"What is the topic again?" Jesse asked, and Leslie shook her head as she knew he hadn't been paying attention in class like usual, and she smirked a bit remembering back to Mrs. Myer's comment about day dreaming in class that was indirectly describing him.

"It's about dreams. What is your dream"? She asked him. Jesse thought about his answer for about 5 seconds until he answered.

"My dream is to not have to do this paper," he said with a grin, and Lucas couldn't help but laugh out loud at the painfully sarcastic answer.

"I guess I should have seen that one coming!" Leslie said while rolling her eyes, but she joined in on the laughter afterwards.

Well I took a shot at this story arc, hopefully I did alright with it.

I didn't want to drop names at the top of the page, but I want to thank G-Matt, abeatticus, molly, and everyone else who has reviewed my story. It's tough to 'compete' with the amazing work on this site, so thank you for taking the time to read mine, and hopefully it's coming along alright.

Seriously, I'm not changing my name again, by the way.