A Curve of Fate

Chapter 1

The Museum

Please, read and review :) This is my first BtT fanfic, and I plan on writing way more, but I couldn't help but put out the first chapter :) More Reviews means better motivation towards me making the rest of the book faster. Please, don't complain about how the story is a little "bland" on how Leslie doesn't die, I could care less. Nothing really more to add, except thank you IHateSnakes, if it wasn't for A Life Rescued I Wouldn't have started writing this. (There are more people I could name to thank, but IHateSnakes is the biggest name :) sorry!)

"Jesse, I called you three times! It's your girlfriend." May Belle stuck her stuck her tongue out at the last remark she made, and handed Jesse the phone.

"She's not my girlfriend"

"Hey!" Jesse happily answered the phone.

"Hello Jess." An unfamiliar voice came from the ear piece.

"Wait, who is this?"

"I know it's a Saturday, but it's your teacher Ms. Edmunds. I was planning on taking my nephews into the city to see the museum but there was a change of plans last minute, so I had a thought."

Ms. Edmunds finished up her proposal and Jess happily agreed. He asked her to hold on so he could make sure it was okay with his parents. Jess trudged down the stairs and slowly opened his parents door.

"Hey mom" Jesse whispered.

Mary Aarons rolled over, still half asleep.

"Is it the baby?"

"No she's fine…May Belle's got her. My teacher wants me to go on a field trip today."

"Mhmm..." She rolled back over and mumbled.

"I-is that okay?"

"Mmm" His mother had obviously fallen back asleep. Jess said no more, and walked backwards through the door, closing it tightly.

"Miss Edmunds!?," Jesse made sure his teacher was still on the phone. "Yea I can go."

She told him to meet her out in front of his house, and playfully told him to hurry up. He put on his jacket and shoes and ran out the front door. As he approached the car, he stopped and thought about Leslie. He felt a little guilty as he got in, and was debating whether he should ask if she could come or not.

"All set?"

"Yea" Jesse smiled and nodded at his teacher.

"Yea?"

"Yes ma'am." Jesse corrected himself quickly, mentally kicking himself for not using his manners.

As Jesse and his teacher rode by Leslie's house, she turned and looked at him.

"Forget something?" Ms. Edmunds questioned, arching her eye brows. As she said this, Jesse had a huge wave of guilt hit him when he thought about Leslie. She had to come.

"Uh Y-yea, do you think Leslie can come with us?"

"Sure Jess, where does she live?"

"Right there…" Jesse pointed to the house at his right.

"Alright well you go get her, and I'll be waiting right here, okay?"

Jesse smiled, opened the passenger door, and ran off towards Leslie's house.

"Hey Jess, what's up" Bill Burke opened the door and greeted Jesse happily.

"Is Leslie home?"

Before Mr. Burke could answer, Leslie came from down the stairway and ran up to Jess, P.T. followed right behind her.

"Hey Jess! What's up?" Mr. Burke laughed at her daughter's unintentional mimic of him.

Jesse turned towards her father as if he was completely ignoring her, and asked if Leslie could join him and his teacher for a "school field trip." She pleaded her father on the subject, and after a couple of seconds thinking, Bill Burke blissfully agreed on his daughter going. She hugged her dad good bye and ran towards Jesse grabbing his hand. Jesse gasped and unintentionally yanked his hand away from her.

"What's the matter Jesse, afraid to hold a girls hand?" Bill Burke teased as he closed the door.

As he looked back at Leslie, he could see a bit of sadness in her eyes. He could tell that what he just did was a completely stupid (but accidental) act. He smiled, and watched as the pain instantly went away from her eyes. They both started walking to the car, hands slightly tapping each other. Jesse felt a sort of "shock" go through his whole body that made him feel really happy whenever there hands would hit.

"So where are we going anyway?" Leslie urged the question, obviously interested.

"I don't know…Miss Edmunds said we are going to a museum."

"Oh wow! I love museums, which one is it, do you know?"

"Um…No, some art museum in Washington D.C."

"Are you guys just going to sit there and talk all day or get in?" Mrs. Edmunds asked playfully as she leaned over the arm rest of her seat.

Leslie attempted to open the car door, was the handle wouldn't budge.

"Darn thing's been broken for a while…I keep telling myself to go get it fixed but I've never really had the time I guess."

"H-here let me try." Leslie stepped away from the car and Jesse grabbed the handle. With a couple of tugs, Jesse popped the door open and pointed his hand into the car saying "Ladies first."

"Well aren't you a gentlemen?" Leslie said, punching his arm playfully.

"Jess Aarons, are you really going to leave me all alone up here in the front seat? I see how it is!" Mrs. Edmunds said with a smile. She looked up in the rear view mirror and stuck her tongue out at him.

"S-sorry…"

Jesse took the statement seriously, and began to climb up into the passenger seat until Leslie pulled him down by his belt loop. He flopped back down into his seat and looked out the window at all the trees speeding by. Leslie on the other hand was sitting in the seat beside him, staring at him, hoping he would turn around and notice her. After five minutes past of constant staring, Leslie turned towards her window to lay her head on her arms to watch the objects outside, just as Jesse was doing.

"You guys want to listen to the radio? You look like two dead bodies back there!"

Jesse, now fully alert and startled at the sudden noise said that he didn't care if she put music on or not; Leslie suggested a popular station and Ms. Edmunds did as requested.

"Oh my gosh Jess I love this song!" Leslie turned towards Jess and shook his arm.

"I've never heard it before, who's it by?"

"Metro Station, There an electric-rock band…Don't you just love how upbeat it is?"

Jesse nodded his head, smiled, and starting tapping his feet at the beat. Shake Shake, Shake shake, a shake it! Jesse sung the words he heard repetitive times in his head, and from the looks of Leslie, so was she. As the song ended, Ms. Edmunds popped in a CD and told the kids to be quiet. They obeyed and listened to the song. It started off acoustic and sounded a bit country to them. Ms. Edmunds sung the song happily to the kids.

"There ain't a lot that you can do in this town You drive down to the lake and then you turn back around…Come on guys you know this song!" Ms. Edmunds smiled and looked at the two kids from the rear view mirror. It was obvious they where stumped at what the song was.

Mrs. Edmunds started to sing, Jesse and Leslie finally realizing the song began to sing along.

"I got me a 67 Chevy, she's low and sleek and black… Someday I'll put her on that interstate and never look back!"

They finished up the next part of the song and Ms. Edmunds hit the pause button on her radio.

"You guys want to play a game?" She asked.

"Sure" Leslie said, Jesse happily nodded at the question.

"Okay, what I'm going to do is play the first ten seconds of the song, and you guys have to guess it…The CD will get harder, just to let you know." Mrs. Edmunds said winking at the two.

The first song started off. I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend. Before the song could hit ten seconds, Jesse blurted out the answer.

"Third Eye Blind, uh…Jumper!"

"Very good Jess! Leslie, judging by how you knew what song was on earlier by Metro Station, I think you will probably be able to get this one." She reached over and hit the next button.

Leslie knew exactly what song it was after hearing three seconds of it, but wanted to play dumb just so she could hear it. At the very end of the song Mrs. Edmunds asked her if she knew it.

"Of course, It's Dirty Little Secret by the All American Rejects."

"Good job, now this next one is kind of old…I don't know if either of you will get it."

As the song started playing, Ms. Edmunds turned the volume up to max and started

singing along.

"Come on baby, let's do the twist!"

"I've heard this song before! My dad listens to it and dances with my mother in the kitchen." Leslie grabbed Jesse's hands and began to shake them around wildly. Jesse's hands where limp for a while, but then he decided to join in and "dance" with Leslie in the back seat. When this song ended, the rest of the CD was, as both Leslie and Jesse stated, "gushy music." They returned back to their previous zoned out mode, and didn't say a word.

"Alright looks like we're here!" Ms. Edmunds turned into a parking spot right in front of the stairs of the giant museum, put the car in park and got out.

As the three entered the museum, they felt a wave of cold air hit them straight in the face, and the smell of musty old "things" as Jesse had said filled there noses.

They headed for an exhibit and where confronted by the manager of the museum.

"Welcome to the National Gallery of Art, here's a brochure and enjoy your stay!"

Mrs. Edmunds took the pamphlet from her and stuffed it into her jacket. She told Jess and Leslie to go ahead and look around, and meet back at the designing of the Lincoln Memorial.

"Wow Jess, look at this!" Leslie grabbed the handle of a small wooden device and started cranking it. As she started to crank faster, a small, circular wooden piece would spin and move up and down the string it was attached to.

"Hey Jess, see that kid over there?" Leslie pointed to a boy who appeared to be there age. The boy had short, blonde hair, blue eyes and was holding his little sister beside him. Leslie begged Jess to go and talk to them to see if they wanted to hang out. A small spark of jealousy shot into Jesse, and sarcastically replied "Sure!"

"Uh…H-hey, what's up?" Jess walked over to the two and greeted them.

The strangers turned around, looked at each other, both with a curious face on.

"Umm…Hi, Do I know you?"

"I d-don…" Leslie quickly popped herself in front of Jesse and began to talk.

"Probably not, but we wanted to know if you guys want to look around the museum together?"

"Um, Grace do you care?" The boy looked down at his sister. She nodded, and looked over at Jess blushing.

"Hi Grace! My names Leslie!" Leslie spoke out to her new friend, and stuck her hand out for Grace to shake it.

"Go on, I doubt she'll bite…Hard." Grace's brother pushed her towards Leslie. She stumbled over her own two feet, but managed to catch herself before she fell flat on her face. Leslie grabbed her hand and walked off with her, telling Jess to meet her back here in half an hour.

The boy stuck out his hand towards Jesse. "Hi, The names Tom Jacobs." Jesse shook Tom's hand, and they began to walk off in an opposite direction from where the two girls had walked off.

"So, where do you live?" Tom asked, breaking the awkward silence the two boys had been in since they had left.

"Lark Creek, It's a small town, you probably haven't heard of it."

Lark Creek…Lark Creek…Where have I heard that before?

"Sounds…Nice I guess. Who was the pretty blonde girl you where with?"

"Oh, her names Leslie." Jesse felt the twinge of jealousy again.

"Well duh, I knew that from her little presentation earlier…But is she like your girlfriend or something?"

"NO!" Jesse scolded. At least I don't think she's my girlfriend.

"Jeez dude, no need to get so mad over a question!" Tom said defensively.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, I g-guess…I don't know." Jesse let his head fall down, and he began to stare at the floor. THUD. "OUCH!" He stumbled backwards, tripped, and fell right onto his back. Looking around, he saw that not many had noticed, but the ones who did where cracking up a little bit, except for Tom. He was laughing so hard he had fallen down too and was lying on his stomach, face red and tears running down his face.

"Jess!" Leslie and Grace ran up, both laughing "Are you okay?" Leslie put her hand out to pick him up, but he ignored it and picked himself up, rubbing his head where he had hit it. He could feel a golf ball sized lump on his head. Leslie asked to feel it, and pushed down too hard, making him cringe.

"Hey, kids!" All four turned around and saw Ms. Edmunds walking up to them. Jess and Leslie waved, but Tom and Grace gave each other the same confused look earlier.

"You guys ready to go? I've been looking all over for you! We were supposed to meet five minutes ago. Oh well it's okay, come on…You guys want to go eat some lunch? My treat!"

"Uh sure Ms. Edmunds, hold on a second." Jesse and Leslie turned towards there new friends. "Looks like we have to go…Bye Tom, Bye Grace, nice meeting you!" Leslie and Jess spoke the last part out simultaneously. Tom and Grace both waved good bye and smiled as they walked away with Ms. Edmunds.

"See ya Les!" Tom yelled out, but Leslie didn't seem to notice. Jesse however did, and for the third time today he had that aching jealousy feeling. This time it was much worst, and his face actually twitched when he saw Leslie turn and wave good bye again.

"Did you have a fun time ma'am?" The same manager from earlier was still there at the door greeting people.

"We sure did, didn't we?" Ms. Edmunds turned and looked at Jess and Leslie. They both nodded and smiled at the manager, and all three scurried out the door.

"Gosh, I don't think that lady gets out much huh Jess?" Jess looked at his teacher, and gave her a yea-I-guess shrug and hopped in the car.

"What's wrong," Leslie turned towards jess, stuck her tongue out and began to pull on it with her fingers "caa goh ya tuung?" Leslie let go and slurped her tongue back in her mouth and scrunched her face up. Jesse smiled brightly and laughed.

"So, where do you guys want to go for lunch?"

"Doesn't bother me! Anywhere, I'm starving" Jess blurted out, leaving both Ms. Edmunds and Leslie stunned at how quick he had answered. Ms. Edmunds backed up her car and began to come out of the turn onto the main road.

"WATCH OUT!"

Jesse screamed at what he had seen coming towards him. He grabbed Leslie and yanked her towards him. Ms. Edmunds hit the brakes suddenly and turned around to ask what was wrong. It was too late for Jess to answer. A Coca-Cola truck driver rammed into the side of the teacher's car, slinging their heads to the side, giving their necks major whiplash. The car flipped over on its side, and was now balancing on the passenger sides doors. Jess hit his head on the window, cracking it, and knocking him unconscious. All he could hear was Leslie's voice screaming his name, but it was fading out quickly. Leslie turned her head, but a sharp pain ran through her neck and stopped moving. She felt something wet and warm dripping, almost pouring onto her hand. She pulled her hand up to her face and saw blood was almost completely covering it. She checked to make sure it wasn't her that was bleeding, and then realized that Jess was under her now, so that only meant one thing.

Ms. Edmunds!