Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson [14]
He believed her because there in the shadowy light of the stronghold everything seemed possible. Between the two of them they owned the world and no enemy, Gary Fulcher, Wanda Kay Moore, Janice Avery, Jess’s own fears and insufficiencies, nor any of the foes whom Leslie imagined attacking Terabithia, could ever really defeat them.
A few days after they finished the castle, Janice Avery fell down in the school bus and yelled that Jess had tripped her as she went past. She made such a fuss that Mrs. Prentice, the driver, ordered Jess off the bus, and he had to walk the three miles home.
When Jess finally got to Terabithia, Leslie was huddled next to one of the cracks below the roof trying to get enough light to read. There was a picture on the cover which showed a killer whale attacking a dolphin.
“Whatcha doing?” He came in and sat beside her on the ground.
“Reading. I had to do something. That girl!” Her anger came rocketing to the surface.
“It don’t matter. I don’t mind walking all that much.” What was a little hike compared to what Janice Avery might have chosen to do?
“It’s the principle of the thing, Jess. That’s what you’ve got to understand. You have to stop people like that. Otherwise they turn into tyrants and dictators.”
He reached over and took the whale book from her hands, pretending to study the bloody picture on the jacket. “Getting any good ideas?”
“What?”
“I thought you was getting some ideas on how to stop Janice Avery.”
“No, stupid. We’re trying to save the whales. They might become extinct.”
He gave her back the book. “You save the whales and shoot the people, huh?”
She grinned finally. “Something like that, I guess. Say, did you ever hear the story about Moby Dick?”
“Who’s that?”
“Well, there was once this huge white whale named Moby Dick…” And Leslie began to spin out a wonderful story about a whale and a crazy sea captain who was bent on killing it. His fingers itched to try to draw it on paper. Maybe if he had some proper paints, he could do it. There ought to be a way of making the whale shimmering white against the dark water.
At first they avoided each other during school hours, but by October they grew careless about their friendship. Gary Fulcher, like Brenda, took great pleasure in teasing Jess about his “girl friend.” It hardly bothered Jess. He knew that a girl friend was somebody who chased you on the playground and tried to grab you and kiss you. He could no more imagine Leslie chasing a boy than he could imagine Mrs. Double-Chinned Myers shinnying up the flagpole. Gary Fulcher could go to you-know-where and warm his toes.
There was really no free time at school except recess, and now that there were no races, Jess and Leslie usually looked for a quiet place on the field, and sat and talked. Except for the magic half hour on Fridays, recess was all that Jess looked forward to at school. Leslie could always come up with something funny that made the long days bearable. Often the joke was on Mrs. Myers. Leslie was one of those people who sat quietly at her desk, never whispering or daydreaming or chewing gum, doing beautiful schoolwork, and yet her brain was so full of mischief that if the teacher could have once seen through that mask of perfection, she would have thrown her out in horror.
Jess could hardly keep a straight face in class just trying to imagine what might be going on behind that angelic look of Leslie’s. One whole morning, as Leslie had related it at recess, she had spent imagining Mrs. Myers on one of those fat farms down in Arizona. In her fantasy, Mrs. Myers was one of the foodaholics who would hide bits of candy bars in odd places—up the hot water faucet!—only to be found out and publicly humiliated before all the other fat ladies. That afternoon Jess kept having visions of Mrs. Myers dressed only in a pink corset being weighed in. “You’ve been cheating again, Gussie!” the tall skinny directoress was saying. Mrs. Myers was on the verge of tears.
“Jesse Aarons!” The teacher’s sharp voice punctured his daydream. He couldn’t look Mrs. Myers straight