After Bridge to Terabithia

Jess finished out the rest of the school year well. His report card had improved greatly since the one sent out just after Christmas, but he still managed to refrain from becoming a know-it-all like Madison.Now that summer had come Jess, MayBelle, Ellie, and Brenda had almost limitless time to enjoy themselves. Ellie and Brenda mostly flitted away their summer through endless gauking at the television. Jess also noticed that Brenda had been growing paler and fatter by the third week of vacation, but he never said anything.

He and MayBelle on the other hand spent more time outdoors. They very rarely stayed inside for more than two hours during the day. Naturally, they were spending most of thier time deep within Terabithia. MayBelle had grown to love and care for animals, so Jess would always chuckle whenever MayBelle would stop in the middle of the woods saying, "Jess! We need to help that flying tortoise," or, "Jess, do we have any milk that we can feed to this fluffy deer?" When they weren't deep in another Terabithian adventure, Jess would draw all of the magnificent things they imagined and "saw." Sometimes though, Jess would be with MayBelle in body and out it on auto pilot and let his mind wander back through his memories.

During the last weeks of school, Jess decided to take Dr. Straus' suggestion, and joined Lark Creek School's art club. Even though everyone in the ckub loved and was good at art, Jess was hands down the best artist in the twenty person club. People were pretty nice to him, but they rarely talked to him. Instead of talking and being uproarious, when ever Jess would enter the room, they would either pretend to be working or they would start to whisper their conversations.

Jess wasn't very talkative, either. He always busyied himself with a drawing or painting instead of trying to get to know the other kids. Each class he would always be the first done with picture, and nine times out of ten, it would have something to do with Terabithia. Mrs. Clark, the teacher who sponsered the club, would always compliment him on his excellent work and creativity. But Jess found these compliments hollow and insinscere. He was his greatest and toughest critic and he thought nothing of his was all that great.

On the last day of the club, Mrs.Clark announced a special contest for the day. She told everyone to come up with thier most original piece of artwork, and the winner would be chosen by a panel of teachers. The piece of artwork would be framed, put on display, and he awarded three stacks of heavy drawing paper and two wooden cases. One contained countless color pencils and markers, and the other held 36 tubes of paint.

Intreigued by the prizes at hand, Jess thought long and hard on what he could draw. I can't draw Terabithia, agian. I've done it a thousand times already. Would a ... no. I could... no. What can I draw? He continued to ponder what he could do. Oh, Leslie. What should I do? Wait! Leslie... you're the answer! Jess hastily started to draw the outline on his canvas.

He had just finished with his last brush stroke when Mrs. Clark called time. She came around collecting everyone's artwork silently, but everyone could see the reations she gave each one. "Now, tommorrow will be the judging. I wish you you all good luck," and judging by the reactions she gave some, a lot of people were going to need it.

Silently, Jess slipped out of the classroom right after Mrs. Clark dismissed everyone to thier waiting parents. When Jess got into his dad's truck, hed expected jibbes from his dad about what he did that day at the club. Instead, all Jesse Oliver Aarons Sr. was, "Do you think you won?" Shocked, all Jess could say as he smiled was, "Yeah." The drive home was silent except for the jiggling and whine of the truck as it drove down the road.

Over the next two days Jess was a nervous wreck. He would shake uncontrollably with the anticipation of learning the winner of the art contest. At he end of the second day, the whole school was called via intercom and were shepparded like sheep into the school's cramped auditorium. There were so few seats in to room that both the first and second grades had to sit on the floor in front and in the aisles to fit. Principal Turner aand the rest of the staff sat in two neat rows on the small, wooden stage.

After all of the students had been herded inside and had sat down, Mr. Turner stood and began. "Students, teachers, thank you for such a wonderful year. You have made it a pleasure to work and teach." He went on with his speech explianing that the school year had been a "great one" through hard work and dedication. It was the same speech Mr. Turner gave every year. Most students and even most teachers tuned it out, including Jess. His interest was only peaked when Mr. Turner stopped droning on and Mrs. Clark took his place.

"As you all know, every year Lark Creek's Art Club hosts its annual art contest in hopes of winningn some fabulous prizes. This year it was hard, like every year before, to pick the winners out of all the talented entries. Right now Jess' heart was beating like a Salvation Army Drum as he eagerly awaited the results. Meanwhile, Mrs. Clark continued," Our third place winner is... Melaine Stevonson!" The crowd cheered and aplauded as Melanie carefully navigated her way to the stage. On stage a picture of majectic forest with a sky-mirroring lake in colored pencil. "Our second place winner is... Charlotte Boatwright!" Like Melanie, she got up and clumsily traversed to the stage. Everyone laughed when she accidently tripped over a second grader.

"Ok! Now I'm pleased to announce that our winner for this year's art contest is..." She paused for dramatic effect adn finally said, "Jesse Aarons!" Suddenly the sinking feeling in his stomach lifted, as he shakily rose from his small chair and squeezed down the cramped row down the aisle. MayBelle screamed and aplauded the loudest of the whole crowd crying, "Yeah, Jess! Go, Jess, go!" just like she used to do in the races. In fact the whole student body continued to clap and cheer for him long after he had reached the stage. But Jess didn't hear any of it. All he heared was Leslie's clear voice in his head saying, Good job, Jess! Way to go!, repeating over and over like a broken record.

Mrs. Clark's voice snapped him back to reality. "Now, to unveil Jesse's peice of art." A white sheet was pulled up as the last remnants of Mrs. Clarks words echoed through the room. The whole room gasped. There on the canvas was a full body painting of Leslie with her right arm high into the air. She wore her blue, t shirt with a white pegasus on it. On her arms, she wore her colorful arm socks and also wore her tight black jeans. On her feet were her also very colorful thigh-high Converse which Jess always loved. In her left hand were two books with indecipherable titles and a sheet of notebook paper with pencil. Superimposed behind her was the Terabithia Coat of Arms with Leslie's feet resting on the words, Nothing Crushes Us.

The room remained silent until Mr. Turner got up and broke the silence. "Thank you, all. Melanie and Charlotte, you may sit back down." Jess made a move to leave with the others, but Mr. Turners said, "Jesse, please stay. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to announce that with a special grant from the state, we have had a memorial statue commissioned in the design of Mr. Aaron's painting. It is due to be finished and in place in late July to early August, so it'll be done by the start of the new school year. Thank you and have a great summer."

The rest of the summer had passed even more quickly than it had come. Soon enough, it was September, and time for May Belle to be a second grader, and for Jess to go to sixth grade.