A Little Push | Bridge to Terabithia

1 - A Little Push

Jesse had just got off the phone from his Music teacher and long time crush, Ms Edmunds. She had informed him that he had fallen ill and wouldn't be able to take him to the museum anymore. Whilst Jesse would be lying if he said he wasn't bitterly disappointed at the turn of events, it did mean he would be able to spend some time with his blonde haired companion down the road.

Leslie Burke was just about as different as you could be from Jesse Aarons and yet she was also the same as him. She moved into the area along with her parents Judy and Bill at the end of the summer of the previous year from New York. Her family was exceptionally wealthy as both her parents were writers, whereas Jesse's family could barely afford the bare necessities for their group of 7. The most glaring difference between the 2 kids was that Leslie was a girl and Jesse was a boy.  This never caused many problems for the 2 friends though as Leslie was what people would call a 'tomboy', with her hair barely passing her ears in terms of length. Whilst this was an area of her personality that acquired her her own hate club, she never let the bullies change her ways. The most vicious of these bullies was Wanda Kay Moore, who was the smartest girl in Jess's class before Leslie turned up and started outperforming her.

"Mom, Ms Edmunds is sick so I'm going to Leslie's instead!" He yelled as he began to jog towards the Old Perkins Place where Leslie lived. However, when he got to the end of his road he could already see Leslie approaching the rope to swing over.
"Wait for me Leslie!" He called as he began to sprint at full tilt towards her & Terabithia.
"Hey." He said when he finally reached her.
"Hey Jess, I thought you were going out with your girlfriend today?" She replied in a teasing tone.
"She's sick unfortunately so we'll have to go another day I guess. Do you want a push across?"
"Nope" She said as she began to jump up and swing on the rope to the other side.
"I'll give you a little push anyways, for good luck y'know." Little did Jess now how much good luck that shove would provide. Leslie was about halfway across the creek when the rope suddenly ripped in half and she began descending towards the water.
"LESLIE!!!" Jess yelled as the lower half of her body connected with the top of the creek and then falling into the creek at the same time as Jess leaped in to rescue his friend. He wasn't a brilliant swimmer by any stretch but he was sure he would be better than a Leslie that had just slammed into a rock wall at close to 10mph (something the human body isn't engineered for). Leslie was flapping her arms wildly to keep her head above the water but she was still slowly being dragged under by the current of the creek. She was completely submerged just as Jess managed to grab a hold of her shirt and tried to drag her up using it whilst also keeping himself afloat. Just as Leslie's face broke the surface, her t-shirt abruptly ripped in half and she slipped back under.
"Don't die on me, please don't die on me Leslie." He cried as he grabbed a hold of one of her arms and dragged her up again. He had yet to take notice of how far they had gone along the creek and as such he was shocked when Mr Burke cried out
"Jess, LESLIE?!". The father then began sprinting along the creek looking for a place where he would be able to get down to the level of the creek and yank the kids out without causing any further injuries. Jess had managed to get a better grip on Leslie by this point and was hugging her around the neck as if their lives depended on it, which they did if you thought about it for a while.
"Jesse, give me your hand so I can get you both out" Bill Burke shouted upstream at him. Jesse just stuck one of his arms up as high as he could and hoped the one armed grip he now had on Leslie would hold, which it did as he landed on the grass with Leslie thumping on top of him, with Jess also finding that his lower half was covered in almost as much blood as hers.
"I-I'm sorry B-Bill, it w-was all my f-fault that she's d-dead." The boy said, refusing to let go of Leslie and not minding that he had his 'dead' best friend lying on top of him. Bill placed a hand to her neck and let out a massive sigh.
"She's not dead Jess, just passed out from all the damage to her legs I suppose." Bill said as he picked Leslie up off of Jess.
"What about all the water she inhaled?" Jess said as the tears still rolled down his face, but they were now happy ones.
"Jess, go call an ambulance please." He said as Jess scrambled over to Leslie.
"I don't have a mobile phone Mr Burke but you do." Jesse said as he tried to figure out what he would have to do to resuscitate Leslie. Surprisingly, Bill nodded and headed off to find the nearest reception point to call from. Soon after this he figured out what he would need to do but was highly embarrased about it.

Mouth to Mouth resuscitation

Leslie was either going to kill him when she woke up or die, so he went with the option of her killing him. After about 2 minutes, she awoke and instantly began coughing up water. Jess then scrambled to find leaves or something that would be able to cover up most of the horrible gashes on her legs.

"Jess?" She croaked out as he suddenly flung himself at her in a hug before he began crying heavier into her chest, at which point both of them noticed that Leslie's T-shirt had actually been ripped off in the creek. Jess's face took a distinctively red appearance as he sat up again.
"Er, sorry about the t-shirt, it ripped when I tried to pull you out of the water." Jess said as he focused all of his attention on either Leslie's face or her legs, but not anything inbetween those 2 places.
"If it's why I'm alive then I don't care that I don't have a t-shirt on." She smiled at him as Bill walked back over and also noticed Leslie's lack of t-shirt.
"Jess, what happened to Leslie's t-shirt?"
"It ripped when we were in the creek, sorry Mr Burke." Jess said looking down. "I can go get you another t-shirt though." He said as he stood up and sprinted off towards the Burke's residence. He passed the ambulance crew on his way up and pointed towards where Leslie was before heading in to find a t-shirt for Leslie. He returned to the small gathering about 10 minutes later with a t-shirt and gave it to Leslie.
"Thanks Jess." She said as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.
"Are you guys off to the hospital?"
"Yes we are Jess, do you want to come along with us?" One of the ambulance crew asked.
"I don't know if my parents would let me go..." Jess replied
"Please Jess, please." Leslie said, latching onto his hand as well as her father.
"They probably won't mind if Mr Burke brings me back I suppose."
Leslie smiled and then promptly fell asleep as soon as everyone made it inside the ambulance, letting go of her father's hand yet somehow keeping a tight grip on Jess's one.