"We can be the kings and queens of anything if we believe
It's written in the stars that shine above
A world where you and I belong
Where faith and love will keep us strong
Exactly who we are is just enough
There's a place for us, there's a place for us."
-There's a Place For Us by Carrie Underwood

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I swear! I saw it with my own two eyes. It's real!" Janice shouted as she threw her hands in the air.

I flinched. "Well, yeah. You don't have to shout, Jan."

Janice huffed while crossing her arms on her chest. "It's because you two seem not to hear me. That's why I had to shout."

My one and only best friend in the world, Leslie Burke, leaned on the lunch table, her green eyes sparkling with amusement. "Sorry about that, Janice. So, when did you last go there?"

Janice Avery was an overweight girl who'd been a bully before. Ever since Leslie helped her with her family problem after the Williard-Hughes-note prank, they became friends. And us, too. Janice didn't bully anyone anymore. Even her friends stopped the bullying.

"Last two days," Janice said. "Even when it wasn't evening when I went there, the mansion was still spooky. I looked at the upper right window and immediately saw a white blur!"

"And you think this, er, white blur is an evil spirit?" Leslie asked for confirmation.

Janice nodded. "Yeah. But I'm not the only one who saw it. There are other people, too. And that's what they said: an evil spirit."

"I also heard that the owner's ghost is still lurking inside the mansion," I stated.

"Wallace Pitchford, a classmate of mine, said that he went there one night to know if the rumors were indeed true. Just as he was about to climb the gate, he heard a hideous scream from the mansion. Then he was off running back to the highway," Janice added.

"Why did you go there in the first place, anyway?" I asked her.

"I was just curious!" Janice defended herself.

I looked at Leslie to know her reaction. Her lips were in a tight line, meaning she was debating to herself whether to believe us or not. Well, this was new. I mean, she was the one who was more open-minded.

The first one to check the mansion after its abandoned was Old Man Chris. Everyone in Lark Creek calls him that. He and the owner had been, like, close friends or something. He'd gone there one day and had been startled to hear strange noises coming from the mansion. Curious, he'd checked the window and had been horrified to see something he wouldn't even tell the local people. Old Man Chris would only say, "It's so horrible that I want to forget what I saw inside. It's like a devil already started living there. I couldn't sleep for weeks! You lot shouldn't go there, or else you'll also experience what I experienced. Don't say you weren't warned!"

Since then, no one had the courage to go near the mansion. Well, except for twenty-two-year-old Lucas Stigile, who went insane after going there (he'd been found in the highway laughing out loud one morning) six years ago; Wallace; and then Janice. Good thing nothing bad had happened to the last two. I didn't know if there were other people who'd gone there.

"How about we investigate the mansion? What if those aren't ghosts? What if they're other creatures instead?" Leslie asked, glancing at me with a knowing look. "I want to see it for myself."

I gaped at Leslie. Janice's eyes widened.

"Um, no. I'm so not going back there. Call me a coward if you want to," Janice replied.

"Coward," I told her.

"Hey!"

"You just gave us permission to call you one."

"How about you, Jess?" Leslie asked, sounding hopeful.

Before I could reply, the bell suddenly rang, indicating that lunch time was over. Leslie and I said our good-byes to Janice, and then decided that we'd continue to talk about the mansion at Terabithia, our secret place, later as we headed to our next class: literature.

Truth be told, I was starting to hate that subject because we'd be having a school play for Lark Creek High School's Literature Day next week.

Unlike me, Leslie was so excited for the play. You know her-she loves literature, Shakespeare, and all that kind of stuff.

"I wonder what our play will be," Leslie said as she found her way to her desk. "I want to be a part of it. How about you, my king?"

I made a face as I sat down at the desk next to the window. "If possible, my queen, I don't want to be a part of the play. But if all are obliged to join, then I just want to be in the props team."

Leslie giggled, which was music to my ears. "Well, I'm sure all are obliged to join. It's a competition, after all. We'll be competing against the other two sophomore sections."

I grumbled. "Why do we have this kind of competition, anyway?"

Leslie smiled. Oh her smile that could make everyone's heart melt, especially mine. "Cheer up, Jess. You're great at being a king. 'Sides, we'll earn additional points for this subject."

I shrugged. "Well, if there's a king role, then-"

Just then, Ms. Thompson, our literature teacher, entered the room.

"Good afternoon, class," she greeted. We greeted her back.

Ms. Katelyn Thompson was a beautiful and hyper teacher that could be seen smiling most of the time. Leslie and I loved her because of her personality and kind of teaching in class. She had black hair and blue eyes that were like the ocean.

And no, I don't have a crush on her. Been there, done that.

"So, are you all excited for Literature Day this coming Friday next week?" she asked while clasping her hands together.

Most of my classmates gave cheers, while some of the boys and I just groaned. Leslie punched me playfully on the arm.

"So for one week," Ms. Thompson declared, "we'll just practice for our play. For this afternoon, we'll talk about the preparations, props, costumes, music, and the cast."

"But, Ms. Thompson," Sarah Bradfield, a girl with long black hair and wide brown eyes, said, "you haven't told us what's the title of our play yet."

Sarah and I were seatmates in geometry class. She was kind of strange because, most of the time, when she looked at me, she kept batting her eyelashes. I'd asked her one time if there was something wrong with her eyes. Sarah just giggled and said, You're so innocent, Jess. It's so cute. Even now, I didn't know what she'd been talking about.

"I'm getting to that, dear," Ms. Thompson said.

"I hope it's gonna be Romeo and Juliet," someone interrupted.

"Yuck! Not that crap," Sarah said, disgust written all over her face.

Leslie turned sharply to her, giving Sarah her ultimate I'm-going-to-strangle-you-to-death glare.

Uh-oh. I remembered Leslie giving me that kind of glare once after I'd joked something about The Lord of the Rings.

What do you call a dark lord that works at KFC? Lord of the Wings!

She hadn't liked it, and, well, let's just say that I didn't want to see that glare again staring right at me.

I didn't know what was with these two. They were, like, the rivals in literature class. Also outside of the class, I guess. Whenever they had this glaring contest with each other, or answering Ms. Thompson's questions, it was like they were radiating heat waves that were so intense. I didn't even know how and when their rivalry had started. I should ask my queen about it some other time.

"It's not crap," Leslie said venomously. She doesn't like it when someone treats Shakespeare's works like garbage. Or maybe because it was Sarah who said it.

Sarah smiled sarcastically at her in response.

"Hey," I whispered, grabbing Leslie's attention. "Just ignore her, Les."

She sighed, then gave me a soft smile. I smiled uncertainly in return. I hoped it wasn't obvious on my face that my heart was beating furiously.

"Now, now, class, listen!" Ms. Thompson interrupted, sensing the tension between Leslie and Sarah. "The topic given for the play for tenth grade is fairy tales. Then we did draw lots to choose what our play would be."

Ms. Thompson paused for dramatic effect. We held our breath.

"I got Sleeping Beauty!" she exclaimed.

There was a complete cacophony in the room as most of my classmates exchanged words with each other.

I heard something like, "I hope I get to be Aurora!" "I wonder who the witch will be," and "We'll win this!"

"Class!" Ms. Thompson shouted so that her voice could be heard above the noise. "Silence!" Then there was silence. "Good! Now, I already planned the casting, and I did a twist. Please don't tell the other classes about who the cast are. We want to surprise the audience next week, don't we?

"Dun dun dun dunnnnn~!" she sang.

All of us held our breath again to know the cast.

Ms. Thompson grinned that seemed to reach her ears, and I suddenly had a bad feeling that I wouldn't like what I was about to hear.

"Princess Aurora is Jesse Oliver Aarons Jr., and Prince Phillip is Leslie Sophia Burke!"

When Ms. Thompson's announcement finally sunk in my brain, I felt dizzy all of a sudden.

And then I fainted.