BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Arthur lifted his arm and prodded the snooze button, got out of bed, rubbed his eyes, put on his glasses, and got out of his bed. Just as he reached the doorway and saw his backpack sitting there, and he nearly fell backwards with nervousness.
"Today is the first day of…middle school!" Arthur said in his mind, already suppressing a gulp.
To think that it was just last night that they were eating dinner and Arthur was sharing all the information he had learned about the school from orientation. When asked if he was nervous, Arthur merely waved the quote off and said 'I'm so excited! I can't believe six years of elementary school are finally over!' Well now, since school was just a couple of hours away, he was feeling differently. It dawned on him that he was no longer a part of the upper level of kids in school. He realized that this was a new school, complete with new campus geography and rules and systems.
It wasn't long before Arthur was sitting at the table, pushing his scrambled eggs around the rim of his plate, thinking of the huge kids who were at the school. He had heard from Binky that there were lots of tough kids there, but Sue Ellen already confirmed that there were also great students there. But which one was more accurate?
"Why aren't you touching your breakfast, son?" asked Arthur's father.
"Huh? Oh! Um…I'm just…worried about middle school, that's all…" Arthur confessed shamefully.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of dear," assured his mother. "Everyone is nervous on the first day at a new school. You'll be fine. Just make sure you hang around your friends whenever you are at lunch, recess, or even walking in the halls."
"But mommy!" whined Arthur's annoying sister, DW, who was starting the 2nd grade today. "Tommy and Timmy that said you could get your head stuffed down a toilet! Aren't you going to tell him to be careful of the toilet dunkers?"
"Dora Winnifred Read!" yelled both of her parents, glaring at their daughter who was clearlynot making this any better for Arthur. DW quickly zipped up and started gulping down her orange juice.
Meanwhile, Kate, who was three years old, began begging her mom to go to school with DW.
"Momma! I want to go to school too! Why cannot I go with DW?" cried Kate.
"You're just not old enough dear! You can go to school next year!" said Mrs. Read, who picked Kate up and gave her a kiss on the chin.
"Yeah! And you'll have Miss Morgan as your teacher! She's nice…" DW said, starting to daydream about all the fun times she had with Emily in preschool...and bad times with the Tibble twins.
After getting dressed, groomed, and packed for school, Arthur hugged his parents and ran off to the bus which had just arrived. He waited for the bus driver to open the door, and then he climbed the three steep steps. The bus driver, a very aged man, greeted Arthur, asked for his name, and welcomed him aboard. Arthur was now looking towards the back of the bus. There were kids of all shapes and sizes. There was of Muffy in the front of the bus, showing off her elegant school bag to her friends. Then there was Prunella way in the back telling kids their fortunes. And finally, there was Buster, seated at the middle of the bus. Arthur moved towards the back of the bus and sat down next to him.
"Hey, Arthur! Are you excited for middle school or what?" Buster asked, taking a final bite out of a piece of chocolate.
"Um…I guess. But I'm kinda nervous. We used to be the biggest kids in school. Now we're at the bottom of the food chain; like krill for whales!" Arthur was already looking around the bus. There were 7th graders throwing paper airplanes around (one of which flew out of an open window), an 8th grade couple kissing in the row upfront ("Eew!" exclaimed a few 6th graders, who were sitting across from the couple), and there were kids big and tall!
"Yeah, I guess. Oh! So do you have your class schedule? Let's see if we have any of the same classes!" Buster said excitedly, rummaging through his messy bag and taking out a crumbled piece of paper.
Arthur did the same, and they swapped papers, reviewing all the periods and subjects, desperately hoping they'd be together for most of the day. They didn't have to worry about this stuff in elementary school. They never transitioned classes every hour like this!
"Hey! Looks like we have band together for first period! And reading! Looks like you have English for third period. And we don't have World History either…Or science…Or math!" Buster sighed as he read the schedule. Well, that stunk that they were only together for the first couple of hours in the day. "Oh wait! We have homeroom together too!"
They handed their schedules back to each other and talked about some of the things they did over the summer.
A lot of the new 6th graders pressed their noses against the window as they loomed nearly Lakewood Elementary. Half of them would be coming from Lakewood Elementary, the others from another elementary school in the district.
"Look! There's Mr. Ratburn!" Francine yelled out.
"HI MR. RATBURN!" the kids shouted through the window at their former teacher.
He turned around and looked back, waving at the students he had just been teaching three months ago.
Lakewood Middle School seemed a lot closer than expected, because not a minute after they passed Lakewood Elementary, the bus driver slowed down, pulled into the driveway and came to a halt at the bus stop, where three other buses were parked. The older kids got off first, and the 6th graders watched as they all exchanged hugs as they reunited with kids they haven't seen since the school year before.
With shaking legs, Arthur, Buster, Francine, Muffy, Prunella, Sue Ellen, Binky, and all of the other 6th graders wobbled off the bus and stayed together in a tightly-packed group, looking around the crowded yard to see where they were supposed to go. Suddenly, they saw a very tall man, who looked as if he was one of the school's custodians, was waving a sign with an arrow on it, saying "6th GRADERS THIS WAY!" They all walked towards the man, and found eight students with name tag stickers standing by the doorway.
"Hello! My name is Britney and I am the Lakewood Middle School president. This is Janette, my Vice President, and this is Cheryl, my Secretary. And we all split the Treasurer duties since she transferred out this year. The rest of us are veteran student representatives. These name tags are so that we can all get to know each other, with your teachers, amongst yourself, and even us older kids. You have all attended the orientation; I'm sure, so we will be leading you to your respective homeroom classes. If you have Mrs. Sorano, follow Janette, and if you have Ms. Earle, follow Cheryl. We'll be walking around to make sure none of you get lost along the way. Hurry up now, you'll be late!"
Arthur was careful to take in every word that Britney was saying. She seemed like a very responsible President. Arthur and Buster both had Mrs. Sorano, so they followed Janette to their classroom, but they took a tour along the way.
"This is the band room, straight across is the choir room. Straight up the hall is the gym and the locker rooms. And make a left from the girl's locker rooms and you'll be in Section E. Your classroom number is E-2. Be sure to remember that now!" said Janette, making sure that she was being clear.
Janette opened the door to the classroom, and the students filed inside.