Look Toward the Sky

Chapter 2 – Locker Number

Disclaimer: Bridge to Terabithia is not mine, it belongs to Katherine Paterson.

Lucas Morton felt unbearably nervous as he sat on the bus on the way to his first day at Lark Creek Elementary. He was not happy at all about having to start at a new school a few months into a school year. He had hoped that his mom would have decided where to move last summer so he wouldn't have to join his class so late, but his mom wanted to secure a job before moving somewhere, and it took her a while to find a good one close enough to where they would be living.

Lucas sighed to himself and readjusted his position in the 2nd row of the bus. He again wished that his mom would have been more helpful; she promised to drive him to school on his first day and help him find his class, but her boss had called her in to start early on that Monday, so he was going to have to take the bus. He felt a mixture of relief and anxiety when his mom told him that he would be waiting with his neighbors down the road a bit, to save the bus driver the extra stop. Lucas thought he had seen the new neighbors last Friday when he was bringing boxes in, but he didn't want to keep staring down the road. It wasn't until Monday morning when he met with one of the other kids, Leslie Burke, that he was sure he had seen them that day.

Leslie seemed very nice, she was about 7 months older then Lucas, who was always one of the youngest in his class, having a summer birthday. She was very outgoing and tried to get Lucas to talk to her, but his severe shyness and introversion always had him pegged as one of the quietest kids at his old school. Leslie spoke very highly of her best friend, Jesse Aarons, but he was nowhere to be found as Leslie and Lucas waited for their bus. Leslie seemed a little concerned about his absence, but Lucas offered that he was probably just running late, which seemed to calm her down a bit.

Lucas could tell that Jesse meant a lot to Leslie from the way she spoke so reverently about him, and he had wanted to get a chance to meet him before school. Lucas had read in some magazine that school is a lot easier if you have two good friends with you, and although he thought little of the suggestion at the time, he found himself wishing he did have two good friends in Lark Creek.

Eventually Jesse's little sister, May Belle, ran up to Lucas and Leslie and waited for the bus with them. Before May Belle could ask who the new kid was, Leslie asked her where Jesse was. "He's coming, he slept late and has to fix the sprinklers in the greenhouse again." May Belle answered, while glancing at Lucas strangely. She immediately turned to him and asked, "Who are you?" Lucas thought she sounded a little hostile, and started to clear his throat to answer, but Leslie spoke up for him. "This is Lucas, he's our new neighbor." she said to May Belle.

The little girl's eyes instantly lit up and any possible hostility Lucas thought he had sensed was instantly gone. "Cool! Do you have any little sisters?" she asked excitedly. Her question was so sudden and loud that Lucas couldn't help but arch his eyebrows a bit before answering that he was an only child. "Oh, darn." May Belle said and lightly kicked the ground. Leslie smirked a bit, "She asked me that as soon as I met her too. There aren't really any kids her age around here." she explained. Lucas nodded a bit, but didn't say anything back. May Belle began talking about her Barbie dolls with Leslie, but Lucas found himself glancing up the driveway every few seconds to see if Jesse would ever show up. 5 minutes later, he had still not come out and the bus was pulling up, and the 3 kids prepared to climb on.

Despite Leslie and May Belle's persistence, Lucas decided to sit by himself. His excuse was that he had to memorize his locker number (which had been given to him over the phone by the principal the day before.) In actuality, he was feeling very nervous and intimidated by Jesse. Why are you so nervous about meeting another kid? If Leslie likes him, he's probably really nice just like her. His conscience was unrelenting for the next few seconds, until the bus doors opened once again, and a dark haired boy with a white & orange striped shirt stepped on to the bus. Lucas figured this must be Jesse, and turned to look at him as he started to walk down the aisle.

Lucas thought that Jesse had slowed his pace for a second as they made eye contact, and he thought for a second that Jesse was going to sit down next to him, but Jesse merely looked away and continued walking down the aisle. Lucas didn't turn around but he knew that Jesse must have been sitting near Leslie. He sighed with relief at first for having avoided a no doubt awkward introduction, but soon found himself wishing that he had sat with the others. It was quiet and discomforting at the front of the bus. A girl who must have been a year or two older then Lucas sat directly behind him, and Lucas couldn't help but feel like she was staring at the back of his head. He felt his ears getting hot and he turned his head to watch the green blur of trees go by as the bus sped toward the school, imagining what it would be like to run 35 miles-per-hour on foot.


When the bus pulled up to the school, Lucas was one of the first kids to step off the bus. He had deliberately not looked back at Leslie, Jesse, or May Belle. He felt a little bad about ignoring them but he had bigger things to worry about now. He promised himself that he would meet Jesse later on, but for now he had to find the Principals office.

Lucas wandered down the main hallway of the school, looking at each doorway he passed to see which one was the Principals office. He felt like every kid who passed him was staring at him, and Lucas had never felt so out of place in his life. Finally after what seemed like an hour, he found the Administrative building and entered. The secretary smiled at him, and when he handed her the note that his Mother had written, she read it and instantly knew who he was. "You must be Lucas Morton, welcome to Lark Creek!" she said nicely with a smile, "Let me go get Principal Turner."

The secretary stood up and Lucas started examining the office. There were pictures of various athletic teams hanging up, and some awards the school had won from the state for good academic performance (although most of them seemed to come before 2002 or so.) Lucas eventually saw a clock on the wall and noticed that only about 6 minutes had gone by since he arrived at school. It's going to be a long day, he thought with a sigh. He had secretly hoped he had been lost in the halls for a longer time, so he wouldn't have to actually be in class for as long.

Suddenly the secretary came walking out again and smiled at Lucas as she sat down at her desk again and instantly turned her attention to her computer screen. A second later, Principal Turner walked into the entrance of the office building to greet the new student. "Hello Lucas, I'm Principal Turner." the man said to the boy as he shook his hand. The Principal was one of the tallest people Lucas had ever met, and he thought his hand was going to be crushed when they went to shake them.

After some introductions to the school, Principal Turner began escorting Lucas to his first class – English with Mrs. Myers. As they walked down the hallway, Principal Turner spoke a little bit about the history of the school. Lucas could tell he was quite proud to be the Principal of the school, but could only quickly nod and fake a smile when the Principal asked him if he liked it so far. Finally they arrived at the door with MYERS written on it. Lucas could faintly hear a woman's voice through the shut door as Principal Turner knocked on the door a few times.

The door opened and Mrs. Myers greeted them. Lucas wasn't sure of what to expect of his teacher, but thought she looked a little menacing when she smiled at him. Mrs. Myers shook Lucas' hand and began to lead him inside the class. Principal Turner patted Lucas on the back before he began to walk away.

As Lucas walked in the class, he felt like all the blood in his body was rushing to his face. Every single student was staring at him, and he suddenly became very aware of the possibility that he might trip, or wet his pants. "Class, this is Lucas Morton, he will be joining us for the rest of the year." Mrs. Myers announced to the class, but not exactly in a friendly way, more of a command. Lucas began to think that his teacher was not very easygoing. Nobody in the class said anything but most of the kids continued to stare at him, other than a few who had stopped caring and turned their attention to something else. Lucas looked up for a second and suddenly realized that Leslie Burke was in his class, and was smiling at him. He also noticed that the seat behind her was empty, and he silently began praying that he got to sit next to the one person he knew.

Mrs. Myers looked around the room for a few seconds, and Lucas started to wonder if she was going to make him talk about himself or introduce himself to his classmates. He was almost positive that he would throw up if he had to. But luckily for him, he got his wish granted when she pointed at the empty desk behind Leslie, "You can sit there Mr. Morton, behind Ms. Burke." she said. Lucas quickly walked down the aisle of desks, dropped his backpack to the floor and sat down quickly as Mrs. Myers turned back to the chalkboard and began explaining more thoroughly how to identify a subject and a predicate.

Leslie turned around in her chair after he sat down and smiled to him. Lucas felt a little better but was still quite red in the face from having to stand in front of the class. He smiled crookedly back to her before she turned around as to avoid getting in trouble for not paying attention. After a minute or so of staring forward, Lucas got the feeling that he was being watched, and he turned his head to the right to see that Jesse was glancing at him with a contemplative look on his face. Lucas broke eye contact first and began staring at the wooden patterns on his desk. Some of the lines in the desk seemed to form shapes, and as he kept staring, his eyes began to unfocus a bit and he thought he saw the shape of a dog for a split second before he blinked and his eyes were focused again. When he looked back, Jesse was now drawing something in what looked to be a sketchbook.