A/N: Alrighty then. I believe that I can officially say that I've found my new obsession (I've seen the movie three times now, how sad is that?) But, one must admit, Johnny Depp is great…anywho, the first few chapters may seem a little slow, but stick with me here; there's a lot of background information to lay down first. Buckle up and hang on tight, cause it's full speed ahead. And there's no knowing where we're going…
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Rebecca Smithens; if you wanna borrow her, please ask first. Don't bother suing me--you don't want my student debt, and babysitting doesn't pay that well. So back off, you lawyer parasitic types!
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Chapter 1: Off to Face the World
The day had finally arrived. The day that all of the Buckets (and a certain Mr. Wonka) had been secretly dreading. The day for Charlie to return to school after moving into the chocolate factory.
Mrs. Bucket had allowed Charlie to stay home a few days to get acclimated with their new situation. However, despite Mr. Wonka's best efforts to convince her that Charlie didn't need to go to school anymore, she soon insisted that Charlie return to school, lest he fall too far behind in his studies. She didn't particularly care that he had a chocolate factory to inherit; Sara Bucket was not going to allow her son to go through life with nothing more than half of a sixth grade education.
As Charlie woke up and began to get ready for school, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. It wasn't the press he was worried about; Mr. Wonka had already taken care of that. The day after Charlie had accepted his offer, Mr. Wonka had issued a press release stating that Charlie Bucket was the winner of his contest. However, Wonka did not say exactly what it was that Charlie had won. He only said that under no circumstances was the Bucket family to be disturbed for interviews, and that all questions could be sent in writing to him at the factory. Surprisingly enough, when Mr. Bucket arrived at work the next day, he found that the press had obeyed Mr. Wonka's request (perhaps out of fear after seeing what had happened to the other four Golden Ticket winners).
The Buckets had been wise enough to request that Mr. Wonka wait until the cover of darkness before moving the Bucket house to the chocolate factory, which turned out to be a very smart thing. Because of this, people who knew the Buckets assumed that they had simply moved (as things had been looking up for them lately) and that their shack of a house had been demolished. ( Well, most people assumed that. One person was smart enough to think otherwise, but we shall get to that later.)
No, it wasn't the press that Charlie was nervous about on his first day back to school, but rather the other children. You see, Charlie had never been popular at school, on account that he and his family were so poor. So, the Buckets were afraid that there would be children who would act jealous and spiteful toward Charlie and make everything terrible for him.
But Charlie did his best to push these thoughts from his mind as he gulped down the last of his milk and made his rounds of goodbyes. As he started to leave, Mrs. Bucket knelt down in front of him and started fixing his collar.
"Now Charlie, there's bound to be a little commotion among some of the other children at school, so the best thing to do is just keep your head down and try not to say too much about everything, alright? Keep out of trouble, now." Mrs. Bucket placed her hands on her son's shoulders and looked him in the eye, making sure that he understood everything she was telling him.
"Yes, mum," Charlie answered, giving her a smile. Sara Bucket smiled back and gave him a kiss on the cheek before straightening.
"Alright then. You'd better hurry off before you're late," she said, patting him on the shoulder and ushering him out the door. A few last goodbyes were shouted, and Mrs. Bucket watched her son as he set out from the house.
"Now, don't worry, Sara, the boy'll be fine," Grandpa Joe told her reassuringly.
"Of course he will. If he can survive being with those brats who came through here a few weeks ago, he can deal with the rapscallions at school," Grandpa George added.
Sara Bucket just sighed. "I hope you're right, dad," she answered. "I just hope that you're right."