Chunk #2 Jaret Sears

CHAPTER 1:

Jacob awoke at seven o’clock in the morning to get ready for his first day of school. Today was a special day indeed, the day he would join his older brother in elementary school. It was Jacob’s first day of kindergarten and he was very excited. Jacob walked to his bathroom and brushed his teeth and hair and returned to his room. He found his outfit: a new pair of pants, a “Lion King” shirt he bought at Disneyworld the year before, and his favorite “Goosebumps” sneakers; still laid out where he had arranged them the night before. He put them on quickly and moved down the stairs, jumping from the third step to the bottom as he often did. He moved into dining room and ate some cereal and then ran towards the front door to wait to leave for school. Jacob’s older brother, Jaret, came down the stairs a few minutes later.

“What are you so excited about?” asked Jaret, staring at his brother who was standing at the front door, despite the fact there was still a half-hour before they had to leave.

“School,” replied Jacob.

“You little kids, always getting excited about such silly things. I was like that when I was your age, I’m sure. When I was little. But I’m in second grade now. I’ve grown up,” said Jaret to Jacob. Jaret would always say these sorts of things to Jacob, as long as they were schooled together. Any grade under Jaret’s grade was always the little kid one and Jaret’s grade would always be the adult one. Jaret’s attitude continued in this way even up through High School.

As Jaret stood staring at Jacob, their mother walked in.

“Are you two ready for school?” she asked, despite knowing that they were awake, of course, since she was the one who woke them up this morning as she does every morning. The boys nodded to her and she then said “Let me get my camera, I have to take some pictures of you both before you go off to school. You look so handsome.”

Jacob’s mother ran off to get her camera and they both sighed. No matter how excited the brothers may or may not have been for school, neither of them liked the age old tradition of the “first day of school pictures”, the seemingly endless process of getting posed in the front yard with the plants in the background; letting the whole street see your mother taking pictures of you with your little backpacks on. It made the boys embarrassed, but it made their mother happy. But they’d enjoy seeing the pictures later and it made their mother happy, so it was bearable.

After the pictures were taken, Jacob and Jaret climbed into the back seat of their mother’s old blue car and she drove them to school. They got to their school a few minutes later. The elementary school was only a mile or so from their house. The boys moved from the car and around the back of the school. Jaret found his friends there, the ones whom he had chummed with for the two years he’d attended that school. Jacob, however, did not know many of the children at this school, most of his preschool mates had gone to various other schools around the city. This didn’t matter though, Jacob could find friends later. It was now time to go to school, to go inside. Jacob got into line with his other kindergarteners and waited for the yard-ladies, as they were called, to guide the student into the school.

Jacob entered the front doors of the building and was hit with a sudden warmth and good smell of the school. It felt nice. He moved down the hall in his line towards his classroom. He stopped in his tracks and took in the whole room as he first walked in. It was quite the kindergarten classroom. There were tables and chairs and a bright rug, books and blocks and toys, a skyscraper-sized pile of construction paper, and even a glass tank containing two real lizards. Jacob liked the room; it was large, bright and welcoming. He sat down on a little chair and waited for the teacher to begin talking. “It’s going to be a good year”, he thought.