Chapter 1 SEIZE THE DAY
Lucy Lancaster was the first student to arrive at her second-grade classroom in Brewster Elementary. Just like she had been first yesterday. And just like she would be first tomorrow!
“Good morning, Mrs. Welli,” Lucy said to her teacher.
Then she went over to the classroom’s fish tank and looked through the glass. There were plants, coral, and shimmering gravel. And so many kinds of fish!
“Good morning, fishies,” Lucy said. “Ready for breakfast?”
Feeding the fish was one bonus of getting to class early.
Lucy sprinkled just the right amount of fish food into the tank. As she closed the lid, a little bit of water splashed on her glasses.
She pulled a small cloth from her pocket to clean off the water. It had star patterns all over it, which matched the stars on her frames. She always carried the cloth around to be prepared for moments like this.
Lucy looked through her sparkling clean glasses and noticed some containers sitting on the back table.
“Wow! Are those caterpillars?” she asked.
“Yes,” Mrs. Welli answered. “We’ll be observing how caterpillars transform into butterflies.”
This was another bonus of getting to class early. Being the first to learn about new science units!
“Ooh, I love butterflies!” said someone behind Lucy. She didn’t even have to turn around to know it was the voice of Heidi Heckelbeck.
“Hi, Heidi! I like your headband,” Lucy said.
“I like yours, too.” Heidi giggled.
It wasn’t hard to tell that Lucy and Heidi were best friends.
Especially when they wore matching headbands to school!
Heidi waved to the caterpillars.
“I hope we’ll see them make cocoons,” she said.
“A caterpillar doesn’t make a cocoon,” said Bruce Bickerson. He put down his backpack before joining Heidi and Lucy at the back table.
Bruce was Lucy’s other best friend. He and Lucy had been buddies since even before Lucy met Heidi.
“A caterpillar makes a chrysalis,” Bruce explained.
“Chris-uh-liss,” Lucy repeated. “Bruce, is there anything you DON’T know?”
Bruce grinned. “I don’t know!”
When class finally started, Mrs. Welli had an announcement.
“I’m going to break you all into pairs,” she explained. “Each pair will get their own caterpillars to observe.”
A partner! Lucy thought, tapping her toes with excitement.
Then Mrs. Welli announced, “Lucy Lancaster and Bryce Beltran, you two will be working together.”
Oh no. In that moment, Lucy wished she had a magic wand.
If she had one, she would magically become partners with Heidi. Or Bruce. Or anyone else.
But magic wasn’t real. So Lucy had no choice.
She was stuck with Bryce.
