Nicholas Nettle's Curious Trip to Nowhere - An Original Middle Grade Fantasy Adventure - Chapter One

Chapter One

“Hurry up, Nicholas! You’re gonna miss the bus again!”

Nicholas was running as fast as his legs would carry him toward the school bus stopped at the end of the old dirt road. His legs were not at all happy about this, seeing as how they would much rather have been walking at that hour. He could see the line onto the bus shrinking as he hurried toward his friend Emma who was standing at the back of the line shouting for him to run faster.

When she arrived at the bottom of the steps leading onto the bus, she stopped, hoping it would buy Nicholas a little more time. The bus driver, a stern looking woman, motioned impatiently for Emma to get on board.

“You have to wait for Nicholas!” Emma pleaded with the bus driver. “He’s almost here!”

“The only thing I have to do is get you kids to school on time. Now get in here and sit down, Emma,” the bus driver replied.

Emma reluctantly obeyed and made her way slowly onto the bus. As she walked down the isle toward her seat, she turned and stuck her tongue out at the bus driver.

Nicholas was still racing down the road and just as his legs were seriously considering filing a formal complaint with his brain and quitting altogether, he arrived at the bus, only to have the doors close right in his face. He was almost completely out of breath.

“No!… Wait!… Wait, I’m here!” he shouted, pounding his fists on the door as he continued to gasp for air.

The bus driver looked down on Nicholas over the thin rims of her glasses, which seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever other than to decorate the end of her nose. There was a brief moment where she considered driving off without him. She even imagined letting out a wicked little laugh as she watched his sad little face grow smaller in the rear view mirror. She then realized that this would most likely result in her being terminated from her job and seeing as how she rather liked her job most days, she decided to open the door instead.

“Well, nice of you to join us this morning, Mr. Nettle,” she said. “That was almost twice in one week for you.”

“I know. I’m really sorry, Miss Lindle.”

“You do realize that if you miss any more classes you’ll be repeating the sixth grade next year don’t you?” She was undoubtedly making this up, considering the fact that she had no idea how many classes a student could miss, and Nicholas had only missed one all year anyway, but she hoped it would put a bit of fear in the boy.

“I know. I really am sorry, Miss Lindle.”

A small part of her wanted to be a little more angry than she really was, but she just couldn’t muster it. The fact of the matter was, she genuinely did like Nicholas; he was always so polite to her.

“Well, just hurry up and take your seat before you make us all late,” she said, feeling as though she had gotten her point across sufficiently. 

I wonder why she’s wasting all this time lecturing me if she’s really in such a hurry, Nicholas thought. He almost asked her this, but quickly decided that it might not be in his best interest at that moment. Instead, he simply grinned nervously and made his way onto the bus. 

As he walked toward his seat, he was greeted with a chorus of laughter and insults from the other kids. “Nice going, loser!” one of them blurted out. “Yeah, real smooth, metal mouth!” another one chimed in. Nicholas wasn’t sure which was worse, the mean names they called him or the complete lack of creativity used when choosing their insults. Being picked on wasn’t exactly a new experience for him. Whether it was for his short, scrawny frame, his braces, or his thick mop of red hair that he had absolutely no control over; it seemed the other kids could always find something about him to make fun of. 

Just let it go Nicholas, he thought, it’s not their fault they haven’t fully evolved yet.

There was a part of him that wanted to say something, but instead he did what he always did in these situations; he looked down and tried to ignore them. Finally, he made it to the back of the bus where he found Emma sitting in their usual spot and plopped himself down next to her. 

“Aw… Nerdy Nicholas Nettle, sitting with his little girlfriend. How sweet,” said a voice from the seat in front.

Nicholas knew this voice all too well, as it belonged to a boy who gave the very strong impression that he woke up every single morning of his life with the sole intention of seeing how utterly miserable he could make Nicholas’s life that day. He was now turned around in his seat and leaning over the back facing Nicholas and Emma.

“Back off, Nelson,” Emma said as her eyes closed slightly and glared at him. “I’m warning you.”

“Aw… sticking up for your little boyfriend again. That’s so adorable.” He started making kissing noises, trying to irritate Emma even further.

Emma stood up immediately, grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him close to her face, completely ignoring the fact that he was at least a foot taller and twice her weight.

“For the last time, he is not my boyfriend. He’s my friend and well… well… he’s a boy, but he’s not my boyfriend; but for your information, if I wanted a boyfriend, at least he’s got a brain between his ears instead of a big empty space like you, so leave him alone!”

“Okay, okay, calm down! Let me go. It was just a joke.”

Emma let go of his shirt and he promptly turned around and sat down, deciding it would be in his best interest to mind his own business for the rest of the trip. Emma sat back down next to Nicholas.

“You know, there’s really no logical reason to react that way,” he said quietly, “Just ignore him.”

“Oh logical-smogical, if you just ignore him, he’ll never stop picking on you. You gotta start sticking up for yourself sometime. I might not always be here to do it for you, you know.”

“Well, maybe, I don’t know. I just… can’t. You know it’s not easy for me like it is for you,” he said as his head lowered. “I wish it was.”

Nicholas wasn’t just saying this. He really did wish he could be a little more like Emma. Even though they were the same age, he kind of looked up to her. He was usually shy and quiet around other kids and never really defended himself in any situation. Emma, on the other hand, was outgoing and certainly never afraid to speak her mind. She was very rarely picked on by anyone, mostly because there really wasn’t anything to pick on, but also because it was well known among her peers that if you did decide to throw a nasty comment in her direction, she was very likely to punch you in the face.

Nicholas and Emma had been friends for as long as either one of them could remember. Their mothers had been best friends since high school and as fate would have it, a little over eleven years earlier when Emma was born, Nicholas came into the world just two days later. Since that week, no more than three days had ever gone by without them seeing each other.

“So… anyway, what’s the excuse today?” Emma asked.

“A book,” Nicholas replied.

“Seriously? You almost missed the bus because of a book?”

“Well… it’s a really good book,” Nicholas answered as his hazel eyes lit up just a bit. “I lost track of time, okay?”

Nicholas loved to read. It was not at all uncommon for him to sit down with a lengthy book, get lost in it’s pages for hours, and finish the entire thing in one sitting. He was actually quite intelligent for his age, but equally awkward when it came to social skills. Emma was the only real friend he had. 

“Honestly Nicholas, you’re the only boy I know who could actually get in trouble for reading too much.”

Nicholas shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head in agreement.

“So… you notice anything different?” Emma asked as she held her hands up and turned her head from side to side.

“Um… about what?” Nicholas asked.

Emma frowned and punched him playfully in the arm. “About me, you dork.”

He looked her over very carefully, trying to figure out what on earth she was talking about. Hmm… let’s see, he thought, same straight black hair pulled back in a ponytail, as usual. Same overalls and t-shirt she wears almost every day. Grr… if I don’t figure out what’s different, she is not gonna be happy.

Nicholas’s father had once told him that if a girl ever asks you if you notice something different about her, you better notice, and you better notice quickly. Just as he could tell by the look on her face that he was mere seconds away from another punch in the arm, he realized what was different. 

“You’re wearing earrings!” he said, feeling quite proud of himself for figuring it out before that second punch came his way. 

“Are they real? Like, do you have holes in your ears now?”

“Yep, mom finally let me get them pierced last night. Pretty cool huh?” she said proudly.

“Um… yeah, I guess so.” He leaned in a bit closer and noticed the area around the tiny blue stone was still a little red. “Did it hurt? Looks kinda painful.”

“Nah, takes a lot more than a little needle to hurt me. I’m a pretty tough chick ya know.” She flexed her arms and let out a little growl, hoping to make Nicholas laugh. It worked very well.

“Yeah, I know. You didn’t even cry when you broke your arm last summer,” he said while shaking his head in disbelief. “Maybe one day I’ll be half as tough as the fearless Emma Wolfe.”

Emma laughed. “It’s okay. I figure I’m tough enough for the both of us most of the time. Don’t ya think?”

“Yeah,” Nicholas said, still laughing. “I suppose you are.”


After a few short miles, the bus finally reached its destination; Thornberg City School, home of the Fighting Squirrels. It was the only school in the quiet little town and almost everyone who lived in Thornberg had attended classes there from kindergarten through grade twelve. 

Depending on who you might ask, Thornberg was either the nicest place anyone could ever hope to live, or it was the most boring town that ever existed in the long and uninteresting history of boring towns.

There was no denying the beauty of the area. It was nestled in the valley of a small mountain range, with majestic old trees almost everywhere you looked. There were squirrels, rabbits, deer, and all sorts of other furry creatures running about all over the place.

On the other hand, there wasn’t exactly a whole lot to do in Thornberg. It was just about as quiet as a town could be. There was one police station with three officers, one volunteer fire department with a single old fire engine, and one post office with four employees. Everyone seemed to know everyone and the news of someone new coming to town would usually spread faster than germs in a room full of preschoolers. On occasion, a traveler would stop for directions at the lone gas station in town and think that not only were they lost, but had somehow managed to travel back in time. 

There were no malls or shopping centers, only a single street filled with locally owned shops. There was no movie theater or video game stores, and the only teams to cheer for were the Fighting Squirrels’ basketball, baseball, and softball teams. The only real center of activity in the entire town was Milton’s Pond Park. It provided a perfect place to swim and have picnics in the summer and in the winter, the pond froze solid, providing a perfect place for ice skating and snowball fights. 

Thornberg was most definitely a simple place to live, but most of the people who lived there wouldn’t have had it any other way.