Peter Pan (DisneyGirl and GreyZone)

[GreyZone]

Wendy slipped out of the classroom as quickly as possible, her head ducked low as she shouldered through the hordes of girls who were all attempting to leave at once. Her knee socks were drooping again, even though she could have sworn that she pulled them up at her desks moments before standing.


Clutching the small notebook she always carried tightly to her chest, she unzipped her pencil pouch to check her phone for any messages. Nothing, except a reminder from her father to hurry home and help her mother prepare for the asinine family gathering they would attempt to host that night.


Almost as soon as her shoes hit the streets, she felt a bump on her hip that knocked her step right into a puddle filled with murky rain water. "Bloody hell, Michael," she murmured under her breath after she apologized to the bustling and well-to-do woman she had just splashed. The woman's burgundy lips were pulled down into a tight frown as she crushed her pocketbook to her impressive bosom, her surly expression a stark contradictory against Wendy's younger brother's grin.


"Sorry," he murmured to her, but they both knew that he couldn't care less if that woman would rush right into the bank and tell their father what a bother his children were.


Wendy felt a steady hand on her back after a moment, the heat from John's palm able to felt through both her blouse and cardigan. "Michael. Please behave like a gentleman," he requested of the younger boy, but tugged on the end of a lock of Wendy's light brown hair. It always amused her how he played an older man, a carbon copy of her father until the day he died. She would kiss the feet of anyone who managed to sway her brother from his cerebral and austere path.


"We need to hurry," she informed both of her brothers, turning to dig in her messenger bag to make sure she had all of her work to do for the evening. "Michael, please make sure to hang up your uniform when we get home so mother doesn't have to take the time to iron it again--"


Both of the older Darling siblings knew her words were falling on deaf ears as the young boy continued to tramp through every single solitary puddle he could find. "He's fine," John whispered to his sister, but they both let out heavy sighs.

 

[DisneyGirl]

It had been too long since Serena had been to Earth.


What a funny but fascinating little planet, with its soy chai lattes, leggings, and objects called "smartphones" that humans were constantly playing with. Why, exactly, they were always playing with them, escaped her; but she was sure the humans had a reason for having those things glued to their hands at all times. Perhaps they kept the humans alive. After all, she once did hear a human teenage girl say to her parents, "But I'll die without my phone!" when they threatened to take it away from her because she wouldn't stop talking to it during dinner. How strange how the girl had been giggling and calling it "Rosie" when the phone hadn't been talking to her. And why did she call it a "Rosie"?


Peter had let her visit London with him a few times, and even though their trips were short, she had so many unanswered questions that kept her awake at night. Questions like, where did the people from the "television" come from? Why did humans store their food in a frozen place called the "refrigerator"? And why in the world did they keep their animals inside the house and only let them out when they had a leash on?


Unfortunately, Serena's curiosity had gotten her in trouble last time, as she had broken the one rule she had been given: do not talk to humans.


Oh, but it had been so hard not to! Peter's trips had always been about comforting the children, giving them hope and faith in a brighter tomorrow. So when she saw Milly that night, tucked in a hospital bed and crying for her mummy and daddy, Serena just had to tiptoe her way into that room with her new feet and wipe the five year old girls' tears away. She had to ask the little girl what was wrong, and had to let her know that everything would be alright.


For a moment, everything did seem to be alright, until the adults came. Nurses, they were called.


Peter and Tink had been spreading pixie dust on the sick children, something that would temporarily take away their pain more so than any human created medicine would, when the hospital room door opened.


"Who's there?" Called out a frightened--- but also equally frightening---nurse. She and another woman scanned the room, oblivious to Peter, Tink and Serena hiding on the ceiling.


After a few moments of searching, the women left, and Serena never saw Milly, or the human world, again.


"Peter, please," Serena begged the boy, as he packed his things for another night out to London. "Let me go with you."


Peter, knowing better, let out a humorless chuckle. "Not after what happened at the hospital. You almost blew our cover, Serena. You know that I'm the only one allowed to talk to humans, and even then it's dangerous."


"I know, but--"


"What would you have done if they had caught you? Do you think you would have been able to run? Those adults, they would have killed you!"


"Peter, that was almost a year ago. I've learned my lesson. Okay? Just let me prove to you---"


"Prove to me what? How much more trouble you can get us into?" Peter asked, as the mermaid swam to the surface and lifted herself up onto a rock.


"No!" Serena replied, her anger boiling inside of her. "Peter, listen to me---"


"Why should I?" Peter said, raising his voice at her.


Serena couldn't take it anymore.


"You're acting like such a…such a…grown-up!" She said, her fury getting the best of her. But Peter was listening now.


"It's not fair that you get to visit Earth all the time, meanwhile I'm stuck here dreaming about it," she said, before adding, "besides, don't be such a hypocrite. I know your visits to Earth go beyond the children. I know you go to London to watch Wendy Darling."


Peter's heart dropped at the sound of that name, and judging by the look in her eyes, Serena had something up her sleeves. Questions spun in his head, demanding to know how Serena knew about Wendy, but he didn't dare ask any of them.


"Take me to London, or I'll tell the Lost Boys and everyone else about your trips to Wendy's house," Serena said, the guilt gnawing at her quite a bit, but not enough to stop her from blackmailing him.


Peter studied her, trying to see if she was truly serious about this. Her blue eyes narrowed at him, and he gave in.


"Fine," he said, with a sigh. "But don't get distracted, especially by the soy chai lattes."


"Deal," said Serena. "But I do want to wear a pair of leggings. They're so comfy!"


Peter, already exhausted by Serena, rolled his eyes and muttered, "Mermaids…"

 

[GreyZone]

Wendy always found it fascinating how she could sit in a room absolutely full of people and not hear one word that they were saying. Her mother would reprimand her afterward, saying that Wendy's great-aunt-so-and-so kept complaining to her that the teenage girl was sulky, brooding, and reclusive. That was far from the truth.


Her thoughts were just occupied by other things, other stories, that she could be spending her time creating. Instead of listening about that one uncle who had an affair, she could be recording tales of clashing pirates and daring princesses and mermaids and boys who could fly.


Wendy had started to put book covers over her novels at school. She liked fantasy and fairy tales and those weren't acceptable for a young woman at a private school in London, England. She could read classic literature if she wanted her teachers' approval. She could read whatever cheesy romantic teen fiction that was being published if she wanted her classmates' approval. But she wanted neither.


That evening, it felt as if a large weight was lifted off of her shoulders when she was finally alone in her room again. She took her time peeling off her dress that used to fit before she grew breasts, and hung it carefully in her closet. It frightened her a little how much better she felt when she wasn't around gabbing and gossiping people.


Wendy quickly grabbed her sketch book since she was too exhausted to write and began to flesh out her usual character--a flying boy who defeated pirates and took care of other young wayward boys and had nothing to do with the life she was forced to live in. She had accepted that she would become a wife and a mother just like her own, but she couldn't help but wish that she could go live with her flying boy, never have to worry about her family's old-fashioned ideals or expectations for their children.


The idea were far too juvenile for a girl of seventeen, but she kept them anyway. And as she continued to sketch, she found herself, once again, to be attempting to squash them all over again. Not for her own sake, of course, but for others.

 

[DisneyGirl]

"Serena, come on!"


"I'm coming! I'm coming! It's not easy putting these on, ya know."


The first stop during Peter and Serena's trip to London was a place that Serena had been eager to see since her first visit to Earth. To her, it represented beauty, wonder, and magic unlike any other in Neverland. Yes, this place was paradise; it was bliss. It was…


It was the mall.


Going to a shopping mall, while trying to avoid all adult human interaction, proved to be a challenge for the pair. As luck had it, Tinkerbell had put an invisibility spell on them so they could get the leggings and get out without being seen.


As luck did not have it, the invisibility spell only lasted thirty minutes, and right now, they had just two minutes and a half left, which is why Peter was pacing outside of Serena's dressing room.


A bigger challenge for Serena than remaining unseen was fitting into the neon pink leggings she had finally settled on, after trying on different designs such as cheetah, sunflower, and a yucky plaid. She quite enjoyed the pop of neon, and pink, after all, was her favorite color right next to lime green.


Though the mermaid-turned-human---thanks again to Tink---was invisible, she could still examine herself in the Forever 21 dressing room mirror.


For a girl whose education in modern British fashion was limited, she had done a pretty good job. Along with her neon pink leggings, she wore a bright blue baby doll dress, a matching chunky bead necklace, and blue Doc Martin boots. The boots had been the reason for her difficulty with the leggings; she didn't know that you were supposed to put on your bottoms before you put on your shoes.


Next to her, Serena could hear teenage girls giggle and chatter as they tried on clothes and took selfies, and something about their joy made her feel…well, sad.


But it was more than sadness. You see, the feeling contained a mixture of want, of longing, and even anger. The feelings, as humans knew them, were called jealousy and loneliness.


How Serena longed to be a human girl. What a dream to live in a world with shopping malls, fashion magazines and places called "salons" where people would give you a new hair style and paint pretty colors on your nails if you gave them a thing called money. Why, she would be perfectly happy on Earth!


However, Peter warned her not to trust the human world. More specifically, he did not want her to trust the adults. The children were harmless, but according to him, once a child stopped being a child and officially became a grown-up, they were as good as evil.


"But why, Peter?" Serena had once asked, as they took a swim in the Mermaid Lagoon, many moons ago.


"They just are, Serena," he replied, his eyes in a far off place. "They'll do bad things,"


"What kind of things?"


"They'll break their promises. They'll hurt people. Most of all, they'll stop believing...and they stop loving you."


Serena shook these haunted memories out of her mind. Tonight, she would enjoy her time on Earth.


Soon, the two friends were flying high up in the sky, bouncing on clouds and tasting the stars. No, really, they literally tasted the stars, which surprisingly, tasted exactly like Pop Rocks.


After snacking on stars and paying visits to family homes, foster homes, and yes, hospitals, Peter made a stop at Wendy's house.


"Stay here," Peter whispered to Serena, as they landed on the roof.


"But--"


"Stay."


"Ugh."


And with that, the boy swiftly flew down to Wendy's window, pleased to see that she was sketching him again. Like Serena, he had his own want and longing, and she was right in front of him.


The first night he had met Wendy, she had been just five minutes old. That's how he always met the children, as newborns. But there was something special and different about Wendy that he could see even when she was still so new and fresh to the world.


She possessed gifts so few humans nowaday were born with: faith, trust, and a soul that dreamed of things that this world could not offer her.


Lately, though, that soul had been in danger of giving in to society and all its expectations of her; and Peter feared that the day she would stop dreaming was nearer than he thought.


And that's when he heard a dog barking.

 

[GreyZone]

Just the simple task of eating dinner with people that she was not intimately comfortable with was so draining that she could hardly even think any more. It was the high price of being introverted, one that she got so sick and tired of paying. But just being in her room with her books, her muted green walls, and the various sketches of characters in books she loved or ones she'd written tacked up onto the wall, immediately made her feel like she could handle whatever was hurled after her.


Wendy was just getting ready to turn the page and start a new sketch when their giant Saint Bernard let out a long wall. "What is it?" She asked the dog, slight impatience in her voice. Nana always seemed to be barking at nothing, just wanting to hear the sound of her own voice.


But Wendy untucked her legs from her chair and rose to her feet, grabbing the dog's huge collar. "What is it? Do you need to go out?"


The dog just lumbered over and dropped her body underneath the window, resting her ginormous head on her front paws. Her pitiful brown eyes looked up at Wendy, as if she was disappointed in the girl for not immediately understanding her. Heaven forbid, Wendy did not speak dog.'


"Don't look at me like that," Wendy told Nana as she made her way over to the dresser, pulling open a few drawers. "You're acting like I just sucked all of the joy out of your life. You're fine."


She slipped out of the sturdy shoes and rolled down her knee socks, carefully placing both away so she wouldn't get chastised for being untidy. Unaware of the boy at her window, she tucked her thumbs in the waistband of her skirt and slid it off, placing it back in the drawer before turning to look at Nana as she unbuttoned her blouse. "You can be such an awful creature, can't you? I would be as well if no one understood me. We're sort of one in the same that way, aren't we, dear?"

 

[DisneyGirl]

Serena had swam and battled with every hungry sea monster you could imagine. Sharks and killer octopuses didn't scare her one bit; but the sound of a dog barking was enough for her to almost wet herself and lose her footing. Before she knew it, she was hanging off of Wendy Darling's house.


Peter, on the other hand, tried to hide from the dog who no doubt knew he was here. Nana always knew when he was here. She could smell him like she could smell bacon. But Nana couldn't stop him and Peter returned to watching the girl he couldn't help but be enchanted with.


Just as Wendy was about to change, Tink was by Peter's side in no time, sprinkling pixie dust on him. Her and her jealousy again, he figured. But in reality, Tink was trying to get his attention focused on Serena. Well, that, and she was a little jealous, too. The boy had no manners.


"Not now, Tink," he said, waving the fairy away.


But Tink wouldn't give up.


"Tink, will you quit---"


He was interrupted by screaming, and a voice yelling, "Peter! Peter, help!"


Serena.


"Oh my goodness," said another voice, a woman walking by with her children beside her. "Someone help that poor girl!"


Neighbors, young and old, gathered around.


"We have to climb up and get her!"


"No, call the police!"


"She's going to fall if we don't do something and quick!"


Peter knew he could save Serena's life so easily at this moment, but doing so would mean flying, and that would mean blowing their cover; but he couldn't let his friend die either.


Unless…


He would have to pretend to be one of them. Luckily, he chose to wear dark jeans and a grey shirt today like any other modern and mysterious teenage boy would. He'd have to thank Serena for her fashion advice later.


"Don't worry," he said, joining in the growing crowd. "I'll take care of it,"


Peter may have not been able to use magic, but he could use his climbing skills to get Serena off that roof, and that's exactly what he did.


"Peter, I'm so sorry," Serena said, when he got to her.


"We'll talk about it later," Peter said, just focused on getting away from the attention.


Serena nodded, tears in her eyes as they climbed down. She knew she messed up for the last time. Peter would never let her come back to Earth now.


The last thing either of the two of them expected was to be met with a bewildered and cheering crowd.

 

[GreyZone]

Wendy startled when she heard all of the commotion and yelling, particularly when it was right outside her window. Was that why Nana was barking?


She hurried over, clutching her shirt around her torso as she peered out onto the streets of London below. Sure enough, there was a boy on her roof, bent over and helping someone up.


Why was there a boy on their roof?!


Wendy jumped back a little as the goosebumps spread on her unclad legs. The boy was handsome, built well, but he was still a boy who was standing on her roof for some unknown reason.


Because his hair had a particularly beautiful light in the glow of the street lamps, Wendy dove for her sketchbook, and in no time was drawing the roof boy who had decided to grace her with his presence. What else was she supposed to do about the stranger on the roof?


"Wendy?"


The girl acted as if she had been caught red handed over a carcass when her youngest brother stepped in, rubbing his eyes and clutching his blankie to his chest. "What, Michael?" The sight of him immediately softened her, but she did not give up her post at the window.


"I had a bad dream," was his simple reply.


And for the first time in Wendy's life, she told him, "I can't tell you a story tonight. I'm busy."

 

[DisneyGirl]

Great. This was the last thing Peter wanted, but then again, he should have known better than to bring Serena along. As long as she was around, something was bound to go wrong.


The neighbors applauded the boy, blocking his way out of the mess of people. Some recorded the whole thing on their phones, while others snapped pictures for their social media profiles. Within minutes, videos and photos of the incredible event were uploaded and posted online with hashtags and all.


katieprincess02: check out this vid of this guy literally saving a girl's life!! #inspiring #youhadtobethere #andwhatahottie


GamerGoofball: Got a selfie with a hero #bestdayever


Caffeine_freak: OMG WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING RIGHT NOW LIKE WHAT EVEN IS LIFE #ICANTEVEN #SODONE #DEAD


"Excuse me," Peter said, clutching Serena close to him, but no one listened. They just kept taking pictures and recording him, causing him to grow nervous. Being ambushed by pirates was something Peter could handle, but being surrounded by nosy humans wasn't exactly in his comfort zone.


"Please, I have to get through," he begged, pushing his way out of the bodies, but again, they clinged onto him, and he was stuck.


In no time, Tink was to the rescue. With her faithful pixie dust, she put the restless crowd---well, to rest.


One by one, the neighbors began dropping to the ground, sleeping and snoring peacefully with their beloved iPhones in their hands.


"Thanks, Tink," Peter said, "now, we gotta get out of here before they wake up and---"


"Oh, dear!" Another voice said. A grown up. A woman. And not just any woman, but one he recognized.


Wendy's mother.


"What in heaven's name…?" She said, her hand on her chest, as she examined the sleeping people in front of her home.


Peter was about to make his escape, when the woman said, "No, wait! Don't be afraid. Please don't leave."


Peter slowly turned around, staring at the woman who looked so much like Wendy, with the same sparkling eyes and smooth skin that he knew so well and adored.


"Is she…is she alright?"


It took Peter a moment to realize the woman was speaking of Serena, and Peter became especially protective of the mermaid. She couldn't let the woman get too close to them. After all, she was a grown up, and grown ups never had good intentions. Wendy's mother or not, she couldn't be trusted.

 

[GreyZone]

Wendy jumped when her mother was suddenly in her room, and she moved to clutch a blanket to her body only clad in underwear. Even though the woman was her mother, Wendy always seemed to be modest to a fault.


"What's all that commotion?" She asked quietly, sinking back into the chair to try to see out the window without her mother knowing that that was her intent. "There is so much racket but I have no idea what's going on out there."


Michael lifted his arms up when he saw his mother, wanting to be held by her. His little feet began to jump impatiently, his face crinkling up as he threatened to cry with exhaustion.


"Michael, you are not a baby," Wendy scolded him gently, as if she was the one who had given birth to the boy. "You're in kindergarten now and kindergarteners don't cry for no reason."