Unlike her classmates, Avery doesn't really care about boys, romance and fashion. Her phone contains fewer contacts than there are pens in her pencil case. Her classmates don't seem to care about her excistance, and at home it's basically the same s...
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The next morning it was already towards noon when Avery and Peter finally awoke. Avery had thought a lot about the conversation with Tigerlily. Perhaps the princess was right. Peter seemed to have lost much of his hope; perhaps there was something she could do to restore that. Still, she remembered the last time she had left him, the pain in his eyes when he spoke of everyone who had left him before. She couldn't do that to him again. Avery battled with two sides of herself. The side that wanted to support Peter. And the side that wanted to save his home.
She realised too late that Peter was talking to her. It wasn't until his warm hand touched her arm that she looked up. 'Sorry, what did you say?'
Peter frowned worriedly. 'You were happier when we were looking for the Indians. When we were flying around, right?'
She nodded absently and stared at his hand, at the thumb that sweetly rubbed across the back of her hand. With each movement, she felt the spot on her skin glowing with heath, felt herself glowing. She looked at him and saw that he was smiling. 'Do you want to see more?'
Avery gloated. 'Oh, very much so!'
'Name it,' he said and pulled her hands closer to him. The enthusiasm in his voice flared butterflies inside her. 'Name it and I will take you there.' For a moment, all Avery's thoughts were lost. The battle had been fought. There was only one victor. She would not do it. She would not betray him. How could she betray him? She didn't want to leave him at all.
'The forest,' she said, 'I want to see the forest.'
He put his arm around her waist and pulled her against him, causing the butterflies in her stomach to dance and the sun suddenly seem to shine even brighter. All she felt was the warmth of his body, his grip around her side and the beating of his heart close to her ear. She abandoned all her thoughts and let herself be carried away by him towards the great forest of Neverland.
* * *
Avery pricked up her ears. There were suddenly so many unfamiliar sounds; crowing, scratching, howling, shuffling, growling and noises indicating that the creatures in the forest were hiding from them. The matchless wide trees towered above them and the thicket was almost impenetrable, untouched by human hands for many years. The air was filled with the scent of pine and earth. Fireflies danced before her feet across the carpet of whispering leaves, while the sun's rays cast a play of shadows and light into the forest. It was not like any forest she had ever seen before, not in movies or pictures in books. It was neither Mediterranean nor rainforest, and yet there were lianas hanging, the trees were taller than she had ever seen and the air smelt humid.
'Watch out!' Peter pulled her aside hard, causing her to clap against his chest. She looked at him frowning. 'Again? Can't you just shout instead?'
Peter pointed to the ground. 'Not if you want to lose your foot.' A large bear trap with teeth of steel lurked, hidden in the shade of the ferns, ready to close its deadly grip around her ankle.
