Snow White

Chapter 15

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'You hungry?' Peter asked her, dragging Snow out of my dream, his kindness threatening her.

'Not really.' Snow replied sorrowfully. She wasn't in the mood for eating anything at that moment.

'C'mon, you can't not eat, you'll be starved tomorrow. The Gone members won't save you portions for your sorrow.' He teased, nudging her side.

Peter slinked his muscular arm around her waist so she couldn't escape and guided her towards the many logs set up for dining. 'C'mon, you must be hungry.' He decided defiantly. 'You'll be so hungry that your stomach might infect your brain and make you walk towards the food and even if you don't, I'll make you go anyway because otherwise-'

'Ok, ok, I'll eat.' Snow sighed eventually, tiring of his words.

'I do have expert persuading skills, don't I?' Peter teased, nudging her and she groaned once more, rolling her eyes at his arrogance and ignorance. 'Come and eat with everyone else. The Gone won't save portions for your sorrows.'

Peter guided her towards the many picnic tables set up around the Gone member who was busily pouring condiments onto plates.

'So, you must be the new girl everyone's talking about, I'm Jack by the way, Peter's trusted second-in-command.' He said, stretching out his hand to gently shake her's. She politely took it and shot him a warm smile, knowing he was one of the few people who didn't either avoid her or want to kill her.

'You wish.' Peter muttered under his breath and Snow laughed.

'Hey, I'm Snow.' Snow greeted and Peter rolled his eyes. He hadn't yet told everyone her surname.

'That's an unusual name.' Jack observed, hinting for Snow to explain herself.

'It's because my mother wanted a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony.' Snow said as if in a dream. 'Or, that's what she says I think it's just because she liked the name.' She laughed and Jack sent her a sympathetic smile, easily able to see that deep down she missed her family.

'So, why did you want to leave? We've had a few people from middle class families, but never the child of a Lord before.' Jack asked doubtfully, taking his own plate and walking with them as Snow followed Peter towards a log with Andrew and Ben sitting, eagerly digging into their food enthusiastically.

'My parents wanted me to marry this really ugly, despicable prince just for his money.' Snow groaned and Jack laughed slightly, but nodded his head. He knew that he left his town because they were too poor, but even the rich didn't have perfect lives.

'And here you are now, in a classless system of thieves.' Ben teased and she nodded and smiled because she finally felt accepted.

'Eat.' Peter ordered suddenly and Snow's eyes travelled upwards to meet his. Nobody had noticed that so far she had simply moved her food around her plate, not taking a single bit. The Gone members, all shovelling food down their throats like it was their last meal, turned to face Snow wondering why she wouldn't touch her food.

'I'm not hungry.' Snow objected but he just shook his head and sighed.

'Snow....' Peter groaned, rolling out the words. 'Are you not famished? You've left you're family, you don't have to worry about Harry. I won't let them hurt you, ok? You just need to eat, otherwise you'll be weak.'

'No.' Snow snapped, crossing her arms tighter around her body and glancing nervously at him, but Peter never broke his timeless stare with her.

'Eat, Kitten,' Peter said, pushing the plate of fruit and bread slowly towards me. 'Eat it.' His stern words caused her great discomfort.

Snow continued to push her food around on her plate for a few more moments, but Peter's eyes glared angrily at her until Snow eventually scooped up a few pieces of fruit. But her mouth refused to open and her body couldn't even begin to cooperate with eating. She didn't want to eat, it was like giving in to him and she refused to do this.

Peter sauntered over and leant in front of her.

'Look, you have to eat, Kitten, have a strawberry.' Peter insisted, passing the tray of fruit towards her. Each strawberry was succulent, juicy and sweet. The deep red contrasted with the pale green leaves and created a colourful swirl amongst the tray.

'I'm not hungry,' Snow lied again sourly, she hadn't eaten for ages now and her body and mind demanded to be fuelled.

'Course you are, Kitten.' He smiled, passing her another strawberry. 'Tiger, our time is short and limited. When you see something good, you have to grab it and never let go.' He popped a strawberry into his mouth, the juicy flares erupting and creating a delicious taste in his mouth Snow was sure. Smirking slightly, he left her with a flourish, winking before he sat down opposite her, but his eyes never left her as Snow tried to resist eating.

Peter sat down on the edge of the rock, leaning against the smooth edge and pretending to ignore her, like Snow was a wild animal that needed taming and didn't like people watching her. His eyes lift up to the sky, where there are no stars, just a beautiful moon and ribbon of darkened cloud, hanging like a shadow of darkness. The muscles in his arm are relaxed, his hand rests on the back of his head. He looked comfortable.

The strawberries still lay on her lap, as tempting as ever. Eventually, realising that Peter wouldn't leave until she ate, Snow let the succulent juices of the luscious red berry dance in her mouth and send delightful shivers down her spine. She licked her lips to remove any morsels of the delicious juices from her lips and rolled her eyes at a very arrogant, satisfied Peter, whose gaze had instantly returned to her.

'Alright, that's enough for one night. Everyone should try to get some rest. I want to train Snow tomorrow, so I need you to sleep.' Peter said and, as if brainwashed by respect, simultaneously all of the Gone members rose and ambled out of the clearing in small groups of friends, laughing and jeering with each other at their successes and failures. Snow absentmindedly copied everyone else, relieved that the night was over because I was feeling a little angry and lonely after the strawberry incident.

Suddenly, she stopped mid-step. At the same time as feeling exhaustion, she also felt determination. Snow had to try harder and fight stronger in order to get better. She spun around on her heel and headed towards her bow and quiver, wanting to get some practice before the next day, and withdrawing an arrow and twirling it around her thumb and forefinger. Looking both ways to check no one was watching, Snow headed off into the woods. She just needed a target and some practice before tomorrow, perhaps shooting a few animals as well.

Eventually, Snow found a tree and chiseled her knife into the tree's bark and ripped it apart to make a circle-ish shape on the tree, creating a small target for her to practice on. Snow withdrew an arrow, inhaled deeply, position it on the bow and brought back the string, looking down the arrow at the target.

'Not so fast, Snow.' Came a voice behind her, so suddenly that Snow jumped out of her skin. 'You need some rest too.'

'No I don't.' Snow scoffed, before reverting her gaze to the target, narrowing her eyes to get a clearer image. 'I'm not tired, Peter.' She stated firmly.

'Don't lie to me, Snow.' Peter sighed exasperated. He wasn't angry, just annoyed at how stubborn she could be. Snow released the arrow and gritted her teeth as it landed a few feet away, not even close to the tree. 'I hate liars.'