Take me to Neverland

Chapter Two: First Day

Present Day: First day of Junior year

Where was she? I thought to myself as I tapped my foot impatiently on the old, wood floor in Tiana's Place. I had just ordered two espressos for Alice and I. Tiana's Place was actually a very high-class restaurant run by Alice and I's classmate Tiana's parents. But in the early morning, they served coffees and breakfast.

Ok, seriously. Does she want us to be late on our first day? Suddenly, the clean, glass doors swing open with such force they smack the wall behind them and the smashing noise reverberates throughout the entire place. A cool breeze spills inside and reveals a very flustered looking Alice. Her lemon hair tied in a messy, knotted bun; her new school shirt untucked and already the host of a mystery stain; and her signature cat themed school bag slung over her right shoulder, as always, unzipped with all of the notebooks I made her get spilling out. I almost burst out laughing at the sight of her.

Alice stood up straight and tried to play off her dramatic entrance smoothly. Her eyes finally landed on me and we both started laughing.

My friend slowly walked up to me as if she were slightly drunk, rocking side to side.

"Hey," Alice said with an awkward wave. I just sighed.

"How late did you stay up this time?" I asked, chuckling.

"Oh, only until like 11. Or 12. Or one...I stayed up all night," Alice admitted with fake shame.

"Oh God, are you serious? Alice, this is a new year and you can't just stay up all night on Netflix!" I scolded her playfully.

"Yeah, you see I thought about that but then I was also thinking about you-know-what and you know how that ends," Alice mutters to me.

"I have to admit, I've been thinking about you-know-what a lot lately, too. I just...I don't know," I said as I wrapped my arms around my torso. It's a habit I've developed recently. I feel as if I hold tightly enough, I could just disappear to, well, you know.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We'll figure it out some day," Alice said softly, taking a hold of my pale hand in her warm one and squeezed it. I closed my eyes and smiled. Alice always knew what to say and when to say it. "But until then, we have coffee, Netflix, and cats."

I chuckled, as Alice makes me do often, and sighed. Most times I just want to forget about Neverland and pretend it isn't constantly on my mind. Even though Alice is the goofier of us two, she is still wiser. She knows that we can't abandon these entire world's we've been blessed with. She knows that's where we belong. I thought I had accepted that, but...still...

There was silence between us, as there often is, but we both know better than to break it. Alice and I don't need words to communicate with each other. We always just...know.

Another girl from our class's, Tiana, mother, a short, thin woman with slightly graying hair and soft wrinkles approached us from behind the To-Go pickup counter.

"Here you are, girls. Two espressos. Have a good first day!" Alice and I both reached for our drinks and took an eager sip.

"Thank you!" I called after her, at least trying to be polite. But after spending just three years with Alice, I have to admit she did rub off on me a tad and my prissy, proper self from five years ago is now only an embarrassing memory.

Actually, a lot has changed since I met Alice. For starters, she was my first friend who actually enjoyed my company. Not only that, but Alice was also my first friend with whom I related really well with.