The Real Peter Pan

• Chapter 14 •

"It's sad when the people you know, become the people you knew."

-Anonymous

▪️ STEPHAN'S P.O.V ▪

"You don't understand!" I fume at him. We stand in the middle of the alley; next to the house where no one could hear us. "This is all your fault, if you wouldn't have taken me away-"

"Do you regret becoming a Lost Boy Slightly?" Peter seethes through gritted teeth. I see red.

"DON'T. CALL. ME. THAT. We all agreed never to repeat those names!"

He lowers his head with a huff of regret. "Old habits die hard." We both stand in a tense silence. "You're just getting worked up because you haven't been near her in a while. You'll get over it soon."

I shake my head with aggravation. "You took me away, by force. I wanted to stay! I loved her!"

"Love makes you weak." Peter narrows his eyes. "It makes you grow up faster with less time to mature."

"We grew up anyway!" I scream.

He looks taken aback. "You think I chose that? He stomps towards me. "Do you think I wanted to lose my men too? My home?" He pauses shaking with anger. "I took you because I saw that Claire was destroying you."

I clench my jaw. "If love was so 'forbidden' then why did you take Wendy?"

Peter's eyes flame and he stops still. "I chose you to be my right hand man Slightly." He spits. "Don't make me regret it." And with that he storms off into the night.

▪️BRENNAN'S P.O.V. ▪️

My eyes open and I have sudden wave of lasts nights events flood my my mind. I feel my stomach churn.

Then I look over at the sleeping Claire. She is going to have a serious hang over when she wakes up. I close my eyes and am about to fall asleep again when I hear a groan. My eyes pop from my head as I watch the tossing and turning- now awake- Claire.

"Ugh... My head." She moans sitting up. Her eyes land on my first. "Brennan? What are you doing here?"

I don't reply but just stare at her confused figure.

She massages her temples. "Where are-" but she goes completely stunned when she locks her gaze on the sheets.

"No..." She breathes. "Why am I here!"

"Relax- I had to stay with Peter...." I look at the wall uncomfortably. "Because of a situation. Then last night you were so drunk I didn't want your mom to find out."

"And what situation is that?" She scowls.

I run my hands through my tangled curls. "Uhmm... Listen it's complicated." I breathe. "But I also didn't realize you had a history with Stephan." My arms cross and I irritably tap my fingers on them.

A wave of sadness wipes over her face and I somewhat regret bringing it up. "Yeah... I do."

Truthfully I wasn't expecting her to tell me; especially with all the secrets I'm hiding.

"What happened between you two?" I ask sitting in the bed. She goes over to the window and glances outside. Then hugging her arms around herself she sits beside me.

"We dated Sophomore year. He ran after me as I was walking home one day; telling me I was the most beautiful girl he ever saw. We never fought... And I guess we were too good of a couple that it was bad." She stops talking.

"What do you mean?"

Her eyes sadden. "Fall of junior year Stephan went missing. He was gone for so long that the search stopped. Then at the end of the year he returned and I was the first to run into his arms, but he pushed me away. Said we were over and I made him weak. When her returned that's when Nicolas and Peter showed up, new students are usually outsiders but Stephan immediately clicked with them you would think they knew each other before that."

That gets my mind working.

"He has never talked to me since. But I wouldn't want him too."

"He broke your heart." I say in disbelief.

"I just want to know what happened to him when he went missing. What made him hate me?"

I hug her. "We're going to find out."