The Pretenders (ON HOLD)

Chapter 21

The garden was perfect for skipping class. In fact, it was perfect for almost anything. It seemed to change according to your needs. Wendy loved that about the garden.

Peter had ducked through the hedge, with Wendy crawling hesitantly in behind him. She was a little nervous about skipping class for the first time, but she trusted Peter, and just being with him made her feel more relaxed somehow.

“Welcome to the teenage world. You start off with simply skipping class then more complicated stuff pops up after that,” Peter explained, sitting against the hedge barrier with his arms behind his head. He smirked at Wendy, getting a kick out of her slightly scared expression.

“Complicated?” Wendy asked, grimacing.

“Oh yeah,” Peter assured her, nodding, “but don’t worry, most people survive their teen years.” He was trying hard not to laugh at her horrified expression.

“Most people?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Peter confirmed. He tried hard to put on a gloomy face, but a smile kept trying to creep back on. “Unfortunately we do lose a large number of teens due to various trajic accidents. Oh, but don’t worry, no one has died at this middle school for like ages.”

Wendy looked concerned, “How long?”

“I think the last death was….a year ago, which is pretty good if you ask me,” Peter said, smiling. When he looked up and saw Wendy’s horrified expression, he couldn’t help but start laugh his head off. And he had been going so well; she though he was being serious. Through his fit of giggles he heard Wendy saying something about how it wasn’t fair for him to scare her like that but he was pretty sure she was laughing too.

After they had both calmed down, Wendy moved to sit down next to Peter. To get him back for tricking her just then, she ruffled his perfect hair. The problem was, ruffling it didn’t help because his hair looked even better when it was messy on top.

“Hey!” Peter scowled, obviously thinking that his hair looked bad when it was ruffled. “Don’t mess with the hair. I need it to look good for my lady friends,” he joked, raising and eyebrow and trying to look charming.

“What lady friends?” Wendy asked, “The only ‘lady friends’ you have are me and Lily.” She made sure to use her fingers as quotation marks around ‘lady friends’ to tease him even more.

Peter looked at her with mock horror. “Are you doubting my lady skills?”

“Would you stop saying the word lady! Gosh, you’re fourteen not forty,” Wendy laughed.

Peter crossed his arms defensively on his chest. He sat silently for a few seconds looking discontented, then he smiled mischievously as if he’d just though of something very tricky.

“Just to prove to you that I am a ‘lady’ charmer, I bet $10,” Peter began, raising an eyebrow challengingly, “that I can get you to kiss me on the cheek by the end of this period.”

Wendy was shocked for a second, not really believing that he had just said that. Then she put her game face back on and said, “And I bet I can get you to kiss me on the cheek first,” although she doubted that either of them would have the guts to kiss the other.

“And if we both win or lose, then we can keep our money,” Peter suggested, grinning wickedly.

The two of them gave each other playful glares as the competition began. Wendy secretly felt a little nervous that the bet wasn’t just pretend. What if Peter actually did kiss her, even if it was just on the cheek? At least she would know that it didn’t mean anything; it was just part of the game. She laughed to herself, thinking how she never made bets like this back in England. In fact, her life back there had been extremely plain compared to this last week of chaos. But then she frowned, remembering how, if her life had continued to be plain while she was in England, she wouldn’t have come to America with her family. No, her life in England, a few months ago, had been anything but plain.