Somewhere In Neverland || FIRST DRAFT

I'll make a man out of you (6)

Riley couldn't stop thinking about how sexy Peter looked at dinner, but then again he always looked sexy, in his black skinny jeans, and matching t-shirt, his golden hair, tousled messily on his head, his blue eyes shone like sapphires under the bright warm light of the chandelier. "Riley!" Jax's whiney voice pulled her out of her reverie. "I bet you weren't even listening to me" her cheeks stained red, as red as her hair, it was bad enough that she wasn't listening to poor Jax, but it was worse that she was thinking about Peter, and how sexy he looks.
"Sorry Jax, my mind's somewhere else today" Jax pulled a few books off of the overstuffed shelves that lined the walls of the library, Jax could only imagine half of what Riley was feeling, but it must be tough on her, almost being killed by a mermaid one day and being crowned queen the next.
"Is it hard being queen?" Jax looked over at Riley curiously.
"Ummm..." Riley stopped to think, she hadn't done anything queenly yet. "Well, I haven't got many people to rule, I've mostly just wandered around. But it's still quite a lot to take in, on top of everything else" Jax looked thoughtful for a moment, of course it would be a lot for Riley handle, she'd only been here for a few days, and the poor thing had nearly died on multiple occasions.
"I know something that can take your mind off of things" a mischievous grin lighted up Jax's soft features.

"I have a pet dog named William" Riley giggled behind the book she was holding in front of her face. "Now your turn. Truth or Dare?" Jax looked mischievously up at Riley, who was perched gracefully on the over stuffed arm chairs in the library.
"Dare!" the excitement in Jax's voice was giddy, and reminded Riley a lot of her energetic younger brother, her heart ached for her little brother, she was better off here, at least that's what she kept telling herself.
"I dare you to climb to the highest shelf, and swing from the ladder" Jax sprang up eagerly and scrambled up the rickety sliding ladder, lining the bookshelf, once he reached the highest rung he looped his legs through the rung and dangled upside down, making silly faces at Riley, causing her to laugh, laugh like she had never laughed before. Jax leapt down from the ladder, landing swiftly at Riley's feet, bowing valiantly to her.
"What shall we do now my queen?"

After hours and hours of games and silliness Jax had asked for Riley to read him a story, as they lay gently on Riley's extremely large bed, Jax passed Riley a book bound tightly in leather. Riley opened up the book to revel the title Alice In Wonderland, Riley smiled down at the book, reminiscing over memories of reading to her brother. She was thirteen and her brother was five, sitting on his bed, he had asked her to read her a bed time story, so they had built a blanket fortress and hidden underneath it. Thomas had handed Riley his favourite story, Alice In Wonderland, and she read it to him, making all the voices and acting out everything, she remembered him being hooked on her every word, he was the first person to actually look up to her, the first person to look at her as a whole. As Riley finished the last sentence and closed the leather bound book she looked down at Jax, she could almost see Thomas in him, and it hurt. "You remind me of him you know" Jax looked over at Riley thoughtfully.
"of who?"
"My brother. Thomas" tears sprang to her eyes at the thought, sensing that she was on the verge of tears, Jax cleverly distracted her.
"Can you please tell the other lost boys and I a story. A story that you've made up, that's purely your's" Riley's lips turned up at that, and her eyes filled with joy, the ghost of her old life no longer swimming in her eyes.
"Sure, go gather all the lost boys"

All the lost boys had gathered in Riley's room to hear her bedtime story, they lounged lazily with their blankets on the floor, as Riley sat up on her bed, she took a deep breath and looked down at Jax for encouragement, he smiled at her, that same toothy grin that Thomas owned. Riley pushed away the ghosts that were threatening to overwhelm her, and she began. "There once was a girl. A sad little girl, for she was broken, and no one could fix her" Riley trailed on, her story weaving in and out of the lost boy's ears, the words wrapping around their minds, like snakes strangling their prey. Peter had walked into Riley's room, he had long ago given up on finding Tink for the night, she was probably off with her other fairy friends. Plagued by insomnia he roamed the empty castle until he heard life, light and noise coming from Riley's room, he strolled casually up to the door to see all of the lost boys on the floor, listening to Riley tell them a bedtime story. This is exactly what he needed, a story to lull him into the well awaited world of dreams, Riley was so transfixed in telling her story that she didn't notice Peter sit down in the doorway and listen to her story, and before long his eyelids were heavy and began to droop, and finally at long last, he slept.

When Peter had woken up, he was still on Riley's floor, the lost boys asleep around him, and beautiful Riley was asleep on her bed. He looked out of the window to see that the sun had risen a good hour ago, so he quietly snuck out of the room and back to his own. Riley was woken by the sound of someone walking about her room, when she opened her heavy eyelids she saw Jax walk out of her room and down the corridor, she followed him. Riley was worried about Jax, he seemed to be over thinking things, she decided to go cheer him up. When she trailed down the cold hallway and wandered through the familiar archway of the library, she was shocked to see a girl sitting, staring out of the library window. Riley didn't think that there were any girls in Neverland aside from her, she was shocked, what the hell was this girl doing here, but most of all, she wanted to find Jax.

"Jax?" She called out, the girl's head snapped around, her face contorted into a mask of shock, her hazel eyes shone with unshed tears. Riley could sense fear in those Hazel eyes, so familiar, she took a step closer and the girl recoiled, as if she were repulsed by Riley.
"Riley, please don't tell anyone. You mustn't tell anyone! Especially not Peter!" Without the cloak and beanie, Jax looked pretty, her reddish brownish hair swept just over shoulder, the freckles on her cheeks giving her a more girlish look. Realisation dawned on Riley, all those times when somebody mentioned girls, Jax had always seemed put off, and never liked to talk about the subject. "Please Riley, you have to promise not to tell. God knows what Peter will do to me" Riley looked into those familiar eyes, tears threatening to spill over.
"I promise" Jax didn't look swayed. "I swear on my crown" Jax smiled, a sad smile as she slipped on the beanie, hiding her hair.