Off to Neverland

Off to Neverland (Epilogue)

 Two Years Later...

"Ivy, it's time to wake up," a voice was suddenly calling out to me, but my nose only twitched. "Ivy, come on now. You don't want to be late."

I forced my eyes open, blinking a few times to stop my vision from blurring. I looked up from where I was sleeping on the couch to see my step-mother smiling down at me. I smiled back up at her as I sat up.

"Thanks for waking me," I yawned, stretching now to help me wake up quicker. "I don't think I would have woken up in time if you didn't wake me."

Helena smiled at me. "It was no problem, dear!"

Okay, so you're probably kind of confused right now. Instead of being beaten awake by a pillow by Claudia, I was gently being woken up by a kind voice. You must be wondering what's going on.

Well, my father finally realized just how nasty and evil both Claudia and Cassidy were, and divorced Claudia only a few months after the Courtney and Eli's failed wedding. He let the two of them have our tiny house, because Eli and his family then helped my dad and me move into an even better, bigger house. After a few months of living like that, my dad met a woman named Helena and they married a little while after. Unlike Claudia, she was actually kind and sweet to me.

At first, Claudia wasn't about to let my dad go so easily. She'd call nearly every day, and it was really starting to get creepy after a while. But after she found out my dad had gotten remarried, she stopped calling and we hadn't heard from her since. Cassidy didn't even go to Neverland anymore because they couldn't afford it. The last I heard, they had moved away and didn't tell anyone where. All I knew for a fact was that it was far away from where we were.

I had taken a nap that afternoon because I had barely gotten any sleep the night before, though I didn't know why. Taking naps on the couch was so much more comfortable than taking naps in my bed, and I had had this habit ever since I was forced to sleep on the couch when Eli had moved into our tiny house with us. Remember that almost made me miss that old place, but I then remembered how run-down and small it was, and I immediately felt all better.

"You're going to go pick up Simon's little sister from her first day at Neverland Academy, right?" Helena asked me now as I quickly laced my shoes.

I nodded. "Yep. Simon wanted all of us to go so we could see each other one last time before going off to college."

Helena smiled sadly at me now. "That must be sad, huh? This'll be the last time you'll see all your friends."

The thought of this made me sad. Never seeing my friends again after that day was the most depressing thought I could have ever had. I didn't know if that was exactly true, since I was sure we'd keep in touch and visit, but I didn't know how long that was going to last for. We were all going to go to different colleges very soon, except for Eli, Jack, and me. We all decided to go to the same college.

Eli picked me up and we went to Neverland, and I felt myself get emotional as we got closer and closer to our old school. We had only been graduates for a few months, and it was so weird going back when we knew we didn't have to. I absolutely loved that school, and leaving it was one of the most difficult things I could have ever done.

"It's weird, huh?" Eli asked me as we made our way to the front gates of the school, where we said we were going to meet our friends. "Being back here when we're not students is really weird. I had to come back earlier, and it was seriously the strangest feeling. I thought that I had to go to class or something."

"I know how you feel," I sighed, leaning against his arm as I stared up at our gigantic old school. "I know how you feel..."

Neverland Academy was a part of me now, and I was sure it always was going to be. It was so hard to believe that I used to hate the school so much before I even gave it a chance, just because I thought it was for snotty, rich brats.