My Neverland

We sat silently on the roof, looking out over the landscape that you all know as London. The grey clouds hung low in the sky, seeming to cushion the city from the outlying dangers that prowled along the outskirts of our sanctuary. All of my life, London has been my home. I was born and raised there as I was taught the proper manners and poise that any well brought up young woman like myself should learn and know. It was an awfully dull life—a dreary way to grow up, indeed. It was absolutely dreadful, that is, until the day that I met Peter.

I was about 10 years old the day that I met him, and that was the last day that I would be considered "lovely" by anyone who knew me. You see, Peter taught me things that no properly raised girl in the nobility should ever know and do. Together, we climbed trees, jumped fences and ran away from bullies that we had done the honor of angering. We caused more trouble than any other pair of children in the whole city, but boy did we have a good time in doing so.

The way that Peter and I came to be such good friends was really quite simple actually.

   All day, I had been moping around, sick of hearing my mother tell me to "sit like a lady" and "chew like a lady" and "walk like a lady". Had it ever crossed her mind that maybe I didn't want to be a lady? Obviously not. As soon as I could break away from my mother, I ran for the park where I plopped myself down and began picking at the grass. I kept on asking myself why I had to be so ladylike all the time. What was the purpose? My attention wandered to a pair of lower-class children playing tag in the field below. Maybe it would have been better to be poor. At least then I could have some fun. The children's laughs carried through the wind and echoed deeply in the reservoirs my mind. Why couldn't I be like them?

Being completely immersed in my own thoughts, I had competently failed to notice the boy, leaning against a tree and smiling at me not far from where I sat on the ground. The sight of him startled me and I jumped a bit in spite of myself. The boy chuckled at the sight of my surprise and I folded my arms, narrowing my eyes at him as much as I could.

"What are you looking at?" I sneered sharply.

   "I was looking at you," he said unpretentiously. His straightforwardness caught me off guard—I was completely lost as to a good response.

"Um," I said dumbly, "Why...?"

He nodded towards the kids whom I had been watching contently only moments earlier.

   "When you started watching those kids, your face got really angry looking and you started picking at the grass really viciously," he laughed, “It was quite hilarious.”

My face reddened in realization for what I had done and I looked down in embarrassment at the pile of grass that I had just made caused by my anxious ripping. I heard the strange boy move from the tree and sit his self beside me.

"You wanna be like them?" he asked. I looked up at him in confusion. How had he read my mind like that? It was like some sort of odd magic...

I looked back in the children's direction again to find them happily laughing and skipping away.

"Well, even if I wanted to, I can't be like them," I said to him, "I have to be a proper lady."

   I could barely say the words without spitting them. The boy smiled at me again. He had a mischievous look in his eye and it intrigued me, whether I wanted to admit it to him or not.

"Who says?" he said quizzically, jumping up and extending his hand to me, "Come on. Let me teach you what real fun is."

I eyed his hand warily, my gaze flicking from his hand, to the playing children, and back to his face.