Edited ✔️✔️
Chapter 4
Mia nearly lost her appetite and food as she watched the boys have an eating contest in the middle of camp during dinner.
They were all stuffing their mouths as fast as they could and the sight was quite disgusting. Food was all over their faces and their mouths were so full that they couldn't shut them so half eaten food continuously fell out between their unhinged teeth. Afterwards, a few of them threw up and others made gurgling noises while complaining that their stomach hurt. Their peers laughed at them, slapping the puking ones on the back encouragingly and trying to poke at the sickly ones who hadn't yet spilled their guts out for all to see.
Mia's stomach churned and, suddenly not hungry, she got up to dump her half eaten plate.
Just when she was standing up and beginning to turn around, Mia bumped into a boy with curly blond hair and menacing grey eyes that narrowed at her as soon as they focused on her face.
The boy snarled at her and grabbed her shirt by the collar, making her gasp out loud in shock and claw at his hands. "Watch it, girly," he spat and she winced when she felt a bit of his spit on her face.
Thomas ran up immediately when he saw what was happening and pulled her from the boy's grasp. "Knock it off, James," he snarled at the blond boy. His tone was so threatening that it even scared Mia a little, and she suddenly had no doubt why Thomas was Pan's third in command.
James gave her another glare and sauntered off somewhere in the camp, pushing aside the boys who were in his way as he did so.
"Sorry about that. James is very... prideful and can be a pain in the behind," Thomas said, still glaring but sounded sheepish. "You better stay away from him. He is Pan's second and doesn't take a liking in girls very much."
"Really? I haven't noticed," Mia said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
Thomas rolled his eyes and wiped some dirt of her shoulders that she didn't even know was there. "Here let me." He grabbed her plate and threw its leftovers away into the compost pile and placed her plate with the other dirty ones before returning with a big, proud smile.
"Thanks," Mia told him and returned his grin.
"No problem," Thomas replied and they sat down on a log together, staring at the fire.
"I wish all the lost boys were like you," she said out of the blue. "Maybe Pan should start a Cotillion class or something."
"A what?" Thomas asked and looked at her skeptically.
"It's nothing," Mia replied, waving it off. "Just some silly manners class that my mom sent me to when I was in middle school."
Thomas scrunched up his nose. "That sounds terrible. I'm sorry."
Mia laughed because he was acting like she was receiving a painful punishment. "It wasn't that bad," Mia stated and nudged him lightly on the shoulder. "We learned how to dance, introduce each other properly, and which utensil is used for what when eating..."
"Ah, so you know how to dance?" Thomas asked slyly and smirked down at her, the flickering orange light of the fire highlighting and shadowing his face handsomely.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Maybe you could teach me sometime," he answered and gave her a look that was too unreadable to tell what it was.
Mia felt her face heat up as he continued to stare into her eyes, completely serious about his previous suggestion. "Um, sure. Maybe when we're in a more... private place." She gestured to the line of puking boys.
His eyes lit up and he stood to his full height. "Follow me," Thomas told her and, without another word, strode towards the woods.
Mia got up quickly, her knees popping, and chased after him since his strides were so much longer than hers. "Where are we going?" Mia asked and pushed a low-growing branch out of her way.
"You'll see."
They trekked through the woods for a while, jumping over logs and dodging branches, until they came across a grassy field surrounded by large trees.
"This is amazing," Mia said and looked up at the night sky that was full of stars, more stars than what she'd seen on Earth. One star in particular stood out more than the rest.
"You think it's beautiful now but wait until you see how it looks after I do... this!" Thomas whistled with his thumb and index finger in his mouth and there was a moment of silence.
When nothing happened, Mia turned and gave Thomas a confused look. "What's supposed to be happening?"
"Shh," he ordered in a hush whisper. "You'll scare them away."
Before Mia could ask, a bright light appeared and started floating across the field in weird directions. Soon, there were more and the entire area was lit from the light of the small creatures.
"What are those?" Mia asked in awe and tried touching one but it flew away in a quick zigzag motion before she could even get an inch's distance.
"Fairies," Thomas responded and looked all around him, at the glowing creatures. "Quite beautiful aren't they?"
"Very," Mia answered in awe, mindlessly spinning in slow circles to talk in the full beauty of the scene.
"So can you teach me how to dance now or are the fairies going to be too distracting?" Thomas chuckled.
Mia looked down and blushed when she showed him where to put his hands - One on her left shoulder blade and the other outstretched away from them, clutching her hand. She wrapped her arm around Thomas's lifted arm and place her hand around his bicep. Mia taught him a simple box dance and he caught on very quickly and then she taught him how to spin her and started teaching him the fox trot.
The fairies stayed calm through out the night and Mia blushed even more when they started singing songs that she could've sworn she'd once heard once in a romance movie. Their high-pitched giggles, sounding more like little bells, followed to her face turning a bright red color.
"We should get back to camp before Pan finds us himself and rips off our heads," Thomas said quietly stopping in mid-dance.
Mia agreed but couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment in her chest that she could tell Thomas detected because before they entered camp he put his hand on her shoulder and said, "I had fun just hanging out with you today. If you want, we could go swimming tomorrow."
"I'd love that," she replied quietly and walked into the clearing.
The lost boys took a second to look at her before returning to their activities of throwing knives at targets and sharpening their daggers. Apparently their puking game was over.
"Amalia," Pan's voice said stopping her in her tracks.
She turned around trying her best not to roll her eyes. "Yes, Pan?"
He walked up to her and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And what do you think you were doing in pixie hollow with one of my best lost boys?"
Mia shrugged shyly. "Hanging out?"
Pan pursed his lips and looked her square in the eye. "You two seem to be getting very close." He walked closer to Mia so that his breath was fanning her face and she tried to look away but he held her in place. "Don't even think about falling in love with him because if you two so as much look each other in the eyes with passion, I'll put an arrow through his head," Pan spat, a little of his spit flew on her face. "Clear?"
What is it with boys and spitting when they talk? Mia thought and wiped it off with her free arm.
"Crystal," Mia said and Pan let go of her face. She looked down at her feet with her heart pounding wildly in her chest in both anger and fear.
Pan stood there for a few more ominous moments, looking down at the shaken up girl before walking off into the forest to who-knows-where.
Mia let out a breath of air that she didn't realize she was holding and put her hand over her heart.
After that, Pan hadn't come back but James, his second in command, told the boys that Pan had put him in charge and that Pan was out doing 'business' and wouldn't be back until morning.
As everyone was getting ready for bed, Mia noticed that some of the bunks were empty and asked a boy who looked around the age of thirteen where the other boys were.
"They're being punished," was his simple answer before he rolled around in his bed so that his back was facing her.
She thought back to the boys and their eating contest, wondering if their excessive puking did get them in trouble after all.
Mia slipped into her bed wearing the outfit Thomas had supplied her: a green tank top that was obviously meant for a man and black shorts that reached her knees. He was in the bunk on top of hers already asleep like most of the boys. The other boys that were still awake, were either talking quietly or sharpening spears with their daggers.
Mia listened to the sound of the boys sharpening their weapons as she closed her eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.
⋆✶
Pan looked out at the Never Sea, a smirk playing on his lips, and breathed in the salty sea air that always seemed to calm him down in those types of situations.
James walked up to him. "Pan?" he asked.
"It's time," Pan replied still watching the waves come and go. "You're in charge. Tell the boys I'll be back in the morning. I have some business to attend to."
"May I ask what kind of business?" James questioned his leader.
Pan looked over his shoulder at him, his smirk never leaving his face. "He is back."
* * *
So...do you think Mia likes Thomas, the other way around, or do you think they both like each other? ,':-) *wink wink* Or is it too early to tell? I fully understand if it is. I just like to ask questions and then see the different answers in a later chapter.
**Please tell me if there are any mistakes so that I can fix them asap.**
Vote
Comment
Share
& Follow
Thanks for reading! :)