She snuck past the window's being careful one of the servants didn't see her, and eventually out of the side gate. She was now free from the house and made her way through town to the meeting place. While on her way, she noticed the clock tower displaying the time. "Oh goodness i'm late i'm late" she realised speeding up a bit. This made her draw parallels when she first encountered something to do with wonderland. She got to the meeting point which turned out to be a bridge crossing over a river from the city to a green grassy park area, where she first fell down the rabbit hole. There she already saw her best friend waiting for her looking in the distance with a distant face to match, fiddling with a stick in his hands. "Reggie!" called out Alice making the boy's head turn. "Alice you're here" he replied jumping off the wall of the bridge to stand up. "Sorry i'm late, my parents wouldn't originally allow me to leave" she explained when she got to him. "What you mean, you're not supposed to be here?" Reggie implied. "Especially not today" Alice admitted walking by Reggie's side to the grassy area. "My parents don't know though, they think i'm still in my room. It was an awful thing for me to do, but i couldn't leave you on your own."

"My mother didn't spot ya did she?" Reggie turned to Alice, as Reggie's mother was one of the servants in Alice's house, and the only reason the children of two different social and wealth classes met, since the parents would never allow them to mingle with the social 'aliens'. Reggie worked in the house to, only he left earlier every day since he was younger than the other servants, he was only 12, same age as Alice. Reggie was in the working class and struggled with his family to make ends meet. His father was away in the redcoat army for the British empire overseas. His father would also send letters to his son telling him of the adventures he went on and the lands they discovered. Reggie would overhear some of the upper class people in the house he worked in and would eavesdrop on some lessons alice had, and because of this he would learn a lot more about the world and different subjects, making him more intelligent than most working class children of his age, but he still spoke in a typical working class victorian accent.

The three, because Dinah was still nesting in Alice's front Skirt pocket, walked along the grass until they got to the tree Alice first had the dream, at least thought it was a dream, under. Alice climbed the tree effortlessly and sat down in branch looking around by the stream as if, she was trying to catch a glimpse of something but she didn't know what. Reggie, who laid himself down with his hands behind his head near a rock opposite the tree, had noticed her expression. "What is it Alice?" Alice didn't hear him at first, but Reggie soon saw what she was looking at and realised. "You're looking for the white rabbit aren't you?" "hmm? Oh no, I was just thinking and staring at the same is all." "Alice" Reggie smiled knowing the truth. "Oh yes very well, i was hoping to spot some unusual thing running around the hedges and river" admitted Alice. "Anything that will prove to myself that i didn't just have two very strange dreams and nothing more. Do you think i'll be lucky enough to see one?" "You make your own luck in this world Alice" said Reggie standing up. "You can't really obtain good luck by something like a, pardon the pun, rabbit's foot. It'll bring you as much luck as it did the rabbit" pointed out Reggie.

He stood by the trunk of the tree and started to flail around a stick pretending it to be a sword. "But i do believe you that it wasn't just a dream." Alice looked down. She was now lying on her stomach on the branch. "You do?" she was surprised. "Of course. My pop sent me letters a few months ago, right before he stopped sending them for some reason." Alice looked away at this statement. She didn't want to reveal anything to Reggie yet. "But he used to tell of missions he went on, and lands he had explored in Africa Australia and Canada. Creatures with long necks and spotted. Jumping animals that use their front arms to box each other. And brown furred creatures in Canada, that can stand on their hind legs, and catch fish with their mouths." Reggie seemed so caught up in his father's stories, he almost forgot his original point. "All those stories of strange creatures, it's actually quite hard not to believe you. But i bet that's quite tame to what you've seen Alice" Reggie figured. "If, i really did see those things" she sighed. "But thank you Reggie." "For what?" Reggie looked up at her. "For believing me, you're the only to ever believe my stories so far" Alice ran her fingers through her blonde hair like a comb. Dinah was now trying to achieve a higher seat inside the tree.

"I do admit, I would like to see this 'wonderland' for myself, even though i tend to put logic first, if believing in such a place is logical" Reggie questioned himself. "Logical?" repeated Alice. "You're the one who is talking about long necked creatures, though i cannot boast myself" Alice realised. "Yes what was it that you saw in 'wonderland'?" asked Reggie lying down on his stomach next to the stream, keeping his eyes on a frog leaping from lilypad to lilypad. "Did you ever see a talking frog in Braces?" he made a cocky smile. "No" Alice retorted. "I saw a talking lizard and hare and even a cat like Dinah, only it was smiling reciting poetry." Alice climbed down from the tree and laid down next to her friend on her stomach holding her head up with her hands. "I didn't exactly have the best time the first time i visited wonderland you know" she admitted. "I nearly lost my head the first time i visited that place." "Why is that?" asked Reggie. "A different number of characters got me into trouble with the queen. It was not my fault, they all made it look like it was me who caused the queen to lose her temper."

"Was that what happened?" Reggie turned to her. "Well, i did call her a, pardon my language, fat mean pompous bad-tempered old tyrant." Alice looked away in embarrassment. "You called her that? That's you all over Alice, sweet and innocent, but knows how to insult when angered." "Yes well, I was quite angry at the unfairness of my trial" Alice smiled looking up at Reggie. "Were you scared?" Reggie wondered. "For a good deal of the time yes, especially when i was being chased by the cards and the queen shouting: 'off with her head!'" Alice did her best impression of the queen of hearts in a mocking tone which made Reggie chuckle. "I would like to face up to those cards and show them a thing or two" Reggie said looking at his reflection in the river. "Really Reginald? There were quite a lot of them. In their hundreds i should say." reminded Alice. "Well if they're made of card like you said they shouldn't be too much of a challenge. My pop used to write in his letters how he would face up to man-eating creatures, how the empire bravely fights to defend itself against the attackers, and looks after the natives of that land, in exchange for goods for their protectors" Reggie stared off into the distance.

"My dad is a real hero. Do you think I'll be a hero like my dad?" Reggie asked with some hope and aspiration in his voice. "You mean going to foreign lands and fighting?" asked Alice curiously. "Anything" Reggie seemed to conclude. "Fighting soldiers with a sword, defending a land against monstrous creatures or a beast, defeating an evil tyrant, rescuing a damsel, to prove i can be a hero you know." "I'm sure anyone can be a hero if they have the chance and just put their mind to it" Alice seemed to figure. "Even a working class child?" Reggie revealed what he was trying to prove. "Even that i'm sure." smiled Alice. Alice stood up again and so did Reggie grabbing another stick, fiddling with it like Alice was doing with a bunch of flowers in her hands. "Still, if i ever go back to wonderland, It'll just be to prove that it is real, and nothing more" stated Alice walking along the river, each step of hers delicately placed on the grass as she walked along stream. "I don't want the queen ordering my death again." "Well i'm sure you'll find it somewhere again Alice. You just gotta look in the right place"

After an afternoon of climbing trees and pretending to sword fight with branches, Reggie introduced her to a game he heard the americans play. He and Alice had just finished tying sticks together with pieces of grass into a perfect circle. "I heard when the americans finished their 'frisby pie' as they call them, they throw the dishes to each other and catch them" explained Reggie. "hm, how peculiar. Still, i'm curious to see what it's like" Alice caught the circle of sticks thrown by Reggie and quickly returned it. While this was going on between the friends, Dinah spotted a bug crawling along a twig as if it never seen one before, and with cat like instincts perched herself like a bird, then got ready to pounce. The bug must've seen this, or have incredible senses in itself, as it flew itself away leading to Dinah landing herself into the water of a raging river. The splash alerted the children whom turned around. "Dinah!" Alice realised she left her cat on her own and forgot how Dinah could get into trouble.

Alice and Reggie rushed down to the river where Dinah was struggling to stay afloat. "Reggie we have to get her out, she'll drown!" Reggie looked around for something to use but then saw some rocks big enough for a person his exact age and height to kneel down on. He ran towards them and jumped on one by one till he reached the one not so quite in the middle of the river. Alice looked around for something to assist. She picked up a long branch and ran back to the river. "Reggie catch!" the stick was thrown to Reggie which he caught and tried to use it so Dinah, who was now holding onto a rock, could grab. "I can get her if i just lean forward-" but Reggie forgot about wetness of the rock, and slipped into the water himself. "Reggie!" called Alice as he grabbed onto a rock in the water. Reggie turned just in time to see Dinah go under. "No!" they shouted in sync, but the river for a brief second seemed to be kind and Dinah's paw surfaced the water and grabbed the stick, which was now wedged between two rocks. Alice lifted the stick up and pulled Dinah towards her.

"Dinah! Oh thank goodness you're safe" she dried off Dinah with the white part of her skirt and hugged the feline. Dinah, although still shaking, returned the gesture in a cat like way. Reggie pulled himself to the bank and shook his head. He looked up at Alice and Dinah, and then back at the river and frowned. 'Some hero' he concluded himself to be. He just looked back down at the floor, when he felt an arm wrap around him and pull him into an embrace. "Thank you Reggie" said Alice finally letting go of him. They both stood up and realised the sun was retiring for the night. "We'd better get going, my mother's going to throw the book at me this time" Reggie knew as he tried to shake his sleeves dry, but they seemed to have a mind of their own since they didn't want to. "I wonder if there's any other passageway to wonderland? Probably not." Alice dismissed. "If lightning strikes twice in wonderland, then i'm sure it's the same passageway" suggested Reggie.

"Do you think there are things in this world where anything that is isn't, and what has happened hasn't?" continued Alice. "Well there are many things in this world we haven't explored yet, hopefully we'll get to seem them all" Reggie replied. The two bounced ideas off each other, until they reached the point where they would be seen together, so they had to part ways. "Well today was certainly, exciting. But, I suppose i'll see you tomorrow Alice." "Are you going to be alright in those?" she referred to his brown scruffy shirt, coat and trousers which were still soaked. "I might just walk around a while, see if i can get them dry, but the important thing is Dinah is safe" he smiled and Alice returned that. "Thank you again Reggie, i'll see you then." The two parted ways and Alice made it back to her household. She closed the door behind her and was about to make her way up the stairs when she was stopped. "Alice?" her mother noticed her. "Oh mother" Alice remembered she had snuck out earlier, through the window. The whole river ordeal caused her to forget about that.

"Alice, did you, leave the house today?" questioned her mother. "Oh, no, Dinah just got out and I rushed out to get her and-" she tried to think of a lie. "Well that's odd, because i didn't see you leave through the door" her mother pointed out. "Yes that was because, i walked through the back door." lied Alice. "You're all wet" noticed her mother. "It's been raining" "No it hasn't, and what are grass stains on your legs" her mother pointed to them. "Alice, you snuck out didn't you?" This was more of a rhetorical question. All Alice could do was turn away. "Miss Alice Liddell, how dare you deliberately disobey me and your father. You are not to do this again, and you will be punished even further" since she was already told to go to her room in the first place, and was about to be punished for missing a punishment. "How did you get all wet anyway?" seeing there was no point in lying anymore, Alice explained "Dinah fell into a lake, and we had to fish her out" "We?" "I, I had to fish her out." "Alice, shouldn't you know better than to leave Dinah on her own." "Dinah knows not to wander off or do foolish things." "Which is more i can say for you. Alice she's your cat, you should look after her more properly." "Well maybe if i didn't have to sneak out, all these rules restricting me, you may as well just strike me."

"Don't be silly Alice. You should count yourself lucky you are under parents who believe striking their child is terrible and wrong. You are forbidden to go out the rest of the week, you understand." Alice didn't reply, but tried to make silence count as a yes. Alice was sent to her room, only allowed down for dinner, and was sent straight back up again. "There won't be all these boring lessons for long Dinah, soon there'll be just fun and might i say 'wonder'."

A/N: That's the second chapter, sorry if it's a bit long, it took a while to write. Alice in wonderland belongs to Lewis Carroll and Disney.