"What is this curious flaky brown stuff, Peter?" Caspian held up a bowl of cereal for Peter to examine.

Peter didn't look away from his toast. "Cereal."

"What do you do with it?" Caspian said, earning a suspicious glance from the small child sat opposite him.

"You eat it."

"What-" Peter whipped the bowl of cereal out from under Caspian's nose and dropped his charred piece of toast onto Caspian's plate.

"Eat this."

"But it's-"

"Just eat it, Caspian!"

*****

Caspian stared blankly at the open French textbook with the decaying spine in front of him. No matter how many times he read the peculiar words, they just would not make sense. He considered asking Peter for assistance, but then decided against it. Peter was pointedly facing away from him, pressing harder than necessary on his paper with his pencil.

Caspian frowned and quietly closed the textbook. He couldn't understand why Peter was giving him the cold shoulder. Peter was acting very strangely – not at all like the High King. His professor had told him that the Narnian air changed people from this world – did this mean that English air changed people too? Edmund had assured him there was nothing wrong, but Peter's attitude said otherwise. Peter seemed more difficult to read than the textbook.

"Excuse me..." He was dragged out of his thoughts by a quiet voice and looked up slowly. "Do you need any help?" Caspian blinked, mesmerized by the unusual eye colour of the boy speaking to him. A quiet snapping noise echoed through the silent classroom. Caspian glanced over at Peter who, it seemed, had broken his pencil.

"You look a little lost." The boy's eyes were a deep shade of emerald green, something Caspian had never seen before. The colour of his hair matched Caspian's almost perfectly, although it was very different in style; slightly spiky, and a little ruffled.

"Thank you, but, I think I can manage." Caspian smiled politely and re-opened his textbook, picking up his pencil again, only to find out that Peter had swapped it for his broken one.

*****

"...He just doesn't belong here, Ed!"

"You haven't given him a chance to explain himself!"

"I don't need to, he shouldn't even be here!"

"No wonder he's acting so distant, with you just excluding him. That's probably the last thing he wants at the moment."

"Why are you taking his side?! You're supposed to be my bro-"

"Stop overreacting, Peter. You're being such a prat, it's not that big a deal!"

"But-"

"Just drop it."

Edmund stormed away from his brother, ending the conversation abruptly. He swung around the corner, colliding with an eavesdropping Caspian. Caspian stared at him for a shocked moment, then spun on his heel and walked away – where, he wasn't too sure.

"Caspian, wait!" Edmund called after him, before Caspian got engulfed in a crowd of students. Peter appeared by Edmund's shoulder and scowled. "Now look what you've done!" He scolded, giving him a sharp slap on the shoulder.

*****

The eldest Pevensie boy frowned as he sat down for the last lesson of the day, English Literature. All the class were supposed to be doing was read a book, but Peter was too caught up in his own thoughts to pay attention. Caspian hadn't turned up to any lessons since he and Edmund had argued, and as much as he was trying to deny it, Peter was beginning to worry. He wasn't worried because Caspian had disappeared without a reason – he knew full well why he wasn't there. He was more concerned about where Caspian had disappeared to.

He didn't hate Caspian – honestly. He just wished that Caspian had had the sense to stay in Narnia where he belonged. Peter wasn't sure why Caspian would ever dream of coming over to this dump, but he didn't know, as he hadn't given Caspian a chance to explain himself. Edmund was right.

Peter wasn't just being a prat; he had a reason for the way he was acting. He finally thought he'd left Narnia behind, and was ready to move on. He really believed that he had learnt all he could, and would never see it again. He'd never claimed it was a good reason...

He was the first one out of the door once the lesson had finished.

*****

He never quite realised how huge St Christopher's School was. But what he did realise, was that Caspian was not hiding in any of the classrooms. Or the library. Or the dining hall. Or even the smelly broom cupboard on the second floor. He'd even asked the maids.
He was just about to start all over again when he encountered Edmund returning from playing cricket with his friends. He stopped Peter in the corridor.

"Please tell me you're not looking for Caspian." Peter remained silent. "Find him, you... idiot..." Before Edmund had a chance to finish his sentence, Peter had walked off.

*****

It was getting late now, and Peter really was starting to worry. The sun was starting to sink down behind the school, casting an ominous shadow across the school grounds, which didn't look much more than a giant field. The grounds were Peter's last resort – if Caspian was not here, Peter would have no idea where to go next.

His eyes scanned the field desperately as he walked; he reached the end of the cricket pitch, and was ready to give up. He began to turn away, unsure of where to go. Something caught his eye by an impressive oak tree. A group of people were gathered under the oak tree. The first thing that Peter noticed was the one person stood away from the group. With his long hair and too small uniform, Caspian was unmistakable. What troubled Peter most was who he was with.
He didn't know them by name, but he knew them by nature. They preyed on other students when the teachers weren't looking for pointless reasons, and always came out on top.

Without realising it, Peter found himself approaching the group, and they dispersed the moment they saw him coming. As they passed him, Peter couldn't miss the jeering looks sent his way.

*****

Caspian turned to figure out why the others – the boy with the green eyes and his friends - had left. He automatically began walking in the other direction, away from Peter. He wasn't in the mood for talking to Peter, not now. Caspian didn't know whether Peter was aware of him listening to the Pevensies arguing earlier or not – surely if he didn't know, he wouldn't be walking toward him now.

"Wait!"

Caspian ignored him and continued walking.

"Please Caspian, we need to talk!" Peter's voice was closer now, and he sounded slightly out of breath.

Caspian spun around and snapped back. "Oh. So you want to talk to me now?!"

"You don't understand!" Peter paused to collect his thoughts. "Please, just let me explain."

"What, just like you let me explain?" The look on Caspian's face stopped Peter in his tracks.

"Look, Caspian, I just-"

Caspian sighed exasperatedly and said quietly, "You just don't get it, do you?" He ran his hands through his hair. "How can you expect me to listen to you when you wouldn't listen to me?" He turned to walk away.

Peter reached out to grab Caspian's elbow. Caspian instantly shook him off. "Please, Caspian. Just listen to me."

"Give me one good reason why."

"Because I'm here to apologise." Caspian froze. He looked at Peter expectantly, completely unconvinced.

Peter took a deep breath before speaking; he'd mentally rehearsed this all day. "I'm so sorry for not listening to you; what I did was wrong, but I assure you there is a reason for everything." Caspian raised an eyebrow and Peter kept going before he could comment. "I thought I'd given up on Narnia, I'd accepted that I was never going back. But then, you appeared. And it threw me off." Caspian opened his mouth to say something in return, but was silenced by a wave of Peter's hand. "I guess I was always jealous of you; you could stay in Narnia. I didn't have the choice, but you did, and you decided to come here. And I hated you for having that option."

"Ah." Caspian frowned, unsure of what to say. "But Peter, I can't go back, I don't have that option anymore." Caspian's scowl had now completely vanished. "I think... I think I might have made a mistake, Peter."

"I guess we're both in the same situation."

"I guess so..."