Three – Thomas Beaufort

At the end of the street, Wendy took a left and continuously ran. If someone were to peer out the window, they would wonder whether there was a fire somewhere nearby at the speed the Darlings were running. Mr. and Mrs. Darling were lagging behind and soon, they would lose sight of Wendy.

Wendy stopped under a lamp post. She was catching her breathe but it doesn't seem to be fast enough. Truth be told, she had no idea where Peter went. Her hands were on her knees, such exhaustion.

"Excuse me..." Wendy looked at the direction where the voice came from. A boy's silhouette was leaning against the wall of some building.

"Have you seen a boy running around here?" Wendy asked in a fast slur of words. "He's a little bit taller than me with blonde hair and blue eyes."

"Yeah, he went into the alleyway there. You can hear him sniffling, actually, if you're silent enough." the boy replied.

Truly, the sniffling sound can be heard in the silence of the night. Wendy was too worried about Peter to actually hear him.

"Thank you." Wendy said.

"'course." the boy replied.

Wendy went in the direction of the sniffling. Peter was sitting in middle of the alleyway. His knees were folded to his chest and his head was laying in his crossed arms. It was obvious that he was crying. Wendy watched as Peter cried. She knew it was best not to interrupt him.

I'm too late, Peter thought. Wendy was going to meet a boy on the weekend whenever that meant. She'll like the boy she's going to meet because he's an English gentleman. His eyes felt tired from crying and he just wanted to sleep. His body lied down on the ground on its own and his eyes closed almost instantly.

The sun was staring directly at Peter. He fell asleep on the streets which explains the murmuring around him. His eyelids fluttered and there were a lot of boys staring at him and one girl. He used his arm to sit his body up and then he realized he was actually at home—at Wendy's house.

"How did I get here?" Peter asked.

The house was silent again. Lifeless until Wendy appeared by the doorway. She sat on the edge of Peter's bed.

"Why did you have to run?" Wendy asked.

"Does it matter?" Peter retorted. He sneezed. He felt ill. It was never a good idea to lie on the ground during winter. He lied down again and pulled the duvet all the way to his neck. His body felt warm.

"Of course it does. This...is not Neverland. Things could've happened. You could've been caught by the police."

"It doesn't."

"Peter...please." Wendy pleaded. "Act...just act mature until father..."

Footsteps stopped just behind Wendy. It was Mr. Darling. He cleared his throat and Wendy stood up.

"After much debate with your mother," he said and muttered, "last night." He continued, "you don't have to go to tea this weekend, if you don't want to."

"Can't we bring Peter along?" Wendy asked.

Peter hid his alarm at Wendy's request.

"I'll...er... have to ask the bank manager." Mr. Darling replied. He hesitated at Wendy's request. He thought of whether to really ask the bank manager regarding her request or just dismiss it.

"I'll come along, if he comes." Wendy said and returned to her position by Peter's side.

Weekend came by. Mr. Darling did ask the bank manager if Wendy could bring her friend. The manager allowed it and so, they were headed to the bank manager's household. It was located in the other side of middle-class London.

Peter, Wendy and Mr. Darling stepped out the automobile and were greeted by the bank manager's wife.

"Hello, Mr. Darling. May I take your coat?" she offered.

"Yes, please." He replied and handed it to her. He was masking his nervousness again. He didn't want his daughter to notice the quiver in his voice.

"You must be Wendy." she said. "I'm Mrs. Beaufort."

"Hello, pleased to meet you." They shook hands.

"And you are...?" Mrs. Beaufort asked the blonde-haired boy behind Wendy.

"I'm Peter...Pan" he said. His American accent told Mrs. Beaufort that he wasn't one of the Darlings or perhaps he was one of the kids Mr. Darling adopted.

"Pleased to meet you." They shook hands and inside they went. They sat on the living room's leather couch. Mr. Beaufort was already seated when they arrived.

"Good morning, Mr. Beaufort." Mr. Darling greeted. "Such a lovely house."

"Why, thank you." He replied. "I'm pretty su-"

There was quite a noise upstairs like a horse's footfalls on wooden floor. Someone slid down the stairs and jumped out the end, the Beaufort's son.

"Am I late? I must be." The boy greeted. He strided to his father's side with such purpose. Mr. Beaufort passed a hand on his face out of annoyance perhaps. Mr. Beaufort's son looked at Wendy and smiled mischievously. He held out a hand and said, "I'm Thomas. Thomas Beaufort. It's spelled as b-e-a-u-f-o-r-t and pronounced as bowfort."

"Thomas, do sit down." His father said. It was written in his voice that he was irritated at his son's actions.

"Who're you?" Thomas looked at Peter. "Are you the boyfriend or something?"

"Thomas!" Mrs. Beaufort yelled from the other room.

"What? I was just asking."

Peter turned red because he didn't know what to say. Mrs. Darling told him that he should just let Mr. Darling do the talking. He should say that he's just Wendy's friend right?

"Let me guess, you haven't talked about it yet." Thomas filled in for him. He smirked and leaned his back on the chair's support.

"You were the guy the other night, weren't you? At Ale." Wendy interrupted. She needed to make him stop badgering Peter with his accusations. True enough, they haven't decided about it. Wendy surprised herself that she was even thinking that she and Peter weren't talking about their relationship. If there even was one.

Mr. Beaufort eyed Thomas and Thomas looked at Wendy. He pursed his lips. He wasn't supposed to be there.

Thomas was being childish. Peter could tell that Thomas' parents wanted him to be an English gentleman but he seemed to be far from it. He was more irrational than Peter was. His hair wasn't even kept well.

"What's your name, bloke?" Thomas asked.

"Peter."

The tea party lasted about 4 hours. Wendy thought that it was one of the most horrible four hours of her life but Peter thought it was quite...good. Finally, someone in England who was not uptight or trying hard to fit in with everyone else. Peter wanted to be friends with Thomas and it seemed that Thomas wanted to be friends with him, too. He stopped badgering Peter after asking for his name.

"That went pretty..."Mr. Darling spoke as while the automobile was moving.

"Horrid" Wendy said. "Thomas had atrocious manners"

Peter sighed. Even though he liked Thomas it seemed that his opinion wouldn't matter. He looked up the sunny sky and wondered how Neverland was faring. He thought of other things to drown out Wendy and Mr. Darling's conversation.

If tea and talking about boring things meant growing up, Peter would never like to grow up at all.