That party, that party was the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Black eye, I'm bleeding, but I'm breathing by myself.
Peter had always known he had a temper problem. He would be the first one to admit it, Edmund being the second to say so, most likely very loudly with lots of hand waving. But he thought he had been working on it. He had made a real effort to calm down, especially now that he was at college.
He practiced counting to ten; he even took up boxing along with his fencing classes. Although being in the class ridiculous, he was already better than the instructors. But just having time to beat the crap out of something did help. His mother had even talked about getting him a punching bag for his next birthday.
Any time Peter thought he was going to get into a fight, he would try and think what Susan would say when she saw him.
"Not again!"
Or perhaps, "Come home bruised again and I will never speak to you again."
"Peter Rillian Pevensie, you are in so much trouble!" That was his least favorite, but the most realistic.
He did have his limits thought. There were certain things he simply wouldn't stand for. He had made a list, once, of the things he couldn't stand. It helped him to know when he would need to watch his temper. On the top of that list was an insult to his family.
Peter had no delusions about his home life. He knew very well that his siblings and he appeared to be very strange to others.
His arrogance upset teachers and adults. He got in trouble very often. Teachers hated him and often gave him bad marks for it.
Susan's general anti-social nature raised questions about their parents from every one. People asked why she was so quiet, why she had so few friends. Concerned parents bothered his mother constantly about Susan. Her lack of suitors was also raising eyebrows in town. She was pretty, so why did none of the boys seem interested.
Edmunds extreme over-analysis of everything bothered their peers the most, other kids were simply not found of Ed. He was the top of his class. The teachers loved him and hated him at the same time. They found it annoying when he would correct them, but loved that he was engaged in all of his classes. The other kids looked down on Edmund.
Lucy was the one exception. She got along with everybody, which of course raised more questions. Lucy always had tons of friends. She was the star of her class. The only thing anyone ever said was about her over active imagination with her paintings.
Over the years he had heard it all. What the things teachers said about him, about his attitude. He had beaten anyone who thought to call Susan names or whisper about how quiet she was. He had heard what the other kids said about Edmund and how they purposely left him out of things. He had even heard the whispers about how it was such a wonder that the youngest was the only acceptable one of them all.
Peter originally had thought that once he got to college, the comments would stop, that he would be able to start over. But his reputation had followed him in the form of several boys from his old school. He had avoided them with fervor, until now.
The party had been the talk of campus for days. It was to be held along with the neighboring girls' school. Peter had been looking foreword to the party. He had daydreamed about it. He imagined what it would be like, to dance again.
The truth was that even in this day and age his contact with girls was extremely limited. This would have been his first chance to have any real interaction with girls since he was young.
The party had been everything he had hoped for. It wasn't as grand as the balls in Narnia, but nothing could ever really compare to that. But he had fun for once. He danced with several girls and chatted with his friends.
Things had been going along just fine until he had spotted Charlie nearby. Charlie had gone to Peter's school for years and he was particularly mean. Peter had just turned to walk away when it started.
"Hey Pevensie, I heard next year your sister will be here to join us," Charlie called out to him. It was true; Susan had been accepted to the girls' school. Peter silently wondered how Charlie had found out.
"Maybe she might finally speak to some one," another boy chimed in. Peter stood perfectly still, he was counting to ten. One… two…three…
"You know I hear it's the quiet ones you have to keep an eye on," Charlie was moving closer to Peter. A hush had come over that part of the room. The girls were slowly backing away, sensing what was going to happen. The boys on the other hand were slowly moving closer. Four…Five…Six…
"I can't wait to give her a try," Charlie said standing directly behind Peter.
Now he circled Peter like a predatory cat.
"I am sure she is the real wild one on the inside," Charlie said making a lewd gesture. Seven… Eight… Nine…
"From what I hear," the other boy started. Don't. "She has never even had a boyfriend." Peter clenched and unclenched his fists. Don't.
"I can't wait to be the first one to give her a try," Charlie said standing in front of Peter.
It was an instant flash, red hot fury encompassed Peter. He was used to the sudden surge that came when he finally let go of his temper. Charlie didn't even see the first punch coming.
The fight was fast, well for Peter it was. Compared to bloody battles in Narnia, a fist fight lasted mere seconds. He didn't really remember winning; he knew for sure he had not lost when he staggered out of the hall into the night. He had a black eye and his stomach hurt, but Peter had just beaten three other boys.
Two of them lay on the floor holding either their stomachs or their head. Charlie was trying to stop his bloody nose from dripping everywhere. He might have been cursing Peter, but no one could really hear him with his hand over his mouth.
It was expected. He had fought against more opponents and won. For goodness sake he had fought off an entire regiment of Telmarines, and that was only his most recent battle.
And the last time he had been in a fight he had worn chain mail, which greatly restricted his movement. But tonight he had been free to swing as he pleased. Not to mention the boxing classes had made his punches that much harder.
No one said anything to him as he left. No boy came to help him, the girls pulled away like he was a disease. Peter didn't notice at all. In that moment he was High King Peter, ruler of Narnia, and no childish squabble would bring him down.
Tomorrow the girls would talk about the fight in the dorm. Many would talk about the insanity of the blonde boy and his fight. Others would praise his courage. One girl, a redhead named Emily, would say that she had never seen a king in person, but thought that the blonde boy walked like one.
Within a week he would be the favorite of half the school. He was their hero, bravely fighting to defend his sister's honor. Girls would sight over him in their day dreams. Doodles saying "Mrs. Peter Pevensie" covered notebooks.
A month later Emily would approach Peter on a Saturday afternoon. He would be out side reading about politics. She would come up to the bench and sit down next to him. Neither would say anything, but next Saturday they would both return.
Three Saturdays later Peter would ask her to dinner.
Hi readers! Thanks again for the great response!
I am sorry that this chapter is so short, but frankly this is exactly how long it needed to be. The next chapter will hopefully be longer. For those of you who have been dying for me to do Edmund can rejoice. The next chapter is going to be all Edmund!
I hated having to add OC characters but I needed to for this chapter. Personally I hate nearly all OC characters in stories. They drive me nuts. I can't stand them, I refuse to read stories with them. So hopefully you will be able to tolerate them more than I can. Although I think this chapter might be one of the few where you see any OC characters.
For those of you paying attention my made Peter's middle name Rillian. Which for those of you super nerds is the name of Caspian's son. I did that on purpose. I think you can figure out the rest. If not you will have to wait and see.
Today I finally got a job so I am sorry to say that in the near future the updates might take longer. I am going to try and keep the updates a frequent as possible, but please give me some slack. I need the money.
Today's quote is from Becky Starz by Forever The Sickest Kids.
Love
-E