WENDY DARLING

Wendy was far too darling for her own taste. She was pretty, not beautiful, and charming, but not alluring. She was kind and considerate, but not at all bold. And she was universally well liked, but was not truly loved by anyone whom she wasn't related to.

Wendy could handle being a Darling when she was five or six and even when she was thirteen or fourteen, but, at sixteen years old, she was putting her foot down. She was tired of being the sweet girl. She was sick of hearing the word "cute" and knowing that she was the subject of conversation.

She was done being a Darling.

The problem with such a decision, of course, is that it is very hard to change oneself even if one is willing to put a great deal of effort into the task. Further, Wendy didn't really want to lose who she was and what she valued; she didn't want to snap at people or gossip. She just wanted to be seen as the young woman she was.

She had tried wearing shorter, more risqué dresses but it was to no use. She was complimented on her tiny blue dress and was told that, on anyone else, it would look too showy, but, on her, it was simply darling.

On anyone else, Wendy fumed! Of course, anyone else! Because she was simply too cutesy, too childlike and innocent to be seen as anything other than a Darling. Although, her two brothers didn't seem to have any problems discarding their younger selves and assuming their rightful places as moody teenagers. In fact, their transition was nearly effortless, which only made Wendy more upset.

It really is a man's world, she thought bitterly. A man's world where boys could be whoever they wanted to be and girls were imprisoned in the same roles they had filled since birth. She had reached the top of her glass ceiling at ten years old and, try as she might, she simply couldn't break through. Instead, she had developed a crick in her neck from bending over to fit inside her little box.

"Hey Wendy," A boyish redhead called as he raced down the hallway, practically soaring towards her, "Did you understand the homework at all?"

Of course, it may be said that the whole reason that Wendy was so frustrated with her stunted state was the mischievous young man flying towards her.

While Wendy had tried her damndest to look older, sexier, and more sophisticated, the fine male specimen in front of her had done everything he could to freeze time.

Come on Wendy, our best years are almost behind us! He would frequently assure his best friend that she was lucky to have a frozen biological clock, he wished that he could stay twelve years old for the rest of his life so that he could scheme all day long and never have to join the real world.

But he hadn't been able to remain a boy forever and, while manhood had not yet made Peter Pan unrecognizable, it had taken root. His voice was deeper, his frame was stronger and his voice had deepened. His sly smirk had turned into a roguish grin and his effect on the surrounding female population had only grown. For the longest time, Wendy had been the only girl affected by his charms, but now she had to vie among the entire female sophomore class for his attention.

But she was the only girl who had his attention, just not in the way that she wished she did.

"Math? Yeah, I think so. I just added the—" She paused at the look of confusion on his face.

"We had math? Shoot! Okay, so two questions: first, did you understand the English and, second, can you help me with the math at lunch?" He grinned sheepishly, his green eyes shining brilliantly, not quite falling in line with his expression.

Wait a minute, she thought, I know that look.

"Peter Pan! What have you done to," Students near the two began to lean into their conversation, intrigued by both her tone and volume. Noticing this, Wendy dropped her voice to a whisper, "Vice Principal Hook?"

He didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed. Instead, he smiled wide. An obnoxious toothy grin that tugged at Wendy's heartstrings and made her go a little weak in the knees. The butterflies that constantly hovered in Pan's presence began a lively Irish jig and she had to fight to keep the corners of her mouth flat as she felt them slowly creeping up.

"Honestly, Darling, it wasn't even that bad." Pan may have been a lot of things, but he was not a very good liar and she could tell from his expression that what he had done was very bad. Of course, the fact that he had called her "Darling" made it a little harder to be angry with him. Pan was the only person who she ever actually wanted to call her "darling", but she knew that, with him, it was always "Darling" and never "darling", a nickname but never a term of endearment.

Oh, but he was so dear to her.

She wanted to kiss him and thread her fingers between his. She wanted to dance chest-to-chest, cheek-to-cheek with him and run her fingers through the hair that lined the nape of his neck.

She had spend so many class periods staring at the nape of his neck and she was convinced that one could not find a finer nape of the neck anywhere. She could ruffle the scruff that bounced up from his forehead, but the nape of the neck was for lovers and, as such, was off limits to her.

"I'm sure it was absolutely awful! But, still, when did you do it? I need to know what time you and I were working on homework together," She sighed in mock exasperation, but she was becoming more amused by the second. While Pan's pranks may have been juvenile at times, they were never boring and, usually, ended in hilarity. He had a very rare gift. A genius that seemed to only apply to tormenting their arrogant vice principal.

Wendy was sure that, if he could harness his genius for something else, he would change the world. Perhaps, as his pranks were typically rather elaborate, he would make a brilliant engineer.

In any case, to her, Peter Pan was as close to perfect as a man could be with just enough flaws to keep him human.

She just had to figure out how to be a woman instead of a girl and soon before the beautiful blonde bombshell in their math class made a move on him. She was having enough trouble dealing with the stress of knowing that half of the sophomore class was in love with her best friend, she did not need to worry about a sultry junior as well.

That Tink Stevens just needed to leave them both alone.

A/N:

Hey Guys,

I know that it has been forever and that I am the absolute worst but I am back and am taking suggestions. I have actually gone back and edited all of the previous chapters, altering where I saw fit, so you should go back and reread them if you have the time.

I hope that you can all forgive me for leaving for so long and will leave suggestions in the reviews as well as what you thought.

I wanted to try something a little new with Peter Pan and Wendy and play around with the idea that Peter is becoming a man while clinging to the idea of being a child while Wendy is a young woman who can't seem to escape childhood.

Also, I'm looking for a beta who will help edit chapters and keep me grounded so please PM me if you think that you are up for the job and would like to work on OUATH

I love you all!

—SSSTD