Especially for You

"That was really something."

Sky directed this to Slightly and then ruffled his hair. They both laughed.

That was an understatement.

Sky had nearly sobbed when seeing the poster board…a side of him I had never seen before. It almost frightened me; it certainly caught me off guard. I hadn't expected his reaction be anything like that, so I was still shaken up from it.

All the Lost Boys were now hugging Sky or touching his arm with a look on their faces that pained me to look at. I turned away from the scene without causing distraction.

I began to walk to the dinner table, and Ali caught my arm. "I didn't think I'd already be crying," she chuckled, wiping a tear off her face. She caught sight of my expression and instantly became somber. "Corie, what is it?" she asked, reaching towards me.

"It's nothing," I tried to say in a bright tone.

Ali wasn't buying it.

"Something's up," she said with narrow eyes.

"I'm obviously upset about leaving. That's all."

She looked deep into my eyes. "You're such a liar."

I scoffed and went over to the table to sit down, Ali right on my tail. I looked to where Peter had been standing previously, and he was now with the Lost Boys, sharing the moment that had hurt too much for me to look at. The guilt was causing physical pain in my chest. I pressed my hand against my heart to ease it, but it did nothing.

"Corie, come on." I looked to my right and saw Ali in the chair next to me, her face so full of sympathy and innocence, I felt like I was staring at one of my sisters. I knew I could confide in her.

"I feel…" I couldn't find the right word. "Guilty" wasn't strong enough and "bad" just didn't even reach it. I looked at my friend with wide eyes. "…horrid."

She looked at me with an astonished expression. " 'Horrid'?" she quoted me with a note of disdain. "Where are we now? In Henry VIII's royal kingdom?" She laughed.

I didn't return the laughter.

"Okay okay," she eased me, turning me away from the boys. "I know you're upset. I shouldn't be making fun of you. But what could possibly be making you feel so…horrid?"

"Look at him."

Ali didn't need specifics; she knew whom I was talking about. She looked at the Lost Boys who were now partaking in an activity that looked like fight club. Sky was wrestling with Tootles, the two of them cracking up. The rest of the boys were cheering them on, the majority pumping their fists for their brother that was leaving.

"He looks fine!" Ali exclaimed, turning back to me. "What's your problem?"

"He doesn't look fine. He looks spectacular!" I corrected her. She brow furrowed in confusion, but I pressed on. "Sky is so happy here. This is all he knows! This is the one place that he loves! He can't love it anywhere else."

"Calm down, Corie!" Ali cried, holding her hands up. "What are you freaking out about? I feel like you're about to have a heart attack for no reason!"

I realized how loud I had been. Immediately, I looked towards the boys to see if they had noticed, but Sky and Tootle's wrestling match was still taking place. My head turned back to Ali, and I took a deep breath to calm myself.

"I'm selfish," I whispered.

And it was true. Never had I said these words aloud, and hearing them caused the pain in my chest to ignite. I put my hand to my heart to ease it, but it did nothing. I figured that nothing would ever help that.

"Corie," Ali said gently, "you're not selfish. Sky loves you! I'm sure that he would much rather live in your world than live in his without you."

I looked up at her. "Do you really think that?"

"I know that!" She smiled. "The way he looks at you…it's nothing I've ever seen before. It's like a man looking at the sky for the first time."

I laughed and hit her arm. "Ok, be a little more cheesy."

She rolled her eyes, but smiled. "Now, come on. Stop being a party-pooper. This is our last night with the boys, and we can't spend it sitting in the corner, crying over something we have no reason to be upset over."

I straightened up in my chair and plastered a smile on my face. "You're right!" I looked over at the fight that was still taking place. "Let's go cheer Tootles on."

And we did. Ali and I ran over to the circle of our favorite boys and became part of the mob as we pumped our fists in the air and praised for the younger of the two. I smiled, laughed, and cried out with passionate fervor, but deep inside, I still couldn't shake away the resting guilt.

After the fight, the Lost Boys led us outside of the hideout and into the woods. They said they had a surprise for us.

"What is it?" Ali cried out, too eager for her own good.

"We can't tell you! Then it wouldn't be a surprise!" Tootles cried back at her.

Sky was walking beside me, a huge smile on his face. I noticed that he kept rubbing at his right shoulder.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He saw me looking at him and he shrugged. "Nothing's wrong."

A sheepish look crossed his features as he rubbed at his shoulder some more.

I laughed. "Are you sure you let Tootles win that fight, or did he really win?"

He pushed me with his one arm. "Shut up. He's a big kid."

In shock, I began laughing some more. A kid who was shorter than me had beaten a 6'8 Sky. "You're telling me that you lost to Tootles. I thought you were being the bigger person and letting the kid win!"

My laughter was now being noticed. All the Lost Boys were looking towards me, curious expressions on their faces.

Sky quickly covered my mouth and waved at the boys. "Ignore her. She had too much Fairy Milk."

They gave us broad grins, but continued to chat and discuss the surprise in suppressed details.

"Release me," I said, my voice muffled.

"If you promise not to tell anyone that Tootles beat me." Even he couldn't say it without laughing.

I pushed his hand off, but couldn't stop cracking up. "I am ashamed to call you mine."

He faked a pout. "How could you say that?" he asked, his voice slightly cracking. I almost reached towards him out of sympathy, but a smile broke his features. "Nah, I'm just joking."

We continued to laugh for a couple minutes, and he slid his hand into mine. My laughter died down, and I noticed how natural it was for us to be touching. It was almost second nature to me. Having contact with Sky was like blinking or taking breaths; it was a reflex.

I stared at out entwined fingers, and I sighed.

"What?" Sky asked.

When I looked up at him, he still had a wide smirk on his face. He was so happy. I wanted to forget about that guilt that I had felt before, but it was still sitting on my conscience. I squeezed his fingers and shrugged my shoulders.

"Nothing," I said.

He returned the squeeze. "Eh, come on. You think I really don't know when something's up with you?"

I still didn't say anything, because I had no idea how to word it. I had no idea how Sky would take it, especially at this point. We were leaving in only a couple of hours; how could I bring up something so naïve and miniscule when his whole life was about to change? But at the same time, I felt like maybe it wasn't that small.

"Corie," he pushed. "Do you want to talk about the restaurant still?"

That surprised me. I had completely forgotten about that. And now that he had mentioned it, the guilt felt heavier. What Lisa had said was in the back of mind, a broken record in my eardrums: "I just don't think that Sky wants to come to the real world. Not only that…I don't think he's ready, and I don't think he'll ever be."

My heart thumped against my chest.

"No," I managed to finally say. "I don't really want to talk about the restaurant."

Sky stared at me, his eyes wide. "Seriously? You seemed pretty set on it before…" He still continued to look at me, analyzing every expression that crossed my face.

I knew that he could read me well, so there was no point in lying. Sky and I always knew when something was wrong with the other. It was the instinct that lay deep within our relationship.

I took a deep breath and looked up at him with tight eyes. "Maybe we should talk about it when we get to the tree house. I don't want you in a sour mood right now."

Sky's face darkened. "Whatever you say is going to put me in a sour mood?" he asked quietly. I could hear the irritation in every word.

"Well it's not going to make you angry, but it's not going to make you happy either."

What a fantastic way to put it.

Sky exhaled, and I looked up to see his jaw was clenched.

"Please don't be angry. I promise it's nothing bad. I'm just being paranoid about stuff," I pleaded.

"You promise?" he said, his voice still hard.

"Yes." I squeezed his hand. "I just want to make sure that everything is perfect before we leave, you know?"

His face softened at that. He looked down at me with a reluctant smile. "Isn't it always perfect with us?"

I beamed at the sight of his smile. "Yes, but you and I both know how intense our arguments can be."

He leaned towards me, and his hushed breath against my face made my cheeks flush. "And you and I both know how great the makeup sex is after our intense arguments."

I pushed him away, but squeezed his hand again. "I love you," I reminded him.

"Ditto," he teased.

I ruffled his sandy hair.

"We're here!"

I looked up at Tootle's cry and saw that we were standing in the clearing of Fairy Forest. Twinkling lights surrounded us and the buzzing of the fairy's wings was tickling my ears. It was always a delight to come here; it never got old, but why would the Lost Boys take us here on our last night? Didn't they say they had a surprise for us?

I looked across the crowd and saw that Ali was thinking the same thing as me. She was smiling, but looking around her apprehensively.

"Well, this is nice. B-but…" she stammered. She broke with a nervous smile.

"What is it?" Peter asked Ali, looking down at her with a knowing smile.

Something was up.

"But we've been here before," I helped Ali. "And I thought you said you guys had a surprise for us."

At that, the Lost Boys broke out into quiet laughter. They hit each other's shoulders and covered their mouths to suppress their giggles.

"OK," Ali said, throwing up her arms, "what's going on? What are we doing here?"

Half of the boys went to her and the others came over to me. They pulled me away from Sky, leading me towards the center of the clearing. I looked over my shoulder at Sky, and he just waved leeringly at me.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked in mock horror.

"Just wait," Nibbs ordered.

Once we were in the middle, the boys sat us down. I plopped down onto the leaves next to Ali. I looked at her in bewilderment. She mirrored my expression.

"All right," Curly announced. "This is the greatest honor anyone could ever have."

The boys were now standing in front of us, Sky and Peter included. It looked like they were shielding the view of the woods from Ali and me. We couldn't see behind them, and it seemed as if something was directly behind their backs. I tried to peek my head around the group, but they kept moving around so as to hide the sight from me.

Curly continued, "It took a lot of convincing and pleading, and in the end, getting on our knees and begging."

"And we all know, English gentlemen do not beg," Ali intervened, holding her pointer finger up. The two of us began laughing, but the boys shushed us immediately.

"This isn't a joke!" one of the twins yelled out.

We stifled more laughter, and Curly continued. "As I said before, it is an honor that many people have never had the pleasure to see. All of us have only seen it once, and that was when we lost one of our own." He broke off and gave a side look to Sky.

I looked at him also and saw that Sky was looking down at his feet, shuffling his bare toes along the tall grass. My heart ached for him. If I ever lost Ali, I don't even know what I would do.

"Anyway," Curly said in an uplifted tone, "since we figured this is a very rare time, this was a special occasion. Never before have we had such wonderful visitors." The Lost Boys beamed at us, and tears instantly filled my eyes. "And also, we are losing another brother of ours." He reached his hand out for Sky's and Sky surprisingly took it, smiling weakly at Curly. "We understand why you are. Who doesn't?" Everyone suddenly looked at me, and my cheeks turned red. I buried my face into my knees, and they all laughed.

"Corie and Ali." When I looked up, someone new was speaking: Peter. He was now in Curly's spot, his leader position more poignant than ever. I stared at him, feeling his authoritative power take over me. "Words can never describe how much you two mean to us. We have been through so much together: mini adventures, stories, laughter, fights, kidnapping, arguments, and even love."

His voice had never sounded so calm. I found that his words were causing the tears to brim over my eyelids and slide down my cheeks. I quickly wiped them away before anyone noticed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Ali's shoulders were shaking with sobs. I reached over and rubbed the top of her knee soothingly.

Peter continued. "It is terrible to think that…" He quickly looked away, trying to keep his stature. He cleared his throat and shook his head. "It is terrible to think that you will never step foot in Neverland again." At this he looked straight at Ali. Her shoulders shook more. "I can't explain how much it pains me to think of that." His voice broke on the last word and he shook his head again. He had to regain his composure again, and he kept talking. "You two are our world now. It's hard to believe that we've only been together for ten days, because I feel like I've known you two my whole life. And such a long life I've had." He smiled at that.

"I remember when I first met you guys. You reacted just like Wendy did: you didn't believe me, yet you were infatuated with what I had to say. When I first flew, your eyes grew wide enough to stretch across your entire face." Ali and I laughed. "And the look on your faces when you first saw Neverland."

Even from our distance from Peter, I could see that tears were in his eyes. I was crying hysterically now. I tried to swallow it all down, try to get through this moment without looking like a complete baby, but it was impossible. Everything Peter was saying was bringing up my favorite memories of the past days. And he was right: ten days and I felt like these boys were my family. I never thought that was possible. If someone had told me that I would fall in love with a boy after knowing him for only ten days, I would have laughed in his or her face. The truth was though, I fell in love with Sky the first time I saw him. Neverland had a way of changing everyone's perspective. It was complete magic.

All the Lost Boys were crying now, and it physically hurt to see them all like that. Sky had his fist up to his mouth, but I saw this his shoulders were shaking as well. It was a sob fest. All of us were letting all of our emotions out. I kept having to wipe my hands across my face. Tears were continuously coming out of my eyes. There was no stopping them.

"Anyway, you girls already know how much you mean to us," Peter managed to say. "We don't need to go into details about our love for you."

We nodded with weak laughter.

At this, Peter slowly turned to Sky, as if he was dreading this part, and he couldn't hold it in any longer. Tears erupted from his eyes as he looked at his best friend. He was shaking uncontrollably, no longer able to keep his leader stature. We all understood the significance of this speech. And it hurt so much to see the exchange.

Sky was no longer trying to hold it in as well. His sobs were loud, almost booming. He still had his fist up to his mouth, but it was no use; his tears were crashing down his face, hitting the forest floor over and over.

I looked at Ali, and she looked at me. I figured I looked at pitiful as her. We turned our heads back at Peter and Sky.

Sky walked towards Peter, still keeping distance between them to allow Peter his moment.

Peter was a mess. It took him nearly a minute to finally take normal breaths. He cleared his throat and looked Sky full in the face.

"Sky," he finally said. More tears. "I…I absolutely…I hate knowing you can't come back to Neverland once you fly off with Ali and Corie. That is why I plan on staying here. I don't think I have the heart to see you in that world, knowing I can't help you get through it." Sky nodded, wiping his face.

Peter smiled through his tears. "But I know that Corie will help you. She would do a better job than me." They both turned their heads towards me, and I couldn't bear to look into their eyes for more than a second. I bit my lip and cried into my knees.

"She loves you Sky…just as much or maybe even more than we do. That is why you need to go there. That is why it is essential you leave your home and start a new one with Corie.

"I know you're scared. We all are for you. I don't blame you. But I know you can do it just as long as your hand is always resting in Corie's. And as long as you know that we're always thinking about you, praying for you, and hoping that you're thinking of us just as often as we will.

"You know how much your friendship means to me. It is what keeps me going everyday. Your support, your kindness, and your compassion for this life are what have kept us going through all the years.

"I will never be bitter about you leaving. I have seen many people come and go, and I have always understood about that decision. When I lost Wendy--." Peter caught off at this, looking down at the ground. Sky put his hand on Peter's shoulder.

Sky nodded. "I know," he whispered. "I know what it meant to you."

Peter looked up at him. "And you were there for me. It took me years to get over it, but you were always there for me."

A slight smile reached Sky's lips. "I learned from the best."

Peter shook his head. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Peter," Sky said, his voice shaking. "You think I don't take account of all the times you comforted me whenever I was upset about my family? And you don't think I remember all the times you talked to me whenever I was pissed off, crying, or just confused about Tug dying?"

"Yeah." Peter's voice was weak, almost childlike when he spoke. He looked up at Sky with big eyes. "I guess we've both helped each other."

"You know that we have."

And with that, they hugged. It was one of the most beautiful moments I had ever seen, and yet, that preoccupied guilt was still resting on my mind. I was tearing these two best friends apart, and I hated knowing that.

As if Ali knew what I was thinking, she put her hand on my knee and rubbed it for about two seconds before taking it down again.

I could not even imagine if the roles were switched: Ali in Peter's, and me in Sky's. If Ali and I had to say goodbye to each other like our guys were doing right now, I would not even have the breath to say my feelings to her.

And it was different. Ali and I had met freshman year of high school…Peter knew Sky since he was a baby. What was I doing?

I kept my eyes away from the scene until they finally parted. I was scared that I would cry even more. It seemed pointless though, because even looking at the forest floor, tears continuously fell on my knees.

"Now that that tear fest is over," Peter laughed, his nose still stuffy.

All of us laughed, but still wiped the trail of tears off of our cheeks.

Sky was sitting next to me now. The second he had come over to me, he had put his head in my lap, shaking uncontrollably. All I knew to do was just to touch every part of him: his hair, his face, and his back. I just wanted him to know what I was there for him; more importantly, I wanted him to know I was sorry. I was so sorry for making him react like this. I could not shake away the feeling that everyone would not be crying if it weren't for me taking Sky away.

I tried to ignore that and enjoy the surprise show that was planned for Sky, Ali, and me.

"Anyway, like we were saying, this show is a very great honor. It rarely occurs, on account of the secrecy this group of people enjoy so much," Peter said, walking back and forth.

Immediately, my head snapped to Ali. "Mermaids?" I whispered.

She rolled her eyes. "How can it be mermaids? We're in the middle of the forest!"

"Shhhhh!" the Lost Boys hissed at us.

We turned out heads back to Peter at once.

"Like I was saying," he said, glaring at us, "we prepared this for you guys…to let you know how much we love you." He looked behind him, obviously searching for the performers.

"I think I can hear them coming."

I craned my neck to get a good look. However, I didn't see anything.

"Yep, they are definitely close." Peter looked back at us. "Anyway, we would like to formally introduce…"

Before he could finish, there was a bright flash of light; it was so bright, I covered my eyes and looked away.

"…the King and Queen of the fairies," Peter announced.

At that, I opened my eyes and looked before me. My mouth fell open.

Where Peter had just been standing were now two of the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen in my life. They were clearly fairies; they were only taking up about eight inches of the air in front of us. However, the way they floated, the way their garments slinked through the air as if they were swimming in water, and the brightness of their faces had a way of making everything around them look small, insignificant.

Straightaway, my eyes went to the Queen. If she had been my size, her beauty would have made me shrink away from her. Everything about her was exquisite: her long, wavy sun-kissed hair that softly touched the middle of her back, her sharp features that made me inhale as I stared at her face, the flowy pink dress that curled perfectly around her thin frame, and how she seemed to magnetize everyone's eyes to her first. She was mesmerizing. Without looking around me, I could tell that my friends were all staring at her as well. It was as if she had a pure aura around her. She glowed in the darkness of the forest. Her bright tiara did nothing to maim her hair; it almost added to the perfect texture of it. I had never seen anyone more beautiful than her. It was clear to me why the fairies considered her to rule their kingdom.

After looking at every inch of the Queen, my eyes went to her partner: the King of Fairy Forest. It made sense why the King would choose someone as beautiful as the Queen as his wife: he was just as beautiful. His boisterous crown was much more jeweled that the Queen's, but that was not what was most impressive of him; it was his outfit. It almost looked like a British Revolutionary war uniform. The blood red sleeves and coat were lined with gold. The buttons shone brightly, glinting off of my eyes. His pants were red as well, lined with the gold fabric. His face was stunning as well. He looked like the Ken to his Barbie. His blonde hair was shaggy, framed nicely around his almond-shaped face. His shape was fit, muscular. Again, if he were regular-sized, I figured he would have looked something like Sky's body shape. He was unreal, too perfect. I felt like I was staring at two angels.

The way they moved was so poised, so in sync, that it was then when I realized they were dancing. I guess I should have known it at first, but it looked so natural for them to move that way. I stared at them enviously.

The King was obviously leading the Queen. His strong stature looked like he could lift her through the air, and that he did. It was almost like a ballet, better than any Nutcracker show I had ever seen. They were both undeniably flexible: when he raised her into the air, she bent backwards, lying across his supporting arm. No matter how complicated the moves of the Queen were, the King would lift her without any constraint.

And it was clearly a dance of love. The two of them clung to each other. Whenever the Queen would tiptoe through the air away from the King, he would rush to her, catch her, throw her over his shoulder, and her back would arch, and she would fling her arms smoothly into the air. Her dress was a cascade of color as she spun around the King. His hands seemed to find her easily, again, as if she magnetized him. Whenever their eyes met, there was nothing but pure passion. He cared for her, and she for him. It was not a marriage for power; it was clearly a marriage for true love.

After a couple minutes through the ballet, Sky slipped his hand in mind. I quickly took a look at him.

His smile made my heart stop. He quickly leaned towards me and kissed me before turning his head back to the dance.

I had almost forgotten that I knew someone more beautiful than the King and Queen Fairy.