Chapter 12: The Boy Underneath The Cloak

Hannah's Perspective:

While the figure took his non-dominant hand and reached upward toward his face he grabbed and pulled back the hood of his emerald green cloak. As he did so, my eyes were immediately drawn to stray pieces of dark hair that began to fall out from underneath the hood. I watched the pieces fall from underneath the hood, but what I didn't expect was his hair continued to fall down toward his chest, getting longer and longer by the second. When I looked away from the boy's long hair toward his face my stomach dropped and I could hardly breathe. Standing before me was no boy…

It was a girl…

The girl's eyes were a rich, chestnut brown, similar to the fallen leaves that covered the ground. Her dark hair fell just above her elbows, holding soft waves within it. She stood tall, almost an inch or two taller than me. Her complexion was flawless and her overall appearance would be sought after by any girl that laid eyes on her, making them fume with jealousy at her near perfect looks. She was the definition of beauty, at least on the outside.

She eyed me with her golden orbs and suddenly swung her sword only an inch in front of my face. Taken by shock, I stepped back to keep my balance and avoid her swing. I swung my sword back at her, only for her to deflect it. She quickly spun around and sliced her sword through the air close to my face once more. Taking in deep breaths I did my best to focus, but she was too fast. One after another her sword sent wisps of air near me, only making me continue to step away from her. Her sword clashed against mine as I tried to strike once more.

It was now that I was close to her and could truly look into her eyes. They were fierce and focused directly on me. But what made me uneasy was how cold they appeared. Despite the warm red and green colors swirled within them, they were lifeless and bleak. She pushed me away from her and whirled her sword in my direction. This time I successfully blocked her sword. But as I pulled away and attempted to strike she had already veered away and avoided it. Any time I attempted to swing my sword remotely near her she deflected it. It was like she knew my every move…It reminded me so much of someone else I knew…

I stepped back once more, keeping my eyes locked with hers. But as I did so I felt something push the back of my calf forward and underneath me. Suddenly, I didn't feel the ground below me. I fell flat on my back as the girl had tripped me with her foot, making me drop my sword. As I landed on a ground with a thump the leaves around me blew outward. Feeling sharp pains course through my back I just barely opened my eyes. I looked toward the sky momentarily as I tried to comprehend what just happened. Clenching my fists I sat up and leaned back on my elbows, looking up at the girl standing above me. The Lost Boys observed quietly and intently, other than the murmurs that were being exchanged amongst themselves. The dark haired girl took a few steps closer until she stood directly in front of me.

"I'm just a lost girl…" she spoke, her eyes staring directly into mine. Her voice was smooth and pleasant, yet it seemed almost fake, or as if her voice wasn't used to being used very much. I inhaled and exhaled deeply as all of the Lost Boys' eyes were on us. They observed my defeat and my obvious embarrassment up close. I wanted to hide from the fact that I was easily defeated after I was so confident in myself.

"I'm Lea" she continued. Sheathing her sword, she outstretched her hand toward me, offering to help me up. Looking up at her I felt a sort of animosity towards her. First, she acts all tough and beats me to the ground, then she pretends to be caring and offers to help me up? I see right through her. I see right through all of the fake people I meet, and I can already tell she's one of them. Declining her offer, I rudely stood up on my own and turned away from her, beginning to storm into the crowd of Lost Boys.

"Seems like you have quite the trouble swallowing your pride."

I stopped in my tracks as her voice rang throughout the silent forest. Any and all murmurs amongst the Lost Boys immediately ceased. Turning my head I glared back at her. Who the hell does this girl think she is? Without considering the consequences I stormed over to her. Feeling my blood begin to boil in my veins like burning magma I raised my hand, ready to smack the cocky expression off her face. But before I could even build up any momentum the girl quickly grabbed ahold of my wrist with her right hand and clamped down on it. I hissed as the amount of strength this girl had was shocking and alarming. When I tried to pull away from her she gripped my wrist harder and scowled at me.

"Don't even try it—" she hissed. It was now that I realized I was unable to pull my wrist free. The girl's eyes narrowed and became dark—darker than you'd expect from a girl who doesn't come across as looking very tough. But that was part of her trick. Her looks and seemingly kind nature concealed her true character; cruel and bitter.

"You may think you just automatically get respect from winning a rigged fight, but you don't win respect—" Her grip around my wrist tightened further.

"You earn it."

There was a slight pause before she released my wrist from her grasp and stormed off into the crowd of surrounding Lost Boys. It was then that everyone's attention fell to me. They whispered and gossiped aloud as the girl's words echoed in my head.

"You don't win respect…"

The Lost Boys began to disperse from around me as I continued mulling over what she meant. What did she mean by winning a rigged fight? How could she think I faked it? Because obviously, that would be impossible. There's no way a jerk like Brett would agree to ruin his reputation to help me. Unless—

If maybe…

The memory of when I first met Brett flashed in my mind. The memory was still fresh as it had only happened yesterday.

Brett took a step forward and made direct eye contact, allowing me to look into his chocolate brown eyes that appeared to have specks of red and yellow flakes splattered throughout it.

Then suddenly an odd detail from the duel played in my head.

But when I, in fact, looked into his eyes I felt slightly unsettled. His eyes were the same chocolate brown except now green and blue specks were splattered throughout his irises…

My fists clenched as well did my jaw. Everything now made sense. My anger began to consume me. The duel was rigged. But who would've done it to benefit me? To make me feel better? To make me appear less weak? Turning towards the fire nearby the huts I witnessed Julian sitting alongside Sam by it with his hands folded in his lap. As my anger grew I started towards him, rehearsing all of the things I wanted to say in my head. He lifted his head when he got a glance of me approaching him. Now standing before them I finally released my anger.

"Why did you set me up?" I confronted him with a stern voice. Julian's expression turned to one of confusion, as did Sam's. Julian began to speak as he stood up from his seat.

"What do you—"

"Don't play games with me. That wasn't Brett in the ring with me." I cut him off, my snarky tone filling the air. At this point, Sam stood up and stepped in.

"Look, we don't know what you're talking about. Neither Julian or I would set you up. We didn't do anything, right Julian?" Sam turned to Julian expecting an answer. But Julian stayed silent as his gaze fell to the ground. With this, Sam's expression contorted into one of even more confusion. His lips parted as his eyes begged for him to agree with him. Speaking up from his silence Julian started.

"Look, I didn't intend to set you up. I just thought it would be better to be safe. I didn't know she would be here…" He spoke quietly as his eyes met mine, his facial expression remaining serious. I scoffed and shook my head, eyes staring daggers at him as my rage-filled voice continued.

"Be safe? You humiliated me!"

"Julian…what did you do?" Sam questioned disappointedly, strands of his messy hair falling in front of his eyes. Julian sighed and rested his eyes before shortly reopening them.

"He convinced Rhett to stand in for Brett and fake the fight. He told him to lose on purpose" I explained through gritted teeth. Sam's eyes were full of shock as he questioned aloud.

"Julian, is that true?" Releasing a heavy sigh Julian replied.

"Yes."

I knew it…How could I have been so foolish to believe I could have actually defeated someone in a duel on my own? Sam's sad eyes looked to Julian disbelievingly.

"Thanks to you nobody here will ever take me seriously. And by the way, thanks to both of you for not telling me that I wasn't the only girl!" My anger must have scared them because both of the boys remained speechless. To be honest, I was more angry with Julian than I was with Sam. Julian pretended to have faith in me. He lied to me. To think that I could ever trust him…Julian started up once more, desperately trying to justify himself.

"We never told you that you were the only girl, you kinda just assumed it. And it was very easy to assume that since she's not around very much. There's still so much about Neverland you don't know…" I continued to look him angrily in the eyes as he tried to apologize. "I'm sorry…"

"Well, you should have thought about that before letting me go out there in front of everyone looking like a fool…" Turning on my heel I stormed off from the boys, still feeling rage run through my entire body. Leave it to me to trust a bunch of boys…I walked farther and farther away from them until I was met with the exit of camp. My initial intention was to leave for a walk. That was until I heard someone calling after me.

"Hey, Blondie!" I turned around, recognizing the obnoxious voice. I was met by the flaming redhead with fiery brown eyes; Brett. And this time, I knew it was him.

"What do you want?" I snarled, not in the mood to talk to him, or anyone for that matter.

"Listen, a deal's a deal. I figure you still wanna ask your questions?" He spoke with a genuine expression. I looked at him with a raised brow.

"What are you trying to pull? I already know about the fight, you ass—"

"I believe I don't know what you're talking about. And if I were you, I'd go along with it so I could get some answers." Brett said, cutting me off with a mischievous grin. Eyeing him suspiciously, all I could think was that I had nothing to lose; literally. Exhaling a deep breath I nodded my head, turning back to the exit with Brett alongside me. As we exited the camp I already had a whole list of questions fresh on my mind.

Sam's Perspective:

After Hannah stormed off from us I turned to Julian with a disappointed expression. "What the hell were you thinking? Were you trying to screw her over?" I asked boldly. The fact that he kept all of this a secret from me just blew my mind.

"I was trying to help. How was I supposed to know Lea would come in and kick her ass?" He tried. Julian looked to me desperately, as if it was his only choice. But I held no sympathy for him.

"That's not the point. Hannah trusted you when she needed you most and you let her down. Not to mention that you kept all of it a secret from me, your best friend." I glared at him as I was still in shock that he had gone behind my back. Ever since Jake died he's been constantly keeping secrets from me. Julian sighed before beginning once more.

"I'm sorry, but I had to. I knew you would try to stop me and I did what I thought was right. But I messed up." Julian continued to try and explain why he did what he did, but I had had enough.

"Yeah, you sure did." I walked away from Julian and left him alone at the fire. He was gonna have to figure that one out without me. I just still couldn't believe he would do such a thing to Hannah. Now she'll never trust us again…I felt betrayed and alone. There was only one person I felt like talking to. I had a slight feeling that maybe I'd be able to find her.

I walked through the woods by myself, listening to the wind in the trees. Surrounding me was a bunch of standing ash trees along with a few fallen trees laying on the ground. If I didn't know any better I'd say she should be someone around here. Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough? But where else would she possibly—

My thoughts were interrupted when something hard hit the back of my head. Looking to the ground I saw a small gray stone at feet. When I turned around in the distance I was met with a pair of bright brown eyes and a playful smirk, standing atop of a fallen tree.

"Lea!" I exclaimed as I darted towards her. She hopped down onto the ground with outstretched arms. I lunged toward her and embraced her in a hug, picking her off the ground.

"Whoah there, Sam! Calm down!" Lea laughed as she returned the hug. I put her back down on the ground but still continued to hug her.

"How can I calm down when I haven't seen you in so long?!" I celebrated, a smile stretched across my face. She laughed once more. "Has it been three months already?" I questioned with astonishment. I let go of her and stepped back.

"Two and a half," she said. "But I came back early because it's important." Hearing her voice was always a pleasant surprise. Since she can't be around much anymore it's really special to hear it.

"Well, you probably have Pan wondering what's going on. It must really be something if you're not staying on schedule."

"I know, I know, but it can't wait. It's urgent."

"Then why are you out here when you could be talking to him now?" I asked. Lea shook her head and sighed, rolling her eyes to the back of her head.

"Because I got distracted and now I just need to calm down." I raised a brow and spoke to her.

"She's not as bad as she makes herself out to be you know. She's just feeling how you did when you—"

"Nah uh, no. Don't compare me to her. We're not alike." She quickly shot me down and denied me. The way she quickly cut me off really said something about how much she disliked her.

"How would you know? You don't even know her." I responded with a confused expression.

"And you do?" She quickly shot back. "I know enough. You saw the way she looked at me." Pieces of her long dark hair fell in front of her face.

"But was it really necessary to do what you did back there?" I questioned, trying to get her to reason with me. In all seriousness, she responded.

"Someone needed to put her in her place." Her gaze fell to the ground as she took a few steps away from me.

"You don't think it was a little harsh?" I asked honestly. Her eyes met mine and suddenly darkened.

"That was me being nice" she snarled. "She denied my friendship, so she got what was coming to her." Silence fell between us for a few moments. I could hear her breathing heavily and instantly knew she was getting stressed.

"I'm sorry…" I spoke. Her expression softened slightly.

"What for?" She questioned, exhaling a deep breath. My heart began to ache as I spoke.

"For constantly having to be alone." Lea rested her eyes and looked away from me. When she reopened her eyes her gaze fell towards the leaf covered ground. Her voice now was more calm and smooth.

"It's for your guys' safety. There's not much else that can be done…" She trailed off and ran her fingers through her hair.

"You wanna talk about it?" I asked, trying to help in any way that I could. I hated seeing her so bitter. It was just so unlike her.

"No, I'm fine."

She began walking farther into the woods, leaving me by myself. She disappeared into the trees, most likely heading back to talk to Pan. What I didn't understand was why she wouldn't open up to me anymore. You'd think that being alone in the forest would make you burst with things to say, but I guess I was wrong. She remained closed off and secluded. I had hope that maybe one day she'd be able to open up to me, to all of us, again. But that hope has slowly faded with time. She was set in her ways of being distant…

And alone…

—

A.N:

Hey guys! Finally finished this chapter. Took me a while but I wanted to make sure I got it right. Plus this new format was a bit tricky for me to figure out. Speaking of, what do you guys think of this new format I wrote in? Yes? No? Maybe so? Anyway, what did you guys think? I don't want to say anything too revealing because I want to know all of your own thoughts! Don't forget to comment your thoughts and predictions and I'll see you all in the next update!

—Agm3