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Notes from the Authoress: Hey guys, Ellie here! I'm back with chapter 18, after much tedious plot work. This chapter was not a whole lot of fun to write, although the subject matter is a bit humorous. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it a lot! Read, review and most of all ENJOY! My readers are my saviors.
I LOVE YOU ALL
~Ellie~
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The sun rose upon the day before the wedding with a taunting glare that pierced Wendy's closed eyes. She groaned and rolled over onto her side, hoping to escape the final sunrise before she was to wear her faerie-white gown again.
It was to no avail. The sun was a merciless star that morning, and the glare continued to scorch her closed eyes. Reluctantly, Wendy opened her eyes to see her curtains full open, and her messy room all tidy, and smelling very much like lilies-of-the-valley. It was an unexpected and pleasant surprise on her part, and she wondered who would have taken time out of their busy schedules to tidy up her room so nicely.
Her pleasant thoughts were quickly erased from her mind as she looked to the door. Hanging from the knob was yet another dress, with a corset. Wendy groaned, and put her head in her hands.
She had forgotten about the rehearsal dinner! Of all things to forget....she hadn't even picked out a dress - her mother had obviously picked it out for her. That also explained the phenomenon as to why her room was so clean. The dinner was to be at the Darling household, and everyone who was going to be included in the wedding ceremony was going to be arriving later that day. She still had quite a bit of time left, right?
Wrong. She looked at the little antique clock that rested on her bedside table, and saw that it was quarter to three, and Wendy cried out in frustration. The guests would be arriving in a little over an hour! Why had her parents let her sleep for so long?
'Probably because they've noticed the circles under my eyes. Can't get anything past those two,' she thought miserably, and proceeded to roll out of bed, a tired mess.
She walked over to her dresser, where her washing things were, and took the bar of soap that rested next to her porcelain bowl of water and began to wash. The soap stung her face, a reminder of how her clean purity was going to be the death of life as she knew it, and the roughness brought tears to her eyes.
Wendy's washing process was a long and tedious one. She had learned from her mother that every inch of her skin was precious, and there was nothing to be gained except for extra wrinkles in places that were neglected.
She cleaned herself inch by inch, and when she was finally ready to change into her dress, her skin glowed with a morning (or in her case afternoon) freshness, and had taken on a pinker sheen due to the roughness of her soap. One could easily see why Peter had referred to her as an angel so many times in his life. She could have easily been mistaken for one at that moment.
She unbuttoned her nightdress and prepared to once again don the corset of doom. She no longer dreaded the corset, she realized. She had worn it one too many times, and was more than prepared for the loss of air the bloody things brought with them.
Wendy had to admit, her mother had really outdone herself this time with her dress. It was a royal blue silk material, with very short sleeves; one might even call it sleeveless. A tad bit provocative for a family gathering, but beautiful all the same. The corset and bodice were a lacing mess of silver and blue, and there was a yellow rose pinned to the part of the fabric where the corset met the sleeves. The skirt was billowy and swishy, and it seemed to be made more of water than silk. Her shoes were a very similar blue.
It was the first dress with a corset that Wendy had ever enjoyed seeing herself in. It made her feel like a princess; so much so that she barely noticed the pain as each lace on the corset was done up. The blue of the dress set off her pale complexion, and she decided to go against all odds and leave her hair down, but decided to appease her mother and pull her hair half back with a diamond clip. In short, she was stunning. As always.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The process of preparing for the gathering had taken quite some time, and when she was finally finished she glanced at the clock and saw that it was ten minutes to four. With one last look in the mirror to make sure everything was in place, she hurried from her room so that she could greet the guests, as was expected.
Her shoes were absolutely painful to walk in, and she made her way carefully down the stairs so she wouldn't fall. Her parents awaited her in the foyer. Her mother smiled delightedly, and her father looked on proudly.
"You look enchanting, precious!" Mrs. Darling cried as she ran to give Wendy a kiss on the cheek. Wendy gave her a rather forced smile and a muttered, 'Thank you,' and went to join her father, who smiled.
"You would make any man happy," he whispered to Wendy, and she smiled a real, genuine smile. Inwardly she thought, 'I make Peter happy. Why won't they let me be with him?'
But her sullen thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell, signaling that the first guest had arrived. Mrs. Darling flung open the door excitedly, and exclaimed, "Wendy, your bridesmaids are here!"
Wendy groaned inwardly. All six of her first cousins were her bridesmaids. Kathryn, Josephine, Felicity, Brianne, Sarah, and Leah were all very much alike. All six of them were quite attractive and sociable, but compensated with their completely empty heads. At Christmas Josephine had managed to set the entire turkey on fire while trying to help Mrs. Darling.
Leah and Kathryn had somehow managed to poison their own cat, and had never realized it was their fault. They had cried for days. Felicity, Brianne, and Sarah were all sisters, and their biggest folly to date was the time when they had managed to somehow capsize their boat when they had all vacationed together at the Darling summer cottage.
There they were, standing there and chatting excitedly. They were all overly dressed for the occasion, and Wendy almost fainted from the perfume scent as each one of them embraced her and congratulated her loudly.
"I'm so glad you all could come," Mrs. Darling gushed. Wendy nodded.
"Oh, y'know...our pleasure!" Brianne said cheerily. "Glad to be here."
They all made their way into the parlor, and Wendy followed them resignedly.
The party had started.
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The party was well underway; all of the guests had arrived at least an hour ago. John had been very busy socializing, but was dying to get away from the stuffy members of Edward's family. It was so very obvious that they were all rich, and all they could think of to talk about was how prestigious his school was compared to their own children. They had quite the habit of talking to the Darling side of the family as though they were below them, and they were less educated and well bred. Typical of rich folk.
He noticed that his least favorite cousins were there....he wasn't a very big fan of his six first cousins. They had tormented him one time too many when they were younger; he would never forgive them for the time they broke his wooden spear when he was ten. That was an absolutely traumatizing experience. Unfortunately he knew that if he were to carry out his plan and save Wendy from Edward, he would have to lower himself to their conniving level.
Ah yes, Edward. He had arrived about quarter past four, looking very pompous and self-righteous. He had latched onto Wendy and had not let her out of his sight the entire afternoon. It was sickening how he just stared at her and grasped her wrist tightly when he wanted her to come and meet a relative. He was wearing a suit that looked as though it had been incredibly expensive, and he looked pityingly upon the Darling boys and men who couldn't afford such clothing. Wendy looked bored and uncomfortable, and she kept on looking towards the window as if Peter would come crashing through at any time.
'Not till tomorrow,' he thought. He wanted to go and get Wendy away from Edward, but now was not the time. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to Brianne, who was at the time flirting madly with a man from Edward's side of the family that looked twice her age. He tapped her shoulder, and she whirled around, a dirty look on her face.
"What do you want, bugger?" she scowled. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
John ignored her and said quietly, "Come with me, I have to ask you something."
Brianne shook her head vehemently, but John glared at her and whispered, "Now."
She groaned and followed him out of the parlor and into the now empty kitchen, where all was silent. Out of habit, John stayed away from the knife rack, a mixture of his fear of pointy objects and of Brianne the driving forces behind that.
"Ok, so I'm here. What the HELL do you want, you little savage?" Brianne cried impatiently.
"Well, you've seen the man Wendy's going to marry tomorrow, right?"
Brianne nodded her head.
"Do you find him...attractive?"
Brianne couldn't see where this was going. "Of course, who wouldn't? He's got those nice eyes...."
Before she could continue, John interrupted, "Brianne....if i-if I paid you....would you be willing to get him into the broom closet before the wedding tomorrow?"
Brianne gasped. "No! I wouldn't do that! Well, maybe I would...but you couldn't possibly have enough money to make me do that, you don't even have a job!"
John smiled at her comment, and pulled an alarmingly large sum of money out of his pocket. It was most of his savings from his late-night job.
"Think again," he said coolly. "Is this enough?"
Brianne's eyes lit up, and she grabbed the money from John's hand.
"It's a deal!" she exclaimed, pocketing the money gleefully. "So....right before he's supposed to come out and everything?"
John nodded. "That's right. Don't forget, I want EVEYBODY to see this."
Brianne smiled coyly. "And may I ask why you want me to do this?" she asked.
She was feeling slightly more amiable towards John now that he had given her money. In her world, money and men always made things better. She was getting both out of this deal.
"We should get back to the party before anyone notices we went missing," John said, and Brianne hop-skipped happily from the kitchen. John looked after her and smiled.
"My cousin's a whore," he laughed to himself. Tomorrow was going to be quite the wedding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------
Afterthoughts: Well, I hope you liked chapter 18! It was somewhat difficult to write plot-wise, so I hope it was enjoyable. I'm sorry I couldn't get it up sooner, I was skiing this weekend. It was very much fun, thank you! I'll be back soon with chapter 19! I can't believe IDF is slowly coming to a close, it makes me kind of sad. My first ever is ending. *SOB*
I LOVE YOU ALL
~Ellie~
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Notes from the Authoress: Hey guys, Ellie here! I'm back with chapter 18, after much tedious plot work. This chapter was not a whole lot of fun to write, although the subject matter is a bit humorous. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it a lot! Read, review and most of all ENJOY! My readers are my saviors.
I LOVE YOU ALL
~Ellie~
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------
The sun rose upon the day before the wedding with a taunting glare that pierced Wendy's closed eyes. She groaned and rolled over onto her side, hoping to escape the final sunrise before she was to wear her faerie-white gown again.
It was to no avail. The sun was a merciless star that morning, and the glare continued to scorch her closed eyes. Reluctantly, Wendy opened her eyes to see her curtains full open, and her messy room all tidy, and smelling very much like lilies-of-the-valley. It was an unexpected and pleasant surprise on her part, and she wondered who would have taken time out of their busy schedules to tidy up her room so nicely.
Her pleasant thoughts were quickly erased from her mind as she looked to the door. Hanging from the knob was yet another dress, with a corset. Wendy groaned, and put her head in her hands.
She had forgotten about the rehearsal dinner! Of all things to forget....she hadn't even picked out a dress - her mother had obviously picked it out for her. That also explained the phenomenon as to why her room was so clean. The dinner was to be at the Darling household, and everyone who was going to be included in the wedding ceremony was going to be arriving later that day. She still had quite a bit of time left, right?
Wrong. She looked at the little antique clock that rested on her bedside table, and saw that it was quarter to three, and Wendy cried out in frustration. The guests would be arriving in a little over an hour! Why had her parents let her sleep for so long?
'Probably because they've noticed the circles under my eyes. Can't get anything past those two,' she thought miserably, and proceeded to roll out of bed, a tired mess.
She walked over to her dresser, where her washing things were, and took the bar of soap that rested next to her porcelain bowl of water and began to wash. The soap stung her face, a reminder of how her clean purity was going to be the death of life as she knew it, and the roughness brought tears to her eyes.
Wendy's washing process was a long and tedious one. She had learned from her mother that every inch of her skin was precious, and there was nothing to be gained except for extra wrinkles in places that were neglected.
She cleaned herself inch by inch, and when she was finally ready to change into her dress, her skin glowed with a morning (or in her case afternoon) freshness, and had taken on a pinker sheen due to the roughness of her soap. One could easily see why Peter had referred to her as an angel so many times in his life. She could have easily been mistaken for one at that moment.
She unbuttoned her nightdress and prepared to once again don the corset of doom. She no longer dreaded the corset, she realized. She had worn it one too many times, and was more than prepared for the loss of air the bloody things brought with them.
Wendy had to admit, her mother had really outdone herself this time with her dress. It was a royal blue silk material, with very short sleeves; one might even call it sleeveless. A tad bit provocative for a family gathering, but beautiful all the same. The corset and bodice were a lacing mess of silver and blue, and there was a yellow rose pinned to the part of the fabric where the corset met the sleeves. The skirt was billowy and swishy, and it seemed to be made more of water than silk. Her shoes were a very similar blue.
It was the first dress with a corset that Wendy had ever enjoyed seeing herself in. It made her feel like a princess; so much so that she barely noticed the pain as each lace on the corset was done up. The blue of the dress set off her pale complexion, and she decided to go against all odds and leave her hair down, but decided to appease her mother and pull her hair half back with a diamond clip. In short, she was stunning. As always.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The process of preparing for the gathering had taken quite some time, and when she was finally finished she glanced at the clock and saw that it was ten minutes to four. With one last look in the mirror to make sure everything was in place, she hurried from her room so that she could greet the guests, as was expected.
Her shoes were absolutely painful to walk in, and she made her way carefully down the stairs so she wouldn't fall. Her parents awaited her in the foyer. Her mother smiled delightedly, and her father looked on proudly.
"You look enchanting, precious!" Mrs. Darling cried as she ran to give Wendy a kiss on the cheek. Wendy gave her a rather forced smile and a muttered, 'Thank you,' and went to join her father, who smiled.
"You would make any man happy," he whispered to Wendy, and she smiled a real, genuine smile. Inwardly she thought, 'I make Peter happy. Why won't they let me be with him?'
But her sullen thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell, signaling that the first guest had arrived. Mrs. Darling flung open the door excitedly, and exclaimed, "Wendy, your bridesmaids are here!"
Wendy groaned inwardly. All six of her first cousins were her bridesmaids. Kathryn, Josephine, Felicity, Brianne, Sarah, and Leah were all very much alike. All six of them were quite attractive and sociable, but compensated with their completely empty heads. At Christmas Josephine had managed to set the entire turkey on fire while trying to help Mrs. Darling.
Leah and Kathryn had somehow managed to poison their own cat, and had never realized it was their fault. They had cried for days. Felicity, Brianne, and Sarah were all sisters, and their biggest folly to date was the time when they had managed to somehow capsize their boat when they had all vacationed together at the Darling summer cottage.
There they were, standing there and chatting excitedly. They were all overly dressed for the occasion, and Wendy almost fainted from the perfume scent as each one of them embraced her and congratulated her loudly.
"I'm so glad you all could come," Mrs. Darling gushed. Wendy nodded.
"Oh, y'know...our pleasure!" Brianne said cheerily. "Glad to be here."
They all made their way into the parlor, and Wendy followed them resignedly.
The party had started.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The party was well underway; all of the guests had arrived at least an hour ago. John had been very busy socializing, but was dying to get away from the stuffy members of Edward's family. It was so very obvious that they were all rich, and all they could think of to talk about was how prestigious his school was compared to their own children. They had quite the habit of talking to the Darling side of the family as though they were below them, and they were less educated and well bred. Typical of rich folk.
He noticed that his least favorite cousins were there....he wasn't a very big fan of his six first cousins. They had tormented him one time too many when they were younger; he would never forgive them for the time they broke his wooden spear when he was ten. That was an absolutely traumatizing experience. Unfortunately he knew that if he were to carry out his plan and save Wendy from Edward, he would have to lower himself to their conniving level.
Ah yes, Edward. He had arrived about quarter past four, looking very pompous and self-righteous. He had latched onto Wendy and had not let her out of his sight the entire afternoon. It was sickening how he just stared at her and grasped her wrist tightly when he wanted her to come and meet a relative. He was wearing a suit that looked as though it had been incredibly expensive, and he looked pityingly upon the Darling boys and men who couldn't afford such clothing. Wendy looked bored and uncomfortable, and she kept on looking towards the window as if Peter would come crashing through at any time.
'Not till tomorrow,' he thought. He wanted to go and get Wendy away from Edward, but now was not the time. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to Brianne, who was at the time flirting madly with a man from Edward's side of the family that looked twice her age. He tapped her shoulder, and she whirled around, a dirty look on her face.
"What do you want, bugger?" she scowled. "Can't you see I'm busy?"
John ignored her and said quietly, "Come with me, I have to ask you something."
Brianne shook her head vehemently, but John glared at her and whispered, "Now."
She groaned and followed him out of the parlor and into the now empty kitchen, where all was silent. Out of habit, John stayed away from the knife rack, a mixture of his fear of pointy objects and of Brianne the driving forces behind that.
"Ok, so I'm here. What the HELL do you want, you little savage?" Brianne cried impatiently.
"Well, you've seen the man Wendy's going to marry tomorrow, right?"
Brianne nodded her head.
"Do you find him...attractive?"
Brianne couldn't see where this was going. "Of course, who wouldn't? He's got those nice eyes...."
Before she could continue, John interrupted, "Brianne....if i-if I paid you....would you be willing to get him into the broom closet before the wedding tomorrow?"
Brianne gasped. "No! I wouldn't do that! Well, maybe I would...but you couldn't possibly have enough money to make me do that, you don't even have a job!"
John smiled at her comment, and pulled an alarmingly large sum of money out of his pocket. It was most of his savings from his late-night job.
"Think again," he said coolly. "Is this enough?"
Brianne's eyes lit up, and she grabbed the money from John's hand.
"It's a deal!" she exclaimed, pocketing the money gleefully. "So....right before he's supposed to come out and everything?"
John nodded. "That's right. Don't forget, I want EVEYBODY to see this."
Brianne smiled coyly. "And may I ask why you want me to do this?" she asked.
She was feeling slightly more amiable towards John now that he had given her money. In her world, money and men always made things better. She was getting both out of this deal.
"We should get back to the party before anyone notices we went missing," John said, and Brianne hop-skipped happily from the kitchen. John looked after her and smiled.
"My cousin's a whore," he laughed to himself. Tomorrow was going to be quite the wedding. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------
Afterthoughts: Well, I hope you liked chapter 18! It was somewhat difficult to write plot-wise, so I hope it was enjoyable. I'm sorry I couldn't get it up sooner, I was skiing this weekend. It was very much fun, thank you! I'll be back soon with chapter 19! I can't believe IDF is slowly coming to a close, it makes me kind of sad. My first ever is ending. *SOB*
I LOVE YOU ALL
~Ellie~
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