Disclaimer: Peter Pan and all the characters, places, and etc. contained therein belong to someone who isn't me *hangs head in dejection.* You guys belong to yourselves. Alas, Mush the yummy newsie doesn't belong to me either *sniffle.* And Captain Kidd was historical, as is Sallie's little story about him. I have my sources ^_~. The rest is mine. ^_^
To my reviewers: You guys are the pinnacle of awesomeness! I wish I had the money to rent a big plane, fly to your various locales and pick you all up so we could get front-row tickets to the Peter Pan premiere and see it together on Christmas day! *Goes into daydream* Wouldn't that be cool?
Shout-outs
*
*
Clips: Thanks so much! Here's hoping the inspiration lasts!
musicguyismymummy: Sorry I scared you Kat, although you have to admit it's kind of funny . . . ^_^. . .I can just see you sitting at your computer with this shocked expression . . . okay, end evil enjoyment of startling someone else. I was thinking I'd have everyone call you Katrina except Kaela, but you can tell me what you want Peter to call you when you review.
Raven: Your enthusiasm makes me happy! *Grins widely* Happy reviews make for a happy author! Yay! *hug*
oi-oi-oi: *carefully writes "Sallie hates my character" in handy-dandy author's notebook* Got it! ^_~ Thanks so much for a character that's a devil's advocate, she adds some needed conflict. *Nods* And it's fun to write somewhat evil people, LOL
PButtercup: Kelsey! Nora! Erm . . . you? Stay excited, this story needs that energy! *hug* Thank you so much for reviewing, reviews make my day! INCONCEIVABLE! Okay, I just said that because you're one of the few people who gets it, LOL
AnimegirlH: *jumps up and down stupidly with you* Yay, we met Peter! Whoo! I'm the one writing it and even I'm excited!
EVERYBODY READ THIS SHOUT-OUT, IT'S IMPORTANT!!!
slammin-sorceress: First of all, you have such a cool pen name! Rolls right off the tongue! And thank you so much for reviewing. ^_^ Puts a little sparkle in my day. I would try to make it a romance except that there are nine of us and only one of Peter Pan. *Entertains brief ideas of cloning* Well . . . but no. Nine of us and one of him. So there are several options, really:
I can draw names from a hat to see who the lucky girl is. (I'm nowhere near that diplomatic, so don't count on it) Since I'm the author I can take Peter for myself and leave you all high and dry ^_^ (Don't worry, I'm not that evil. Well, I am, but I'll try to suppress it) I can leave us all boyless in the interest of a platonic good time that's mostly about friendship and lots of fun senseless violence. (I think the rating will be upped to PG-13 in pirate-fighting chapters) I could create some OCs for the girls that would like a romance to be included on their list of Neverland adventures, meaning I'd stick in an original lost boy or reformed pirate or summat. Just drop a line in your review if you would like to get a boyfriend, 'kay? And if you don't want one, that's 100% spiffy, it means less work for me so just don't ask. But if you do, go ahead. I think this is the solution that works for me. ^_^ But NO calling dibs on Peter! If he's reserved for anybody it's Wendy, but since she's not in this fic and I'm the writer I get to be next in line! Although I bet Tink would disagree, LOL, and I'll probably keep a respectful distanceLe story
*
*
*
Matron Hallis can sense that something is different. The girls are acting oddly. No matter what chore she assigns them they simply nod with a suppressed smile, as if they're all in on some massive prank about to rear its ugly head.
"You, Larson!" Matron barks, grabbing the passing girl by her ear.
"Ahh! Yes, Matron?" Nora asks sharply, trying to twist her head so her ear doesn't hurt as much.
"Don't talk back to me! It was windy last night and the courtyard is full of trash and leaves. Go sweep it!" she commands.
Nora looks at her wryly, head still tilted. "You know, it would be a lot easier to go if you'd let go of my ear," she says. "Unless you'd like to help sweep."
Matron lets go of Nora's ear and glares at her. "Just for that you're scrubbing the front walk all week!" she announces. "With your toothbrush!"
Nora rolls her eyes and tries to suppress a snort.
"Hop to it!" Matron says. "And take your no-name friend with you!" she adds, grabbing Raven, who has the misfortune of being nearby, by the shirt.
"I have a name," Raven snaps.
"Then why wouldn't you tell the police what it was?"
Raven smiles. "I could have told them, but then I'd have had to kill them."
"Get out!"
*
*
*
Matron does not like this behavior at all and it is putting her into a foul mood.
The girls doing their best to go about their pre-breakfast chores but can barely keep their eyes open. Kaela actually falls asleep on the step she's scrubbing and Matron sweeps in to box her ears. Fortunately this plan is thwarted when Katrina hurriedly shakes her friend awake. They stare up at Matron innocently. She's left to shoot a black look at the pair of them and assign them extra work.
"That screwy woman is ruining my life!" Kaela exclaims once Matron is gone, scrubbing more fiercely than before to vent her anger at the additional momentous workload that's been dumped on them.
Katrina looks up from the soap bucket, royal blue eyes sparkling. "Do you think she figured out that it was us who dipped her hand in warm water when she was sleeping night before last?"
Kaela giggles. "Yupperdoodles. We're the ones who had to wash her sheets, aren't we?"
*
*
*
Now that they've swept the courtyard and scrubbed the front walk Raven and Nora have breakfast duty. This basically involves stirring the giant vat of mush (the disgusting kind, not the yummy newsie) that's going to pass for their next meal.
Nora pulls on the wooden spoon hard; stirring is difficult since the mush is congealing and her thin arms don't have the muscle tone necessary to do the best job. "I hate my life."
Raven turns up the burner. Her dark eyes are smoldering dangerously. "For the moment I hate Matron and this mush, but if I have to deal with her any longer or eat it any longer I might agree with you."
"At least we're leaving tonight," Nora offers. "No more Matron, no more mush." She coughs from the mush's fumes.
Raven grins. "Ever again."
"A little help here?" Nora asks after a moment, doing her best to stir.
"Oh, right!" Raven grabs the spoon too. They manage to pull it through the sticky mess a few more times.
Nora turns off the burner and looks at the cement-resembling glob skeptically, holding her nose. "It looks terrible!"
Raven snickers. "That means it's ready."
*
*
*
Gracie and Anna are scrubbing the windows of the attic bedroom.
"At least it's for the last time," Gracie says. "Matron's gonna catch it when we all disappear."
Anna smiles at her reflection in the glass. "If we're really lucky she'll lose her job."
Charlie, who is helping Madeline make the beds, hears Anna and laughs. "An orphanage matron with no orphans? I'll say she'll be out of a job. Serves her right, too."
Anna nods. "Just once I'd love to kick her right in the- well, you can guess." She mutters something in Italian, clearly derogatory and directed against Matron. "Hi-YAH!" Anna cries, kicking air at her hip-level fiercely. In a moment the karate fighter has disappeared and sweet little introverted Anna is for all appearances herself again.
"Done!" Gracie proclaims, throwing down her sudsy rag. "I've washed my last window!"
Charlie looks back and forth furtively then tiptoes to the door. She shuts it as quietly as possible. "Ladies, it's time."
"To what?" Madeline asks in a whisper, catching the secrecy implied by Charlie's actions.
"It's time to pry up the board."
The girls all rush over to Charlie's bed and manage to shove it four feet to the left, revealing a very particular wooden board beneath it. They hurriedly pry it up and look down on their dusty treasures. All of them reach for their own things.
"Daddy's medal," Charlie says to herself, lifting a bronze star and holding it up so that it gleams dully in the early morning light. She still calls him daddy all these years later – he died in a military hospital when she was very young.
Anna wipes the dust off of her book, an early edition of Otherfolk. It's a collection of entries about hundreds of mythical and "imaginary" creatures that's been selling very well in Europe's larger cities, Paris especially. How she got a copy here of all places is almost a miracle. She runs and slips it underneath her tattered pillow so she'll have it out tonight.
Gracie puts on her mother's locket. Fortunately the chain is long and it can't be seen underneath her thin sweater.
Madeline retrieves her green wooden button. She has been afraid of losing it so she asked the older girls to hide it for her. Now she slips the thread ring over her thumb.
*
*
*
Alicia and Sallie are polishing silver under Matron's watchful eye. This chore used to be unattended but Matron soon discovered that expensive, shiny things have a habit of disappearing whenever Sallie is nearby.
"Do you know what they did to him?" Sallie asks Alicia.
"What?" she prompts eagerly.
"After leaving him to rot in Newgate Prison for a year, the authorities hanged Captain Kidd and strung him up over the Thames for all to see! They even coated him with tar so he'd last longer," she adds dramatically.
Matron doesn't like this kind of talk; it's making her queasy and she closes her eyes for a moment longer than usual. Sallie stealthily slips a sliver spoon into her sleeve.
Alicia grins at her. Sallie winks back. Unfortunately Matron notices this, so Sallie tries to disguise it by pretending to be extremely tired, blinking heavily and faking a yawn.
"Why are you all so sleepy?" Matron demands.
Alicia, sensing a perfect opportunity, turns and mouths "Gracie" to her friend.
Sallie immediately launches into high gear. "It's all that Gracie's fault!" she exclaims. "You know her crazy little stories? She woke us up in the middle of the night, ranting and raving about Peter Pan flying in the window or something-"
""We naturally tried to get her to go back to bed," Alicia interjects.
Sallie nods, causing her red hair to ripple. "Of course. The poor thing can't help that she's delusional," she says with fake sympathy. "But she wouldn't listen! She was charging around the room, waving her arms back and forth like a maniac-"
"And she was waking all the girls up too, she has this weird hold over them-"
"They actually believe in her hallucinations," Sallie says in a serious tone. "If you're asking me, I think we should toss her out on the street. What if she convinces them that they can fly? Hmm? They'd all jump out the window!"
Alicia puts a hand to her nose, memory of last night vivid. "When we tried to tell them that Gracie was having an episode they completely lost it," she tells Matron.
"It's like she's the leader of a cult or something!"
"And," Alicia continues, "Raven flat-out attacked me!"
"She what?" Matron asks. She has clearly fallen victim to their story.
"She went ballistic and started pummeling me in my bed!"
"Don't worry girls, I'll take care of it," Matron says with certainty.
*
*
*
It's about midnight and the girls have only just slipped into their narrow, creaking beds. They are far to excited to sleep, especially Sallie and Alicia, but for a very different reason than the others.
The door swings open. Matron strides in and says three words with more severity than she has ever pronounced any others. "Gracie. Raven. Now."
Gracie and Raven gingerly get out of bed, eyeing Matron Hallis suspiciously.
"What did we do?"
"Is something wrong?"
Wordlessly Matron grabs their elbows and hauls them downstairs without ceremony. Once they're gone Sallie leaps out of bed and dances in celebration. "They're sleeping in the cellar, they're sleeping in the cellar," she begins to chant in a singsong voice.
"What's happening?" Madeline asks, wandering over to Nora's bunk.
"I don't know," she answers, "but I know someone who does." She, Charlie and Anna get to their feet spontaneously.
"What did you do?" Charlie demands, taking a menacing step towards Sallie.
Sallie holds her ground, unconcerned. "I told Matron about Gracie's little freak attack," she says, beginning to look a bit more nervous as Anna and Nora also advance. She remains, however, firm in her opinion, and draws courage from it. "The girl's a hazard! A nuisance! I can't stand her. With any luck she'll be gone inside a week."
"If you do any such thing-"
"Hi girls!"
"He's here!" Madeline exclaims, clamoring out of Nora's bed to throw her arms around Peter's waist, which is as high as she can reach.
"Hey Mads! Did you miss me?" Peter asks with a smile.
"Of course! What's that bag?" she asks, pointing to something the size of a four pound sack of flour hanging at Peter's belt.
"The extra pixie dust," he explains. Madeline smiles.
"Oh my word," Sallie says, her jaw dropping. "He's – he's, he's – "
"Oh my gosh!" Alicia exclaims. "Boy – green – pixie – "
"Right, you were asleep last time," Peter says. "Hi, nice to finally meet you!" He holds out his hand to shake. Both Sallie and Alicia stare in total shock.
Peter lowers his hand (he often has this effect on girls) and glances around the room. "Something's not right," he says, taking in the urgent expressions of most of the girls. "What happened? Where are Gracie and Mich- and Raven?"
"Matron locked them in the cellar," Anna says, shooting a contemptuous glare at Sallie.
"What? We have to rescue them!" he says, opening the bag of pixie dust. "Let's go!"
"Matron's room is next to the hall, she'll hear us coming a mile away!" Alicia exclaims.
Charlie looks at Alicia and rolls her eyes. "We're not taking the hall."
"That's right," Peter says. "Quick, everyone think a happy thought!"
*
*
*
Semi cliffhanger, LOL
Please review, guys! Much love! But no flames. Flames are like when you spend hours making a pie for your school's pie auction and nobody will bid on it!