Disclaimer: I do not own any original characters in Peter Pan. Only Jade and co.
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Chapter 5 – The "Dream": A friend's opinion
When Jade came home from school, she ran to the chair in her room and lifted up the cushion.
"Whoa, I really need to clean this out," she said when she saw the mess of papers, bad tests, and conversations from online that were not to be seen by her parents that had built up over the past three years. It was almost spring, early March to be exact, and she would be applying to colleges in just a matter of months. She rolled her eyes at the thought and sighed heavily.
"Oh, Peter. If you don't come soon, it will be too late." She found what she was looking for and took the skeleton leaf from its hiding place, pushing the cushion back down. She walked over to her phone in the other room (her study) looked at the clock, which read 5:45 (she got home late because of play rehearsal), and decided to call her best friend, Nadia.
"Hello?" came Nadia's voice from the other end of the line a few houses down.
"Hey, it's me. What's up?" Jade asked.
"Not much. You?" Nadia replied.
"I've got something I want to tell you! Can you come over? Please?"
"Uhh…yeah, I think so. Hold on." Jade waited, and after a brief moment, Nadia came back. "Ok I'll be over in a few minutes. Bye."
"Ok, bye." Jade hung up the phone. 'Oh man this is so unbelievable…it's unreal!' she thought as she put her school bag by the foot of her bed and went downstairs to make macaroni and cheese – her and her best friend's favorite thing to eat when she and her sisters came over. She has three sisters – Nishat somewhere in California (24), Nigar in Stanford University, California (17), and Nahid (15), the youngest and in her junior year of high school.
Nadia, 16 turning 17 (like Jade but a month later) is in her senior year of high school. The reason for them all being a year younger than the average grade ages is because they started school one year early. Nigar was in college at this point, though, so she isn't in the story. Nigar and Nahid also love macaroni, and olives and pickles. Oh GOD how they love pickles. Whenever the trio gets together at Jade's house, they have a macaroni and pickle fest. When they get together, they are nuts. It's pretty hilarious, actually.
Jade put the frozen macaroni into the microwave and punched in 5:00 minutes. The light inside the small machine turned on and the macaroni started to revolve. She walked over to fridge and took out a can of diet sprite, her favorite. It tasted really good, better than normal sprite she thought, and it had zero calories. The perfect drink. She leaned on the counter staring out the window, sprite in hand. If you could see her, you would say that it looked like she was in a daze. Her eyes were unfocused, and they looked like they were searching for something; no, not searching, looking straight at something that was far away. She was thinking about something…
"Wendy…" she whispered. The microwave beeped, pulling Jade out of her trance. She shook of the depressed feeling that was threatening to overcome her. 'No. I have to be strong and move on. I can't keep dwelling on something that already happened. It couldn't have been helped,' she thought to herself. She took the food out of the microwave and set it up on a plate, ready to eat when Nadia arrived. As if on cue, the doorbell rang and Jade walked to the front door to let her friend in.
"So then he punched his brother, turned around, and ran straight into a pole!" Jade said, telling Nadia about one of her stupid but hilarious friends, Jon. Both girls laughed.
"So what did you want to tell me?" Nadia asked, reminding Jade of what had happened the night before. Jade got up, put away the dishes, and motioned to follow her upstairs. The walked into her room and she opened the window slightly. It was dark outside, but not late – about 6:30. Then she turned to Nadia and spoke.
"You know how much I love the story of Peter Pan, right? And how much I believe in him and Neverland?" Nadia rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Jade he isn't real–"
"WAIT! Just listen to me. He is real, and I have proof," Jade cut her off. "Last night, I went to sleep crying while listening to the tape of Wendy that Amelia gave me on my boom box. I made sure that I didn't have it on repeat so it would stop when it was done. I had a dream that someone was gently touching my face, and then I woke up to a soft noise coming from my left. That was my boom box playing Wendy's tape. When I opened my eyes - and I admit that I was sleepy and thought that it was a dream at first – there was the face of a boy no older than 14 with messy, wavy dirty-blonde hair that was streaked with gold from endless days in the sun.
I gasped and opened my eyes completely when I realized that I wasn't dreaming. NO, wait, I'm not done (Nadia opened her mouth to say something). He gasped as well, startled at seeing me awake, and in fear of me seeing him, he flew backwards quickly and shot out of the window. I didn't dream that someone was touching my cheek – it was real. It was Peter Pan! It was-" Nadia had been trying to say something the whole time Jade was talking and she finally interrupted her.
"JADE! Listen to me! You're overreacting. You're extremely excited about this amazing dream you just had, but-" It was Jade's turn to cut off Nadia again.
"No, Nadia. You don't understand. I have proof. He had turned on the tape player before I woke up. When I did, and he flew away, I got up and ran to the open window which I had shut right before I went to bed and found," she ran to her chair and lifted up the seat cushion, taking out the leaf she found earlier that morning, "this. A single skeleton leaf that broke off of his clothes when he left in such a hurry. Naturally, I couldn't go to sleep, also considering the fact that it was 5:30 in the morning, so I took a shower, then left for school.
Nadia, you can't tell me that this was a dream. No, not with all the proof I have. The tape playing, the open window, and the skeleton leaf, plus the fact that I hadn't gone back to sleep after that. You know you're wrong, and this (she holds up the leaf) proves it." Jade stared at Nadia with a confident, excited expression plastered on her face. True, Nadia thought that these three things were weird, and MAYBE slightly suspicious, though even that was pushing it in her mind, but she could explain them.
"Jade, let me explain. Last night, you were really tired, not to mention depressed and extremely upset over Wendy's death. You thought that you had closed the window, but you actually didn't. You either turned on the tape player on your boom box but you did not turn off the repeat button from a different CD or tape you had listened to before you put Wendy's tape in and completely forgot about it OR you pushed it thinking you were turning it off when actually, you turned it on instead.
As for the leaf; a simple leaf from the tree right outside your window that had floated in during the night. The encounter with your favorite fairy tale? A dream. You woke up in your shower. You used to sleepwalk, you could do it again. Well, there you have it. Everything summed up for you. I don't mean to murder your hopes and excitement, but there's the truth," Nadia stated simply but firmly. Then she saw her friend's face fall, and she looked so sad.
'Oh man now she probably thinks I'm horrible and I'm not a good friend because I don't believe her. I'd better clear this up,' Nadia thought to herself. Her face became sympathetic as she continued to look at her fallen friend. "Listen, Jade…(she let out an aggravated sigh) I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you or make you any more upset than you already were. It's just that there really isn't such a thing as Neverland or Peter Pan.
I don't believe in these things; I can't bring myself to. I don't mean to sound nasty or anything like that, I just want you to see and understand that you're living in a dream world. I'm sorry. (she sighed again) Oh, Jade." Nadia hugged Jade as a single tear slid down her right cheek. Jade silently cried on Nadia's shoulder as she hugged her back, small, quiet sobs escaping her every now and then.
"My parents…want me to stop thinking about all of these babyish things and to start thinking about college and work and all of these stupid "adult" (she spit that word out as if it were covered in venom) things." She pulled away from Nadia and sat on the floor by the window. Nadia joined her and looked at her sympathetically but still firmly. "I can't tell my parents, but I want to so much, just to spite them. Gosh how I want to tell them," Jade said. Nadia's expression changed to worry, and she shook her head 'no'.
"No, Jade. Don't do that. Your parents will yell and scream at you until the cows come home. Why would you do that? There's no good reason, and it's plain stupid to risk being screamed at and possibly punished just to make them angry." Jade groaned. She gave Nadia a look saying "Wish me luck", and Nadia gave her a look saying "You are foolish", and Jade got up and walked downstairs, leaf in hand, to face her parents.
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I hope you liked the chapter! Please review! If you do, I'll update faster. I promise! Unless I have schoolwork, that is. I am a sophomore in college and as those of you who are in college, you know how hard it is.