Disclaimer: I do not own Peter Pan. Just Jade and co.
HOORAY!!! I GOT 5 MORE REVIEWS!!! Thank you, BRIdoubleP!!
A NOTE TO YOU ALL - Jade's name used to be Amanda, for those of you who have read this story before and are confused.
To my lovely reviewers:
BRIdoubleP - Haha thanks for the compliment. I can't say that I wrote him perfectly. In my mind, I did, but there are many ways to portray characters. This is Peter in my opinion. I hate it when people portray him as "an Apollo-esque stud," as blahblahblah put it. Thank you very much!!
HarrySlytherinson - Here's your updated chapter!
Muromachi - Hiya, Angus. Here's the update. Hope you like it. Thanks for reviewing my story. Haha, "the end makes you want to read more but you can't until you post the next chapter!" Well, it's here! Actually, it's before the last one you reviewed because the chapters got all mixed up so I had to delete them and upload them again. Yeah, sorry about that. But I have chapter 7 written and I'm going to post it as soon as the next ones I post get enough reviews. See you in school.
WARNING: Curses in this chapter. This chapter is strictly pg-14 for cursing, unless those under 14 can handle it and won't be affected.
OK you people don't understand something. The reason I put so much of myself into the character of Jade is because I AM Jade!!! Hello?! She is ME. Well, a lot of her is me, anyway. Not all of her. Of course I'd put a lot of my traits into the character because she is based off of a mix of me and a friend and my original character for an anime series.
Again, Pirate, thank you for the lengthy review and, even though you were the first to complain about me putting too much of myself into Jade, IrethTasartir, thanks for your review, too. I don't mean to sound rude, but it's really annoying when people are oblivious. Why else would I put my traits as hers? If she wasn't me, I wouldn't give her my traits, personality, or looks, now would I? I didn't think so. Besides, who are you, Ireth? You don't even know me and you're saying that I put in too much of myself into Jade. No one can say that about anyone's character if they don't know them.
Another's note -Nadia is the real thing, in person, in the flesh (well not in the flesh…you know what I mean) in this story. She's not that mean in real life, I just had to make a conflict and needed my best friend in there. She is actually an n incredibly sweet and extremely nice girl, and one of the best friends anyone could have (she has three other sisters as I mentioned in the chapter before this one, one a year younger than her, one a year older, and the other 6 or 7 years older).
-
-
"But DAD!!– "
"NO! Not another word! I have tried to bring you up as an intelligent, proper young lady. I have allowed you to have your fun with your stupid fairy tales, have fun as a child while you could, I even took you to Disney World FIVE FING TIMES for Christ's sake!! Three when you were in your TEENS! I've been retired for ten years, as has your mother. Do YOU have a job? Do YOU bring any money into this house?!"
"Dad–"
"No! You don't! Ten years ago, we had enough money to let us live well for a number of years, I told you that then. A number of years have passed already and our money is running out because of you mostly! Your mother still shops but even she has cut down on that to save money but you don't! You could have helped out but you didn't! You could've gotten a job but you didn't! You sat on your fucking ass glued to the computer screen reading fan fiction stories about Peter Pan, Sailor Moon, and other stupid Japanese anime movies without doing your school work or helping out around the house and being lazy!!
"Dad!–"
"We don't have the money that we used to have and if you keep buying all these stupid manga books and anime videos and DVDs, we will soon be homeless!!" When Jade's father became angry, you didn't want to be anywhere near him. Now, he was more than angry. He was livid with his daughter, and his wife noticed this. She tried to calm him down, but it didn't seem to work, her not being able to have a say in this argument. She became worried that he was being too loud and the other people in the houses around theirs would listen.
"Vincent, not so loud, dear, you'll wake up Annette," she said soothingly. Estelle was Jade's 13 year old little sister. She had blonde hair that traveled to just below her shoulders in bouncy curls.
"You act like a small child and you're long overdue for maturing into a woman. I can't believe that you still act like this! You are an adult now and every other person your age already knows what college they want to go to and what their responsibilities are. They even have jobs! You are not a child anymore! You are worthless! You do nothing to help this family!" Jade couldn't believe what her father was saying. And her mother was doing nothing to stop him!
She was worthless? Is that what her parents really thought of her? She thought they loved her but all they were doing was criticizing her and scolding her for doing what she loved – acting like a kid and having fun. That didn't seem very fair. Now of course her parents didn't mean everything they called her. They didn't think she was worthless, and they loved her very much, but they couldn't stand watching her grow up in body but not in spirit. They wanted her to have a good education, and a good life ahead of her, but she refused to let them have their way.
Jade did not see it that way, and she thought that her parents really thought that she could do nothing and wasn't smart or mature in the least. She WAS mature! In a few ways, at least. She knew what was right and wrong, she knew better than to do something that might cause her or someone else great pain or danger; she had exceptional judgment.
"Let me speak–"
"I will not have this childish behavior in my house any longer! You are almost SEVENTEEN!"
"Dad!!"
"I've put up with your nonsense fairy tales and Peter Pan phase LONG ENOUGH! You will stop this Peter Pan business and you will become a proper young lady! It's time for you to GROW UP!!!"
"DAD!!!" Jade's scream shocked her parents, and caused them to be silent for a moment, just enough time for her to start talking without being interrupted. "I don't care what the hell you and mom think! So what if I'm worthless! So what if I'm not as smart and mature as you want me to be! I still know how to handle myself and I have good judgment! I can believe WHATEVER I want to believe and you have no control over that! You can't stop me from believing in Peter Pan! You aren't the one who woke up to a boy hovering over you and staring at you! You aren't the one who closed your window before you went to bed last night only to have it opened by a boy no older than fourteen dressed in animal hide knee-length pants covered in skeleton leaves!!
You aren't the one who followed the boy to the window after he was startled by you when you woke up, and found a single skeleton leaf from his clothes on the floor by the OPEN WINDOW!!! I don't care that you think I'm immature and act like a kid because I know that's true! But I am mature about certain things and when I know I need to be. I don't care!! I KNOW that Peter Pan is real because I saw him last night! Do you know how I know that?? Because I stayed up after he came because it was five in the morning and took a shower, then got ready for school.
I did NOT fall asleep after that! I STAYED AWAKE!! Doesn't that seem strange to you?! Especially because I didn't go back to sleep! No, I don't act mature most of the time and I don't act like a proper young lady because that's the EXACT thing I'm afraid of becoming! And that's the thing I want to avoid because I love having fun and staying young! I don't want to have responsibility after responsibility thrown onto my shoulders, grow old, develop wrinkles, and start to forget everything and lose my mind! Of course I will never stay young in body unless he comes for me, but I will ALWAYS stay young at heart! I know what I saw last night, and I KNOW that he will come back for me.
He will set me free from this hateful world and take me with him to Neverland where I will NEVER have to do anything anyone tells me! I will be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want, go to bed when I want, have no curfew, not be forced to follow any rules, not have any responsibilities except for making sure that the Lost Boys and Girls, when I gather some up, are safe, and ESPECIALLY no adults!!!! I am telling you this, and I am telling you NOW. No matter what you do, no matter what you say, I assure you that I WILL NEVER EVER GROW UP!!!!"
Jade's parents were fuming. Jade was crying, and she stormed out of the room, running upstairs and slamming her bedroom door. Both she and Nadia could hear her parents yelling downstairs.
Peter had listened to the entire argument between the girl called Nadia and the redhead who he wanted to take to Neverland just10 minutes before. He flew down to the place where they made food and heard her fight with her parents (which made him livid because of her parents but also extremely happy about what she said), then flew back up to her room and started listening to her and her friend again (the kitchen and her bedroom were on different floors but on the same side of the house, which made it easier because all he had to do was fly down, then back up again). 'Geez, that poor girl has it real bad. I feel bad for her, having to deal with stupid adults,' he thought to himself, and settled on the roof to the right of the window, peering in at the two girls.
"Jade, I TOLD you they wouldn't like it! You're not supposed to tell them things like this. They'll just get angry with you."
"I hate it when they're like this! Why can't they let me believe what I want to and leave me alone?! I wanted to tell them because I know they hate it when I say things like that, related to fairy tales and such, and I wanted to make them angry but I didn't know that they'd go totally berserk on me! I knew as well as you that they wouldn't take the news well and frankly, I don't give a damn. I don't care what they think, and I don't care what they say about me. I will not grow up and that's final."
"They're just jerks. If you don't want them to tell you not to believe, don't tell them that you do. And you can't HELP but grow up eventually."
"No, you're wrong. He IS real, I saw him! Why can't you just believe me? I have all the evidence you need!" Jade waved the single skeleton leaf in front of her for Nadia to see.
"That's not ALL of the evidence that I need! I don't want to be mean, but it's just a leaf! I mean, I want to believe this, too, to tell you the truth, but I just cant! Not until I see him with my own eyes," Nadia stated firmly. Jade brightened slightly.
"Then stay with me tonight. Sleep here, or if you can't because of your mom, then at least stay late. If he doesn't come, well, it's worth a try."
"Jade–"
"Please?"
"Fine, just to satisfy you, but don't be upset when nothing happens."
"Don't be so negative. Don't you want to stay young forever? Have a little faith, Nadia! That's what you lack. Faith, and also belief."
"Jade, you can't stay young forever, and no matter how much you want to, that's never going to happen."
"Peter Pan did. He doesn't grow any older," Jade said. She was becoming quite annoyed with her friend's lack of the ability to believe her. Not only that, but also her lack of imagination.
"And who has ever met peter pan?" Nadia asked.
"Wendy has. I never told you, but that woman was the real Wendy. Her last name was Gregors, yes, but that was her married name." Nadia let out an exasperated sigh.
"She was old. She might have been making up stories for all you know! Why are you so quick to believe her?"
"Because I trusted her. She told the best stories, and all of them flowed out of her mouth like water, never slowing or hesitating. She knew them all like the back of her hand, and I just felt like I could trust her and believe what she told me."
"But what if they were just that? STORIES! You could be putting yourself up for a huge disappointment, Jade, and then you'll feel like such a fool."
"I SAW him, Nadia!!! I'm telling you I saw him hovering over me!" Jade yelled, extremely ticked off now.
"If you really think that Wendy was THE Wendy Darling from the story…geez, her death must have upset you so much that you saw a hallucination of Peter Pan and instantly believed that Wendy was Wendy Darling. I'll see how tonight goes. I mean, I'll stay to see for sure, and I'd love it if it were real, but I just don't believe it," Nadia said. She wanted to make her friend happy, but also wanted to prove her wrong about Peter.
"You have no faith at all. You've given up on being a full-fledged child and you will grow up. Well not me. I haven't given up, and I'll be damned if I do," Jade said, determination in making her friend believe her.
"I have faith, but I also have common sense," Nadia shot back. Jade looked at her in slight horror and shock, then anger and sadness that Nadia would actually say such a thing.
"Why you…how DARE you say something so harsh and nasty like that! I can't believe you! Fine, you know what? Don't stay! See if I care! You're only doing it out of pity for me, anyway, so why bother?! I don't care about what you think anymore. You can grow old and wrinkly for all I care! Go on, grow up! But that is something that I will NEVER do!"
"You have no choice! I don't want to grow up, either (Peter brightened at this), but I have to (Peter's hopes fell). No one wants to, but they don't have a choice. It's a part of life, Jade. You have to deal with it and get the best out of it while you still can. I know that I want to be a great doctor and help other people and save lives. What about you? What happened to your huge dream of becoming a paleontologist and discovering new species of dinosaurs?"
"That's long gone, Nadia. Sure I still get excited when I see or hear about a bone or a whole skeleton being discovered, but I want more to just be a girl and have fun." Jade walked over to sit by the open window again. She kneeled on the floor, folded her arms on the windowsill, and rested her head on her arms, taking the pose she so often took every night for the past two or three months.
"So does everyone. It's pre-college doubts, is all. Everyone gets the jitters around this time."
"No, Nadia. I'm a junior, not a senior like you. I'm not going to college for another year, if, that is, Peter doesn't come. But he will…I'm not nervous about college, I just don't want to go! It's the next step towards growing up!" Jade sighed heavily.
"Oh Jade, stop it."
"I can't stand it anymore, Nadia. I hate it here. All that happens is I'm scolded for not doing things right, criticized for my intense liking of a so-called fairy tale and belief that it is real, and I am called worthless and immature. Well I don't care anymore. I know that Peter will come for me. If he doesn't, well, I don't know what will happen. I refuse to grow up anymore than I already am, and I can't cope with the fact that I will grow old and forget everything. I would probably eventually kill myself, and I'm not joking around. I know you think that I'm being selfish because everyone in the world wants to stay young but can't, but I'm different. I feel like…it's almost impossible for me to grow up; like my spirit won't allow me to or else I won't be able to live here in this world. I feel like it wants me to die young, not old. I feel that way, too. I would rather die young than an old woman struggling to remember her own child's name. I don't mean to sound selfish, but in all honesty, that's how I feel."
"That's silly. No one likes growing old." Nadia felt like she was a broken record continuously playing in Jade's head. She just couldn't get it, that she will grow up. "You're being stupid and pathetic. What you're saying doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Your spirit doesn't want you to grow up? Come on, Jade! Think about what you just said!"
"I know that, but I honestly feel like I'm different than other people. In Neverland, I can stay young forever. I know this sounds stupid to you and you probably think I'm in some state of insanity, that this whole "staying a child" business has gone to my head, but that's not true. It hasn't. I am going there, Nadia, and no one is going to stop me and order me about, telling me what to do. Once I go there, I'm not coming back here. Ever. I know he'll come for me, whether it be tonight, in a few days, or in a week, he will come, and I will go with him."
Peter grinned from ear to ear, and Tinkerbell gritted her tiny teeth, not ever wanting that to happen. Nadia sighed and stared at the back of her rebellious best friend. Jade was strong and determined, she'll give her that, and also stubborn as a bull (a pun on Jade's zodiac sign, Taurus). She couldn't believe what Jade had told her about her encounter with the strange eternal boy from the fairy tale. No, she didn't.
Not completely, at least. She thought that the tiny, miniscule part of her that was saying, "It might not have been a hallucination" was merely out of sympathy for her friend - but she had a feeling that Jade just might be right. No! Her mind screamed to her saying that this was silly and stupid. She didn't believe her. No, what Jade said couldn't have been real. Fairy tales don't come true.
"You won't go with him because he isn't real! What part of that don't you understand? I don't mean to be nasty to you, but you just don't get it. You're living in the past, and that's not good. You have to get past the past and into the present, then start thinking about the future.
Growing up is a part of life, Jade, and there's no stopping the process," Nadia said, using hand movements to emphasize the importance of what she was saying. Peter didn't like this girl. She was too negative, and accepted life like it was any other ordinary thing. She had already given in to its clutches.
"You're WRONG! Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it isn't real! I WILL go to Neverland, where there are pirates, Indians, mermaids, fairies, and most important of all, Peter Pan!" Peter proudly puffed out his chest. Tinkerbell smacked him on his shoulder. What good that did, though, her being so small.
"You hear that, Tink? She really does believe in us with all her heart and soul. We have to take her away," Peter said to his tiny fairy companion. Tinkerbell jingled a huffy reply. "Oh stop it, Tink, you're being rude. She's not like Wendy…she's totally different. She actually wants to stay a child. (more bells) So she isn't a child anymore, big deal. You'll make her one again. (Tinkerbell flew up into Peter's face and started frantically and angrily yelling at him which, to anyone else, would sound like a fury of tiny bells) Shh, Tinkerbell, she'll hear us!" Peter lightly swatted her away, and she flew across the window, stopping herself when she got to the other side. In the room, Jade jerked her head towards the window.
'What was that? I just saw something gold fly across the window. It was probably just a stupid firefly,' Jade thought.
"Jade! There are no such things! Mermaids aren't real, they're made up, there are no more pirates because they were wiped out, and there are especially no such things as FAIRisshh–!" She was cut off by Jade, who shot up when Nadia started to say the dreaded sentence that would have cost Tinkerbell her life, and slapped her hand on Nadia's mouth to stop her. She didn't use much force so she didn't hurt her, but just enough to shut her up.
"NEVER say that!! Ever! Every time someone says that, or anything having to do with fairies not existing, a fairy somewhere falls down dead!" Peter was about to rush in, but then he saw Jade do the work for him, and he let out the breath he didn't know he was holding.
'Thank God she did that,' he thought, 'or else poor Tink would be…' He shook the thought from his head and continued to eavesdrop. Tinkerbell sighed with relief and looked at Jade in a different way than before. She held a little more respect for the girl, though not a lot, but enough to make her stop saying bad things about her. For now, at least.
"Now you can stop saying rude things about her, Tink. She just saved your life. You should be grateful," Peter told Tinkerbell. She folded her arms across her chest and turned her back to him, but then she unfolded them and looked through the window at her savior. She will have to thank her later, but that didn't mean she was going to stop her antics. Her annoyance towards Peter's future action of bringing the redhead to Neverland would not leave her. She loved Peter with all her heart, and there was no way in hell that she would let another girl get so close to him. Especially after what happened with Wendy. Nadia pushed Jade's hand away from her mouth.
"Will you stop it with that?! You're acting like a two-year-old!" Nadia reprimanded.
"I'm serious! Once the first child laughed, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about. That was the beginning of fairies. They are real, Nadia, whether you believe it or not."
"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard but to satisfy you, fine. I won't say it. You are not going to Neverland; it's not real. But believe what you want to, if it makes you happy." Nadia didn't have that much strength left to argue with Jade anymore. Jade started shaking her head slowly from side to side.
"You've lost your child's spirit, that's your problem. You're just a…grown-up. You don't know how to have fun like a kid does. Sure, you love joking around and having fun, but not like you used to. I remember when you did, and we had so much fun together. We still do, but it's not the same as when we were kids. I want to always be able to laugh and play like one. I am going to Neverland, whether you or anyone else likes it or not, and that's final!"
"Jade, please listen to me! I don't want you to be upset, and I know that you are, but I want you to see the truth. All this talk of dying because your spirit wants you to stay young is so incredibly pathetic. I don't mean to offend you in any way, but in all honesty, it's so stupid. You thought the encounter with him was real when you woke up, but that was just the dream hanging around you, still. Also, you love and believe in Peter Pan so much that you truly thought it was the real thing. Remember, you were sleepwalking and woke up in the shower. How am I going to get you to understand that it wasn't real?" Nadia asked.
"That's NOT true! And I do NOT LOVE him!! I don't know of love! I have never heard of it!" Jade turned to Nadia at this, for she was getting extremely angry again. Nadia rolled her eyes at hearing the almost exact lines in the movie of Peter Pan that had come out a few months before.
"Oh stop quoting lines from the movie! Yes you have!"
"You are such a hypocrite! You said one, too!! About the so-called dream hanging around me!"
"What about Gavin? Huh? What ever happened to the extreme and true love you had for him? You said you truly loved him, Jade! You said that you even dreamed of marrying him and having a family with him–"
"STOOOP!!! STOP STOP STOP!! I don't love ANYONE!! Love is a grown-up emotion and I will NEVER feel it ever again! Yes, I DID love Gavin, but I can't any longer. Those kinds of emotions come with growing up, and I will not feel them! I do not feel them! Never never again! I don't know what love is. Just hearing it makes me shudder!"
"How can you not love when you have loved him for four years? Unless you were just saying that because you were so lonely, I highly doubt that you haven't felt it." Jade was shivering now at the amount of anger and desperation that had built up inside of her. Just then, a soft, quiet, and barely audible voice that only she could hear, being by the window after all, reached her ears from the night air behind her.
"You will grow young again and obtain the innocence of a child that you once had…" it said in a slow, entrancing tone.
"I will grow young again and obtain the innocence of a child that I once had," Jade repeated firmly.
"You will be too young to feel those grown-up emotions…you will be unable to love anyone in a romantic sense…" the voice stopped.
"I will be too young to feel those grown-up emotions. I will be unable to love!…wait a second!!" Jade's eyes widened. She turned sharply to face the window, stood up, pushed it open as far up as it would go, and stuck the top half of her body through it and leaned out, hands on the half-roof, searching for the source of the voice. Nadia looked at her in surprise, startled by her abrupt stop in the argument to turn around and look out of the window. Just above Jade on the actual roof of her house (not the half-roof) sat Peter and Tinkerbell in a silent battle. She most certainly did NOT approve of what Peter had just done.
"What's wrong?" Nadia asked.
"I…nothing."
"What is it? Tell me."
"No, it really was nothing. I thought I heard something, but it was just the wind, that's all. Besides, you wouldn't believe me if I told you, anyway," Jade said, the last line under her breath so Nadia wouldn't hear, though she did. Jade ducked back into the room and sat about two feet in front of her friend. Now that Jade was back inside, Tinkerbell let out her anger on our poor hero. She jingled madly, scolding Peter for almost getting them caught.
"What was that? What wouldn't I believe?" Nadia asked.
'Oh darn, she heard me,' Jade thought.
"Tink, cut it out. (Fury of bells) I don't care what you think about what I did, I did it and there's no changing that. I had to say that because I could feel her hope and spirit lowering. (more jingling) Stop being rude." Peter floated back down to his original spot by the window and ignored his fairy companion. She, however, was furious with him. How dare he ignore her! She'll see that he stays put while she screams at him this time. She flew down to him and darted around his face, yelling at him and saying rude things. This annoyed the boy immensely, and yet again he swatted the petite fairy to the other side of the window.
"What I thought it was. Forget it, Nadia. I'm not about to start up another yelling session. Besides, I don't believe it anymore. It was just the wind, nothing more." Jade turned her head sideways just in time to see a golden ball of light fly across the window again, and she squinted and looked as hard as she could to try to see what it was. The thing was…Nadia saw it, too.
It could have been Tinkerbell! She felt her insides soar, now extremely excited. But it could have also been a firefly. Her hopes plummeted. Jade turned her head back to Nadia. Another quiet commotion, much like the first, was going on outside, unnoticed by the girls.
"Come on, Tink! Stop that! (Furious jingling of bells) I know how careless I was, I'm sorry! (more angry jingling) I know, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that again but you were in my face! (furious jingling again) And I was ignoring you because you were screaming at me. Look, Tinkerbell, I don't care about what you think. You can't be so jealous all the time. Besides, you heard her say that she doesn't want to feel any grown-up emotions anymore. (more bells) Ok, ok, so I said that, but she did say that in her own words earlier. She has to come with us, or else she'll die! Didn't you hear her say that? (rude jingling) Tink, cut that out! She saved you, remember? Is this how you treat someone who saved your life? (annoyed, mumbled jingling) Shh, be quiet. Don't be rude."
"Jade…" Nadia started, "did you see that?"
"Yes…yes I did…"
The girls were silent. Jade made the first move, and started edging towards the window.
"Um…well, I'm going to go. It's getting late, and my mother will call me soon. I'll leave you be, good night," Nadia said.
"Wait, why are you leaving??"
'Because I know he's here…but he's here for you, not me. I must grow up, I'm sorry…'
"Because I just have to go. I will talk to you later, alright?"
"Okay…good night."
"Good night."
Nadia left, walked downstairs, and out the door.
A friendly breeze blew in from the window just then, making Jade's red hair swirl around her. The night was clear, save for a single dark cloud in the sky. One could say that it represented the loneliness, sadness, and anger the girl had felt all through the night, but that all might be about to change. The stars sparkled as though they were winking at the distraught girl. She sighed.
"Oh, Peter. I know that you're out there listening to me, I saw you hovering over me last night. I still have the leaf you dropped. I'm sorry about my friend. Not many people believe in you, anymore. I do, though, and I always have. Oh why won't you come for me?! It was you who told me what to say earlier, I know it…(she hesitated for a moment) Can…can I really become young again? Too young to love? Will I really lose the ability to love?"
"If you wish it."
-
-
So how did you like it? Haha I'm sorry about the cliffhanger ending. Thanks for reading. Please review. Reviews do boost a writer's morale, and then they write better! (hint hint wink wink)Well, bye for now!
