Chapter Two

"You coming? Breakfast ends in fifteen minutes." Peter shook his head in response to his dorm mate's question. Once he heard the door slam shut, silencing the voices of the five boys who had just left the room, Peter slowly pulled himself away from the window. Another sleepless night. Figuring he ought to shower, more for the sake of his classmates than his own personal well being, he quickly washed himself before finding a relatively clean uniform and getting dressed. With only five minutes to get across campus before the final bell, Peter gathered his books and walked at a pace that clearly showed he was in no hurry to reach his final destination.

"Late again Pevensie. Take your seat." Without so much as a glance towards the professor, Peter sidled towards his seat in the very back corner of the room. As the teacher began his lecture on the difference between reptiles and amphibians, Peter pulled his notebook out of his messenger bag and flipped through it until he found a blank page. Small doodles of Narnia and the people that inhabited it, during both their first childhood in Narnia and their second, littered the pages and Peter settled down to add another drawing to the page. This time the pencil began to create the outline of a sword on the page. Throughout the duration of the class, the drawing became more and more intricate until it was an almost perfect representation of his old weapon. Everything from the grooves on the handle to the lettering on the blade was perfect. As Peter went over the lines on the paper he couldn't help but wonder where the sword was now. The last time he had seen it was when he left it with Caspian before returning to England. Wherever the sword was, it was with Caspian.

Peter never drew Caspian himself. He had tried once, but failed so dismally he "accidentally" spilled ink all over the page. Instead he settled for drawing images of things that reminded him of his beloved and occasionally covering an entire page in Xs (Deciding it would be difficult to try and explain why he had 'Caspian' written all over his notebook should someone read it, Peter used X to stand for Caspian the Tenth).

Two hours later, Peter shuffled out of the classroom and into his next one, ready to spend the class in exactly the same fashion as he had the last. Deeply immersed in a drawing of Cair Paravel, the left half as it had been thirteen hundred years ago, the right half the ruins it had been reduced to when he had returned, Peter only caught bits and pieces of the lecture. History was the only class Peter even remotely cared about, but British history seemed so mundane compared to Narnian history. Half listening, Peter continued his drawing of his former home.

"After removing Alexander the Great from his throne, Serbia's crown was handed over to the new King Peter"

"It's High King Peter, actually." Peter's eyes widened as he covered his mouth, realizing his error the instant it passed his lips.

"What was that, Pevensie?"

"Nothing, sir." Peter tried to come up with some sort of cover for his slip-up, "It's just well I thought that King Peter gave himself the title of High King. I don't know why."

"No. No he didn't. There is no such thing as a 'High King'. I don't know where you got that idea. Now if I may continue, King Peter reigned until he stepped down due to health complications following the Balkan Wars…"

Peter silently chastised himself for making himself look like an idiot and returned to his notebook for the remainder of the class. After what seemed like an eternity, the bell rang and Peter hurried out of the classroom. Ever since his return from Narnia over a year ago, or thirteen hundred years ago depending on how you look at it, Peter had avoided his school friends. By this point they had gotten the hint and left him alone aside from the occasional pleasantries.

Edmund was another story. He was everywhere, hunting down Peter and trying to talk to him. Lately Peter found it easiest to avoid him by leaving his class as soon as possible and ducking into an unused classroom. Glancing around to ensure that Edmund wasn't following him, he quietly slipped inside the empty room. Eyes downcast, he walked slowly towards a desk, set his bag down, and sat on top of the desk, feet on the chair in front of his. A small couch alerted him to another presence in the room. He glanced up quickly, his eyes meeting those of his younger brother's.

"Hey Pete, let's chat."

"About what?"

"About whatever. Maybe start with the weather, move on to classes and finish up with whatever is bothering you so much you avoid me, Susan and even Lucy."

"I've not been avoiding you." By this time Edmund had moved onto the desk in front of Peter's and turned so he was facing his brother.

"Good, then you won't mind if I eat with you."

"The food is in the dining hall. You go down, I'll see you later."

"I brought sandwiches. One of which you will eat."

"I'm not hungry." In response, Edmund simply unwrapped a sandwich and handed it to his brother. Resentfully, Peter took the sandwich from Edmund and took a small bite. Edmund watched carefully until Peter had consumed the entire ham and cheese sandwich before talking again.

"Thank you. Now, care to share what's on your mind?"

"No, not really."

"C'mon Peter! I know you miss Narnia, I know you miss Caspian and I'm sorry but there is nothing any of us can do about it and it is killing us to see you like this!" Peter sighed, staring at his shoes intently. He knew Edmund was right, but that didn't mean he had to concede without a fight.

"You have no idea what it feels like to lose your home and the love of your life in the same instant. No idea, Ed."

"I know, I miss Narnia and everyone as well. I know I have no idea, I may end up returning at some point, but until then I'm stuck here same as you."

"It's not the 'same as me' Ed! You left behind friends and your home. You have friends here and you have a life here. My life is in Narnia with Caspian, not here in this hell-hole."

"You still have us! I know you hurt a lot, but you can't keep shutting out everything around you because of it."

The bell rang, interrupting the discussion and Peter moved to leave, but Edmund stopped him. One look from his brother told him they were not going to class.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Following Edmond out the door, Peter found that he already felt a little bit better than he had before.

I'm not really all that happy with the dialogue at the end of this scene, but since I accidentally sent it in as a new chapter about half way through, I wanted to get it out because alerts and stuff say there is a new chapter.

Two questions, first: would people rather I go back and fix the end of this chapter, or move on and start working on chapter three. Second: would people rather I stuck to some of the basic plotline of Dawn Treader, or would that spoil the next movie for people who may not have read the book. Input is appreciated!