Chapter 2: Staring Out Into the World Across the Street

Edmund stepped out of his room, fully dressed in his uniform. His bag strap was resting on his shoulder and he felt like the books were weighing him down. He slowly followed the voices to the cafeteria as he tried to wake himself up fully.

The smell of pancakes reached his nose as he grabbed a plate and went through the breakfast selection. Once his plate was full he scanned the area looking for his brother. He spotted Peter sitting by one of the large windows on the right side of the room.

Grasping his tray tightly in his hands he started to navigate his way over to Peter, trying not to bump into anyone along the way. Edmund kept his eyes on the table so he didn't see the foot sticking out in front of him. Edmund fell down hard as his tray went flying out of his hands. His face landed smack dab in the middle of his scrambled eggs.

The large cafeteria seemed to magnify the laughter as Edmund lifted himself up. He started to brush the food off of his shirt when a napkin came into his lie of vision. He looked up into the innocent face of Peter as he smiled down at his brother, still holding out the napkin. Edmund fought inside himself whether to yell at Peter or to thank him. Edmund stayed quiet as he took the napkin and rubbed the food off of his face.

"Nice trip, Pevensie? I guess I'll see you next fall." A cruel voice called from above him. Edmund kept himself from rolling his eyes at the lame joke. He knew who the speaker was without even having to look at him.

It was Andrew Yorke. Andrew has tormented Edmund ever since he first attended Henden House. Edmund never knew what he did to get Andrew to make fun of him and to beat him up all of the time but Edmund was a little bit grateful. If not for Andrew, Edmund wouldn't have been able to handle fighting.

"Just ignore him," Peter said as he picked up Edmund's tray. Edmund was surprised to see that everything was in the same shape as it was when he got it, minus the eggs. He allowed Peter to carry it to the table for him as he wiped off the rest of his face. "What did you do to him, Ed?"

"Nothing," Edmund responded before taking a bite of his toast. He looked up when Peter gave him an unreadable look. "I'm telling the truth. I didn't do anything to him. He's been like that since I first enrolled here. I don't know why he hates me."

"Maybe it's because you get better grades than him and you don't even have to pay attention in class," Peter offered.

"It's not my fault that we learned almost everything all ready," Edmund grumbled as he took another bite of toast.

Staying in Narnia for a while gave the Pevensies time to not only learn about their history but Narnian history as well. Ever since they came back Edmund didn't feel that he had to pay 

attention in class to get good grades. Now all he does is either stare out the window or relieve memories of their fights in his head.

"Edmund."

Edmund blinked and looked around. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize that the bell had rung, signaling the start of classes. Edmund picked up his bag and started to follow Peter but Peter stopped him.

"Ed, please try and stay out of trouble today. Please?" Peter asked as he looked Edmund in the eyes with his bright blue eyes. "I don't want to have to tell Mom that you got another detention. That would be your…fourth this week? And it's only Wednesday."

"I'll try," Edmund muttered. Peter sighed and crossed his arms. "You know I didn't deserve that last detention!"

"Ed, you knocked off Professor Levitt's toupee," Peter told him. Edmund but his lip to keep from smiling at the memory. He had been running to make it to his next class when he ran into the Foreign Language professor. Edmund helped him pick up his books when he noticed that a fly had settled on Professor Levitt's head. He tried to knock it off without hurting the Professor but he knocked off his hair instead. The other students in the hall laughed as Edmund tried to get away but he got stuck in detention.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Edmund said as he regained his composure.

"Sure you didn't."

"I'll see you later, Pete." Edmund brushed past his older brother so he could get to his first class, which was History. Edmund sat down in the back like he always did and put his book down on the desk in front of himself. He rested his arms on top of it as he waited for the class to start.

He was suddenly pulled away from the noisy classroom and was put in a grassy area with different colors of flowers growing. A cool breeze blew his hair gently as he scanned the area. A sound of thudding hooves grabbed his attention so he turned around in time to see Peter, Susan, and Lucy rushing past on horses, laughing.

"Edmund, come join us!" Lucy called over her shoulder as she pulled on her reigns to stop. Peter and Susan did the same as they smiled at him and nodded in encouragement. Edmund felt Phillip nudge him with his nose. Edmund smiled softly before putting his foot into the stirrup and lifted himself onto Phillips's back.

Before he could start riding he was brought back to reality by the slamming of the classroom door as the teacher strode to the front of the room. He flinched while the teacher wrote the topic of the day on the board with squeaky chalk.



Sighing, Edmund looked out the window and across the street to their sister school, St. Finbars. Some girls were on the front lawn, playing Double Dutch or running around. Edmund thought it was amazing how different St. Finbars and Henden House were. It was like they were in two different worlds.

But no world was as appealing to Edmund as Narnia was. And even that held bad memories for him, memories that he couldn't escape.