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The curtain closed for a final time at the Neverland Dance Studio end of year show. Wendy stood on stage, still holding Peter’s hand from bowing. Of course she had no intention of letting go of him even if the show was over. He was her boyfriend. The words sounded so strange to her. She had never really thought about having one before, let alone having the great Peter Pan as a boyfriend. But there he was, standing next to her, holding her hand and smiling down at her. Peter Pan, her boyfriend.
“Good show bird.” He said as he gave her a small kiss, now that the curtain closed they could do that without Miss Tink yelling at them.
“You too.” She said with a small smile, still unused to displays of affection.
“So what are your plans for after the show?” he asked as they walked off the stage to the dressing rooms.
“Nothing really special. After I change I’ll go see my family. They’ll tell me how good I was, give me flowers. You know the same sort of stuff they’ve been doing since I was three. They used to make a huge deal out if it and take me out to a fancy restaurant afterwards, but I convinced them not too anymore. I’d much rather go to the cast party and hang out with my friends and eat pizza. What about you?”
“Well you know my parents, they never show up to anything.” He shrugged his shoulders “Figured I’d probably go to the cast party too. I’m driving Felix and the boys there.”
“You’re cramming all of them in your car? I shouldn’t be surprised. you’ve never been one to follow laws, especially ones meant for your own safety.” She laughed. “I’m going to go change now. See you there.”
Wendy rushed into the chaotic dressing room to put on her street clothes. It wasn’t easy to get to her stuff, people were running around everywhere. There were girls taking out buns, wiping off makeup, ripping off pink tights, everything was a mess. She almost tripped over a small child sitting in the middle of the floor untying her tap shoes. Then some girl hit her with her elbow as she was walking by. Finally she managed to make her way over to the table with her dance bag. She quickly took off her costume and tights and slipped on her denim shorts and a lacy white sleeveless top. Finally she slipped on her white flip flops before heading out of the dressing room. She didn’t bother fixing her hair or make up, she would probably just leave it the way it was the whole night. She’d grab her stuff later on her way out of the theatre. Right now she just wanted to get the meet and greet with her family over with.
“There’s our perfect prima ballerina.” Her mother cooed as she came into view.
Her mother was the only member of her family who was actually interested in dance. Wendy often wondered if she had wanted to be a dancer as well as a girl. She was all dolled up for the show wearing her favourite pink dress and her best pearl necklace.
“Darling, here are your flowers.” She said as she handed Wendy a big bouquet of pale pink roses. “You were wonderful as usual.”
“Thank you mother. They’re lovely.” Wendy said as she smelled the roses.
“Very good job dear.” Said her father sternly.
Her father had no interest in dance in the slightest. He saw it all as silly girls in pink tutus prancing around the stage and nothing more. She often overheard him telling her mother he thought her dance classes were a waste of money. Her mother would always scold him when he said that, she thought it was good for her to have a hobby. Neither of them liked the idea of her making a career out of dance though, they would prefer if she went to college to study a suitable subject, something more practical, like business, just as her father had. Wendy couldn’t disagree more, but she never bothered to fight with them on it, she just kept her mouth shut most of the time.
“That was quite good Wendy. Very artistic.” Her younger brother John said. He was at that phase where he was trying to act like a sophisticated intellectual. Wendy knew that he had probably slept through almost the entire show.
“’Ewwww you had to kiss someone.” Her little brother Michael laughed, making her blush.
“Who was that boy you did that duet with dear?” her mother asked. “It was my favourite number in the whole show.”
“That was Peter,” she replied, looking down at the floor. “Um, we’re dating now.”
“You are what?” her father said gruffly. “I was not informed of this.”
“Well it’s a fairly new occurrence.” She still would not look at them. “We just started dating today.”
“Well I don’t really approve.” Her mother said sternly. “If I remember correctly I have heard some pretty bad things about this Peter boy from Miss Tink. Now I’m not going to tell you not to date him, because I know how teenage girls are, you’ll only want to date him more. But I will tell you I am extremely disappointed in you.”
“I know mother.” She said, trying to keep her temper, no use fighting her parents about it in public. “I’m going to go find Tiger Lily now. See you later.”
Before he parents could protest she had turned around and run off towards the other side of the lobby. She knew her parents didn’t approve of her dating in general, but their reaction to the news was even worse than she had expected. Apparently Peter’s reputation preceded him, and they were not happy that he was the type of boy she had decided to date. Never mind the fact that they had never even met him, they were disappointed in her, they had made that much clear, and he was probably going to hear more about it tomorrow.
Even though the lobby was getting very crowded, it didn’t take Wendy long to find Tiger Lily with her father. Her father was the tallest man she had ever met. He towered over the entire crowd. She pushed through the families scattered throughout the lobby until she got to Tiger Lily. She had also already changed into her street clothes, jean shorts with a leather belt, a turquoise crop top, and brown gladiator sandals. She was holding a bouquet of her name sake flower that was almost big enough to cover her face.
“Hi!” Wendy shouted to be heard over the increasingly large crowd.
“Hello, Wendy. You did a wonderful job today.” Tiger Lily’s father said, his deep booming voice loud enough that he didn’t have to shout.
“Thank you Chief.” She said with a smile.
Wendy had known Tiger lily’s father for a very long time. She and Tiger Lily had started dance classes together when they were just three years old. They were friends from the very beginning and would go over to each other’s houses all the time. Wendy always felt like he was an uncle to her. Chief wasn’t his real name, it was a nickname he had had for as long as Wendy had known him.
“Thanks for the flowers dad, see you later, tomorrow probably if we’re out as long as I hope.” Tiger Lily said, winking at Wendy. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah I just need to grab my stuff from the dressing room.”
They hurried back to their dressing rooms and packed up all their costumes, shoes, and make up. They jammed it all into the trunk of Wendy’s car and hoped in. Wendy’s car wasn’t the fanciest she’d ever seen, but it was nicer than most. It had been a birthday present from her parents, probably the best thing they had ever bought her. As it was the beginning of summer and pretty hot out the two girls rolled their windows all the way down. Wendy turned on the radio to their favourite station, a pop station that most people liked to pretend they were too good to listen to. They were not those kinds of people so they happily drove away with the wind blowing through their hair and the age old classic of Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” blasting from the speakers.
“So what did your parents say about Peter?” Tiger Lily asked once they were cruising down the main road.
“What did you think they said? They hate him. They’ve never actually met him, but apparently ‘they’ve heard stories. They’ve never really liked the idea of me dating anyone in the first place.”
“So are they not going to let you date him then?”
“No, they’re going the whole ‘you get to make your own decisions but we will judge you harshly when you don’t do what we think you should do’ route.”
“We then that’s good just ignore them.”
“They’re my parents they’re kind of hard to ignore. I’m still surprised you’re taking my side in this. I thought you hated Peter.”
“Oh I did, but you’re my friend and I support you even when you’re doing something potentially stupid. Anyway I may have been wrong about Peter, he’s been proving himself to be a decent guy in the past couple of weeks. At least around you, maybe you’ve had a good influence on him.”
“I don’t know about that, but I do think he’s a better person than people give him credit for.” She said with a sigh.
They drove the rest of the way back to the dance studio listening to pop songs and chatting casually about nothing. They were just approaching the parking lot with JLo’s “First Love” playing, when a car sped past them, blasting some rap song from its speakers. The car honked its horn as it drove past and then turned into the parking lot. It was Peter and his group of boys. True to his word, and in complete disregard of the law, he had jammed them all into his car. Dating the boy did not prevent Wendy from rolling her eyes at him as she turned into the parking lot behind him.
Wendy, ever the perfectionist parked the car neatly and easily in the parking lot, far away from Peter’s car, which was so crooked she worried that he’d hit her if her car was even in the same area as his. By the time she and Tiger Lily were out of the car, Peter was already heading across the parking lot towards her, dressed in a forest green t-shirt and ripped jeans, Felix and the rest of his crew walking a respectful distance behind.
“Hey bird,” he said with a small wave as he strode towards her.
Before she could reply he had put his arm around her waist and kissed her fiercely, causing her to brace herself on the front of her car with one hand while the other tangled in his hair. It was easy to get lost in those kisses of his, to forget they were in public surrounded by people who may or may not approve of their relationship. Still,all it took was one uncomfortable cough from Felix to remind her and cause her to break away.
“Hi.” She said breathlessly.
“You ready to party?” he asked grabbing her hand and gesturing for the rest of them to follow him as they walked through the parking lot.
“It’s really not that much of a party.” She shrugged “It’s just a bunch of us hanging out and eating pizza after the show.”
“Well you’ve never been to the cast party with me.” He grinned at her. “Trust me it will be wild.”
“Why? What are you planning to do tonight?” she said with concern
“Trust me. I have plans.”
“You’re not going to blow the place up are you?”
“Nah, couldn’t get my hands on any fireworks this year.”
Wendy gave him a look of disbelief.
“I’m only joking. Don’t worry it’s nothing bad, you’ll see.”
Wendy tried to contain her scepticism as he opened the door to the dance studio for her. They headed through the lobby to the main studio where they always held the cast party. It was generally a very casual affair. Mostly older dancer’s came to the party, it was much too late for the little kids. They all sat around the studio either on the floor or on little folding chairs eating pizza and listening to music. There was soda for the teenagers and alcohol for the adults (if someone underage even tried to drink there they’d get kicked out of the party immediately, Miss Tink did not allow that, even Peter didn’t try to test her), and people were generally allowed to roam the studio rather freely, so long as they didn’t break anything. Generally people hung out in little groups, the teachers making up one, some of the younger kids another, etc. It was a pretty chill party that usually lead to everyone talking and laughing long into the night.
“Hello! Wendy! Tiger Lily! So good to see you two.” Tink said as they walked in, she had clearly forgiven Wendy, if not Peter. “Grab some pizza, there’s some soda over there, and have fun. You two deserve it you we’re both fantastic.” She gave Peter and the rest of his crew a severe glare before heading back to the group of teachers sitting on chairs in the corner.
“So I see she still hates me.” Peter grumbled to her back.
Miss Tink was quite young for the owner of a dance studio, and she dressed accordingly, in a light green sundress and sandals. Many wondered why such an amazing dancer, who was only in her twenties, was running a dance studio instead of working professionally. Well the truth was Tink had been in a ballet company for a while, but she did something to get herself kicked out. No one really knew what it was, but it was enough to get her blacklisted from every company in the country. So she decided to use her knowledge to open a dance studio instead, and it was now considered one of the best in the area. Many students there had gone on to work professionally, and Wendy hoped to be one of them.
Wendy, Peter, Tiger Lily, and the rest grabbed some pizza and drinks and sat with the rest of the dancers their age. Normally Peter and his group would split off separately from the rest of them, but since she and Peter were together now it looked like all their friends were going to have deal with each other as well. It was going to be awkward for everyone.
“Hey Wendy! You were amazing today” she heard a voice in the group.
She turned to see who it was.
“Baelfire!” she let go of Peter’s hand and ran to give him a hug. ”I’ve been so busy I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages. You were amazing as well.”
Balefire had been Wendy’s close friend for a long time. He had been in Wendy and Tiger Lily’s dance class when they were younger. He only took two dance classes now that he was older, but he and Wendy were still close.
“You better go back to your boyfriend now. He doesn’t look too pleased to see you hugging me.” He said glaring over his shoulder.
“Well he’ll live.” She rolled her eyes. “He knows we’re just friends.”
“I don’t know… I don’t trust him Wendy. He’s going to hurt you, I know it.”
“No he won’t.”
“I think you’re a bit blind to how he really is Wendy. If I we’re you I would just break up with him now, its safer that way.”
“Well you’re not me and I make my own decisions thank you very much.”
“Alright, just be careful.” He warned.
“I will be fine.” She said, walking back to Peter in a huff.
Baelfire was a like a brother to her, but she still resented the fact that he felt the need to tell her his opinion on her relationship. He was acting just like her parents. She trusted Peter and that was all the mattered right? Still, the knowledge that one of her oldest friends didn’t approve of her relationship was going to eat at her confidence all night. For now though she was going to push away all her worries and show everyone how happy she was with him.
“So are you going to tell me what your mysterious plans are for tonight then?” she asked with a smile as she sat down next to him.
“I told you. You’ll have to wait and see.” He replied with a smirk
She sighed. “You know I’ve never really been one for surprises.”
“Well you’ll have to get used to it. I like surprising you. It’s fun.”
Wendy gave a long over dramatic frustrated sigh. “I guess I’ll have to live without knowing.”
“You know you’re cute when your frustrated.” He laughed, giving her a small kiss on the cheek.
“Eww” she playfully scrunched her nose. “You smell like pizza.”
“Oh really are you sure about that?” he said with a laugh, blowing on her face.
She tried to lean away from his pizza breath, but instead fell over backwards, laughing through it all. Peter only laughed at her harder when she fell. An annoyed cough interrupted them once again. Everyone was watching them, and everyone seemed to be judging them harshly. It seemed like neither group of friends really liked this new relationship.
Tiger lily nudged Wendy with her elbow.
“Hey Wendy can you come with me for a second.” She said. “I need more to drink and I always spill if I try to pour it by myself.”
Wendy gave her a confused look. The girl’s cup was over half full, and she was the strongest girl she knew, there was no way she needed help with a simple two litter bottle of soda. But she went with her friend anyway over to the table with the food and drinks.
“Ok so what do you really want?” she whispered when they were over there. “If it’s about me and Peter I don’t want to hear it.”
“No it’s about Zarina.” Tiger Lily whispered “I’m worried about her.”
Zarina was a friend of theirs. She had moved to the area rather recently and had joined the studio. She had been slow to trust people here at first, but after a while she had gotten to like Wendy and Tiger Lily quite a bit. She was a bold girl, often prone to do whatever she felt like doing, regardless of what others thought. Sometimes that was a good thing, other times it led to disaster.
“Why? What’s she doing?” Wendy asked.
“Just look” Tiger Lily titled her head in Zarina’s direction.
She was sitting with the teacher’s. Which was odd for her, she usually spent most of her time with Wendy and Tiger Lily. She had grown quiet close with the teachers, but still most students did not spend much time with teachers outside of class. It was always a bit awkward when they did, because of the age difference. But it didn’t seem to bother Zarina. She was sitting next to Hook comfortably, engaging him in conversation and apparently revelling in his attention. Wendy wondered if Hook’s eyes were glued to her because of the intriguing conversation, or because of her outfit. Zarina was wearing a tight black corset top with a dark green flared mini skirt and Hook seemed to be enjoying all the exposed skin. He had already drunk quite a lot that night, and Wendy wouldn’t put it past him to be interested in a student when he was this drunk.
“Oh…I see.” Wendy said quietly.
“Do you think we should go over there and stop it?” Tiger Lily asked.
“No, she seems to like him.” Wendy shrugged. “And who are we to judge?”
“We’re her friends. Isn’t our job to save her from stupid mistakes?”
“How do you know it’s a stupid mistake?” Wendy said angrily, thinking of her own situation.
“Trust me I know.”
“Well maybe you and everyone should stay out of everyone else’s business and stop judging people so much.” Wendy whispered fiercely before whipping around and heading back to Peter.
Wendy knew it was wrong of her to snap at Tiger Lily. She was her best friend, and was only trying to help. She wasn’t even talking about her and Peter, she was talking about Zarina. But she couldn’t help it. She was getting so paranoid. It seemed like everyone felt the need to tell her how terrible Peter was and that she was an idiot for even talking to him.
Before she even reached Peter she stopped in her tracks. There was another girl sitting where she had been. She didn’t know the girl very well, but she was still recognizable. Her name was Arista, she was one of the dumb rather talentless girls Peter had always liked to spend time with. Wendy tried to bottle up the instant jealousy she felt the moment she saw the girl talking to Peter, but it was difficult. She couldn’t help but compare herself to the girl. Arista was tall, curvy, and platinum blonde. Wendy was petite with curls that some would call golden, but she often called straw coloured. Arista even dressed better than she did, she realized as she looked down at her white lacy top. What had seemed cute this morning now seemed downright childish compared to the tight red low cut top Arista was wearing. She knew it was a terrible thought, but Wendy couldn’t help but worry that Peter was regretting his decision already. So she couldn’t stop herself from following her basic instinct to run over there and put a stop to whatever was going on.
“Excuse me but that was my spot.” She said severely.
“Oh really?” the girl said, not even looking at her. “I didn’t see your name written on it.”
“I shouldn’t have to. He should have told you.” She looked at Peter.
“Well he didn’t.” Arista said coolly. “So why don’t you run along and with your little friends and let us two adults continue what we were discussing.”
“You shouldn’t be discussing anything with my boyfriend.” She grabbed the girls arm and yanked her up on her feet.
“Oh honey, that’s sweet.” She sneered. “You think he actually cares about you. You don’t realize that once he’s gotten what he wants from you he’ll drop you in a second. And it won’t be very long before he’s bored with an ugly little pigeon like you.”
Wendy never got the chance to come up with a rude retort back because the girl immediately turned around and sauntered away from her, swinging her hips and her long blonde ponytail behind her.
“Why were you talking to her?” Wendy whipped around to face Peter. “Why didn’t you defend me?”
Peter looked scared and confused “I’m sorry” was all he could say.
“That’s not enough.” Hot tears were started to trickle down her face. “I need to be alone for a minute.”
She tried wipe away the tears before the stage makeup on her face turned into a mess. She headed to the bathroom to clean up her makeup and calm herself down.
She went out of the main studio and into the hallway, trying to hold back her tears while she walked. She just had to get to the bathroom, and then she could cry all she wanted. She didn’t want to cry out in the open. She hated people seeing her cry. They seemed to cling to her when all she ever wanted when she was upset was to be alone. She knew people were just being kind, but all the attention just made her uncomfortable. It was getting harder and harder for her to keep her tears at bay and she was only halfway down the hallway to the bathroom. She was about to break into a run when someone grabbed her by the shoulder from behind.
“Felix!” she gasped as she turned around.
She’d never really spoken to the boy, but recent events had not made her to fond of him. Needless to say she did not find his coming after her comforting.
“I want to talk to you about Pan.” He said coolly.
“Oh…”
“I think it’s better for everyone if you stayed away from him. Your type of people and ours don’t mix well. Peter needs to be focused on other things, things that involve me and the rest of the boys, not some silly ballerina. And you’d only end up getting hurt any way once he tires of you.”
“Did Peter ask you to tell me this?” the hot tears were getting dangerously close to spilling down her face.
“He didn’t have to. His actions said it all.”
Wendy did not know how to respond. Instead she turned around and ran down the hallway into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. The tears poured down her face from the minute she closed the door. Everyone was right, her parents, Tink, Arista, Felix, even Tiger Lily knew it deep down. And now she did to. She and Peter were never meant to be together. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her nose was red, her eyes were puffy, mascara was smeared down her cheeks. She was an idiot. How could she ever believe things would work out with her and Peter? They were too different. She was too different. She grabbed a tissue from the bathroom counter and tried to wipe her face. Sure he said he was in love with her now. Yes, they were happy at the moment, but in was only a matter of time before he got tired of her. And then she would only be more hurt when she realized that he had never cared for her as much as she had cared for him. It was better if she ended things now to avoid all the pain. She crumpled up her tissue and let out a huge sob. Even though it was the last thing she wanted to do, she was going to listen to everyone else, it was better that way.
She heard a knock on the bathroom door. There was only one toilet in the studio, so she figured it was someone who had to use it.
“It’s occupied.” She yelled with a sniffle.
“Wendy, it’s me Peter.”
“Oh…”
“I’m sorry. I’m new to this whole relationship thing. I’m not very good at it.”
“No it’s my fault.” She said between sniffles, pressing her face to the bathroom door. “I shouldn’t have expected you to be. It’s not your type of thing. We should just end it now, it’s easier for everyone.”
There was a long span of silence on the other side of the bathroom door. Wendy felt her heart drop into her stomach. He had listened to her, he had walked away from her. She knew it was coming, but it still hurt worse than she ever could have imagined.
“Is that really what you want?” a voice said hesitantly from the other side of the door.
Wendy let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. He had stayed.
“No, not really.” She replied, her tears beginning to stop. “But that’s what everyone else keeps telling me to do.”
She heard a sigh of relief. “Well instead of doing what everyone else tells you to do why don’t you do what I’m asking you to do. Open the door please.”
Wendy realized that she might regret it later, but she slowly opened the door anyway. He was there standing outside nervously. He gave her a small smile when she came out.
“Can you at least give me a chance be a good boyfriend?” he asked. “I know I haven’t been that good of a person to you, or really anyone in the past, and I really don’t have any experience when it comes to real relationships that actually involve caring about the other person, but I want to try. Please let me try. I know everyone else has already deemed us doomed to fail, but please don’t do the same. I haven’t even had a day to prove myself yet. Yeah I know I kinda messed up with the whole Arista thing, but I’m sorry and I want to make it up to you the best I can. Just give me a chance. And if I really screw up you have my full permission to kick my ass I promise.”
Wendy laughed a little and wiped a few left over tears from her face with the back of her hand.
“That’s a little better. I like it better when my bird is laughing.” He reached out and wiped her remaining tears and mascara with his thumb. “So do I get at least one day to give this whole boyfriend thing a shot?”
Wendy nodded.
“Then come on.” He grabbed her hand and led her through the hallway. “It’s time for you to see those plans I was talking about earlier.”
He led her down the hallway into the small second studio. Wendy couldn’t guess what sort of plans he could have for her in there, but she was going to give him a chance.
“Before you come in close your eyes, and keep them closed. I want this to be a surprise.”
She did as he said, her curiosity growing by the minute. He guided her into the studio, stopping her at what she believed to be the centre of the room.
“Don’t open your eyes yet.” He whispered in her ear. “I just got to go get some matches.”
Wendy laughed. “Really not helping my fears that your plans could blow the place up.”
She heard him laugh from across the room. “Don’t worry I don’t think that will happen.” He said.
He heard his slow footsteps as he walked back towards her across the marley dance floor.
“Alright, its ready open your eyes.” He whispered in her ear.
She opened her eyes and looked around the room. The electric lights above them were off, but the whole room was light up by candles. At first it seemed like hundreds, maybe even thousands of candles were flickering in the dark room like stars. It took a minute for Wendy to realize that there weren’t really that many candles in the room, the reflection of the candles in the studio mirrors multiplied they’re effect a thousand times over. It was breath taking.
“It’s so beautiful.” She whispered.
“There’s just one more thing.” He used the remote in his hand to press play on the sound system. Violins started to play.
“Oh it’s the waltz from Sleeping Beauty!” she gasped. “It’s always been my favourite ballet.”
“I know, I remembered you talked about it during one of our rehearsals.”
“Thank you, Peter. This is wonderful.”
“I’m glad you like it. Now how about a waltz.” He held his hand out to her.
“I’ve never really done any ballroom dancing.”
“It’ll be fine just follow me.”
“Alright.” She put one hand on his shoulder, the other in his hand while he put his remaining hand around her waist. “Wait, have you taken ballroom dancing classes?”
“No, I’m just naturally good at everything.”
And much to Wendy’s surprise he was, or at least he was good at waltzing, she didn’t know about everything else. They floated around the candlelit room like something out of a movie. Every time they passed by the mirrors Wendy felt the urge to pinch herself. It just didn’t seem real, it had to be a dream, everything today was too good to be true. She was sure it was only a matter of time before she woke up and realized it was still the day before the show and Peter still hated her. But then again maybe it wasn’t a dream after all, she wasn’t sure she could every dream up something this wonderful. Either way she was going to enjoy it, however long it lasted, that much she was sure of now.
“You know, I thought you hated ballet, isn’t that why you quit the class?” She said as they continued to waltz gracefully across the floor.
“Yes, but you love it, and this is for you. And just because I hated the class doesn’t mean I hate the music, plus the movie version is pretty good.”
Wendy laughed softly. “Well thank you again. It’s all so magical, I can’t even imagine where you got all these candles.”
“Well I may have driven much faster than the speed limit in order to pick these up before the party.”
“Of course you did.” She sighed, but still she smiled at him. He may have been working harder at being better for her, but she knew he was never going to change completely, she didn’t want him to.
“So how am I doing at this whole boyfriend thing now? Any better.”
She let go of his hand and put both her arms around his neck. “Perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
She leaned in and kissed him. She didn’t know what the future held. She didn’t know if they’d be a couple forever, or just a week. But she didn’t care anymore. She was happy right now, no matter what everyone else was saying. She loved Peter, however bad he was, and that was all that was all that ever mattered.