"Peter, when are you ever going to learn to grow up?"
"What are you talking about? I'm older than you!" Peter told his younger sister, Susan, who was attempting at being taller than him by standing on the next stair up.
"Nevertheless," Susan continued seriously, "you act like you're ten years old. That stunt you pulled today?"
"I had to take him on! He was bothering me!" Peter exclaimed, trying to defend his reasoning. His sister gave him a stern look of disbelief as she huffed and climbed the stairs to the second floor.
It had been two weeks since they had gotten back from Narnia for the second time and Peter was having trouble adjusting back to everyday life in Finchley. He was still getting into fights at school and once Edmund had to hold him back from starting another one. He was troubled, but he wasn't really sure why. He figured one day his time to leave Narnia forever would come, but he had grown so used to it, so used to being called High King Peter, the Magnificent. He chuckled at the last bit, seeing as to how stupid he looked when he had told the DLF his name.
Going up to his room, he shut the door behind him and threw his school bag down. He slouched down on his bed and kicked his shoes off as he turned over to lie on the dark blue covered sheets. Something had happened in Narnia this time that didn't happen before. He wasn't really sure what it was at first, but then he knew it once he saw them kissing. It was odd, but at the time his feelings about it were mutual. He hadn't really thought about it much until just a few days ago when Edmund brought it up.
"Oh come on, Susan, you know you want to go back because of him." Edmund teased.
"Oh, grow up." She replied.
"But it's true, isn't it? I mean, you did kiss and all, so why wouldn't you want to go back?"
"Well, gee, I suppose there are several reasons why I wouldn't want to," she said sarcastically, "One, because I am much too old for him, two, because I want to spend the rest of my life here, not going off to some made-up world just so I can fight for…"
She broke off, realizing how rude she sounded just now about the way she spoke of Narnia and in making up for it, she simply said, "I just want to stay here, okay?"
Peter huffed at Susan's ignorance. It was plainly obvious to him that she never wanted to go back to Narnia. She never was up for adventure. She was always too serious. He had acted that way when he had to, but after returning and realizing that he wasn't to return to Narnia, he started taking his anger out on his classmates. Though half of those fights would have happened anyway whether he had been angry or not.
But there was something else that he was angry about, and that was the fact that they had to leave all too soon. Especially him.
Turning over to face the clock that sat on his bedside table, Peter sighed at it being not even close to dinnertime yet. He was so hungry and he wished he were back in Narnia so he could fix himself a meal without having to wait. After years of growing up in Narnia and having to leave again, only to return a year later wore him out. He was going on eighteen and surely was seen as an adult now. He had been High King for years and knew everything there was to know about fighting with a blade, yet the closest he had ever come to that was once pulling out his penknife for defense against a few guys who were harassing him. Now that he thought about it, he had gotten into a lot of fights since he had been back. He knew there was a reason, but the idea of it was too much for him to bear.
When he returned to Narnia, he had expected everything to be laid out for him, but nothing was. Everything was in chaos and ruin and he had to lead the battle in the end. Along with the Telmarine Prince.
Caspian. Peter hadn't thought about Caspian much until that day when Edmund brought up the kiss. He figured the fights he had had when returning home brought on his instinctive nature, but there was something else…something much deeper that was rooted in him. He suddenly realized that after all the fighting and disagreeing they had been through that he missed Caspian. He missed him as a friend, a dear friend who he had never known before. He was the closest friend he had apart from his family. At first it seemed that he hated him for getting in the way of his instruction…which he kind of did, but after spending time together he realized that Caspian was really a good man. He was kind and wanted more than ever to bring peace between his own people and the Narnians, and Peter considered that loyalty and truly valorous.
"Peter!"
Snapping out of his thoughts, the eldest Pevensie remembered where he was. He was in his own room in England where he had to learn to forget about the past and move on with his life.
"Dinner!"
He recognized the voice of his youngest sister, Lucy, as she called for him. He told her he was coming and raced down the stairs, anxious to finally eat.
Dinner was laid out on the table and Peter wasted no time in cramming food onto his plate. There was silence as the four Pevensie children ate quietly in the presence of their current caretaker. The silence was awkward when no one seemed to know how to start a conversation, but Peter ignored the awkward moment as he ate so fast he thought he was sure to be the first one finished.
"My, you're hungry tonight, lad." Their caretaker said, eyeing him extraordinarily.
"Mm-hmm." Peter said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes. He caught a glance from Susan across from him as she looked disgusted in his current eating habits, but he didn't care. Is it a sin to want to eat now? He thought, thinking that Susan was the most delicate person in the world; not to mention cross whenever something wasn't done properly. Of course, Peter admitted in his head. She's no fun. Edmund said so himself this morning when he tried putting his hat on her head, only to have it thrown off in the dirt.
After he finished (he was the first one done), Peter washed his plate, then went up to his room again where he came to realize that it was Friday. Yes, he thought, no school tomorrow! That means I don't have to be bothered by those guys. It was odd…in Narnia, he had grown so close to his family in times of war, yet back in England, there was a war going on, but he hadn't thought about fighting in it at all. He seemed fully prepared if he was to go to war, but before he made his decision, his mother wrote and insisted that he finish school. His academic career was apparently more important to his mother than fighting in the war. Typical.
As he thought about how to spend his upcoming weekend, he heard the shuffling of feet and without having the decency to knock, Edmund stormed into the room.
Peter heaved a sigh at the intrusion, finally figuring he would just read a book this weekend. "You could knock, you know."
"Sorry," Edmund mumbled. He had become closer with Peter since the first time they went to Narnia, which was good considering his younger brother had protected him a few times when he needed help. But he was still a kid.
"Have you seen my checker set?" He asked finally after he searched some part of his side of the room.
"What's it look like?" Peter asked lazily, not getting up from his comfortable position on the bed.
"You know what it looks like," Edmund told him. "It's black and it has the word "Checkers" on it. I last had it in the bottom drawer, but I can't find it now."
"Are you sure it's not downstairs in the library where you had it last time?"
Edmund snapped his fingers as he smiled at his brother and raced out the room, thanking him on the way out. After he had gone, Peter murmured, "You're welcome."
Rain pattered on the window as Peter awoke to a sunless morning. It was cloudy and rainy as he dressed in a pair of slacks and a white shirt with a vest over top. His brother was still sleeping soundly as if the rain was not enough to wake him up when Peter crept to the library, being as quiet as could be. He examined the selection of books, but suddenly his interest of reading fell dramatically as he really wished more than anything just to go outside and practice fighting. He wanted no more than to ride his horse once more across the plains of the Narnian land, to fight alongside some of the bravest of warriors. Unconsciously, Caspian came to his mind again. He didn't realize he was thinking about him all that much, but after thinking back on it, he really couldn't take his mind off of the once-Telmarine Prince. He was the King of Narnia now, Peter thought sadly, remembering how he gladly accepted his own crowning as High King of Narnia. He was the past and Caspian was the present…or future, depending on how long it had been since he had left in Narnian years. He really didn't know how time worked between Narnia and Earth.
Peter sighed as he stuck another book on the bookshelf. He really was lost on what he could do now that he no longer had to save a country from despair. He always felt needed in Narnia, but now that he was back in England, he only felt like a nuisance to society, starting fights (sometimes for no reason at all) and behaving, as Susan had said, like a ten-year old.
He wished that he could return to Narnia, at least for a moment to see if anything had changed in just two weeks. He really was desperate. Deciding to just listen to the rain, the eldest Pevensie boy slouched in the chair by the window and thought about him again. He hadn't registered that his feelings were a little more than mutual between him and Caspian. There was something about him that just seemed…different. He considered him a friend, a hand in combat, and…something else.