Chapter 10: Going Home
She didn't fight back the urge to stop, she let herself be taken away to a place she'd been too once before, only this time it was much different, because it wasn't the person she wanted to kiss her.
Suddenly she opened her eyes and pulled away from the kiss abruptly. He gave her a look, which said, what's wrong?
She gazed up at him and said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let you do that. My kiss belongs to someone else."
She then looked away from the hurt expression he showed upon his rather handsome face.
There was an awkward silence that followed until he spoke once more.
"I'm sorry if I took advantage of you." He whispered.
Wendy shook her head and replied softly, "No you didn't. I let you do it. I think I'll go back inside now." She finished as she began to walk towards the building again.
"He caught up with her and said, "Would you like me to escort you there?"
She turned to face him and said, "No, I'm fine. I can find my own way there."
He stopped following her after that, leaving her to pick up her pace as she ran back inside the building, knowing who she had to see right then.
She was going to find her parents. A few things had become clearer in her mind and she now realised that the people her parents had introduced her to were James' parents. No doubt they had planned this whole affair. Well Wendy wouldn't be forced into marriage with a man she barely even knew.
Across the room she spotted her mother and father chatting away to the same people, and she walked quickly over to them, keeping her gaze on them, as she got closer.
As she got closer she saw that her father had looked up to see her approaching. He excused himself from the people and began to walk towards her.
She started to slow down and wondered what he wanted. He was walking quickly towards her and when he was just a metre apart from her he whispered, "Wendy…"
She gazed at him curiously and watched as he pulled her into a warm embrace.
She was completely shocked.
What had brought this on?
"Wendy I have some good news for you." He whispered into her left ear.
Wendy wasn't too sure if the news he thought was good, was going to have the same affect on her.
"What is it father?" she asked, as she pulled away.
He smiled down at her and said, "Come, follow me."
He led her away by the hand towards her mother and the couple she had met before.
She looked around and saw that James was heading her way, being led by Aunt Millicent. It was just as she had thought. He was the couple's son. And she had a rough idea about what would happen that night.
Finally they came to a stop in front of her mother and James' parents.
"Wendy darling. You're back." Said her mother happily as she kissed Wendy on her forehead.
Wendy only smiled.
Suddenly Aunt Millicent and James were standing on the side of his parents. He gave Wendy a smile, but she only turned away.
"Okay, now that we're all here, let's get everything out in the open." Said Aunt Millicent happily. "George…would you like to start?" She said gesturing towards Wendy's father.
He nodded and rested his hand on Wendy's right shoulder.
"Well we have been talking to James' family since you went to Aunt Millicent's Wendy…and we have come to the arrangement that James will be the one to take your hand in marriage." He explained a little too enthusiastically for Wendy's liking.
Wendy knew that this was coming, but to actually hear those words be spoken, it made everything seem more real then she wanted them to be.
She looked up at James who seemed positively thrilled about the idea. Then she noticed that the rest of the group was staring at her expectantly.
"Well Wendy…do you have anything to say?" asked her father as he placed his hands together in front of him.
She was positively outraged that they had gone and arranged her life like this and she decided that there was no point in covering it up. If she didn't speak up about how much she hated the idea now, then the next chance she might have to speak about it to all of them would be at the day of her wedding.
So she drew in a deep breath and whispered, "I hate the idea."
Aunt Millicent seemed to hear her utter these words and frowned over at her warningly. But this time Wendy wasn't going to be frightened away with death stares, she was going to live her life the way she wanted to.
"I hate what you've all done to me. You made me grow up and while I was away you went behind my back and arranged for me to marry this boy, whom I don't even know. I won't let you rule over my life the way your parents ruled over yours." Wendy cried out to all of them.
Her father's face turned bright red and his left eye began to twitch violently. A sign that he was definitely not pleased. She looked away and landed her eyes onto James' face and saw that he was very hurt.
"James…I'm sorry…but I can't get married to you. I'm too young. I want to do more with my life before I even think about getting married." She whispered to him.
He nodded understandingly and walked away from them.
His parents did not seem amused. Their attitude changed instantly from the polite, sweet people that they had been only moments ago, into stern, rude people.
They eyed Mr and Mrs Darling and said, "Well, I don't know what you plan to do with that one. When everyone hears about this little stunt, I'm sure no one will want to have her as their bride." The mother said snobbishly; as she stuck her nose up in the air and walked away with her husband, arm in arm.
"Wendy…" trailed off her father angrily.
Suddenly Wendy knew what was coming and didn't want to be around when he started to lose his temper.
So she ran to both of them and kissed them on the cheek, including her aunt before saying, "I'm sorry. I have to go now. I don't expect we will meet again."
She then ran away towards the main entrance with an idea. If she could just find a way to call him back then she would make him take her away once more.
She was approaching the carriage and saw the coachman look at her curiously.
"Miss are you all right." He asked concerned, as he saw her lean onto the carriage door gasping for air.
She smiled and breathed, "Yes…it's just so hard to run in a corset."
He laughed and said, "So where is your aunt?"
Wendy looked away and whispered, "Oh…she's not coming."
That was the best she could come up with.
"All right then miss, climb aboard." He said helping her into the carriage.
When she was sitting safely in the carriage she gazed out at her parents and aunt who were running after her. Wendy's eyes widened and she yelled, "Quick go. Please hurry."
With that, he cracked his whip and the carriage shot off towards aunt Millicent's.
Wendy had now entered her room and her dress trailed in behind her across the carpet. She hurried over to her window and unlocked it quickly.
Once outside she ran across the balcony and cried, "Peter! Peter I'm sorry. Please come back. I don't want to grow up. I want…you."
She stared out at the night sky and waited for a shooting star to fly towards her on the balcony. After ten minutes of waiting she sighed and headed back inside, only to find that Slightly was standing there with a curious gaze upon his face.
Wendy stepped back and flew her hand to her chest in fright.
"Slightly. You scared me." She breathed heavily.
He didn't say anything, but he did hand her a small brown bag. Wendy picked it up and remembered when he had first given it to her. She had thrown it near the window and that was the last she had seen it.
"What is it?" asked Wendy.
He smiled and whispered, "I think you can figure that out for yourself this time."
He then strolled back out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Wendy watched him leave then looked down at the bag. Very slowly she pulled the string on the bag and peered down to see…
She widened her eyes and gasped in shock. She then looked back at the door where Slightly had just walked through.
It was fairy dust. She could see it now, she sprinkled some out into her hand and exclaimed, "I can go to Neverland by myself and see Peter."
She whispered, "Thank you Slightly."
Then she lifted the bag above her head and emptied its contents over her body. Glowing specks of dust touched her skin and she thought to herself, Peter.
Then before she knew it, she was hovering in midair and beginning to fly straight for the second star to the right and straight on till morning.
A/N: Well there you have it. The end to the story "To Live would be an awfully big Adventure." I had to end it here because if I didn't end it soon, I wasn't going to end it at all. I have loads of work at home right now. TAFE, school and my traineeship. Hopefully next year when I am out of school, I will have loads of more time to do more stories. Until then I hope you enjoyed my story.
P.S. There is going to be a sequel to this story. Which is going to be much longer and in Neverland. Wendy's story was just leading up to it. When I have more time to dedicate myself to it, I will definitely start posting the sequel. So keep an eye out for the sequel, which will be titled, "To Live with you is all the Adventure I Need."
Yunie Tidus