“So, what will it be?”
Daphne tried to run through a list of random names in her mind. None of them had any real appeal to her. She was tired, hungry, and in dire need of sleep. She didn’t want to think anymore. She just wanted to crash. She yawned and gave in to Finn’s request. “Daffy it is.”
***
Daphne rolled over a padded hard surface to lie on her back and stretched her arms up over her head. Her eyes fluttered open only to meet with darkness. Confusion set in over the events of the previous night. Did all of that really happen? It should be morning now, so why is it still so dark? She scratched an itch on her chest and winced briefly at the subtle pinch. Daphne smacked her face. “Of course, you idiot,” she said to herself, “you’re underground.”
She couldn’t see anything around her other than a faint light filtering in from an open doorway. Daphne was lying on the floor. The padded mat and flattened pillow beneath her kept it comfortable enough, but she was still freezing with the thin blanket someone had draped over her. From out in the tunnel, she could hear voices, a boy’s and a girl’s.
“Why would you do that?”
“I’m sorry, Finn. I told you it was a mistake. I’d heard some of the boys talking when they left Professor Vermin’s class and—”
“Come on, Belle. You know better than to fall for those callow rumors. Those kids couldn’t tell a cop from a donut.”
“I know. It was really stupid of me. I’m sorry.”
Daphne quietly slid out of her blanket and crept toward the doorway. Someone had taken her shoes and socks off and her toes instinctively curled under at the chill of the stone floor. She peeked her head around the corner to find Finn talking to a girl with platinum hair piled atop her head in a short ponytail. She was young, yet curvy, and Daphne couldn’t help the tiny thorn of jealousy that stung her in the rear.
“Just be careful next time,” Finn lectured the fair-haired peach. “You’re lucky I got there in time.”
“Finn?” Daphne said wearily, wanting to make her presence known.
“Daffy! Come here, I want you to meet someone. This is Belle. Belle, this is Daffy, the newest member of the gang!” Finn approached Daphne and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, as if he were showing off a new girlfriend.
“It’s Daphne,” she said, yawning. “I’ve heard much about you, Belle.” She considered offering her hand to shake, but it felt unnatural so she kept it to herself. Not to mention that Belle was giving her the stink eye.
“No, it’s Daffy,” Finn corrected, nuzzling her head with his knuckles playfully. “Remember?”
“Of course.”
“Belle . . .” Finn warned when Belle crossed her arms and turned her cheek from Daphne. She sighed and smiled spuriously.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Daffy. I just know we’ll be BFF’s. Want to have a sleepover? Hey, maybe we can invite your brothers, the tall one is kind of hot, if you like that nerdy, D&D gamer kind of look.”
Daphne scowled and returned some biting remarks of her own. “What’s the matter? All the other guys get bored of hooking up with you and run out of options?”
“All the guys around here haven’t a chance of getting into my pants,” Belle returned, not to be outdone.
“Maybe because your pants are too tight around your ass. Maybe you should loosen up and let it air out a bit.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sure you can’t wait to be the new Neverland slut.”
Daphne clenched her fists. Her desire to break the girl’s face overpowered any sense of restraint. She charged forward, stopped by Finn’s unwavering arm.
“That’s enough, Belle,” he snapped. “Get out.” Belle gave Daphne a final dirty look before turning and sashaying away into the darkness.
“Friend, huh?” Daphne mused. “You sure know how to pick ‘em.”
Finn stared down the tunnel, confused. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her. She’s usually really cool.”
“She feels threatened by me.”
“Why? That doesn’t make any sense. You’d think she’d be glad to have another girl around to do girly things with. Someone to gossip with, you know. That’s what you girls do, isn’t it?”
Daphne rolled her eyes. “Not all of us. Did you ever stop to think that maybe she likes being the only girl around. She sees me as competition.”
“And what is it she’s competing for?”
Daphne shot Finn a ‘you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me’ stare. “Seriously? I thought you were smarter than this. You know the history of this place, the secrets it holds, all the tunnels and everything. And yet, you don’t know that she’s crushing on you?”
“No, not Belle. I told you; she’s one of the guys.”
“You really are clueless.”
Finn grinned. “Probably my Aspergers. You hungry?”
Daphne’s stomach had stopped growling at some point during the night. She remembered thinking before she fell asleep that she wished she hadn’t started that silly hunger strike. Hungry was the understatement of the year.
“Starving.”
“Come on. Let’s get some grub.”
***
The clattering of aluminum pots and pans signaled the end of the breakfast shift for the dark-skinned girl with her long, straightened black hair knotted up in a bun under a hairnet. In the real world she should have been dozing off in a high school trigonometry class instead of working in a cafeteria kitchen. But this was not the real world. This was Neverland Academy. And Lily had homeschooled herself between shifts.
She started working at the young age of twelve, after she’d gotten in trouble for spreading rumors about the headmaster at her local public school. That was around the same time Finn had gotten expelled. Only, the rumors were true. From that point on, the headmaster forbade her to attend public school and threatened to remove her from the premises if she continued. Her mother was forced to comply since she needed to keep her job and had no other way of providing for her daughter as a single mom. Not to mention the academy was her home. Lily didn’t mind the work though. At least she got paid. Sure it was miniscule at first, more like a meager allowance. But now that she was sixteen and legally able to work, she was making minimum wage. And she’d saved every penny since she was eleven in a savings account that would be her ticket out of this hellhole. By the time she was eighteen she would have enough to go to a decent in-state college.
Lily was on dish duty today, one of her favorite jobs because she could be alone and sing to her heart’s content without anyone disrupting. Most of the time, that is.
While rinsing a handful of forks, Lily’s back was turned away from the panel low in the wall that was slowly sliding to the side. She didn’t even hear Finn and Daphne come in with the hum of the water sprayer and her own melodic crooning. Today she was singing Beyonce’s “Halo,” one of her favorite tunes.
“When are you going to audition for American Idol?” Finn nearly shouted so that she could hear him. Lily jumped out of her skin and dropped the forks into the sink in a screeching chorus of clinks.
“Don’t do that Finn!” She tried to look angry, but couldn’t disguise the smile breaking through at seeing one of her best friends. Finn simply chuckled.
“Lily, this is Daffy. She’ll be with us for a while.”
Lily smiled brightly, her pearly white teeth a perfect complement to her taupe skin. “It’s so good to meet you, Daffy! I’d shake your hand, but well . . .” Lilly held up her yellow gloved hands that were dripping with soapy water.
“That’s okay.” Daphne smiled. “It’s nice to meet you too.” Daphne thought back to what Finn had said about Lily, that they had once been involved. She couldn’t help but notice how pretty Lily was, even hard at work scrubbing greasy dishes. It was an exotic kind of pretty, something you don’t see every day. A small stroke of jealousy crept into her mind, though she chastised herself for feeling that way. Finn was her friend and nothing more. She didn’t want a relationship wi
th him any more than he wanted one with her. And he made it perfectly clear romance was off the table. Besides, Lily seemed really sweet. “You seem to be much more hospitable than the other girl I met.”
Finn dodged off to the side between two floor-to-ceiling length shelving units filled with dry goods and paper products.
“You must be referring to Belle.” Lily raised and lowered her eyebrows knowingly.
“Is she as hostile towards you as she was to me?”
“Got any Cheetos?” Finn hollered.
“Not ‘til this afternoon,” Lily hollered back before she returned to Daphne. “She used to be. Back when Finn and I were together. But ever since that ended she’s been okay. Usually, she just avoids me. She wouldn’t want to be caught associating with ‘the help.’”
Finn rolled his eyes as he returned from the shadows with a box of graham crackers. “She’s not that bad, guys. Give her a break, will you?” He offered the open box to Daphne, who politely took one to nibble on.
Lily laughed it off. “I suppose you both are hungry? Just give me a sec.” She rinsed off the remaining dishes and stacked them neatly to the side to dry off. She peeled off the gloves, tossing them over the side of the industrial sink. “Be right back.”
Lily crossed into the cooking area of the kitchen. Most of the cooks had already left for break, but a few were still around, cleaning the stovetops and mopping the tile floor. With a quick glance to check if anyone was looking, she whipped open the only oven in the kitchen that didn’t work, and pulled out two large plates wrapped in foil. The oven may not have worked, but it kept the plates somewhat warm. She quickly scurried to the back of the kitchen and gave the plates to Finn.
“So, you cook food for them?” Daphne inquired.
“Not exactly. I just sneak some of the food we cook for each of the meals and stash it somewhere safe until Finn or one of the guys can come pick it up. And when we have some extra dry food I stick it behind the panel. The boys have always been nice to me, so I try to do my part to help them out. If they weren’t here, I’d be terribly lonely.”
Daphne sympathized with Lily. She knew what it was like to be alone, or to be surrounded by people who just didn’t get you. She made a mental note to find some time to spend alone with Lily for some one-on-one girl time. Plus, she’d need someone to borrow her ‘monthly stash’ from.
“Hold on,” Lily said and then pulled a bulging brown paper bag from under the sink and dumped it into Daphne’s arms. “These are the apples that the students didn’t eat yesterday. Usually they’re thrown away but I rescued them.” Daphne scrunched up her nose a little at the thought of eating garbage-bound food.
“Don’t worry,” Lily assured her. “I washed each and every one. Some have bruises or dents, but they are totally safe to eat.”
“Thanks, Lily,” Finn said. “You’re the best.”
***
Finn and Daphne slipped back into the hole in the wall and Lily replaced the panel behind them. The tunnel behind the wall was only about 18 inches wide and though Daphne’s figure was narrow enough to squeeze through straight on, Finn had to shuffle sideways holding each plate to the side of him like a an old fashioned scale. Daphne followed his lead until they reached the end of the tunnel where a rope ladder hung. From the floor below, it stretched up into the ceiling and beyond. Daphne wondered where it might lead. She asked Finn.
“That goes to the upper level. Mostly faculty bedrooms up there. And Trappe’s office. I’ll give you the full tour after breakfast.” Finn handed her one of the plates. “Hold this for a sec.”
While still holding the other plate, Finn descended the ladder. Daphne passed him the rest of the food and followed.
Daphne, Finn, and the other boys convened in what appeared to be an old cellar that lay directly under the kitchen. It pretty much looked like the rest of the tunnels: brick walls, stone floor, old wooden support beams. Shelves lined two of the walls and a staircase led to a door that had been bricked over when the tunnels were sealed. Between the support beams, the ceiling was heavily insulated with foam, pink stuff, and even old blankets arranged with duct tape. The boys had obviously made some effort to soundproof the room.
Kevin was squatting by the far wall with Shag looking over his shoulder. An old box TV set sat on a wooden crate just behind them. Toot and Hangman were sitting on a pile of pillows watching Trick play some video game on an iPhone. On the other side of the cellar were cluttered stacks of computer equipment spilling out from the shelves. Daphne resisted the urge to pick through it and find a laptop that works. There probably wouldn’t be any way to charge it here anyway. And speaking of chargers, what’s with the phone?
“Breakfast is served!” Finn announced and all the boys except Kevin crowded around him as he unwrapped the foil from the plates. Daphne stood back and smirked at the boys’ lack of table manners as each grabbed link sausages, buttered toast, and bacon and crammed them into their mouths. No plates. No forks. No napkins.
Finn, seeing the look on Daphne’s face, grinned. “We don’t exactly have a place to wash up dishes here. Hey guys! Save some for Daffy!” Daphne glanced down at the scraps left on the plate: one sausage link, a broken half of bacon, and two halves of buttered toast.
“It’s okay,” Daphne said. “I’ll just eat an apple.”
“You sure? Here.” Finn offered the plate to her but she just took one half slice of toast and nodded. “Sorry, I should have offered to you first. These guys are bottomless pits.”
“Got it!” Kevin announced happily. “Now we just need to shut the power down while I link the wires, then we’ll be all set.” He strolled over to Finn, pride driving each step forward until he saw Finn had eaten the last of the scraps. “Dude, where’s breakfast?”
Chapter Nine
Zapped
Daphne spent her first full day at Neverland Academy learning the layout of the building. Finn led her through all the secret passages between the walls, pointing out specific rooms and giving her pointers on remaining unheard and unseen. He was more of a mentor to her that day than a friend. She was his apprentice, taking in every drop of information he doled out. It was strange how Finn could turn off his mischievous side as easily as switching off a lamp and become serious as an authoritative figure.
Finn guided her through the tunnels as well, but with no landmarks or visual cues of any kind, she still couldn’t make sense of the maze.
They met Lily in the kitchen for lunch, and again for dinner. Each time, Lily and Daphne would chatter briefly. Lily was easy to talk to, warm and open. It didn’t take Daphne very long to place her trust and friendship in Lily. She hoped she could spend more time with her in the future. It’d be nice to have a girlfriend around, especially since she had to watch her back around Belle.
Exhausted from the day’s activity, Daphne collapsed onto the mountain of pillows in the cellar. She didn’t care that they were infested with that teenage boy smell, like dirty socks and aged cheese. She was too tired to move. Finn left her alone for a few minutes and came back with a book in hand. The other boys followed.
“Hey Daffy, can you do something for us tonight?” Finn asked.
“Hmm?” Daphne’s eyes remained closed, but she listened.
“It’s something we do every night before we go to sleep. But tonight will be the last night since Kevin’s going to get the new outlet working.”
“What is it?” Daphne peered through one open eye. Finn tossed a hardback book onto the pillow beside her. As the cover flapped, she could feel the light breeze tickle her cheek and smell the scent of old musty pages full of decaying knowledge. “A book?”
“Tomorrow we’ll have TV. Tonight, we read. Or, I should say, you read and we listen.”
“You want me to read you a book? You live under a school, for God’s sake. Can’t you read?”
The boys laughed collectively. “Of course we can read,” Hangman offered. “We just prefer to do it together every night. To make it mor
e social.”
“It’s kind of like a group prayer, or something. A final activity to end the day,” Kevin added as he lay behind Daphne on the pillows, propping himself on his elbow.
“And sometimes make fun of the boring parts—rewrite them verbally so that they’re more entertaining,” Shag mused. The boys chuckled.
“Oh.” Daphne looked down at the book and lightly brushed her fingers over the glossy typeface on the cover. “Great Expectations. You guys are into the classics, huh?”
Finn snorted. “Neverland’s library isn’t exactly up to date on popular fiction. Not to mention Trappe’s fundamentalist views put a ban on anything with vampires, werewolves, or zombies. Not even Harry Potter, which I’ve heard was quite good.” The boys all snickered as Finn grinned. He leaned over and cut a hand to the side of his lips, whispering, “I stole a copy from one of the students.”
“Do you steal everything here?” Daphne accused.
“I prefer the term, borrowed, but in this case I actually helped the kid out. If Trappe had found the book he would have spent a week in detention. I did him a service!” The boys erupted in quiet laughter as they took pillows and sat around Daphne in a semi circle.
“Okay, I guess I’ll read to you.” Daphne sighed.
“We left off on chapter six,” Finn instructed.
Daphne leafed through the pages until she reached the sixth chapter and began reading. At first she stuttered through the words nervously, unaccustomed to having this many eyes on her in any circumstance that didn’t involve throwing punches. But after a few pages, she eased into the story, at times forgetting the boys were even there. They remained so quietly transfixed on Daphne that not one of them even moved to scratch their nose or bat an eye. They didn’t make any vulgar comments as she had expected, perhaps because she was so uncomfortable reading aloud, or maybe because she was a girl and they didn’t want to offend her.
When Daphne finished reading the chapter, the boys all crowded into the tunnel toward their private cellar, preparing for bed, and Finn led Daphne back to the separate hole in the wall—her ‘bedroom’—where she could sleep in privacy.
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