NEVERLAND ✧ Louis Partridge

21 | Skipper's Plan

Y/N

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"YOU HAVE GOT TO be kidding me," I groaned, stomping through the forest, "what the hell was he thinking?"

After finding out that Louis willingly gave himself over to Hook, I was about ready to storm over to the ship and brawl with whoever even thought about hurting him. Millie had to stop me before I could do so, directing me back towards the camp.

I couldn't storm the ship without backup.

"Do you want me to answer that?" Millie shrugged, ducking underneath a branch.

I frowned, "not really."

"Good, we don't have time anyways," she said, screeching to a stop, "we're here."

We had stopped back at the clearing, where the Lost Boys' hideout was carefully tucked away. The trees swayed gently in the breeze, but other than that, there was no sign of movement. It looked just as abandoned as earlier.

I furrowed my brows.

"They must have ditched," I muttered, turning to the fairy beside me, "do you know where they might have gone?"

Millie rolled her eyes, "boys."

"Yes, but, where are they?"

"Hiding," she huffed, flying off towards the center of the space. She came to a halt, clapping her tiny hands aggressively over and over again. Soon there was a rustle in the branches above us, and Millie cleared her throat, "you can come out boys!"

Tilting my head upwards, I caught a glimpse of a familiar shoe sole hanging over the side of the tree trunk.

"I don't want to come out!" A voice spat out, "we aren't talking to her!"

They were talking about me, weren't they?

Okay, that was a dumb question, of course they were.

One by one, the boys came dropping out of the trees like flies, hitting the ground with soft thuds. One they were all on their feet, they gave me the same stare; a look of saddened betrayal. Seeing it from one person was one thing, but seeing all four boys staring at me like that was another thing. Yikes. 

Finn was the first to speak, "what are you doing here, Skipper?"

Contrary to the previous ways he would talk to me, his tone was bland and dull. It was like he was dreading speaking to me. That hurt.

"I need your help," I sighed, rocking back and forth on my feet, "I need all of your—"

"No," Noah said, trudging away without hesitation, "not doing it."

I stammered, "why not?"

This time it was Caleb's turn to speak, his eyes cast towards the ground, "because you're a traitor, that's why."

That word was like a knife to the heart; traitor.  It wasn't completely true, but I knew I couldn't excuse the fact that I still did Hook's dirty work for the weeks I had been here. I lied, I betrayed, I hurt them.

But they didn't understand that I didn't have a choice.

"Let me explain, then," I said, crossing my arms across my chest, "I'll tell you the truth about everything, and then you can decide if you want to call me a traitor."

Gaten scoffed, "you don't deserve to explain yourself."

"I'm sorry...why not?"

"We aren't talking to someone who tried to kill Louis, so just turn around and head back to your ugly pirate ship."

"Gaten..."

"No, he's right," Finn yawned, "it's better if you leave."

"Guys," I sighed, my arms swinging down to my hips, "please listen."

"Tough chance, just go away!"

This honestly broke me a little.

But they had a reason to be mad, and if they weren't going to listen to me, I had to force them to.

I watched as they turned their backs on me, walking towards the tree house in defiance, so I did the one thing I could. Grabbing the handle of my dagger from my belt, I flipped it between my fingers and chucked it away from me. It went flying over the boys' heads, splintering into a tree bark a few paces away.

I had good aim.

"If I was here to hurt you, I would have done it," I stated, digging the heel of my boot into the ground, "but I'm not going to do it, because I'm here to apologize and save Louis before he gets hurt, so I'd appreciate it if you'd just listen."

I didn't like to raise my voice, but I had to.

Caleb, Noah, Finn, and Gaten all looked at me with shock, and so did Millie. I guess they didn't expect me to be so straightforward with them, considering they usually only saw the reserved side of me.Or maybe they were shocked at the fact that I nun-chucked a dagger just to grab their attention. 

It worked.

"We need to make a plan," I said, clapping my hands together, "and we need to save Louis."

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one and 1/2 chapters left :)