Free Another Pan by Daniel Nayeri Page B

Weezy.”
    The boys had a laugh. One of them slapped John on the back, which almost knocked him down. John grew red.
    “I’m just kidding,” said Peter. “You can roll with us anytime you like. Might need to catch up a little, but that’s cool.”
    Wendy instinctively reached for John and pulled him back by his shoulder. He jerked her hand off and muttered, “Leave me alone, Wen.” He was obviously insulted and humiliated by Peter’s brush-off. Still, Wendy knew John wouldn’t back off. She didn’t like that he was beginning to idolize the boarding kids. Everyone at Marlowe knew how rough they could be. They had all the money and freedom in the world and absolutely no one to give them rules or advice. The Marlowe faculty didn’t care. They received massive donations to keep these kids happy and educated — and to overlook any infraction that could be chalked up to loneliness or lack of family. Wendy felt sad for them. They were like a super-rich version of herself, because they too didn’t have mothers who loved them enough to stay. They were like orphans, forced to live at school because no one else wanted them. But then again, they were the most entitled bunch of playboys she’d ever met. So her sympathy only went so far.
    She wished that John could see all that: that the boarders were nothing to idolize, that they were very much like John and Wendy. But nowadays, all John cared about was looking cool enough or wealthy enough, and he brooded constantly over his failed Facebook reinvention maneuver. Well, at least she could give him
some
help, Wendy thought, making a mental note to ask Connor to invite John to work out again. It would be so much better for John to hang out with the lacrosse boys than with these criminals.
    The thought of Connor made Wendy suddenly aware of Peter watching her. “I’m Wendy Darling,” she said.
    Peter nodded as if he already knew, and he didn’t offer his name, as if he expected her to know it already. Instead he said, “Don’t worry so much about your brother, Wendy. These guys are cool. We’re just talking about this exhibit we want to see.”
    Wendy raised an eyebrow. Peter may have been cute, but this was exactly the kind of pretend-do-gooder comment that made her suspicious. She wasn’t the kind of girl who let herself be manipulated. If she knew anything, it was that people always lie to get you to like them just before they do something to disappoint you. That had been Wendy’s experience all her life. Might as well start off with a healthy dose of suspicion and never get caught off guard.
    “Look,” she said distractedly, “the exhibit isn’t even open yet —” Wendy stopped herself, but it was too late. Peter was giving her a strange sideways glance.
    “How’d you know we were talking about the Egyptian exhibit?”
    A smile grew on Peter’s lips as Wendy blanched and the boys laughed. Peter knew she had been watching him, and now she looked like some kind of stalker. Peter didn’t take his eyes off Wendy.
    “Well, Wendy Darling, since we’re on the subject, what’s up with this exhibit? Have you seen it yet?” He said the
Darling
with emphasis, as if it was a very important part of her name.
    Wendy stifled a laugh, amused at the way Peter allowed himself to be so transparent in his manipulation — as if, for him alone, it wasn’t such a bad thing to do.
    Peter kept prodding. “Is there an old book called —?”
    At the mention of the book, Wendy remembered something. She interrupted Peter —“I have to go”— and checked her watch. She had been on her way to the basement, where the exhibit’s items were waiting to be dusted, cataloged, and readied for display. The job her father had finagled for her didn’t pay as much as the café, but Wendy wasn’t going to turn down a paying gig. And she appreciated the trouble he had gone to. Besides, for once John didn’t object (since she was tucked away in a basement, away from judgmental eyes,