Neverland Academy Read Online Free PDF Page A

Uncle Byron. It won’t happen again.”
    “No,
it will not,” Trappe growled. “Professor Ryder has had to shave his hair and
even that hasn’t eliminated the blue stain from his scalp.” Belle snickered,
recalling the previous night’s escapades of replacing the crotchety professor’s
shampoo with neon blue dye.
    “You
won’t be laughing, my dear, when I put you in the discipline room.” Belle’s
face grew taut. She met Trappe’s angry eyes with her own, filled with terror.
    “No,
uncle, please,” she begged. “I said it wouldn’t happen again. I’ll apologize to
Professor Ryder. I’ll do anything. I swear!”
    Trappe
sighed and paced the room. He ended up standing beside the vanity and gazed out
the window. “I’ll let it go this time, only because you are technically family.
But the next time something goes amiss I will harbor no leniency. Consider this
your final warning.” With that, Trappe tromped out of the room, slamming the
door behind him so hard that a framed picture fell from the wall and glass
shattered over the old wood plank floor. Belle scrambled to pick up the pieces
of her shattered past.
    She
held the picture, faded and wrinkled with age. In it, a beautiful woman with
long, flowing strawberry blond hair held an infant, no more than three months
old. A man with light brown hair, the color of honey, cradled them both in his
arms. Belle had no memory of her parents. They’d died when she was only three.
She’d been raised at Neverland Academy. No person in particular attended to
her, but she’d found a family in the work staff who took care of the needs of
faculty and students. One woman in particular, Janine, had almost treated her
like a daughter. Janine was a cook, but always took the time to read to Belle
and tend to her ailments, like only a mother would. Her own daughter Lily,
lived at the academy as well, but she was put to work at a young age and not
given the same luxuries as Belle. Since girls were not permitted at the
academy, Trappe hired a private tutor to give Belle daily lessons. He came for
two hours in the morning, which was plenty of time when Belle committed herself
to the work. It was easy to do, considering how much she hated the guy. She
studied extra hard to get it over with sooner.
    Belle
was saddened when she looked at the photograph, but she did not cry. She never
cried. And she tried never to show weakness. In a place filled with boys and
men, she strived to be their equal. That was why she ended up allying herself
with Finn and the outcasts. They never treated her like a pathetic little girl.
They appreciated her strength. If only Finn could see that she was more than
one of the guys without betraying her pride.
    Belle
picked up the large pieces of glass and swept the others using two magazines,
one as a brush and one as a dustpan, dropping them into the wastebasket among
crumpled papers and used Q-tips. Then she shrugged on a hoodie and slipped into
the secret panel in the wall.

Chapter Four
    Imprisoned
     
                       
    The loneliness of laying on a bed
without a phone to text anyone was stifling to Daphne. Her fingers twitched
with the insatiable need for some fine motor activity, preferably with an
electronic device. She should have felt a sense of unconditional freedom with
the acres open space surrounding her new home, no obligations to friends or
school yet, and nothing but empty time slots before school starts; but instead
she was suffocating. She needed a connection to the outside world, a beacon to
draw human relationships to her. Or at least a melodic chorus of honks and
resonating engines to remind her of home.
    She
lay there staring at the ceiling, listening to the gusty wind blow the boughs
of a maple tree just outside her window. One of the longer limbs scratched at
her window and she turned in alarm. Lightning flashed. For a brief moment she
could have sworn she saw a pair of eyes staring at her. Unearthly green