"So… this thing will make me say what I really feel to Jane?"

"Yeah. I mean, this is a truth gummy so take it or leave it."

"Perfect."

"Hold on though… are you sure that you want to be taking this because this is going to make you say the truth, all the time, no matter what and the only reason that I'm asking is because I know that if I took this right now I would get myself sent back to the isle which it's not that that seems super unappealing but you know?"

"Yeah, I'll take my chances I guess."

Mal handed Carlos the gummy and watched as he put it in his mouth and chewed, his face contorting in disgust as he did.

"Ugh, that's gross." He said after swallowing the magical sweet.

"Well? Do you feel any different?" Mal asked.

"Not really. I guess I should just go find Jane and see if it worked?"

"Good idea."

"Thanks Mal, I owe you." Carlos said as he dashed towards to the door to leave and turned into the hallway.

"No… problem." Mal quietly said half to herself and half to Carlos as he left mid-sentence.

She wanted things to work out for Carlos the way he wanted them to, she really did, but she wished that he had taken her advice and maybe not taken the truth gummy. Although he had never said anything out right to her, she had her suspicions that his feelings for Jane weren't the truth and now that he'd taken it, his actual truth was about to come out. Not that Mal hadn't been waiting for that day pretty much since she'd met Carlos, she just didn't want to be the reason for something bad happening to him or his feelings getting hurt. She shook the thoughts from her head and tried not to think about it, she had her own truths to work through and needed to try and stay out of other people's dramas. She would just have to wait until later to see what would happen.

Meanwhile, Carlos was rushing around the school, trying to track down Jane whilst also trying to avoid everyone else so that he didn't spill any unwanted – yet true – opinions he had on his fellow classmates. He had to be careful now that he had no choice but to tell the truth. A thought that only briefly crossed his mind was how long exactly the gummy would last since he didn't even know if it had kicked in yet. It wasn't a case of if it would work, Carlos trusted Mal and her magic and knew what she was capable of, he just wanted to be wary in case it suddenly took affect and lasted indefinitely. Carlos wanted it to last long enough to tell Jane how he felt but also didn't want to be going around forever, spouting the absolute truth all the time.

He finally found Jane leaving the library, carrying a stack of papers and books in her arms and looking distant. Carlos ran over to her, bouncing like an excited puppy; a change of tune from only the day before when he could barely even get a word out to Jane.

"Jane hi!" he almost shouted in her face.

Jane jumped, startled at the sudden loud noise that had just distracted her from her train of though.

"Oh, hey Carlos, what's up?" she said once she had regained her composure.

"Uhh, I need to ask you something about cotillion."

"Oh yeah, great, what is it? Is it about decorations because I am so open to suggestions right now; I keep asking Mal what she thinks but she always seems busy. I mean with all the lady of the court stuff, anyone would be busy but this is kind of important too you know? I don't want to bug her though; I know she must be stressed."

"Uhh… yeah, right, actually I didn't come to talk about that. I came to ask you… if… wanted to go with me… but now that I think about it… the truth is…. I really want to ask Jay out." Carlos blurted out as if he no longer had control over what his mouth did, "And I took this truth gummy thing to make me tell you how I feel but I guess it kind of backfired. But if you think about it, I did just tell you how I feel so maybe it did its job after all. Wow, I needed to get all that off my chest, I feel like a weight has been lifted. I'm gunna go hide somewhere now and wait for this to wear off so that I don't somehow bump into Jay and tell him that I'm kind of in love with him. Oh God, did I just say that? I need to go, good luck with your decorations or whatever!"

He bolted off; leaving Jane in a state of shock and confusion that took her a minute to comprehend. She looked after the excitable boy with a puzzled expression on her face and wondered why he just spilled his guts to her like that and what in the world a truth gummy was. Eventually, she just shook her head in disbelief and wandered slowly on, trying to organise her thoughts enough to return to cotillion planning.

Carlos ran as quickly as he could out of sight from Jane and then stopped to think about what had just happened. This was not what he wanted, this is not what he planned and if he was honest, he did understand but it was definitely not what he was expecting. Of course he had thought about… feelings like this before but people on the Isle – especially his mother – weren't exactly so open and accepting when it came to emotions and affection especially that of others' and even more so if it wasn't exactly 'the norm'. But since he had lived in Auradon he had been desperate to be a new form of normal with feelings. Feelings towards Jane. He thought that was what he wanted or at least tried to make it what he wanted. He just wanted to be normal and somehow, even in this more accepting world, it was even more important to fit in and be accepted by everyone; he hadn't given himself a chance to really think about what he actually wanted. What he truly wanted. And now that the gummy was forcing him to tell not only other people the truth but also himself, he had to face his thoughts and feelings all at once and it was extremely overwhelming.

He sat down on the floor behind a bush, trimmed to resemble a frog and pulled his knees up to his chest, trying hard not to start hyperventilating. If Jane knew about his secret, then how long would it be before everyone else did to, including Jay, was all he could think about. He was sure that Jane wouldn't tell anyone and he was also pretty sure that what he had told her was so difficult to actually understand that she couldn't tell anyone even if she did want to. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down.

'Okay, I just have to avoid Jay until this wears off. When does this thing wear off? Right, I'll go find Mal then just find somewhere nice and secluded to lay low for however long it takes and then everything will be fine.' Carlos thought to himself, trying to provide some reassurance by getting a plan of action.

He took a deep, shaky breath and stood up from his ball on the floor and set off to find Mal. She was probably still in her room so that was the first place he decided to go. The only problem was, it was on the other side of the school and he would have to run and avoid Jay all that way. He could cut across the Tourney field as a shortcut but if practice had been moved there for the day, he would run into Jay. He could go the long way but prolonged exposure and going past the gym would also mean the possibility of running into Jay. Carlos weighed up his options and decided to go for the short cut. He was sure Jay had said something about the field condition not being right for practice last week so if that was still the case, it would be unlikely that the team would be there today. He hoped that was still the case.

Walking cautiously towards the Tourney field, Carlos planned out in his head what he would do if he really did run into Jay on his travels back to the dorms. He decided the best option in his condition was to run. Just run and don't look back. He would have gone with 'deny, deny, deny' but with the truth gummy working its magic, he wasn't sure that would be an option available to him. Carlos walked at a quickened pace but did not run as he thought it was better to be careful than fast in this situation and also wanted to save his energy for if he had to make an emergency break for it at any point. Okay, this was it; he approached the field, hiding out of sight with his back pressed against a wall on the edge of the grass. He took a couple of deep breaths before turning the corner and bolting without even taking a look to see if anyone was already there. It seemed like it was going to be a clear run and he would make it until someone from his left called out,

"Hey, Carlos!"

He froze. The voice sounded familiar but he was relieved that it was definitely not Jay. Part of him hated that he knew that because he didn't get the almost electric-like tingles through his body that he usually got whenever Jay said his name. Carlos slowly turned towards the voice and saw Chad running to catch up to him.

"Oh, hi Chad." Carlos said when he was close enough to be able to speak in a normal speaking voice.

If there was one person other than Jay that he did not want to run into that day, it was Chad; not that he didn't like him per se, just that there was a limit with Chad; only so much of him one person can take and with all the unwanted visits to his room recently, Carlos was pretty quickly reaching that point. He knew Chad was harmless but he also always found a way to get under people's skin and there were some thoughts that Carlos would rather keep to himself.

"What do you want?" Carlos prompted when Chad did nothing but give him a toothy grin.

"Oh, nothin'. I just wanted to say hi, you know, as buddies do." Chad answered him, charisma lacing every word that came out of his mouth.

Carlos rolled his eyes – he knew he wanted something from him – and sighed, "right. Well, hi." And began to walk away from him.

"Uhh, wait!" Chad called after him, stopping him in his tracks once again, "I actually wanted to ask for a favour. As a buddy."

"What is it?"

"You know the sweet 3D printer you and Jay have in your dorm? Well I was wondering if I could swing by later and print something. It's for a… uh… business proposal I have for my father. I think with some props, he'd totally be open to the idea."

Carlos bit his tongue. That stupid 3D printer was the reason Chad had been paying so many visits, even when Jay and Carlos were not in their room and he was getting sick of it. He tried to stop himself from these words slipping out but it was no good and before he'd even registered saying anything at all, his frustration bubbled over and the words were out,

"Chad. You have been using that damn printer since we got it! You made a key for our room and just let yourself in whenever you please. I need my space; my own space away from all the prissy princes around here. Is it so much to ask that you don't just waltz into our room all the time?"

Chad stopped in his tracks, his smile slowly fading as he registered Carlos' annoyance.

"So… that's a no then?" He asked.

Carlos rolled his eyes and was about to say something else when his thought was cut off by the sound of a voice calling over to them from somewhere not too far behind Chad. The voice he had been trying to avoid and dreading the idea of hearing it. It was Jay. Even without being able to see around Chad's annoying, large head, he knew. He got the ever so familiar shivers that came along with Jay's low, calming voice and it took him aback for a second; way more than it usually did.

"Chad, man, come on!" He shouted, running towards the two boys off to the side of the field.

Carlos peaked around Chad and saw Jay coming towards them and felt like he was going to word-vomit all over him at any second. He could not let him get any closer and he most definitely could not let him speak to him.

"Oh, hey Carlos!" Jay called, closer now and approaching quickly with a dazzling smile on his face now.

Carlos did nothing but stare at him for all of a second before snapping out of it and springing back to life. Jay was now only a few strides away and Carlos knew he had to move at risk of letting something slip. He gave a panicked smile before bolting off into the direction he was headed in the first place, shouting something over his shoulder that vaguely resembled the words 'hi, gotta bye!" as he scampered off as fast as he could.

When Jay reached Chad's side less than a second later, he looked after his friend in confusion and asked Chad,

"What was that about?"

"No idea man, hey, can I stop by your room later?"

Jay slapped Chad playfully on his shoulder and shook his head in response before running back to the rest of his team to continue with practice. He was still confused as to why Carlos had scuttled away so quickly but shrugged it off just as fast, presuming it was because of Chad bothering him about the 3D printer.