It had been a long journey, a very long journey. The blonde walked over the hill and let out a sigh of relief, in the distance she could see it, Auradon Prep. It was a vision of safety for her, for a girl who just spent the better part of a week walking and, when possible, hitch-hiking to the kingdom. She pulled the hood of her sweatshirt down off of her head and hurried down the hill, she was so close. She could just imagine the nice warm bed she would have access to... as long as she could convince them to take her in.
That would be the only problem.
"Jay! Over here!" Ben called out, running down the tourney field. Jay threw the ball to him and the King of Auradon dove to catch it, rolling back to a standing position, running to the end of the field. It was just practice, but Ben had to pat himself on the back for that one, it had been pretty impressive.
"Alright Ben." Coach clapped. "and great pass Jay. You're getting better at this whole 'Team' thing." He added to the dark haired boy, who brightened at the praise. "Take five." He added and all the boys came jogging to the sideline, lining up to get a cup of water.
"You did great Ben." Mal called from the bleachers. Ben beamed up at her, pouring his water and stepped out of the way so Carlos could get a cup. The King walked up the bleachers to where his girlfriend sat with Evie.
"Yeah? How great?" He asked, a teasing grin gracing his lips.
"This great." Mal replied, leaning in to kiss him. Evie mimed gagging, moving out of the way, but smiled at the two, before moving down towards the team, taking up a conversation with Jay and Carlos.
"So," Ben watched Evie flounce off before turning his attention back to Mal. "What are you doing this weekend?" He asked.
"This weekend?" Mal looked like she was thinking really hard about it. "Hmm... Well I think I'll start with homework, followed by watching my boyfriend win the Tourney game. Followed up by some TV and laying around my dorm. Why? Did you have a better idea?" She knew he did.
"I was thinking a date, in town."
"In town? How fancy. It's almost like I'm dating the King."
"Your Highness!" Ben looked up to see Jane running from the castle, huffing and puffing. "Y-Your highness." She slowed as she came to the field. "Y-" She stopped, trying to catch her breath. Carlos appeared at her side with a cup of water. "Thank you." She took it and slowly drank it.
"Jane?" Ben asked after a couple minutes of her drinking the water.
"Oh! Right! Mom needs you in her office, right away. She said 'Post Haste, it is an emergency'." Jane quoted.
"What's going on?" Ben headed down from the bleacher, Mal on his tail.
"She wouldn't tell me details, just that you needed to hurry."
Expecting the worst, Ben took off for the castle at a sprint, Mal started after him but Jane stopped her.
"Mom said only His Highness."
"You know you can call him Ben, right?" Mal looked to the extremely nervous young girl.
"Oh no, I can't." The girl insisted, shaking her head.
"Of course not." Mal muttered.
"Fairy god mother?" Ben burst through the door, the girl in front of the desk jumped and whirled to face him.
"Oh, King Ben, good. You're quite sweaty."
"I was at tourney practice, what is the emergency?"
"Oh there isn't one, I just told Jane that so she would hurry. That girl moves at her own pace sometimes." Fairy Godmother shook her head. Ben gaped at her a moment. "Fairy bless her though, I love her." The blonde girl in front of the desk cleared her throat. "Right! Yes! This is Miss Scarlett Edon, from the Countryside."
"Your highness." Scarlett extended a hand to him. Ben reached out to shake it, her hand, as opposed to say... Audrey's hand, was rough, calloused, it was obvious that she had done a lot of work in her life. Ben let go and stepped back.
"Miss Edon would like to attend Auradon Prep." Fairy Godmother explained.
"I know I'm coming in late but... my grandmother made sure I was well educated, and I'll take whatever tests I have to in order to be placed." the girl seemed kind of nervous, like Jane, but even more wound up. She looked tired, dark circles under her eyes. Her hair seemed to be pulled back in an attempt to hide the messiness of it all. Her red hoodie was dirty, as in actually covered with dirt and mud, the same with her dark skinny jeans, they had holes and he honestly couldn't tell if they were meant to be there, like they were in some of Mal's pants, or if they were actual rips.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why am I here?" Ben addressed Fairy Godmother.
"New students are... not common around here, as you well know. Any student wishing to attend Auradon after the first of the year needs permission from the King... which is now you." Fairy Godmother explained.
"Okay." Ben nodded slowly, that made sense. "Why do you want to attend Auradon now? Why didn't you come sooner?" He gave his attention back to Scarlett.
"Well, in Countryside, we're not required to send our kids to school... because typically farm hands are more necessary. I worked on my grandmother's farm since I was a kid... she died recently and I want to do something else. I don't want to be a farmer." Scarlett answered, her eyes focused on the King as she shoved her shaking hands into her hoodie pocket.
"Who are your parents?"
"Red Riding Hood."
"And your father?" Scarlett simply shrugged in response.
"My mom died when I was young so my grandmother took me in. She's the only parent I've ever really known."
"Alright, have her take placement tests, find her a room- do you have any bags?" Ben looked around, Scarlett pointed to a small, beat up back pack in the corner. "Give her some money for clothes and necessities."
"Yes, your highness." Fairy Godmother nodded and went about getting the stuff together for it. Ben gave a final nod and headed out of the room.
"Wait!" Scarlett ran out of the room out of him. "Thank you." The sheer amount of passion and graditude behind it actually shocked him.
"Don't thank him quite yet." Fairy Godmother leaned in the doorway. "There is only one room available. And it's with Audrey."
I couldn't help myself. I had to do another story. I'm adding the info for Scarlett and this story on my tumblr. If you like the story, let me know. If you don't like it, let me know. I think I'm going to try and go back and forth posting one chapter ever other day between this story and The Guardians. If you haven't read that one, you should definitely check it out. Anyway, thanks for reading!