Across the Sea Chapter 1

Many years ago, after being sent to the Isle of the Lost for kidnapping Rapunzel and using her to stay young and beautiful, my mother, Mother Gothel, walked into a pub in the kingdom of Corona looking for a wizard. Mother Gothel and the young wizard made a deal that if she slept with him in exchange she would be granted eternal youth. Not only did he trick her, he got her pregnant.

My mom looked for my father for years so that she didn't have to take care of me but she could never find him. This resulted in years of verbal, emotional, and sometimes physical abuse. She once threw a knife at me because I didn't cook her dinner fast enough. I was 6 years old and it, luckily, didn't hit me. My mom sometimes went on anger rampages which usually leaves me with bruises inside and out. For years I've been dreaming of a way to leave her and this island behind.

Compared to my mom's black curly hair, which is probably the only physical feature I inherited from my mom, my hair is curly and forest green. My mom's greens eyes are always a reminder of how different we look because my eyes are brown. My father must have dark skin because my skin is a milk chocolate tone. I hope I inherited my father's wizard powers, however, I'll never find out since the Isle of the Lost is a magic-less land. My mom is known to be very manipulative, fast talking, and beautiful. She once told me that the only things I need in life are great skin and power. Well aren't I rude; I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Bri Gothel daughter of Mother Gothel.

So here I am sitting in my room looking out my window at the unlucky souls walking around stealing things from each other or just plain trying to live their lives. I drifted off a bit laying down on my I heard a knock on my window. I yawned and looked around my gray room confused on what just woke me up. I didn't look out the window until the knock came again. When I opened the window, one of my best friends, Jay, jumped in and laid on the ground by my bed. "Hey Bri how's it going?".

Jay is Jafar's son and he's great at stealing things. We've been friends ever since we stole from each others house, which is right next to each other, and got caught by our parents. As a punishment, we had to clean both of the houses together. We bonded over our hate of cleaning and have been best friends ever since. Sometimes we sneak over to each others house at night to get away from our parents.

I shut my window and looked down at him "What did you do this time?" I asked him crossing my arms. He smirked up at me and pulled out a silver necklace with a forest green stone hanging down. "I stole this necklace from a street vendor, but I'll let you have it if you do my homework for Selfishness 101" he offered sitting up. I thought for a moment and snatched the necklace out his hand. "Or I can take this and you get nothing" I shrugged and stepped over him to look at myself in the mirror. I had on a red sleeveless frill peplum top, extremely ripped black denim thigh high shorts, black leather boots, fishnet tights, fishnets fingerless gloves that run to my elbow, and an emerald green leather jacket. I picked up my lipstick tube and put on the black lipstick that I always wear. I made faces at my reflection like I usually make when I'm alone, then looked at Jay through the mirror to see him staring at me smirking. "What are you looking at?" I asked him making a face. Jay seemed to smirk harder "You know you're cute right?". I rolled my eyes and fluffed up my hair "You know I hate you right?". Jay is known for his stealing and his flirtation so I don't take any of his compliments seriously.

He stood up and dusted himself off "You know school starts in 30 minutes right?" Jay asked walking around my room examining everything. "Yeah, I can take your picture right now," I told him turning around putting the necklace that matched my hair into my jacket pocket. I grabbed my red Polaroid camera and my book bag from off the chest in front of my bed. "Let's go, dude".

After school, I sat in my friend Mal's room with our other friends Evie and Carlos. Mal is the daughter of Maleficent and the most ruthless of our friend group. Mal and I were always forced to hang out since our parents were always hanging out and gossiping about people on the island, so we eventually just had to be friends. I remember we used to make money from scamming the people of the isle by selling them stolen goods until we got caught and had to stop.

Mal paced back and forth "Where the heck is Jay?" she asked directed towards us but really to herself. Honestly, Jay's probably getting sidetracked by some girls or something shiny. Just then Jay walked in holding 5 bags of food. Mal snatched a bag out his hand and looked into it "Did you steal these?" she asked turning up her nose at the burger in her hand.

Jay smirked and plopped down onto the couch between Evie and me leaving Carlos to be squished next to me. "No I got a couple of girls to buy it for me" Jay explained digging in his bag. Evie took a bag and smiled "Good job Casanova".

I was a kid when I met Evie, The Evil Queen's daughter. My mom forced me to take up kickboxing, sword fighting, and karate because she wanted me to be able to take care of myself but really it was to get me out the house more. One day, I was at a Sword fighting tournament and I got my clothes destroyed. My mom sent me to get my clothes repaired by Evie. I gave her a thank you gift of a necklace with a red apple on it with a crown. Till this day she still wears it.

"Good thing someone brought the food because I was definitely about to take a nibble off Bri" Carlos joked getting up and grabbing his own bag. "Wait why me?" I asked pouting "Well your green hair and green jacket reminds me of lettuce," He said making everyone laugh. I grabbed his bag and started to eat the fries "Keep messing with me and I'll put a dog in your room again". Carlos gulped and sat quietly grabbing another bag.

I'll never say it to his face, but Carlos is the sweetest guy I've ever met. With Cruella de Vil being his mother, you would think he'd be more courageous, however, he's the opposite. One day, my mom sent me to get our laptop fixed by Carlos since he's really tech savvy. Well, Carlos refused to do it since I kind of sort of called him a coward for not helping me in sword fighting. As revenge, I filled his room with dogs knowing he had a fear of them. He begged me to get rid of the dogs and in exchange, he'll fix the computer. Ever since then, I joke about putting dogs in his room.

"Guys what should we do today?" Mal asked laying on all 4 of our laps. After School I have an hour before my sword fighting class starts, so we usually run around causing trouble. "Same as always. Run around messing up stuff" Evie shrugged finishing off her food. "That sounds like fun," Carlos said shooting his bag into the trash can across the room. "How about we make it a little more fun?" Jay said putting his trash on Mal's lap to bug her, which it did because she threw it back at him but she missed and hit Evie making her groan. I giggled "Well what do you have in mind?" I asked Jay throwing my trash at the side of his head. "We can have a competition, the person who causes the most misfit is the winner," he said jumping up. Making Mal fall onto the ground. Mal jumped up and tried to hit Jay, but Evie grabbed Mal's hand and ran out the house. Jay snickered and walked out leaving me and Carlos to catch up like always.

We ran down the street screaming and yelling. We hit windows and doors as we ran around. I accidentally hit a few people trying to get away from other people we stole from. We met in the middle of street laughing. Mal smiled and took a sucker from a passing baby to end it all. I honestly think we all tied in the misfit department. Just when we thought we were in the clear, 4 expressionless henchmen appeared in front of us. Mal sighed and crossed her arms "Hello mother". Maleficent smirked at her waving her staff around slowly "Mal I'm disappointed in you. Just taking the candy from the baby?" She took the candy out of Mal's hand and put it in her armpit then gave it back to the baby "That's better".

Maleficent is the evilest women I have ever met in my life. In my isle history books, they always introduce our parents as "The evilest person in all the land". Well, that's Maleficent. She rules the isle with an iron fist making Mal struggle to live up to her mother's name. It doesn't help that Maleficent never actually told Mal she ever loved her. Like my mom always says "Love is a trap. When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows". A couple of years ago I asked my mom a question about love and she said: "Love is a misunderstanding between two fools". There's not much love on the isle of the lost sadly.

I totally zoned out until I heard the words Auradon Prep leave Maleficent's mouth. We all tried to run but the stupid henchmen stopped us instantly. There's no way Maleficent expects us to transfer to Auradon prep the home of the "Hero" kids. I jumped out of the henchman's arms and stood by Mal crossing my arms. "You idiots. I want you guys to go so that you can get me that wand!". We all in unison let out a confused "What wand?"

After an hour of packing, I finally finished and began to head over to Mal's place. I dragged my bag down stairs trying not to fall and end my life before I could even get off the isle. I dragged my bag to the door just as someone knocked on the door. I sighed and opened the door rubbing my eyes. "Can I help you?" I asked yawning softly. "Actually I was hoping I could walk with my dorky friend over to my other dorky friend's house," the guest said in an obvious joking tone. I opened my eyes and saw Jay leaning on my door frame with his bag over his shoulder. I grabbed my suitcase handle and let out a loud sigh. "Let's get going then you nerd," I said pushing past him and outside the house.

We walked down the street pretty slowly compared to the usual run we have to do away from people we just terrorized. "You excited for the big move?" He asked me smiling. I actually wasn't very sure. I don't want to disappoint my mom but I want to just live a new life. "Kind of. I feel like our parents just want us to go for their benefit and not just to give us a better life. I'm sure my mom will be happy to have me gone" I confessed walking a little slower looking at the ground. "I understand. My dad just wants me to steal stuff for his shop. If someone gave him a choice, me or riches. Guess who you won't be seeing anymore." He said softly. I looked up at him and saw him smiling down on me "I'm glad they asked for you too. You really get me Bri". "I'm glad we both got picked to go too" I smiled back and nudged his shoulder softly "We'll have each other; if you need anything you can just come to me ok you nerd?" I said before I giggled and handed him my bag. He made a face but still dragged my bag behind him "Same goes to you dork".

We laughed pushing each other playfully until we walked into Mal's house. Our parents stopped talking to each other and looked at us. My mother raised her eyebrow at us and stood up "Did you pack everything?" She asked me looking at the bag in Jay's hand. He looked down and dropped my bag running to his dad saying sorry."Yes, the mother" I said softly. "Good girl. Now I have something for you" My mom took off the necklace she had on and gave it to me "Put it on. It will glow when you're able to use your magic". I should have known this wasn't just from the kindness of her heart. I thanked her and examined the necklace. It was a gold choker with a circle hanging down from it. "I also have a book I've been meaning to give you for this moment," she said running out of the room. This is weird, my mom never gives me gifts unless it's for herself.

I looked over at everyone else to see them also getting pep talks from their parents. I made eye contact with Carlos, who seemed a bit happy to finally be able to get away from his mom. He mouthed for help but it was nothing I could do to help him. If I move from my spot my mom will have my head, so waiting for my mom to come back is all I can do for right now. My mom ran back in excitedly holding some old book. "What is this mom?" I asked taking the book from her hand and staring at the cover. The red and green leather book was sealed by a lock with a skull shaped key hanging down from the bottom of the book. I looked up from the book into my mother's face silently begging for an explanation.

My mother sighed rolling her eyes at me. "This was your father's spell book that I took from him before he left me. I took it in case he lied to me about being able to make me young forever, which he did.". My mom sat on the armrest of the red chair next to her "I've been holding it in case I ever get out of this dump, but I found the next best thing!". She got up and grabbed my shoulders shaking me a bit "You dear, are not only there to get the wand and let down the barrier, but you have to also conjure up a spell that will keep me looking young forever. Can you do that for mommy?". My mom's life goal is to look young forever; always has been and always will be. "Of course mother," I said monotoned looking at the necklace.

Evie walked over and put her arm around my shoulder and smiled "We're about to leave soon Bri. You sure you don't want me to do your hair before we leave?". I rolled my eyes at her and walked away without saying a word. We both dragged our luggage outside to get away from our parents. "You excited to be going to Auradon Prep?" I asked her sitting on the ground. She sighed and sat next to me "I can't wait to find a prince to marry. But what if people hate us for our parent's past?". I shook my head and looked at her "Then forget them. If they don't like us then they will just have to deal with it because we aren't leaving because some prissy prince or princess don't like us. Remember Evie, were rotten.". "To the core," She said hugging me tightly.

Jay walked out smirking "Did I miss something?". Evie jumped up smiling at him "Nope, I'm gonna go make sure I have all my stuff!" and like that, she was gone. Jay replaced her spot and looked off into the distance. "I hope this doesn't suck" he sighed out. I giggled and punched his arm "Have more faith. We're all together aren't we?". He shrugged "Yeah I guess you're right,". "I know I'm right" I said smirking at him earning myself a nudge. We both laughed softly which soon died down into us just silently staring at each other. "Hey um what do you think about my hair?" I asked him trying to straighten a few curls with my hands. "I think it's nice," he said smiling at me.

The moment was ruined by the sound of an engine coming toward us. We looked over and saw a limbo pulling up in front of us. We both looked at each other and ran to the limbo dragging our stuff behind us. We put our stuff in the trunk and waited inside the limbo for the rest of them to show up.

I looked at the book my mom gave me and ran my hand over the front of it. "What's that?" Mal asked as she got into the limbo in front of Carlos and Evie. "My mom gave me my dad's old spell book," I said still staring at it. "Why don't you open it right now?" Carlos asked me shoving chocolate into his mouth."I was gonna open it when we get there to give it a test run" I smiled and looked out the window. I wonder if life will be better at Auradon Prep.