Hi Guys, and Welcome to the first chapter of What is Love Truly Worth or WILTW because the title is long to type out. Anyway, I realised with the all other stuff I was writing, that I hadn't done a 'typical' Ben and Carlos story, so I thought I would put my own twist on it. This is highly inspired by 'White Hair & Golden Cufflinks' and 'Love of a King, towards a Villain' so if you haven't read them already, I suggest you do.
I hope you enjoy the first chapter :)
Carlos POV-Week 1:
As the crowds dispersed, we saw Mal turn around, and heard her say "Hello Mother." At that point, it was obvious what has happening. The rest of us could now see Maleficent stood there, in all her 'glory'. "Stealing Candy Mal? So disappointed" she began, raising her staff into the air, with her minions behind her. Mal then tried to justify her actions, "It was from a baby" she responded, handing the lolly to her mother.
Through all this, I wasn't sure what to do. 'Do I just stand here? Can I look her in the eyes? Do I need to act all menacing?' I thought to myself, as some events transpired. I zoned back in when Maleficent screamed. "Oh! There's news! I buried the lede" causing me to turn my attention to her. 'What could this possibly be? Nothing worth noting happens on the Isle' I thought to myself, nearly slipping back into deep thought, but this time, I was able to recover.
Maleficent began to speak again. "You four have been chosen to go to a different school…in Auradon" she finished, causing Evie, Jay and I to try and flee. Unfortunately, Maleficent's minions were stood behind us, so we didn't get very far. Mal was the first to object to the idea, but I couldn't focus on what she said. I was too paranoid to think of anything else. 'Us, being sent to Auradon? Why would they want us other there' I thought to myself. Jay mentioned something about leather, and tried to high five me, but I quickly spoke up about my own fear.
"I read somewhere that they allow dogs in Auradon. Mom said they're rabid pack animals who eat boys who don't behave." I stated. I was absolutely petrified of dogs, and the thought of actually meeting one was horrifying. That's when I heard Jay bark into my ear, causing me to jump slightly. Again, I zoned out, and before long we were being ushered to Maleficent's castle.
We must have had a 30 minutes conversation deciding whether or not to go. Maleficent said that she wanted us to steal the Fairy Godmother's wand, and whatever maleficent wants she gets, so really this trip wasn't optional anymore. My mum started to get all sentimental or at least I thought she was. "Oh, well, they're not taking my Carlos, because I'd miss him too much." She stated, and for once, I felt like she loved me. "Really mum?" I asked, staring at her, slightly relieved at what she had said.
That was until she responded. "Yes. Who would touch up my roots, fluff my fur, and scrape the bunions off my feet?" she proceeded to say, which instantly kill any good feelings I had. I mumbled to myself "Yeah, maybe a new school wouldn't be the worst thing," and she noticed. Cruella reminded me that they have dogs in Auradon once again, and fear filled my mind. "Oh no! I'm not going" I stated. The other parents proceeded to state why Jay and Evie shouldn't go, and Maleficent went on a rant.
Something about getting their revenge. She did repeat "20 Years!" a lot, but I wasn't really paying attention. 'What if I meet a dog? What will I do? I can't run from it, mum says they are way too fast. I can't fight it, apparently they are really strong. Just stay with Mal, Evie and Jay, and hopefully they will protect me' my mind raced. Anyway, he heard beeping coming from outside, and we all made our way out. Evie and Jay were the first to leave, whilst I had to literally grab my bag and run from my mum. She wasn't happy about me going, so I had to dive into the limousine, and get as far into it as possible.
The limousine ride to Auradon to quite eventful. I noticed a load of sweets at the side of the limo, and started to dive in. Before long, Jay had noticed and decided to attack me, rather than grabbing his own sweets. I managed to fend him off, retaining hold of one of my sweets, and quickly took a bit out of it. It was an interesting taste, it was salty like nuts, but it was also sweet. I told them about it, and Jay asked to see. I opened my mouth, showing him the chewed remains, causing him to hit me, and grab the half I hadn't eaten, tasting it for himself. Evie was quick to notice that we were heading for the old destroyed bridge on the edge of the Isle.
"It's a trap!" I screamed, grabbing on to Jay in fear. The girls quickly grabbed hold of each other, and we all screamed as a magical bridge formed beneath us, and we passed through the barrier. "What just happened?" I questioned, intrigued by what was going on. "It must be magic" was Evie's response to the question.
Other than that, the rest of the car journey as uneventful. We all stared out the window at the beautiful landscape of Auradon. I didn't really want to admit it, but I was slightly looking forward to this opportunity, minus the dogs of course. Back on the Isle, I wasn't the evilest of kids. God, I wasn't bothered about being evil, all I wanted to focus on what making and tinkering with things. Well, that and surviving. I probably had it the worst out of the lot of us. Cruella was mad about her chores and furs, and if nothing was done or if something went wrong, then I would know about it. I would receive lashes after lashes, each leaving their own scar. Anyway, that was beside the point and I was off that dreadful isle now.
Ben's POV:
I started to get completely flustered and nervous. We had received word that the Villain Kids were on their way, and all preparations had been made. Even though we had been planning this for weeks, I was still freaking out. We knew very little about these kids only their names and who their parents were, so the chance of something going wrong certainly existed.
Audrey noticed how nervous I was getting, and tried to calm my nerves. "Don't worry, Benny-boo. Everything will be fine." She said, but to be honest, it was little comfort. I tried to smile at her, showing how thankful I was, but it didn't really go very well. That's when I jumped out of my skin, as the band started to play the schools anthem. I took a slow breath, preparing myself, as the limousine pulls up, and the villain kids exited.
Well, I say exited, but it was more of a fight. From what I saw, Carlos fell out of the Limo, followed by Jay each of them grabbing hold of something and shouting, what it was I wasn't sure. Mal was quick to stop them, and the pair of them stood up off the floor.
The Fairy Godmother started to speak, but I zoned out, focusing on the four VK's, well more specifically Carlos. By the looks of it, he had something around his mouth, but I couldn't quite figure out what. Audrey noticed, and gave me a quick nudge, and I zoned back in to hear Fairy Godmother say "Don't focus on the past or you'll miss the future" and I knew this was my cue.
"It is so good to finally meet you all. I'm Ben" I said, and I heard Audrey pipe up "Prince Ben, soon to be king" she said, causing me to sigh a little. I didn't really need that added bit of info, but with Audrey, everything was about titles. I hadn't noticed that Evie had approached me, until she started to speak.
"You had me at prince. My mum's a queen which makes me a princess" she said, and Audrey returned an equally stupid remark. I wasn't really paying attention during all of this, I was just looking at Carlos, noticing how nervous he was. He was fiddling with something on his belt. He looked up at me, and we made eye contact, causing him to blush deeply.
'God, he looks so cute when he blushes' I thought to myself, before quickly snapping out of it. I had no clue where that thought had come from, but it made me smile slightly. Anyway, Audrey finished with her rude remark, and I thought it was about time I introduced her.
"This is Audrey" I said, with a slight chuckle, but again she interrupted me. This time, she rose her hand, sticking her finger into the air, which aggravated me even more if I was being perfect honest. "Princess Audrey. His girlfriend. Right, Benny boo?" she stated, and I just chuckled in embarrassment. She grabbed hold of my hands, and tried to prove a point, so I just stood there awkwardly.
Before long, another pair of hands joined ours, and it was Fairy Godmothers. I had completely forgotten she was here. She started to speak again, and I zoned out again, focusing on Carlos again. He had a sad look on his face, but I wasn't quite sure what it was about. Anyway, before long, Fairy Godmother thrust our hands into the air, and started a spiel about library hours and curfew. She tottered off, leaving just Audrey and I with the VK's. This was my time to make a proper introduction.
I approached Jay first, and began my speech, I had been preparing for weeks. "It is so, so, so good to finally me..." was as far as I got, before Jay punched me in the chest, catching me off guard. I stumbled back a bit, before continuing what I was saying. "Meet you all. This is a momentous occasion, and one that I hope will go down in history..." was all I said, before I reached Carlos.
I noticed he still had stuff round his mouth, so for some unknown reason, I decided to wipe it off his mouth and taste it. When I did, he just blushed massively as I said "Is that chocolate" and he just let out a small nod. I finally decided to finish my speech "As the day our two peoples began to heal." I finished, causing them all to give me a look. I could see that they weren't impressed.
"Or the day that you showed four peoples where the bathrooms are" I heard Mal say, and the rest of the kids chuckled. In all fairness, it was pretty funny. "A little bit over the top?" I asked, and she responded with "A little more than a little bit" causing me to chuckle. Audrey noticed, and decided to start an 'argument' with Mal. They didn't really argue, but it was more snide comment after snide comment.
During this little thing, I walked over to Carlos. "Here, let me help" I said to him, grabbing a tissue from my pocket, and wiping the chocolate away from his mouth. As I did so, we stared into each other's eyes, and I realised how beautiful they were. They were a chocolate brown funnily enough, but they seemed to get deeper as I started into them. I started to get an overwhelming feeling, but what it was, I wasn't sure. "Thanks" I heard him mutter, staring back into my eyes as he did so. Anyway, I quickly snapped out of it when I heard Mal and Audrey dragging out a "Ha."
"How about a tour?" I asked, pulling myself away from Carlos, and back to Audrey side, with a bit of resentment I might add. I started to lead the way, explaining about the school's history and that, as we approached my dad's statue. As usual, I clapped and the statue changed from man to beast. I heard someone scream, and I turned around to see Carlos in Jay's arms, shivering slightly.
I decided to try and comfort him. "Carlos, it's okay. My father wanted his statue to morph from beast to man to remind us that anything is possible." I said, as Jay let him down, and before he could respond, Mal made some quip. "Does he shed much" she said, rather sarcastically, and I responded as such. "Yeah, mum won't let him on the couch" I said, causing Mal to look at me, trying to figure out if I was being sarcastic or not. I just chuckled as I led them inside.
Carlos POV:
After freaking out over the statue, I was a little sceptical about entering the school. 'Who knows what else is in here' I thought to myself, as Mal started to question Ben. I looked around, seeing banners hanging from the walls, and statues of armour everywhere. It was actually pretty impressive. My eyes landed on Ben once again, and we made eye contact. I blushed, smiled at him, and then looked at the floor, becoming all nervous. I don't know what it was about Ben, but he made me feel good inside. Like really good.
Anyway, he called one of his friends down, and was about to take us to our dorms before Audrey interrupted, dumping us onto Doug. Doug started to introduce himself, reciting six out of the seven dwarves, but I was too focused on watching Ben walk down the corridor, he looked over his shoulder, and saw me staring. He returned a smile to me, and I looked at the floor once again. Before long, Mal had dragged us up a set of stairs, and she obviously didn't have a clue where she was going.
Doug spoke up, telling us that the dorms where the other way, and started to recite the dwarves again. "Dopey, Doc, Bashful, Happy, Grumpy, Sleepy, and..." he said, and he was struggling to get the last one. I decided to help him out, saying "Sneezy" as I walked past him.
The group of us made our way to the dorms, but we had to split up half way. We were met with a T-junction, and we were in different directions. Mal and Evie turned left, whilst Jay and I turned right. "Here we are, room 54" I heard Jay say, as we approached our room. He opened the door, and my god was the room impressive.
There were two double beds with a blue quilt, matching the schools colours, and there was a table in the centre of the room. To my left, there was a TV on the wall, and to the right was the shared bathroom. I started to walk into the room, but Jay barged me to the floor, and jumped onto the bed on the left side of the room. "Mine" he stated, laying there, staring up at the ceiling. I walked over to my bed, and smirked. 'At least this way I get a better view of the TV' I thought to myself.
We heard a knock at the door, and when I opened it, someone was stood there with our stuff. "Thanks" I said, grabbed the bits and pulling them into the room. We both started to unpack, which didn't take too long. By the looks of it, we had only packed one or two outfits in our rush, so we had some time to kill. Jay started to scout around the room, looking for stuff of value, whilst I just generally looked around. The TV interested me, as I wanted to see what channels were had access to. On the isle, I gained them once but it wasn't for very long, so I wanted to explore them fully. I flicked between channels, finding some interesting shows, and I spent at least two hours watching them.
Ben's POV:
When we walked away from the group, I couldn't help but feel bad. I looked over my shoulder, to see Carlos staring at me. I smiled at him, causing him to blush and quickly look down at the floor. That's when Audrey snapped me out of my thought process. "Ugh, who does she think she is" she said, with a tone of disgust in her voice. "I have done nothing wrong, and she attacks me like that" she continued, but I didn't say anything. She said something else, but this time I completely ignored her, staring down at the floor instead, and letting my mind race. Not that Audrey noticed of course, she was too self-obsessed to see.
I couldn't stop thinking about Carlos. About how I wiped chocolate off his face, and how we both just stared into each other's eyes. Reliving the moment brought the feeling back. Feeling I've never experienced before. He was so cute, so adorable, and he needed protecting. That's how I felt when he flinched at the statue, like he needed someone to take care of him.
'Do I fancy him? But I'm not gay… am I? I meant, I definitely don't have these feeling for Audrey, and I never have. Oh god, this is all so confusing.' I thought to myself, my mind racing. I've never really thought about what I wanted, as it was always expected of me to marry Audrey. And if I was gay, it would explain how I felt in the changing rooms, getting all nervous when any of the guys approach me shirtless, and avoiding to make eye contact. 'I need to talk to someone about this' I thought to myself. Luckily, we scheduled the VK's arrival for a Sunday, so I knew everyone would be free.
I zoned back in to see Audrey staring at me, with a rather mad look on her face. "You weren't listening to me were you?" she snapped rather aggressively.
"Yeah, of course I was. You were going on about Mal and how she treated you" I said, and instantly regretted it.
"I wasn't 'going on', I was stating that she shouldn't have spoken to me that way. Anyway, I have a dress fitting for the coronation, so I'll see you later. Alright Benny boo" she finished, before kissing me on the cheek and walking away. And I felt absolutely nothing.
'God, I really need to talk to someone' I thought to myself, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I texted Lonnie, and asked her to meet me outside and she was more than happy to help. I trusted Lonnie, I knew I could be completely honest with her, and that she would be completely honest with me. But I also knew she could keep a secret.
We met up, and went to one of the secluded areas of the school. Well, the school was bordered by a forest so we decided to make our way into it, whilst I was planning what to say in my head. Anyway we made our way into a clearing, and we began our conversation. "So what did you want to talk about?" she asked, rather intrigued by what I was going to say.
I had to carefully phrase this, as I didn't want to give too much away. I still wasn't sure about how I was feeling, and I didn't really want to jump to any conclusions. "Do you ever think that you're not who you think you are" I asked, and to be fair it was a rather vague question. She just looked at me, and I knew I needed to clarify.
"Ok, so say you've been used to Instaroyal for your whole life, but then a new social media comes along, call it Aurabook, but it's completely not what your used to, but you still prefer it to the old one" I started to ramble, delving deeper into this already confusing analogy.
"Ben, stop rambling. I'm completely lost" she said, calmly, but firmly. I knew she was becoming inpatient, but I was still worried about confessing what I truly meant.
"Ok, I'm not going to mention any names, but hypothetically, if you've been with someone for so long, you start to get used to them. But then someone new, and completely different comes along and it just feels right, instantly." I finally confessed, and I think she clicked.
"Ben, I know what you're trying to say. You've been with Audrey for so long, but now the Villain kids have come, and one of the girls has caught your eye. Ben you need to do what is right for you" she finished, but she still hasn't grasped the full concept. I knew I would have to admit it to her at this point, but I was so scared and unsure.
So I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I know it was heavily based on the movie, but I thought it was the best way to get the ball rolling so to speak. The whole story loosely follows the movie, but I do put my own twist on it, and at some point, go completely off the rails, so keep reading, and you'll see where I go with this. Anyway, see you next Monday :)