As Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos and I walked through the hall, numerous girls had already waved and giggled at Jay as they waved 'hello', their eyes in a dreamy daze. You could practically hear the swoons as he acknowledged their greetings with his classic award-winning, teeth-so-white-they-could-blind-you smile. "Why do you torture them?" I playfully punched his arm. "Just pick someone to take to the Cotillion already."

"I'm going solo," He saluted to a girl sitting on one of the railings as he tossed an arm around my shoulders. "That way I can dance with all of them."

"Alright, alright, Casanova," I laughed, wrapping an arm around his waist. "You're the expert."

Carlos paused in his step as he turned towards us. "Umm, Jay," He said. "If you were going to ask someone, what's the best way to go?"

"Carlos," I said. "If you're going to ask a girl out, isn't the best person to ask an actual girl instead of hotshot over here?"

Jay lightly nudged my head. "He's asking the master here," He shushed me, moving to place a hand on Carlos's shoulder. "Listen, all you got to do… is to look like me." Jay teased.

"Oh ha-ha," The younger boy sarcastically laughed before sobering up as Jane approached us. Oh, I know that look. I smirked as a nodded my head towards the pair in front of us. Jay caught my eye as he chuckled, Evie and Mal softly squealing at the awkward pair. "Hey, Jane," He greeted shyly. He is totally crushing on her.

"I was wondering uh… if you liked the…" Carlos stuttered. I felt Evie's excitement as she gripped at my arm. I wasn't far off either; my face could split in two with how wide I was grinning right now. "…if you liked the carrot cake last night." My face fell as he began to knock my forehead against Jay's shoulder in exasperation as Jane replied that she had the pumpkin pie instead.

"Smooth," Jay laughed as he pulled Carlos away, saving him from the awkwardness. Ah, young love. I sighed inwardly as I watched Jane waved goodbye as the two left, reminded me of the earlier days before Harry and I started dating.

"I have an opening for a dress fitting at three," Evie stated. "Who wants it?"

"ME!" Lonnie exclaimed with her hand raised high, appearing suddenly behind Jane. "Sorry," She told Jane before Evie added that she'll handle Jane's dress later. The both of them moved to a side to discuss the details of the fitting, leaving me with Mal and Jane as the latter began to fire off about the Cotillion planning.

"Chair swags, entry banner, twinkle-lights, napkin design, table bunting," She started listing. What the heck is a table bunting? I wondered. "And you still haven't picked the party favours yet."

"Honestly, Jane," I tried to interfere when I noticed Mal's features beginning to twitch in irritation. "I think Mal's okay with-"

"With more than one party favour?" She finished my words incorrectly. Wow, I can see why Carlos can't even finish asking her to the Cotillion. "I mean, we can do chains, key charms, pen toppers," She continued the verbal assault. "I kind of love the pen toppers, but, I mean, we can do all three."

And Mal snapped, her eyes glowing their bottle green as she tried to reign in her rage. Whelp, I stood back a little, pulling Jane along with me when I notice her pale slightly at the sudden change in Mal's eyes. "I say pen toppers," Mal said tensely after she calmed down.

"Y-yeah?" Jane uttered. "You won't regret it."

Lonnie and Evie returned from their conversation, joining us once more. Throwing an arm around my shoulder, Lonnie turned to Mal. "I can't wait to see what your wedding looks like." She said.

"With all this preparation for a dance, it's going to be a heck lot bigger when that happens," I rolled my eyes as Lonnie leaned against me, placing some of her weight on mine.

"Wait, what?!" Mal exclaimed at the word wedding. My brows rose at her confusion, it was pretty obvious by now that everyone's expecting Ben and her to eventually get hitched.

"The Royal Cotillion is like getting engaged, to be engaged, to be engaged," Jane explained, smiling brightly at her as Evie let out a dreamy 'I knew it' next to Lonnie.

Lonnie grinned at Evie and I, nodding at Mal. "Well, everyone knows it." She stated simply with a wave of her hand.

"I didn't know it!" Mal nearly shouted. "How come nobody told me that? Is my entire life just planned out in front of me-" And a wild King Ben appears behind her.

Patting Evie and Lonnie on the shoulder, I turned to leave for class. "That's my queue to go," I said. "See you guys later!"

TIMESKIP

I sat in gazebo that overlooked most of Auradon Prep, my eyes trained on the sketchbook page in front of me as I tried to grasp the proportions of the castle. Sighing, I tossed my pencil back into my bag, along with the sketchbook. The skies were clear, with puffed clouds merrily floating by to match the warm sunny rays and cheerful people everyone. It wasn't like this back on the Isle. The skies were always dark and gloomy, as if it was always in a state of pre-rainfall. The barrier made it that way, downcast and dreary, just like my mood now.

Hesitantly, I pulled out my sketchbook once more, flipping through the past works. When Mal was on the kingdom tour, I asked her to take pictures of the landmarks of everywhere she went with Ben. Since I wasn't allowed free-reign to travel as I pleased, photos were the next best thing I could get my hands on. I thumbed the sketches I've finished based on Mal's pictures: palace of Agrabah, Northern Wei's Great Wall and the waterfall in Neverland. This was what I wanted to do, the 'who' that Evie mentioned we could be. I wished to travel, for the freedom to go wherever I pleased.

I frowned as soon as I flipped another page, my eyes landing on the drawing of Harry's sleeping form. His hair was tousled for the 'activities' we had before he slept and his eyes closed. His eyes, I wished they were open when I was sketching him that day. But I knew I couldn't do them justice. I could have never succeeded in bringing his eyes perfectly into the sketch, no matter how hard I try. They had too much life, too much emotion, and dare I say it, too much love for any medium to portray. I closed my eyes at the thought of Harry, my heart wrenching in complaint. He could never forgive me, not with the way I left the Isle, the way I left him.