Chapter 4: Language Barriers

•••

Audrey, to say the least, was not impressed with the cheer turnout. As Captain, she was in charge of putting together a team new recruits for the coming year. Already she had split everyone into fours, and had made several adjustments with the roster. There were only two girls left trying out for Captain now. Three girls were flying, and the rest were acting as bases. Everything was going well so far — despite the few teary faces caught leaving the field after being cut.

Walking along the track, Audrey watched closely as each team tossed their flyer into the air. The first and second group looked really promising, despite their sloppy handling, but that could be fixed easily with some work. Audrey was more worried about the third group. Arabella was trying out for cheer (for the third time in a row), which worried the Sleeping Beauty more then anything else. Team three had Ally as a flyer, a girl Audrey was surprisingly impressed with. She had perfect form all day long, and despite her forgetful nature, was trying very hard to impress.

Observing from a good distance as they started up their first toss, Audrey stiffened out of sudden fear. She had all the new recruits use mats, in case form broke and their flyer was accidentally dropped. Team three hadn't set up their mat at all, leaving only hard turf beneath. Arabella, who was bigger then the other girls catching Ally, wasn't paying attention (as per usual).

Audrey felt her stomach drop as Ally went up, and began to fall back down. The Princess could see Team 3's mat laying beside their feet, blissfully forgotten. Two bases couldn't hold Ally's weight, she would drop, and possibly get very hurt, "stop!"

Throwing out a hand, Audrey was surprised at the chill which suddenly took her. Blinking, everything around her had gone still. The girls flying were suspended in mid-air, perfectly frozen in time. Pulling back her hand, Audrey looked at it in bewilderment. Remembering what was happening, the Princess shook off her awe and hurried towards Ally. She was frozen just above the distracted arms of her base, unaware she was in any danger. Waving a hand in front of the blondes frozen face to assure herself it was really happening, the Princess knew Mal was possibly nearby lending a magical hand (for whatever reason that was). Grabbing Ally by the waist, time was instantly restored as Audrey tackled the blonde to the side.

Skidding and rolling against the turf a few feet, the Princess stared at the sky for a long moment. She'd have to swallow her pride and thank Mal later for the interference, no matter how much she despised the thought. Sitting up groggily, Ally was on the mat, appearing as bewildered as she. Her bases also looked confused, staring between the air where Ally had been, and where she was now.

Getting her her feet carefully, Audrey brushed herself off, ignoring the red drops curling down her skinned arms as she took Ally by the shoulders and hauled her to her feet.

"Are you ok, Ally?"

"F-fine I think," the Daughter of Alice mumbled, "what happened?"

"Just wait here, I'll be back in a moment."

Swiveling on a heel, Audrey glared at Arabella. She was paying attention now, seeming to realize she had once again made a terrible error. Huffing, the Cheer captain stalked towards her, chin held up and arms folded.

"I-I didn't mean to!" The girl cried out, "I can do better."

"This was an unforgivable mistake." Audrey seethed, fists clenched, "Ally could have broken her neck because of you. Mats always need to be set up before a toss, and bases always need to be paying attention to their flyers."

"It won't happen again, Audrey! I swear."

"No it won't. Because you're cut from tryouts. And don't think of trying out again next Semester either, because as long as I'm Captain, you will never be on this team. Am I clear?"

Arabella looked ready to cry, but Audrey was steely as she turned on the other two bases. They had been focusing at least, but it wasn't enough, "you two are cut as well. Bases should always be aware of safety when it comes to their flyer, and their teammates. Remember that, and maybe you have a chance next time."

Watching the three stalk off, one of them in hysterical tears, Audrey shook her head in disappointment. Things had been going so well — generally speaking of course.

"Tryouts are over. I'll make my final decisions this week, and you'll find out my final decisions on Monday." Audrey called out unhappily, "Dismissed!"

Clapping her hands to send everyone back to the locker rooms, Audrey jumped as Ally appeared beside her. The girl was like a ghost, her cerulean eyes blazing as she frowned.

"Miss Audrey, are you alright?"

"Fine. Head back to the locker room and clean up, then go to the nurse. I don't want you to have a concussion or something."

"Alright. Thanks for today. I didn't know anyone could sprint that fast. Last time I checked you were practically halfway across the pitch."

Ally laughed lightly and skipped away, and Audrey frowned. She had been suspended in time for nearly a minute. But for Ally, it had only been a second. Shaking the unusual feelings away, Audrey lifted her arms to inspect them. They were still a bright pink, but there were no scratches to be found. Frowning and feeling the skin with the tips of her fingers, it didn't even feel tender to the touch.

"I swear I was bleeding a moment ago." Audrey mumbled to herself, "must have imagined it."

Rubbing her arms again, Audrey walked from the field, an uneasy feeling nesting its way into her gut.

—

Classes were as dull as ever. Twirling a pink pencil between her nails, Audrey was barely paying attention to Professor Potts as she spoke about the importance of language in Auradon. Linguistics wasn't really interesting to her, and she was much more preoccupied about the messages she was sending on her phone. After all, the incident from Cheer was already all over the Auradon School Blog. Like always, half the school thought she had just made an unnecessary and dramatic scene. Didn't matter that poor Ally could have been severely injured (possibly fatally so).

Audrey didn't have many of her close friends in any of her classes either, so it's not like she had anyone to really talk to. Of course she kneweveryone, but her reputation was ferocious, and everyone kept their distance. So the Princess was alone, the dull droning of the lecture forgotten in her ears until someone tapped on the end of her desk. Glancing up, Professor Potts was there.

"Princess Audrey."

"Yes?" Eyebrows popping up, all eyes were on her now as she slipped her phone away.

"Since you were obviously paying distinct attention to my lecture, perhaps you could assist with the next translation."

"Uh..."

Glancing up at the board, Audrey relaxed a bit. She could read the 'translation' just fine, it was written plain as day, "it's explaining the meaning of roses." Audrey said swiftly, not missing a beat as her pencil continued to tap against the desk, "Red roses are for lovers, white roses are for innocence, and pink roses are for elegance. In a bouquet they are the perfect mix to represent royalty at its finest."

Professor Potts eyebrows went up slightly. Looking between the board and her, she nodded carefully.

"That's correct." staring at Audrey hard for a moment, the woman seemed to accept Audrey knew the answer and turned away, "I suggest you pay more attention in class, Princess Audrey. In case you miss the answer to the next question. Continuing on with out studies in Forgotten Latin..."

Audrey's shoulders went taught. Leaning slightly so she could see the board again, the Princess felt a bolt of shock shoot through her. The words weren't written in English, like she had originally thought. These words were scrawled in a dusty language, one Audrey had certainly been seeing a lot of lately, but definitely didn't know how to read last time she checked. Her pencil stilling as she grasped it between her fingers, Audrey read the slides of text the professor presented to them. Each one she was able to decipher as easily as English — with no idea why, or how.

When class was dismissed finally, Audrey practically ran back to her dorm. People stared as she sprinted, breathing heavily, with all of her usual put together elegance forgotten. Slamming open the door to her room, Jane was sitting on the bed. She leapt in fright at the intrusion, squeaking as Audrey slammed the door and locked it tight behind her.

"Audrey! What's going on?"

"Jane, can you read Forgotten Latin?"

"What?" Jane's brows went up as her head fell to one side. Taking her shoulders, Audrey had to practically shake her.

"Can you read Forgotten Latin?"

"Er...a bit? But it's called Forgotten Latin for a reason. No one I know is perfectly fluent, not even my mom. I don't think anyone is."

Running a hand through her hair, Audrey sighed shakily as she sunk down to the opposite bed. Jane was right, it was a dead language. It was forgotten ages ago in favor of English, "Audrey, did something happen?"

So Audrey told Jane, in a flurry of words and motions what had happened in Literature that day. She ended up pacing the length of the room, back and forth nervously while Jane just appeared to be in deep thought.

"...I think this has to do with the spell," Audrey whined, "I've been feeling strange all day. I thought maybe things would go back to the way they were before, but I just can't shake it."

"So, you can now fluently read an ancient language? That's interesting, and not really what I was expecting when we shattered the spell blocker." Jane admitted, "perhaps it was taught to you when you were young?"

"I don't remember learning Latin?" Audrey mumbled, leaning against the bedpost, "my Grammy does know how to read it, but she only knows a few words at best, she's hardly fluent."

"It's a start." Jane said, distractedly opening her laptop, "I've been poking around on some forums about the spell you were under, Audrey. It's pretty obscure, I haven't really found much info about it."

"You know, I really hate magic." The Princess hissed, shaking her head.

"Your family doesn't really have a good track record with spells, so I can't really blame you."

"You can say that again." Audrey laughed lightly, glancing up as there was a rapid knock at the door. Knowing already it was Lonnie, the Sleeping Beauty crossed the room. Unlocking the dorm, she dragged the girl in by the arm before slamming the door shut again.

"I've been wanting to talk to you all day," Lonnie breathed deeply, as if she'd been running, "the drama at Cheer Tryouts this morning is all over the blog. What happened?"

"Oh my god, you don't even want to know." Flopping down onto the bed, Audrey groaned into the comforter, "Arabella really makes me want to prick my finger on purpose."

"Something happened at tryouts?" Jane inquired curiously, not looking up from her laptop.

"Uh, yeah? Like, major drama." Lonnie insisted, "half the school says you're a hero, Auds. The other half want to start a witch hunt."

"Yeah? What's new," blowing some brown locks out of her eyes, Audrey picked at the end of her nails, "is Ally alright?"

"Your biggest knight in silver armor. She's advocating for you." Lonnie explained, "you're her hero."

"I just kept her from being dropped on some turf. I didn't take a sword for her or anything. I don't know why it's such a big deal." Audrey grumbled unhappily, "reminds me though I need to go speak with Mal."

"What?"

Both Jane and Lonnie spoke at the same time as Audrey stood elegantly from the bed.

"Why do you need to talk to Mal?" Lonnie questioned, "aren't you two like...friendenemies?"

"More like unwilling acquaintances." Audrey grumbled, pulling her hair up into a ponytail, "I'll only be a moment."

And then Audrey left, walking towards the dorm of the one person she didn't want to talk to right now, to thank her of all things. The mere thought made the Sleeping Beauty roll her eyes. Knocking on the dark purple wood, Audrey waited impatiently on the other side. Hopefully she could just get this done and move on.