Turns out Carlos and Ben didn't end up playing very much Tourney. Carlos arrived on the field twenty minutes late, but Ben hadn't even minded. He looked ecstatic when he saw Carlos decided to even show up. He seemed very serious about this, with his clipboard, whistle, and stop watch in hand. Whatever he was planning, Carlos didn't think it would be much fun for him. As he crossed the field and made his way over to him, Ben gave him a slap on the back.

"Ready to practice?" Ben asked eagerly.

Carlos scoffed, "No. I don't even like this sport."

"Oh come on," Ben said trying to lift his spirits. "Tell you what, by the end of this I promise you, you'll love it."

He didn't reply, but Carlos knew Ben would be wrong. There's nothing he hated more than sports.

"Go down to the end of that yellow line. We're gonna test your speed first," Ben instructed.

Carlos reluctantly made his way down to the line and got in a beginning position. Ben scribbled something onto his clipboard and then held up the stopwatch.

"Okay, Carlos we're gonna do some sprints," Ben called.

Carlos nodded and then he heard it: barking. He whipped his head around and his worst fear came true. Running straight at him was a dog. A dog. It was a matter of fight or flight and Carlos most certainly did not fight. His legs started moving before his brain had decided what to do. He bolted down the yellow line as fast as he could to escape the dog. The only thing going through his mind was I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die. Carlos had never run so fast in his entire life. He might have also been shouting a jumble of "No don't eat me!" and "No please, stop!" and screaming which was a little less impressive.

He dashed past Ben and heard him yell "Clean!" which probably meant he could stop running. Ben thought he was just doing the exercise. Well, no, nope, he most definitely wasn't. Carlos was running for his life.

When he ran out of field to run, he headed straight for the forest. He vaguely heard Ben calling after him (maybe he finally realized something was wrong). Carlos was running blind, dodging tree after tree, probably getting himself hopelessly lost. It didn't matter he needed to get away from the dog. Thinking quickly, he jumped from the path and began attempting to climb the nearest tree.

"No, stop," he pleaded to the dog desperately. He held out his hand as if he could keep the dog away with a simple gesture.

"Carlos!"

"Ben? Ben!" Latching onto the tree once again, he glanced behind him to see the brown haired boy running down the path towards him. "Ben help me!"

He came to a stop before the dog and Carlos, and then looked up at him. Was he crazy? The dog was going to attack him!

"This thing is a killer!" Carlos said pointing down at the dog. "He's gonna chase me down and rip out my throat! This is a vicious, rabid, pack animal!"

Carlos watched petrified and Ben scooped up the dog in one arm. It was official. This prince was insane.

"Hey, who told you that?" Ben asked holding his arm out, as Carlos did, trying to calm him down.

"My mother," Carlos said as if it were obvious.

"Cruella?"

"She's a dog expert. A dog yeller-er," the smaller boy explained.

Ben let out a small laugh.

"Why are you holding him? He's gonna attack you!" Carlos shouted, latching onto the tree.

"Carlos, you've never actually met a dog. Have you?" Ben looked up at him curiously.

"Of course not," he said quietly. Why would he want to? He wanted to be as far from that dog as possible.

Ben smiled down at the dog and said, "Dude, meet Carlos," he lifted his head to the boy in the tree, "Carlos, this is Dude. He's the campus mutt."

Carlos looked down at the dog. Dude wasn't attacking Ben. He was completely calm in the prince's arms. He was almost… cute.

"He doesn't look like a vicious, rabid, pack animal," Carlos said hesitantly. He slowly detached himself from the tree and approached the small animal. Dude met his gaze and raised his ears.

"Jeez," Carlos said realizing he wasn't going to jump at him. "You're a good boy, aren't you?"

He reached out his hand and stroked the fur on Dude's head. Ben adjusted the dog and began handing him over to Carlos. The thing was, he wasn't scared of this dog at all. Nothing about him suggested he was an evil animal. How could anything so small and adorable be evil? Funny, Carlos could remember Jay saying that to him a few years ago. Back then it stung, but right now he wouldn't mind being like this dog. Dude seemed to be very happy and content in his arms being small and adorable.

"You're a good boy," Carlos concluded, holding the mutt. A large grin broke out on his face.

Ben's smile faded a little. "I guess you guys have it pretty rough on the Island, huh?"

"Let's just say we don't get a lot of belly rubs," Carlos let out a humorless laugh.

"Good boy," Ben said gripping his shoulder. Carlos gave him a weird look. "I mean, you're a good runner! You're fast and yeah."

"Oh… thank you."

"Yeah," Ben said awkwardly. "Listen, I'm gonna give you guys some space. Yeah? You guys get to know each other and just come find me when you're done. Okay?"

"Okay," Carlos replied.

"See you out there."

"See you out there," Carlos repeated.

Ben left after that, heading down the path in the forest back to the tourney field. Carlos sat on the ground beside the tree he was previously in and balanced Dude in his lap.

"Hi," he said, scratching Dude's ears. "Hi."

Dude replied by licking his face.

"Oh, thank you," Carlos smiled.

It was strange. He was holding a dog, a dog, and wasn't afraid of it. Carlos didn't think this would ever happen to him. Ever. But nevertheless, here he was with Dude. If his mom had been lying to him about dogs, Carlos wondered what other things she'd lied to him about.

He sighed. Things were so different here. People were nicer to each other (not necessarily him, but he could see why), the school actually cares about education, and everywhere he went people weren't trying to trick and con each other for fun. It was weird, but Carlos liked it. He would never say it to his friends, and definitely not his mother, but Carlos felt as if he could actually have a place in Auradon. On the Isle of the Lost it was survival of the fittest. He wasn't strong enough to do anything there.

But here, in Auradon, he could survive. Better yet, he could live. Looking down at Dude in his lap, Carlos realized that people on the Island had been lying about Auradon, about dogs, about everything. Dude was proof that Auradon wasn't as bad as everyone had said. It was actually pretty amazing.

And Carlos had to destroy it. That was their mission. Find the magic wand to free the villains so they can rule Auradon. Carlos groaned. He didn't want to do that! What was happening to him? It was as if Auradon was changing him. Snap out of it, he told himself. He couldn't betray his mother; she would stuff him.

Carlos stood abruptly, shaking his head. You can like Dude and still be evil right? Carlos didn't know what was right and wrong anymore. A dog wouldn't corrupt him to be good, though, right? No, of course not.

"You're not so bad, huh?" He said to Dude. He decided then to keep Dude around. Maybe he would serve as a reminder to him. Carlos didn't really know what the reminder would be, but he liked Dude and wanted to have him around anyway.

"Wait until Jay sees you," Carlos said fondly to the dog, excited to show him to his friend.

How could anything so small and adorable be evil? Well, when Carlos thought that, he was right. Dude was not evil at all. Maybe when Jay said that about Carlos, all those years ago, he had been right too. Carlos just hadn't realized it yet.

So I know this chapter is super short, but it was the best place to end it. I didn't want to start another scene just yet. Sorry for the late updates, I know, I'm so slow. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Also, I'd love to hear your feedback. I've actually noticed with myself that the more reviews per chapter I get, the faster I get around to writing. It's kinda like motivation to me. So please, please leave a review. It doesn't have to be much, just a little message. Love you all! I can't believe how many people have read this story so far. It's crazy.

I'll post chapter 11 hopefully soon. I don't really know though.