A/N

Happy reading! Check out the bottom for a special something.

Evie and Carlos were sitting in Carlos' and Jay's dorm at the round table this morning. The 3-D printer had a new home on a table in the corner near the bathroom since Jay originally used the table to spread out the sheets of paper on tourney plays. The windows were open, allowing the sunlight in and a soft breeze enter that caressed their faces gently.

Carlos and Evie often met together for study sessions and going over homework answers. Since they took a lot of classes together, it made perfect sense. This morning, they were going over some review notes in preparation for Tuesday's exam for their History of Auradon class. They usually met later in the day, but since tourney try-outs were later this morning and Evie had a meeting with Ben in the afternoon, this early morning time was when they could meet. Carlos' tourney gear lay in a nice pile near the foot of his bed, ready to grab easily.

"Northern Wei borders which region of Auradon?" Carlos asked, notebook in his hand.

"Lone Keep, where Agrabah is located" Evie replied in a bored, dull voice.

They had been over this information countless times, but because it was a required course, they had to bear through it once again. Luckily, it was only review for the first few days, and then it would be more in-depth discussions about the regions of Auradon.

"Bayou de Orleans is in which direction from Auradon?" Carlos asked again.

"Located East of Auradon, and located south of East Riding."

"South Riding is home to which two kingdoms?"

"Auroria and Tangleton."

"You are on fire girl" Carlos said.

"Eh, not really 'on fire' when it's the same stuff we learned last year."

Carlos nodded his head in agreement. While he may love learning and school, he did get tired of learning the same old, same old every day. He was a sponge, and he had to constantly soak in new information. Almost every book in the library was read by him, and the librarians were angered more than once at his persistent asking of when new books would be arriving.

"I think that's enough for today" Carlos mentioned, closing up the notebook and placing it under his History of Auradon textbook.

"I think that's enough to last me a lifetime" Evie said rubbing her temples, causing Carlos to laugh.

The clocktower outside the castle chimed nine times, indicating the time in the morning. Usually around this time, Carlos would take Dude for a walk around the grounds of Auradon Prep. Carlos asked Evie to come this morning, and since she didn't have much to do, she graciously accepted the offer.

"So, I heard that you and Harry made up and are back as best friends" Carlos said, starting the conversation after shutting and locking the door. He didn't need Chad breaking in again.

"Well, I wouldn't necessarily call us 'best friends' just yet. We've had conversations, but I don't think we reached the 'best friend' stage yet" Evie said, closing the clasp on her heart purse after putting her lip stain back in it.

"Uh huh...and the fact that he carried the cookies, walked you back to your dorm, and hugged and kissed your forehead doesn't indicate anything?"

She turned her head and looked at Carlos so fast she might have gotten whiplash that very moment.

"How did you know he did that? We were the only ones in the corridor that night. There's no way you would've known that."

Carlos gave her a cheeky grin. "I overheard Gil and him talking about it in our pirates class. He was trying to be discreet about it, but you know how loud and oblivious Gil can be."

"Dammit Gil..." she muttered under her breath.

"So...it was true?"

Evie gave him a small smile and nodded her head, confirming what Carlos heard was true. He smiled before opening up the door to the castle and making a left, heading towards the Rose Garden. Right now, it was full of beautiful roses in delicate shades of pink and red, but the entire landscape of Auradon would turn brown, red, and orange once autumn made its full impact.

"I'm guessing by that smile that something else happened with him. Care to explain?"

"I may have...held his hand yesterday" she replied, a blush appearing on her cheeks.

Now it was Carlos' turn to smile. They eventually found a bench and sat down, with Dude running around his favorite patch of grass in the distance.

"And for some reason, you still don't consider yourselves 'best friends' yet..." he mumbled.

"Hey!" she said, giving his shoulder a playful shove.

"Anyways...have you talked to Mal at all?" Carlos asked, hoping to hear some good news out of that incident.

Evie sighed and shook her head, her blue trusses flowing with the movement. She saw Mal wandering around the school and attending classes, but a full blown conversation between the two was as elusive as a dream. Whenever Mal spotter her, she quickly turned her head and went the other way. It didn't escape Evie that Mal dyed her hair a darker color purple, but the length was still the same, and she swore her eyes were a deeper shade of green than normal.

"No, we haven't talked yet, and I doubt we will."

Carlos' cheery mood fell. He hated when the group fought because they were all they had now. Their parents were left behind on the Isle, and they would never see them again. While everyone in Auradon had their parents and grandparents here, the only family they had were each other.

"I wish you guys would just work this out. I'm tired of you guys fighting, or when any of us fight.

"Carlos, it's just natural that we fight. Honestly, I'm not upset that I said it; I'm only upset at the fact that she said I was a horrible best friend for agreeing with one thing Uma said. I willingly followed her every move and every plan."

"So then, why not just go confront her first?"

"Because, I'm waiting for her to make the first move. I've done it plenty of times before. Maybe it's time for her to make it."

Carlos stared down at his combat boots, thinking how to word this next sentence.

"So...your plan is to fight her pride with your pride?"

Evie's eyebrows scrunched up in thought. "Well...I guess when you put it that way..."

"Look, you have two options here. You are obviously feeling sad about losing her. So, you can either search her out and make the first move, or wait until Ben forces you two to speak. Trust me, when Mal is forced to do anything, she becomes the most stubborn person in the world."

Silence fell over them as Evie tried to digest what he just said. If she made the first move, Mal might have a better chance of listening to her. But if Ben forced her to speak to Evie, it will only make her resent both her and Ben. If that happens, Mal might as well pack her bags and head on back to the Isle again. Evie couldn't let that happen. It only led to problems with Ben and Uma, but maybe this time it wouldn't be as bad since Uma was now in Auradon.

"Damn you being right all the time" she muttered.

Carlos chuckled. "Trust me, you'll thank me later."

Dude scampered back to them and was running circles around the bench, indicating that he wanted to go back inside. Carlos and Evie stood up and headed back to the dorm, owing to the fact that Carlos needed to grab his Tourney gear for try-outs.

"So, are you coming to Tourney try-outs? I know Lonnie is because Jay promised her something if she came" he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Mhm. I promised Harry that I would go if he tried out."

Carlos stared at her with wide eyes, almost ramming face first into the front doors of the castle.

"He's trying out for Tourney?"

Evie just looked at him with confusion on her face.

"Why not? I think he'll be a good addition for you guys. You're already down a member because Ben dropped out to do his royal duties, so you might as well let him try-out. If anything, he can be there to neutralize Chad for you."

They made their way up the staircase and proceeded down the corridor to Carlos' dorm.

"But...Harry of all people? He isn't one to join a 'team sport', nor is he one of those people to have Jay as his captain."

"Oh how you forget little Carlos" she said, ruffling his hair, effectively messing up his "grown-up" part. "Jay was in exactly the same boat when he first tried out, and now he's captain of the team. "

They finally reached Carlos' dorm; he unlocked the door and let Dude enter in first, who immediately went to the water bowl.

"I hope you're right."

He looked absolutely ridiculous if you were to ask him. Harry was wearing body amour underneath a white t-shirt and blue shorts, making him look bulky and awkward. He was wearing the blue practice jersey and carrying the stick and helmet in his hand. His hook was left behind in the locker room as it was considered a "dangerous weapon" and "illegal", whatever that meant. He put his other hand up to shield his eyes from the harsh, bright sunlight. He could already feel sweat seeping out of his skin underneath this heavy amour and sunlight.

He made his way out of the opened doorway of the locker room building, with Gil scrambling behind him in an effort to catch up. Unlike Harry, Gil was carrying one of the defender's shields. Being the uncoordinated klutz that he is, he tripped over his feet, the items in his hands flying out in front of him. Harry let out an exaggerated sigh before turning around and helping his friend up.

They proceeded onto the Tourney field, noting who was already there. Besides Jay and Carlos, other students were there that they had no idea who they were. The sport really did seem to be popular as multiple people were hanging around the field in yellow and blue jerseys. He glanced over to the side of the field and noticed the cheerleaders in full on practice mode, including Jane and Audrey. He wasn't one to converse with Jane much since she had a terrible fear of him, but Audrey kept trying to corner him off and force a conversation with him after their History of Woodsmen and Pirates Class, much to his annoyance.

"I don't know why you talked me into this. I don't even know why we're doing this in the first place" Gil said adjusting his bandana on his head.

"Ahh shut up and quit yer bitchin'."

He glanced up at the stands and noticed a familiar blue color there. She really did come. He thought she was just bluffing, but she was here and sitting in the stands. She was chatting with Lonnie about something funny, because she was throwing her head back in laughter. He always loved her when she was carefree and happy. She was always one to play close to the rules, but when she allowed herself to be free and take risks, she was a true beauty.

Unfortunately for Harry, Gil glanced in his direction, before his mouth dropped open and a sudden realization burst onto his face.

"Now I get it. You're doing it for her!"

Harry immediately rounded on him, making himself bigger, effectively making Gil shrink back. The smudgy guyliner he now wore made him look much more intimidating up close.

"I suggest ye lose that train of thought."

Gil swallowed hard and nodded his head quickly. Satisfied by his answer, Harry marched onward towards the group of people, with Gil stumbling behind him.

"But if you're doing it for her, why am I here?"

"Yer here tae make sure I'm not the only one who makes an arse out of himself."

Gil opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off by the coach's booming voice.

"Ok, listen up!" Coach Jenkins shouted as soon as they made their way into the group. "With our captain gone, we needed a new center forward. Lucky for us, Jay will take that spot. Unfortunately, it leaves us lacking a left forward."

Coach Jenkins looked over the potential team, noticing how scrawny some of them were. Forwards couldn't be scrawny or have little muscle on their bodies or else they would be sitting on the bench injured longer than their playing time. He checked off each person mentally before his eyes settled on Harry and Gil.

"Ahh...you two must be the new transfers, Hook and LeGume."

Gil raised his hand and waved, while Harry just gave him a look that told him"duh."

"Seriously, you're letting MORE of them onto the team?" Chad whined from behind Coach Jenkins. He was already upstaged by Jay last year and now he was in the same position to be upstaged by Gil and Harry.

"Naww, is someone afraid I'll dirty his wee little skirt?" Harry shot back.

Chad went red in the face from embarrassment, while the rest of the group shouted things like "burn" and snickered. It was safe to say that Chad and Harry hated each other. Harry was constantly annoyed at how Chad carried himself as the "second in line for the throne" if something were to happen to Ben. Chad hated Harry because Audrey was paying more attention to him.

"Both of you shut up. Let's start with some simple passing drills."

Harry had some idea on how to play Tourney through a text conversation through Evie. He knew that the idea was to pass the ball between the three forwards in order to score, plus there was the added benefit of tackling people. Coach Jenkins finally paired up everyone in the group, leaving Harry alone for the moment.

"Hook, you're with Charming."

Both of them gave the coach the "are you kidding me" look, but with everyone else paired up, there was no other option. Both of them made equal distance between each other, tourney sticks in hand. Chad tossed the ball to Harry, who caught it and whacked it back at him, making Chad take a step back to avoid lose of balance.

"Hey, watch how hard you throw that thing. It's only a drill..."

"Get over it ye princess..."

Chad smacked the ball back to Harry in revenge, but he caught it with ease and sent it flying directly back to him.

"I don't know who the bigger princess is, ye or that Audrey" Harry taunted him.

"Leave Audrey out of this. What she sees in that ugly, brute thing you call a body is beyond me. She needs to be with a real prince and not a dumb pirate."

Chad tossed the ball back to Harry, who caught it and sent it flying directly at Chad's stomach. The impact made Chad double over in pain and sputter. While he did have more training than Harry, his reflexes were not as sharp as the pirate's. Harry had years of sword training, where it was all about anticipation and fast reflexes. Without those, you got a hand cut off...or worse.

"Oh a real prince are ye? A real prince don't take advantage of other girls and make them do their dirty work. A real prince don't put his hands on a princess like ye did."

Harry heard what Chad did to Evie a year ago, and it was safe to say that it angered him a lot. That was just another reason to add to the list or reasons to hate Chad. He didn't know which one was worse: the fact that Chad took advantage of her or the fact that he had the nerve to put his hands on her. No one took advantage of his princess and got away with it. However, it worked out in the end when Chad got knocked out by a sleeping spray by the princess.

The whistle blew, calling an end their drills.

"Alright, let's finish off with running a play. Herkie, you take left forward on blue; Jay, you take center forward on blue; Hook, you take right forward on blue."

Harry trudged over to where Jay and Herkie were standing. Herkie was a strong man, definitely taking after his father.

"Tyrone, left forward on yellow; Charming, center forward on yellow; Aziz, right forward on yellow. Carlos and William, defenders on blue. Emir and LeGume, defenders on yellow. Miguel, you take goalie on blue, Akiho on yellow. Li and Brendan, take dragoneer positions."

Everyone scattered to their appropriate spot. Harry was lined up in front of Tyrone, who took a second to register the sight in front of him.

"On my whistle...three...two...one...GO!" Coach Jenkins blew his whistle, and everyone started forward.

Jay grabbed immediate control of the ball, side-swiping Chad before he passed it over to Herkie. Harry managed to run around Tyrone and right into the path of Emir. He rammed his shoulder into Emir's shield, effectively shoving him to the ground. Herkie had Gil and Tyrone on him, so he passed the ball back to Jay. Harry managed to get himself into the kill zone, and the dragoneers started shooting at him. He had a quick second to look up before he ducked out of the way. Another one came straight at him, and he side-stepped that projectile before he managed to navigate his way out of the kill zone.

Herkie passed the ball to Harry, who caught it before noticing Chad was coming straight at him. He quickly passed the ball back to Jay before he shoved Chad down with more force than necessary. Jay managed to avoid being tackled by Aziz, but was caught by Tyrone. Jay dropped the ball, and Tyrone managed to sweep it up and pass it towards Aziz. All three of them now ran back to the other side.

Carlos managed to knock down Aziz, who sent the ball flying into the air before it was caught by Gil.

"I got it! I got it!" he shouted, before he was swept off his feet by Jay, who regained the ball and was heading back towards the other side.

Jay got blocked off by Emir and Tyrone, which made him pass the ball over to Harry. Harry, sensing that Chad was threatening him again, promptly shoved his whole body into Chad, knocking the wind out of him and onto the ground again. He regained the ball he dropped during his assault and passed it over to Herkie, who passed it back over to him. Harry, sensing he had a decent shot, sent the ball flying towards the goal. Akiho managed to guess wrong, and the ball went flying into the goal. The bell whistled, signaling the end of the play.

The cheerleaders on the sideline were cheering in delight, and Harry had no idea why. It seemed like Auradon had any excuse to cheer for something, even tourney try-outs. He saw Gil gingerly make his way over to the sideline, and Chad was limping on his way over. Harry threw his stick and helmet on the ground before taking a towel and wiping the sweat off his forehead. His guyliner was now smeared everywhere, and black streaks now managed to appear on the bright yellow towel.

Coach Jenkins finished his conversation with Jay before making his way over to Harry.

"Hey...Hook. Are you sure you've never played tourney before?"

Harry merely shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. It was true: he never did play tourney until today.

"Well, you do now. Congrats Hook."

He couldn't hide his smirk when he saw the look of disbelief on Chad's face.

"Oh and uh Charming...enjoy being second string to Hook."

"WHAT!" Chad shouted, before pulling the coach off to the side for a very angry tirade.

Harry howled with laughter, and even Jay and Carlos quirked up a smile. All three of them had problems with Chad. Chad was used to getting his way too often that maybe this was the dose of reality he needed and deserved.

"I'll be sticking with the past team we had" Coach Jenkins said to the group before him. "Hook is the new player to the team. LeGume, pack your bags and never pick up a stick ever again. Hook, I'll send a rulebook to your dorm room. First practice is on Monday, and first game is on Friday against the Imperial Academy."

The group disbanded, with everyone picking up their things and heading towards the locker room. Harry turned his attention to the water bottles on the bench. He grabbed one and eagerly gulped it down, effectively draining the bottle. Water on the Isle was often dirty and unclean, but this water was crisp and refreshing. He slung the towel over his shoulder and picked up his stick and helmet.

"Listen you brute" Chad's voice sounded in Harry's ears. "Don't ever think of pulling something like that again. We play by the rules here in case you didn't notice." Chad tried to seem confident, but his voice was faltering due to his nerves.

"Like I'd listen tae anything ye say. I do hope yer dry cleaner is on speed dial; ye'll need him tae wash yer skirts every week, princey boy."

And with that note, Harry shoved his shoulder into Chad again before walking off. He didn't see it, but Chad was rubbing his shoulder. Harry and Jay were stronger than him, but definitely not as strong as Herkie. He made it to the stands, where Evie finished a conversation with Jay and Carlos. His smile immediately perked up at seeing her, and her face lit up when she saw him. He gave her a bow before she laughed in amusement at the sight in front of her.

"So, it seems ye were right princess."

"Hmmm... seems like you say that often. I'll have to make sure to sew it onto a t-shirt for you in the future."

Harry rolled his eyes, and Evie gave him another laugh.

"Anyways, Jay and Carlos told me what happened with you and Chad."

His smile immediately turned into a scowl.

"I don't know how Cindy gave birth tae that thing" he said, before reaching down and lacing his right fingers with Evie's left. "No one takes advantage of a princess or hurts them."

Evie opened the door into a corridor that led to the locker room.

"Well, thanks for sticking up for me. No one has really done that for me before. We only got made fun after we did and insulted for being villains."

"Well, that's not gonna happen tae ma' princess anymore" he said, bring their clasped hands up to kiss the back of hers. Evie's face was turning a light shade of fuchsia, and it wasn't because of her makeup.

Her phone buzzed inside of her bag, and she pulled it, noticing the time.

"As much as I would love to stay and chat, I have a meeting to attend" she stated, releasing their hands and strutting off towards the direction of Ben's office. Before she got far, she turned around and captured his attention again.

"Make sure plan something nice for our celebration" she said, giving him a wink.

She managed to take three steps before she turned back around. Harry stood there with his hand grabbing the handle on the locker room dorm.

"Oh and next time, maybe try waterproof guyliner."

With a flip of her hair, she turned back around and strutted off. Harry gave himself a smile, shook his head, and proceeded into the locker room.

A/N

Chapter 14 spoiler:

A few moments later, the door opened up and two guards dressed in yellow jackets, blue vests, and blue pants entered and stood near the back counter.

"Your guest, your majesty" one of the replied, moving his arm in the direction of the open door.

In that moment, brown heeled boots, blue fringe skirt, and a seashell-adorned pirate hate sauntered in. The faint smell of shrimp was diffusing into the office. After a week, she thought that the smell would've been replaced with something better like lavender or an ocean breeze, but it still lingered in the air.