As Carlos and Jay entered the cafeteria for breakfast, it was deafeningly quiet. The tension was so thick, you could cut it with a sword. It had been three days and nothing had been resolved. On one side of the room was Evie and Audrey, and Ben picking at his food at the far side of the table, opposite of Evie. On the other side of the room was Crystal talking with Lonnie, and Mal, eyes a bright green, glaring at her ex-best friend. In the center of it all were a clueless Chad and moping Doug. Carlos and Jay decided to take their chances with them.
"What's going on?" Carlos asked.
"Shh!" Chad shushed.
"Okay," Jay whispered. "What's going on?"
"The most popular and notorious kids at Auradon are in a major feud," Chad explained. "And everyone is more involved in the drama than their own boring lives."
"A feud?" Jay asked.
"Yeah, and you're in the middle," Doug added. "As am I."
"You're not in the middle," Carlos clarified. "You're more like directly affected by it."
Chad glared at Carlos, shutting him up.
"Wow, what's with the gloom squad?" Ren said, setting her plate next to Chad. "Who died?"
"Their relationships," Carlos said, earning him a punch in the shoulder from Jay.
"Ooh, rough," Ren commented. "Well I'm helping Chad right now, but I'll be willing to help with y'all's relationship woes."
"Don't bother," Doug muttered and walked out of the cafeteria.
"Doug-" Evie tried calling after him, but it was no use. He snubbed her and continued on his way. Evie sat down in a huff and started pouring and crying, Audrey trying to comfort her.
"It's no use," Evie cried. "He won't even look at me. I need to explain what happened."
"I know," Audrey cooed. "But you just need to let him cool down."
"I know," Evie sighed. Suddenly she got up. "This is all your fault!" She pointed a finger at Ben.
"Me? What did I do?" Ben asked.
"Oh don't play dumb!" Evie yelled. Everyone was staring at them now, especially Mal. "None of this would be happening if you hadn't kissed me!"
"Evie please calm down," Ben said. "It wasn't like you didn't kiss back."
"Don't tell me to calm down!" Evie yelled. "This is all your fault!" With that she stormed out of the cafeteria. Mal made a motion almost as if to run after her, but she sat right back down. She caught Ben's eyes with her own and they stared at each other. Ben's eyes softened, as if asking for forgiveness. Mal frowned. Why did that boy make her heart soar, even with one look? But she wouldn't relent. She gave him a cold, icy stare, eyes glowing. She mustered up all her strength and anger and stormed out of the cafeteria, with Crystal at her heels.
It felt as if the whole cafeteria let out a sigh of relief, intently watching the scene play out in front of them. The school had even divided itself into sides. Some wanted Mal and Ben to reconcile, the Bal shippers, while some actually liked Evie with Ben, the Bevie shippers.
"This is getting out of hand!" Jay said. "Why is everything falling apart? Seriously, why is there so much drama in Auradon."
"Don't look now, but drama is making her way over here," Ren said.
Jay turned around and saw Audrey get up and walk to their table. "Hey," he said.
"Hi," Audrey said softly. "Can we talk?"
"Sure," Jay said, motioning for her to sit down.
"I mean outside, alone." Audrey said. "Away from all the gossiping eyes."
"Alright then," Jay said, following her out of the cafeteria.
As soon as people saw Jay leave with Audrey the whispers in the cafeteria immediately turned to chatter. Carlos turned to his right and saw guys placing bets on who Jay would pick. To his left girls were gossiping about Mal and Evie.
"Okay this is getting out of hand," Carlos said, standing up. "I'm getting out of here. See you guys later." Ren and Chad waved to him goodbye.
"So," Ren said. "You have dinner with your parents tonight, right?"
"Yeah," Chad said, between bites of waffle.
"Stop being nasty and talking with your mouth full," Ren scolded. "It's completely grossing me out."
"You mean this?" Chad said opening his mouth and showing Ren the chewed up food. Ren frowned and hit him. Chad almost choked on his food,laughing. That caused Ren to burst out into laughter too.
Lonnie watched Chad from across the cafeteria. She saw how comfortable he was with Ren. That made her very upset and it didn't help that the girls behind were giggling about how cute they looked as a couple. She wanted to turn around and yell at them that Ren and Chad were not a couple. But she wasn't even sure about that herself.
She decided that she needed to talk to Chad and made her way to where he was sitting. She was behind him and was about to get his attention when she overheard their conversation.
"But, yeah," Chad said, after he calmed down form his laughing fit. "Tonight I'm having dinner with my parents and you have to come!"
"I'd be honored," Ren giggled.
"And you have to help me convince my mom that , although she means the world to me, she can't be rude to my girlfriends and that I can date whoever I wish to date!" Chad said.
Lonnie frowned. So it was true. Chad had moved on. She should've known.
"I pinky promise," Ren said, holding out her pinky.
"Great!" Chad said. He hugged her. "You are amazing!"
"Tell me something I don't know," Ren giggled.
Lonnie couldn't take it anymore. She turned to leave and bumped into someone. That someone turned out to be Christopher. Great.
"Hey Lonnie," Christopher said. "Look, about what I said the other day, I'm sorry. I know I sounded like a jerk-"
"It's cool Christopher," Lonnie said, raising her voice so Chad could hear. "About that date, how about we go catch a movie tonight?"
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Chad staring intently at her, crushing his soda can in his hand.
"Really?" Christopher smiled. "Of course. Pick you up at 7."
"Perfect," Lonnie smiled. Christopher sat down at his table and a couple of his friends high fived him. Lonnie turned around and saw Chad glaring at her and Ren ready to hold him back if he tried something. Lonnie just rolled her eyes and walked out of the cafeteria. If Chad could move on, so could she.