Ch 7:
"So, I hear you're excelling in art class."
Chloe pulled her head out of her locker to look around the door. She smiled at the young King in greeting.
"Oh? Where'd you hear that?" she asked lightly, grabbing a book from her locker.
"Mal raved about your last assignment." Ben informed her. "And she showed it to me when I stopped by the room earlier. You are truly gifted."
Chloe blushed. "Oh. Thank you." She grabbed the last of her things for her homework assignments and closed her locker. "Are you heading down to the tourney field for practice?" she asked as they started walking down the hallway together. Carlos had asked her to watch their practice, going so far as to tell her she could work on homework in the bleachers.
Ben sighed, shaking his head. "I have a meeting, and a bunch of paperwork. I thought I could make it to practice today, but…" he sighed again. "I just haven't had enough time. I've only made it to maybe a handful of tourney practices since my coronation. I might just have to drop the team."
Chloe smiled sympathetically. "That sucks. I'm sorry to hear that. I bet the team will miss you."
Ben nodded, smiling grimly. "I'm hoping it doesn't come to that, but I guess we'll see. I'll see you later."
"Bye." Chloe called, smiling as she headed down to the tourney field. She got there as the boys started appearing on the field in their practice uniforms. She climbed halfway up the bleachers, settling down and pulling out her homework. She partially paid attention to the practice, but mostly focused on her work. She was certainly doing much better in Auradon Prep than she ever did in Dragon Hall. Sure, she could get creative on her assignments and come up with some pretty awful schemes, but she never had the backbone to enact her ideas. She just had a creative mind, with just a hint of a dark side.
A whistle distracted Chloe from her Grammar assignment, and she looked down to see the coach calling the team back to the sidelines. A glance at the watch on her wrist told Chloe their practice was about over, so she started packing up her things so she could meet them on the edge of the field.
When she reached the bottom of the bleacher steps, Carlos and Jay walked past her with the other players on their way to the locker rooms. Carlos told her they'd just be a few minutes and to wait for them, which Chloe agreed to. She could probably walk back to her dorm alone, but she wanted to walk back with her brother and Jay. And a few of their teammates that she'd met so far were nice, too.
Chloe sat on the bottom bleacher bench to wait, her eyes traveling around the tourney field. The band was gathering on the other side of the field, getting ready to practice marching. She could spot Evie's friend Doug, and Anthony Radcliffe.
The giggling of the cheerleaders distracted Chloe and she looked down at her knees as the group of girls in short skirts started to approach on their way back to the school.
"What is she thinking with that hair?" one of them giggled obnoxiously. "I mean, she looks like a skunk."
"Fitting." another one laughed. "Considering she came from the Isle, Land of Garbage."
"I mean, Mal and Evie have cool hair. So what went wrong with her?"
Chloe didn't take her eyes off her knees, picking imaginary lint off her jeans, though she heard their gossiping loud and clear. But of all the things to make fun of, her hair was the least of her worries. Like people on the Isle hadn't made fun of her hair? She'd had people literally rip chunks of hair out of her scalp. Making fun of the color was nothing. Sure, she kind of hated that her hair color automatically lumped her in with the De Vils, but at the same time it lumped her in with Carlos. She hated being known as Cruella's daughter, but she liked being known as Carlos' sister.
"I don't know what Ben was thinking." another cheerleader sneered. "Bringing another villain over from the Isle? After what the other four tried to pull with the wand? If anything, that should have proved to him that bringing villains over from the Isle is a terrible idea. They all should be sent back."
Chloe swallowed the lump in her throat, wiping her sweaty palms on her pants. The thought of being sent back to the Isle with her mother made her queasy. She glanced in the direction of the locker rooms, hoping her brother would return soon.
"To be fair, Mal did turn Maleficent into a lizard." another cheerleader pointed out.
"Well, yeah, but she also used a love spell on Ben."
A few girls gasped. "Where did you hear that, Audrey?" one of the girls whispered.
"A little birdie told me." Audrey joked, cackling. "But seriously, he should have sent them back the moment he found out what they did. He's too trusting."
Chloe's heart was pounding, Audrey's laughter overlapping with the familiar, evil cackling in her head. She abruptly stood up, wanting to get as far away from the cheerleaders and the familiar, cruel voice in her head.
Unfortunately, she hadn't realized how close the cheerleaders were and had stood up and crashed into a couple of them.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" one of the girls shouted, giving Chloe a push. It was a light push, but she'd already been unbalanced from bumping into them and she toppled back down onto the bench. She barely stopped herself from falling backward into the bench behind that one, also. Several of the girls laughed at her, but the sound was distant, nearly drowned out by her heart pounding in her ears.
Flashback
"You pathetic waste of space!" Cruella shrieked, slapping Chloe across the face, her long nails scratching her cheek. The blow sent her stumbling into the wall. "I'll make you wish you'd never been born!"
She already did.
End of Flashback
"Chloe? Chloe!"
A familiar voice echoed from the distance and Chloe blinked open her eyes. She didn't realize she'd closed her eyes.
"Chloe, take a deep breath."
She felt like she was going to throw up. Her fingers flexed and she realized she'd clapped her hands over her ears to try and dampen the sound. She blinked and glanced around, trying to make sense of what was happening.
She could see a small crowd of people standing around her, which made her panic more, but then one face moved to block everything else from her vision.
She stared up into bright, blue-green eyes.
"Breathe."
Chloe began to mimic the boy in front of her, taking a deep breath, holding it, and then releasing it. The whole while, her eyes never left his.
Her tense muscles relaxed slightly, and she slowly lowered her hands from her ears, resting them in her lap. She continued her deep breaths, carefully glancing around. There was still a small crowd, mostly the cheerleaders, who Chloe avoided looking at. She noticed a couple of the tourney players. Jay appeared to be keeping everyone back as they gathered to watch curiously.
And crouched in front of her was Carlos…and Anthony Radcliffe.
Chloe almost fell into a panic again, but then he smiled at her. And it was real, and genuine, and kind. And she couldn't help relaxing again. She hesitantly smiled in return.
"There you go." Anthony's smile widened slightly. "Feel better?"
Chloe swallowed the bile left in her throat, nodding slightly in response as her face burned in embarrassment. Did there have to be so many people around to watch her fall apart?
"Hey," Carlos leaned in a little closer, "don't worry about them. You're fine. There's nothing to be embarrassed about."
Chloe nodded, but she didn't believe him. She could hear people whispering.
"Why does this keep happening to me?" she whispered, her voice cracking. "I'm safe. I'm not on the Isle. Why does this keep happening?"
She noticed Anthony glance at Carlos, who glanced away uncomfortably. When he glanced back at the taller boy, his cheeks burned red.
"I…may have put off telling her about what you mentioned." Carlos admitted.
Chloe glanced between them, confused. "What are you two talking about?" she asked warily.
Anthony glanced between the twins before focusing on Chloe. "How about we go somewhere else? More private?" he suggested, jerking his head slightly toward the crowd around them. "We could head to the kitchens? I don't know about you, but I could go for a smoothie."
Chloe glanced at Carlos, who was nodding in agreement. She nodded and they all stood up. Carlos had a quick word with Jay before the three of them headed toward the main campus. Chloe had never had the chance to be in the school's kitchen, but it was just past the cafeteria, behind the counter where they served all the food.
The kitchen was mostly metal; metal fridge, table, pots and pans, and an oven. Anthony went straight to the fridge, Carlos hopped up onto the table, and Chloe pulled a chair up to the table to sit at.
"So, you two have been talking about me behind my back?" Chloe asked lightly.
Carlos winced. "No, not like that." he explained weakly. "It's just…the other day, Anthony approached me and Jay about something, concerning you. I should have brought it up to you, but…I wanted to do some research first."
Chloe blinked, staring up at her brother before glancing toward Anthony. The other boy seemed to be focused on whatever he was doing, pulling some fruit and things from the fridge. She waited for him to say something, but he was focused on his task.
"And that something was?" she urged, glancing once more up at her twin.
Carlos glanced over at Anthony, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Um,…Anthony, did you…?"
"In a minute." Anthony answered.
He cut some fruit up, threw some things into a blender, and blended it up. Within a few minutes, he was placing a few glasses on the table in front of them.
"Drink this. It'll help." he suggested gently.
Chloe eyed him before taking a hesitant sip from the glass of the light pink, creamy drink. Her eyes widened in surprise. It was sweet and cold and creamy and wow.
"What is this?" she asked with wide eyes before taking a bigger sip.
"It's a smoothie. All that's in it is strawberries, banana, and yogurt. But you can put just about anything in a smoothie." Anthony explained.
Chloe took another big sip, noticing Carlos was drinking his just as fast. When she swallowed again, she figured it was time to get back on track.
"So, you were saying?" she urged, glancing between Carlos and Anthony, who once more glanced at each other, as if silently debating who would speak.
"Have you ever heard of panic attacks?" Anthony finally asked, looking back at her.
Chloe blinked. She knew what 'panic' meant, obviously. And she'd been attacked more times than she could count. But a panic attack? She'd never heard of such a thing. Silently, she shook her head.
Anthony nodded as if he expected her answer. He went on to give a similar explanation to the one he gave Carlos and Jay, even listing several of the symptoms he knew of.
It's usually caused by a trigger of some sort. Pounding heartbeat, sweating, trembling, stomachache, nausea, dizziness,…
It was all familiar. She'd experienced some if not all of those symptoms and more.
Chloe swallowed the lump in her throat, her fingers playing with the condensation gathered on the glass of her smoothie.
"And you think that's something I have?" she questioned quietly.
"I'm not a professional," Anthony said for what felt like the tenth time, "but does all that sound familiar to you?"
Chloe nodded, her eyes down on the table.
"Is there a cure?" she asked quietly, eyes still downcast.
"No." Carlos answered, causing the other two to glance at him. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I may have done some research on it. There are ways to help, but there's no actual cure because panic attacks vary from person to person. Some of the suggested ways to help are therapy and medication."
Chloe unconsciously wrinkled her nose at the suggestions.
"But there are other options." Anthony added. "There are self-help options that you can do yourself. And there's another option you could consider…" he trailed off.
"What?" Chloe asked warily.
Anthony sighed, taking a sip of his own smoothie as if buying himself some time. "You two obviously know some of what my family does." Both twins nodded. "We mostly run our Dalmatian Plantation out on our farm in Stately Chateau, but we've branched out our services a lot in the past couple decades. We've helped to start and fund animal shelters all across Auradon, and we've partnered with other services that train dogs for different jobs. We've helped with training dogs for things like police dogs, firefighters, search and rescue, service dogs."
Chloe blinked. "I didn't realize dogs could do jobs like that." she admitted quietly.
Anthony smiled, nodding his head. "They can do all kinds of amazing things. But what I mainly wanted to talk to you about is…maybe you could look into getting a service dog."
"A service dog?" Carlos asked skeptically. "What exactly does that mean?"
"Well, service dogs can be trained in a large range of tasks." Anthony explained. "Some of the more well-known tasks are guide dogs, who help people who are blind, or dogs who help people you can't hear. Dogs can help people with mobility issues, such as being in a wheelchair." Anthony paused for a moment. "There are dogs trained to help people with seizures, they may give warning when they sense a seizure is coming on, or they can help protect them during a seizure, or bring medication."
"I didn't know dogs could do all that." Chloe admitted. "But what does that have to do with me having panic attacks?"
"There are service dogs for panic attacks." Anthony explained. "Depending on the person and what they might need the dog to do, a service dog can do lots of things to help people with panic attacks. They can sense when a panic attack is coming on, get you medication or a phone or whatever you might need to get help. They can distract you, making you focus on them instead of panicking, or they can put their bodyweight on you, which induces a calming effect. I also knew someone who had anxiety being in crowds, and their dog was trained to put distance between the person and other people in the crowd to help them gain their personal space."
Carlos glanced down at Chloe. "Some of that could be helpful." he admitted to her quietly.
Chloe glanced up at Carlos before looking thoughtfully down at her glass. "What about Dude?" she asked when an idea occurred to her, glancing up at Anthony. "Could he be my service dog?"
Anthony grimaced slightly. "Dude…well, let's put it this way. Service animal training has a high dropout rate. Not very dog out there is meant to be a service animal. Dude is an amazing dog, don't get me wrong. But he's definitely not meant to be a service dog. They need to be calm, alert, intelligent, not easily distracted,…" he trailed off with a pointed look at Carlos, who grimaced slightly.
"Yeah,…Dude's probably not the best option." Carlos agreed.
"He'd be a great emotional support animal, but not a service animal. Unfortunately, emotional support animals aren't trained as vigorously as service animals, and don't get the same rights."
"Rights?" Carlos checked.
"Service animals are allowed in places most animals aren't. Schools, restaurants, stores,… If you have seizures or something, you need your dog with you almost all the time. Kind of defeats the purpose if they aren't allowed with you in the store."
Carlos nodded. "Good point."
"It does help," Chloe admitted, "when I'm with Dude or Beelzebub. Just holding one of them sometimes calms me down."
Carlos nodded. He'd noticed the same thing.
"So, how does this work?" Carlos asked, looking down at where Anthony sat at the table across from Chloe. "How does this start?"
"Well, first I'd suggest you do some more research." Anthony suggested. "Service dogs aren't meant for everyone. So, do some research, ask me whatever questions you want. There's another girl on campus who's had a service dog for almost a year now. Her name's Tara, she's in a wheelchair. If you want, I'm sure she'd be willing to talk to you."
Carlos nodded. "Yeah, I've seen her around. I thought I saw her with a dog once or twice."
Anthony nodded. "Yeah, Thor. He's her mobility service dog. Helps her with tasks since being in a wheelchair makes certain things difficult. Anyway, like I said, do some research, ask questions. Also, not just anyone can get a service dog. You do have to be diagnosed by a professional."
Chloe looked worried. "So, is it possible I have panic attacks, but I'm not, like, actually diagnosed?"
Anthony hummed. "Possible, I suppose, but from the little I've seen, I'm fairly certain you'd qualify. Also, you may want to look into your options for the dog. Like I said, I could get you in touch with a couple different organizations. And you'll want to think about training."
"I don't know anything about training a dog." Chloe pointed out worriedly.
"I do. I could help you with training if you want to go that route. Just know, getting an already trained service dog is extremely expensive. My family's Plantation provides grants to help pay for stuff, but you'd also save a lot of money training the dog yourself. Which, again, I could help you with."
Chloe chewed her bottom lip anxiously, thinking over Anthony's words. She didn't realize her breathing was picking up until a hand lightly touched hers. She glanced up to see Anthony watching her calmly.
"Chloe, calm down. I don't want this conversation causing you to have a panic attack. That kind of defeats the purpose." he joked lightly. "It's a lot to think about. Take some time, think it over, do some research, whatever you need to do. There are other ways to help with panic attacks. You don't have to go this route."
Chloe's shoulders slumped slightly as some of the tension left her muscles. She had time to think. She had options. She just needed to learn more, do research. Like Anthony suggested. She nodded.
"Thank you. I really appreciate this." she told him quietly. "And this." she added jokingly, lifting the glass of smoothie slightly. "You need to show me how to make this sometime."
AN: Merry Christmas to those that celebrate! Here's an early update as a gift!
I made the "wheelchair girl" that appears in all three Descendants movies a minor character named Tara with a service dog. You'll learn more about her and Thor within a few chapters.
What do you all think about Chloe getting a service dog? And if there's anyone out there who knows a lot about service dogs that would like to give me some information, let me know. Reviews are welcome! Thanks!