Ch 13:
Chloe opened her room door and grinned when Motley hopped up from the floor and bounced up to her, tail wagging happily at her owner's return.
They'd been working on a schedule in the past week, thanks largely to Anthony. Since Chloe was unfortunately in class from 8 to 3:30, she needed to work around her school schedule to spend time with Motley. So, she would wake up around 6, get ready for the day, then take Motley on a walk, and maybe play catch to give her some exercise and help wear her out a bit. They didn't do too much training in the mornings, it was more about getting her some exercise and having some fun. Sometimes Chloe would eat a small breakfast like a granola bar or something while playing with Motley, or sometimes she'd meet her friends at a picnic table with Motley to eat before taking Motley back to her dorm room.
Motley had some toys that were designed to keep dogs busy by hiding a treat inside it, so the dog would have to work to get the treat out. So Chloe would set up a couple of those. Also, a couple times, Chloe had left Motley in Carlos and Jay's dorm with Dude so they could entertain each other and give Beelzebub some peace and quiet. The poor cat wasn't too impressed by there being another dog she had to share attention with. Meanwhile, Dude and Motley had become fast friends. Chloe would also make sure Motley's food and water dish was full for the day before she left for class.
After her morning classes, Chloe would hurry to her dorm to let Motley out during her lunch period. The rushing around wasn't her favorite part of the day, but Carlos would get her lunch tray for her, and she'd meet her friends with Motley for lunch before returning her dog to her dorm for the rest of her classes.
Finally, after her classes Chloe would spend the rest of her afternoon and evening with Motley at her side, whether that be in her dorm or outside. Their afternoons usually consisted of some combination of going for a walk or hike, playing catch or playing with Dude, Chloe working on homework, usually outside so Motley could get out of the dorm, and doing some kind of training. It was usually best to get some training in before playing because after playing Motley was tired and her attention was more prone to wandering.
"Hi, girl." Chloe knelt down, ruffling Motley's ears and face while the dog licked her face in greeting. "Were you good?" she asked, glancing around the room to be sure. Sure enough, nothing was out of place except her covers were rumpled, suggesting someone had taken a nap on her bed. Chloe honestly didn't mind that, she actually enjoyed snuggling with Motley in the middle of the night.
"Should we go outside?" Chloe asked, standing back up. Motley hopped up and rushed over to Chloe's desk, grabbing her leash off the chair in her mouth and bringing it back to Chloe eagerly. Chloe grabbed Motley's vest and put it on, the Dalmatian sitting perfectly still apart from her wagging tail and wiggling bottom. She didn't technically have to put Motley's vest on all the time, service dogs didn't technically have to wear a vest. Chloe had simply decided Motley would wear the vest when she was doing service dog stuff, but she would take it off when Motley was doing normal dog stuff, like playing.
Clipping the leash to Motley's collar, Chloe took a moment to scratch Beelzebub's head where the cat was resting on her pillow, before leading the way out of the room. Motley walked in a perfect loose leash walk down the halls of the dorm, not straying more than a few feet from her side. Chloe would order to her heel a few times when they needed to pass other people. She'd gotten more than a few stares since she showed up at the school with a service dog, but by now, thankfully, most of the stares had abated.
They picked up Dude from Carlos' dorm, before heading outside. They walked around the school grounds a bit, and Chloe commanded Motley to do her business, which the dog eventually did, and Chloe rewarded her with a couple treats. When Anthony had first told Chloe that service dogs have to be trained to go to the bathroom on command, Chloe had been mildly disturbed. Like, she just tells Motley to go potty and she was supposed to do it right then and there? But after explaining, it kind of made sense, especially as some service dogs spend a lot of time indoors with their handlers. Motley had been potty trained as a puppy, so Chloe just needed to build off what she already knew, which was surprisingly easy.
After Motley and Dude did their business, which Chloe cleaned up and threw away, they picked an empty picnic table for Chloe to sit at. She took off Motley's vest and unclipped both leashes before taking out Motley's ball. She played catch with the dogs while working on her homework, pausing every so often to give Motley a command, like sit, stay, or down, before rewarding her by throwing the ball again. Motley responded to play as a reward about as well as she responded to treats.
Chloe was halfway through her math homework when the dogs returned to her side again, this time Dude having gotten the ball before Motley could. He stood on his hind legs to drop the ball on the bench next to Chloe. Chloe smiled before noticing Mal heading towards her. Chloe picked up the ball and made the dogs sit and keep their focus on her. She focused this more on Motley, but having Dude around was helpful. He added an extra distraction when she needed to train Motley to focus solely on her.
When Mal sat at the table with her without drawing Motley's attention, Chloe praised her dog before throwing the ball for them, causing both to take off after it.
"Hey." Mal greeted her.
"Hey."
"How's training going?" Mal asked, getting out her own homework.
"It's going fine. We've been focusing mostly on obedience this week. Apparently it's best to focus first on forming a bond and working on basic commands and obedience." Chloe explained.
Mal hummed distractedly, quickly flipping through her textbook. Chloe paused her own work to watch Mal for a moment, seeing her dig out a familiar brown, leather book with a gold dragon on the cover. She watched Mal mutter a spell before seemingly zooming through her homework. Halfway, she glanced up and caught Chloe watching. Chloe raised her eyebrow at Mal, who sighed.
"Don't tell Evie." Chloe raised both brows at that, and Mal continued, "I may or may not have been using magic to…I don't know, fit in or something. Just to get to class on time, or get some homework done. I just need a little help, and this does that." Mal explained, holding up her spell book. "But Evie doesn't understand that, and she doesn't approve."
Chloe nodded slightly. "She turned her magic mirror over to Fairy Godmother. She thinks you should do the same with your spell book?"
Mal nodded. "Yeah. She says we should just forget our past and move forward, focus on our future."
Chloe scoffed. "Easier said than done." She turned as the dogs returned to the table, this time Motley dropping the ball on the tabletop. Chloe stroked Motley's smooth head, briefly kissing the top before throwing the ball again.
"Exactly." Mal agreed, watching the interaction. "And if this book helps me, helps make things easier for me, I don't see how that's bad."
Chloe tilted her head, glancing over her shoulder to briefly watch Motley snatch the ball off the ground before Dude could reach it. While they hadn't officially begun training Motley to help with Chloe's panic attacks, she'd already started helping. Chloe came close to a couple panic attacks in the past week, and merely cuddling with Motley had been extremely helpful. In a way, Motley was for Chloe what the spell book was for Mal. She had the potential, which she'd already proven, to make Chloe's life in Auradon better.
Turning back to Mal, Chloe nodded in understanding. "I get that. Better than some."
Mal blinked, briefly glancing past Chloe's shoulder at the dogs, before her green eyes met Chloe's. She smiled slightly, an understanding passing between them.
They worked through their homework, making occasional conversation, and the dogs eventually got tired and rested under the picnic table. They made small talk as well, briefly discussing the library ribbon cutting Ben had hosted a couple days ago. Within twenty minutes, they were joined by Jay and Carlos, both freshly showered after tourney practice. They were both excited for the tourney championship coming up tomorrow against the Seaside Mermen.
"So, are you going to come to the game?" Carlos asked his sister hopefully. Chloe bought herself some time by putting Motley's vest back on. She was already laying under the table, so Chloe made sure to reward her and emphasize the 'down-stay' command. It was something Motley was going to have to master if she ever hoped to be certified. It was a position the dog had to hold in any number of scenarios, either under a table or desk, somewhere out of the way. She would have to hold the down-stay position, quietly and without having to be told multiple times, for long periods of time.
Chloe shrugged, focusing on the tabletop. "I don't know. I might. If I do, I'm not sitting in the stands." she decided.
Jay paused with a chip halfway to his mouth, having gotten a bag out of a vending machine. "Where would you sit, then?"
"At the last game I went to, me and Anthony sat on the grass after the crowd in the stands nearly triggered a panic attack. We watched the game, ate hotdogs, played with Dude."
Mal hid a smirk with her hair before looking up with a casual expression. "Maybe me and Evie could join you. We could all just sit on the grass instead of the stands, make it a group thing. Unless you'd rather just sit with Anthony."
Chloe eyed Mal warily, sensing there was some hint or hidden meaning behind Mal's words but not completely understanding what it was.
"Um,…you could if you want. I don't even know if Anthony would want to sit on the grass again. And anyway, he'll need to play with the band for part of the game, too. It's up to you and Evie. I doubt she'd want to risk the grass stains." she added, partially joking.
The others laughed, and Mal added, "I'm sure we could sit on a picnic blanket or something."
"Are you guys planning on trying out for that other sport after tourney's over? ROAR or whatever it's called?" Chloe asked, glancing at Carlos and Jay.
"Probably. Sounds like it could be fun." Carlos shrugged.
"We've been doing some practice with some of the other guys." Jay explained. "Tryouts are the day after the championship game. And there's a couple openings on the team, especially since Ben quit because of his Kingly duties."
"They have tryouts for one sport right after another sport ends?" Chloe asked. "That seems a bit…rushed, doesn't it?"
Both boys shrugged. "A bit, I suppose, but we don't mind." Carlos answered.
"Really. I'm surprised you even have time to do any ROAR practice." Chloe commented casually.
"What do you mean?" Carlos asked, confused.
"Well, between school, homework, tourney, and spending so much time with Jane, I was just wondering how you do it all." Chloe teased lightly. Carlos' face turned bright red while Jay and Mal laughed.
"I don't-that's not-what are you-" Carlos stuttered, avoiding eye contact. "I'm just helping her practice! She wants to try out for the cheerleading squad!"
"And what do you know about cheerleading?" Jay joked, making Carlos glare at him.
"I was just showing her some cartwheels and things." Carlos defended himself.
"If she makes the team, are you going to take her out to celebrate?" Chloe asked, smiling playfully. Truthfully, she thought Carlos and Jane would be perfect together. Jane had quickly become one of Chloe's fastest friends in Auradon. They'd both come out of their shy, quiet shells together and frequently studied together and hung out. Jane had gone out of her way to study a bunch about service dogs the moment she found out Chloe was considering getting one, and she was super kind and supportive about it. She also knew Jane would be a perfect cheerleader; she was happy, friendly, and she already knew a lot of flips from being the mascot. And Chloe was fairly certain Jane already had a huge crush on Carlos, the way she blushed when he entered the room, or went on about how nice he was, helping her with tryouts. Considering both were caring, yet shy, Chloe thought they'd go well together, lifting each other up when the other needs it.
Carlos glared at her some more. "Shut up."
Chloe sniggered, her eyes glancing briefly past Mal and Jay's shoulders to see Evie and her boyfriend heading toward them. Glancing at Mal's homework, surrounding the familiar leather book, Chloe smiled widely past their shoulders.
"Hi, Evie! Hey Doug!" she called loudly in greeting, waving at the couple. Jay and Carlos echoed the greetings while Mal quickly hid her spell book under her textbook, so she could slip it into her backpack unseen. She smiled gratefully at Chloe, who returned it.
The way Chloe saw it, they all had to find their own ways to cope with their lives, both past and present. They should be supporting each other, not criticizing.
AN: Sorry this chapter is more of a filler, but the next chapter should be more exciting. There will be some time skips for most of the story, considering there's a couple years between the three Descendants movies, and I plan for this story to go just past the third movie, not including an Epilogue.
The next few chapters should make up for this slightly-uneventful, there will be Chloe bonding with Anthony, Carlos, and her friends.
Let me know what you all thought of this chapter, despite how uneventful it was. Your reviews make me smile!