Life at Auradon Prep

Trigger warning: Depression.

Chapter 4

Anxelin's POV

Today, Monday, August 27.

The first day of the new school year was 'perfect'. And what I mean by perfect was I called lovely names like, 'witch,' 'demoness', and last but not least, 'Maleficent' the most beautiful name of all. Mwah hahaha!

Not only I was called by these lovely names, but I was even compared to my demon of my sister, Ruby, who was horrible in every single way and that these kind folks say that why I can't be terrible like Ruby? With all of her hideous hues of pastel pink and purple and looking all so, ugly. Oh, dear.

Some went far and say that I, the beautiful daughter of Rapunzel and Eugene Fitzherbert deserve to live on the Isle of the Lost with all the innocent souls of Mother Gothel and Shan Yu, also, Jafar and Lady Tremaine.

These folks say all of these amazing things about me because I'm Goth.

Yes, Goth.

Just because I don't like wear pink and wear puffy sparkly dresses or drinking tea and crumpets or showing my God-awful teeth and randomly singing to pesky little creatures, I was called by these names and was treated very well for years and I can't tell my parents. Oh! I forgot to mention that my name was changed from Anxelin to Freak-xelin. Sigh, how wonderful is that?

Some even say I was writing some potions and curses during my first-period Chemistry when in reality, I was writing notes in my exercise book. Later, I was being accused of making a girl fainted just because she was asking an interesting question as to why I was wearing full black on a hot Monday afternoon and I replied to her that the reason I wore black was I going to her funeral, just to get the pretty girl of my back.

And to be completely honest, I was bullied horribly for ten years for being different and into something that was considered 'demonic' or 'paganism', as some folks say. They wrongfully judged me because I love dark and supernatural things, thinking that I'm all manner of evil. After all, I'm Goth. It's all part of my aesthetic and being Goth. Hell, I'm not even interested in paganism!

Whenever I go out, I had an eerie feeling crept up in my spine that some freak was following me and I hated it.

And this is all thanks to the great King himself, King Beast or King Adam or whatever the hell his name is. I don't even know what's his real name anymore that Auradon is the land of a perfect utopian life when in truth, it's a complete hellhole that I was born into.

People say that I will never rule Tangle Town (formerly Corona, I wondered who in their bright little minds changed Corona to Tangle Town?!) because of my attire and 'attitude' and Ruby will be eligible to rule when she grows older and I'll be cast aside, fearing that I will call one of my servants and murder them and drink their blood to make me look younger. And, I'll turn every one from Tangle Town into some sort of vampires or bloodless beings.

God, these people are so generous to say these nice things about me and my future of Corona. How thoughtful.

And it only gets worse here at Auradon Prep.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head upward against the wall as I stopped writing the last letter for the day in my small diary. I don't even know how I managed to write without getting torn up? But hey, I was trying to entertain myself with sarcasm just to make me feel better about being bullied and judged poorly at Aura-shit Prep. Haha, Aura-shit Prep. Nice.

I opened my eyes and looked down at my diary on my lap(lol, my lovely handwriting), hmm, I thought to myself that I should write a little bit more in my diary and I did try to attempt only to find out that as I put my black gel ink pen on my thick, beige paper to make a stroke of a letter, the ink ran out.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath and then sighed. "This is the 3rd time another gel ink pen ran out."

Wait for a second, did I say that this was my last writing for the day? And why now I'm urging myself more to torture myself? I can be weird sometimes. Or I just I'm completely bored at this point, minus the crappy homework that I got.

I felt a painful sensation down at my butt, telling me that I've been sitting here at the corner of my Vampire themed bedroom for a long while and that I need to get up. And I did get up, but before that, I shoved my small diary(pocket-sized) into my sweater pocket then I got off my butt and stretched my arms and cracked my neck a bit. After that, I put my hands in my sweater pockets as I went to my dresser, lazily dragging my feet onto the wooden floor in the process

Finally! After 18 years of slowly dragging my lazy feet like some old woman, I made my way over to my dresser to look for my one true love.

Antidepressants.

It didn't take a long time for me to find my Eugene Fitzherbert (Sorry if I use your full name, Dad!) as it was on my dresser glaring at me beside my makeup pallet. Thanks to the perfect utopian lifestyle of Auradon and Auradon Prep, I'd been diagnosed with severe depression and I found that out last week before school reopened. People say that Goths are depressed souls roaming the streets of Auradon city. Well, I gotta say, that's kind of true because of the society we live in and how we are judged. I'm depressed in this case because I was bullied for a decade and I can't tell my parents about it.

Anyway, enough of my crappy story, so I twisted the cork and opened the bottle, shaking out 2 tablets of antidepressants onto my left hand as I leaned my head back and covered my mouth with my hand took the tablets. As I did that, I turned around and unzipped my school bag, which was on my bed and took out my Orange juice and put it in my mouth as I started drinking to swallow my tablets better. I didn't even notice that someone came into my room because I had my earphone in my ears with goth music blaring until I felt their large hand on my shoulder.

Frightened by the stranger's hand, I quickly turned around and splash the rest of my juice on the stranger's face to get their hand off me. When I took a closer look at the stranger, my brown eyes nearly bulged out of my sockets.

It was Shang.

Shit! What have I done?!

Instead of standing there shocked while my best friend here was trying to clean out the drink from his narrow, dark brown eyes by using his shirt, I quickly ran into my bathroom and grabbed my towel and came out of the bathroom to help Shang to clean the juice from his face, especially his eyes.

I went on my tiptoes and gently brushed Shang's hands away as I dabbed my towel(don't worry, it's clean) onto his face and neck. Man, I feel horrible for doing this to Shang, but why didn't he say something? Anyway, that doesn't matter, I'll ask him later after I'm finished. I feel very guilty though.

As I finished dabbed away the juice from Shang's face thankfully, I noticed that his eyes were beet red and I flushed a deep shade of pink because of my embarrassment.

"There," I began, "I'm so very sorry for doing this to you Shang."

Shang waved me off. "Nah, no need to apologize, although my face is a bit sticky from the Orange juice that splashed on my face, I'm good."

I still don't believe Shang's response to the incident that occurred just now, but I'll let it slide.

I sighed as I plopped on the edge of my bed, using my left hand patting the space beside me, telling Shang to sit and he did. As my friend sat, the edge of my bed sunk a little because of Shang's weight. I turned my head and asked him, "Why didn't you call me?"

"I did," Shang replied.

My eyes widened. "You did? Then why didn't I hear you?"

Shang smothered a laugh. "The earphones in your ears that's why."

Again, I flushed and muttered "right" before I shoved my hand into my sweater pocket and took my phone and didn't realize that my small diary started to fall out. Shang glanced from my face to my sweater pocket and saw that my diary was falling out. He leaned over and caught my diary in one swift motion before the diary even touched the ground.

Shang chuckled softly. "You didn't even realize that your diary was falling out of your pocket do you?"

I rolled my eyes. I'm such a weirdo for putting too many things in my pocket. I then glanced at Shang, who was already reading my diary thoroughly and I was slightly uncomfortable when he did. To be fair, I don't have any issues with Shang reading my book, but at the same time, I'm a little upset at him for reading it.

So, I gently took my diary from Shang's large hand and he looked at me with a frown.

"Why did you take the book? I wasn't finished reading."

I gave Shang a look, and he realized his mistake, so he lowered his head and blushed.

"Sorry," Shang apologized quietly, "I shouldn't have read your diary without your knowledge."

I shook my head. "It's fine and you don't have to be so formal."

Shang chuckled softly and he looked over my shoulder as his eyes landed on the bottle of antidepressants on my dresser.

"What kind of medication is that?" Shang asked.

I felt colour from my face drained out. Oh shit, I didn't tell Shang or anyone about the antidepressants or being diagnosed with severe depression. Man, what am I gonna do now? I can't tell a lie!

I took a deep breath, trying my best to remain calm and replied without facing Shang. "Antidepressants."

Shang's eyes widened at my reply and I knew that he was shocked.

"Antidepressants?" Shang repeated, his voice was in shock.

I bit my lower lip. As much as I love Shang to death, when it comes to things like these for example, like not telling your best friend about your situation, he can be a little intimidating like his father, Li Shang Sr.

"Yes, antidepressants." I looked at Shang, I can tell that his face was blanketed by shock and hints of hurt.

"So, how long you have been taking the medication?"

"Last week," I answered, feeling completely guilty.

Shang sighed and got up from the edge of my bed and pushed his hands into his pockets and so did I, still not looking at him. We were a couple of meters apart and I can feel Shang's narrow and concerned eyes peering into me as the silence hung in the air for a moment before he broke the silence.

"So, " Shang started, running his hand through his silky soft messy man bun. "Have you told anyone, especially Ruby or your parents about this?"

Unfortunately, I shook my head. "No."

I for one knew for a fact that Shang was disappointed in me for not telling him about a serious mental condition such as depression, but sometimes I don't want to flood him or any of the boys about my problems... Honestly, it's very hard.

"Then why didn't you say anything to us or me, Anxelin?" Shang asked as he folded his arms across his broad chest and I can't blame him, he had every right to know.

I rubbed my right hand up and down and turned my head to look at Shang, who was not angry, or upset, just concerned.

"Shang, it's very hard." My answer sounds crappy.

He gave me a sad look. "I know, but you could have at least say something."

I shook my head.

"I understand, but-"

"No Shang, you don't!" I snapped a bit harshly at Shang, cutting him off in mid-sentence.

Shang flinched and I realized what I did. I didn't mean to snap at him, so I apologized.

"I'm very sorry, Shang, but you don't understand." My voice was soft as I turned my head away and closed my eyes and hugged myself as well.

Shang stretched out his hand, but he pulled his hand back.

Remember when I said how can I manage to write sarcastically in my diary about being harassed and bullied without crying? Well, it was very painful to write these things in my private journal, but I had to somehow entertain or feel better when I write, now, I can't help but let a single tear ran down my cheek, and Shang saw this.

This was the first time since I cried, the last time was when I was in elementary school and that was about ten years ago. Imagine how long that has been and imagine the pain I went through simply I was goth. Although from time to time, I might get emotional, but not crying.

"Anxelin," Shang called my name softly.

Once again, I looked at Shang, still tears trickling down on my cheeks. "It's hard when you were being called 'freak', 'witch' and 'demoness' for simply because you're a goth every time you go out."

"Anxelin," Shang repeated.

"It's hard when some people say that you are writing spells and curses or practicing some sort of dumb witchcraft shit, only to realize you're only writing down Chemistry notes!"

"Anxelin," my best friend stepped closer to me.

"It's especially hard when people or haters say that you'll never rule Tangle Town because of your attire and attitude, your younger sister will be the next queen of Tangle Town and you'll be"

The next I knew was Shang wrapped his strong arms around me, and pulled me close for a brotherly hug. He gently raked his fingers through my messy and shoulder-length black hair as I rested my chin on his shoulder and hugged him back, still crying softly.

"Shhh, it's gonna be Ok," Shang cooed.

I shook my head. "No, it's not."

Shang and I broke our hug, but we still had our arms around each other. Shang used his thumb to wipe away my running tears from my face and said, "Trust me Anxelin, everything is gonna be alright."

I studied my friend's face for a moment and noticed that he looked serious and mean what he said.

"How do you looked so happy and confident this morning-" again, I cut him off.

"I took two tablets this very early this morning cause, I was very hopeless."

"Oh," Shang shifted his eyes away from mine.

Even though I still had tears in my eyes, I became curious and tilted my head as questioned Shang with my cracked voice. "Shang, are you alright?" I sniffled. "Originally, you came into my room to say something to me, right? Do you wanna talk about it?"

Shang glanced at me. "Nah, it's nothing important, I just came here to see you and how you're doing."

I can tell that Shang was half lying; he wanted to talk to me like we usually do, but since he saw me in my state, he pushed his problems aside to comfort me.

"What's more important is that everything is going to be alright as long as you have the 6 of us, Anxelin," Shang said.

I nodded in agreement and sniffled. "Ok."

"Aw, come here," Shang enveloped me in his arms for another hug and this time, I buried my face into his shoulder and continued to sob softly.

I may not be an emotional girl like Lonnie or Ruby, but when it comes to things like these, I can't help it. So, thanks Auradon Prep for giving me a hard time and all of you weird folks out there who hate seeing me.

Also, depression, I hate you with all of my heart and soul.

I also forgot to say that is a kind of a arc about the first day of the new school year at Auradon Prep for the 1st 4 chapters. So the story will have multiple arcs between character(s) and it will pick in the later chapters. So sorry if it's a bit slow (or boring) lol!