Chapter 5
Jay still had his arm protectively around Camilla when they ran into Carlos in the halls.
"Jay! Hey, coach wanted to see you later about Tourney."
"Yeah, and?"
"W-well, it's later. And I'm heading down to practice with Ben so I thought. . . " he stopped when he noticed the look on Camilla's face, he'd never seen such fire in her eyes before. It reminded him of their mother and the last thing he wanted was to re-live one of those screaming matches. "What's up?" he asked cautiously.
"Nothing." Camilla snapped before taking a deep breath.
"Okay, I'm gonna go find the coach." Jay said before taking off.
"Jay! Jay wait!" Carlos called but he was ignored.
"You figured you'd walk down together, didn't you?" Camilla guessed and Carlos shrugged like all the air had been let out of him. He got this way every now and then, when he'd been ignored so much he'd eventually start to feel down in the dumps. It was probably worse now that they were in Auradon and everyone looked at them like they were waiting for them to do something wrong.
"Let me change quick and I'll go down with you." She offered and saw him instantly light up.
"Really?"
"Yeah whatever." She shrugged.
"Thanks Camilla. I know how much you hate babysitting me."
"Don't mention it." She said putting her arm around his shoulders, still happy he hadn't gotten taller than her yet. "Seriously, don't mention it." She said holding up a finger in front of his face. He chuckled and nodded.
- - ROTTEN TO THE CORE - -
On the Tourney Field Outfit: black shorts, red tank top, white jogging-type jacket, red sneakers one with white laces the other with black laces. Hair in two French braids, each a mix of black and white hair, some loose strands framing her face.
Camilla stood next to Ben with her hands on her hips as she looked over his shoulder at the clipboard in his hands. Carlos had been doing well so far –not that she knew much about sports, but still. And he waited at the white line in the grass that marked one of the sidelines. This was exactly what Camilla needed – a distraction. Otherwise she'd be in her dorm thinking about Audrey and plotting something that would surely get her tossed back to the Isle. Keeping an eye on her baby brother was actually a good way of preventing her from doing something she'd probably regret in the long run, no matter how deliciously evil it felt in the moment.
"Okay. Carlos, we're gonna do some sprints. You ready?" Ben asked and Carlos nodded getting on one knee ready to take off. Then Camilla heard it –a bark. Oh no. Ben looked up and Carlos had already taken off, a small patch of brown fur running after him. Camilla was amused as Carlos ran for his life and Ben was completely oblivious to Carlos's terror.
"Sweet!" Ben shouted as he clocked Carlos on his stopwatch. Then he realized that Carlos had kept going.
"Carlos? Carlos!" he shouted as he ran after him into the woods. Camilla heard her brothers screaming fade and knowing that he was in no danger she shrugged, 'Cool, guess we're done.'
- - ROTTEN TO THE CORE - -
After Carlos's practice Camilla had gone to Mal and Evie's room. She was sitting on Evie's bed undoing the braids in her hair while they talked. Jane was there complaining about her mother to Mal while Evie was working hard at her sewing machine.
"If a boy can't see the beauty within then he's not worth it." Jane quoted her mom. "Can you believe it? What world does she live in?"
"Auradon." Mal scoffed as Evie finished what she was working on and held it up for approval.
"Do you like?"
"Yeah." Mal said, "It's cute. Brings out your eyes."
"I know." She said smiling. "Camilla?"
She got up off the bed and took a closer look at the dress, "Edgy. Can you make one for me in red?" Evie smiled then looked at the piles of folded fabric on the ground by her feet.
"Red. Red, red. . . " she muttered to herself as she searched.
"I'll never get a boyfriend." Jane sighed lying on the spot Camilla had just vacated.
"Boyfriends are overrated." Mal told her.
"And how would you know, Mal? You've never had one." Evie said leaning against her palm.
"That's cause I don't need one, E. They're a waste of time."
"A lot of time judging by Camilla." Evie whispered so the other two wouldn't hear her, but - still standing right next to her - Camilla heard perfectly and instantly turned her head to glare at Evie. "Don't think I didn't figure out what you could possibly be doing in all the 'me' time." She said putting her hands under her chin and leaning closer, "So what's his name?" she asked and Camilla only scoffed and flipped her multicolored hair over her shoulder.
"I don't work for free." Evie said gesturing to the red fabric in her hands, "You want a dress? The price is his name."
Camilla intensified her glare, put one hand on her hip and leaned closer to Evie, "The dress isn't that cute." She sneered. But instead of being offended Evie's smile only grew.
"Ooooo, this must be a really juicy secret." Their secret conversation about Camilla's personal life ended when there was a knock at the door. Since it was already open the visitor walked right in.
"Hey guys! I'm Lonnie." The girl introduced herself, "my mom's Mulan. No? Anyways, I love what you've done with Jane's hair. And I know you hate us and well, you're evil. But do you think you could do mine?" she asked looking at Mal.
"Why would I do that for you?"
"I'll pay you fifty dollars." She replied and Camilla crossed her arms and leaned against the table behind her. Ok this Auradon girl she liked.
"Good answer." Evie said snatching the bag of gold, "I need to buy more material. Let's see, I'm thinking, we lose the bangs, maybe add some layers and some highlights."
"Yeah, yeah. I want it cool. Like Mal's."
"Really? The split ends too?" Mal looked up from her sketching to glare at Evie but with one shake of the bag of gold Mal growled and got her spell book. She flipped through a few pages before finding what she was looking for.
"Beware, forswear, replace the old with cool hair." she waved her fingers and in seconds Lonnie had a whole new look. She walked to the mirror and looked at her reflection in awe. Evie tried to talk her into something different but Lonnie refused.
"No, no, no, no, no, no! I love it. It's just. . . " she reached down and ripped her skirt, "Now I'm cool!"
"Like ice." Mal said leaning from the bedpost. Jane then copied Lonnie and ripped her dress. Then reality seemed to knock her in the head and she gasped.
"What did I just do? Mom's gonna kill me!"
- - ROTTEN TO THE CORE - -
Carlos came in shortly after the Auradon girls had left carrying a brown scruffy mutt.
"Carlos why are you holding that thing?" Camilla demanded immediately.
"This is Dude. He's the campus mutt, Ben introduced us. He's cute right?"
"I'd describe that dog with a lot of words, cute is not one of them." Camilla sneered sitting next to Evie who was working on Chad's homework. Carlos shrugged then grabbed his laptop and sat with it next to Dude on the floor. Then the door opened again and Jay waltzed in wearing a royal blue Tourney jersey. He made some poses and whistled before walking over to Mal.
"Did your plan work with Jane? Are you going over to see the wand?"
"Do you think that I would be going through every single spell in this book if I hadn't completely struck out?!" she snapped at him.
"Someone's in a bad mood." Her baby brother muttered while he pet the dog.
"My mom's counting on me! I can't let her down!" Mal said flicking Carlos in the head making Camilla laugh quietly.
"We can do this." Jay said, "If we stick together."
"And we won't go back until we do." Mal said looking around the room, "Because we're rotten. . . "
"To the core."
"To the core."
"To the core."
"To the core." They all finished their mantra.
"Oh yeah, I found out that Fairy Godmother blesses Ben with the wand at coronation and we all get to go." Evie said casually making all their heads turn. She couldn't have said something earlier?
"I have nothing to wear, of course."
Then there was a knock at the door. "Hold that thought." Mal said shutting her book and heading for the door. When she opened it Ben was standing there in his usual blue blazer.
"Hey, Mal. I was just wondering if you guys had any questions or anything that you needed." He said smiling.
"Not that I know of." Mal said looking back at them and they all shook their heads.
"Okay. All right. Well, if you need anything just. . . "
"Oh, wait! Um, is it true that we all get to go to your coronation?"
"Yeah, the whole school goes."
"Wow. That is beyond exciting." She said twirling her hair. Camilla didn't need to see her face to tell she was already hatching a plan. "Do you think that it's a possibility that the five of us could stand in the front row next to the Fairy Godmother, just so we could, soak up all that goodness?"
"I wish you could." Ben said sounding genuinely sorry that he had to turn them down, "Up front it's just me, my folks and my girlfriend."
"And your girlfriend?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry -"
"Okay. Thanks, bye. " Mal said closing the door as Ben tried to say something else. Then she turned to the others. "I think it's time that Bennyboo got himself a new girlfriend."