Ch 4:
"Whoa." Chloe gaped slightly out the limo window as they pulled up to the enormous castle-turned-prep school.
"Yeah." Carlos laughed. "That's what I thought."
"I'm-I'm going to be going to school here?" Chloe stuttered in amazement. "I'm going to be living here?"
Carlos laughed again. "Yes."
He was endlessly amused by her reactions through the whole car ride, even though they weren't much different from his. Her reaction to chocolate was the best. It was safe to say they have the same taste in sweets; their new favorite candy was peanut butter cups, little pucks of chocolate with peanut butter in the middle. She'd eaten five before Carlos insisted she try a few others. She also liked the sour gummy worms after she got over the initial sour shock.
The limo parked and the driver came around to open Chloe's door. Carlos wiggled his way out in front of her, making Chloe roll her eyes, so he could help her out of the car. Taking her brother's hand, Chloe climbed out of the car, trying not to limp on her injured leg.
There were small groups of people wandering about, but thankfully very few seemed to spare Chloe a glance. Carlos had explained the huge marching band and welcoming party that had greeted him and the others, and luckily he'd convinced Ben not to do the same for Chloe. She would not have liked having that much attention, especially considering her black-and-blue face and limp.
Waiting for them was a small group of people standing in front of a large statue of the former King. Chloe recognized Mal, Ben, Evie, and Jay.
Chloe released Carlos' hand, but her brother stayed by her side as she limped toward the group waiting to greet her. After being in the hospital for most of the week, she'd finally been released when most of the infection had cleared up and her wound was healing. She had a few antibiotics to continue taking for a few more days, and a doctors appointment in a week, but other than that she was much better.
"Welcome to Auradon Prep!" an older, cheerful woman in a powder blue dress greeted Chloe with a large, warm smile. "It's so lovely to finally meet you, Chloe. I'm Fairy Godmother, Headmistress of Auradon Prep."
Chloe smiled awkwardly, feeling somewhat self-conscious of her looks in front of the pristine Headmistress. Her clothes were fine, Evie had brought over some new clothes she'd just made for Chloe, comfy jeans and a sweatshirt, since Mal insisted she would want normal, comfy clothes. And her hair was normal, she'd been able to shower at the hospital that morning. But her face was still covered in healing bruises.
"It's nice to meet you." Chloe returned the greeting quietly.
"I know you know everyone else here," Fairy Godmother continued, gesturing to the others standing by her, "so I'm sure they'll be able to help you with anything you may need help with. And they'll give you a tour of the school, help you find your dorm and classes. Everything you'll need for class is in your dorm room. But if you ever have any questions, I'll be happy to help."
Chloe smiled again, this time feeling slightly less awkward. As overly-peppy as this woman seemed, she also seemed genuinely nice. "Thank you."
Fairy Godmother gave her one last smile before leaving the kids to it.
Evie passed the small, brown mutt in her arms to Carlos before scurrying over and hugging Chloe so tightly it kind of hurt, but Chloe smiled slightly.
"I'm so glad you're finally here!" Evie squealed, pulling away and holding Chloe at arms length. "I've already created over a dozen different outfits for you, they're in the drawers in your room."
"And your cat is in your room, too." Jay added, teasingly pushing Evie out of the way to wrap one arm around Chloe in a careful hug. "Which is good. I don't think Dude liked sharing Carlos' bed with a cat while you were in the hospital."
Chloe laughed slightly.
"Speaking of Dude," Carlos spoke up carefully, approaching his sister with the small dog in his arms, "Chloe, this is Dude. Dude, this is my sister Chloe."
Chloe eyed the dog warily. There had been dogs on the Isle, mostly big hunting dogs and the two Dobermans Roscoe and Desoto. Chloe and Carlos had stayed away from them as much as possible because those dogs had confirmed their mother's description of dogs as "vicious, rabid pack animals". But this dog was so…small and scruffy, and cute. And he was wearing a jacket that matched Carlos', which was both dorky and adorable. She would have to give Carlos a hard time about that. And she was there to hear Carlos defend this little dog against their mother in that video chat. Carlos loved this dog. So he couldn't be the monster their mother described.
Swallowing nervously, Chloe hesitantly held her hand out to the little dog. Dude leaned forward as much as Carlos' arms would allow, his little nose twitching as he sniffed her hand. Chloe flinched when he licked her, but he just kept licking her hand, and his little tail was a blur of wagging.
Carlos laughed. "I think he likes you."
Chloe smiled slightly, moving her hand to gently pet the dog's head.
"He likes being scratched behind the ears." Carlos mentioned quietly, and Chloe instantly moved her hand to scratch her fingers behind one of Dude's floppy ears. The little dog leaned his head into her fingers, making her laugh quietly.
"Yes, yes, Dude is adorable." Mal interrupted, though she was smiling at them. "You've got all day to pet and snuggle him. We should probably give Chloe a tour before her leg gets too sore."
Carlos instantly nodded his head and Chloe dropped her hand, making Dude whine in disappointment.
"We should probably start with everything in the school first, like classes, the cafeteria and stuff, and end with her dorm so she can relax and settle in." Evie suggested.
Everyone agreed, but Ben had a meeting. After apologizing to Chloe for not being able to give her a tour, he hurried off, leaving the five VKs to explore the campus without him. And Chloe was honestly okay with that. It was almost like the old days, her, Carlos, Jay, Mal, and Evie.
Carlos put Dude down, and the little dog happily walked between the twins as they wandered the enormous campus. Jay amused her with the story of how Carlos reacted to the Beast Statue in front of the school, they then showed her where her locker was, and the courtyard and cafeteria, as well as the hallways of classrooms. They didn't show her where every class was because Carlos and her had almost all the same classes. She only had art class with Mal because the others were a year older than her.
"So, why aren't you guys in class right now?" Chloe asked quietly as they walked through the deserted hallways. Through the windows of the classrooms they passed, she could see students and teachers, clearly in their classes at the moment.
"That should be obvious." Jay noted. "Fairy Godmother excused us from some of our classes so we could show you around."
"Oh. That makes sense." Chloe admitted.
Almost as soon as the words left her lips, a bell rang. Before she could ask what that bell was for, classroom doors from all sides burst open and the hallway was instantly flooded with people. Chloe flinched and accidentally bumped into Carlos, who grabbed her arm in case she was about to fall.
"How about we head to the dorms?" Mal suggested. "That will give you a few hours to rest before we head to dinner."
Chloe nodded, relieved at the suggestion. This crowded hallway was reminding her a little too much of the hallways in Dragon Hall.
Jay lead them through the hall and outside, his large mass creating a path through the crowded hallway. Chloe both saw and felt the curious glances from people as they walked, but she just focused on the cobra on Jay's back or the dragon on Mal's as they walked.
As they crossed the courtyard, Evie noticed a girl walking nearby.
"Jane!" she called, waving the small girl over. The girl looked curious as she approached them, giving them a shy smile.
"Hi, Evie. Hi guys. What's up?" she asked.
Evie nudged Carlos, giving him a look and nodding toward Chloe. Carlos instantly got the message.
"Oh! Jane, this is my sister Chloe. Ben just brought her over from the Isle and she's going to be starting school here on Monday." Carlos told her, one arm around his sister. "Chloe, this is Fairy Godmother's daughter Jane. She's in our year and in some of the same classes as us."
Chloe gave the other girl a shy smile, which Jane returned. Jane was rather pretty, with big, light blue eyes, full lips, and shoulder-length dark brown hair held back with a bow-tie hair clip.
"It's nice to meet you." Chloe told her.
"It's nice to meet you, too." Jane returned, seeming a little less shy and more friendly. "I didn't know Carlos had a sister. If you're in the same grade as us, does that mean you're twins?"
Chloe and Carlos both nodded. "Yeah, we're fraternal twins." Carlos answered.
"That's so cool!" Jane beamed. "I've never met twins before. I mean, I know there are twins in Auradon, but I've never met any of them."
"Really? We'd see some set of twins almost everyday on the Isle." Jay noted thoughtfully. "The Gastons-"
"The Smees," Evie added.
"And the De Vils." Mal finished, smirking at the twins.
Jane laughed. "Lucky." she teased.
"Not really. You've never had Gaston Jr. belch in your face and ask if it smelled like rotten eggs." Carlos countered, slightly joking even as he grimaced at the memory.
Jane covered her mouth, though her shaking shoulders gave away her laughter.
"Anyway, we're taking Chloe to the dorms for now, we just wanted to introduce you." Evie mentioned. "Maybe we'll see you at dinner?"
Jane nodded, smiling widely again. "Definitely. It was nice meeting you, Chloe." she waved as she walked off.
"You too." Chloe smiled genuinely as she followed the others in the opposite direction as the other girl. "She was nice. Is…is everyone that nice?" she asked, glancing worriedly at Carlos.
Carlos shrugged slightly. "Weeelll,…" he dragged the word out hesitantly, "maybe? Not everyone was welcoming of us when we got here. And there will probably still be some people who are…less then welcoming of you. But most people have been really nice. Especially since the coronation."
"If anyone gives you a hard time, just let one of us know." Jay ordered, glancing over his shoulder at her as he lead the way toward the dorms.
Chloe's leg had been okay for the most part through the tour, but she was struggling a bit by the time it came to climbing the stairs to their dorm rooms, especially after the first flight of stairs.
"You okay?" Carlos asked worriedly after she practically dragged herself up the last flight and into a hallway.
"Yeah. Never been better." Chloe answered through gritted teeth.
"Your dorm's just down this hallway." Mal told her. "Then you can rest your leg a bit before dinner. And you're probably due for another pain pill, right?"
Chloe hummed as she limped after them. "I'm supposed to take them with food, so I'll probably take it at dinner."
"I can get you a snack at a vending machine if you need to take it now." Carlos offered instantly.
Chloe smiled at him. "Carlos, I'll be fine for a few hours. Once I can sit down I'll be fine."
"Did we overdo it with the tour? Should we have stopped earlier?" Carlos asked worriedly.
"Carlos, calm down." Jay laughed. "You're going to suffocate her."
Carlos glared at the back of Jay's head until Chloe rested her hand on his arm. "Carlos, honestly. I'm okay. You can stop worrying about me."
Carlos sighed. "I'll try."
Evie skipped ahead of the group and touched one of the golden-brown colored wooden doors. "This is mine and Mal's dorm. And yours," she moved down to the next door, "is this one. Right next door. So we're right there if you ever need anything."
"And you get the room all to yourself." Mal added.
"Myself?" Chloe repeated. "Why?"
"Because there's an odd number of students now." Carlos answered. "I think people only get their own dorm if they pay extra to have one, or, in this case, there isn't another student for you to room with."
"Are you okay with that?" Evie asked worriedly. "If you want a roommate, we could-"
"No, it's fine. I just…I've never had my own room before." Chloe admitted, glancing at Carlos. He nodded, understanding without words what she wasn't saying.
"Well, now you do." he told her quietly.
"And me and Mal redecorated it a bit." Evie added excitedly. "When we first got here our dorm was all pink and frilly." she explained with a wrinkled nose, making Chloe laugh quietly. "Yours was the same. So we redecorated it a bit. We didn't have time to do a lot, and we wanted your opinion on some things. So, maybe some other time soon we can do some more with it."
Chloe smiled. "Sounds like fun."
Evie opened the door and waved Chloe in ahead of her. Chloe stepped through the doorway and her jaw fell open.
Directly across from the door was a large window with flowing, white curtains, a small end table with two cushioned chairs on either side under the window. To her left was a giant flat screen TV on the wall above a fireplace. In front of that was a table with a few chairs around it. To her right was another window, and on either side of it was a couple four-poster beds, each with a white bedside table. There were also some dressers on either side of the door.
Chloe's amazement was interrupted by a small, black blur hurtling from one of the beds and across the room. Feather-light touches against her ankles made Chloe look down, her smile growing as she saw Beelzebub looking up at her, sitting back on her haunches with her tiny, white-toed paws resting against Chloe's legs. Her fluffy, black fur was flattened slightly on one side, indicating she'd just been sleeping. Her bright green eyes were fixed intently up on Chloe's face as her plumed tail flicked back and forth.
Ignoring the twinge in her sore leg, Chloe bent down and scooped her ten-year old cat up into her arms, snuggling her close to her chest until Bee's purr vibrated straight into Chloe's heart.
"Someone missed you." Carlos grinned, stepping closer and scratching their cat around the ears.
Chloe didn't reply, her face pressed into her cat's head. Beelzebub was Chloe and Carlos' main source of affection other than each other since they were four years old. Their life on the Isle would have been so much worse without her, and they'd come terrifyingly close to finding that out on several occasions.
Flashback
"Carlos!" an all-too-familiar shriek echoed through the large mansion, making the ten year old twins exchange a nervous glance.
"I guess I should-"
"I'll go with you." Chloe cut her brother off as he made to stand from their shared mattress where they'd been sitting and petting Beelzebub.
Carlos shook his head. "You don't have-"
"Chloe!" the same voice shrieked again.
Carlos sighed and gave his sister a hand up, and they both hesitantly made their way out of the safety of their room, following the sounds of shrieking and banging until they reached their mother's bedroom.
"Yes, Mother?" Carlos asked nervously. Cruella was ripping through her small walk-in closet in her bedroom, a couple empty bottles of brandy on her end table.
"It's old. It's all old. Outdated." she rambled.
"What is?" Chloe asked hesitantly when her ramblings petered out.
"My furs! My babies! My only true love!" Cruella shrieked.
Carlos swallowed nervously. "What about your fur closet downstairs?" he asked. That was where she kept most of her furs, only the ones she wore the most were kept in her bedroom.
"You think I didn't check there first?!" Cruella screeched, swinging the half-empty bottle of brandy in her hand at the wall, mostly shattering it and making her children flinch back in fear. The neck of the bottle was still clenched in her fist. "I need NEW furs!" she shrieked again. "I can't go out in public in the same old furs! What will people think?! I need-"
Cruella stopped, her sharp green eyes fixed on something on the floor. Confused, Chloe followed her mother's gaze with her similar green eyes. When she saw that Beelzebub had wandered into the room, pausing just between the twins and their mother, she felt raw panic.
"Fur." Cruella murmured, her green eyes alight with greed as she stared at the fluffy, shiny black fur on the cat.
Lunging with more speed than Chloe thought she possessed, Cruella stabbed the shattered bottle neck towards the small cat.
"NO!" Chloe and Carlos screamed in panic, both instinctively rushing forward in an attempt to protect their beloved cat.
The struggle was a blur of Cruella frantically stabbing the broken glass, Beelzebub hissing and shrieking in panic, and Chloe and Carlos struggling to stop their mother and protect their cat.
In the end, Carlos tried to hold their mother off while Chloe scooped up the cat and ran back to their room. She ended up huddled in a ball on their bed, a trembling Bee curled into her chest, as she cried into her cat's fur.
End of Flashback
Chloe took a deep breath of Bee's scent, trying to shake off the memory that sent her trembling. Beelzebub was fine. Carlos was fine. She was fine. They'd all ended up with cuts from that brandy bottle that scarred over. Chloe had one on her forearm, Carlos had a few on his arms and neck, and poor Beelzebub had one on the back of her neck that went between her shoulder blades. Since that incident, Bee was mostly an outdoor cat, rarely venturing near the house if Cruella was home.
'But I don't have to worry about that anymore.' Chloe reminded herself silently, still breathing in Bee's comforting scent. 'I'm safe here in Auradon. I never have to worry about the Isle again.'