Ch 22:

They returned the limo to it's usual place at the school before the whole group made the walk across campus toward the dorms. Lonnie was the first to break away from the group, offering to take the swords back to the amphitheatre. Jay thanked her and asked her to join him at ROAR practice later.

"Ben, there you are!" Jane called, hurrying up to them. Everyone slowed to a stop, letting Jane and Ben have a short, hushed conversation. After a moment, Ben turned to Mal and asked just loud enough for them to overhear, "Do you want to cancel?"

Chloe blinked, watching the two as they seemed to search for answers in each other's eyes for a long moment. Mal looked more shocked than Chloe felt.

"Um, you know what? I can come back." Jane announced, seeming to realize she'd stumbled upon a couple's problem.

"No, no, no, Mal's fine." Ben cut off Jane's rambling, looking down at her tablet before turning to Mal once more. "Do whatever you need to do." he told her quietly.

Mal stared up at him silently for a moment before looking away. Evie stepped past Chloe to take Mal's arm, leading her away and whispering to her, "We need to talk."

Chloe looked down at her feet, where Motley was sitting patiently as the two girls once more moved off on their own.

"No." Carlos cut in sternly, causing all the other VKs to turn to him in surprise.

"No?" Evie checked, still in shock.

"You two are always going off in a huddle, whispering your girl talk stuff, or whatever." Carlos rambled, glancing from the two girls, to his sister, to Jay, and back again. "And Chloe, Jay, and I are tired of it."

Jay's brows rose on his forehead. "I'm not." he announced, earning looks from everyone.

"We're all family." Carlos went on, ignoring Jay for the moment. "And we've been through a lot. Together. We're not stopping that now. Okay?"

Mal nodded quickly, looking like she was trying to keep her emotions under control.

"Everyone sit." Carlos ordered, sitting cross-legged on the grass with Dude in his lap. To Chloe's amusement, Motley obediently sat down while everyone stared down at Carlos. Finally, after some awkward glances, the others all sat down in a small circle. Chloe sat with Motley between Jay and Evie.

After a long, awkward silence, Carlos announced, "I don't know how to start girl talk."

Jay shrugged. "What up?"

Evie chuckled and Chloe tried to suppress a grin.

"Um, well,…" Mal muttered, glancing at them, "I'm a mess. I'm such a mess." she laughed, which turned into a sob. Evie rested her hand on Mal's shoulder, a silent show of support. "I mean,…six months ago I was, you know, stealing candy from babies, and now everybody wants me to be this Lady of the Court, and I have no idea how to keep up the act."

"Then don't." Carlos answered simply.

"See, this was dumb." Jay said, starting to stand up.

"Maybe it wasn't." Evie disagreed, making Jay sit back down. She grabbed Mal's hand, and to Chloe's surprise she also reached over and grabbed Chloe's hand, linking the three girls together. "We're always going to be the kids from the Isle. I tried to forget it, I really tried, but those are our roots. And we all did what we had to do," she added, meeting Chloe's eyes, "to survive." She turned and met Mal's eyes next. "But it made us who we are. And we're never going to be like anybody else here. And that's okay."

"And we can't fake it." Carlos agreed.

"Yeah, especially without my spell book." Mal added.

"Mal, if Ben doesn't love the real you, than he's not the one." Carlos assured her, to which the others nodded in agreement. "Give him a chance."

"Mal, I can't speak for Ben," Chloe spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to her, "but I can easily say that he truly loves you. And I don't mean the perfect princess with blonde hair that tried to be on top of everything, I mean the real you who was brutally honest, strong, and independent. Purple hair, ripped jeans, and all. That's the Mal he loves. Just be yourself. The title of Lady Mal doesn't have to really change anything about you. You've always been a leader, this isn't much different."

Mal's green eyes were fixed on Chloe's face, and she slowly nodded her head, though Chloe wasn't sure if she truly believed it.

"Chloe and Carlos are both right." Evie agreed quietly. "I truly believe Ben loves you, like Chloe said. But if he doesn't, he's not the one. You still have us, no matter what."

Mal nodded again, this time looking a little more sure.

"And Chloe," Evie turned to focus on Chloe on her other side, "I owe you an apology." Chloe looked down, focusing on the grass uncomfortably. "What I said to you yesterday, I didn't mean it the way it came out. I was so happy when they brought you to Auradon, knowing you were here and safe and that Cruella would never hurt you again. And I was wrong. The Isle is a part of who we are, and maybe someday we'll be able to leave the worst parts of it in the past where it belongs,…but if we can't, that's okay. And maybe parts of it we shouldn't leave in the past. Without the Isle, we wouldn't have each other. And despite all the scars, I wouldn't trade all of you for anything."

Chloe nodded, smiling tearfully at Evie, whose eyes were also wet with unshed tears. "Same here." she agreed, leaning over and hugging Evie tightly. "And you were right about some things." she added as they separated. "Or at least, you had the right idea. Well, and Anthony, Dude, and Motley."

"Wait-what?" Carlos blurted.

"I can't let my life on the Isle run my life here in Auradon." Chloe went on as if Carlos hadn't spoken. "And I've been doing just that. I've been using my Panic Disorder as an excuse. I've been fearing being triggered, so I've avoided things. And I need to stop doing that. I can't completely leave the Isle in the past, but I can't let it run my future, either."

Evie nodded gently, as did the others. "I like that. I think we all need to live by that phrase." A moment of contemplative silence fell over the group, during which Evie turned back to Mal. "I'm going to make some changes to your dress." Evie told her. "And if you're up for it, only if you're up for it, it'll be waiting for you, okay?"

Mal nodded and Evie reached over to hug her, smiling gratefully at the others.

They stood up, most of them moving off across the lawn. Chloe glanced over her shoulder to see that Jay had stayed with Mal. Chloe and Evie headed toward the dorms while Carlos and Dude wandered off in another direction.

"Hey, E," Chloe started, digging through her shoulder bag to pull out her sketchbook, "as long as you don't ask too many questions, I wasn't sure if this might give you a few ideas for Mal's dress." she suggested, flipping through the sketchbook until she found the rough sketches she'd done for Ben's gift to Mal. She held the page out to Evie, who took it and looked it over.

"Oh my gosh! Chloe, I knew you loved drawing but this is a really good design." Evie complimented.

"It's just a rough sketch, and it's not for any actual clothing design. But I wasn't sure if it would give you any ideas." Chloe admitted modestly.

Evie tilted her head, surveying the image for a long moment. "You know what, it actually does. Do you mind if I hold on to this? I can get it back to you tomorrow, or even later tonight if you need it."

"Tomorrow works, as long as I get it back before Monday. It has my art homework in it." Chloe grinned.

"Perfect! Thank you so much! I have to hurry, I only have a few hours to finish Mal's dress!" Evie exclaimed, quickly hugging Chloe before hurrying off toward the dorms. Chloe shook her head, following at a more relaxed pace.

"Chloe!"

Chloe stopped, turning to look over her shoulder nervously. Anthony ran up to her, slowing to a stop when they were mere feet apart. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Could we talk, please?"

Chloe swallowed nervously, but nodded. "Yeah, I think we do need to talk." she agreed.

Anthony sighed in relief. "Great. Can you, um, I have something to show you." he stuttered nervously, moving his arm as if to take her hand before thinking better of it and raking said hand through his hair. Chloe smiled slightly. Anthony being nervous was slightly endearing.

Chloe nodded. "Okay. Where is it?" she asked as they started walking toward the school building.

"Um, well, we're going to the music room." Anthony explained before they started the walk across campus. After a few moments of silence, he asked, "So, where were you? No one could find you or any of the others today. And Jane said you didn't sleep in your dorm last night."

Chloe looked down, unsure how much they were supposed to say now that everything was done. "Well,…long story short we had to…go to the Isle and save Ben and Auradon."

Anthony turned and stared at her with wide eyes. He blinked once. Twice. "Um,…I'm not sure what to say to that." he admitted, making Chloe chuckle. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly, looking her over and just noticing the traces of dried blood that had mostly been wiped from her neck and cheek. He instinctively reached up to brush a thumb against her cheek near the tiny cut.

"It's not too bad." Chloe shrugged it off, trying to ignore the burning in her cheeks, which were likely as red as her jacket. "I'm not sure exactly how much we're allowed to say about it, so…maybe we can talk about it later? I should check with the others on what all we can say about it."

Anthony nodded, dropping his hand. "Sure. But I more meant…emotionally? Physically you seem fine, sure, but…going back there couldn't have been easy."

Chloe shoved her hands into her jacket pockets, looking at the grass as she continued to walk, only to just realize they'd stopped walking. "It was a struggle." she admitted, "I was, I guess you could say the getaway driver. So I didn't take part in the actual fight or rescue, I just stayed in the car. But…I mean, I got triggered just by going over some potholes." she scoffed, earning a slightly confused look from Anthony. "I know how to drive because I used to drive my mother around. And…she didn't like me going over potholes and damaging her baby. She'd smack me from the backseat, grab my hair, slam my face into…yeah." she cut herself off, looking down in shame. That was the first time she'd really given him details on her life on the Isle.

Anthony silently reached over and tugged her hand from her pocket, lacing their fingers together. And Chloe's cheeks were red again.

"And the cuts? If you're allowed to discuss that." Anthony asked curiously.

"Simple answer, broken glass." she answered vaguely. "Hopefully, those royal limos have insurance."

Anthony snorted.

They walked the rest of the way to the music room in companionable silence. Anthony held the door open for Chloe, letting her and Motley into the room before leading them over to the piano. Anthony had Chloe sit on the piano bench and he sat next to her before digging some sheet music out of his backpack, setting it up on the piano to read.

"So, this is that new song I wrote that I'm going to be performing at Cotillion tonight." Anthony explained. "I understand you don't want to go, and I'm not going to keep pushing you to go. It's your choice, and I'm not going to keep bothering you. So instead, I wanted to play this song for you now so you don't miss out."

"Okay." Chloe whispered, nervous but not really in a bad way for once, her fingers fiddling with Motley's leash as she waited.

Anthony took a deep breath, looking a little nervous himself as he set his fingers on the piano keys.

The song started with a few simple notes, slowly building to an elegant tune that instantly soothed Chloe's nerves. She felt herself relaxing, her eyes watching Anthony's fingers dance effortlessly over the keys.

Chloe didn't realize her eyes had fallen shut, taking in the beauty of the music. It was soothing, beautiful, elegant. It reminded Chloe of maybe a summer breeze or something. It was hard to put her finger on it, all she knew was that it was the most beautiful song she'd ever heard.

As it continued, it seemed to build into something more powerful. It was still beautifully soothing, but as it built it seemed to resonate deep in her soul. Words couldn't describe it.

When the song eventually tapered off, fading to an end, Chloe opened her eyes. She brushed at her cheeks, realizing a couple tears had fallen from her eyes. Anthony pulled his hands from the keys, resting them on his lap as he glanced nervously toward her.

"So? What'd you think?" he asked.

"That was beautiful." Chloe answered honestly. "I can't believe you wrote that!" she laughed in disbelief, "It was just…amazing. I mean, I knew you were talented, but that was…" she trailed off, finding no words good enough to describe.

"I wrote it for you."

Chloe's mouth fell open, no words able to leave past the shock her brain had received.

"I mean,…you inspired it." Anthony went on, looking down and distractedly playing with the piano keys with his fingers. "I wrote that song…thinking about you. I figured if you didn't want to go to Cotillion, which is fine, I at least wanted you to be the first to hear the song."

Chloe's eyes softened, her gaping mouth finally closing. "That's…I-I don't even know what to say." she admitted, laughing softly. "It was beautiful. Thank you."

Anthony smiled at her, the kindest, gentlest expression she'd ever seen directed at her.

Chloe had never felt so treasured before, so special. She knew her brother and friends cared about her, but this was completely different. And right then Chloe figured if she could be brave enough to go to the Isle, where all her worst memories were born, she could go to a stupid party with her friends.

"Um, Anthony,…" Chloe muttered, looking down at her lap in embarrassment, "Um, that thing you asked me yesterday, you know, is that still on the table? I mean…" she trailed off, glancing up to see him watching her closely, seeming unsure where she was going with this. Taking a deep breath, she blurted, "Do you want to go to Cotillion with me?"

Anthony blinked, his eyes widening slightly before his face broke out into a smile. Chloe instantly blushed again, silently cursing herself for doing so.

"Yeah, I'd love to." Anthony answered.

A few minutes later found Chloe racing across campus with Motley by her side, trying not to freak out. When she reached the door she was looking for, she banged her fist on it and then opened the door without waiting for a response. Evie looked up in surprise from where she was sitting at her sewing machine.

"Chloe, what-"

"Do you have a dress for me?" Chloe begged, trying not to freak out. She could feel Motley pawing at her and tried to force herself to take deep breaths. "I just agreed to go to Cotillion with Anthony, but then I remembered Cotillion is in a few hours and I don't have a dress."

Evie smirked smugly, standing up and crossing to the couple racks she had in the corner. There were only a few dresses left on it, most people probably already picked up their dresses. Evie pulled a dress off the rack.

"You mean like this?" she asked smugly, holding up the perfect dress.

AN: This story is discontinued…

April Fools! Just kidding. Sorry. That was lame.

Anyway, since so many of you left such kind reviews last chapter, I decided to update an extra chapter this week, as promised. I hope everyone liked this chapter and how it went.

For the song Anthony played for Chloe, I listened to the song 'Romantic Flight' from How to Train Your Dragon for inspiration, in case you want to listen to it. I just love that song.

Thanks, and Happy April Fool's Day! I'll probably update the next chapter sometime this weekend.