Guys, this is literally one of my favorite chapters. I'm so excited for you guys to read it. However, here's the deal, these next few chapters are going to be a very, very bumpy ride for our girl, Antoinette. Bare with me for a little bit. Please, favorite, follow, and comment. I love hearing from you guys, and I definitely want to hear from you guys for this chapter.
CHAPTER 11
Antoinette sat at one of the picnic tables reading up on her school assignments. Now that she no longer had to worry about Ben's schedule as well as her own, she was able to focus much more on her grades, and had started doing extra credit assignments as well. Her ten page paper, which she finally completed, was being polished every day. Antoinette glanced out over the horizon, the lush greenness of the land making her smile.
"Hey, Ant." She turned around to see Ben approaching.
"I have a question for you," he said.
"If it has to do with any court meetings, or paparazzi nonsense, please speak with Cris," she said calmly as she highlighted a few words. Ben rolled his eyes.
"It actually has to do with the Isle kids." Antoinette glanced up at him in curiosity. He raised an eyebrow at her as if to say, "now that I have your attention". Ben sat across from her at the picnic table. He looked out of place in his three piece suit, even though most dressed formally around Auradon Prep.
"I was thinking since Family Day is on Sunday that we have sent a computer over to the Isle and then their parents can have a conversation with them," Ben suggested. Antoinette smiled brightly. Her heart began pumping with excitement.
"Ben, that's a genius idea. You should send in a small wifi tower too, since the barrier won't allow any sort in or out." Ben nodded. A silence followed as Antoinette twirled her highlighter and bit her lip.
"Ben, do you think it would be possible to have a second wifi and monitor sent to the Isle?" The future king looked up at her.
"Possibly, why?" Antoinette could feel a small headache starting to form as she took a slow breath in.
"I've been informed that Drizella had a daughter named Dizzy," Antoinette explained. Ben smiled at her. For as long as he had known Antoinette he had learned and then been reminded everyday that she cared for her loved ones, family, friends, and significant others. It had been the same reason why Ant had taken the position of his human resource manager. She had seen a problem and was willing to be the solution because of how much she loved him and his family.
"Consider it done."
Chad Charming tossed a tourney ball as he laid on his bed. His thoughts swirling around. When he was little he thought he knew exactly what he wanted for Ant. Chad had wanted her to find a good man and a good job and watch her settle down. She was one of the most caring individuals he knew, and he knew she deserved it. Chad knew all of this. He really did, and he knew that she would find the one by how often she smiled, and then she met Jay. Chad knew Jay, you can't really be on a team and not know your teammate, but he knew Jay. Yet, Antoinette had never smiled as much as when she had started dating Jay.
They had only been dating for two weeks, but Chad watched as Antoinette's smile became more genuine when around Jay. He would see flickers of emotion in Jay's eyes, and he would watch as Jay became more relaxed around Antoinette. But Chad knew, Chad knew Jay wasn't a good guy. No one who came from the Isle could be.
"Chad, are you in there?" Ant said through his dorm room door as she knocked.
"The door's unlocked, Ant." Antoinette walked in and sat down in the computer chair. She stared at him for a moment, seeming to try to get her thoughts together.
"So, Ben is sending a few monitors over to the Isle. The first one is for the Isle kids to see their parents, since they can't be here for family day," Antoinette explained. Chad hummed in acknowledgement. "But, they're going to send a second one over. It's for us to meet Drizella's child, Dizzy."
Chad continued to stare at the ball as it went up and down. Antoinette stared at Chad trying to see what he was thinking. A vein in his lower jaw twitched. Antoinette let out a sigh. She had thought maybe, maybe he would channel his inner child. Maybe he would have allowed his innocence to come through as he did when they were children. Before they had learned in class and from their peers the story of Cinderella and what part Antoinette's mother really played in it. Before Chad developed a strong hatred for any villain who wasn't his aunt on the other side of the barrier. Before everything that was in the past was brought up and shoved into their faces. Before. But Antoinette deemed she was wrong about Chad allowing forgiveness into his heart.
"They're going to set up the monitor in my room, so you can swing by after classes. Then we could meet her," Antoinette said. Chad continued throwing the tourney ball up into the air. Antoinette frowned in disappointment and left the room.
Dizzy woke up the next morning running quickly off to school and then running back to the salon to start sweeping up the hair clippings from the women and men who came in to have their hair done. She learned to be quick, better to move fast then to move slow and risk having grand-mère yell at her. Dizzy eyed the pirate walking the opposite way as her. Ever since Mal and the others had left for Auradon, the pirates started to cross the imaginary boundaries of the gang-ridden turf.
Arriving home Dizzy saw curiously the Auradonian guards out in front of the salon. She walked up to the building carefully, unsure of what to expect. Dizzy couldn't quite understand why they would come here.
"Dizzy Tremaine?" One of the guards asked. Dizzy blinked, before nodding slowly. The guard knelt down to her level with a gentle smile on his face.
"Do you know who Anastasia Tremaine is?"
She nodded, "Grand-mère and mère get mad if anyone talks about her."
The guard chuckled as if the idea of the Tremaine women becoming angered amused him greatly. His companion leaned up against the wall behind him, with a clear smirk.
"Anastasia had a daughter, a few years older than you, her name is-"
"Antoinette. She was Prince Ben's representative," Dizzy explained. The guards glanced at each other before turning back to her as she spoke. "I saw that she resigned from her job. Is she no longer happy in that position?"
The guard broke out into a hopeful grin.
"How about you ask her?" Dizzy eyed him curiously. "See, we've been sent over here to give a monitor and wifi connection to the parents of the children of the Isle to communicate for a brief period, and they sent one to you as well. Antoinette would like to meet you."
"Monitor? Wifi? Those are for computers, right?" She asked excitedly. He nodded. Dizzy squealed in excitement, making the guard twitch.
"Maybe you can show us where to set up so that you can meet your cousin?" Dizzy nodded after a quick "yay" and ran into the hair salon.
Dizzy had gone into her home so excitedly she hadn't thought of what her grand-mère and mère would say to the Auradonian guards behind her, or how they would react to the thought of her having a conversation with her cousin from the other side of the barrier.
"Dizzy, why are you just standing there? Get the broom and get sweeping!" she said, as she continued to work on the witch's hair in front of her. Dizzy swallowed as a slow dull started in her temple.
"Grand-mère, the guards want to set up a computer for us so we can speak with Anastasia's daughter, Antoinette?" Dizzy watched carefully as her Grand-mère's hand froze. The two made eye contact through the mirror. Grand-mère Tremaine's hands started working again, curling the witch's hair on a large can. The salon sat in silence, waiting for the screaming to start. It would have to start eventually. Everyone knew that mentioning Anastasia's name was enough for the eldest Tremaine to go ballistic. Drizzella watched out of the corner of her eye, waiting in anticipation to hear what words Lady Tremaine would say. Lady Tremaine put the last can in her client's hair and brushed her dress down getting rid of any imaginary dust.
"You can set up in your bedroom. I don't want to see anything about this exchange, do I make myself clear?" The Tremaine matriarch finally said. She didn't look at the guards nor at her granddaughter, and instead started cleaning her area. Lady Tremaine walked by them without looking at them, but little Dizzy watched her grand-mère walk by with a new set of eyes. Dizzy beckoned the guards to follow her up to her room.
"Mother?" Drizella called out. Her mother turned to her and the client in front of her eldest daughter.
"Make sure to apply the bleach properly, Drizella. You don't want to run off a client," she said, stepping out the back door. Lady Tremaine's head had begun to hurt.
Antoinette sat in front of her computer and kept rubbing her hands on her skirt. Sweating palms had started an hour ago, and the act was driving her nuts. She checked her clock again, at minute. She tried to distract herself by making a list of things which still needed done. Dress fitting. Exam on Monday. Date with Jay- she gets to choose where to go. Make another list for what she'll need at the internship.
She was so focused that Antoinette jumped when a small face with strawberry blonde hair came into view. Large glasses framed the young girl's face.
"Dizzy Tremaine?" Antoinette whispered. As if it was a possibility for if she spoke any louder the wifi would go out. Dizzy nodded with a wide grin on her face.
"Are you Antoinette? Anastasia's daughter?"
"I am, yes. Oh my god, I can believe this is happening!" Dizzy squealed as Antoinette finished.
"Neither can I! I have so many questions. Is it true it's always sunny over there? Does your dad really own a bakery? What does a cinnamon roll taste like?" Dizzy asked the questions in a rapt attention.
Antoinette smiled, tears threatening to spill over.
"No, sometimes is rainy and cold. Dad has own a bakery since before I was born, and cinnamon rolls are warm and gooey and if you eat them too quickly it becomes super messy. One time, when I was six I snuck down to the bakery and…"
An hour passed by in pure bliss. Antoinette listened to Dizzy tell her about her life and how she loved to craft. Antoinette explained every answer to Dizzy's questions. Before long the guards had to cut the conversation off. They had to retrieve the items required for the interaction and had gone over time. They couldn't allow any more time to pass. Antoinette nodded before looking at Dizzy.
"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Dizzy said glumly. Antoinette nodded. Both girls looked down at their desks, not ready to say anything more. Antoinette ground her teeth together. A prominent thumping on her left temple.
"Dizzy," she started. Dizzy looked up in surprise. "I will do everything in my power to get you out of the Isle."
"Sure," Dizzy said with a wide grin, but when Antoinette stared at Dizzy's eyes she saw a guarded gleam, as if she knew it was a lie.
Jay knocked on Antoinette's door. He hadn't seen her for a while and he had no desire to be around the others at the moment. They were all too busy being upset, and conflicted. Jay thought back to when he first started thieving, a nervous bubble had risen in his stomach any time he went to grab a wallet or necklace. He was just a young child at the time, but he wanted to make his father proud. Some things don't change.
Jay was brought back to the present by a few whimpers on the other side. He knocked again, and only received a few more whimpers. Trying the handle, he found the door was unlocked, ready for any thief to come in. Jay immediately focused on where the sounds were coming from. Sitting by her bed was Antoinette, tears streaming down her red, puffy face. She glanced over at him when she heard him come in, and gave him a watery smile.
"Hey, I can't really, can't really, talk right, right now. I have to finish, to finish, this assignment," she explained, having to repeat her words through her sobs. Something in Jay's brain clicked. Maybe it had been similar to when Evie's mom had gotten too short and screamed harsh obscenities at her. Or maybe it had reminded him of Mal unwillingly showing him her most vulnerable side when she had failed a task given to her by her mother. Maybe it reminded him of Carlos, showing up to the hideout covered in black and blue bruises from when he accidently went into the Fearsome Five territory, tears had been streaming down his face too. Worst of all though, it reminded him of when he was a young child. When he didn't get the score for the day, and instead went to bed with a wet face from how many tears he had to hide. People, of course, had always commented on Jay's hot head trait, how he ran into the face of danger to protect his friends. Something clicked in Jay's brain, a painfully beautiful realization: he cared about Antoinette just as much as he did his gang. It was with this realization that he found himself wrapping his arms around Antoinette and whispering soft words into her hair.
"Shhh, you're okay. You're safe here," he said, calmly. His hand began stroking her red locks. She hiccuped out a sob.
"But she isn't, Jay," she explained. Jay continued to stroke her hair, not really knowing what to do other than just be there.
"She isn't safe. I got lucky. I got so lucky to even be alive. My parents would have never met on the Isle. I'm safe, but Dizzy," she let out another whimper, "Dizzy isn't safe on the Isle."
Antoinette leaned away from Jay, but he kept his arms around her. He raised a hand and started to brush the tears away.
"I have to get her over here. I have to get her off the Isle." Antoinette smiled then, as if an obscurely happy thought could have entered her mind. "And she'll come here, because of you."
Jay recoiled back.
"Me?"
Antoinette smiled at him with watery eyes. A joy unmatched from any other he had ever seen danced across her face.
"You, and Mal, and Carlos, and Evie, don't you get it? You're all giving the Isle hope. Hope for the new generation to live a life different then your parents." She leaned against his chest, while Jay swallowed his fear. Hope. Hope doesn't exist on the Isle. Not for the future generation. He rubbed her arm, drawing little shapes.
"Yeah, we're giving the Isle hope," he muttered. He just couldn't bring himself to say it wasn't the Isle kids who were on the receiving end of that hope. Antoinette started playing with his fingers.
"I'll talk to Ben, see how soon the next set of kids can come over. If we're lucky, I can convince him to bring Dizzy over. She should have hope," Antoinette said as she snuggled closer to Jay. Jay stroked her hair.
You're the bad guy, Jay.
The stupid voice said. He ignored it, just as he ignored the knot forming in his stomach. Jay really hoped that they could pull this off, and maybe he could have hope too. Maybe he could hope that Antoinette wouldn't hate him.
But even he knew, that was a lie.
