I looked for Carlos all over the school almost giving up on finding him when I found him standing in the middle of Nadia and Maddie's room. The vanity! Fuck! Did he find the vanity!?
"Quinn," Carlos spoke so low I almost didn't hear him.
"Hey man!" I said giving a worried look to the still covered vanity in the corner. "I've been looking for you everywhere. So Auradon Prep has an award-winning dance team. Dia was our captain, but I'm stand-in captain. Since we're down two members, and I heard that you can dance, would you like to join?"
Carlos gave me a confused look. It looked like he wanted to ask me something but he hesitated. "Yeah," he forced a smile. "Quinn, it's been half a year. Do you think they're ever going to come back?"
I sighed. "I really hope they do."
"Why do you think they left?" Carlos asked tears forming at the corners of his eyes.
"I think they left to right a wrong," I said pulling the shorter guy into a hug. "I think they wanted to make a difference that they couldn't make here."
"Quentin," he mumbled into my chest. "I won't tell anyone, but do you know why they left? And where they went?"
I looked at him debating my options before deciding that telling him the truth wouldn't hurt. "Yes."
"Do you know when they're coming back?" Carlos asked.
I shook my head. "But I do know that Dia's love for you is real."
Carlos smiled to himself. "It's been torturous, but I trust her. My love for her hasn't faded."
"Good," I smiled. "Let's get out of here. You need to meet the rest of the dance team."
Carlos smiled as I put my arm around his shoulder leading him to where the dance team was practicing. When we arrived they were in the middle of a dance but they quickly stopped upon seeing me with a new recruit.
"This your new recruit?" Petter asked.
"Yep," I smiled wrapping my arm around Carlos. "Everybody this is Carlos DeVil. Carlos this is the Auradon dance team."
"What's left of it," Xeno mumbled not looking up from the stretches she was doing.
I nervously smiled. "Well, this is Jonas White-"
"I'm the pretty one," Jonas winked, "always."
I rolled my eyes. "And his little sister, Elisa."
Elisa waved. "Don't worry about my idiot of a brother. He's narcissistic."
"Let me guess," Carlos said. "Snow White?"
"Yep," Jonas said. "It's why I'm the prettiest person at this school."
Carlos gave me a look of disgust.
Jonas cracked in that moment. "I'm sorry." He laughed. "I just couldn't-"
"Are you done messing with the new guy, Jone?" I asked cracking a smile.
"Yeah, yeah," Jonas wiped a tear from his eye before clapping a hand on Carlos's shoulder. "Sorry, man, I mean I'm pretty, sure, but I don't act like that about it."
"Jonas, I love you, man, but you gotta stop making fun of Chad. There's a reason he doesn't talk to you anymore." I shook my head trying to hide my laughter.
"That is exactly why I keep making fun of him." Jonas said bending back into a backbend.
"Between you and Dia, we'll never get the entire Crown Royalty Club back together."
"We're better off without those bumbling bitches," Xeno snapped.
"The woman does not lie," Jonas added standing back up.
"Um," I smiled awkwardly continuing introductions. "That's Xeno."
Xeno stood up smiling shaking Carlos's hand. "Pleasure to meet you."
Carlos winced at the strength of her hand shake. "Let me guess," he held his hand in pain. "Hercules?"
Xeno laughed. "Yeah, sorry. Sometimes I forget I inherited my dad's strength."
Carlos nodded before turning towards Petter. "And you are?"
"Petter Árnadalr," he said waving.
"You, of course, know Maise Dunbar." I said pointing to Maise.
"I mean I kind of know her," Carlos said shaking Mai's hand.
"So if you want to join us," Elisa said. "You have to show us what you can do."
"Yeah, show us your talent, buddy." Petter said.
"Do you want me to dance with you?" I asked seeing the nervous look on his face.
Carlos gave me a grateful smile but shook his head. "I've got this." He stepped into the middle of the floor as Jonas started the music.
I smirked watching the faces of my team who had never seen Carlos dance. As he finished up, I said. "I told you guys he was good."
The team gave me a look. "We will have to discuss further," Jonas said gathering the team into a huddle.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry about them. They're just being dramatic. You were great!"
Carlos smiled at me. "Thanks, man."
They broke their huddle Xeno stepping forward. "We've decided that we'll accept you, but you will have to impress our Coach Kida."
"She will expect you to dance alone and with a current member of the team," Maise explained.
"But don't worry," Elisa said. "She'll give you plenty of time to practice."
"Yeah, man," I said, "And I'll happily dance with you."
Carlos smiled at me.
"Come on, man," Jonas said wrapping an arm Carlos's shoulder. "This is the start of a beautiful friendship."
I smirked at Alex as they folded once again. "I win!" I laid down my royal flush grabbing the pile in the middle. The others around the table groaned
"I swear you have to be cheating!" CJ exclaimed.
"I am not!" I protested smiling at my friend.
"She's not cheating," Kamal said looking over to the table. "She's just outsmarting all of you."
I laughed. "Thanks for the support, bro."
"How dare you insult my honor!?" Zhen Nan joked from where he is sitting across the table.
We all laughed. "Hey," CJ said standing up and grabbing my attention. "I need a new potion for my motion sickness. Do you want to accompany me to Yzma's potion shop to finally meet Quilla?"
I nodded standing up and following the youngest Hook. She led me through the streets of the Isle stopping in front of a little corner store. She pushed the door open causing a bell to ring. We were greeted with the smiling face of a dark haired girl.
"Hey CJ!" She looked at me confused. "And stranger."
"Q, this is Nadia Ababawa," CJ said gesturing to me. "She's great."
Quilla smiled crossing her way to me. "It's nice to finally meet you! I've wanted to meet you for forever! I love your hijab! It's so pretty."
I smiled self-consciously touching my hijab. "Thanks. I just recently started wearing them again. Someone told me that I should stop conforming to what everyone else wanted me to be, and start conforming to what I wanted. It helped me to realize that I didn't take my hijab off for me, I took it off for everyone else."
"Well, I think that was solid advice," Quilla said smiling.
"Hey, Q," a voice from the back came. "Do you have any frankincense? My brother used all of ours, and I need it for a ritual to please the spirits."
A girl with curly hair came from the back, holding a vial of something.
"Oh," She stopped stepping back upon seeing us before breaking into a grin. "Hey CJ! Who's this with you?"
"Hi," I said stepping forward. "I'm Nadia. It's nice to meet you."
"I'm Freddie Facilier," she replied smiling. "I've heard so much about you and your brother."
"CJ talks about you all the time," I said nudging the Hook beside me.
"Don't expose me like this, Dia," CJ blushed snickering. "You'll make people think that I care about my friends."
I laughed. "You Hooks and acting like you don't care about people."
"Anyways," Quilla said laughing slightly at my joke. "CJ here's your motion sickness potion, and let me look for that frankincense, Fred."
Quilla disappeared into one of the many aisles searching the shelves.
"So how are you liking the Isle?" Freddie asked smirking slightly.
"Well," I sighed. "I love the people I've met here. And it helped me to begin proudly displaying my religion once again. So overall, I'd say like a 7 out of 10."
CJ and Freddie laughed as Quilla returned holding up the herb.
"Here you go Freddie," Quilla said handing the frankincense to her.
I looked to the clock displayed in the store. "I've got to go meet with Uma, but it was nice meeting you two."
"If you see my brother, can you tell him Harriet's my favorite older sibling?" CJ asked as I headed towards the door.
I rolled my eyes snickering. "Will do."
As I walked through the streets, I looked down at the hand mirror gaining Quinn's attention.
"Hey, Dia!" He said smiling widely. "You're wearing your hijab again!"
I giggled nodding.
"You look really pretty," Quinn said looking down slightly in embarrassment.
"Thanks, Quinn," I replied smiling at him widely.
"We love a girl that commands in a hijab," Quinn added making me laugh.
"So, I've talked to Harriet," I said biting my lip. "She wants quite a large amount, but I think we can swing it."
Quinn nodded. "I'm pretty sure that Solid won't mind."
I nodded avoiding his eye contact. How could I even consider this?
"Hey," Quentin said drawing my attention back to him. "You okay?"
I nodded smiling slightly. "I'm just worried about the marriage thing. My dad can change Agrabah's laws, but he can't change the Qu'ran. And I'm pretty sure Carlos isn't Muslim."
"Hey!" Quinn snapped. "Don't you dare get downhearted about that! That boy loves you more than air. He'll convert for you."
I smiled sadly. "I know, I'm just worried about the time frame."
"You want me to talk to him about it now?" Quinn asked.
I shook my head. "I should be the one to talk to him about this. It's a really big commitment, and he may not be ready for it."
Quinn nodded. "Hey, I gotta go. Coach Kida wants me to dance with Carlos for his audition, so I'll talk to you later."
"Okay!" I said smiling. "I miss Coach Kida and the entire dance team."
"We miss you too," Quinn said before closing the compact mirror.
Without noticing, I had arrived at Ursula's chip shop. I stepped inside smiling upon seeing Uma angrily serving a small table of people. "Man, if it smelled better in here I'd ask for a table."
Uma smiled upon hearing my voice. "Dia! How have you been? It's been forever!"
I shrugged. "You know winning in poker, praying, setting up an empire, and preparing to get married and take my throne. And you?"
Uma rolled her eyes. "Working shifts for my mom, planning my revenge, leading my crew, keeping Harry from killing everyone, keeping Gil from killing himself accidentally; you know the usual."
I laughed sitting down at a table offering Uma the seat beside me, which she took. "We're two busy, confident, young women."
Uma nodded throwing the dishrag she had been holding down on the table. "Dia, seriously, I've missed you."
"I've missed you too, Uma," I said smiling at my friend. "I can't believe it's finally time to execute our plan."
Uma's smiled widened. "I've been planning this since the day, King Benjamin chose those four over me."
"I've been planning something similar to this plan since I was four," I mumbled.
"What are you planning besides a display?" Uma asked.
"Something incredibly stupid," I replied, "But unforgettable, guilt inciting, and, dare I say, revolutionary."
"What's revolutionary?" Harry said jumping over the table to sit across from us.
Uma and I rolled our eyes. "You're uncanny ability to butt into conversations that didn't include you."
"Oh by the way," I said smirking slightly. "CJ told me to tell you that Harriet is her favorite older sibling."
Harry rolled his eyes. "You can tell CJ in other news the sun is bright."
I snickered. "Hey," I leaned across the table pinching his cheek. "Don't be like that I'm sure you're her favorite brother."
Uma laughed. "I will never understand how the two of you are friends."
"Because Uma," I said stressing her name. "Despite all the arguing."
"We love each other," Harry smirked.
I rolled my eyes. "Sure, let's go with that."
"Ah, don't be like that Dia," Harry smirked pinching my cheek as I had just done to him. "You know you love me."
"You're not special," I snapped. "I love all of the Hook children."
"Enh, I'm your favorite," Harry smirked delighting in teasing me.
"Nope," I said smiling. "CJ is my favorite."
"Oh, Harriet will be hurt." He said.
"Who's gonna tell her, Harry?" I asked.
"If you two are just gonna be like this, what is the point of me being here?" Uma snapped clearly annoyed with our banter.
I hugged Uma exclaiming. "Uma! No! I love you! Don't leave me here with him!"
Uma laughed. "Okay, okay, I won't leave you."
I cheered. "Uma, you're the best friend a girl could ask for."
"I know it took Maddie disappearing, but I'm glad to know you consider me a best friend," Uma said smiling at me.
"Uma! I became your friend because you're an amazing person! I became your best friend because you're an amazing friend!"
Uma blushed. "Thanks, Dia."
"Well, as cute as this is," Harry said breaking the tender moment we were sharing. "I'm offended I'm not your best friend."
I laughed. "Harry, you are a best friend! I collect too many best friends really. There's Uma, you, Quinn, Mads, CJ, Alex, Jonas..."
"Okay, that is too many," Uma said laughing at me.
"What can I say? I value friendship," I said hugging Uma again.
"Yeah, we've noticed," Harry said rolling his eyes.
Ming Yu sat down another tile. "You know my mom taught me how to play Mahjong. I never expected to be sitting across from a genie playing a King of Thieves, Wicked Witch, and said Genie."
I laughed placing another tile down which was quickly snatched up by Lauren.
"Correction Ming Yu, you're absolutely destroying us at Mahjong," Anwar said who was kind of just observing at this point because he had no idea what to do.
"It's okay," Ming Yu said taking another tile then placing her own down. "It takes a lot of practice to be really good at this game."
"You're telling me," I mumbled trying to keep up with the fast-paced game.
"Not used to loosing, King?" Lauren sneered.
Ming Yu laid out her tiles, three of a kind and a pair. She wins again. "You were saying, Laurence." Ming Yu smiled as the rest of us put down our tiles in defeat.
"I have to get back to the West," Lauren said standing up clearly upset she had lost. "With Jack gone, I'm running that entire side myself."
We nodded in understanding. "As much fun as this was, Zhen Nan and I should get back to the East. We have little ones to make sure are fed."
I nodded smiling slightly at her kind heart. You'd never know she was a hardened army general. The thing about the kids on the Isle isn't that they're villains. It's that they're kids just like everyone at Auradon Prep. We play games together. We form friendships. I hope that Benjamin can see this when he makes his next declaration.
They're not just villains; they're people too. Just like us in Auradon. We're not just heroes; we're people too.
A/N: Yay!! Part 2!!
