Hello again! Here's the next chapter for you. Please take a moment to write me a review and let me know what you think. I also could use some suggestions for some misadventures of our little group.
There is also some abuse in this chapter, I think its pretty mild, but its there.
Carlos had walked Jane back to her dorm room, they had just finished researching and working on their history report and it was almost 9pm, he knew he had to hurry to get back to his room in time. And then he heard her scream, Carlos turned back around and rushed into the girls room to find Jane screaming and beating someone with her bookbag. It took him a moment to process what was going on.
"Jane, stop, its ME!" the other person said, Carlos recognized it as Lonnie, but still under the spell so she'd looked like Ping. He grabbed Jane and covered her mouth so she couldn't scream any more.
"Jane," Carlos started, "Its Lonnie."
Jane mumbled something and shook her head eying Lonnie suspiciously. "Jane, if you promise to stop screaming, I'll let go." Carlos said, the girl nodded.
"Who the bippity are you?" She spat out at Lonnie.
"Jane, its me, Lonnie."
"Oh yeah, then whats my favorite dessert."
"Pumpkin pie."
"Well everyone know that." Jane crossed her arms defiantly. Lonnie threw up her arms frustrated.
"I made the tourney team, but everyone thinks I'm a boy named Ping, so I've been using a spell to change how I look for practice. Coach ran us really hard today and I fell asleep before I could go get the spell reversed." Jane sat down on her bed in shock trying to process this information.
Carlos called Mal to head over. The purple haired girl came in and was able to put Lonnie back to normal in no time while Jane just stood there stunned. "Mal, can you teach me?" She asked.
Mal just looked at the younger girl and shrugged, "I guess so, you're part fairy too, might be easier if you knew how to do it rather than Lonnie trying to sneak over to my room all the time."
There was a knock on the door "Room check, dearies." And the door opened Mrs. Potts looked around the girls room, spotted Carlos sitting on the bed with the three girls. "You! Out!" she held the door open as Carlos gathered his stuff and gave him a swat as he walked past her then frowned at the three girls who were trying very unsuccessfully not to giggle.
"Where you been?" Jay asked as Carlos as the younger boy came in the room, "they already stopped by for room checks."
"Great." Muttered Carlos. "I was with the girls, Lonnie forgot to take the spell off, and Jane saw her and freaked out." He looked at the older boy, "why are you here already? You still have another half hour. It's not like you to come back early."
"Not anymore. Coach changed the whole teams curfew till 9 until further notice. I'm sure the sugar bowl incident this morning is just a coincidence." Jay smirked.
\
Carlos sat at his desk bouncing his leg nervously. He had completed his essay for history about Cinderellaberg and their government but he hadn't expected Mr. Willerstein to make people read them aloud. He knew it was only a matter of time till he was called on. It had been almost two weeks since he started "Auradon History 1" and each day seemed to be worse than the previous one.
"Mr. de Vil" and there it was, the inevitable, "Let's hear what you'll enlighten us with today, shall we."
Carlos gulped; Mr. Willerstein had promised he wouldn't like what happened if he caused any more... "Disruptions" (aka disagreeing with Mr. Willerstein) . Mr. Willerstein motioned for Carlos to stand so the boy slowly rose from his desk; he glanced over at Jane who gave him an encouraging nod and reassuring smile. Carlos took a breath and began to read his essay. It was unconventional, yes, but he had put a lot of time into researching the information and Jane said she thought it was good but had voiced her concern over Mr. Willerstein's potential reaction. Now he wished he had listened to her more. Carlos focused on his paper as he read not looking up. If he had he might have noticed the shocked look on the faces of the rest of the students, or the murderous look on Mr. Willerstein's face. When he had finished he looked around quickly and sat down.
"Stay after class." Mr. Willerstein said through clenched teeth. Carlos groaned and put his forehead down on his desk. Nothing he could do in this class was right. The bell rang a few minutes later and Jane gave Carlos a sympathetic look and squeezed his hand for good luck. Carlos put his bag on his desk, folded his hands over it, leaned his chin on the bag, and waited as the rest of the class filed out of the room. He heard a soft click and looked up sharply to see that Mr. Willerstein had locked the door, a couple of kids from class had gathered around the door window to peek in and the teacher quickly pulled the blind on the door down so they couldn't see. Carlos' stomach clenched tightly.
"Carlos" he spoke gruffly, "come up here, to my desk."
Carlos did as he was told; the isle had taught him long ago that not obeying a teacher made matters much worse.
"I thought I told you to toe the line or there would be consequences."
"You told me to read it." Carlos argued back glancing up quickly but then averting his eyes again, that probably wasn't the best response he realized.
Mr. Willerstein narrowed his eyes at the boy "bend over the desk." He ordered.
Carlos' eyes widened at the order, a look of confusion and fear took over "w-wh what?" he whispered too shocked to comply.
The man raised his eyebrows "do I really have to repeat myself?" he asked. Carlos placed his hands on the desk but this apparently wasn't what the man wanted so he quickly grabbed the boys arm and twisted it quickly behind him so that his chest collapsed onto the desk. He grunted at the sudden impact, thankful that at least his face hadn't been what broke the drop. The man held his arm securely behind him so that when he tried to struggle a shooting pain went up his arm, the boy stilled, realizing that he couldn't struggle away or stand back up. Mr. Willerstein was a lot stronger than he looked and he was now helpless. The man grabbed something from his desk; Carlos couldn't see what it was. Carlos trembled, he was too vulnerable and this brought back memories of Dragon Hall.
Carlos was brought out of his thoughts by a loud crack and pain as Mr. Willerstein had struck him with a paddle. Carlos gasped at the pain; on the isle he'd been beaten and burned by his mother, thrashed by teachers, beat-up and stabbed by anyone that could get their hands on him but this was different than any he had experienced on the isle, probably in part due to the surprise that this was even happening. How was this allowed here?! The next strike came before Carlos had fully recovered from the first and he felt his eyes water instantly. He wasn't going to cry, he wasn't! By the forth strike a few tears did manage to escape. By the next few Carlos didn't even try not to cry, it would have been pointless. His hope that Auradon being different, better, had diminished with each strike. He lost count as he was forced to take hit after hit. It took Carlos a moment to realize when it was over and that the man had let go of his arm. He winced as he pushed himself up off of the desk; his arm ached from being pulled behind him like it was.
"I won't have any more issues from you, will I, Mr. de Vil?" He asked as he handed the boy a hall pass.
"No, sir. " Carlos mumbled as he picked up his stuff and gingerly walked out of the classroom. Walking to math seemed to take much longer as every step made him grimace. He stopped by the bathroom to make sure it didn't look like he'd been crying. His face wasn't red, thankfully, but his eyes were still wet. He checked out the damage to his backside. That was going to be one hell of a bruise. He sighed; he was already late for his next class. He entered the math class and handed the note to Mrs. Cartesian. She read it quickly, looked less than thrilled at his tardiness but said nothing as she nodded for him to take his seat. He winced as he carefully sat down next to Evie. She looked at him suspiciously.
"What happened?" she whispered. Carlos just shook his head. "Come-on, something happened." She tried again.
"Nothing, alright." Snapped Carlos louder than he meant to and cringed when everyone looked at him.
"Carlos?" Mrs. Cartesian said "anything you want to share with the class?"
The boy shook his head. "Ok then well why don't you come up here and finish this problem for us." Carlos wasn't sure if he was being called on because he was the only one in the class that could do the problem or because he had caused yet another disruption. More than anything he wanted to say "no thanks" but thought that wouldn't go over well. He carefully stood, trying to mask the pain of moving as he made his way to the board and effortlessly finished the problem. Mrs. Cartesian smiled at him and thanked him. He turned around to head back to his seat. The entire class was staring in shock. Most of them because he had completed the problem so easily, some of them had a knowing look in their eyes, but Mal's eyes flashed dangerously green and Jay looked murderous. Carlos couldn't keep their gaze and looked back towards Evie who looked concerned.
Carlos walked back to his desk and eased himself into the chair. "What the hell happened?" Mal said much louder than Carlos wanted since now everyone was looking at them. He glared at her 'not now' he willed his eyes to say. "Carlos?" she growled wanting an immediate answer.
"Shut up, Mal" he hissed back.
"Ok everyone; we all know what happened, so eyes back up front." Mrs. Cartesian tried desperately to regain order.
"Like hell we know what happened!" Mal shouted and stood up.
"Mal, detention, now sit down." Mrs. Cartesian ordered and the girl scowled but sat down and glared at Carlos.
Mal didn't say a word until the VKs got to their lunch table. "What happened, Carlos?"
"I don't want to talk about it right now, okay, Mal." Carlos mumbled as he picked at his pizza. Mal glared at him but left it alone, for now. She'd get her answer later.
Mal didn't have to wait very long, an older boy came up to the table with a sneer on his face. "Heard the runt got his ass paddled today. Probably deserved it too." He scoffed.
Mal looked at Carlos who was fiddling with the dog tail "Wait… What?" She stood up confronting the older boy "Is that… is that actually a thing here?" She looked back down at Carlos who wasn't just as shocked as everyone else by this revelation so that could only mean the boy was likely telling the truth.
Evie looked over at the Carlos with concern, "Carlos?" she gently put her hand on his shoulder. The boy looked up to see most of the cafeteria looking over at him. He grabbed his bag and ran out of the cafeteria.
Mal looked at the slamming doors then back to the older boy standing in front of them and let out a frustrated sigh. Evie got up "I'll go talk to him." And followed Carlos out the doors.
"What's going on? Everything ok?" Ben came up with his dopey smile.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me?" Mal snapped. Ben looked at her confused. "No it's NOT ok. Tell me Ben, is corporal punishment really allowed here in 'perfect' Auradon?"
Bens smile wavered for a moment before he recovered "Well, yeah, of course it's allowed, but it's very uncommon."
Mal glared at him "Uncommon, unless you're a villain kid apparently." She stormed out of the cafeteria after Carlos and Evie with Jay close behind. Ben sighed looking like a lost little kid; he had no idea what to do now or what that was all about.
\
"Mal!" Evie ran up, "I can't find him. I've looked in my mirror but I still can't figure out where he is." Evie showed the purple haired girl the mirror, they could see Carlos curled up somewhere but the 'zoom out' magic didn't seem to be working. He could be in anyone of a thousand rooms.
"Did you try calling him?" It was one of those questions you hate to ask because it's such an obvious thing but it's always surprising how many people don't think of it.
"Yes!" Evie replied, "He's not answering."
Mal didn't often panic, but she felt ready to. The castle was so big and they hadn't been there long enough to know all the rooms yet. Mal paced back and forth trying to think. Why couldn't she think!
"Back home when Carlos was upset, where did he go?" Mal asked more to herself than anything.
Mal and Evie looked at each other "THE TREE HOUSE"
"But Mal, we're not on the isle."
"I know that." Mal snapped back in frustration.
\
Jane had seen Carlos leave the cafeteria, and then the others storm out after him. She hid in a doorway as she listened to the two older girls talk, more like yell actually. The tree house. Carlos had mentioned it when they were in her tower hide-a-way. Jane raced down the hall and through the secret passages, up and down the stairways to the door of 'her' tower. She hoped she was right about this and started up the stairs.
The door creaked open and Jane peeked in, "Carlos?" She whispered. She heard a small whimper from the corner and went over to the small bundle of blankets that seemed to be trembling ever so slightly. She placed her hand on his shoulder and he jerked at the touch, the girl gently pulled the blanket down from the boy's face, "Carlos? Look at me" her voice was firm but gentle and to her surprise the boy obeyed. He had been crying so Jane sat down next to him and pulled him towards her so he could lean his head on her shoulder. He sniffled a bit but it seemed like he was done crying.
"Things are supposed to be different here." His voice quivering, "Everyone said Auradon is different. But it's not." He sobbed once more trying to hold back more tears and shifted a little bit with a grimace.
Jane held the boy for a bit longer, he really seemed to be getting the raw deal. "Carlos, your friends are worried about you. Maybe we should head back down stairs? Or at least call them and tell them you're ok." He nodded and handed her his phone. "We should go talk to my mom. I'll go with you." She offered but Carlos was quick to shake his head, no.
"Adults only hear what they want to hear."
Jane couldn't really argue that, he had a good point. "Ok um what's your password to unlock."
"101"
"of course it is" she laughed and unlocked the phone and sent a text to the other 3 VKs.
-Its Jane, I found Carlos, he's ok. I don't think he's ready to come out yet though. :-\
-Mal: well he better hurry up. FG is spitting nails here that he disappeared and we all missed afternoon classes
Jane looked at the time and moaned "Carlos, we missed all the afternoon classes. Moms gonna be so mad."
"Told you." Carlos teased. "Grown-ups are always mad."
About half way down the stairs Carlos stopped and looked at Jane quizzically "How come Evie couldn't find me with her mirror?" Jane stopped and looked at him with a guilty expression "The room has a spell on it, only the people that know about it can find it."
"Who put the spell…? YOU did?!" Carlos was impressed and more than a little surprised.
"Remember, I'm half fairy."
"But I thought magic was forbidden..."
"Shhhh" Jane put her finger up to her lips, "they don't need to know about it. Besides Mal and Evie use it like every day."
"Yeah but that's what people expect of us, we're villains."
Jane rolled her eyes, "Come on lets go talk to my mom."
Carlos sighed "Can't I just go back to my dorm and ignore it?" Knowing the answer already but still wanting to pout about it.
Jane looked at him with a serious expression, "You know how you said back on the isle it was sometimes better to just come out of the tree house and get it over with? It's the same here. If you wait, it's going to be so much worse."
"Yeah, but sometimes mom would get so drunk she would forget she was mad at me." Carlos grinned.
Jane raised her eyebrow, "And that's where Auradon is different, my mom won't forget."
\
Fairy Godmother sat at her desk and listened as Jane, and Mal, and Evie, and Jay all try explaining what happened while Carlos sat quietly on the chair playing with his dog tail. He was very glad the chairs had cushions although he still grimaced whenever he moved slightly. When the other four were done talking Fairy Godmother looked over at Carlos, "is there anything you want to add?"
Carlos shook his head "They got it all."
"I see, well in light of the … situation, I don't think further punishment will be necessary."
"Punishment for what!?" Mal interrupted
"… For skipping 3 periods and causing a school wide search." FG looked at Mal
"Oh." The girl said softly
"Yes, 'oh'. In any case, Carlos, you have got to stop running off if something happens. This is the second time in two weeks where we've had to go looking for you. I'm afraid the next time I won't be able to let it go."
"And what about Mr. Willerstein?" Mal jumped in again "you can't just let him do this."
FG looked at the children with sympathy, "unfortunately the school board still allows the use of corporal punishment as deemed necessary by the teacher, unless a parent signs a form refusing it."
Carlos paled, like Cruella would care, she'd probably only be upset that they didn't beat him more.
"So there is literally nothing we can do?!" Mal said, her eyes turning green with anger and frustration.
"Well you could try to stay out of trouble in his class." FG said pointedly.
Carlos rolled his eyes; that was easier said than done.
FG gave him a look that quite clearly reprimanded him for rolling his eyes, "Well it's almost time for dinner. And Mal, I believe you have a detention to serve tonight according to Mrs. Cartesian. You may all go."