Sorry for the long wait. I was having some trouble getting this out of my head and into the computer. I hope you enjoy and please leave some feedback.

"How does Carlos manage to watch TV like this?" Jay asked as he rested the top of his head on the carpet, his legs hooked over the back of the couch. "It makes my head feel a bit dizzy."

Evie looked over the top of her chemistry book and raised an eyebrow, "Don't you have homework, or studying to do?" she asked. Now that Carlos had gone home with the Radcliffes Jay spent all his free time in Mal and Evie's room and as much as the girls loved having him around they were getting a little annoyed with him always being around, and rarely studying.

"Nah, I'm all set." Jay predictably responded and continued to watch his show inverted. Evie huffed silently and glanced at Mal who rolled her eyes and went back to her math book.

Evie hadn't mentioned it to the others yet but earlier in the week fairy godmother had called her into her office.

"You wanted to see me?" Evie asked cautiously after having been told by Mr. Delay to go to the office.

"Yes, Evie, please come in, have a seat." Fairy Godmother gestured towards the chair in front of her desk. "Could you remind me when you turn 17?" she asked not looking up but rather shuffling papers in Evie's file.

"December 20." Evie replied a little confused.

"Ah very good. Well I asked you to come by because some of your teachers are a little concerned." At that Evie looked up confused, her grades were outstanding, even by Auradon standards, "many of them feel you're not being challenged enough and it had been suggested that you move up to the junior classes for the second semester. It would mean that next year in the fall you would be a senior."

Evie gracefully leaned back in her chair, her mind was spinning with what that would mean. "I would graduate a year before Jay and Mal." said said noncommittally.

"Yes, that's true, but you also need to be honest with yourself, are you bored in class? You may also have noticed that you and Jay are the oldest in your grade, most of the others that are or turn 17 are juniors this year. There are many opportunities afforded to being able to finish high school early, or rather on time in your case, college classes would be available to you after you complete your high school requirements, as well as grants for young entrepreneurs if you are interested in continuing with your 4 hearts business. " Fairy Godmother pointed out.

Evie could tell that there was a lot to think about and didn't want to commit to anything on the spot. "Evie, I wrote Snow White about it, we have a holiday coming up where you'll be going to stay with her for a few days, talk it over and think about it, let me know when school starts up again. I'll need some time to adjust your schedule if you do want to move up." Fairy Godmother said gently. Evie just nodded and with all elegance drilled into her she rose up and left the office.

Evie still couldn't believe that they wanted to move her up a grade, she wasn't sure yet what she was going to do about it, talking to Snow first seemed like the best idea and they still had 2 more days before the holiday, but she figured until then her grades couldn't take a sudden drop. Jay being over constantly, and not studying, wasn't helping her though. She put her head in her hands, she didn't want to go to the library to study again, her room was more comfortable but this was getting ridiculous.

"I hope Carlos is ok." Mal said almost to herself. Mal had stopped by to see Carlos before he left the hospital and wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation.

Mal put Dude in a small carrier to bring him to visit Carlos, last time when the little dog was loose the white haired boy freaked out, but according to Evie he had started to remember more and Mal though a slow reintroduction to his best friend would be helpful.

"Come on Dude, let's go see Carlos." she gave the little dog a pat and then closed the door before heading to the hospital. She made her way towards the room and peeked in the doorway window. She smirked at what she saw, Carlos was sitting up in his bed, lips pressed tightly together, and arms crossed stubbornly refusing to take the potion Nurse Flora was trying to get him to take. Mal smirked at the scene.

Mr. Radcliffe walked towards the door and stood next to Mal and watched the scene in the room for a moment, "When Carlos stayed with us over break he was very timid and skittish. Was he this defiant on the Isle?" he asked.

Mal thought it over a bit, "He would never have tried acting like this with Cruella, if that's what you mean. But you learn at a young age not to eat or drink anything you can't completely identify, especially not a potion."

Roger nodded and watched for another minute before opening the door and stepping in to put Nurse Flora out of her misery. "Carlos." he said, his tone low and Mal though it sounded a little bit like a growl. The boy's head snapped in his direction and locked eyes with Roger. Roger raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms and as if knowing he would be in trouble if he didn't take the potion, Carlos opened his mouth. Nurse Flora quickly poured the liquid in his mouth and the boy swallowed with no further fuss. Mal's jaw dropped open as she watched, it was clear Carlos knew Roger was in charge and knew better than to fight it, but she narrowed her eyes and studied her friend a bit longer. Carlos usually yielded to those bigger and stronger than him, that wasn't unusual, but to do so with no fight at all worried her a little, the only other person Carlos would submit to that easily was Cruella, and everyone knew what would happen to him if he didn't.

Mal cleared her throat and Carlos now looked at her, "Hi Mal." he said a little hesitantly. Mal smiled at her friend, "Do you remember we're friends now?" she asked cautiously. Carlos smiled and nodded, "Yeah, and Jay too. And we're in Auradon, but I don't remember why."

"That's ok, I'm sure you'll remember more soon. I wanted to introduce you to someone properly." She put the small dog carrier on a side table and wheeled it over. Carlos cautiously looked in at the small dog that lay calmly inside. "This is Dude. And he's really sweet, and won't hurt you at all." Mal gently took Carlos' hand and held it up to the door of the carrier where Dude predictably gave some doggie kisses. After a few more minutes Mal carefully took Dude out and held him firmly as Carlos found his nerve to pet the little dog, and eventually she set Dude on his lap and was rewarded with one of Carlos' bright smiles. "You can take him to the Radcliffes with you. Ben said it was ok."

"Really?"

Mal smiled and nodded, "Really. Just get better soon. We're going to miss you." She hugged her friend before leaving.

"Why wouldn't he be ok?" Evie asked.

"Yeah he seemed to like staying there over the last break."

"I don't know." Mal said softly "He seems really intimidated by Mr. Radcliffe."

"Carlos is intimidated by almost everyone, except for maybe Jane." Jay pointed out.

Mal nodded at that and continued on with her work, nevertheless she still was a little uneasy.

/

Finally the last day of classes came before everyone at Auradon Prep went home for a long weekend with their families to celebrate some holiday about being thankful. Mal, Evie, and Jay really didn't understand the point. If you're truly thankful you don't need a holiday to show it. And they were pretty sure several of the Auradon kids wouldn't understand gratitude if it smacked them in the face.

Jay packed up a few of Carlos's things, clothes, his most recent project, and the comic books he'd gotten hooked on. Evie had said she'd make a stop over to see Carlos as Snow White lived the closest to the Radcliffes.

Remedial Goodness class had usually turned into a study hall as Fairy Godmother was pleased with their progress recently however today she looked anything but.

"Evie, Mal, I'm sure you still have a few things to pack up before your rides are here to take you back to your guardians homes. You may leave now to get ready." Fairy Godmother dismissed the girls with a smile and wishing them a good holiday.

The three VKs looked at each other with a little bit of confusion, why was Jay not also dismissed. Jay gave the girls a shrug as they collected their books and left the room with very confused faces.

"Jay, lets go talk in my office." Fairy Godmother suggested, Jay packed up his things and followed the matron, taking a seat in the chair she indicated.

"Jay. Several of your teachers have come to me with concerns about your grades recently." Fairy Godmother started.

"But I've been doing well!" Jay protested.

"Yes, but there is a little concern that you're doing a little too well and have made such significant improvements in an unusually short amount of time. When they call on you in class you consistently get the answers wrong. Your homework is subpar at best, yet your tests are near perfect. It is most atypical."

Jay didn't say anything.

Fairy Godmother sighed. "Please hand me your bag." it wasn't really a request and Jay simply handed her his book-bag without any protest. Fairy Godmother pulled out each folder and looked through everything, then flipped through his books. She pulled out a packet of papers and read them. Her brow furrowing in displeasure. "Where did you get these?"

"Found them."

"Found them where?"

Jay shrugged.

"Jay, did you know these are the answer keys to all your recent exams?"

"Yeah, so? I wasn't looking at them during the exams."

"But you saw them prior to the tests?"

Jay casually leaned back in the chair, unconcerned by the line of questioning "Well yeah, I studied them."

Fairy Godmother sputtered, "Thats cheating!"

"I don't see how."

"You're supposed to learn this material, not just the answers."

"I was told to pass the tests, that's what I did."

"Where did you find these, Jay? Did you go through a teacher's desk or notebook?"

"I didn't steal them if that's what you mean." Jay crossed his arms defensively at the unsaid accusation "Someone put one in my book, I found an other in my gym locker, or shoved under the door to my dorm."

"And it didn't occur to you to turn them in?"

Jay looked confused at the suggestion of such a thing, "I needed to pass, these gave me the answers so that I could do that. Isn't that what you all wanted?"

"NO!" Fairy Godmother yelled finally losing her patience, she took a few deep breaths as Jay watched her apprehensively. "I'm sorry for yelling. We want you to LEARN the material, understand it, be able to apply it, not memorize the answers to a test that you can forget ten minutes later. What you did is considered cheating, and would normally be grounds for expulsion."

That got Jay's attention, he swallowed and his stomach clenched tightly. "Where am I going to go?" Jay asked, the panic quickly swallowing him up.

"You will not be expelled. Aladdin and Jasmine will be here in a few minutes and we will discuss the consequences and what would be most appropriate. Especially since you apparently didn't even realize this was wrong. Perhaps I need to revise my syllabus in the Goodness class."

Just then Jane knocked on the office door and poked her head in "Mom, Aladdin and Jasmine are here."

"Thank you Jane, please send them in."

The next half hour was not very pleasant for anyone in the room, Jay couldn't make eye contact due to the extremely disappointed looks of his guardians. In the end it was decided that Jay would have a one week suspension following this long holiday. He didn't see how this would help him with his classes but Aladdin and Jasmine assured both Jay and Fairy Godmother that they would find a way to help him with his classes.
Aladdin put his hand on Jay's shoulder "Let's go back to your room and get your stuff." he said as he led Jay out of the office. Jasmine needed a few more minutes to collect herself and calm down, she was irate at this news.