The next morning, the six Isle children had to endure their first Auradon class for their first hour class. Before the class could officially begin, Dr. Facilier, the headmaster of Auradon Prep, decided to pass out the children's textbooks for their other classes. Although he had braced himself for inevitable, Ben was pleasantly surprised when he discovered his books were in French instead of English like the others.

"We just thought you would prefer French since you are fluent in it," Dr. Facilier had explained when asked about the books. "There is another student at Auradon Prep that understand the school lessons better when the books are in French. We believed this would help you too, but if you wish to switch to English within the next few days, I can arrange it."

With everyone receiving their school supplies, Dr. Facilier began the first session of Remedial Class. Obviously, the six were bored out of their minds while the headmaster tried to teach them the importance of manners and etiquette.

However, things became a little interesting when a couple girls—one about sixteen to seventeen while the other was twelve to thirteen—waltzed in. With the same dark skin-tone and similar color scheme in their clothing, the six believed them to be sisters.

"There they are!" Dr. Facilier greeted as he gestured grandly to the siblings as they walked to him. "My two beautiful daughters. To what do I owe the pleasure of such an unexpected visit?"

"Paper-work regarding the coronation," the eldest daughter informed as she held out a manila envelope while her sister had her arms wrapped around their father's waist in a loving hug. "Apparently there's been a confidential development. The papers have details about it, or at least that's what I was told. Celia wanted to tag along just so she could see you."

"Thank you." Placing the envelope on his nearby desk, Dr. Facilier introduced, "Everyone, these are my daughters, Freddie and Celia Facilier. Girls, they are—"

"Jay told me about them," Freddie interrupted as she glanced at the six strangers. "The new students from the Isle. It's nice to finally meet you in person."

"Want to join Dizzy and I for lunch?" Celia wondered with a sugar-sweet smile. "I made your favorite dessert."

"I would love to." Dr. Facilier kissed the top of his youngest daughter's head before gazing at his eldest. "Are you joining us?"

"My boyfriend changed our free period date to a lunch date," Freddie informed with a slight, saddened shrug. "He's planning another date after school to make up for the change, but that won't be until after Tourney practice."

"Let us know if you change your mind," Dr. Facilier instructed. "I'm sure the girls won't mind if he joins us."

"Of course not!" Celia agreed a little too quickly. "He's cute!"

"Sounds like somebody is trying to steal my boyfriend," Freddie teased, though there was a mysterious glint in her eyes. "Although I may be a year older than him, you're still too young for him and he treats you like a little sister."

While Celia rolled her eyes in annoyance, she caught sight of a gold-colored dog in one of the student's arms. "A puppy!" Celia declared as she started walking toward them. "He's so cute!"

"Celia, wait—"

Not listening to her father's warning, Celia reached out to pet Dude's head. Growling at the girl for coming to close, Dude bit toward Celia in warning, narrowly missing her hand. Celia jerked it back in surprise, sad that the dog would do such a thing.

"H-he's not trained," Jane bashfully informed. "D-dude doesn't let anyone else touch him."

"That's disappointing," Celia complained. "But maybe he'll let me pet him someday."

Not too much longer after the sisters departed from their father's class, Remedial Goodness ended to the relief of the six transfer students. Now, three of the six only had a few minutes to gather their belongings for their Tourney and cheer try-outs. During those few minutes, a certain someone wanted to make up for their argument the day before.

"Hey!" Mal greeted as she approached Ben at his locker. "How's your first day of school so far?"

"Super," Ben sarcastically replied as he placed his textbooks in his locker. "For some reason, the textbooks given to me were all in French instead of English." He closed his locker before raising a curious eyebrow at the princess. "Have any idea why?"

"Should I?" Mal questioned in return, confusion clear on her face. "I know you speak it, but I have no idea if you prefer one over the other. Maybe the headmistress of your school on the Isle put it on your transcript?"

"Or most likely, Audrey told someone without my permission," Ben speculated with an irritated grumble. "Now, is there a reason you wanted to talk to me?"

"I wanted to apologize about a couple things yesterday," the princess confessed, not a sign of reluctance in her tone. "I'm sorry for how I spoke to you yesterday regarding your mother. I was frustrated and wasn't thinking when I brought her up even though I knew she had passed. I hope you can forgive me."

Holding her gaze for a moment, Ben rolled his eyes with a reluctant sigh. "I'm guessing the other apology is for abandoning me yesterday. Did you find out what was so important with your family?"

A smile emerged on her lips as Mal happily revealed, "My mother is pregnant. You are the only one outside our family that knows."

"Congratulations," Ben politely stated to bite back a nasty or rude retort. "I guess that is a good enough reason for leaving me to fend for myself. Is this going to affect the coronation?"

"It won't be announced yet, but the coronation will be post-pone," Mal answered with a careless shrug. "I want to wait until after by sibling is born, so he, or she, could be there to witness it. I like the idea of our first family picture being us at the coronation."

Ben raised another eyebrow at the stumble in her sentence. "You are hoping the baby is a boy. Why?"

"If I have a sister, none of us wants her to be jealous over me since I will be 'Queen'," Mal reasonably explained. "If I have a brother, he will be named 'King of the Underworld' when he becomes of age. Dad will retire nearly all of his duties in the Underworld and travel the world with Mom."

"Sounds like your family already has everything planned out," Ben commented stiffly. "I won't say anything until it's announced publicly, or you give me permission. Meanwhile, I have to head to Tourney try-outs, or whatever it is I'm supposed to do."

"I promise you'll like it," Mal reassured, but then she hesitated. "Well . . . maybe. The coach used to be friends with your father. He has three sons, two being a set of twins; they are seniors this year. The youngest son is our age, and he's the current captain of the team. I think you and him will get along pretty well. You have a lot in common."

"I sincerely doubt that," Ben grumbled as he shouldered his backpack. "Maybe I'll see you later."

"I have a dress fitting in the next few minutes, but starting tomorrow you should see me at Tourney practice for the next couple weeks," Mal informed, much to Ben's dismay. "With the championship game coming up, Uma wants every available cheerleader—past or present—to perform for the big game. We haven't lost a Tourney game in years."

"Thanks for placing an unnecessary weight on my shoulder," Ben retorted with a bitter eye-roll. "Now I don't want to join the team even more."

Although he didn't want to play Tourney, Ben was really good at it. Within a few moments of starting, Ben picked up the game quicker than anyone thought he would. He was nearly unstoppable—

Until the team's captain decided to place Ben's skill to the test.

The captain attempted to block Ben while he was running with the ball. Ben saw the challenge and ran full force at his opponent. As a result . . .

Both were knocked to the ground by the harsh impact, causing the wind to be knocked out of them.

"Gil! Ben! Take a break for a few minutes to calm yourselves." The coach, Gaston, ordered from the sidelines. "I don't need two players injuring each other before the big game. Help the cheer team if Uma needs it. I'll call you back in when you're needed."

Reluctantly, the boys trudged off toward the sideline, each slightly limping to the bleachers. Gil found himself a seat first and gestured next to him for Ben. Ben blatantly ignored him, instead sitting quite a few feet away. Noticing her friend sitting grumpily by himself, Audrey snuck away from cheer practice to sit next to him.

"You looked good out there," Audrey complimented with a small smile. "You looked like you were having fun. I bet it helped with your pent-up frustration too."

"Just a little bit," Ben admitted hesitantly. "I'm still irritated with you. I know you at least told someone about my reading problem."

"It was better that it was solved at the beginning instead of it becoming a worse problem," Audrey insisted, knowing it was best not to deny anything to keep the Isle prince's temper in check. "At least Dr. Facilier didn't really acknowledge your reading problem. But I was wondering . . . comment as-tu cachè tes cicatrices dans le vestiare?"

"I waited until everyone left before I changed," Ben answered with a shrug, like it was no big deal. "I'm a kid from the Isle of the Lost. If anyone questions my scars, I'll just say it was from fighting on the Isle. It's not a lie, technically, but they don't need to it's from my father. That would cause more headache than I need for our first few days in Auradon. Let's just keep that between us, ok?"

Audrey sighed in defeat. "That can't happen," she denied. "I'm so sorry, Ben. I hope you can forgive me."

Before Ben could ask the princess why she was apologizing, Gaston suddenly called an end to practice when his youngest son spoke to him for a few moments, but then he asked Ben to go over to him.

Waiting until all the students were out of hearing range, including the cheerleaders, Gaston revealed, "My son told me about your problems, specifically your reading. Why can't you read English when you can speak it?"

"I never learned," Ben bluntly informed. "My father never taught me."

"What about your mother?" Gaston wondered as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I remember she loved to read—"

"My mother is dead," Ben interrupted forcefully. "She died during childbirth."

"As did my wife," Gaston informed, his tone becoming slightly sullen at the new subject. "Just like you, Gil has never met his mother. And just like you, Gil struggled to read English, but he learned by the time he started school as a boy, though he still prefers French. Surely your grand-father cou—"

"He's dead too." Ben rolled his eyes at the coach's surprised expression. "Why do you think my mother ran back to my father after the King and Queen of Auradon stopped him from killing you? She had returned to my grandfather a day or so after, but he had died while she was trying to get the money for the medicine for his illness from my father. My mother had nowhere to go, so she returned to my father to be his . . . servant."

Gaston raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the particular phrasing. "Gil heard you and Audrey comment about the scars on your back," he slowly began. "Why would your father do such a thing to a son he cares about?"

"Because he doesn't care about me," Ben stated with an angry glare. "He didn't care about my mother either. He didn't care that she was pregnant. She still had to do every-day tasks for him even though she was clearly sick. Besides, why would he care for a child he never wanted?"

"That's not tru—"

"I was conceived from rape," Ben exposed, causing the adult to freeze from pure shock. "Sure, my mother consented the first time. After that, my father had his way with her whenever he wanted. When I was just a little boy, my father told me numerous time that he was pissed that my mother had me. He only kept me around so I could be his servant; so I could be his 'punching bag'. These scars only came to be because I saved my best friend from getting injured by my father, yet my friend still ended up stabbing me in the back later on in life. I don't blame my mother for the situation I'm in, and I'm grateful she managed to escape her imprisonment. Honestly, if I hadn't been chosen to come to Auradon, I . . . would have killed myself to escape too."