Chapter 8:

Monday 6:30am-Carlos POV

I woke up to a rather annoying buzzing sound, not to mention the sunlight beaming through the blinds and into the room. I looked over at Evie's bed to see that she wasn't in it. I sat up properly in my bed, rubbing my eyes, seeing that she was at the dressing table instead. "Morning Sleepy head" she said, seeing me rise from my bed.

"Evie what are you doing up so early. It's 6:30 in the morning. We don't have school for another 2 and a half hours" I grumbled, as she returned to doing whatever she was doing.

"Looking good takes time Carlos, besides I was hoping we could look around the school before the day starts."

"Ugh" was my only response, as I pulled myself out of bed, and headed to the shower. When I was in the shower, I heard Evie open the door, and start talking to someone. When I left, I saw plates of the food on the table, each with a different dish on.

"Look at this" She exclaimed, digging into the food. I saw beside her, doing the same, trying each and every one of them.

"This is so good!" digging into what I later found out were crepes. We finished our breakfast, and I got changed into my outfit for the day. We exited the room, to find two guards waiting for us. "Good Morning" we commented as they led us through the castle, and towards the car.

By this point it was 7:30, so we were hoping to be taken to the school early. Happily, the guards complied and we were taken to Auradon Prep. On the journey, the guards received a phone call from the King. "Carlos, Evie, I forgot to mention last night. Don't mention that Ben is back from the Isle. We don't need the students at Auradon Prep worrying, and wanting to see him. If anyone asks, just state that the Queen and I have brought you over as part of a new proclamation. No one will question you." We agreed, and the Queen spoke up.

"We have given the guards two mobile phones for you both, so we can keep in contact throughout the school day. And if you need anything, just text" as she said so, one of the guards handed us the phones. Mine had a white case, with black dots, whilst Evie's was a mid-night blue case with a crown on the back of it. We thanked them before they hung up, and we continued our journey.

When we arrived, the school was buzzing with activity. "God, these people like to get to school early" I said, smirking as we exited the car. The school looked amazing, and the surrounding area was huge. People were chatting, and generally having fun. It seemed breakfast was prepared at the school was well, so most people were eating. We were led to the front entrance of the school, where a women was waiting for us, with one of the students.

"Welcome to Auradon Prep, I'm Fairy Godmother, Headmistress" she said, bowing before us. We followed her lead, and bowed back. She gave us a spiel about the library hours around the school. She gestured to the student beside her, and she introduced him. "This is Doug, he will be helping you with your class schedules, as well as giving you a tour of the school." Doug stepped forward handing us pieces of paper, and ushered us to follow him. We did so, and this place had everything.

There was five science class rooms, each filled with different chemicals and a massive sports field. The hallways were lined with the schools colours, Blue and Gold. 'That's why Ben loved them so much' I thought to myself as we continued on the tour. He led both Evie and I to our first lesson of the day, which was Biology.

We sat together during the lesson, and received some rather dirty looks from the other students. It seemed like none of the students knew exactly why we were there, but instead they had automatically assumed that we could cause trouble. Apart from that, Biology was alright I guess. The class was tasked with dissecting a frog, and Evie and I were split up. I joined a group with Doug, and a rather unhappy looking boy, whilst Evie joined a group of two other girls.

I tried to introduce myself, to the other boy, but received a rather sour response. "Hi, I'm Carlos", and the only response I got was "Chad". It seemed like my group didn't want me to participate, as they were reluctant to hand me any scalpels, instead giving me the tweezers, the least useful object.

I could hear Evie screeching over the other side of the class, as they dissected the animal and quickly backed away from it. We had been tasked of finding the frogs heart, and it didn't take long to do so. Whilst Evie was reluctant at first, I could see that she had dived in at the end, and was completely fascinated by what she was seeing. I, on the other hand wasn't too fussed about it. It was fun, but I didn't find it too interesting.

However, my second class of the day was perfect. Chemistry. Back on the Isle, I loved mixing the different chemicals, and seeing the reactions that would take place. I was in the zone, experimenting with everything, mixing all of them together and making notes. Whilst I was supposed to have a lab partner, it appeared that they didn't show any interest, so I took control. It was all going so well, until I remember mine and Ben's weird science back on the Isle. Once again, I was making notes and trying every single reaction, whilst Ben was laid back, just waiting. He had told me he had done it before, and now I can see why. That's when I broke down.

Right in front of my new class. I stumbled back into my seat, just looking down at the table, sobbing. The whole class stopped and stared, but only one was willing to help. A young, asian girl came over, and guided me outside the class. She pulled me into a hug, as I continued to break down in front of her.

"What's wrong" she asked, her voice soft and soothing.

"N-Nothing, I-I'm fine. I just need some time alone" I replied, snuffling, and wiping the tears from my eyes.

"Well, if you need anything, just let me know. I'm Lonnie by the way, Mulan's daughter" I nodded, and she left me. I could hear her explain what had happened to the teacher, and they came out, allowing me to leave. Before I did, he said "You know, you have a real knack for chemistry. Come see me at some point, and I'll show you some advanced stuff"I smiled at him, and started to walk around the school.

I found my way to what I had heard was the tourney field. Whatever it was, I sat on the stands, reflecting on what had happened. I hadn't heard anything about Ben for a while, and I started to get worried. 'What if something has happened to him, what if he doesn't make it,' the thoughts started to flood my mind, filling it with paranoia. I pulled out my phone, and frantically texted Belle, asking if she had heard anything.

She responded quite quickly, assuring me he was recovering just fine. I asked about my ring, asking her when I would get it back, and she assured me that it wouldn't be too long. They were just running some tests on it, to see what Mal has done. I managed to stop crying, and tried to recover, before returning to my chemistry class, and finishing off my last few tests. I'd still managed to finish before everyone else, so that cheered me up a bit. The lunch bell rang, and I met up with Evie in the canteen.

She had just been in maths, and said that she had found it alright, just boring. Math was never really focused on, on the Isle, so it was new to the pair of us. We walked over to the lunch line, and could hear whispers about the pair of us. "Who are they" "What are they doing here" are the most common questions that we heard, but we tried to ignore them and move on.

We grabbed our food, and sat down at an empty table, discussing our classes. I told Evie about my breakdown, and we was as helpful as always. She was relieved to hear that Ben was alright.

That's when Lonnie appeared next to me at the table. "What's that about Ben" she asked, startling both me and Evie. I stuttered, trying to answer her question, but Evie quickly covered for me. "It's just we saw him once on the Isle when he first arrived, and he was injured. We helped him for a little bit, but then we were brought here." Lonnie seemed both relieved and worried, so she sighed.

"D-Did you know Ben, before he was sent to the Isle?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah, he was one of my best friends. I was there on the day the incident happened. I was so sad to see him go. I think most of us were. It just goes to show that some people just aren't who you think they are. Some people are just evil" she said, sighing as she finished. When she said he was evil, something just snapped inside of me, and I was enraged.

I let loose on Lonnie. "How dare you say Ben is evil? He is the most sweet, loving person you will ever meet. He puts everyone else in front of himself, and tried so hard to stay good on the Isle, even when it caused him pain. You have no right to talk about him like that. You do not know what he was been through, and he is doing so well" I was just ranting on to her, whilst starting to tear up again.

Evie was trying to calm me down, and the whole canteen had gone silent. Everyone was listening to my rant, and I didn't even realise that Fairy Godmother had entered. She had walked over to me, and pulled me from my seat, whilst I was still crying, leading me to her office.

I was still continuing to rant to her whilst on the way. "None of you know what it's like to be on that Isle. Ben has done so well to cope, yet everyone still sees him as a villain. What happened wasn't his fault, it was everyone else's. If they had told him about what would happen, maybe he would have been prepared for it. Maybe he could have controlled it. He deserves so much better than life on the Isle, he deserves all the happiness in the world."

By this point, we had reached her office. So I knew I could speak my mind properly. Belle had told us that Fairy Godmother had been informed of what had happened, so I spoke up properly.

"But instead, he is stuck in the hospital, on deaths doorstep, with a high chance of not recovering. Mal cursed him, and no one knows what has happened. He could be gone forever, and I'm never going to speak to him again." Continuing to cry.

She tried to comfort me, but it wasn't helping. I just wanted to see Ben, speak to him again. She spoke calmly, trying to reassure me. "Carlos, everything is going to be ok. Ben is being treated by the best doctors Auradon has, and we are doing everything to identify the curse." She pulled Ben's ring from a draw in her desk, and handed it back to me.

"Here, we have finished all the tests. I want you to have this. Keep it close to you, and never let it go" I nodded, placing the ring back on my finger. The end rang, signalling the end of lunch. "You best go" she said, "I don't want you to be later for my class" she said, leading me towards my final lesson of the day, Remedial Goodness 101.

Remedial Goodness 101 was what it sounds like. The Fairy Godmother kept asking questions with three 'wrong' answers and one 'correct. The answer she as expecting was fairly obvious, especially when I was questions like. "You find a vial of poison. Do you

A, Pour it in the Kings wine,

B Paint it on an apple or

C Hand it over to the proper authorities." She asked Evie, who responded C, which was correct.

This lesson lasted an hour, before we were allowed to leave. We were expected to meet the royal guards at the front of the school, so we could return to the castle for the evening, but I had to grab my homework from my locker before we left. I told Evie that I would be 5-10 minutes, and would just meet her at the front of the school, so she could inform the guards.

As I began to walk to my locker, I felt like someone was watching me, but when I looked around, I couldn't see anyone. The feeling lingered the whole time I was at my locker. That was until I shut the door.

Chad was stood behind the door, with another girl. She was the one with Evie and Lonnie in Chemistry class, but I didn't know who she was. Before I could speak up, Chad had pinned me to the locker, and started to interrogate me. "Why are you here? And what do you know about Ben?" he hissed, the other girl just witnessing what was happening.

"It's part of the king's new proclamation." I replied, trying to maintain the ruse.

"That doesn't answer my question about Ben" he hissed back.

"I only saw him once" I said, trying to stay strong, trying to push him off of me, unsuccessfully however.

"Then why did you shout at Lonnie earlier huh?" the girl finally chirped up. "It seemed like you know him quite well." I could see that my ruse was falling apart very quickly, so I mustered all of my energy to give Chad a good kick in the crotch, hoping it would be enough to allow me to run. Luckily it was, delivering a powerful strike, causing him to let me go, and huddle over in pain.

I grabbed my bag off the floor, and ran towards the front, luckily spotting Evie and the guards. Chad was following with the girl behind him, both looking rather angry. Before they could reach me, we quickly got into the car, and drove back to the castle. I told Evie about what had happened, and once we got back to the castle, I also told Belle and she made sure to inform Fairy Godmother.

"Don't worry, we'll protect you from Chad and Audrey" Belle said, reassuring me. "We'll make sure you that the teacher keep you apart in class." I nodded, telling her I had made friends with Doug, and maybe Lonnie, if she still wasn't mad that I yelled at her. "Ah, yes we heard about that" was all she said. I think they were starting to realise what had happened to Ben on the Isle, and that maybe sending him there was a bad idea.

Belle left Evie and me to get on with our work. After all, we had joined half way through the year, and needed to catch up on a lot. I also started to work on the broom contraption I had promised Belle and Beast, but that wouldn't take long with all the materials I had access to.

Third Person POV

The next few days proceeded the same as the first. Carlos and Evie attended school, excelling in the subjects they found interesting. Carlos had met up with the Chemistry teacher, and had started to experience with advanced chemistry, making sophisticated chemicals, and seeing their application in real life. Evie was enjoying school, but also started to focus on making dresses and clothes for the pair on them. Now that she was in Auradon, she had access to a large number of materials, and was able to experiment in her own way.

Belle and Beast had notices this, asking her to make clothes for them at first, to see how good she was. They quickly realised that she was talented, and found a way for her to help the kingdom in the process. They offered her the choice of spending a few hours in the week making dresses for a local company. They would pay her of course for anything that she contributed. She was happy to accept the offer, and she was told that she would start on the Thursday of that week.

Carlos POV- Thursday 8:00pm

The evening started as usual. Evie had just finished her first shift at work, and she was glowing with excited. She started to tell me about all of the materials she had used, and some of the designs she had started to work. That was when we heard a knock on the door. We answered it to find Belle and Fairy Godmother stood there. We gestured them towards the table, and Belle started to speak.

"We have news about Ben" she said, with sadness in her voice. "The doctors have patched him up, and apart from his leg, he had fully recovered. Physically" she added, and I knew something bad was coming.

"It seems Mal's curse has split his soul from his body, and hid fragments of it all over Auradon. The Fairy Godmother is aware of what curse she has used" sighing, before continuing "In order to reverse it, we need to find where his soul has been trapped. From what you have told us Carlos, it seems his soul has found his way to items tied to him somehow. However, the other items aren't going to be this easy to find. Hopefully, his ring will help us find the rest of the items. Fairy Godmother said that the ring will glow once it's near another cursed item. In order to retrieve the soul fragment, his true love must simply touch the ring onto the item, and it will take care of the rest." She looked up at me staring into my eyes.

I stared back, asking "You think I'm Ben's true love?" suddenly getting defensive. I was nervous over what she was saying. She held my hands in hers still looking into my eyes. "We gave that ring to Ben when he was five, and since then we has worn it every day. The ring was enchanted to adjust to the size of the wears finger, allowing him to do so. We would only have given it to someone he truly cared about."

The fairy godmother then spoke up. "You will be granted full access to Auradon in order to aid you with your search, however, I will be accompanying you on the journey. We have also been granted access to the Isle, to see if any of the fragment remain there." Both Evie and I nodded, and the Fairy godmother beamed us a smile. "We will start the search this Saturday, so it does not interfere with school." She and Belle then left the room.

As soon as they left, I broke down again. Evie comforted me, although I think she was sick of it at this point. I walked over to the bed, and fell on top of it, curling into a ball, still crying. Evie decided to stick some TV on, in order to help me recover, and it did. We found a funny TV show about a bunch of nerds living in a flat together with a pretty, but dumb girl. We both shared a few laughs before I fell asleep.

Ben's POV:

I woke up in my bed, just like any other day, but this time I was shaking. I had just had the worst nightmare, about me being on the Isle, after committing a horrendous crime. I shook the feeling off, and began my usual morning routine, working out before showering. Whilst in the shower, I was curious. Firstly, could I transform into a wolf, and secondly, who was this boy I was 'in love' with. I mean, I've never seen him in my life, and I was with Audrey anyway, so it didn't matter.

That thought was quickly pushed aside, with the wolf thought. So I decided to test it, and it worked. I enjoyed the feeling, but knew I had to keep it a secret. Magic was frowned up in Auradon, with the king trying to persuade everyone to be less reliant on it. If the King's son was using magic, then it would not bode well.

I left the shower, and went to get changed into one of my outfits. However, instead of my usual blue and gold suits, I was drawn to another outfit. In my wardrobe was a white and black leather jacket, with red sleeves. There was a black t-shirt under the jacket, and it was accompanied by a pair of shorts, one leg black with a white stripe, and one white leg with a black stripe.

After looking at the outfit, I decided to wear it, 'after all it's nice to be different sometimes' I thought to myself. I also noticed my hair was different. Instead of being in its messy state, it was in a faux hawk with a fade present. I kinda like it, it was different for sure.

I met my parents for breakfast, who were confused by the way I looked, but agreed that it suited me. Breakfast was as grand as usual, expect for some reason, we had rotten apples instead of fresh ones. No one else seemed to question it, so I just ignored them, eating everything else.

'Something is off' I thought to myself, as I grabbed my bag, exited the Castle, and rode my bike to school. I loved my bike. It was a present for my 15th birthday, and ever since I'd got it, I felt free and in control. It allowed me to go where ever I wanted, whenever I wanted. However, similar to everything else, something was off. It was if my bike was whispering to me, but I couldn't make out what it was saying, but it quickly finished when I got to the school.

I parked up, and headed for my first class. Checking my timetable, I saw Evil Schemes and Nasty Things by Lady Tremaine, but after I blinked, I saw Chemistry by Mr Deley. I headed for the class, and saw in my usual seat. The lesson began as usual, with him taking about the topic of the lesson, Chemical Reactions. We started our experiment, but my lab partner hadn't shown up.

The worst part of it was, I didn't even know who was partner was, I couldn't remember them. When completing the experiments, I had the strangest feeling that I had done this before, but I couldn't quite remember when or where. I just got the overwhelming feeling of Déjà vu.

The lesson finished, and I proceeded to head to my second class, Physical Education (PE). We were practising for the upcoming tourney game against the Sherwood Forest Falcons. I headed for my locker in the Gym, getting changed into my equipment. When I grabbed my tourney stick however, I experienced a vision.

There was a small boy sitting next to me speaking. I recognised him as the one from my dream, with his white and black hair, dressed in the same two colours. I could feel he was holding my hand, but I didn't know where I was. I couldn't move, but I could hear his soothing voice, telling me to come back to him. I saw my ring on his finger, and I was able to grab his arm and say a few words, but before anything else, Chad shook me, pulling me out of the vision.

"Are you alright mate?" he said, seeing how deep in thought I was. "Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine. I just zoned out for a second." I replied, smiling back at him. I looked down at my hand, seeing that my ring was missing from my fingers. 'Where is it? I haven't taken this ring off in years', I thought to myself, before the coach shouted that practise was beginning.

Carlos POV:

After school on Friday, Evie and I were allowed to visit Ben. We entered the room he was staying in, and I could see him laid there on the bed. His leg was in a cast, from where it had been broken, and he had a few plasters covering small cuts on his face. His chest was bandaged up from where Mal had sliced him with her knife. I sat in the chair next to him, and Evie stood beside me. I spent twenty minutes by his side, telling him everything that had happened. We were told that we could only see him for half an hour, so Evie let me be alone with him for the last 10 minutes.

She left, and I continued to tell him what was happening. Before long, I was told I had to leave. Before I did, I grabbed his hand, and told him how much I loved him, and how I wished he could come back to me. Just as I did so, the ring grazed his arm, and his hand jolted, grabbing hold of mine. He started to say random words.

Broken was one of them, along with bride, goal, jewel and finally freedom. I called for someone, telling them to come see, but by the time they had arrived, Ben has released my arm, and returned to his previous state. The doctors were telling me that nothing had happened, but I was adamant that it had. They checked over his readings, and said that they were normal.

They told me to return to the castle, and get some rest, claiming it had been a stressful week for me. But I knew I was right. I knew he grabbed me.

Back to Ben's POV:

Practise was as successful as usual. However, there was one strange occurrence. Chad went to pass the ball to me, and I had an image of being thrown back against a hall, with debris being flung at me. The vision quickly stopped, when someone barged me to the floor, and stole the ball.

But it only happened that one time. I was able to score the winning goal, as I always did. Everyone cheered, and I looked over at the bleachers to see the white and black haired boy again, this time he was checking his phone sobbing. I blinked, and he was gone once again. We returned to the changing rooms, and I showered as it had been quite an intense practise.

I turned on the water, only to get cold water run over me. I looked for some dials to help adjust the temperature, but none were available, so I just suffered through it. Something about it felt familiar, and relaxing, but I couldn't put my finger on it. 'This is one weird day' I thought to myself as I headed to lunch.

I grabbed a tray of food, and started to walk over to Lonnie, Audrey, Chad and Doug. They all noticed me, and before I could sit down, they all got up and left. I felt a little disheartened, but I had gotten used to having lunch by myself. Sometimes Prince Duties took precedence over school, so when I returned, I had to eat lunch alone.

I decided to pass the time by reading my favourite book, The Princess Bride. I pulled it out of my bag, and had a similar sensation to my bike. I felt like the book was trying to tell me something. I blinked, and saw the words on the page realign themselves. One line spelled out "This isn't true", with the line beneath it spelling, "Lost Isle you belong." The page continued, with lines such as "Boy's true Love" and the final line said "Soul incomplete."

I shook my head in disbelief, and the book has returned to normal. Before I could question it any further, the bell for the final lesson rang. I placed my book back into my bag, and placed my tray in the waste. I checked my timetable to see what my final lesson, to find that it was Remedial Goodness 101 but I had never attended this class in my life.

I turned up to the class to see that I was joined by one other student, a purple haired girl I had never seen before. I sat next to her, but she moved away from me, sitting at the other side of the room. I went to follow her, but Fairy Godmother walked in, and the class began.

The class was really easy, asking what to do in certain situations, but this purple haired girl did not seem to grasp the concept. Every time, she chose the worst answer on the board, and I had to correct her. Class ended as usual at 3:00pm, and the purple haired girl was quick to leave. I

'd decided to stay behind, and tell Fairy Godmother what had been happening throughout the day. But instead of her providing any helpful advice, she dismissed everything I said, claiming I was just imagining things and that I just needed some rest. Although she knew best, I could tell something was up with me. I left the class, and saw the white haired boy walking away from me. I ran after him, trying to see who it was, but after turning a corner, he had disappeared.

After the day I was having, I decided it would be best to return home, and try to relax. Maybe I was just stressed about something, and needed some downtime. I mean, my coronation was in a month's time, so maybe I was just suppressing how I felt about that.

As I left the school, I saw Audrey sitting on one of the benches, and with her being my girlfriend, I decided to approach her. I walked up behind her, and hugged her, but she quickly pulled away from it. "What's wrong" I asked, concerned I had done something to upset her. She stood up, slapped me round the face and started to verbally attack me. "How could you" she kept saying, but I had no idea what she was talking about. I tried to ask her, but she responded with "Oh, don't play dumb with me, you cheater".

At this point, I was completely confused, but I tried asking what I had done again. She ignored my question, and just said "We're through" before packing up her stuff, and walking towards Lonnie and Chad. Both of them were giving me death stares, and I sheepishly looked back at them.

But no-one else around me had noticed what had happened. Usually when there was a fight, people would stop and crowd around, but this time nothing. People just continued to wherever they needed to be. I just walked away, heading back to my bike and returning home. Nothing happened on the journey back, and I couldn't hear any whispering.

I got back to the castle, and requested for some food to be delivered to my room, as I headed up there myself. I threw my bag onto the bed, and decided to watch some TV. As I went to turn it on, I had another vision. This time it was of me throwing a TV against the wall, in some sort of shelter. The vision only lasted about 10 seconds, but this one was as vivid as ever. It felt like I had been there before, but I knew I hadn't.

I turned on my TV, only to find my parents were on screen. It was a recorded broadcast of them, announcing something. I turned the TV up, only to hear them say about someone being banished to the Isle of the Lost. The camera then panned down to see me walking in cuffs towards a car, with people booing, and throwing stuff at me. I was forced into the car before driving towards the Isle.

I shook my head once again, still seeing my parents announcing something. But instead, this time it was the date of my coronation and the people were cheering and chanting my name. I'd decided that was enough TV for the day, and started to complete the homework set for me. I heard a knock at the door, and it was the food, but it wasn't what I had ordered. There was a plate of rotten apples, crisps and popcorn. The chef delivered the food, and quickly left before I could complain to him.

I definitely wasn't going to eat the apples, so I took a hand full of popcorn, only to find it was stale, and the crisps were exactly the same. I pushed the food aside, and continued to complete my homework. By the time I was finished, it was gone 9:30pm, so I decided to go to bed. I took off my clothes for the day, and got into bed, falling asleep soon after.