Chapter 4: The color of trust, loyalty, and honesty
Waking up the next day was a miserable experience for Carlos. Not only did they come back late last night, but he realized that today was going to be the first day of remedial goodness class as well. He had gotten up before his alarm so Carlos disabled his alarm and went to shower. Halfway through he heard Jay's alarm go off so he hurried his morning routine and got out the bathroom. When he got dressed, a red a black checkerboard patterned button-up shirt with white cargo shorts, Jay started his shower so Carlos did a quick job of tidying up the room before the girls came over. Thankfully Jay was able to get changed before they heard a knock on their door.
"Morning losers" was Mal's ever so sarcastic greeting.
"Good morning guys" was Evie's.
"Good morning" both Jay and Carlos greeted at the same time.
"So let's get down to business, I want to get some grub before classes starts" Mal started off the conversation. "What are we going to do about getting Fairy Godmother's wand?" she asked us. "I am assuming we are all in agreement that we can't try to steal it from museum again" Evie stated. The other three agreed with her by shaking their heads. They all guessed that security would be even higher now after their failed attempt last night. "So what we have to do now is get the wand out of the museum. The only question is how" she finished.
We were all silent for a while contemplating the way to get the wand out of it's high security museum display. Sitting there thinking Carlos remembered one of the girls from his History class the other day. "What if we aren't the ones who get the wand out of the museum?" he asked the group. "What do you mean bro?" Jay asked him. "I mean what if we get someone else to get the wand for us. I think you guys have met someone who might be able to do that" he explained. The looks of confusion on the others faces prompted him to elaborate. "I'm talking about Fairy Godmother's daughter, Jane. You know the girl who has short brown hair, wears a blue dress with a pink bow just like Fairy Godmother" a look of understanding passed grew on the others faces after Carlos finished talking.
You could almost see Mal's mind go into scheming overdrive once he mentioned Jane. "Yeah, yeah that could work" she said after. "All we have to do is find her fatal flaw, and then we could manipulate her into doing almost anything" her face told the rest of them she was going to seriously find out what Jane's weakness was.
"Good, so now that we have that figured out lets go and get some food cause I'm starving" Jay told us as he grabbed his bag. The rest of them also grabbed their backpacks and they all left to get some breakfast. While Mal continued to think of ways to get Jane to be friends with her, the rest of us where just casually talking. Carlos tried to take a strawberry from the bowl of them that Mal was hogging but was rewarded with a slap on the hand from her instead. 'Seriously, how obsessed with them is she that she still can react to me when she is that deep in thought' he thought as the others laughed at him. "Here Carlos, why don't you take this apple instead" Evie offered him a nice red apple. "As long as it's not poisoned" he joked with her as he took the offered fruit and bit into it. He faked falling into a spell induced sleep that got Jay roaring with laughter and Mal to chuckle, even Evie lightly nudged him as she giggled at his antics.
It was one of the things that only they could joke about with each other. They all finished breakfast quickly and went off their separate ways, knowing they would be meeting up later to take the only class all four of them had together. Throughout the day Carlos couldn't help but feel disappointed that he didn't have any other class with Ben that day. Ben was someone who was easy to get along with, and his kindness was really refreshing to Carlos. It didn't hurt that he was good looking and charming without trying to be.
Meanwhile Ben wasn't having a great day either. By lunch time the news that the Isle kids were going to be practicing after school with the tourney team had spread to the other students. They weren't as happy with the prospect as Ben had been. He was actually having to deal with Chad and Audrey right now about that very topic.
"What are you thinking Ben, letting those people try out for our tourney team?" Chad had asked me for the umpteenth time in the past five minutes. He had been trying his best to ignore him, but he couldn't now. Not with the tone he was taking when talking about Carlos and Jay. "They aren't those people Chad, they are our fellow students and they have names. It's Jay and Carlos, and please don't forget it Chad" he said doing his best not to let anger affect his tone.
"I think what Chad is trying to say is how did you come up with the idea of the new kids trying out for the team? It is only the third day they are here and I'm sure they are still adjusting to the culture here in Auradon" Audrey stepped in to defend Chad and calm down Ben. Even though she was being completely serene Ben could tell that she wasn't any happier than Chad was for Jay and Carlos to be on the team. As the cheer leading captain he knew she wasn't to thrilled about the fact she might have to cheer for children of villain kids.
"That's the thing, it wasn't my idea. The coach was the one who had told me about them trying out for the team" he started after taking a deep breath to remain calm. "Not only that but he had cleared it with Fairy Godmother, so even if you don't want to have them try out they are going to" he looked them both in the eye showing that this was no longer up for discussion. "Now then, if you will both excuse me I'm going off to class now. I'll see you later at practice Chad" Ben got up with his half eaten lunch and left.
Once he was out of earshot Chad turned toward Audrey with a "What are we going to do about this?" She looked at him for a moment conflicted. On the one hand there was Ben and his want of the Isle kids fitting in with the rest of the school. On the other hand Audrey couldn't get past the fact that these were children of the greatest enemies Auradon's citizens ever faced. Audrey herself couldn't let go of the fact that one of them was the daughter of the person who had tried to kill her own mother, and it was only thanks to Merryweather that she was still alive and only cursed to sleep. Even though a part of her knew that the Isle kids weren't their parents, and they had about as much to do with it as she herself did the anger and sadness she saw in her family's eyes every time they told her the story stuck with her. She couldn't let a living reminder of her family's pain stay in Auradon.
"There isn't much we can do about it" she told Chad. "The only way we can conceivably make sure that they don't make the team is to make sure they do so bad the coach won't want them. That is going to be up to you and the other guys on the team" twirling her hair she looked in the direction that Ben had left. She had felt sorta bad but this was something she wasn't able to avoid.
"Yeah, that we can do" Chad nodded in agreement. While it wasn't everyone on the team who would blatantly act in order to keep the Isle kids off the team, he could get enough of them to follow his lead. "By the time we're done with them, they'll be so ashamed that they won't be able to look anyone in the eye for a week. Let alone think they could be able to fit in here" with a sneer on his face Chad got up and went off to the table that the tourney team usually ate at. Audrey saw some of the guys nod after Chad spoke to them. She got up and went to put her tray away, and went off to class herself.
There was a part of her that couldn't make peace with what she had just conspired with Chad to have done to the new kids. She knew that Chad, will being a charming, was also a big jerk. He had a reputation of being a player, and Audrey knew that he was as shallow as puddle most of the time. But she was in agreement with him this time so she was wishing him the best of luck.
"If someone hands you a crying baby do you, A) Curse it, B) Lock it up in a tower, C) Give it a bottle, or D) Carve out it's hearts?" Fairy Godmother was asking us. It was the end of the school day and we were in Remedial Goodness 101. I knew from the moment I heard about the class that it would be boring beyond belief. Although Fairy Godmother did make it more interesting by acting out the choices for answers.
I of course could tell right away what answer she was looking for, it didn't hurt that the other answers were things I would never do. Though I did disagree with her in the bottle thing, the baby could have needed a change of diaper or may just be needing human contact and affection. That last one I knew all too well.
I saw Evie raise her hand and ask "What was the second one?" Fairy Godmother could only shake her head. "Anyone else" she asked us, Jay looked slightly confused and I just kept my arms crossed, keeping me from having anything to do with this drivel. "Mal" Fairy Godmother noticed Mal drawing instead of paying attention so she had called on her.
"C" Mal answered as soon as she looked up. "Correct again" FG said with pride.
"You are on fire girl" I said genuinely praising her. I had thought Mal would have the most difficult time with this class what with her mother being the Mistress of Evil and all. "I just picked the one that doesn't sound like it would be any fun" she had said back to me. Our responses to her method were varied. I had let out an "Oh" of clarity, well Jay looked impressed with her method, and Evie said "That makes so much sense."
Just then Jane came into the Library where this remedial class was being held. She squealed in terror as she passed us and I couldn't help but scowl at her reaction to being near us. "Hello dear one" FG greeted her. "Sign off for earlier dismissal for the coronation" Jane told her mother as she turned back to stare at us. Girl was too afraid to have her back toward us for even a second and that pissed me off, and made me sad as well. I noticed Mal nudge Evie as she eyed Jane. Probably thinking up ways to get her to trust her enough to at least talk to her.
"Every, this here remembers my daughter Jane" Fairy Godmother introduced her to us, even though we had some classes with her and knew her name she had never officially introduced herself to us. "Mom" she said in hushed embarrassment. "It's okay dear. Jane this is everyone" FG was really trying to get us to feel like we belonged in Auradon. Besides Ben and a select few others, Fairy Godmother was one of the only people to make us feel welcomed at all. "Hi" she said to us with a look of absolute horror. As if just saying hi to us would make us curse her or something.
Before we could even greet her in return she spoke "That's okay, don't mind me, as you were" and shrieked as she ran passed us again. After that awkward moment FG started class again. Clearing her throat she said "You find a vile of poison, do you A) put it in the king's wine, B) paint it on an apple, or C) turn it into the proper authorities" she asked us again. I twinged in regret from my joke earlier today, I didn't expect for it to be brought up in this class, but relaxed when Evie laughed at it. This time all of us besides Mal raised our hands up high. Jay grabbed my hand and pulled it down. "Jay" FG called on him and he answered "C, you turn it over to the proper authorities".
"I was going to say that" I told him as I smacked him in the arm lightly. "Well, I answered it first" it responded. He then proceeding to grab my head and give me a noogie while repeating what he said again. He got me bent over the table with my arm held out at bay while he continued to do so. That is until we heard Fairy Godmother smack her pointer against the podium and say "Boys! I am going to encourage you to use that energy on the tourney field". I didn't like the sounds of that so I quickly tried to back out of it by saying "Oh no, that's okay. Whatever that is we're going to pass". Of course it did not end up working. She instead came up to our table with two bags of sports gear and uniforms in them. She handed them to us and then lead us to the locker room and told us where we could locate the tourney field. I had a very bad feeling about this.
I had a very good feeling about this. Me and the rest of the team were on the field warming up when Jay and Carlos walked on. Chad had surprisingly walked over to them without anyone telling him to as I trotted up to greet them. Before I could say anything beside hello coach blew his whistle and yelled out "Jay, Ben, you're on offense. Chad you're defense. Taylor you're the shooter". I walked off to the other side of the field with Jay. Turning around to check on Carlos I saw him confused as to where to go and wander into the kill zone. I wasn't the only one though.
"Hey, Hey you. Put your helmet on and get out of the kill zone!" he yelled direction and Carlos. I held back a laugh at how cute he looked all lost and confused. "Get out and put it on, two hands" coach yelled some more as Carlos finally left the kill zone while simultaneously putting on his helmet. He blew his whistle to signify the start of practice. Right away I took the ball and downed one of the defenders while shooting the ball away from me. When I had turned around Jay was already ramming himself against one of the defender's shields and taking him down, part of me was glad to note that it was Chad. He ended up scooping up the ball after taking down the defense member who had ending up picking intercepting it from me.
When he got into the kill zone Taylor began to shoot. The way that Jay was dodging those shots was amazing, preternatural almost. He knocked down another defender as i ran alongside him further into the opposing half of the field. When he got to the last defender before the goal it turned out to be Carlos.
"Jay, Jay it's me, it's Carlos" he yelled in a panic. "Wait, stop Jay stop" he yelled as he threw his stick at Jay panicking even more. I was glad that I had the helmet on to hide the look of endearment I had due to how Carlos acted. He was just so innocent that his reaction made Ben find him adorable. Shaking his head as Carlos finally got down on the ground while using his shield to defend against Jay, I watched as Jay used him as a springboard and launched himself into the air. I went for the ball but so did Jay. He ended up Taking me down as well, but he did pick up the ball and make the shot past the goalie.
As I was getting up I happened to notice Audrey and the rest of the cheerleaders nearby. While the rest of the team was practicing I saw how she seemed really upset at how well Jay seemed to be doing for his first time. I happened to also see her look at Chad with a look of disappointment before turning away and getting back to cheer practice. Jay happened to take this time to also do a victory dance after scaring away the goalie. Coach blew his whistle again and called out to him "You, get over here."
"What do you call that" coach asked Jay as we all walked over to gather up to where they were. I was behind Carlos as we walked up. "Nice first try Carlos" I told him as we walked up. "Yeah, sure" he said sounding dejected. I patted him on his shoulder to try to cheer him up. "I call that raw talent" coach continued his sentence with a wide grin on his face when most of the team was gathered. "Come find me later and I'll show you something you haven't seen before, it's called a rule book" he told Jay as he turned to Carlos. "You've ever thought about band" he asked him seriously. Carlos let out a laugh of disappointment while Jay chuckled for real.
"I'll work with him Coach" I stepped in before Carlos could get to dejected. "Alright" coach agreed, turning to the rest of the team "Let's run that again" he blew his whistle. I noticed the look of anger on Chad face when Jay turned around and faced him. I didn't like it but let it slide seeing as how Jay had just embarrassed him on the field.
I wish I could say the rest of practice went well. As we continued our scrimmage it became more and more obvious to me that some of the team was targeting Carlos. It seemed that they all knew that Jay's being on the team was something that couldn't be undone so they were doing there best to keep Carlos off. As for how I came about this conclusion it was from how no matter where Carlos was located on the field, the other defenders wouldn't support him at all, in fact they ignored him. As for the other people on offense, beside me and Jay the rest seemed to go after Carlos, even when he wasn't really in their way toward the goal at all.
It got my blood boiling that they would so brazenly act this way, and it seemed coach felt the same. He had to blow his whistle at least five times in forty additional minutes of practice we had just to tell defense to work as a team. The only good thing to note was that as practice went on Carlos got more aggressive as well. By the end of it he was using his smaller height to get under the offensive players that went after him and topple them over. That got coach to at least see that he had potential.
By the end of practice Audrey was upset to say the least. She couldn't believe that Jay had taken to tourney so well. She was even more furious that Ben had offered to use up his precious free time to work with that runt of a villain Carlos. That was time the two of them should have been spending together, working out what she would be wearing to his coronation. While most of the team including Ben, Jay, and Carlos went back into the locker room to shower and change Chad ended up coming to Audrey and the cheerleaders. He flirted with a couple of them to cover up the fact that he was actually here to talk to her.
"Well, that didn't work out now did it Chad" she said to him after the other girls left to pack up their stuff. She puffed out her cheeks in anger before sighing. "You're not the only one mad about it Audrey. They are on our team now, and while that De Vil kid might only be a bench warming you can be sure that coach is going to put that brute Jay in" the Charming answered in a low voice. It was clear to anyone watching that Chad was not happy in the least bit with his new teammates. Both of them sighed before looking at each other in defeat.
"Well, there is nothing more we can do now so we might as well just make the best of a bad situation" Audrey told him. "Also, next time don't make it so evident that you guys are going after someone. Everyone could tell that a group of you were targeting the youngest villain child" was her parting remark as she turned around and packed up. Chad took this as his own cue and left the field for the locker room. He was actually the last one to get cleaned up and leave so he had to make sure everything was locked up.
Carlos was exhausted both physically as well as mentally. He went back to the room he shared with Jay without going to get dinner with the other three Isle kids. That tourney practice was killer. Not only did he have to play a game he knew nothing about, he was also surrounded by people that he didn't know or trust. The coach didn't see much in him and the look on his face when he asked Carlos about the band was one that he was all too familiar with. It was a look of disappointment, one that his mother wore as often as her look of anger. That really got to Carlos, knowing that he was somehow letting this complete stranger down hurt him. He had tried his best to play it off and not let it show so as to save face. Although Ben stepping up to his defense and promise to help him made his heart beat quicken. The fact that the prince would take his own time to help Carlos was something that not even his mother had ever done for it. It was just another plus for Carlos to add to Ben's list of great traits.
It was also another reason for Carlos to let himself feel attracted to Ben. He had to be careful around the king to be. He couldn't let it be known that he, Carlos De Vil, was attracted not to girls but to guys. This was his one secret that he held in his heart from everyone. Even dearer was this to him than his experiments to breach the doom covering the Isle of the Lost to get TV and internet signals. He hadn't even told Evie, the one person that Carlos could consider his best friend. He was terrified at the reactions he would get from other people, as well as the rejection. He didn't know if he could handle any more of that.
Shaking his head to get rid of the melancholy that he had brought upon himself Carlos again thought back to tourney practice. It became evident from the second drill onward that he was being picked on by the team. He wasn't being helped by any of the other defenders, and some of the offensive players went out of their way to get to him and down him. By the end he had gotten so fed up he was using his small physique to get under their centers of gravity and get the to topple over his shield. Letting the anger flow through him he vowed that he was going to get better, if for no other reason than to get under the small groups skin. Stripping down he grabbed a towel and went to shower again, this time not to get clean but to cool his head. He grabbed another pair of underwear and a tank top, and lay down on his bed. He let his mind wander until Jay came back. He had snagged a pear for Carlos to eat, which he did as they both ended up doing their homework and turning in for the night.
Hey guys, here is the fourth installment of my story. If any of you know the movie we are now a little more than a quarter of the way through it. Anyone guesses as to what color the title is about, and whom it is about feel free to pm or review with an answer.