For a week, he, Jay, Mal and Evie as well as Prince Ben, Doug, and Lonnie were the only "students" on campus. Yet the cafeteria seemed to think they were an entire pirate crew. Three times a day, the cooks presented them with so much food that Carlos felt almost sick trying not to waste anything while still building their stashes hidden across campus.
As frustrating and strange as it was, he couldn't deny how delicious the food was. It was like nothing he'd ever had before and the flavors…Nothing was as delicious as chocolate, but he pushed the thought away. All of this was temporary. As soon as they'd accomplished their task, all of this would disappear again. Chocolate was a one time treat in his life. The sooner he stopped wanting it again the better.
"Were you guys able to look over the class list we gave you?" Doug asked before taking a bite of oatmeal, honey, and milk. Inwardly, Carlos sighed. Yet another part of Auradon he didn't understand. The Prince's gang seemed to believe that because their groups were the only ones on campus they should all hang out outside the dorms. And it wasn't as if they could refuse either. Not if they wanted to stay. After swallowing, Doug continued, "I thought we could finalize your schedules today."
Across the table, Jay grimaced, lips curling, and stabbed his pancake. Carlos didn't have to guess what he was thinking about. The tests they'd tried to take on their third day in Auradon, and ultimately had to take on the fourth day, had been almost as brutal as facing Uma or Harry. Numbers and reading and writing. None of them had truly understood what they were doing and the professor assigned to watch them had had to explain what addition and subtraction were. Even worse, they hadn't known how to give their answers. Finally, the professor had told them to come back the next day—he and Evie had to drag Jay and Mal—where she'd given them another sheet with answers to circle.
The results were exactly what he'd expected; they did not do well.
"Yes," Evie smiled. "There were so many. It's a shame we can only choose one."
Mal snorted, but Carlos agreed with Evie. More of the classes had appealed to him than he'd expected and he really wanted to try all of them. However, even if they could choose more than one he also knew better than to try. They were already assigned three classes and if they were anything like the tests, he didn't think he could handle more than the one he actually got to pick.
"Once you get accustomed to the pace and how everything operates, you'll have more options. You'll most likely get those second semester," Doug replied, gaze focused on Evie, a little dazed.
"Yay," Mal muttered and Jay smirked.
For a moment, Doug faltered. When Evie batted her lashes, his face flushed and Carlos hid his smirk behind a bite of eggs and cheese. "So, um, which courses did you choose?"
"Are there still openings in Sewing and Embroidery?" Evie asked.
"Of course!" Doug nodded, face still red. Flipping through a stack of papers, Doug ran a finger down a list before taking a schedule with Evie's name and adding it to a slot. Jay chose Basic Training, some kind of fighting thing, and Mal chose Ancient History. "Carlos?"
"Um, Animal Handling?" he muttered, keeping his head low. He didn't want to let Doug see how much he wanted to take the class. But ever since the Prince had told him the strange animal was a dog, the cat—Checkers according to the servants who worked at the stables—had been following him around and Prince Ben clearly knew Carlos got along well with animals. The dog followed too, though it kept its distance from him, just watching with big brown eyes. Hiding his connection with animals was effectively impossible for him now. But he could try.
"That's a good course," the dwarf-kin nodded. "I think you'll like it."
Carlos just shrugged. Doug made a few final notes before passing over their schedules. While Mal and Jay ignored them, he and Evie collected all the papers to look them over. Other than their chosen classes, they would be together. An unexpected gift from the gods. One he didn't entirely trust. Something was going to go wrong.
"What's philosophy?" Jay frowned around a bite of toast as he looked over Carlos's shoulder.
All four of them looked to Doug as he considered the question, fingers tapping the table. Finally, he said, "It's a study and exploration of knowledge, rationality, right and wrong, virtues, values, and even existence."
Green flickered in Mal's eyes and Carlos winced. A study of right and wrong? Virtues? That couldn't be a coincidence. And it was going to be a dangerous class. Guessing the correct answers wouldn't be too difficult after hearing some of the others' answers, but there were going to be times when they wouldn't know. Times that would expose them as villains. Dangerous. Cruel. A failure to the Prince's experiment.
Pulse skipping, his gaze darted to Evie. Were they going to be able to do this?
"Sounds like a good way to make us stand out," Mal hissed and Doug cringed.
"It was a requirement of the Treaty's Council," he said. "Ben wasn't able to negotiate its removal. But it's a class that allows debate. There's some flexibility in answers."
"Sure," Mal mocked. "Because flexible thinking is a priority when it comes to evil."
"No! No, that's-that's not at all what I meant," Doug stammered, eyes wide, jaw slack. "It's supposed to-to encourage new ideas and free thinking and-"
Arching an eyebrow, Mal asked, "So we're in the class for the sake of hero kids? So they learn about the real world?"
Doug's mouth flapped like a fish out of water, trying to find an answer. Finally, he just ducked his head and shuffled his papers around. A smart decision. All of them knew why they were placed in that class. What the Council wanted to happen. So none of them saved him by speaking, Jay pointedly digging into his second pancake, Mal glaring as she crossed her arms and leaned back, and Carlos plucking at a loose string at the hem of his shirt. Only Evie offered a small sympathetic smile, keeping her image as diplomatic and friendly, approachable.
Several minutes passed, Mal letting Doug squirm, before their leader pushed away from the table. "Let's go."
None of them protested, all of them slipping contributions for the stashes into hidden pockets, and followed her to the door. When they stepped outside, they paused.
People. There were people everywhere. Servants trailed after people Carlos couldn't believe existed, carrying chests and bags. The princes and princesses and nobles and everyone were practically glowing, all of them smiling and talking and laughing. Perfect. Carlos felt his stomach churn and the feel of a warm, furry body rubbing against his legs kept him from bolting back inside. Checkers. It took all his self-control not to pick her up.
Already, Jay was moving to place himself beside Mal and in front of Carlos and Evie, body coiling and preparing to claim space or protect. Mal's hand drifted towards her knife and Evie's smile became an even brighter weapon.
"Hi, guys!" Lonnie's voice carried over the other conversations as she wove her way towards them. "Looks like everyone's moving in."
"I never would've noticed," Mal monotoned. Only her eyes betrayed her discomfort, tracking the movement of anyone who got too close.
Lonnie just grinned.
"The dorms tend to get really loud during move in," Doug spoke up, still wary of Mal, moving to stand closer to Lonnie and Carlos didn't miss the way Lonnie rested an arm over his shoulders. It reinforced Lonnie's role as their fighter, defender. "Would you guys like to see where your classes will be held? Knowing where to go can help calm first day jitters."
"Ooo. Good idea," Lonnie nodded. "No one else is going to be looking around yet so it's the perfect time."
"I think it's perfect," Evie nodded and Carlos watched Mal's jaw work before she sighed.
"Yeah. Whatever," Mal sneered.
With Lonnie in the lead and Jay taking the last position, they made their way through the crowds and along the Green. Carlos gave in and picked Checkers up, knowing the dog was following along too.