'Love is in the Air'
2 weeks later…
One morning before class, Emir was at his locker, taking out a couple books before slamming it shut. Once the young prince had put in the combination code into his locker, he turned around to see Shelley standing in front of him. He flinched.
Shelley gave Emir a small wave. "Good morning, Emir!" Her voice was soft as a pillow and sweet like honey.
Emir just blinked at her.
When Shelley saw that Emir wasn't responding and she became slightly worried. Before she could ask, realization hits her as she startled Emir. So Shelley apologized.
"I'm so sorry to scare you like that!" She apologized sincerely. "I didn't mean to!"
Emir snapped out of his gaze and quickly replied, "Oh no! It's fine. I didn't expect you here. Hehe."
"Oh," Shelley flushed. "I was just waiting on you."
Emir frowned. Never he would have thought that a shy girl like Shelley would wait on him, not that he was complaining.
"For…?" Emir asked.
"For class," she replied simply, although there was a hint of obviousness in her tone.
"Oh right, Math class?"
Shelley's blue eyes widened as she shook her head, causing Emir to be confused.
"We're not having Math class now?" Emir questioned, bewildered.
"No, Emir," the dark haired girl replied. "We're having Cooking class now. Math doesn't come until after break since today's Tuesday. Ms. Fauna made you and I partners for Cooking class, remember?" She then tilted her head to the side while staring at the young prince, waiting for a response."
Emir furrowed his brows at Shelley's explanation for a moment, then his memory began to dawn on him as he looked down at the books in his hands; they were math books. He mentally slapped his forehead.
"Crap," Emir said, sighing. "I completely forgot we're having Ms. Fauna now. I guess looking for my missing brother kind of takes a toll on me."
Shelley looked at the young Agrabah prince worriedly. "Your brother?"
"Yeah, Jahir. The one that got mysteriously kidnapped 17 years ago."
Shelley nodded. "I know. I've heard about that tragic story some time now, and Jordan was telling me that you and your siblings are looking for him. Anything new?"
Emir paused for a second before answering. At first, Emir was a bit skeptical about telling Shelley about looking for Jahir but at this point, everyone at Auradon Prep knew that the Agrabah siblings were looking for Jahir.
The young prince breathed as he used his free hand to rub the back of his head. "Yeah. Jay is a very interesting guy but we're not too sure if he's our brother as Jahir was kidnapped as a newborn."
Shelley hummed. "So you guys have a feeling that Jay might be your missing brother?" She arched her brow.
"Yeah, but there's not enough evidence to prove Jay is really our sibling." Emir then shifted slightly after standing in the same spot for too long.
"Ohh.." that's all Snow White's daughter could say. "That must be a difficult task for the three of you to handle, but I hope you guys find him. At least there will be a happy ending."
Hearing this from his classmate made Emir smile gratefully. "Thanks, Shell."
Shelley returned the gesture. "Of course. I'll leave now but I'll save a seat for you in class."
"Sweet!"
Shelley smiled at Emir one last time before she turned around and left.
As soon as Shelley left, Emir was about to turn around when he heard a familiar voice.
"I see that you had a nice lil chat with your girlfriend," the voice said, having a teasing note in their tone.
Emir flinched as he whirled and saw Jay leaning against the locker with his arms folded, smirking at him.
"H-how long have you been behind me?" Emir asked, shocked. He was starting to worry if Jay had heard the conversation.
But fortunately for Emir, Jay shook his head.
"No, I came just as your girlfriend left," Jay replied, still smirking.
Emir blushed intensely. "Shelley…s-she's not my girlfriend," he stammered and felt his throat itching him.
Jay raised a brow at him. "Oh really? Well I'm disappointed."
Hearing this, Emir fixed his eyes at the long haired boy, frowning. "Don't get me wrong, I-I really liked Shelley from a long time since elementary school but I'm too chicken to ask her out because what if she doesn't feel the same?"
"Go ask her out, dude," Jay urged, sounding as if it was nothing.
"I'd love to but-" Emir was cut off by Jay.
"No buts, man. I get that you're nervous and looking for your missing brother but it doesn't kill you to ask the princess on a simple pizza date after school."
Emir digested Jay's words for a moment and mulled over. Jay was right, it wouldn't kill Emir to ask Shelley on a simple date or to hang out with her for an hour just to relieve some stress he and his siblings were having.
After thinking about what Jay said, Emir looked up at his friend and smiled.
"I'll do it," Emir told Jay, sounding confident.
"That's the spirit!" Jay said cheerfully with a grin.
While the two boys were having a small conversation with Jay encouraging Emir, unbeknownst to them, Shelley was listening to everything while hiding behind the wall.
She blushed when she heard Emir's confession that he liked her for a long time. And in truth, Shelley liked him too! And she was glad that Emir had the strength and courage to ask her on a simple date.
'Of course, Emir, I'll go out with you,' Shelley thought.
With that said, the dark haired girl straightened herself as she quietly yet happily went to Cooking class and saved a seat for Emir.
….
"….So you liked Akio, yes?" Jamilah asked.
Elle nodded. "Yeah, I really do. I probably love him even," she averted her baby blue eyes from Jamilah as she lowered her head and began to fidget with her fingers. "But I've been too chicken since 10th grade to tell him that."
Jamilah and Elle were having a small conversation about Elle and Akio's relationship and where it was going beyond. But from the looks of it in Jamilah's perspective, both Elle and Akio, the son of Anna and Kristoff, were too nervous to confess so that they could be a couple.
"So what are you gonna do?" Jamilah asked as she folded her arms.
Upon hearing the question, Elle lifted her head and gaze at Jamilah. For a moment, Elle didn't know at first but she thought again and her eyes widened as if an idea popped into her head.
"I'm going to tell him how I truly feel about him," Ariel's younger daughter replied, sounding sure of herself as she clenched her fist.
There was a small smile appearing on Jamilah's face. "That's the spirit! I had the same thought too! So lemme guess, Akio is the one who made you that cute bracelet?"
Elle looked at the icy bracelet on her left hand and flushed. "Yeah," she replied sheepishly. "I dunno how he used his powers to do it but it worked."
"Aunt Elsa is his Aunt after all," Jamilah smothered a light chuckle and Elle laughed lightly.
"I guess, but thanks Jamie for giving me the boost," Elle said, grateful. "I really appreciate it."
Jamilah smiled. Despite not dating anyone for a moment or ever, she was always happy to help others happily ever after come true.
"Of course, hun. Now go out there and tell him how you feel."
Elle nodded. "Of course! But after Physics class though. Anyways, bye Jamilah!" She chirped as she rolled away in her wheelchair, heading to Physics class.
Jamilah giggled softly as she waved after her friend. Once Elle was gone, Jamilah sighed as she moved away from the locker and started going to Grammar class but she was stopped abruptly by someone appearing behind her and covering her eyes with their hands.
Startled and somewhat panicked, Jamilah asked, "Uh…who's this? I hope I don't think who I think it is." Surprisingly, Jamilah was relatively calm.
"Geez, it took you a while to recognize me? I'm disappointed," the person playfully teased as they removed their hands from Jamilah's eyes and went beside her. Jamilah turned her head to see it was and rolled her eyes.
It was Nina.
"I could have figured it was you," Jamilah said and Nina chuckled.
"Then who else could have been?" Nina questioned and the Agrabah princess shrugged.
"I dunno, to be honest."
Nina hummed as she and Jamilah were casually making their way to class since they weren't in a rush.
"Fair but I noticed that you were being a love guru to Elle," Nina giggled, causing Jamilah to pause abruptly for a second and stare at her friend wide eyed.
Jamilah blinked. "How do you know?"
The crown princess of Maldonia cocked her head slightly to the left side and closed one eye at Jamilah.
"Hmm, let's just say that I caught you right on time telling Elle about getting to Akio," Nina replied.
"So you were eavesdropping?"
"You could say that," Nina shrugged slightly. "But still, that was very sweet of you, Sweetie."
Jamilah blushed. "Aw thanks, Ni. I like to see people happy."
Nina smiled softly at her friend. "You sure do. Now, I have a question for you; do you like Jay?" She moved from beside her best friend and stood in front of her. "It's been weeks now since the two of you are closer than ever and I was wondering if there's a lil something going between the two of you, like a spark?" The dark haired girl proceeded to wriggle her brows, teasing Jamilah.
Jamilah gaped at Nina's question and shook her head shortly after. If she was honest with herself, Jamilah found it annoying that everyone's asking her about her relationship with Jay. Don't get Jamilah wrong, she liked Jay very much but not in the romantic way everyone had thought. She saw Jay like a brother rather a boyfriend.
Jamilah closed her mouth shook her head again before she replied, "No, Nina. I don't like Jay romantically. I saw him like a 2nd older brother to me."
Nina eyed her best friend for a moment suspiciously(she wasn't fully convinced), and Jamilah saw this and rolled her eyes.
"Alright then, fair enough. What about Shang? Do you like him?" Nina asked. "Like really like him since the both of you guys are closer since your breakup with Charming," she had a glint of mischief sparkled in her golden brown eyes.
Jamilah froze at her best friend's question. 'Where is Nina getting at?' She thought.
Seeing that her friend isn't responding to her question, Nina cocked her head to the side slightly and waved at Jamilah. "Hello, Jamie?"
Jamilah snapped out her frozen state and answered, "Shang…"
"Yes, Shang," Nina covered her mouth and giggled. "Y'know, Li Shang Jr? Lonnie's older-" Jamilah cuts Nina off.
"I know Shang, Nina, and I like him, he's a good friend." Jamilah hoped her friend could stop asking her these questions.
Nina raised a brow. "As a friend? You sure?"
Jamilah rolled her eyes, again. "Yes, Ni," she was mildly annoyed.
Tiana's older daughter hummed and shrugged as she and her friend were heading to class with Nina walking back ways in front of Jamilah.
"I dunno Jamie," Nina said, doubtful. "I mean, you're the one telling me that Shang loves to tap your nose and pat your head every time."
"Yeah. That's just him being playful and you were the one asking me about what's going on between Shang and I and our friendship," Jamilah reminded her friend.
"True," Nina nodded in agreement. "But the thing with Shang tapping on your nose, it's a sign that he likes you, probably loves you even."
Upon hearing her friend's last sentence, Jamilah laughed softly. "You gotta be kidding me, you know that right?"
Nina didn't say anything to Jamilah other than pursing her lips firmly. Nina knew very well that her best friend was in denial.
When Jamilah saw Nina staring at her, not smiling, her laughter died down and composed herself.
"Seriously though, Nina," Jamilah began. "I don't think Shang is falling for me because he playfully taps my nose."
Liar.
Nina shook her head and tsked. "You're in denial, Jamie."
"No, I'm not!" There's a hint of a blush dusted Jamilah's cheeks.
"Yes you are!" Nina said in a singsong voice as she continued to walk backwards.
Jamilah groaned. As much as Jamilah loves Nina, Nina was getting on her nerves. Jamilah's main focus was looking for her brother, not falling for her close friend.
"Nina," the young Agrabah princess called. Her voice was calm, yet her tone was stern. "Look I'm gonna make this clear, Shang isn't in love with me just because he likes to tap my nose and pat my head most of the time. If he is, that's his problem. I'm interested in looking for Jahir."
Nina planted her hands on her hips and gave Jamilah a look, not taking her words seriously. "Mhm."
Jamilah's right eye twitched, annoyed. "I'm serious, Nina!" Her fists were clenched at her sides.
Nina flapped her hand back and forth. "Mhm, whatever you say, Miss in denial," she then turned around and walked ahead of Jamilah.
Jamilah shot a glare at her best friend and growled. She doesn't like when Nina teases her like this.
With that said, Jamilah, who was still angry at her friend for not believing in her(why would Nina do that anyways?) walked slowly behind the older girl as they made their way to Grammar class.
….
After school…
Jamilah was alone in the hallway, standing at her locker as she was putting in some of her notebooks and textbooks before slamming the locker door shut and tuning the combination code. Classes were done for the day, and there was no cheer practice today so that means Jamilah could spend extra 30 minutes with Shang in the library since he was going to help her with her Biology homework.
And speaking of Li'l Shang, after Math class, Nina sort of apologized to to Jamilah about teasing her about Shang falling for her earlier but Nina stayed to her word that Shang was falling in love with Jamilah and he was very patient with her until she could tell him how she felt about him. Nina also told Jamilah about giving herself a little break from finding Jahir as it did take a toll on her schoolwork as she forgot about the upcoming Castlecoming and end of term exams, which was going to start in the new weeks.
Jamilah sighed. Nina was right, she definitely needs a mini break, and that's why she was going to spend a little more time with Shang, just to catch up on what's happening in and around school. However, she's only doing this for today and goes right back to find Jahir as she and her brothers were one step closer in finding him.
As Jamilah checked if she had her Biology notebook and text in her arms, she abruptly froze in her spot, as if her feet were suddenly glued to the ground. The Agrabah princess felt a sudden, eerie chill crept up in her spine, like she felt someone's unpleasant presence.
"…."
And she was correct, she did feel someone's presence. Someone that she clearly and explicitly doesn't want to see or near her in the slightest.
"Jamie…" the voice of a male called her.
Jamilah tensed up the moment when she heard the boy called and she knew who that voice belonged to without turning around.
Chad.
Jamilah was trying her best to avoid Chad for several months now after their break up in late November as she knew for a fact that Chad was going to crawl right back to her and beg her to forgive him.
However, she wasn't going to do that. Jamilah wasn't stupid; she knew that Chad wanted her back in his life but she was not going to fall for it.
"Jamie, please, we need to talk…" Chad said, sounding desperate as he slowly took a step towards Jamilah with his arm stretched as if he was reaching out to her.
"No Chad, there's nothing for us to talk about," Jamilah said firmly as she slowly turned around to face the blond. "Plus, I don't want you to step closer to me."
"Please, Jamie! We can straighten this out!" Chad tried to reason as he slowly made his way over to his ex girlfriend.
"No Chad!" Jamilah barked as she instinctively stepped back and leaned against her locker, clutching on her books. Her heart raced rapidly as she had a terrified look on her face.
"Babe please-"
"Don't call me 'babe'! I'm not your babe and please leave me alone!" Jamilah demanded while still in trepidation. "Why don't you kiss your new girlfriend or something?!" Jamilah was sorry that no one was in the hallway, that way she would ditch Chad like she did the last time.
"I-I don't have a girlfriend," Chad stammered, still making his way over to Jamilah. "Stacy and I had a fight and things never worked out. But please Jamie, we need to talk! I missed you…"
As she heard this from her ex boyfriend, Jamilah gasped. The young princess then shook her head in disbelief but then again, this was expected from Chad.
Jamilah lowered her head slightly and let out a small chuckle before looking up at Chad. "No Chad, just no. And for the last time, just go away, please! You've not only treated me like dirt, you broke my heart and trust in the process. Just go." Her voice cracked slightly at the last sentence. Seeing Chad just makes her painful memories of him reopen like a wound that is trying to heal.
"But-"
"You heard the lady, man. Just leave her alone and back off." A voice commanded, sounding stern.
Jamilah's eyes widened as she looked over Chad's shoulder to see who that voice belonged to.
Jay.
Chad whirled around and saw Jay towered over him with his muscular arms folded across his chest as he gave Chad a death glare. Chad gulped and shrunk slightly.
"You heard me, dude. Scram!"
Chad cleared his throat as he stepped closer to Jay, to make it seem as if he could challenge him. Jay noticed this and if he was honest, he was unfazed as Chad was nothing but an abusive, cowardly prince.
"…as you can see, we're having a conversation," Chad motioned his hand towards Jamilah who gave him a look.
"Well as far as I can see, it seems as if Jamilah doesn't want to have any conversation with you and you're overstepping your boundaries," Jay told him.
Chad tensed up but he remained calm. "Look, just because you're an MVP for the Tourney team, doesn't mean you can be high and mighty. Remember, you're just an Isle kid."
Upon hearing this from Charming, Jay scoffed and smothered a light grin. "Yeah right. I may be a VK but at least I never treat women like shit or abuse them."
Chad's hazel eyes widened in shock. "H-how did you-" he quickly turned around and glared at Jamilah as he realized she told Jay about their past. "You seriously had to tell this loser?!" His fists were clenched as he made his way over to her.
"Chad, we're not together anymore and I can tell anyone who I'm comfortable with," Jamilah told him, her voice soft as she cowered in fear which was embarrassing to say the least.
But unfortunately for Chad, Jay violently gripped his shoulder and turned him around to face him, glaring daggers at him.
"I'm gonna say this one more time, asshole. Leave Jamilah alone, she's been through a lot of shit with you already and you're making it worse for her. And if I see you near her again, I swear on my dad's cobra staff, I won't be so gentle with you," Jay's voice was low yet terrifying as he gave Chad a warning.
Chad nodded quickly as he shrunk in fear. "Can you let me go, please?" His voice squeaked.
Jay released his grip from Chad's shoulder, and he scrammed off, almost tripping and falling on the floor. Jay smirked.
Once cowardly Chad was out of sight, Jay paid his attention to Jamilah and made his way over to her. He then helped her up to her feet and had his hands on her shoulders.
"Are you alright, Jamie?" Jay asked gently.
Jamilah looked up at the long haired boy and noticed that his eyes were similar to hers, and they were filled with concern.
"Uh, yeah," Jamilah nodded slowly but she was still shaken up from what had just taken place, and Jay could tell.
"Wanna go to your dorm?"
She nodded slowly.
"Alright then, let's get you to your dorm," Jay said as he gently took the books from Jamilah and wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders, to which Jamilah didn't mind as they made their way over to Jamilah's dorm.
…..
About an hour later….
Shang was in the library sitting in his usual seat as he was writing the discussion in his Human and Social Biology lab book when he quickly paused from his writing to check on his phone to see if he got any messages from Jamilah.
There was none.
Shang frowned. Normally, if Jamilah was running late, she would shoot Shang a text, telling him that she would arrive late for a couple of minutes but now, there's no message from her in the past hour or so, and because of this, Shang became slightly worried. Shang had thought about texting her brothers about their sister's whereabouts but it wouldn't make any sense since he saw earlier that Aziz and Nina went to work after school and Emir was hanging out with Shelley, so they wouldn't know where their sister was.
With that said, Shang sighed softly as he put down his phone and resumed writing his discussion in the lab book while still thinking about Jamilah's whereabouts.
As he was almost finished writing the discussion, Shang's ears perked up on a sound like a chair shifting in front of him and he quickly looked up to see Jamilah sitting in front of him looking stressed and in a state of shock. Shang was immediately concerned when he saw this.
"Jamie!" He called, his voice soft as he was following library protocols. "What happened to you and why were you late?"
Jamilah looked up at him as she pursed her lips before parting them and replied, "I….," she lowered her head and sighed. "I had an unfortunate meeting with Chad."
As he heard Chad's name, Shang's expression turned from concern to anger as he clenched his fists.
"What did Charming do this time?" Shang asked, his voice stern.
"As I was about to leave the hallway, Chad suddenly appeared and said 'we have to talk' when clearly I didn't want to. I repeatedly told him not to come near me and he still made his way over to me. Um because of this, I was in fear and thankfully, Jay came and saved me. Chad…I dunno, it seemed like he wanted to hit me because I told Jay about him, but Jay gave him a warning about him coming near me, and he won't be so lucky next time," Jamilah explained. Although, at the ending of her sentence, it sounds as if she was incoherent with her line of words.
As soon as the long haired girl explained to Shang about what happened to her in the hallway, she could see the rage intently in Shang's dark eyes. Jamilah even saw Shang's knuckles turned white.
Jamilah then bit her lip. Even though she was relieved of telling Shang about her ordeal with Chad, she couldn't help but worry. Sure, Shang was genuinely a nice guy (he hated the word nice because he doesn't want people to take advantage of him), he could be intimidating when someone tries to hurt someone he deeply cares about. Case in point, Chad trying to hit Jamilah or at least harming her.
After a couple of moments, Shang closed his eyes and breathed while unclenching his knuckles before opening his dark eyes, fixing them on Jamilah's brown ones.
"Well, I'm glad that Jay stepped in and saved you from Charming," Shang told her, his voice calm. Jamilah could tell that Shang was upset in his tone. "But I'm sorry that I wasn't there to protect you and smash Chad's stupid face in one of the old lockers."
Jamilah smothered a chuckle. "You don't have to be upset, Shang. Jay has already dealt with that jerk."
"I know, but still."
Jamilah nodded in understanding. "Also, another reason I was very late was after Jay followed me to my dorm, I was relaxing a bit when Audrey called me and we started having a conversation in her dorm."
"Audrey?" Shang frowned. "Did she tell you that she was leaving today?"
"Yeah…but how did you know?" It was the Agrabah princess's turn to frown.
"Anxelin told me before I came here," Shang replied. "Poor girl though. I mean sure, Audrey may not be the typical nice Auradon girl but doesn't deserve what happened to her at Tourney the other day, right?"
"Right," Jamilah gave a slight nod as she curled her small fingers on the table and bit her bottom lip. "Though despite that, I'm still shaken up by Chad as he not only says 'I miss you,' he just reopened painful memories of the time when I was his toy, and it's hard for me now to be comforted."
Shang stared at Jamilah for a moment as he digested everything she had explained and hummed softly.
"I completely understand," Shang said. "And I know what to make you feel better."
Jamilah raised a brow. "What?"
"This," the older guy gently pushed his chair back as he got up from his chair and walked around the table, causing Jamilah to turn in her chair. Shang drops to one knee in front of Jamilah and her eyes widened in surprise when Shang did this.
"Uh Shang….?" Jamilah had no idea where her friend was going with this.
"Shhh…" Shang gently shushed as he cupped Jamilah's cheeks with his large and warm hands, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs.
The princess blinked then blushed when Shang caressed her cheeks in an attempt to comfort her.
"…."
Shortly after he caressed her cheeks, Shang leaned over and pressed an extra soft kiss on Jamilah's forehead, to which took Jamilah by complete surprise.
"…..!"
After the kiss, Shang rose to his feet and pushed his hand in his pants pocket and produced a small red bag, containing something that seemed like candy and gave it to Jamilah.
"Here, I made those gummy bears for you," Shang told her. "I made them this morning during Baking class for our assessment and the rest is saved for the upcoming Castlecoming."
Jamilah gasped softly as he looked down at the bag in her palm, then fixed her eyes at Shang.
"Oh Shang…" she breathed and a small smile broke out on her face. "Thank you so much!"
Shang smiled. "You're welcome. How are you feeling now? Are you comforted?"
Jamilah nodded quickly. "I feel more at ease now."
"I'm glad to hear."
The two stared at each other, especially Jamilah as she looked straight into Shang's eyes. Unlike Jay, whose eyes were filled with concern earlier, Shang's eyes were filled with comfort and…love.
Jamilah's smile grew slightly wider. Nina was absolutely right, Shang was falling for Jamilah and she could definitely see it now. And at this point, she doesn't mind as she too felt the same slowly but surely.
Love is definitely in the air between these two.
AN: I'm alive folks! Remember to like and post a review! It means so much to me!