V - Haunted (Red's POV)

When I woke up on Saturday my phone was blown up with messages. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes to see what everyone was talking about on social media, and then it hit me. On the school social media there was a picture of me. And Chloe. We were kissing. My heart fell to the floor, beating out of my chest. I didn't know what to do, or what I even could do. Would it be considered bullying? Would our parents be able to see it?

After some thorough digging I found out that our parents would not be able to see it since it was shared on a school network and not a public one. Whoever did this wanted psychological warfare. I pulled up the original post and it was none other than Henry. Of course he would do something like this, Chloe turned him down and for him to see her kissing a girl? It was too good for him to pass up. I didn't know how to tell Chloe about this, but surely she would know by now. She was always awake earlier than I was. But if she knew about it already wouldn't she have told me? I still had no messages or phone calls from her.

The comments under the photo were what really got under my skin. Some of the comments were sweet, saying things like how Chloe and I should get together already, that we'd be a cute couple. But those were few and far between. Most of the comments were mean, we were called slurs, like dyke or fag. I didn't know how to feel. Who were these people that thought they could just comment on my life? I throw my phone across the room, and bury my face in a nearby pillow, screaming into it.

I needed to get away, even just for a day would be enough. I needed someone. I needed Maddox, but he was back home in Wonderland. I didn't have another choice—I guess I'd be going back home for a while. I took off my Castlecoming dress and just left it on my bed, I would deal with it later. I grab an empty bag and toss some of my clothes in it carelessly.

In this timeline, the rabbit hole remained open because my mother was never evil, so my way home was a pretty straight shot. It wouldn't be a long trip, maybe an hour at most. I wouldn't even need to drive anywhere or interact with anyone thankfully.

As soon as I stepped outside, people's heads darted my way, staring at me. I gave them all a look that could kill Hades and continued walking. Some of them even turned to their friends and whispered about me. I didn't like this feeling, of people watching me, talking about me like I wasn't there, it made my stomach feel like it was doing somersaults. Soon enough I was on my own, walking through the path in the woods. Out here it was peaceful, quiet, no one could stare at me or whisper to their friends about what I did or didn't do.

When I got home I went straight to Maddox's place. I didn't bother to say hi to my mom because I knew she'd pelt me with questions about why I was home and what was going on, and I wasn't quite ready for that yet.

"Maddox?" I shout whenever I enter his room. I throw my bag down on the floor and plop into his favorite chair. If I were anyone else he would have a fit, but it's me so he's okay with it.

"Who's here?" Maddox shouts as he enters his room, scanning around until he lays eyes on me. "Princess! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Auradon."

"Well I'm here right now so oh well," I say nonchalantly.

"What's wrong? I would've thought you'd be excited to finally be out of Wonderland for once," Maddox says, hinting that he knows something is up. A part of me thinks he's not affected by the Pocketwatch, and that he knows Chloe and I went back in time.

"Maddox, does the Pocketwatch work on you? Like…if someone traveled back in time, would you know?" I asked, fiddling with my nails.

"Yes, I would know. You really think I would make a time machine that would affect me? Come on now, Princess, use your brain." Maddox laughs at me.

"So you know? You know about me and Chloe going back to fix my mom? You knew all this time and you never told me?" I shoot questions at him.

"Well, we never really got the chance to talk about it, did we, Red? But yes, I knew." Maddox answered.

"Oh my God, all this time I thought Chloe was the only one I could talk to about this but now you'll understand everything so much better," I started.

"So why are you back home? What happened at Auradon to make you want to come back to Wonderland?"

I sighed, not knowing where to really start. "Well, let's see, there's the fact that I kissed the daughter of Cinderella and Prince Charming, that sounds like a pretty big deal."

"You what?" Maddox said, his face in an expression of shock.

"I mean, she kissed me, but I kissed her back."

"How do you feel about her? After all, to kiss her back you must have some sort of feelings for her?"

"But it's not that simple, Mads. That kiss? It was just a slip of judgment for her. She never really meant to do it. After we kissed she ran away and wouldn't return any of my phone calls or texts. I'm scared. I feel like I lost one of the few people that actually cares about me."

Maddox sighs, taking in what I told him. "I appreciate you being so open with me, Red, I know it's hard for you to talk about your feelings. But, if I may ask, what did the kiss feel like?"

I laughed, thinking back to that moment. "It felt…it felt good, like it was supposed to happen. It felt like fireworks. She was so gentle with me, too. If she hadn't pulled away a second time I probably would've kept kissing her."

"What do you mean 'pulled away a second time?'"

"Oh, we kissed once, and then she pulled away, and we kissed again. Guess I didn't tell you that part."

"No, you didn't." He pauses, "Well, if you two kissed more than once, I'd say both of you have the same feelings for each other."

"But how? How do you know?"

"You did something not once, but twice. Once is a mistake, twice is a choice, Red. She kissed you because she likes you, and you kissed her back because you feel the same."

"But what would my mom say? About me liking someone? And dating? And what about dating a girl?"

"Red, your mom isn't the same mom you grew up with. The mom you have now wants you to find love, and she doesn't care who you love, just that you love."

I mull over his words, letting them sink into my brain. I guess he's right. How can we kiss twice and both times be a mistake? And for me to kiss her back? Of course I felt the same way. I'd tried to suppress it and hide it for too long. I needed to tell her, and maybe she'd tell me she feels the same.

"Can I stay the night? Just for tonight, I promise," I asked Maddox. "And please, don't tell Mom about any of this, not yet at least. I don't think I'm ready for that yet."

"Of course you can stay, and I won't tell her anything. She'll never even know you were here."

"Thanks, Mads." I say gently. "Oh, and that's not even all of what happened either."

He raises an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"Yeah, so Chloe was originally supposed to go to Castlecoming with some guy named Henry but she wound up telling him no after he touched her where she didn't want to be touched. So in retaliation, he took a picture of us kissing at Castlecoming and posted it on the school network." I show him the photo that Henry took and Maddox's eyes go wide.

"First, there was definitely something in that kiss, and second, you have to tell your mother. I know you don't see her as this loving, kind person quite yet, but in this timeline, she would raise hell for you. She would have that picture down by the end of the day today if you told her." Maddox says.

"But I can't tell her. I'm not ready. It's not that I'm scared of how she'll react, it's just… everyone expects me to be straight, you know? And telling people that you're not normal, that's a big deal. I'll tell her when I'm ready and when everything clears up between me and Chloe."

Maddox lets out a defeated sigh, but he knows he could never force me to do anything I didn't want to do. "Okay, but if people start bullying you because of that photo, you need to tell someone, it doesn't matter who."

"They already have," I sighed. "People are staring at me and whispering to their friends. The comments on the picture are so…mean. I thought Auradon would be more accepting but clearly I was wrong. That's why I can't tell anyone, and neither can Chloe. We would both be bullied relentlessly and we would never get away from people gawking at us."

"I know this may be tough to hear, but maybe it's because they've never been exposed to your type of relationship before. They may have never seen a relationship with two girls or two boys. I think once you and Chloe establish who you are, they'll wear off after a while."

"But how could we get through the initial problem? People staring and whispering, the hateful comments, it might be too much for Choe."

"Red, if there's anything I know about you, it's that you're fearless. You do what you want when you want and you protect the people you love. There's no doubt in my mind that if anyone tried to hurt Chloe, you'd hurt them worse."

He was right. People had hurt Chloe and I'd always defended her, I'd always come back at them harder than they were with Chloe. When people saw us standing in the hallways before that picture, most people didn't even try to talk to her around me because they were scared about what would happen if they upset her. It didn't matter what people said about me, I didn't care. Auradon Prep was just high school and I'd only be there for four years, well, technically after this year I only had a year left. I had to tell Chloe how I felt about her, she didn't deserve to hide herself because of other people. She needed to be her true self, and I know that's what Cinderella would want for her daughter.

I spent the night in Maddox's room. It wasn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. The times when my mother would punish me I would hide out here and he would take care of my wounds for me. I remember one time when I was thirteen I'd done something she didn't particularly enjoy and she lashed me with a whip for hours. My back became nothing but bloodied gashes, some of them so deep they needed stitches. I didn't dare to cry, either, to show her any kind of weakness, because that meant she'd just keep going and would whip me harder. There's still a few faint scars on my back, mainly where Maddox had sewed the gashes closed. I'm surprised Chloe never commented on them because we always change in front of each other. Maybe she had just never noticed them because she's never seen them up close before.

That night when I tried to sleep I just couldn't. It wasn't the same. Maddox's place used to be a safe haven, a place I knew I wouldn't be hurt but now, it just felt empty without Chloe. The lack of her near me was haunting. I had grown so used to having her with me that her absence made it even more profound that I needed her. It was Monday now but classes weren't in session, they never were after big events like Castlecoming.

As the day drew on, I wondered if Chloe was thinking about me, she had to be. I mean, if I'm thinking this much about her, surely she's thinking this much about me. I wondered if she listened to the voicemails I left her. If she did she probably thought I sounded so goddamn desperate it was laughable. I'd begged with her to come back, to talk to me. I'd apologized for wanting to kiss her so much and for how I reacted. Maybe it wasn't enough. I needed to go back to Auradon and talk to her face to face. I couldn't just call her and talk about this. I had to see her reactions, her facial expressions, and hear how her voice changes.

It was around noon when I started packing up any of the clothes I'd strewn around Maddox's room. I couldn't take it anymore, I had to go back. After we said our goodbyes to each other, and I even let him hug me, I headed straight for the rabbit hole, back to Auradon where my blue-haired princess was hopefully waiting for me.