“Yeah, I went with Lonnie. We got drenched,” said Jane. “It’s my favorite of the Auradon celebrations too.”
They passed Audrey and the cheerleaders, who were squealing and holding their pom-poms while congratulating the team. Jane twirled a lock of her hair around her finger and glanced wistfully at them. “I was thinking of trying out for cheer,” she said. “But that seems silly, right?”
“Why would that be silly?” asked Carlos. “You should try out if you want to.”
“But I’m just the mascot,” said Jane. “Mascots aren’t cheerleader material.”
“That’s not true. Look at me, I never thought I’d make the tourney team,” he told her, swinging his paddle absently.
“Really?” asked Jane. “I thought you and Jay were recruited the minute you got here.”
“Jay was,” said Carlos. “I was more of an accidental addition. Coach saw me running away from Dude and put me on the team. I used to be scared of dogs when I got here.”
Jane giggled. “That’s funny.”
“See, if I can do it, you can.” He smiled.
“But you’re, like, brave and all,” she said. “You guys stood up to Maleficent. You can do anything.”
Carlos tried not to laugh at her assessment. But he had to set the record straight. “No way, I’m not brave. I was scared the entire time. Ask Jay. Or Mal. Or Evie.”
Jane was surprised. “Really?”
“Yeah, I’m scared of a lot of things. I’m also scared of heights. And my mom.” He shuddered.
“Aw, come on, everyone’s scared of your mom.”
“You got that right.” He turned to Jane and smiled. “But cheerleaders are definitely not scary. Come on, what do cheerleaders do? I’ll help you practice. Aren’t tryouts for the new season next week?”
Jane nodded. “Yeah. I was thinking of maybe auditioning.”
Carlos bounced across the field. “Come on, let’s practice flips. I’ve seen you do them in the mascot costume!”
Jane laughed and stepped out of the rest of the costume, leaving the outfit in a pile on the grass. She was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. “Okay! Let’s do it!”
She did a bunch of cartwheels and backflips, and Carlos taught her how to do a one-handed cartwheel that he’d picked up from R.O.A.R. training. She taught him the Auradon cheer, and the routine that went with it, and by the end, they flopped together on the grass, red-faced and out of breath. “That was fun,” said Jane.
“You’re really good,” said Carlos, and he couldn’t stop smiling.
“You think so?” she asked shyly.
“So you’ll try out?”
“Yeah. Why not.” Jane laughed again. She stood up and brushed her knees, her eyes twinkling like stars from her mother’s wand. “Me, a cheerleader…I mean, stranger things have happened, right?”
“Like villain kids going to school in Auradon?” said Carlos with a smile.
“I guess so,” said Jane. “Did you ever think you guys would end up here?”
He shook his head. “Honestly, it’s the last thing we expected. It was a total surprise, and we didn’t even want to go.” He recalled that day so vividly, how their parents had schemed and pressured them into going to Auradon as part of their evil plan.
Jane didn’t expect to hear that. “You didn’t?”
“No, I mean, we were raised to believe bad is good, and all we knew was the Isle of the Lost. But our parents were determined to send us here so they could have their revenge.”
“Thank goodness you guys didn’t do it,” said Jane.
“Yeah. It’s weird. I never thought I’d be over on this side of the barrier, but it feels really natural now,” he said, thinking of all the good things in his life now that he lived in Auradon. His dog, Dude, for one, and his solid gang of friends for another. Even Jane, he thought. If he’d never moved to Auradon, he wouldn’t have met her.
“What do you want to do when you get out of here? Auradon Prep, I mean,” she asked, as they left the field and walked onto campus.
“What do I want to do when I grow up?” Carlos thought about it. “I don’t know. Something with computers, maybe? What about you?”
“I always thought I’d be like my mom,” said Jane.
“Headmistress?”
“No, I meant like someone who grants people’s wishes. But now that magic is discouraged, I guess I have to go back to the drawing board,” said Jane. “Which is totally fine. Although, I was sort of looking forward to suddenly popping up when people are crying and changing everything so that they get their heart’s desire.”
“You like helping people,” said Carlos.
“I guess I do,” said Jane. She smiled and blushed, as if she’d revealed too much of herself. “Come on, race you back to the dorms. One, two…”
But before she even said three, Jane was already running, holding her mascot costume in her arms.
Carlos yelped and ran to catch up with her, following the sound of her laughter all the way to the buildings.
Jane had a sweet, lovely laugh, and hours later Carlos discovered he was still thinking about it.
After saying goodbye to Ben, Mal burst out the library doors and crossed campus, weaving her way through a crowd of students rushing out of their classes, and headed to study hall. Evie deployed the emergency-text option sparingly, so Mal knew it was serious. When she finally arrived back at their room, she found Evie sitting on the bed with Arabella, who was sniffling and wiping her eyes.
“Mal! Thank goblins you’re here,” said Evie.
Thank goblins? Things must really be serious if Evie was slipping back into Isle-speak. Mal took a seat across from Arabella and tried to look comforting.
“Tell Mal what you told me,” Evie said to her friend.
Mal thought that maybe Arabella, who was new to Auradon Prep, had some kind of first-year problem. The villain kids all had questions when they’d first arrived too: Was it okay to eat as much food as you could from the refectory? (Jay) Could you take as many classes as you could fit into your schedule—or even take two classes at the same time, if you worked really fast? (Carlos, of course.) Evie had wanted to know if they had to wear uniforms (they didn’t), while Mal’s only question was where she could acquire purple spray paint (the art studio). Although it had to be more serious than that, since Evie’d texted SOS.
“I have a big problem.” Arabella gulped and wiped her eyes. She was shaking. Hmmm. Definitely not the usual freshman drama, thought Mal.
Evie soothed. “Big problems are Mal’s specialty.”
“Okay,” said Arabella. She took a deep breath. “Remember when I went to my grandfather’s reception at the Seaside Festival yesterday?”
Mal nodded.