My Anchor ~ Harry Hook

CHAPTER TWO

Pushing through the crowds clamouring to get a glimpse of the villain kids arriving at Auradon Prep, Aria suddenly feels an overwhelming sense of guilt. Her and the rest of the Auradon Prep kids were treating them like animals on the other side of a cage. Close enough to see and gawk at but too far to touch and really connect with. It was disgusting.

Guilty feelings aside, she continued to push through the crowd in a probably futile attempt to find the twins. After tripping approximately four times and having her foot stepped on twice, she was ready to let the ground swallow her up. She had spoken to far too many strangers today.

'Finally, there you are! Have you been here this whole time?' Aria questioned the twins, who had yet to acknowledge her existence to their right.
'Uh huh. Not moved a single inch,' Astrid half-heartedly replied, craning her neck further to see them.

'Who are their parents again?' Ajax asked to his general vicinity. Astrid mumbled, 'I dunno, don't much care either,' before climbing onto the grand water fountain in front of them in an attempt to get a better vantage point.

'Erm Maleficent, Jafar, Cruella, and the Evil Queen, I think,' Aria responded helpfully, trying to recall her many conversations with Ben about the topic.

As though being snapped from a trance, the twins whipped their heads around, staring at her as though she had three heads. 'Malef-WHO?! That cheeky bugger is insane!' Ajax exclaimed, his eyes popping out of his head.

'Hey, I'm sure they aren't that bad; they're good kids who grew up in a shitty situation. Don't be so prejudiced, Jax.' Aria defended them, not totally believing her own words.

'There's a saying that goes, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Ria, and it most definitely applies in this situation.' Astrid cut in before Ajax could retort.

Aria didn't have the energy to fight with them over this topic again, so instead of telling them off for what felt like the millionth time, instead, she sighed and turned to walk off, but not before rolling her eyes at them. Ajax and Astrid ignored her; this was a common theme with them recently. Aria would defend the new arrivals while the twins would attack them, leading to Aria walking off every time. She made her way to the main entrance of Auradon Prep, which was barren now that the crowd had dispersed, having gotten their fill of drama for the day. Well, barren except for Ben and-

'Audrey and I are heading to lunch. Do you wanna join?' Ben asked her as Audrey weaved a possessive arm around Ben's, causing Aria to fight a laugh at how ridiculous it was. She slowly trailed her eyes from Audrey's arm up to Ben's face. giving him the most sarcastic smile she could muster and forcing a cheery 'Sure! Why not?'

Well, this will be fun.

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After at least thirty minutes of Audrey's mindless chatter about the latest gossip and the new trends, which clearly bored Ben to death but only provided amusement for Aria, who sat eating her sandwich, her eyes flicking between the two almost comically, she decided to stir the pot a little bit.

'You know Benny Boo,'. which caused daggers to be shot at her from Audrey. 'I really think this whole VK thing was really, truly an incredible initiative' She said it with as much enthusiasm as possible. Ben squinted his eyes at her, trying to figure out her end goal, but she simply smiled at him and moved to rest her chin on her open palm, looking at Audrey.

'Don't you think so, Audrey?' She teased, drumming her fingers on her cheek.

'Ria. Don't.'. Ben warned her.

'Don't what, Benny Boo? Just making friendly conversation. Isn't that right, Auds?' widening her eyes to punctuate her question tauntingly. Audrey avoided her gaze and turned towards her phone, obviously pretending she had a notification. 'I'm sorry, Benny Boo, something came up. I'll see you later.' which caused Aria to snort as Audrey made her way back to the main school.

'You know Benny Boo I think I finally know who would be a good match for Audrey,' she mused as she watched the back of Audrey's retreating figure.

Ben sighed 'Who?' he questioned. Aria looked him dead in the eyes and said, 'Boyfriend of the Year or Chad the Man, as Ajax has oh so affectionately nicknamed him.' going back to her food happily. After a minute or two of silence, she looks up to see Ben staring at her. She gives him the look of, Oh, come on, you know it's funny, before Ben bursts out laughing uncontrollably, wiping the tears from his eyes, before asking her what she thought of the Villain kids.

'I mean, I haven't really met them yet, but at a distance, they just seem like scared little kids who don't know who they are, especially not here.' She offered her thoughts.

'Yeah, they aren't that much different from you when you first got here, you know. Maybe you should try to talk to them, get to know them, and make them feel seen. It might be really helpful for them,' he suggests.

'Yeah, maybe,' she halfheartedly agrees.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Fucking chemistry.

Aria hated chemistry. She had consistently been the lowest scorer in the class, with a big fat F- on her test each time.

She didn't even know F- was a thing.

However, as a chorus of quiet gasps rippled through the room, she realised that maybe chemistry is too bad after all. Evie Grimhilde had walked in the door, her head held high but clearly embarrassed to have so much direct attention on her. Aria immediately understood this tactic; it's a way of fitting in and creating a sense of security for yourself so as not to leave yourself on the outskirts. It's an everlasting craving for the attention and love you know you deserve. Evie's eyes scan the room before falling to the seat next to Aria. She breathes deeply before making a beeline for her. Despite Aria's attempts at defending the villain kids, she can't help but feel apprehensive as Evie lowered herself into her seat. However, Ben's voice echoes through her mind.

'They aren't that much different from you when you first got here, you know.'

She takes a deep breath before turning to face Evie. 'I'm Aria, but you can call me Ria; you know only if you want to,' she says, immediately regretting her words. In response, Evie's head snaps up with a confused expression on her face.

'I'm Evie.' She replies cautiously, as if testing the waters.

'Well, it's very nice to meet you, Evie. How are you liking Auradon so far?' Aria questions already settling recognising that Ben was right.

Of course he fucking was.

'It's beautiful. It's just that I miss the Isle and my family. You know you're the first person to talk to us without a reason.' She replied as she too became more settled.

'I get it,' she sympathised before seeing Evie's doubtful look. 'No, really, I do. I didn't know anyone when I first arrived, but it gets better, I promise,' she said, reaching for her hand.

'Really? ' Cause I-' she is cut off by Mr. Delay's stern voice telling them to be quiet, sending them into a fit of giggles, but leaving Aria wondering what Evie was going to say.