There was one thing that Meredith, daughter of Merida, could never be brave about: being open to change. In her defense, her grandmother did turn into a bear because her mother was bold enough to accept a deal from a witch, so she'd rather not let h...
At three in the afternoon, Carlos made his way to the tourney field, now knowing exactly where to go thanks to Meredith's directions. But, the place made him remember how awful he did at tryouts yesterday. He was proud of Jay, his best friend, and his performance, but he felt lame and talentless for not doing as good as him.
Upon nearing the open field, he first spotted Ben clad in a yellow t-shirt and dark blue joggers. Next to him stood a girl with wavy, bright red hair, attempting to tame it by pulling it up into a ponytail: it was Meredith. She was wearing a simple pale green shirt and black cycling shorts, obviously having changed out of her previous outfit from when she was teaching Carlos how to find the average atomic weight of an element for their Chemistry class. Carlos forced himself not to pay attention to how good she looked. He wasn't here to make friends, so all the more he shouldn't be doing that, right?
"Carlos!" Ben called out, being the first to notice the boy from near the bleachers. Meredith looked up when Ben called his name and waved at him with a small smile.
"Hey," said Carlos as he neared the two.
"Why don't you go warm up first? I left my clipboard in the locker room and I need it for recording your performance, but I'll be back soon."
Carlos nodded wordlessly at Ben's instructions, then the prince jogged away from them in a hurry. He then walked closer to where Meredith stood as she did some light stretching as well.
"So, what are you doing here?" Carlos asked her right away.
Meredith paused and put her hands on her hips.
"Do you not want me here?"
"No, no, I —"
"I'm kidding," the redhead reassured, laughing at how quickly Carlos retaliated.
Carlos raised his eyebrows and said," Did you really just make a joke?"
"I just teased you."
"I thought you were incapable of being funny. You know, with how serious you always look."
Meredith was slightly surprised at how much Carlos was now talking and how he caught up with the playful banter. But when he mentioned that she was always serious, she exclaimed in denial, "I do not look serious!"
Carlos grinned, knowing Meredith lost this round.
"You kinda do."
Meredith gave up on teasing the boy and huffed, really pondering on if she did look serious all the time.
"Do I really?"
The boy in black knew he had the upper hand here and shrugged. Meredith wanted to know if she really did look serious all the time — was that why people thought she wasn't approachable?
"Fine," she sighed loudly. "Don't tell me. Now go and stretch or else you'll fail later."
Carlos' lips curled upwards in amusement. Did he actually just manage to joke around with someone who wasn't from the Isle of the Lost and didn't get offended? Was he even making a friend? But, more importantly... should he be doing this? He wasn't here to be friendly with everyone. He was here to prove himself to his mother that not only could he do other things besides being her slave, but that he could also be evil.
He shook his head from those thoughts and decided to focus on actually warming up like Ben and Meredith instructed. Meredith continued to stretch as well, and after a few more minutes, Ben came running back to them, now with a clipboard and pen in his hands.
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