Wicked Heart Beat - A Listen To Your Heart Book

Insecurities

Carlos was staring at his friends cheering on Jay, Ben and Chad. Mal, Evie and Lonnie were literally fangirling.  Carlos chuckled. Lonnie and Evie had finally rubbed off on Mal. But then again, Mal was a girl in love. That must feel nice. Carlos looked over at the marching band and caught Doug stealing glances at Evie every once in a while. He turned to the field and saw the guys kicking butt.

He frowned. So Doug was super smart and had musical talent. The rest of the guys were super athletic. They all had girlfriends and Jay could literally get almost any girl he wanted. Where did that leave him? The scrawny awkward guy who was way to close to his dog. Who couldn't even keep a date for prom. Was he pathetic. He considered going up in the stands with his friends, but suddenly he wasn't in the mood to watch his friends be better than him. He decided maybe a nap would suit him better.
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They had won! Auradon had won! The first time in 20 years, Auradon had won the tourney championship! The close group of friends were all surrounding the tourney players. Ben and Chad lifted Jay up in the air and soon the rest of the tourney team helped them and all shouted.

"MVP!"

"MVP!"

"MVP!"

Eventually they put him down and all the girls hugged him. Even Audrey stuck her hand out, but Jay hugged her anyway.

"Eww!" She squealed. "Jay get off of me! You're all sweaty and gross!" She pushed him off.

"Well in that case," Jay said. He hugged her again, this time Ben and Chad joining.

"Ew! Ew! EW!" Audrey yelled. They eventually let her go and she started hitting them all.

"Ok our turns," Mal said and she and Lonnie hugged their respective boyfriends. Doug and Evie were holding hands in the side, waiting for     their turn. After the boys released their girlfriends they hugged their favorite mascot, Jane.

"Well you did an awesome job out there Jane," Jay said.

Jane blushed. "Really? Because Lonnie helped me with some dance moves."

"Well I must've taught you well," Lonnie laughed. "Because Jane, you were killing it."

Jane only blushed more. The older kids laughed. Finally Evie and Doug came up and hugged their friends. Evie held out three varsity jackets she had made for the entire team.

"Evie, these are wicked!" Chad said. "In a good way, of course."

"Mine even says MVP!" Jay said.

"Instead of my name, you put King?"Ben laughed. Evie giggled.

"Of course. There's a million Bens, but only one  King." Evie explained.

"Aww, that's so sweet. Thanks Evie," Ben said.

"Um, has anybody seen Carlos?" Mal asked, looking around.

"Wasn't he with you guys?" Jay said.

"He ditched us right before the game started and we haven't seen him since." Evie explained. 

"Why exactly did he ditch you?" Ben asked, smirking.

"We may have been pestering him a bout something and he got upset. He's probably in his dorm and mad at us," Evie said.

"Based on what happened," Mal said. "I think we give him some space. He'll come to us when he's ready."

"Well, why don't we all have lunch at my castle!" Ben announced. "Lumiere has a delicious meal waiting  for us."

"I'll catch up later," Jane said. "I have to take this mascot costume off. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be my own knight in shining armor."

Everyone laughed and said their goodbyes. Jane made her way to her dorm. She arrived and took a quick shower, but avoiding washing her hair because that would take forever to dry. She changed into a simple light blue dress and nude flats. She looked at herself in the mirror.

She frowned. She was chunky. She wasn't as naturally thin as the other girls. Nor was she as tall. Her face was still the mess it had always been. She sighed. She'd never be as perfect as her friends. They all had boyfriends with the exception of Audrey. She chuckled. Audrey had a thing with Jay and was currently dating Florian Jr. And what about her? The only guy to ever ask her out, cheats on her. She couldn't even last 2 hours without him ditching her.

What did she even have to offer? Mal was beautiful and amazing at drawing and baking. Evie was super smart, great housewife material, gorgeous and a budding fashion designer. Audrey was well off, a princess, beautiful, and a cheerleader which meant she was athletic. Lonnie was beautiful, tall, edgy, and an amazing dancer.

Where did that leave her? She was just plain Jane. She wiped away the tears that were staining her cheeks and fixed her makeup. She grabbed her purse, put on a brave face, and  went on her way to Ben's castle.