A Rebel Princess

Chapter Seven: Hit or Miss

The next day, during study hall, Macaria and Alistair were going to meet up with some of their friends to study for their upcoming Magical History exam. It was one of the more difficult subjects out of all the Auradon classes and it didn't help that they had the most annoying teacher. She didn't like having to explain things more than once and gave hours of homework with questions based solely on her opinion rather than fact.

They chose to take the shortcut by walking past the Tourney field in order to make it on time. Mac felt something brush her leg and looked down to see Dude, the campus dog, sitting in front of her practically begging for attention. "Hey Dude!"she bent down to pet him. She had a bit of a soft spot for dogs.

"Isn't that Ben and Carlos?"Alistair pointed causing Mac to follow his gaze.

On the field was Ben in a yellow t-shirt with a stopwatch and clipboard with Carlos in the start position for sprints. "What are they up to?"

"Ben promised he'd work with him to prepare for Tourney,"he explained, watching them curiously. "Carlos didn't do so well."

"Nobody is perfect at Tourney on the first try,"Mac reasoned with a pointed look on her face. "I seem to remember you falling flat on your face in the kill zone during your first game. You locked yourself in your dorm for a week."

Al glared at her. "We promised we'd never speak of that day again."

"Boo-hoo,"she pouted teasingly. "But the point is, he's giving it a try. He's not as athletically inclined as Jay but it's the effort that counts."

Suddenly they heard a shrill screech and turned to find Carlos sprinting into the woods with Dude and Ben on his heels. "We probably should go help them." He glanced over at Macaria only to find her gone. Looking ahead, she was already halfway there. He facepalmed before going into the forest after them.

"Carlos,"Ben and Mac shouted, slowly catching up to the boy while Alistair trailed behind them.

Dude chased Carlos until there was a fork in the path. Carlos climbed up a tree which only brought him a foot off the ground. He clutched the branches for dear life, calling out for help while Dude was jumping to try and reach him.

"Help!"he screamed, trying to inch himself farther up the trunk. "This thing is a killer! He's going to chase me down and rip out my throat!"

"Carlos, it's ok,"Macaria picked up Dude while Ben and Al tried to get him out of the tree. "He's just a dog, he's harmless."

"Yeah,"Alistair agreed. "He just really likes people and you're new which means you're fair game."

They laughed softly. "Dude, this is Carlos. Carlos, this is Dude. He's the campus mutt." Ben scratched behind Dude's ears while the dog licked Mac's cheek.

"He's an absolute sweetheart,"Macaria brought the dog closer to Carlos who seemed to be calming down. "You can pet him, the worst thing he could do is drool all over you."

Carlos's eyes softened and he reached out a shaky hand to scratch the Dude's ear. "He doesn't look like a rapid pack animal." Mac put Dude in Carlos' arms, allowing him to hold the dog.

"No kidding,"Alistair chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair playfully. "I don't know what the Isle has been teaching you, but here in Auradon there's a saying 'a dog is a man's best friend'. Maybe Dude will be yours."

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Meanwhile, Evie and Doug sat in chemistry listening to Mr. Deley begin class. That's when the door opened and Jasper waltzed in with a note. It was obvious that he did that often since their teacher just took his note, rolled his eyes, and went back to the board.