Blamed

Chapter 16 - Unexpected

Thankfully, Carlos was back on his feet. Admittedly, he didn't look or feel great, but he was well enough.
Well enough for Quentin to drag him up to meet Fairy Godmother, at least.

With the shell crystal stored safely in my dragonheart charm, the four of us begrudgingly dragged ourselves out of the woods to meet with Fairy Godmother, Ben, whoever else welcomes the Villain Kids, and the VKs themselves.

When we crossed the treeline, I could see the Limo parked outside the school's main entrance, and almost taste Fairy Godmother's anger and confusion.
As predicted, when we walked into her line of sight, her eyes darkened and she let out a gasp of air.
She began to talk, and although her fury was directed right at me, the sound filtered in one ear and out the other. All I could focus on was the mystified sparkle in the eyes of my boyfriend, Ben Beast.

Her voice faltered, however, when she followed her daughter's gaze to the three figures, new to Auradon.

Naturally, a grin broke out on Gary's face when he saw us.
Where his brother had a connection to Harry, Gary had a strong bond with Jay probably even before they met.
Of course, Jay had always been best friend to Carlos, just like Harry was to Uma, but that didn't stop him admiring the son of Jafar.
As for me - he was a little too.. Physical, being very fond of things like hugs. That doesn't mean I wasn't fond of him, though; it was actually relatively hard to dislike the guy.

Drew Facilier. Like her father, she was completely obsessed with all that voodoo rubbish, spending all her time in her shop with her younger sister, Freddie.
She was the Yin to her sister's Yang, the dark and mysterious to the other's excitable attitude to pretty much everything, the calm and calculated to Freddie's reckless decision-making.
But above all that, she was cool. An interesting character, to say the least. Respectful to people who earn it, and almost friendly to those who return that respect.
She nodded in acknowledgement to our presence, which I returned.

Then there was Dizzy. If any of us didn't deserve to ever have been on that island, it was her. No question.
I could tell that she had put a great deal of thought into what she was wearing; her usually ratty brown locks pulled more neatly into a braid over one shoulder, and her coloured strands interweaved into that. Evidently, she had discarded her usual apron in favour of her best dress. Unfortunately, the 'best' clothing on the Isle is not that much better than the rest of the rags in that dump.
But I knew that Evie would be happy to make her the dress she deserves if- when we find her. Because we will find my best friend.
Dizzy smiled her big cheesy smile at me, eyes twinkling behind her cat-eye glasses, and I couldn't help but give her a wink, which caused her to grin even wider.

Someone cleared their throat. Simultaneously, we ripped our gazes from our fellow Islers to face Fairy Godmother's wrath.
Her hard stare connected to my own and I frowned.
We were in some deep water now. And bear in mind- I can't swim.

"You five," her voice was very stiff, wooden. As if she was bottling all her emotions up inside. "In my office. Now."
I looked at my friends - and Quentin, who isn't my friend- and they too were frowning, just as confused as I was. Jane was her daughter, and hadn't done anything wrong. On the other side of the scale, Jay, Carlos and I were wanted criminals. Why did she want us in her office.
And as for Quentin; he wasn't even enrolled here anymore!

Begrudgingly, the five of us nodded dully to our headmistress--and ex headmistress. And mother.
Obediently, we sloped past the group of people outside, and dragged ourself through the gates.
The whole time, I couldn't bear to make eye contact with the King.

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Jay, Carlos and I. We were all insistent on our eyes never meeting those belonging to the students of Auradon Prep.