𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬

FOUR.

It was the middle of the night when the five VK's got back to the school. The boys and girls split up to go to their separate dorms and Ruby reluctantly went to chance in the bathroom. She changed into a pair of black shorts and a red, high-collared top. When she left the bathroom, she saw Mal and Evie getting into their beds. Ruby shut of the lights and went to lay in her bed.

She doubted sleep would find her anytime soon. She always had trouble falling asleep. Her mother was unpredictable and it wasn't uncommon for her to throw a tantrum just because Ruby was asleep when she needed something from her. Red Queen throwing a tantrum was never good and whenever Ruby was the cause of them, it didn't end well for her. This caused Ruby to be alert at all times. Relaxing enough to allow herself to fall asleep was hard and rarely happened.

After tossing and turning for a while longer, Ruby decided to get up and walk around for a little while. This sometimes helped her clear her mind and she hoped it would work this time as well. Quietly opening and closing the door of their dorm room, Ruby started wandering the hallways of Auradon Prep. The halls were dark, the only light source came from the lanterns outside, shining in small rays through the windows, casting many shadows across the walls. Ruby didn't mind this, though, it made her feel more comfortable. It reminded her more of the Isle this way and less of Auradon's overly happy atmosphere that annoyed her.

Ruby rounded another corner when she bumped into something and fell backwards on her butt. She heard someone else make a sound and realized that she hadn't bumped into something but rather someone. This realization caused her to quickly try to get her dagger from her boot, only for her to remember that she was barefoot. Cursing under her breath for a second, Ruby looked at who it was she'd bumped into. It took her a moment to figure out who it was but she soon realized it was Prince Ben. She was about to cuss him out when he spoke up before she could.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there. I was too deep in thought, I guess. You okay?" Ben asked, sounding sincere. Ruby was taken off guard by his question and even more so when he held out a hand for her to help her off the ground. Ruby looked from Ben's hand to his face. His piercing green eyes were warm and kind and he had an apologetic smile playing at his lips. Ruby shook herself out of her thoughts and ignored Ben's hand, getting up on her own.

"Well, next time watch where you're going," She snapped. Ben was slightly taken back by this but did a good job hiding it. Ruby dusted herself off and looked at Ben with a blank stare.

"I will. Are you sure you're okay?" He asked again.

"I'm fine," Ruby grumbled and moved around Ben to continue on her walk. Ben followed her and fell in step beside her. Ruby didn't know why but hid her frown and raised an eyebrow at Ben instead. "Anything else?" Ben shrugged.

"I just figured you might like some company. What are you doing up so late?" He asked. Ruby didn't understand why he was attempting to have small talk with her. She hadn't given him any kind of encouragement to do so and had been nothing short of rude to him. It was nothing personal, really, Ruby was just rude to everyone as a way to keep them away from her. It had worked nicely on the Isle and she couldn't understand why it wasn't working on Ben. Small talk really wasn't part of her forte.

"None of your business," She snapped once again. Another attempt to get Ben to back off, but like before, Ben didn't seem to get the memo. Ben studied her face, but Ruby didn't react to his intense staring.

"Couldn't sleep?" He guessed. Ruby didn't reply. Ben took this as a yes and continued, "Why not?" Ruby wasn't in the mood to explain or talk about herself, so she redirected the conversation.

"Why are you up this late?" She asked. Ben smiled when she reacted to him with something other than rudeness. He was intrigued by the girl and why she felt the need to be rude to everyone she came across.