"𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲'𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞."

     as the group of five pulls into the dark alley in the isle, they all quickly get out of the limo.

     "ben, help me with the tarp." carlos directs, grabbing the tarp with ben. they all help spreading out the tarp over the limo. evie pauses, looking off into the distance and jay does her part of the tarp for her.

"it's really weird being back here." she tells him nervously.

"we'll get in and get out." jay comforts her. carlos calls his name, and grabs the other tarp to cover up the other end of the car. ben walks up to a tunnel.

"what's this?"

"you don't wanna know."

"keep it chill, okay? last thing we need
is our parents figuring out we're here." carlos cuts in. eloise looks at him nervously, and he nods and begins walking. two kids go up to evie and steal her gloves. she begins to try and stop them, but gives up due to seeing herself in them. ben walks off and smiles at random isle people, while eloise sticks with jay and carlos, not wanting to be too smiley to anyone. ben sticks his hand out to shake a guy's hand, and the guy growls just as the four turn the corner.

"ben, stop. just stop." evie tells him.

"why?"

"this isn't a parade, it's the isle."

"keep your hands in your pockets unless you're stealing." jay instructs.

"you either slouch or strut." carlos interrupts.

"and never, ever smile. like eloise." evie nods to the blonde, who hasn't smiled once since getting on the isle. it seems like she was being good at being mean, but she was just nervous and covering it up. it was better than her smiling at everyone.

"okay, thanks-" ben gets cut off by evie.

"no. no thank you's and drop the please too. just... chill."

"let me tell you something you can really trust, everybody's got a wicked side. i know you think that you can never be like us, watch and learn so you can get it right. you need to drag your feet, you need to nod your head, you need to lean back, slip through the cracks, you need to not care- uhh, you need to not stare. you need a whole lotta help, you need to not be yourself."  eloise sung with the vk's, already knowing how the isle was and how to act in it because of evie's stories. "you wanna be cool? let me show you how. you need to break the rules? and i can show you how. once you catch this feeling, yeah, once you catch this feeling, you'll be chillin', chillin', oh, chillin' like a villain, chillin', chillin' like a villain, chillin', chillin' like a villain, hey! chillin' like, chillin' like (hey!), a villain. you draw attention when you act like that. let us teach you how to disappear. you look like you would lose a fight to an alley cat, you gotta be wrong to get it right 'round here! you need to watch your back, you need to creep around, you need to slide real smooth-" ben kicks over a metal bucket. "don't make a sound! and if you want it, take it, and if you can't take it, break it! if you care about your health, seriously, you need to not be yourself. you wanna be cool? let me show you how. you need to break the rules? and i can show you how. once you catch this feeling, yeah, once you catch this feeling, you'll be chillin', chillin', oh, chillin' like a villain, chillin' (hey!), chillin' like a villain, chillin', chillin' like-" ben cuts in. "i really wanna be bad a lot, and i'm giving it my best shot! but it's hard being what i'm not." "well, if you don't, you're gonna get us caught." he's right, we gotta stay low key, now show us how bad you can be." like this? like this?" ben puts on sunglasses and whips out something of jay's he stole. "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!" "oh, yeah. i think i got this, let's go, i'm ready to rock this. and i ain't gonna thank you for your help, i think i found the worst in myself!" "you wanna be cool? let me show you how. need to break the rules? and i can show you how. once you catch this feeling, yeah, once you catch this feeling, you'll be chillin', chillin', oh, chillin' like a villain, chillin', chillin' like a villain, chillin', chillin' like a villain, chillin', chillin' like a villain, chillin' (hey!), chillin' like a villain."

     ben walks ahead of the other four once the song ends, humming. a guy bumps into him.

     "hey, man. hey!" the guy smiles. evie, jay, carlos and eloise all run up to ben without a word. "hey, i know you."

     "uh, no, don't know you either, man." ben tries to play off his worries.

     "uhh, yeah, you do. come on, man, really? huh? dude, i'll give you a hint. my dad is quick, slick, and his neck... huh... is incredibly thick." the muscular guy tells, and they all just look at him in confusion, shaking their heads. the guy notices a poster behind ben, that had mal and ben on it, which was graffitied over. "ohhh! you're king ben!"

     "o-okay, i don't- i don't think so-" ben stutters out, and the vk's usher the two royals away.

     "you totally are king ben! and you're princess eloise! and jay, carlos, evie, hey guys! ahhhhh... uma's gonna love this!" gil exclaims to himself excitedly, laughing and running to tell her.

     as the group of five gets to the vk's old hangout spot, they lead ben to the stairs. he walks up a few steps, before looking back.

     "wish me luck."

     "all the way up." jay tells him, and he walks off. evie wishes him good luck with a sigh, and eloise stands next to her. evie was gonna keep a close eye on ellie, she wouldn't put it past uma to kidnap her or something. the blue headed girl looked over to her blonde, seeing the girl staring off into distance. she was playing off the villain act impossibly well, you'd almost think she was from the isle. if you can get past the fact that she had one of the most recognizable faces in the world, due to being a princess. but evie knew she was just hiding her nerves. she bumped her on the shoulder, mouthing an 'you okay?' and eloise just nodded in response. the group sat in silence until ben came back down with a defeated look.

     "where's mal?" evie asks.

     "she's not coming back."

     "what?! i'll talk to her." evie says, and ben walks off. alone. not a great idea. evie attempts to mal through the speaker thing, and mal tells her to go away.

     "let's give her a couple hours to cool off." jay tells her. carlos has a sudden realization.

     "...guys! where's ben?" they all look around confused and evie calls his name, and they think that ben's walking up to them.

     "ben, don't scare us like that."

     "don't scare you?" a scottish accent remarks instead of ben. the man with black hair looks up with a cunning smile. "that's my specialty."

     "harry." evie breathes out.

     "what did you do with ben?" jay asks.

     "oh! umm, we nicked him. mmm-hmm. yeah, um, and if you want to see him again, have mal come to the chip shoppe tonight. alone. uma wants a little visit." harry tells them, before noticing eloise, slowly walking up to her. "you're a pretty one, eh? wish we could've gotten you instead of the king, you're much prettier..." he flirts, running his hook in her hair. evie pulls the blonde back next to her, shooting harry a 'don't even think about it' look. he stops flirting, but that doesn't mean he's done forever. jay looks at him shocked. "aww, jay. seems like you've lost your touch." jay goes to fight him, but evie pulls him back. harry laughs. eloise thought he was hot, definitely, but... evie's hotter. harry turns around, walking away and whistling.

     "if you guys never would've brought them here, this never would've happened, what were you thinking?! you're lucky eloise didn't walk off with him." mal tells the three vk's off, now up in the hangout.

      "he was gonna come with or without us, we just wanted to protect him!" evie explains.

     "yeah, and we completely blew it." carlos interrupts. 

     "okay, and we can fix this-" jay begins.

     "we are not doing anything. this is between uma and me, and she's a punk. and guess what, now i have to go get him. so go back to auradon, and don't risk anymore auradon kids, alright?" mal states, glancing worriedly at eloise.

      "whoa, whoa, whoa, mal, you're still gonna have to go through harry hook and his wharf rats." carlos reminds her.

     "yeah, you're gonna need us." jay tells her.

     "uma said to come alone."

     "yeah, she said to come alone. i know one thing, i'm not going anywhere." carlos says, sitting down.

     "we'll be here when you get back." mal walks off.

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞:
for some reason, this chapter took AGES to write. anyways, there should be a chapter out tomorrow because i have nothing to do (finally). and yay we met harry and gil! love them both, and harry's got a love interest in waiting.... (not eloise, duh). also, thank you all SO SO much for 1.99k reads?! that's what it's at rn while i'm writing. that's actually crazy i'm so glad people are liking this story, i didn't expect it to gain traction. i love you all!

𝐗𝐎𝐗𝐎, 𝐬𝐨𝐩𝐡.