A/N: I got this account back HEHE YAY. If you saw some of my many panicked messages/comments about losing this acc, I'm so sorry if I've inconvenienced you these past few days by making y'all follow my back-up acc 😅 I really thought I wouldn't be able to access this one anymore since I swear I couldn't remember my recovery details from years ago, but yay I'm back! Thanks for being patient and I hope y'all enjoy this chapter ❤️

"... and then she just stormed off! I don't even get what we fought about, man!"

Right after Meredith's and Carlos's little disagreement, Carlos retreated back into his room, feeling confused and irritated at what had just unfolded between him and the redhead. The moment he saw that Jay was in the room too, he didn't waste time in ranting to him about everything that happened.

"Maybe you —" Jay started.

"Actually, maybe I do know," Carlos went on. "She's going to the cotillion with some big-headed jerk like Chad and I was just trying to tell her that she could do better."

"Look, bro —"

"He's like, the opposite of what Meredith likes, isn't he? She always complains about him being so arrogant all the time, so any friend like me would get annoyed at what she's doing, right?"

"Or," Jay said loudly before Carlos could continue. "You're affected by it because you like her."

"That's crazy, man," Carlos scoffed, jumping onto his bed. "We're just friends."

"Remember that day you were late for tourney afternoon training?"

"What about it? Coach Jenkins is chill about that stuff."

"Um, don't you remember the reason you were late was because you went out just to buy Meredith a frappe?" Jay said knowingly.

"Friends buy each other food all the time. She bought us those chocolate shortbreads after her vacation, remember?"

Jay sighed, sitting up straighter on his bed and staring pointedly at his best friend.

"Come on, you're literally always with her if you're not with me, Evie, or Mal," he said. "Doesn't that mean anything?"

"We're always just doing homework or with Dude. Meredith and I are friends the same way we all are — like family."

Jay groaned and threw a pillow at Carlos.

"Hey, what was that for?" Carlos shouted, catching the large pillow before it hit his face.

"Because you are being so dumb right now!" Jay said exasperatedly. "Okay, look at it this way: imagine kissing me."

"Ew, what the heck, man?" Carlos said in disgust.

"Now, picture doing it with Mal or Evie."

"No way!" said Carlos, throwing the pillow back to Jay who dodged it expertly. "Besides, they're taken. That's even more wrong."

"See? Now, imagine kissing Meredith. If it disgusts you, too, then fine, you see her as a sister or whatever."

"I'm not gonna —"

"Ah, ah, ah, no excuses!" Jay yelled. "Just do it!"

Carlos sighed in annoyance but complied anyway. He reluctantly pictured the unlikely scene of him and the girl about to kiss, but then his mind drifted off to what happened the other night when he was trying to take her back to her room after curfew without getting caught: their faces were so close to one another and he ended up looking at her lips of all places. He felt himself turn tomato red at the memory, but what shocked himself even more was that he wasn't repulsed at the thought of it. Not at all.

"Carlos? Hey, Carlos!"

Carlos snapped out of his daze at the sound of Jay's voice.

"Oh, huh?"

Jay chuckled and leaned back in his bed, pleased with what he had accomplished. It seemed like Carlos finally realized that he had a crush on someone.

"You're whipped, man."

♚ ♚ ♚

"Hi, Jay."

"Hey."

"Jay!"

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hi."

Carlos sighed. It had been three days since his fight with Meredith, and there were also only three more days until the Royal Cotillion. Here he was, still not talking to her, while Jay was having girls falling all over him as they walked down the halls of Auradon Prep. Some of the girls were leaning on the rails, some were sitting on the ledges, and others were even following after him and his friends.

"Why do you torture them?" Carlos asked. "Just pick someone to take to cotillion already."

"I'm going solo," Jay announced with a smirk. "That way, I can dance with all of them."

"Ah! You're the expert," Carlos chuckled before slowing down. Jay noticed and halted in his steps as well. "Um, Jay... if you were gonna ask someone, what's the best way to go?"

"Listen." Jay placed a comforting hand on Carlos's shoulder. "All you got to do... is look like me."

"Oh, ha-ha," Carlos said sarcastically.

"Come on, don't you think you should two make up before asking her out in the first place?"

"W-Who said I'm asking her out?" Carlos said nervously, eyes flitting around. Jay sighed and shook his head.

"You're still denying that you like Meredith?"

"Mal!"

Carlos turned upon hearing that familiar voice — the same one that hadn't spoken to him in days. He froze upon seeing Meredith, who had walked up to his group of friends with Jane and Lonnie on either side of her.

"H-Hey," Carlos said to Meredith. She cleared her throat but didn't meet his eyes when she replied.

"Hi."

Evie and Mal exchanged confused looks, not quite updated on what had happened between those two since Carlos had only told Jay about it.

Carlos kept on opening his mouth and stuttering out gibberish, puzzling not only his best friends but also Lonnie and Jane. Jay shook his head in disbelief and placed his hands on Carlos's shoulders, pulled him away from the girls, and dragged him down the stairs to prevent him from further embarrassing himself.

"Smooth," he snickered once they were out of earshot. "If you can't even apologize to her, how will you ask her out?"

"Shut up, Jay," Carlos mumbled. "I'll find a way, okay?"

"So, you will ask her to the cotillion?"

"I didn't say that —"

"Oh, but you did," Jay grinned. "Stop hiding it already, bro. It'll be easier for you to just accept it."

Back up the stairs where the rest of the girls were, Evie announced, "I have an opening for a fitting at three o'clock. Who wants it?"

"Me!" Lonnie said immediately. She then looked at Jane apologetically, who had also wanted to snatch that fitting schedule. "Sorry."

"Perfect." Evie took Lonnie by the arm before glancing back at Jane to reassure her, "I'll take you later." Then, the two of them walked to the side to discuss Lonnie's dress for the cotillion.

"Uh, Mal?" Jane repeated, getting back to the point of why she and Meredith approached them in the first place. "We hate to keep bugging you, but the decorating committee needs more answers."

"Yeah, and Audrey always used to be the head of that, but we have to pick up after her since she isn't here," Meredith added with a sigh.

"Yeah, so, as much as we hate to, um... you know, um..."

"Bug me?" Mal guessed.

"Right."

"Yeah, Jane, Meredith — I would love to. I just have to get to class," Mal said, already about to leave. But Jane and Meredith couldn't let her go without some answers for the cotillion.

"You know, just nod if you like it," Jane said quickly. Mal sighed but obliged.

"Okay."

"Chair swags, entry banner, twinkle lights, napkin design, table bunting..." Jane swiped past a bunch of slides on her tablet at lightning speed.

"Oh, and you still haven't picked the party favors yet," said Meredith, glancing down at her own tablet with a list of unaccomplished tasks.

"Honestly, guys, whatever you —" Mal began.

"I mean, we can do chains, key charms, pen toppers," Jane went on. "I kind of love the pen toppers, but, I mean, we can do all three —"

Mal's eyes flashed a dangerous shade of green, startling Meredith.

"I say pen toppers," Mal said after taking a deep breath.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," said Mal, forcing a smile onto her face.

"You won't regret it," Jane said convincingly.

"Okay."

Just then, Evie and Lonnie came skipping back to the group of girls.

"I can hardly wait to see what your wedding will look like!" Lonnie gushed.

"Me too — wait, what?" Mal exclaimed.

"The Royal Cotillion is like getting engaged to be engaged to be engaged," Jane explained with a bright smile.

"I knew it!" Evie said triumphantly.

"Well, everyone knows it," said Lonnie.

"I didn't know it!" Mal said frantically. "How come nobody told me that? Is my entire life just planned out in front of me —?"

Ben had come up behind Mal during her little outburst. Evie, Jane, Lonnie, and even Meredith couldn't help but exchange giddy smiles at seeing the young couple in front of them.

"Hi, Mal," Ben greeted.

"Hi, Ben," the four girls chorused teasingly.

"Oh, right," Meredith suddenly remembered. "Ben, can we talk to you for a bit?"

"Sure, Mer."

"Just a quick moment," Jane said, pulling Ben to the side with Meredith following after them.

Jane tapped away on her tablet until she found the photo of the rough draft of Ben's present for Mal.

"All right, they're almost finished with the surprise for Mal's big night. There's Snow White, Belle... but the one you designed for Mal is my favorite."

Ben scanned the photo of him and Mal that he designed to be created using stained glass.

"Make sure her eyes are green," Ben reminded them after a few seconds. He looked over his shoulder to wave at Mal who was still waiting for him. "Uh, see you later."

"Okay," Mal said with a small smile, eventually going down the steps after her friends.

"Which green should I use?" Jane flashed about three samples of different shades of green right in front of Ben's face. He searched through them for a few seconds before finally settling on one.

"This one."

"Okay, got it!" Jane snatched them back from him, quickly taking note of it by writing it down on the screen. "This is so exciting! I'll see you guys later."

Jane scurried away, leaving Ben and Meredith standing by the steps.

"You look stressed," Meredith pointed out.

"Yeah, I didn't realize how heavy the whole cotillion process would be," he admitted. "I already withdrew from the Swords and Shields Team, but it still feels like I don't have much time."

"You should make time for yourself when you can. Why don't you and Mal go on a date? The two of you have been so focused on all this royal stuff lately."

"Yeah, Mal's actually taking me out on a picnic today," he beamed. "I can't wait for it. Hopefully, we can just relax and be ourselves there. Now, speaking of dates..."

"I do not want to take about dates or the cotillion if it's going to be about me," Meredith groaned.

Ben frowned and said, "Why? What happened?"

"I got into a fight with someone about it so I'd rather not bring up the topic again or I might just attack you right here, right now."

"Was it with Carlos?"

"How did you know?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Just a guess," Ben said with a shrug. "What happened?"

"Well, Chad and I are kinda going together, so he approached me the other day to talk about it and —"

"Wait, you're going with Chad?"

"Yes. Well, kind of. Anyway, Carlos was with me at the time and —"

"Mer, you're going with Chad?" Ben repeated incredulously. "You're kidding me, right?"

"I said kind of. We both don't have dates, so we agreed to go together like we all used to when we were younger, remember? You, me, Chad, even Audrey..."

"Oh, Mer," Ben said, running a hand through his hair. "It's different now. We aren't kids."

Meredith huffed and said, "So? It's not like anyone asked me."

"Or maybe someone wants to but they're too scared?"

"What're you talking about?"

"Nothing. Here's a more important question: isn't there anyone you want to go to the cotillion with?"

When the image of a certain white-haired boy who always wore red, black, and white clothes popped into her mind, she felt herself blush. Why did I think of him? she wondered, her heart racing.

"Is that a blush I see?" Ben teased.

"I'm not blushing," she said, pushing Ben slightly. The king chuckled at her words, but he knew his friend better than to believe that lie.

"I think there is someone you'd like to go out with."

"Whatever. He's going to ask someone else, anyway," Meredith muttered, knowing it was no use hiding it. Ben's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"He is?"

The bell rang, signaling that the next class was about to start. Ben and Meredith had different classes, so the redhead began backtracking to head into her assigned building.

"I'll talk to you later, Ben."

"Wait, but —" But Meredith was already jogging down the steps with her head down. Ben wished that he could help his best friend at a time like that. But he had class, too, along with a hundred of other responsibilities as king. So, with a reluctant sigh, he shoved his hands into his pockets and also made his way to his next class.