After their first night at Auradon, Carlos got up earlier than Jay in the morning. His mind was still reeling from last night's events; unbeknownst to everyone else, he and his friends didn't just get settled in Auradon Prep that day. They managed to escape the school and dormitory to find Fairy Godmother's wand kept safely in a museum, which Carlos himself had found in the first place with his knowledge on how to research using a computer (which Jay had unsurprisingly stolen).

He had mixed emotions. Deep inside, he felt sort of bad for being the one to find the museum after researching, and he was the one who stopped the sirens after the alarm was set off when Jay touched the force field using his wittiness. At the same time, he felt a sense of pride; maybe now, his mother would be proud of him for something else besides being the one to properly dye her hair.

"Jay," Carlos hissed, hitting his friend's head. In response, Jay groaned and turned over in his bed. "Get up, man."

"Why?" Jay whined, slapping Carlos's hands away.

"We can eat more chocolate and candies while we're here."

Although he was still groggy, Jay's eyes flew open.

"Alright, then."

Slowly but surely, Jay began to get ready for the day together with Carlos. Less than twenty minutes later, both of them were dressed in a brand new set of clothes (fortunately for Jay, they didn't have to wear uniforms) but with the same color combination they would always use. Jay had chosen a maroon sleeveless leather vest over some long shorts and opted not to wear his beanie today. Carlos wore black pants and a plain white shirt with a jacket similar to what his mother would wear. They, including Mal and Evie, were all used to dressing up to mirror how their parents looked, and it just grew on them over time.

Of course, Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos met up together before getting breakfast. They didn't want to admit it, but they didn't like the stares of everyone as they walked. They didn't know if they were being judged already, which for some reason made them all feel uneasy when they should have been used to the idea that they were outcasts. Hopefully, everyone was just curious about them.

Meredith was eating with Ben, Chad, and unfortunately Audrey that morning in the dining hall. Meredith's company knew how she was always quiet during breakfast, so they didn't question her when she ate silently while discretely eyeing the movements of Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos as they came into the cafeteria.

"Hey, Mer," Audrey annoyingly called out the redhead even though she knew she didn't want to be spoken to just yet. "Do you think that Mal girl, and Evie, are pretty?"

Despite the fact that she was irritated, Meredith still pondered on her question.

"I don't know. Mal has nice hair and Evie has cool outfits."

Audrey gasped as if Meredith had offended her.

"But they've been living in the Isle of the Lost all this time. That can't possibly be true."

Meredith resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"To each his own," Ben cut in calmly. With those words, Audrey finally quieted down.

"Her, in this case," Meredith couldn't help but correct, causing Ben to grin and for Audrey to roll her eyes.

Meredith had her first class of the day with Ben. Following that, she had a class with Chad and one of the new students, Jay — both boys barely paid attention in the discussion. Finally, Meredith had a free period in which she headed to her dorm to drop off and pick up a few of her belongings before deciding to go to the student lounge to relax.

Jane was in the room by that time already, and this time, she wasn't startled.

"Hi, Meredith," she greeted.

"Hey, Jane," Meredith replied without glancing at her. "What's up?"

"I have to give something to my mom in class," Jane said anxiously, putting on a sparkly sky blue headband that suited her short hair.

"Don't you always do that?"

"Yeah, but it's in Remedial Goodness 101. The special class for the new students."

Meredith was still suspicious of them, but she wasn't afraid like Jane. She grabbed her book from the side table before facing her roommate, offering, "I can walk with you there since I'll be heading to the lounge later."

"Oh, great! The lounge is right next to the classroom they're in." Meredith smiled at the coincidence. "Thanks, by the way."

"No problem. Let's go."

♚ ♚ ♚

Meredith could practically feel Jane's nervousness radiating off of her as she clutched the folder she was meant to deliver to her mother. The redhead kept quiet, not knowing how to comfort her since Jane is a naturally fidgety person and honestly doesn't socialize much, so it was understandable that she'd be nervous.

As Meredith and Jane approached the classroom, she could already see the four new kids sitting in just one row, the girls and boys next to one another respectively.

"Correct, Mal," Fairy Godmother was saying, looking pleased. "Again."

"You are on fire, girl," Carlos said, sounding impressed.

"Just pick the one doesn't sound like any fun," Mal was telling him as Jane and Meredith stopped by the door. Meredith gestured for her roommate to move, but she didn't budge.

"Just go," Meredith said in a low voice, urging her to walk. Unfortunately, since there was barely any noise in the classroom in the first place, the students and Fairy Godmother heard Meredith speak from the back. All eyes turned to hers and Jane's direction, and she shrunk back a bit, leaning on the doorframe casually as if she hadn't disrupted their lesson in the first place.

While Mal, Evie, and Jay watched Jane walk over to her mother (who squeaked as she walked by them, of course), Carlos's eyes lingered on the redhead girl — the one who had been upfront and genuinely nice to him for just a few seconds the day before, besides Prince Ben. He couldn't help but stare; she intrigued him but he didn't know why yet. Perhaps his first interaction with an Auradon local was getting to him and he was just overthinking it.

Meredith noticed Carlos's gaze and waved at him in an attempt to get some reaction out of him. All Carlos did was hesitantly nod at her instead before facing the front of the classroom where Jane now was, having reached her mom. Meredith shrugged at the boy's lack of response. It wasn't like she wanted to be friends with him and the others anyway — at least, for now. She still had that little voice in her head that warned her that these people could be as villainous as their parents even though she tried to see them in Ben's point of view. It had only been a day since they arrived, after all, so who could blame her?

"Hello, dear one," Fairy Godmother greeted Jane, but Jane obviously did not like the attention as the only other students in the room stared at her. Meredith couldn't help but snicker a bit at her reaction.

"You need to sign off an early dismissal for the coronation," Jane informed, her voice barely audible due to how fast and quietly she was speaking.

Fairy Godmother nodded, taking the folder from her daughter's hands.

"Everybody here remembers my daughter Jane?" she said.

"Mom, no —"

"Everyone, this is Jane. Jane, this is everyone."

"Hi," Jane reluctantly mumbled. In return, she got intimidating and bored stares from everyone else in the room. "That's okay. Don't mind me. As you were."

She bowed strangely before scurrying down the aisle again, even giving another little squeak as she passed by Evie, Mal, Carlos, and Jay, then she finally reached Meredith at the end of the classroom.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Meredith said encouragingly, nudging the girl in light blue.

"Sure," she replied unconvincingly. "I'm going to go now. Thank you and goodbye, Meredith."

Meredith sighed, glancing one more time at the kids from the Isle of the Lost. She wondered if she would ever get used to the idea of them.

A/N: GUYS BOOBOO STEWART REPLIED TO MY TWEET 🎉 I tweeted him like two weeks ago asking him to wish me luck in my exam and he replied a few days ago! I saw it quite late and my heart felt like it literally dropped HAHA ❤️ All he said was that he hoped it went well but I'm still really happy *throws confetti everywhere*

Oh, and how did you like this chapter? I know the story is moving pretty slowly, but that's just how I like writing relationships HAHA. So you'll mostly be seeing Carlos and Meredith's friendship for a lot chapters 😅 Please go vote and comment as well because I really appreciate it! Thanks 💕