A/N: Here's the outfit Meredith wore in this chapter (edit: it's 2020 now and I changed the outfit bc I kept cringing at the old one HAHA it was so... 2012 and idk why 🤡)!!

Meredith had her last class of the day with Ben, Mal, and Carlos. Ben was as generous and approachable as usual, and while Carlos was very neutral about his actions, Mal was slightly ruder — although that may just be her sarcasm that many kids from Auradon weren't used to. Meredith didn't have the right to call her out for being rude though, seeing as she was quite a sarcastic person as well. Nevertheless, that didn't stop Ben from being nice to her and Carlos. He was clearly trying his best to make them feel at home, and Meredith had to admit that his efforts were endearing.

Ben and Meredith stepped out of that class, chatting about the school's team and the upcoming tourney game.

"Tryouts haven't been completed yet?" Meredith asked Ben disbelievingly.

The prince nodded with a sigh.

"Yes, they haven't, but they hopefully will be today. Coach said he wanted to wait for the new students to come, and he wants them to try out."

"You mean Carlos and Jay?"

"Yeah. Actually, Fairy Godmother was the one who reminded me a few hours ago to tell them to tryout for the team. I approached them earlier today, and I only hope they'll take a chance and show up later."

"I'm sure they will. They don't seem like the people to not take risks," Meredith said reassuringly even though she personally wasn't sure about the idea of them joining a sport either. Although none of girls and boys from the Isle of the Lost gave her a reason to find label them as trouble yet, she still imagined a few scenarios of Jay and Carlos cheating during the tryouts or tackling someone for the fun of it. After all, weren't they raised in the Isle to fight when things didn't go their way? She tried her best to shake off those thoughts, knowing that from what she's seen so far, they were pretty decent people. Hopefully, they would remain that way.

"Thanks, Mer —"

"Benny-boo!"

Meredith suppressed a groan as Audrey and Chad came into view, cutting Ben off and ending their conversation.

"Hello, Audrey," Ben smiled, making his way to his girlfriend. Meredith had no choice but to follow and meet up with them and Chad. "What's up?"

"I was just telling Audrey this joke I heard from one of the guys," Chad explained. Together, the four of them began walking down the hall.

"What is it?" Meredith urged.

Chad and Audrey stared at each other couldn't help the grins on their faces. Finally, Chad mustered up his courage and began telling Meredith and Ben the joke he heard. The two found it funny enough to chuckle, but Chad and Audrey thought it was hilarious even though they've heard it many times.

As they turned a corner, Chad and Audrey still couldn't help but burst out laughing as if it was the most hysterical thing in the world. All of a sudden, they stopped their laughter and halted in their steps. Ben and Meredith sent them questioning looks, and as a response, Chad tapped them both then pointed at something — or, someone.

"Those kids are trouble," he said lowly.

Simultaneously, Ben and Meredith turned around to find Mal putting her books back into her locker, which was spray painted nicely but bore the words LONG LIVE EVIL. Evie, who was next to Mal, was bidding her goodbye, subsequently leaving the purple-haired girl alone.

"Come on, Chad," said Ben, slightly more serious. "Give them a chance."

Meredith didn't say a word, honestly torn between who to side with. In the beginning, she would've agreed with Chad right away. But after Ben's many talks with her these past few days and after their arrival, she began to notice how they weren't as troublesome as she thought they would be. If she would say so herself, her opinion was slowly starting to change. Still, she was leaning to the side of not trusting them just yet, so she kept her mouth shut.

Audrey let out a small giggle, pulling her shades up. She grabbed Ben's hands, saying, "No offense, Benny-boo, but you're just too trusting. Look, I know your mom fell in love with some big, nasty beast who turned out to be a prince." Then, she faced Meredith with that same bright smile, but Meredith made sure to show her how weirded out she felt with her facial expression.

"What?" Meredith asked the girl in pink with an unimpressed face.

"As for you, I know your grandmother became a huge, scary bear but was returned back to her wonderful self," Audrey told her exaggeratedly. "But, guys, with my mom, the evil fairy was just the evil fairy—" She gestured to Mal who was still standing by her locker obliviously. "— that girl's mother." [EDIT: I realized I made a mistake in saying it was her mother and not her grandmother who was turned into a bear, sorry! Fixed it already :)]

"I think you're wrong about them," he stated simply, gently pulling his hands away from his girlfriend's. "I'll see you later. Hey!"

Chad had a look of disbelief and Audrey sighed loudly as Ben called out for Mal. Ben started heading towards her, so Audrey stomped off while Chad paused for a moment, not knowing who to follow until he finally chose to go after Audrey. On the other hand, Meredith went on her own way silently, perfectly fine with being alone — well, not really. She actually wanted some company at the moment, but her only choices were two self-centered teenagers and a busy soon-to-be-king.

♚ ♚ ♚

"Which villain took away Ariel's fins for the price of her voice?" Meredith read aloud. It was an extremely easy question, yet once again, she had forgotten if it was either Ursula or Morgana.

Magical History wasn't Meredith's best class. She wasn't very good at memorization; she was more into the understanding of topics, but any subject in history required memorizing something.

Carlos was making his way towards the school field to follow Jay. He was supposed to be trying out for the sports teams, but he didn't know which one just yet. All he knew was that they were called the Knights, and that Jay was much more excited than he was that he even left the room they shared five minutes earlier than he did.

As he walked down the halls of the dormitory, he spotted Meredith. The redhead was doing her homework while sitting on the third step of the stairs, blocking half of the pathway, and she had suddenly read out a question that Carlos heard and knew the answer to.

"It was Ursula," Carlos blurted out.

Meredith jumped a little in surprise, nearly dropping the highlighter and pen she held in her hand. Immediately, she whipped around to find Carlos standing there, giving her a sheepish look. He was a bit embarrassed. They had never talked to each other like Ben did with all of them, and the last time they really interacted was when she waved at him in class. Moreover, it was really just on their first day that she actually spoke to him — that time he had chocolate on his face.

As for Meredith, she didn't know whether to be impressed or annoyed. Firstly, she was already quite smart, so when some stranger — okay, fine, acquaintance — blurted out an answer before she thought of it, it was a slightly... different feeling. Secondly, this was the son of a villain, so she still didn't know whether to ignore him or at least treat him civilly because he was just like any other teenager their age.

"Uh, thanks," Meredith finally said to him, writing down the answer on her paper.

Carlos shrugged in response, and as he trudged down the last few steps, he couldn't help but glance at the next question on the girl's paper. His stomach did a flip at the question he read, but he still answered.

"The next one is letter C," he muttered. "I would know."

Meredith was about to give a snarky remark about why he was so sure and why he still kept on answering her homework for him when she never asked. But, she hit her lip when she looked at the next number on her homework. In her head, she read: Who was the deranged woman who had an obsession with dogs, and what breed was it?

At any other time, Meredith would've laughed at the weirdly stated question. But now that she was next to son of the woman being spoken of, she felt uncomfortable.

"Sorry," Meredith said to him.

"Why?" said Carlos, surprised. Meredith wasn't exactly sure of herself why.

"Well... I don't know. You're not offended, right?" Meredith cringed right after she said that — it was such an odd way to ask him if he was okay.

Carlos let out a chuckle, but stopped instantly. Should he even be showing his amusement? Does that count as making friends? He isn't here to make friends, right?

"No," he answered her. "It's just weird to see a question about my deranged mother."

Meredith cracked a smile and thankfully, Carlos did too, showing that he wasn't offended at all.

"By the way," Carlos added, a little more shyly. "Do you know the way to the field?"

Knowing that place too well from all her morning jogs, Meredith answered him at once.

"Cross the road and just head to the school. It's basically just behind it. You can either walk around the building or enter the front doors and go straight ahead — you'll find it easily either way."

Carlos nodded, trying to take note of everything she said.

"Alright. T-thanks."

Would his friends think it was too nice of him to thank a classmate? Or would they think that befriending people here would make them less suspicious, therefore showing how mischievous he is? He wanted it to be the latter, because he was actually enjoying talking to someone who wasn't Mal, Evie, Jay, or Ben for once. It felt... nice.

Meredith nodded back at him and went back to her work. She didn't know why, but she couldn't stare down at her paper for long before she decided to sneak a peek at the platinum blonde boy who was now leaving the dorm.

She wasn't used to being friendly with lots of people. She always stuck with her usual friend group: Ben, Chad (when he wasn't being arrogant), and even Jane sometimes. She knew part of it was because she wasn't very approachable and she just didn't like stepping out of her comfort zone too much, so talking to someone else, even for just a minute, besides the only three people she ever spent time with was a good change. It was Carlos, though — one of the kids from the Isle of the Lost. She had to be careful. For all she knew, he and his friends had some crazy mission to take over this school.

Meredith shook her head as Carlos disappeared from her sight, leaving her with skeptical thoughts about him. Was he really smart like he sounded a few seconds ago, or did he cheat during their History Fairytales class and look that up somewhere? Was he a genuinely friendly person, or was he and his friends tricking everyone at Auradon Prep before showing their true colors?

Meredith felt ridiculous for thinking that way and guilty for judging them at once, but it was hard to change her long-standing belief that they weren't as rotten to the core as she was told.

A/N: I hope you all understand that Meredith's just being cautious of the four students from the Isle of the Lost. She's eventually going to warm up to them like many of the other people from Auradon Prep, so don't worry 😉 Oh, and please vote and comment because I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks 💘