Ava sighed as she collapsed onto her couch. She had just finished a meeting with Ben. Ben had decided to make Ava part of his royal court and make her his second in command, like a royal advisor in a way. She was basically the Queen, but she didn't have that title, yet she still worked alongside Ben. They had a ceremony three days after Harley arrived, and the poor girl is already stressed. Her friends try to cheer her up, but the only way to get her mind off of things is by tinkering or working in her lab. And that means losing sleep. She still gets her nightmares, so it's not like she was going any better within those six months.

She heard the door open and her a.i. spoke. "She's in the living room, Carlos. And telling you now, she's a little stressed."

"A little is an understatement," Ava called out. Carlos followed the sound of her voice and he saw her on the couch, rubbing her temples with her fingers. He gave her a soft smile and he sat down next to her. "How'd the meeting go?" Carlos asked, hoping that his crush wouldn't blow up on him.

Ava never blows up in front of anyone, though. She always keeps her cool and she never yelled at anyone out of stress. Ava gave Carlos a pained smile and sighed. "Stressful." Carlos frowned and he put his right hand on her left thigh. "Hey, if anyone could do this, it would be you. I mean, you're an Avenger."

Ava smiled at Carlos' attempt on making her feel better. "Yeah, well, I'd rather deal with that than this. . . At least I don't have to wear outfits like this," said Ava as she picked at her grey sweater.

Outside of meetings, Ava wore whatever she wanted, but whenever she did had a meeting, she dressed ladylike.

She hated it.

Sure, she can dress classy, but she'd rather wear shorts and band tees rather than business casual.

"Well, you still look beautiful. Even in pajamas."

The two turned bright red at what Carlos had just said, and the boy quickly moved his hand from her thigh. "Uh, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a walk? Clear your mind?"

"Oh, I would love that. Really. But I have another meeting in twenty minutes and I have to go find Ben. You could join me, until then?" Ava suggested and Carlos saw the hope in her eyes. He agreed and Ava sent him a grateful smile. He knew that she wanted to take her mind off of things, and hopefully, he could do just that.

"Boss, Jane is approaching."

Ava let out a sigh.

"She probably wants to talk about Cotillion. I'm sorry, Carlos. Maybe some other time, yeah?"

"Um, yeah, it's fine."

Ava sent him a small smile and the two stood up and walked out of the house. Just as Jane was about to knock, Ava opened the door and was almost hit by the girl.

"Oh my - I'm so sorry!" Jane apologized, but Ava laughed. "It's fine, Jane. I should've let you knocked, first." Ava then turned to Carlos and let out a small sigh. "Uh, I'll see you later?" Carlos nodded and Ava reached up and placed a kiss on his cheek. She then linked arms with Jane and the two girls walked away.

Over the past month, the two have been flirting nonstop, and they were certain that the other person liked them. The only thing was them waiting for the other to say something.

Jane looked back at Carlos then over at Ava and studied the look on the girl's face. "I interrupted something, didn't I? I'm so sorry, I can come back later and - " "Jane. Jane. Jane! It's fine, honestly. And we were just talking." Jane nodded rather reluctantly and the two continued walking - Ava searching for Ben and Jane talking to her about Cotillion.

Jane got a call and quickly left Ava with a sorry look. Ava only smiled, and when she turned a corner, she found Ben and Mal.

"Ben!"

The two looked up and they smiled at Ava. "Hey, Mal. Look, I'm really sorry about this, but Ben, we have another meeting to attend to." Ben looked down at his watch and he frowned.

"Which we're going to be late to."

Before Ben could kiss Mal goodbye, the blonde was turned by Evie. "If we don't do a fitting for your dress, you'll be dancing in your bathrobes. You too, Ava, but we have your fitting later tonight." Ava nodded. She would rather not annoy or get on the bad side of Evie. She's never truly seen her bad side, and she never wants to.

Mal waved at her friend and boyfriend before Evie dragged her off. Ben then sighed and turned to Ava. "Well, let's get going." The two linked arms and walked over to the castle.

🕸 🕸 🕸 🕸 🕸

Ava and Harley met up with Mal and the others and they were currently heading toward class. Ben gave Ava the rest of the day to go to her classes, but Ava still felt stressed. She walked on Mal's right, the two girls holding hands, as Evie walked on Mal's left, and the three boys in front of them.

"God, I need coffee," Ava muttered.

Everyone noticed that she still hasn't been getting proper sleep, and they were surprised to see her still standing. They would've thought after six months of only getting two to three hours of sleep a night, she would've crashed by now. But Ava is a strong and stubborn force. They've learned that the hard way.

Many girls began to greet Jay, and Carlos scoffed. "Why do you torture them?" "Yeah, just pick someone to go to Cotillion with already," said Harley. "I'm going solo, boys," Jay told them. "That way, I can dance with all of them."

"Ah, you're the expert," said Carlos. He then suddenly stopped. Dude wanted to keep walking, so Ava smiled and took hold of the leash off of Carlos' hand. "Um, Jay. . . If you were going to ask someone, what's the best way to go?" Carlos asked after looking at Ava. The girls had stopped too, but were ahead of the boys. Dude was being scratched by Ava.

"Yeah. . . I need some help too," Harley admitted and Jay scoffed.

"Look, all you need to do, is look like me."

Harley rolled his eyes and Carlos said, "Oh, ha, ha." The three then caught up to the girls right when Jane approached them. "Mal, Ava." Harley straightened up and lightly blushed as he smiled at Jane. "Hey, Jane."

"Hi."

Ava and Carlos shared a look and everyone watched the two. "I was wondering. . . Uh. . . If you liked the carrot cake last night." Ava almost slapped her forehead, but Carlos quickly grabbed her hand. "I had the pumpkin pie," Jane told Harley with a smile. "Oh. Uh, cool." Jay and Carlos then grabbed Harley and dragged him away. As they walked away, Carlos waved at Ava, and Ava waved back. Lonnie then joined the group and Evie stepped forward. "I have an opening today at three, who wants it?" "Me! Sorry," said Lonnie. Lonnie and Evie went to go talk and Mal and Ava stepped forward.

"I hate to keep bugging you guys, but the decorating committee need answers." Ava smiled as she rubbed her temples. "So as much as I hate to, you know, um. . ."

"Bug us?"

"Yeah."

"Jane, we would love to, but we just have to get to class," Ava answered her. "You know what? Just nod if you like it." Jane began to list many things, and both girls kept nodding, agreeing with them. Right now, they don't really care for decorations. They've both been so stressed, but they just decided to go with it so they hopefully won't be bothered again later.

"And Mal, you still haven't picked the party favors yet."

"Honestly, Jane," Mal started, "whatever you think - " but Jane cut her off. "I mean we can do chains, key charms, pen toppers. I kind of love the pen toppers, but I mean we can do all three." Mal reached out and held onto Ava's arms as she felt her eyes turn electric green. Mal then smiled over at Jane.

"I say pen toppers." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "You won't regret it."

"In coming call from Ms. Potts."

Ava looked over at Mal, and Mal waved her off. "Go. Duty calls." Ava sighed and nodded reluctantly.

"Please answer, C.L.A.I.R.E."