FROZEN HEART ━━ 007

( FEELING HOMESICK )

          BEFORE AUDREY'S WORDS, Ellie already missed her home in the kingdom of Arendelle where her mother, aunt and uncle were. After she let the things Audrey said sink into her mind, she started to miss her home even more so. She never felt like she belonged in Auradon but she was still grateful that she was given a chance to be so much more than what people had already thought about her. Although she was still uncomfortable on the first day she arrived at Auradon Prep, she started to realize that it was a chance for her to make a name for herself instead of walking in her mother's shadow.

          "Penny for your thoughts?"

          Ellie craned her neck and realized that the voice belonged to Carlos. She smiled as she invited him to sit in the empty seat across from her. As soon as he sat down, she closed the book her mother gave to her on the day of her departure and sat up straight.

          "I miss my home," she said bluntly with a heavy sigh.

          "Arendelle?" the white haired boy questioned.

          Ellie clicked her tongue and smiled tightly. "That's the one," she said.

          "When you said that Ben was the reason we were here, did that include you too?" Carlos asked.

          "You got that right. When people hear my name, the first thing that comes to mind is who my mother is and what she did in the past. Freezing hearts and cursing lands with eternal winter because she was scared and didn't know how to control her power. That's what people can't seem to understand. When you have such power, you don't know what to do with it so you don't know how to use it. And when you don't know how to use it, you don't know how to control it," Ellie sighed as she looked at the cover of the book.

          "Can you control yours?"

          "Still a work in progress. I didn't even want this power."

          Carlos sighed. "What's so important about that book of yours?"

          "It was my mother's journal. Everything here is about her experience and how she learned control. It was the only thing of her's I brought with me when I came here," Ellie said while holding the book tightly. "Did you bring something of your mother's to keep her close by?"

          Carlos shook his hand and folded his hands on top of the table. He said, "I never really had a good relationship with my mom. She was the one to yell at people to make them run from her and I was usually the one on the receiving end of it all."

          "Do you ever miss her despite how she treated you?" Ellie asked.

          "I don't hate her but I wish she just wasn't so obsessed with the power she had and lost and tries to maintain. It wasn't ice magic but it made people scared of her," Carlos said while shrugging his shoulders.

          "Carlos!"

          The blonde girl and the white haired boy turned around and saw Mal walking right up to them.

          "Hi," Ellie said with a small wave, although Mal didn't pay her any mind.

          "Carlos, we need to talk. Say goodbye to Frosty," she said.

          "Actually Mal─"

          "It's okay, Carlos. Just go," Ellie said while smiling encouragingly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

          Carlos sighed as he stood up and followed Mal towards the dorms. Ellie picked up her mother's journal after a while of sitting at the table alone and started heading back to her dorm. When she got there, Kaia was sitting on her bed with a notebook in her lap and a pencil in her hand.

          "Enjoy your time alone?" the brunette asked.

          "Actually, I wasn't really alone. I talked to Carlos before he had to run off with Mal," the blonde said as she sat down on her own bed and kicked her shoes off her feet.

          "Carlos, as in the son of Cruella De Vil?" Kaia asked as she paused her writing to look at Ellie.

          "Well as I recall, he's the only Carlos we know," Ellie said. "He's not bad."

          "Just because you don't think he's bad, doesn't mean we can trust him or any of those kids," Kaia said.

          "Do you say that about every new kid that steps foot here?" Ellie questioned.

          Kais scoffed, "What is that supposed to mean?"

          "You didn't trust me either when I started going here. The first few days we spent together as roommates, you barely said a word to me and when you did, it was about my power," Ellie said as she recalled the first memories her mind formed when she was a new student at Auradon Prep.

          "I didn't know if you had control or not. Your mother didn't learn control until she was twenty-one years old," Kaia remarked. "Why are you getting so worked up over this?"

          "Because everyone here thinks that my only path is my mother's path. I'm not my mother."

          "You inherited your mother's magic─"

          "I don't want it! I never asked for this and I don't want it! Any of it!"

          "Then why are you trying so hard to control it if you don't even want it?"

          "Because I don't want to disappoint my mom!"

          Kaia scoffed as she grabbed her stuff. "Until you get yourself together and figure out what it is you really want, I'll be staying in Marisa's dorm," she said. "Enjoy the extra space."

          Kaia walked out and the door was slammed shut, leaving Ellie alone as she sighed heavily and lied down on her side. She had just lost her roommate.