Lunch was pretty much casual. And by casual Lia meant that every girl and boy in Auradon was whispering and gossiping about the four descendants. She couldn't really blame them, seeing as it was the most exciting news the school had after months of gossips about the canceling of the school play, Chad Charming's lost phone and Audrey's new hairstyle.

But that was getting ridiculous.  

"What if they can turn people into toads?"

"Don't be silly, everyone knows magic is outlawed."

"Jane, that's exactly what they are. Outlaws."

"I heard they can breathe fire,"

"Hey, did anyone see my laptop? I can't find it."

"Maybe one of the villain kids stole it!"

And it went on like that all day. Honestly, Lia missed the old gossip by now. From what she had seen, the descendants didn't seem so dangerous, just different — definitely not fire-breathing. Though, Lia couldn't deny that she was feeling rather uncomfortable around Maleficent's daughter. Luckily, she knew her dorm was exactly the place where she could find some peace and quiet.

She was found two hours later by her roommate, as she was doing her History homework. Lia barely looked up to see the short-black-haired girl entering the dorm, still scribbling down her homework.    

"Hey, I was looking for you at lunch. Where were you?" Her roommate asked, closing the door to their dorm and walking over to her bed.

"Sorry, Lonnie, I just had to get away from all the noise and the rumors about the new kids."

Lonnie, also known as Mulan's daughter, had been Lia's best friend from the moment the two got to know each other. She was kind, friendly and supportive and Lia was grateful that Lonnie was her roommate. When Lia was frustrated with her sister or her family Lonnie was there to cheer her up and make her laugh. And when Lonnie was blabbering about wanting to change her appearance just because she wanted to be cool, Lia was there to tell her she was the coolest girl she had ever met and anyone would be lucky to be her friend.

Lonnie smiled at her, "Yeah, villain kids in Auradon, it's quite exciting. They seem interesting, but not many Auradon kids love the idea of having outlaws villain kids roaming around the school halls." 

"Interesting? Yes. Outlaws? Not really." Lia closed her notebook and spun around in her chair to look at Lonnie, "I mean, I get that they're the kids of the worst villains on the land, but maybe Ben was right about them. They don't seem that bad."

She almost smiled as an image of Carlos with chocolate on his face popped up in her head. There was no way this boy could be evil, he seemed far too innocent. Maybe Auradon kids were just too quick to judge the descendants because of their parents' wrongdoing.

"Are you just agreeing with Ben's decision because you have a crush on him?" Lonnie asked smugly, as she grabbed a small mirror from the drawer next to her bed.

"What? No! And I don't have a crush on Ben. Where did you get this idea from?" Lia replied quickly, her cheeks tinted red. Perhaps she replied too quickly.

"We are roommates, I know you, Lia." Lonnie rolled her eyes, "Besides, you have been staring at him a lot lately."

"Was it that obvious?" Lia mumbled, burying her face in her hand, feeling embarrassed.

"Not that obvious. But I'm pretty certain Audrey knows."

"She does?" Lia panicked, staring at Lonnie with wide eyes.

"I think so. It might be the reason she signed you up to the cheerleading team. You know, to keep an eye on you."

"Wait, she did what?"

"You didn't know?"

"No," Lia denied, shaking her head, "And I'm a horrible cheerleader's material, and she knows it."

"Well, you better start being able to jump, cheer and dance soon because the practice is in about..." Lonnie glanced down at her watch and said, "Forty minutes."

Lia groaned, getting up and laying on her bed, completely ignoring Lonnie's small chuckles. At that moment, she really wished the villain kids were able to cast a spell and turn her sister into a toad.

~~~

"Aurelia, are you even listening to anything I say?" Audrey asked for what seemed to be the fifth time already. The practice was a pure torture, especially when Audrey was shouting at her and scolding her every ten minutes. "Let's try it again, girls!"

"WE ARE THE KNIGHTS

PROUD AND STRONG

WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER

WE CAN'T DO WRONG

UNITED, AS ONE

YOU BETTER WATCH OUT

WE WILL SUCCEED

WITHOUT A DOUBT

GO KNIGHTS!"

Audrey turned to look at the group with a satisfied smile, "Alright, don't forget we are meeting here tomorrow at the same time. The Tourney Team is going to practice here as well, and after we lost last year, they're gonna need every cheerleading support they can get. Except for my Bennyboo, of course." 

Lia rolled her eyes at the nickname Audrey gave Ben, but she was relieved that the practice was finally over. Grabbing her bag, Lia was about to leave the Tourney field, until a hand was put on her shoulder. And of course, it just had to be her sister.

"You were barely doing anything during the practice. Even Jane is a better cheerleader than you, and she's supposed to be wearing a weird knight costume in at the game."

"Well, what even gave you the idea that I want to be a cheerleader?" Lia asked, hoping that Audrey would realize that she didn't want to be part of the team.

"It doesn't matter right now. Anyway, tomorrow I want to see you jumping and cheering and stop looking bored like you're in Mr. Delay's class. Ben will be here tomorrow and I want it to look perfect." And once again, it seemed like Audrey had no intention to listen to any word Lia had said.

"What's the big deal? Audrey, it's just..." Lia trailed off, seeing that her sister was already walking away and joining into a conversion with the other girls in the team, "A practice."

~~~

Lia couldn't really sleep that night. It was already late—probably a lot after curfew. She thought she would be tired and exhausted, especially after the practice, but it was quite the opposite. Like her sister said, Lia didn't really do anything during the practice. She spent the last hour staring at the ceiling and trying to fall asleep but it was useless. She considered waking up Lonnie but she decided against it. And as ironic as it sounded, Lia wished she could just prick her finger and fall asleep or maybe even just catch a brief nap.

So, there she was, laying on her bed, completely bored out of her mind.

Until she heard some whispering. It was faint and she could barely catch it, but it was there, right outside her dorm. Quietly, Lia rose up from her bed and tip-toed her way to the door. The whispers were getting slightly louder and now she could also hear footsteps. She glanced at Lonnie, seeing that she was still asleep before Lia decided to finally open the door.

"Are you serious? We came from that way. I remember that painting."

"Jay, they all look the same!"

"Well, what do you—"

"What are you two doing outside after curfew?" Lia cut off whatever Jay was about to say, staring curiously at the two descendants and wondering what they were up to. Immediately they stopped bickering and snapped their gaze to look at Lia in surprise. She raised her eyebrow, still waiting for an answer.

"Uh, well, we, umm, we couldn't really fall asleep so we decided to wander around and..."

"We got lost?" Carlos finished Jay's sentence awkwardly, like he wasn't completely sure of what he was saying himself. "You're not going to turn on some kind of alarm, right? Because my ears are still ringing from the—" The sentence was cut off as Jay hit Carlos' side, which caused Carlos to groaned in pain. "Ouch! Jay, what was that for?"

Lia continued staring curiously at the two, but when there was no answer from Jay-only a brief nervous smile, she simply walked towards them. She thought for a moment and then smiled as an idea popped up in her head.

"Come on, follow me," She simply said, walking past the confused boys. She knew by the sound of their footsteps that they were just behind her.

 _______________________________________________________________________

Okay, so this chapter was slightly shorter than the rest but I kinda like this chapter :)