22 | PEOPLE ARE IDIOTS 101

   WINTER now firmly believed that Jonah must have been dropped on his head (multiple times) as a baby. Actually scratch that: Jonah, Carlos, Jay, Gil, and Harry freaking Hook all must have been dropped (multiple times) on their head as babies.

Winter believed this because only idiots—complete and utter fools—could get themselves stuck in this type of situation. Winter was still with shock as she stood watching the five idiot guys run around like headless chickens.

Mal, Ben, Evie, and Uma stood next to her with similar expressions. Because how the hell were these five boys so stupid that they managed to smash Jonah's car through a building?

Well, it all started approximately 17 hours before...

——————

WINTER woke up that Saturday morning with a groan. Sluggishly, Winter rolled over and buried her head in her pillow. She hated how despite the fact that Harry Hook was now just five doors down, her dreams still starred him constantly.

Dealing with him throughout the day was enough, now she also had to do it while sleeping?

Now that just was not fair.

Despite this an image of her performing a slow intimate dance with the pirate burned on the outskirts of her mind. The music playing softly in the background while Harry lifted her up and pulled her into him.

Winter had wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms tightly wound around his neck. Their dance was long forgotten as Harry pushed her into the wall, his lips brushing over her neck. Her hands raked through his dark hair as he attacked her neck with an onslaught of suckles and kisses.

Then the dream ended when it finally started getting to the good part, just when Harry's hands slipped under her shirt and ghosted over her stomach.

Winter huffed, closing her eyes once again. However, she reopened them a second later and looked to her phone for the time. It was just a little past eight in the morning, for Winter that was sleeping in more than usual.

A bing caught Winter's attention, her brown eyes lazily flicking to a text that had just come in.

Evie:
still on for breakfast at mad for tea??

Mad for Tea was a small tea and coffee shop located just a few miles away from campus. It was owned by Alice Liddell, the woman known for her classic adventures in Wonderland. Alice had a daughter who attended Auradon Prep — Ally Liddell — the girl known for her nice but very peculiar exterior.

It was also a known fact that Ally Liddell was dating Maddix Hatter — son of the Mad Hatter. They were quite a cute couple for they were madly in love and had been since anyone at Auradon Prep could remember.

Winter — while she had never talked to Ally herself — briefly wondered whether the girl in question would be working that morning. As her mother's tea and coffee shop was so close to the school, Ally worked there.

Winter send a quick confirmation text back, telling Evie that she would indeed meet them there at nine. Evie replied back seconds later with a thumbs up and a smiley face. Exhaling, Winter placed her phone on the side table next to her bed before sitting up.

Running her fingers through her disastrous hair, Winter gave another loud yawn. Her eyes widened when her breath came out so cold that she could see the cool blue of it. Blushing she closed her mouth before cursing. It looked like today was going to be one of those days.

While some girls had bad hair days — Winter was cursed with bad magic days, meaning her abilities became that much more difficult to control. Sometimes she swore her powers had a mind of their own.

Moving her duvet out of the way, Winter stood from the bed and cracked her back. Looking down at her feet, she once again swore seeing small specks of frost appearing where she stood on the floor.

"So it's a really bad magic day, great," Winter muttered sarcastically, sighing when she realized she would need to wear a pair of extra thick socks.

Winter flinched as she forced herself to suck the frost back in, making a sound of discomfort. She knew it was not good to conceal her abilities as she had — she also knew that her mother would kill her if she found out — but Winter could not stop herself. She could not just allow her powers to run rampant as she did at home.

But them again, her abilities were never this difficult to control at home.

Shaking her head, Winter made the bed before scampering off to the bathroom. Glancing at herself in the mirror, she nearly gasped as the entire underside of the back of her hair had returned to its normal icy shade of white.

Maybe she should just take a raincheck on the coffee shop today?

But no, because she had already told Uma she was going yesterday and Evie would no doubt come stamping to her room and make a scene.

But Winter did not have time to re-dye her hair as she was meeting them in less than an hour, so she would simply need to wear her hair down to cover the white part.

Yes, that was what she would do.

If she wore a headband, it would push her hair back enough that the underside would be covered completely. It should hide the white strands well-enough until she was able to re-dye her hair later that day.

Winter avoided the shower, knowing that getting wet would only make her hair worse. Instead, she brushed the fading brown strands before pushing them back with her headband. After brushing her teeth, Winter walked to her closet debating on what to wear.

Pulling a school sweater overhead, Winter wasted no time in throwing on leggings.

Normally she would have just worn flats, but seeing as she had to wear thicker socks today, Winter pulled on a pair of short Christmas socks before shoving her feet into the only high-top sneakers she had.

The sunshine yellow converse was nothing special, but they were also one of the only two pairs of sneakers that Winter owned. It was her converse and running shoes — both of which she rarely ever wore.

Winter put on a pair of gloves while grabbing her brown satchel. She checked inside to make sure everything she needed was inside, wallet: check, an extra pair of gloves: check, book: check, phone: check, tampon: double-check.

Once she was satisfied, Winter threw her bag over her shoulder and headed out. Locking the door behind her, Winter carefully trotted through the hallway. It was only when she passed by Harry, Uma, and Gil's door that she stiffened at the sound of it unlocking and their door opening.

Her heart rate sped up expecting to see Harry Hook walk out with that killer smirk, but instead she was greeted by Uma. Uma gave a look of surprise at seeing Winter stopped a few feet away, the sound of loud snoring coming from her room behind.

With a mischievous grin, Uma motioned for Winter to be quiet and slowly shut the door behind her. Taking a few quick steps so Uma was standing next to Winter, Uma jerked her head in the direction of the stairs.

"Harry's still sleeping—and though he snores as loud as a fog horn, he is an extremely light-sleeper. He'll wake up at the slightest noise, and I am assuming you don't want him joining us for breakfast?" Uma rose a playful brow at the end causing Winter to laugh slightly.

"No, no, it's not that—" Winter played with her fingers, not wanting to be rude, "—Harry can just be a little much sometimes..." Uma snorted.

"That's an understatement," she snickered.

Uma could not wait to tell her first-mate that Winter calls him "Harry" behind his back but "Harold" only to his face. His reaction would be priceless.

"Is he like that with everyone?" Winter could not help but find herself asking Uma as they exited the dorm building.

"No," Uma grinned, "don't get me wrong, he's always been a little bit of a flirt. But he has never actually liked anybody as he likes you, so you can trust me when I say his advances will probably never stop..."

"How did you guys meet, if you don't mind me asking," Winter had been curious for a while now.

Few students were walking around the courtyard as even though it was already eight, most were enjoying their weekend to sleep-in.

"When we were younger, we were around eight or so and I remember I was sitting by myself at the docks but Harry kind of just came over and practically forced his way into my life. We've been friends ever since. Gil found us at the docks a month or two later and we just took him under our wing." Uma shrugged. "Nothing too interesting, but we have an inseparable bond, we're family now, y' know?"

Winter gave a small smile, nodding her head at Uma.

"Yeah," she murmured, "I do."

——————

Uma and Winter spent the rest of the walk talking about things such as classes, politics, and other superficial trends. Uma had not explored much of Auradon, so watching her reaction when they got to the start of the downtown area where the coffee shop was located brought a smile to Winter's face.

Uma got even more giddy when Winter told her that this was just the beginning of it. Auradon City was no small place after all.

Walking inside the spunky coffee shop, Winter watched Uma's gaze rack around the place in amazement. Evie and Mal wore similar expressions the first time they walked into Mad for Tea as well.

The coffee shop was spewing with vibrant colors, mismatched couches and chairs sat around along with multi-colored tables. Rugs of different styles were lying around the floors, oddly shaped pictures of people and things from Wonderland hanging on the walls.

Overall, the place had its own sense of unique charm that tended to attract many teens.

"Hey, guys!" Uma and Winter looked to where Evie was waving her hand from where she sat at the lounging area.

Mal was next to her along with Lonnie and Jane, all of them with there own cups of coffee or tea. There was also a large box of scones in the center coffee table for everyone to share.

Winter's eyes lit up as she caught sight of a chocolate scone sitting in the box, her and Uma making their way through the coffee shop and to the four girls.

"Mmm, chocolate scone?"

Evie beamed at Winter's words.

Evie had picked up on the fact that Winter held an extreme love for chocolate long ago. It was about the only thing Evie could guarantee Winter would eat. Seeing as Winter was prone to skipping meals, Evie often lured her to the dining hall with a promise of some sort of chocolate.

Winter wasted no time in grabbing the scone, a large smile on her face as she took the spot next to Mal. Uma dropped next to her, reaching for one of the scones herself.

"You two walked here together?" Mal rose a brow as Winter hummed while biting into the scone.

Uma seeing Winter was enjoying herself too much to answer, chuckled before addressing the situation.

"Yeah, I was just leaving when I saw Winter, so we decided to walk together," the sea girl explained as Lonnie laughed.

"Finally, it's about time Winter starts talking to people," the daughter of Mulan playfully spoke as Winter groaned from where she was still eating the scone.

Jane laughed gingerly, looking to Uma who was still gazing around in wonder, "So Uma, how are you liking the school so far?" the daughter of Fairy Godmother questioned.

Uma looked to her before shrugging, "It's pretty cool—better than the Isle. Auradon is really pretty, plus I don't need to work at my mom's chip shop all the time anymore..." Uma explained while turning and looking out the window to the shimmering streets.

"Having fun being one of Ben's advisors yet?" Lonnie took a sip of her coffee as Uma looked to the captain of the Swords and Shields team that she was on.

"Eh, I'm still in training or whatever, so I have a few more weeks until I really start doing anything," Uma explained just as a girl around all their ages walked up.

She was wearing an apron around her waist, her blonde hair tied up and her eyes a sparkling blue. Though, when one looked at her dreamy blue eyes, they could not help but feel a sense of loony nature drifting off her.

Winter's previous assumptions from earlier that morning had been right, Ally Liddell was working.

"Hello," Ally started in a wistful tone causing Uma — who had never met this girl — to give her an odd look, "can I get you two anything to drink?"

"Just a plain vanilla latte will do," Winter stated as she had just finished off her scone.

Winter, as much as she wanted to lick away the remnants on her fingers, knew that was considered improper here. Therefore, she grabbed a napkin and cleaned off her fingers.

"Just an Earl Grey tea," Uma said watching as Ally quickly wrote it on her pad.

"Very well, your drinks will be out shortly," the blonde waitress said in her normal whispy tone before walking away.

She hummed and swayed as she did which earned an even stranger look from Uma. If Uma ever acted like that while working at her mother's restaurant, she would get her ass whooped.

"Ally Liddell," Lonnie answered Uma's silent question while sipping her drink, "she's Alice's daughter,"

"As in Alice who discovered Wonderland?" Uma tilted her head.

"Yep," Mal and Evie said together causing Uma to snicker.

"You two remember Queenie, Jack, Hayley, and Roy?" Uma asked as Mal and Evie nodded.

"Oh yeah, Queenie always used to be like 'off with your head!' and I was always like, 'as if you could actually do that'," Mal said in a mock high-pitched tone causing Evie and Uma to burst in laughter.

"Yeah, Jack always used to hit on me too, it was so weird..." Evie shook her head as though disgusted at the thought.

Uma scrunched her nose, "yeah, as soon as you left for Auradon he tried moving that affection to me — all it took was one threat from Harry and he was running with his tail between his legs..." the three VKs once again laughed.

"You know, Queenie is in the room across from us now," Evie piped.

"No way..." Uma was sniggering as Mal nodded with annoyance splayed on her face.

"Yes way, she can so irritating," Mal groaned.

Winter, Lonnie, and Jane tilted their heads, throwing each other confused looks. Winter shrugged figuring that they must have been talking about the Queen of Hearts kids.

It was not unoften that Mal or Evie had a rather interesting story about the Isle to tell. It always made Winter curious about the way they grew up. While it sounded horrible, it also sometimes sounded fun to hear how they used to just run wild.

"I love the outfit by the way, Winter," Evie turned to Winter causing the girl to blush slightly.

"Yes, I especially like the yellow," Jane smiled

Winter knew this was not what she would normally wear, but seeing as her abilities were having a rough day, she did not have that much of a choice. The thick socks were helping with keeping her from freezing the ground every time she stepped and she could not put her hair in her usual bun.

"I feel like you haven't worn your hair down in ages," Mal added causing Winter to self-consciously tug on a strand.

"Yeah, you guys know I don't like wearing it down though," that was a huge lie on Winter's part.

She loved wearing her hair down, but she felt as though it made her seem more proper if she kept her hair in a bun and out of her face. Plus, it also kept her hair from falling on her schoolwork or books.

"I can't understand why not," Evie huffed while Uma smirked.

"Yeah, Harry likes your hair down, he was just talking about it the other day..." Winter nearly fell off the couch at Uma's words, all the other girls laughing at Winter's expression.

"Not this again," she grumbled when she noticed Evie's look.

Without warning, Evie turned to Uma with a smirk.

"Uma," Evie started in an overly sugary sweet tone, "Harry's your best friend, tell us, is he in love with Winnie...?"

Uma snorted, "Definitely,"

Evie squealed as Winter pinched the bridge of her nose, though she could not stop the heat which spread over her face. Mal sat back with a smirk, raising her brows at the pleading look Winter threw at her. Mal only retorted with a knowing gleam as though sending her a mental message that she still remembered the soulmate issue.

"Aww, you need to ask him out!" Lonnie cheered. "It'll be so cute. Wild pirate boy, Harry Hook and goody-two-shoes, Winter Frost. Oh gosh, literally that is like the most adorable couple, I so ship it!"

"Same!" Evie practically screamed as Uma, Mal, and Jane agreed with them.

"What should their ship name be?" Jane smiled as Winter's face only grew hotter, the girl needing to hide her face in her hands at this point.

"Hinter," Uma immediately said causing Winter to shake her head.

"Oh my Gosh, I could die—Hinter is so it!"

"Guys no!" Everyone looked to Winter who got a hold of herself. "Trust me, Harry would much rather have some tough Isle girl—"

"No he wouldn't," Uma snorted before Winter continued on pretending as though she had not heard that.

"—Furthermore, I do not even have time for any sort of relationship. School comes first, besides, I don't even know how romance works..." Winter trailed off sort of sheepishly at the end.

"Yes you do," Evie scoffed crossing her arms, "you just do not want any for yourself. But when it comes to literally anyone else, you're like the number one fan!"

"That's an understatement," Mal scoffed, "don't you remember what she was like when Ben and I first got together?" Evie threw her head back with a laugh knowing exactly what Mal was referring to.

"Hey, you guys are a cute couple. Opposites attracting is like the most adorable thing ever!" Winter laughed as everyone threw her a look.

"Yeah, like you and Harry?"

"Oh my Gosh, stop!" Winter cried dramatically.

"Yeah and Harry's great in bed," everyone turned to Uma with wide eyes, the girl only shrugging.

"What? It happened like once when we were really drunk like two years ago. As great as it was, I will never let it happen again, it was so... weird..." Uma shivered at the end, finding the thought of being with Harry as anything more than best friends odd. "He agreed with me too."

Winter shook her head, refusing to allow her thoughts to turn to anything dirty like that. She already thought about Harry enough, she did not need to add any dirty thoughts to that list. Though, she was grateful that Uma and Harry felt that way about a romantic relationship with each other.

Lonnie spoke up with narrowed eyes. "What is stopping you, we can all tell you're practically in love with the guy?" Winter was thankful for Lonnie who semi-changed the subject.

"I'm not..." Winter weakly started, shrinking at all the unbelieving looks she was receiving, "...in love with him..." even her voice sounded like a lie to her own ears.

Evie, Mal, Lonnie, and Jane all flashed each other amused looks with scoffs.

"Sure you're not..." Mal rolled her eyes, speaking in a sarcastic tone.

If Winter was more open, then she would have loaded all of her problems onto her friends. The real reason she did not want to get close to Harry or let him in was fear, she had known that for a while.

Her mother, Elsa, grew up fearing herself. She stayed alone for years on end, even going so far as to shut out her own sister, Anna. She was constantly told to conceal and don't feel — don't let it show. After everything that went down and Elsa learned to control her magic, she swore that should she ever have a child, she would not allow them to feel as she did.

At first, it worked, Winter never used to be afraid of her gifts. But once Auradon rolled around and Winter realized just how dangerous her powers could really be, that was when she started shutting the world out.

The matra her mother went by for years — conceal don't feel — changed into the saying, beware and never release for Winter. It was true that it had never happened, but Winter was a wary soul, she did not want to chance ever hurting anyone she cared about. And therefore, because of that, she chose not to get close to anyone so that could not happen.

Of course, her plan had failed in the past year as now Winter was rather close with a handful of people — as much as she hated to admit it. But that only made her all the more cautious. The last thing she wanted was to hurt anybody.

Especially if she were to get romantically involved with Harry Hook. She knew Harry was strong, but she would not be able to live with herself if an incident happened and he was hurt because of her.

As much as she wanted to tellher friends this, she could not. As much as Winter tried to hide it, under the perfect grades, her studying, her respectable appearance, and smarts — Winter was a freak. And the last thing she wanted was to be viewed as a freak by her friends, so she bit her tongue and stayed silent about her worries.

She could not let anyone in like that, she could not let them see her true colors. She would continue to be the good girl she always had to be.

Desperate to change the subject — hating the turn that her mind was taking, Winter turned to Jane.

"Okay, enough about me, how are you and Carlos?"

Jane gave a hundred-watt smile causing all the girls to look happy. Jane and Carlos's relationship truly was a precious one, they were so both sweet to one another it almost hurt to watch.

"It's going great, we've been talking about buying a cottage together once we graduate. He wants to be a vet you know..." Winter smiled and listened intently as Jane explained all the cute things Carlos had been doing for her.

It sounded like they went on a date every few days, many of which consisted of them hanging out in one of their dorm rooms to watch a movie.

In the middle of it, Ally had come back to deliver Uma and Winter their drinks.

Eventually, a question was thrown to Lonnie about a relationship between her Jay. However, Lonnie explained that they were much better friends. She also admitted that she was starting to feel something for Jonah's roommate, Emmett, also known as Esmeralda's son.

Winter mentally made sure to ask Jonah at a later date to put in a good word to Emmett about Lonnie.

"Okay, okay, but for real..." Uma had said at one point, turning to Mal, "have you done anything for your upcoming wedding?"

Mal was not one to blush, like ever. But the thought of her wedding had her smiling and turning red. In the past few weeks, Mal had begun to relish in thoughts of her shimmering future with Ben. Never in a million years had Mal ever dreamed that her life would turn out this great, she never thought that she would get such a kind man as Ben.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you all about that," Mal said causing everyone to lean forward and look to the purple-haired girl, "I was hoping that maybe..." Mal bit her lip, "you would all want to be my bridesmaids?"

Mal laughed as every single one of them screamed in excitement. Even Uma who had a tough and tomboyish exterior was screaming in excitement, leaning against Winter who was clapping and cheering.

"Yes, yes, yes!" They were all raving together, hugging Mal who was laughing.

The rest of the day blurred together. The girls spent two hours in the coffee and tea shop before heading back toward the school. Apparently, they were all going to hang out in Mal and Evie's room, but Winter gave the excuse that she was not feeling to well so she was able to go back to her room.

It was not exactly a lie as Winter was not feeling too well from her powers acting up. It was almost as though there was a swirling storm inside of her and cutting herself off from feeling her abilities was beginning to make her sick.

Evie pouted, claiming they were going to be helping Mal plan a few things for the wedding, but Winter told her to catch her up at dinner. That was if Winter even went to dinner, she was truly not doing the best with her powers.

The second she closed the door to her dorm room, she released the feeling, crying out when frost swirled its way over her walls.

Winter sniffled as her room froze over, snowflakes stopping midair as though frozen in time.

Winter shook her head sadly, sliding down her wall until her butt hit the floor. Bringing her knees to her chest, Winter wrapped her arms around them while resting her head on her knees.

Some days were just harder than others.

A tear fell from Winter's eye as the room dropped in degrees, the cold temperature not bothering her in slightest. It was the loneliness that did.

She wished her parents were here, because in all honestly, they were the only ones who understood.

Her mother more than her father, and what Winter would give to just be wrapped in her mother's arms while she sang all of her troubles away.