Descendants 2 [H.S. & C.S.]

Chapter 9

Back in Auradon, things aren't all that and a bad of fish chips, either...
I'm ramping up the prince act for my big date. Here's hoping Cole bites!

It was time for Harry and Cole's perfect picnic date at Reflection Pond.

Cole had brought harry to a surprise picnic when he had first gotten to Auradon Prep. They had ridden through the countryside on his Vespa. Cole had then led him on foot through a grove. And after they had crossed an incredible suspension bridge with a beautiful stream below it. Cole had put a blindfold on Harry and led him gently down a dense forest path until eventually they stopped. When he has instructed him to open his eyes, they were at the Enchanted Lake, with its crystalline jade water and stone platform of ancient pillars scrapped in ivy and flowers. It was a surprise Harry would always cherish.

Today Harry was the one surprising Cole.

And he couldn't wait for the moment to end.

On a gazebo overlooking the calm green pond and surrounding lush tree-filled countryside. Harry and Cole sat at a table, covered by a gold tablecloth, which boasted all sorts of treats: soup, hors 'oeuvres, beef ragout, cheese soufflés, pies, puddings, pasted-colored cakes, fresh fruit tarts, a loaf of warm bread, and tiers of appetizers. All the fixings for a royal picnic to make Cole feel like a cherished guess.

"Would you like a hot hors d'oeuvre?" asked Harry.

He wore a pale blue suit, and his long ice-blond hair was loose and down. He fed Cole with his hand.

Cole ate the appetizer, moaning. "This is the best thing I've ever had."

"So you like it?" asked Harry.

"I more than like it, in fact." Cole leaned in close to Harry and pinched a cracker from a tray, then sat back. "I double like it."

Harry giggled.

Cole gestured to a nearby bowl. "Beef ragouts?"

He picked up a bite with a fork.

"Did i surprise you? Did I do it?" asked harry with a curious smile.

Cole took the big bite of the beef ragout. "Yeah. This is every single dish Mrs. Potts made for my parents! What did it take you—three days?" Cole surveyed the extravagant array of perfectly prepared fresh foods.

Harry eyed the picnic basket that sat on the table beside him. "Don't . . . even ask me," he said, laughing.

"Well, it means a lot that you stopped and did all this for me. With all the craziness that's Bebe happening to you." said Cole. He took his hand in his.

Harry couldn't look Cole in the eyes. He stared down at the table and smiled.

Cole turned his face gently toward him. "I've missed you." He caressed his cheek. "We never have a lot of time to be just us."

It was true. Cole was busy being king and governing the United States of Auradon. And he was preoccupied with pretending to be his proper man.

Harry wiped a drop of sauce from the corner of Cole's mouth.

Cole smiled. "Can't take me anywhere."

Harry laughed. He had said the same thing to him during their first picnic at the Enchanted Lake where he'd tried his first jelly doughnut and gotten sugar on his lips.

Harry was beginning to relax and enjoy himself.

Cole looked around. "Do you—do you have any napkins?" He reached for the picnic basket.

"I do, actually—" Harry said, feeling the moment slipping toward chaos. "I can grab them."

But before Harry could get his napkin, Cole reached into the picnic basket to look for one and instead pulled out Harry's spell book.

Harry gasped and froze.

Cole looked at the cover. "What's this?"

Harry stared at him, wide-eyed. "I . . . threw it in really last minute in case it rained and we needed to . . . I needed to step in." He attempted to take it from him.

Cole flipped through the various pages marked with sticky notes. " 'Speed-reading spell.' 'Blond hair spell . . . Cooking spell," Cole read. He looked at the picnic feast, slammed the book shut and turned to Harry. "And I was giving you props for fitting in so well! For doing your best!" Cole said loudly, shaking his head.

Harry began incanting a spell and waving his finger. "Take back this moment that has passed. . . ." He chewed his lip, trying to remember it. "Replace it . . . Return it . . ."

"Are you trying to spell me right now?"

"Cole, it has been so hard for me—"

"Harry!" Cole shouted. "Come on!" He stood and dropped the book onto the table. "Yeah, some things are hard! Do you think it's been easy learning how to be king?"

"No!" said Harry.

"I thought we were in this together!" Cole cried.

Harry bolted out of his seat. "We are in this together!"

"But we're not," Cole said. "We're not, Harry. You've been keeping secrets . . . and . . . and lying to me. I thought we were done with this. This isn't the Isle of the Lost, Harry!"

Harry was stung. "Believe me, I know," he said.

"Then why are you doing this?" Cole implored of him.

"Because I am not a pretty pink prince! I am not one of those men, okay? I'm a big fake!" yelled Harry.

He gestured to his hair and the food on the table. "I'm fake. This is fake." Sighing, he reached over the table, lifted his spell book, turned to a page, and incanted: "Take this feast, this sumptuous meal, return it back to what is real." He did a little finger wave and the feast disappeared. The trays, bowls, and plates of food were replaced by a sad peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a cookie.

"That's who I really am, Cole," said Harry, gesturing to the glum meal. His eyes shimmered with tears, and he broke his stare with Cole to move away from him.

Cole reached out and touched his arm. "Harry," he said softly.

Harry shrugged Cole off. "No!" he said, and stomped away, leaving Cole alone.

Wanting to make him feel better, Cole picked up the sandwich and called out. "Peanut butter and jelly is my favorite!" But he was already gone. He walked back to the rail and gazed over the pond. Across the calm green water, Cole could see the land on the other side. He thought about how he'd spent many times looking out at the Isle of the Lost in the same far-off way.

Cole felt farther away from Harry than ever.

Once Harry got back to school, he burst into his dorm room and was relieved to find it empty.

Harry moved to Calum's worktable and found a small black box with a blue lid. He took a sharp pencil and stabbed the lid of the box repeatedly to make holes. "I don't belong here!" Harry cried out. He rushed to his mother's glass aquarium.

"Okay," Harry muttered, opening the top of the tank. He lifted the tiny lizard out of it and placed it into the black box. He looked down at his mother and let out a little laugh through the tears. "Let's blow this Popsicle stand, yeah?" asked Harry.

Auradon was not where he belonged—not anymore.