𝑨 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴 𝑰𝑺 𝑨 𝑾𝑰𝑺𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑴𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑺

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝟏𝟔

Delphina had seen a lot of people run away from her. When they were nine, Anthony ran like hell from her around the basement after pranking her with a dead spider in their mattress that he convinced her was poisonous. Crew members on the Lost Revenge scrambled like rats anytime she looked mildly pissed and headed in their direction.

But Delphina had never seen someone scramble faster to get away from her than when Jane saw her sitting next to her. She didn't even waste time trying to put her things back in her backpack, opting to just clumsily grab what she could and fumbling to get out of her seat.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Delphina's hand shot out involuntarily and seized Jane's arm, keeping her from running away. Jane froze in her seat, dropping her books on the table and glancing at Delphina's hand wrapped around her arm warily.

Delphina quickly let go as if Jane were on fire and sighed, placing her head in her hands. "I'm sorry." She groaned, lifting her head to give Jane an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I swear." She mumbled, sitting back in her seat.

"I-It's OK." Jane squeaked, avoiding Delphina's gaze. "It's a free kingdom. You can sit wherever you want." She offered Delphina a fleeting, terrified smile before returning her eyes to the front of the classroom. Delphina scoffed bitterly, playing with a corner of paper in her notebook. 'Free' her ass. Mal had made sure that free was the last thing Delphina was.

"Not really feeling too 'free' these days." She muttered, making Jane turn to her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" The mark on Delphina's shoulder heated in warning, as if it was listening to the entire conversation and Delphina tensed, giving Jane a nervous smile.

"Uh, nothing. That was just me...being weird. Sorry." She forced a laugh to ease the tension, waving a dismissive hand. Jane nodded slowly, clearly apprehensive as the heat in Delphina's shoulder faded.

An awkward silence settled between the two and Delphina wanted to slam her head through the table. She needed Audrey. Audrey was bubbly and perky and knew how to keep a basic conversation going.

"So..." Delphina began awkwardly, trying to ease the tension. "Your mom is pretty cool." She cringed as soon as the words left her mouth and Jane paused, glancing at Delphina with furrowed eyebrows.

"Uh, y-yeah, she is. She can be pretty overbearing sometimes, but mostly cool." Jane rushed out, voice still trembling with fear. Delphina huffed, sensing she wasn't getting anywhere and giving up on the conversation. There they sat, two horribly introverted, god-awfully awkward teenage girls, both of them praying that class would start soon.

~~~

Partner work. The one day Delphina ended up sitting next to someone who seemed to hate social interaction almost as much as her and Hemming assigned partner work after her lecture.

Auradon was out to get her.

"If you, uh, wanna answer the first half of the worksheet, I can do the next and we can just share answers." Delphina suggested, drumming her fingers on the table awkwardly.

"Ah, ah ah!" Professor Hemming cut in before Jane could answer and Delphina grimaced. Why did Jane have to sit in the front of the class? Delphina couldn't do anything without the woman watching her like a hawk. "That's not how partners work here in Auradon, Miss Tremaine." Hemming gave her a sugary smile, but Delphina could easily spot her tone of distaste and annoyance. With one look, Delphina knew she probably thought she was lazy, unmotivated, and trying to push all the work onto Jane. "You have to find the answers together! Put in a little teamwork!" She clasped her hands together before nodding firmly and moved on to monitor other pairs.