𝑨 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴 𝑰𝑺 𝑨 𝑾𝑰𝑺𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑴𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑺

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝟐𝟗

Even though she heard Ben's footsteps retreat and the door shut, Delphina remained in the bathroom, deadly silent for another ten minutes. She couldn't stay in her dorm. That was the first thing she realized. If she stayed in her room any longer, she might actually go insane. She couldn't sneak into any sort of class or extracurricular, which meant she would just be wandering around campus.

Auradon Square was too far to travel by foot, which meant she couldn't spend her day lounging and strolling around in town. That was probably for the best. Lounging and strolling never did her any good. The last time she strolled, she ended up wandering into the forest. Granted, she found a hidden music garden, but she didn't have the energy to deal with another mysterious location in Auradon's forest.

Delphina paused, quickly reminding herself what else was in the forest. Peace, foliage, and plenty of flowers and plants. Plants that could easily be used in the tea she was trying to brew for her friends.

You mean the friend you almost played tonsil hockey with while his girlfriend was in class, probably worried about you?

Delphina squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the little voice in her head.

Almost. She almost kissed Ben. There was no actual kiss. Their lips never made contact.

But you wanted them to.

Delphina pressed her palms to her eyes, groaning softly. "Ugh, shut up, shut up, shut up..." She muttered, trying to smother the intrusive thoughts with a mental pillow. She didn't want to kiss Ben. That was ridiculous. They were just friends. Friends that got caught up in a weird, reality-tv-show induced haze.

Seriously? You're blaming a TV show?

"Oh my god..." Delphina huffed, finally exiting the bathroom. Ben was a friend. He was a friend and that was all he was and all he would ever be. They could work through this. It was just an almost kiss that wouldn't have meant anything anyway. They would talk about this with Audrey, then forget about all of it.

Can you even face her after this? You think Audrey will want to look you in the eyes when she hears about what you did?

Delphina paused in her search for her shoes, a pang running through her chest. Could she face Audrey? The sweet, pink princess that worried so much and placed an insane amount of trust in Delphina?

All that trust and care and friendship and what did Delphina do with it? She threw it in an industrial shredder and scattered the pieces across the Strait of Ursula.

Delphina's heart clenched with guilt as she hastily pulled on her shoes. She was going to lose everything. It was inevitable, anyway. There was no point in sitting around and moping about it.

Her eyes squeezed shut and Delphina inhaled and exhaled deeply, trying to refocus the part of her mind that was still her own. She didn't have time to bitch and moan about her friends hating her. People hated her all the time on the Isle. She doubted there would be anything different about it this time around.

Being hated wasn't what she needed to focus on right now. There was a forest full of ingredients waiting for her and she had wasted enough time already. Swiping up the Auradon Prep tote bag and stainless steel water bottle that were included in her welcome package, a roll of string from Audrey's home economics kit, and Varian's journal with all the knowledge of plants, Delphina rolled her shoulders and headed toward the door.

But it wasn't without one last lingering glance at the care package that was currently still sitting on her bed.

~~~

"God, I should've brought gloves." Delphina muttered, carefully manuevering around the thorny branch of an acacia tree. She had been in the forest for at least a good two hours, watching the forest like a hawk and analyzing every detail of every shrub, petal, and stem until she felt like she was one with the flora and fauna of Auradon.