There was one thing that Meredith, daughter of Merida, could never be brave about: being open to change. In her defense, her grandmother did turn into a bear because her mother was bold enough to accept a deal from a witch, so she'd rather not let h...
"What do you even need me for? You'll be fine without me."
"No, it'd be better if you'd help."
Meredith sighed, frowning at Ben. He was currently insisting that she be the one to help out the one and only Carlos De Vil with his sport. Tryouts ended the day before, and for some reason Meredith had yet to know about, something happened that made Ben feel the need to teach Carlos a few things about it, hence his persistence as he spoke to Meredith.
"I'll just do the timing and recording of progress, and you can actually help with the stretching and running," Ben went on, walking faster to catch up with Meredith as she tried to walk away.
"Why can't you just tell him what to do?"
"That wouldn't be very effective."
"Why can't you ask one of your teammates?"
"Most of them have class at that time while you'll have free period."
"How do you kn —"
"I checked your schedule in your locker."
"Stop breaking into my locker!"
"And," the prince continued as if he didn't hear her words. "You don't have cheerleading practice until later this evening. So, you're completely free when I need you to be."
Meredith sighed, wanting to throw a tantrum right then and there. Reluctantly, she said, "When do you need me to help?"
Ben grinned triumphantly. "So, that means you'll help me?"
"I just asked when," Meredith muttered irritably.
"Preferably today, in the afternoon. Coach said the field is free since tryouts already finished yesterday."
"What exactly happened in tryouts that told you that Carlos needs extra help?"
"Well..." Ben paused, not knowing exactly how to explain. He could still vividly remember how amazing Jay was at the sport despite his ruthlessness in it — all he needed to do was learn the rules and practice a bit more with some control — and then there was Carlos. He was fast, but when it came down to it, he froze and didn't know what do anymore whereas Jay would continue showing off his natural talent. Ben believed there was something more to Carlos, so he wanted to help him as much as he can. He wanted one of his closest friends, Meredith, to help out as well. He knew she didn't really like the idea of making new friends (especially since she knew most of the people at Auradon since she was a kid and claimed to not 'vibe with their personalities'), so he thought that maybe by befriending more unfamiliar people like Carlos, she'd start to be more open to others.
"Well, what?"
"He just wasn't very comfortable with the sport yet," Ben tried to explain. "But I know he has some potential."
"Uh huh."
"So, will you help this afternoon?"
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