[✔︎] 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃 ✫ DESCENDANTS TWO ⁴

➸10. Happened Again

"All right, boys." Jay said.  "Let's line it up. Carlos, you're with me."

Maddie and Gigi leaned over the balcony to catch a better glimpse of the players.

"Let's go." Jay said. "Assembler." They lifted up the swords getting into their positions. "Salute.Lower the point.
Masks down. En garde."

"Keep your center!" Jay instructed.

"Whoa!" Carlos said as he had been tapped out by Jay.

"Eyes on your opponent!" Jay said as

"Up and over." Jay was left with another opponent though it didn't know who.

"Get him, Jay!" Carlos called.

"Practice." Chad said.

"Watch out, Jay." Carlos said as Jay dodged his opponent. "Nice!"

Jay was tapped by the opponent.

"Jay, what happened?" Carlos asked, and if rally hurt Maddie to hear his voice and now he seemed so okay with himself. "Finish him."

The masked person ripped off their mask to reveal..

"It's Lonnie!" Jane said as the girls began to clap for their friend.

"Not bad." Jay said.

"You should put me on the team." Lonnie said, putting her sword to her side.

"Hey, w-what?!" Chad said in disbelief. "No, no, no. We'll--We'll be the
laughing stock of the league. A-And what's gonna happen next? We'll have
girls playing tourney?" Chad let that sink in for a minute. "Come on, guys."

"So?" Jay said, crossing her arms over chest.

"So? Uh, so, have you not read the rule book?" Chad said, pulling a book out of his uniform. "Section 2, paragraph 3, 11-4. 'A team will be comprised
of a captain and eight men.' Hmm. Why don't you read the rule book?"

"He reads?" Maddie whispered to Gigi as Gigi stifled a laugh.

"Apparently."

"Okay, yeah, but you're down a man! I mean, since Ben had to leave to do all that king stuff." Lonnie argued.

"Exactly." Chad said. "We're down a man."

"Jay..." Lonnie said, pleadingly.

"I'm sorry. Coach trusts me." Jay said as Lonnie's face fell. "I'm not gonna stay captain if I just throw out the rule book."

"If my mother thought that way, she would have lost the war." Lonnie said as she walked away.

"Okay." Chad scoffed. "Rule book.
Rule book." He called out tauntingly.

Lonnie paused and took a deep breath before continuing to walk out of the room.

"All right, guys." Jay said with a sigh. "Practice is over. Let's go."

The players began to file out before it was only Jay and Carlos and a few stragglers on the mat.

"Jane!" Carlos called and the cold hard truth hit Maddie once again. "Jane, hey. Hey."

Jane stopped walking and glanced down at Carlos.

"Hey, Carlos, what's up?" Jane asked with a kind smile.

"Uh..." Carlos said. "Not much. You?"

"Way too much." Jane sighed. "We were gonna go with the blue and gold banners for Cotillion, but now we can't find the right shade of blue.

"Oh, yeah, no, that's a--" Carlos lauded and looked at Maddie who looked about reassuring to cry. "that's a bummer. Um, speaking of Cotillion--"

"I know, right? Jane said.
-It's all anybody is talking about. Cotillion 24/7."

"I--" Carlos said though he was interrupted by Jane's ranting.

"It's like they've never been to one before." Jane said.

"Uh...I haven't, actually." Carlos said as Jane's eyes widened.

"Oh.
Lucky. I always end up serving punch
with my mom anyway. This year, I got stuck on the decorating committee because Audrey went off to a spa vacation with Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather."

"Jane, maybe we should just--." Carlos began but he was once again interrupted by the daughter of Fairy Godmother.

"Skip the whole thing?" Jane asked. "I really, really wish I could. It's so nice to have a friend who's on the same wavelength."

"Oh, you got me." Carlos said grabbing his shoulder. Jane's phone began to ring as she held it up to Carlos.

"I got to go." Jane said. "Great practice,
though."

"Yeah." Carlos said. "See ya."

Dude whimpered jerking his head sideways.

"Hey, man. It wasn't the right time,"

Dude growled, tilting his head in the direction of Maddie.

But Maddie was long gone.

"I have a feeling I have something to do with her running away." Carlos said. "I suppose I should spologIs to her. I didn't mean to make it seem like I was asking Jane right in front of her. Jane's just helping me ask Maddie. Or at least she claims she is. I don't know anymore."

Dude whimpered, rubbing against Carlos' leg before bolting our the door.

"Dude!" Carlos said as he ran after his dog.

Dude ran into the courtyard where Mal was being tormented by reporters for the second time that day and Maddie was trying to help her escape them.

Dude stopped running, rubbing against Maddie's leg.

"Hi Dude." Maddie said, ruffling his fur. "Why aren't you with Carlos?"

Carlos didn't say anything, as Dude licked Maddie's face before running back into the school.

Maddie caught his eye, and for a second he felt a glimmer of hope that she didn't hate him completely as a person. He was wrong though. Maddie's expression was stone cold as his eyes widened slightly not used to that sort of reaction from her.

He knew she had taken it the wrong way. He wanted to fix that. He really did. But he had to find out where Dude had gone.

It wasn't hard to find Dude. He had ran to Carlos's dorm and sat on the couch pouting away.

Carlos sighed picking him up and striking his fur.

"It's okay Dude." Carlos said. "Maddie will know soon enough. I just have to figure out the right way to ask her to Cotillion."

Carlos opened up his laptop and began scrolling through articles not even knowing what he was reading.

"How to get out of the friend zone." He mumbled as he stroked Dude's fur and thought of a way to ale things the way they used to be with Maddie while asking her to Cotillion in a special way.