Into the Depths

Chapter 26

Jane gasped softly but didn't react beyond that; she didn't want to prevent Carlos from saying what was on his mind.

"Rodger and Anita are great, don't get me wrong," Carlos said as they sat down in a nearby clearing in the forest. "But there's a part of me that just wishes...ah it's stupid."

"No, it's not," Jane assured him. "Whatever you're about to say, it's not stupid Carlos. They're your feelings."

"...Jane we haven't been dating that long. I don't want to be 'that guy' who goes around spilling his guts on the first date."

"Technically this is the fifth date," Jane joked. "We've had numerous study dates between cotillion and now. But...Carlos I'm not going to push you. If you want to wait to tell me, you can."

"Thanks Jane," Carlos said softly, giving her a small smile before clearing his throat slightly. "So, how was your visit with your dad?"

Jane smiled, thinking about her time with her father. While her parents were happily married, they still kept their relationship a secret. Jane really didn't know why it was such a big deal. Women would be married and have a job so it wasn't like people would insist her mom step down as headmistress.

Plus, Jane was sure King Beast and Queen Belle would wonder why their former flirtatious former candlestick was now either not as obvious with his flirting or wouldn't flirt at all. If there was one thing her father never did around her, it was flirt with anyone other than her mother. Sure there was some playful banter between Fifi and Lumiere but nothing as serious as what had been going on when her father was a candlestick.

Anyway, because of the fact that her mother lived at the school during the academic year, her father kept an eye on their house when not working over at Beast Castle.

"It was nice," Jane told him. "Dad's actually going to talk to mom soon, about telling Ben about their relationship. I mean, they've only hidden it from everyone for my whole life so it'll be a bit of an adjustment period."

"I think that's an understatement," Carlos said softly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Jane gave him a small smile. "Sorry. I know it doesn't make much sense complaining about gong through an adjustment period when you were just telling me about what you went through on the Isle."

"Just because I had a rough time growing up doesn't mean you don't get to vent," Carlos told her. "There are kids on the Isle who have it worse than me right now or even back when I was growing up. Trust me, Cruella earned the cruel part of her name but at least I had a roof over my head and easier access to food after a while, thanks in part to Mal and Jay."

Jane titled her head, slightly confused.

"The Isle was split up into factions," Carlos explained. "The viewing we just had showed one of the factions, the pirates. The kids were run by Uma and Hook Jr. while Ursula and Hook ran the adults. But in terms of where they were in the Isle's pecking order, they were probably middle of the rung. Maleficent ran the Isle, anyone who was in her gang was untouchable."

"Meaning you four ran the kid part of that faction," Jane nodded.

"No," Carlos said, shaking his head. "Mal ran the kid part of the faction. Jay was her right hand man while Evie and I were pretty much along for the ride at first. I handled more of the behind the scenes stuff like any tech we got our hands on while Evie was more in charge of handling mending any of our stuff that got ripped plus any girl talk that Mal needed. Clothing was a rare find in the delivery barges and we weren't the most...gentle of kids if we faced off with another faction."