Back on the sports field, people were scattering, players joining their friend groups after changing.
Jay, overjoyed to be titled Most Valuable Player, bumped his shoulder with Carlos'. "What's your problem, man? You don't seem happy to have won."
"I am happy, Jay," Carlos said, not even looking at the other boy or the two girls that were approaching them. "I just can't find Y/n."
"About that," Mal started carefully, earning everyone's attention. "I don't think you should... talk to her anymore."
Carlos felt his heart cracking. "What? No, Mal, she's my first friend here, the first one to—"
"She's onto us, Carlos," Mal snapped. "And the mission is more important than anything, remember?"
Carlos cast his eyes to the ground. He remembered. But oh how he wished to change that fact.
"Mal, don't you think it's a little harsh?" Evie asked quietly. "I mean, we all could use someone from here on our side."
"We could always give her the love spe—"
"No," Carlos snapped. "No way. She'd hate us!"
"It's not like she doesn't hate us now," Mal countered.
Carlos felt his heart stinging at the reminder. "I just..." He sighed, his throat tightening at the decision that he was about to make. "I want her to be able to make the decision about what she feels." He swallowed thickly. "So if she hates us, then so be it. At least that's her own choice."
With that, Carlos walked off. The remaining three looked at each other. They hated to see their friend hurt but the truth needed to be spoken. Evie sighed. "I'll talk to him."
Mal and Jay nodded, walking to the dorms as Evie followed Carlos. Evie was second-closest to Carlos in the group and Jay didn't exactly have a way with words so the choice of who was going to comfort their friend was obvious to them.
Evie found Carlos near the archery space, sitting on the grass and petting Dude.
"She taught me how to do it, you know?" Carlos asked, knowing who the comer was without even turning his head. "She seemed so happy."
Evie took a seat on the grass, listening to her friend.
"She seemed so happy," Carlos repeated. "And I thought that being her friend was the best thing that had happened to me in a long while. Not leaving the Isle, not playing tourney... Not even chocolate or meeting Dude. I thought we could be friends, Evie." He finally looked at his friend, his eyes glistening with tears. "And then we messed it up."
Evie sighed, giving the boy a side hug. "Right now, Carlos, I don't agree with Mal. Y/n... Y/n would understand, I'm sure of it." She gave the boy a smile. "We can all see how it affects you, Carlos. And from what I noticed, it affected Y/n, too. So you two should talk things out."
"But what about... What about our plan? Our parents?"
"I don't know," the blue-haired girl admitted. "And maybe Mal's right a little bit. It'll hurt Y/n to be close to us, especially when we get the wand to Mal's mom. But I think she deserves an explanation. You should talk to her and then... Then, if you decide to let her go, you can leave things on friendly terms, hm?"
Carlos blinked away the mist in his eyes, hope swelling in his heart. "Right. Thank you, Eve, you're the best." He gave her a quick hug, starting to dash towards the dorms before stopping and turning back. "Don't tell Mal. She'd eat me alive."
Evie nodded, waving her friend off. "Your secret's safe with me." Unbeknownst to Carlos, she was squealing on the inside. I'm so setting those two up on a date once they get along again! She didn't think about their parents at that moment. She was living her Auradon dream, hanging out with her friends and just enjoying herself without worrying. If there was any chance that she could help one of her closest friends to feel that freedom of happiness, too, she'd take it.
Even if that happiness would be short-lived. And yet, something in Evie's heart told her that something would change. Soon. And oh how she hoped that they'd get to stay in Auradon.