"Oh, just wait until you meet my friends," Y/n said, all giddy as she looked out of the limousine's window at the pretty familiar surroundings. Due to the familiarness, Y/n was sure she and Asher didn't have too long of a drive anymore before reaching Auradon Prep. "They're the greatest."
"The kids of the villains?" Asher asked doubtfully, raising a brow.
Y/n huffed, lightly hitting Asher on the arm. "You can't judge someone because of their parents, Ash. You should be crazy and all dreamy anyway, if we're going by that logic."
"Whatever you say, princess," Asher sighed, leaning back into his seat with a yawn. "I just hope the beds are alright."
The girl rolled her eyes. "The rooms are great, too. And you should have plenty of time to sleep, considering that we'll be arriving around lunch time and we have the whole weekend ahead of us, too, in addition to tonight."
"Mhm," the boy hummed, looking out of the window tiredly.
Y/n didn't let herself be fazed by her friend's behaviour, for it was a given since they'd woken up before dawn, and instead looked out of the window, excitedly jumping in her seat as the familiar stone structure came into sight. "There it is!" My second home...
The fond smile on the girl's face only broadened when the door was opened for her. The small number of students passing in front of the schoolhouse didn't mind the limousine too much, for the school consisted of pretty much all royals so it was an usual sight to see.
"We'll deal with the luggage later, come on," Y/n ushered, dragging Asher out of the car. "Let's go to the courtyard, that's where everyone eats."
"Shouldn't we go meet the headmistress?" the boy questioned.
"Ah, later," the princess of the North answered, her paces only fastening until she got to the entrance of the courtyard, the familiar sight only making her more giddy. With a certain rushing pep in her step, she started following her memory to where she knew her friends would be sitting.
At the same time, the given people were eating, in quite the sour mood. Mal had just escaped some reporters, a bit irritated because of that, and Carlos and Jay had Tourney coming up, neither of them too excited to go and argue with Chad. Only Evie was happy, sketching some designs beside her plate.
Well, not only Evie, for Dude suddenly barked and jumped up from where he was sitting on Carlos' lap and ran off, having caught a whiff of familiar scent.
The dog's owner sprang up, too, running after him in alarm. Dude wasn't usually the one to run off without a reason so the white-haired boy figured something was up. "Dude?" he called, hearing the barking cease.
Meanwhile, Y/n spotted her small furry friend running towards her and immediately dropped to her knees, hugging the dog. "Hey, Dude, how are you?" she gushed, a big smile on her face.
That's when Carlos' voice reached her. "Dude, where are you?" A moment later, the boy rounded the corner, his eyes immediately landing on the dog. "There you are!" He then took the dog back into his own arms, starting to apologise, "I'm so sorry, miss, I don't know why he ran off like tha—" Finally, Carlos looked up at the teenager he'd just taken the dog from.
Y/n hadn't changed all that much but there was something different about her — she seemed more mature now — and that alone left Carlos speechless.
The girl on the other hand gave a soft smile, her own heart rate picking up. "Surprise."
Dude broke himself free of Carlos' hold, dropping to the ground. The boy immediately took the opportunity, pulling Y/n in for a hug, one of his hands wrapping around her back and another around her head, making sure the girl was actually there and not in a dream this time. "I missed you," he forced out, his eyes feeling a bit wet as happy tears started to surface.
Y/n chuckled into his shoulder before pulling away. "I love what you've done to your hair."
"Uh, you do?" Carlos asked, suddenly a lot more sheepish. "Thanks! It was Evie's idea, actually, she—"
"Carlos?" the girl in question suddenly appeared. "What's taking you so long? Where's Dude?"
Y/n huffed a laugh, happy to see that nothing had changed, before opening her mouth to catch the blue-haired girl's attention. "Hey, there, Evie."
Evie gasped. "No way!" she exclaimed, pulling her friend into a hug. "You're really here!" Suddenly she pulled away, moving the girl's face left and right. "And you're unharmed! Oh, that's great, I know exactly what kind of dress to make you for Cotillion!"
Y/n laughed, the sound falling melodiously on Carlos' ears. "The Cotillion's not for a week, Evie, let us settle in first."
There was one word in that sentence that caught Carlos' attention and he didn't hesitate to voice his curiosity. "Us?" He glanced at the boy behind Y/n warily, his feelings swirling of fear and... jealousy?
"Oh, right," Y/n realised, then gesturing to the boy behind her. "Guys, this is Asher, a life-long friend from back home. Mum wouldn't let me come back alone because safety and such so here he is."
"Oh, are you the son of Alice?" Evie caught on. "Y/n mentioned you a few times last she was here."
Asher raised a brow at his friend. "Would've figured that much."
Y/n grimaced, hitting the boy's hand in a way of warning him to be polite as she maintained a smile. "And, Asher, these are Carlos, Evie and Dude," she went on, gesturing to each of the people — and a dog — as she introduced them.
"Oh, Y/n's definitely mentioned you guys more than a few times," Asher mused with a teasing undertone.
The girl looked up in horror, her cheeks heating up.
Asher smirked. "Yeah, it went something like—"
"Where are Mal and Jay? Is Mal back yet from her trips with Ben?" Y/n cut in before her childhood friend could start mimicking her, thus embarrassing her further.
"Oh, they're still eating," Evie realised. "Speaking of, we should get back to it, too."
Y/n smiled. "We'll join you guys for a talk, we ate in the limo."
"You go, I'll go talk to Fairy Godmother," Asher piped in, pocketing his hands as he took a few steps back.
"Fine by me," Y/n shrugged, nodding at Asher before he took off, not failing to warn Y/n to not get into any trouble.
The girl in question rolled her eyes fondly at the comment, walking between her two best friends in Auradon. "Sorry, Asher can be..." she trailed off, then shrugged as she could find no good word that would sum up the essence of the annoying yet good guy she held so close to her heart. "Nevermind. I'm really glad to be back."
"We're glad that you're back, too," Evie gushed. "And right before the Cotillion, too! You know it's going to be such a big event and it's going to be absolutely fabulous. By the way, Jane's in charge of organising it, isn't that cool?"
"Jane?" Y/n raised a brow. "Are we talking about the same person?"
"She's grown more confident these past few months," Carlos jumped into the conversation, looking at the girl he was talking to. He was, of course, talking of another girl at the moment, but that didn't stop him from observing that something about Y/n had changed, too.
Meanwhile, Y/n experienced an unpleasant stinging at her heart when she saw the way Carlos smiled when he talked about Jane. Inwardly sighing, she managed a smile. "That's great to hear." Then, her eyes stopped on a head of blonde not too far away from them. From the posture she could tell that it was who she assumed she was but...
"Is that Mal?" she managed.
At the mention of her name, the girl in question turned around. "Wow, Y/n, is that really you?" she gasped, standing up and hugging the girl, which took her by surprise because she wasn't used to Mal being so touchy. "I'm so glad you're here!"
"Thanks...?" Y/n trailed, still uncertain.
"Yeah," Mal breathed, pulling the princess to sit down with her. Jay nodded a greeting to Y/n, as Mal was still talking. "I just can't think of anyone else who could help me handle all of this."
"Handle all of what?" Y/n asked, her confusion only growing.
"All this political stuff," Mal sighed, leaning her side against the table. "I don't know how you royals do it — it's so exhausting! You know, ever since Ben asked me to be his girlfriend... Whew!"
Y/n smiled, placing a hand on Mal's shoulder. "I'll help you Mal," she promised, jokingly bowing. "Anything for the future queen of Auradon."
Mal let out a laugh. "Don't you even start."