I was in my mother's chip shoppe, working as usual. I saw my first mate, Harry, enter the shoppe and turn on the TV. It was playing an interview in Auradon about Mal and the upcoming Cotillion. Ugh, she makes me so mad. I grabbed Harry's usual order and brought it to him. I grabbed some of the food and threw it at the TV screen
"Poser!" I yelled, addressing Mal on the TV.
"Traitor!" Harry joined in.
The rest of my crew joined in as well. Then Gil just had to go on and on about Mal from when we were kids. I was over all this talk about Mal. I wanted my revenge and I would figure out a way to get to Auradon to get it.
I turned to Harry. "What's my name?"
Harry removed his hat and kneeled in front of me. "Uma," he almost whispered with as much respect and admiration as a first mate should have.
Well, that's what most people on the Isle believe anyways. If love wasn't such a foreign concept here, I'm sure everyone would be able to pick up on the fact that Harry was in love with me. I mean, we're pretty flirty, and touchy feely, and there's nothing wrong with that on the Isle, actual affection on the other hand, people tend to have a problem with. Harry knows I have feelings for him (not sure about the love thing yet) but we both know very well that we wouldn't be able to have any kind of a relationship other than captain and first mate here. That's part of the reason that we want to go to Auradon so badly. As much as I despise Mal and want revenge on her, I really just want off the Isle and away from my mother and every other terrible person here.
...
I was alone, upset, and swimming back to the Isle from the Cotillion. I didn't know what I was thinking. Of course Mal would be able to break the spell that I put on Ben, and yet, after everything I did to them, both Mal and Ben (mostly Ben though) still tried to reason with me. The only reason I surrendered is because of how much Ben seems to care about the Isle, and Ben was right. I do care about the Isle and I want all the things that Ben kept trying to tempt me with, but I'm just not ready for something like that. Despite all that I wanted, I was still "evil"; I didn't belong there.
Now that I was back on the Isle, I thought of how much my crew was going to hate me for not being able to bring down the barrier. I was fully prepared to be kicked out of my crew; I deserved it, I failed them.
I just sat down on the beach and looked out on to the water longingly. The water has always calmed me and I always dreamed to be able to explore the oceans, but it's impossible because of the barrier.
I don't know how long I was sitting there until I felt a hand on my shoulder and Harry was suddenly sitting beside me. I turned away from him.
"Uma," he sighed. He lifted my chin with his finger and turned my face toward his. "Talk to me."
I took a deep breath. "I failed you." I looked down. "I failed everyone. I'm a terrible captain."
"Hey, hey," he said as he let go of his hook and placed his hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look back at him. "You didn't fail anyone. You made the king care about the Isle and he wants to help. You're an amazing captain, and" he pressed his forehead to mine, "you could never fail me."
I smiled at him. "Thank you."
"Now," he said as he stood up and held his hand out to me, "let's go back to the ship."
I grabbed his hand and he helped me up and we walked back to the ship hand in hand, not really caring about what anyone would think if they saw us.
We made it back to the ship and the whole crew was waiting for us. They enveloped us into a group hug.
"So, you guys don't think I'm a terrible captain?" I asked them.
There was a chorus of nos.
"I love you guys, thank you," I say to them. I truly love my crew. They are like my family and we take care of each other. "Alright guys, I'm gonna go to bed."
Harry and I left the deck and made our way to my captain's quarters. Harry has his own quarters of course, but most of the time he sleeps in my bed with me.
When we reached my quarters, Harry shut the door and I turned to him.
"Harry, what's my name?"
He grabbed my hand, slowly brought it up to his lips, and kissed it. "Uma," he whispered.
I blushed lightly. I'm not used to this kind of interaction between us, but I'm happy nonetheless.
...
A few weeks later, there were rumors of visitors from Auradon. I didn't think much of it though. It was probably just whomever Ben and Evie sent to collect the next round of VKs to send to Auradon. At least, I thought that until Ben and Evie walked on to my ship.
"What do you guys want?" I yelled over to them, confused about why exactly they were on my ship.
"We wanted to invite you, Harry, and Gil to Auradon," Ben told her. At that, both Harry and Gil assembled around me. They definitely had our attention now.
"Why would you want me in Auradon?' I asked them.
"Well, despite the fact that you kidnapped the king, put him under a spell, turned into a giant octopus and battled Mal, and tried to destroy the Cotillion," Evie listed, "you really care about the Isle and take care of the kids here."
I narrowed my eyes at her. "How do you know about that?"
"We picked up Dizzy after the Cotillion. She filled me in on what's been happening on the Isle and she told me about all the things that you do for the kids here," Evie explained.
"So, we'd like to make you the advisor of Isle affairs," Ben said.
"Okay, but why would I want to go to Auradon?"
"You'll always have food to eat, a place to sleep, oceans as far as the eye can see, and you'll help us figure out when every kid will eventually be brought over and everything that will help them to adapt to life in Auradon," Evie explained.
Well, Evie was right. I do care about the kids here, and I did want to help them get to somewhere better than here. Not to mention, any food that wasn't from my mom's chip shoppe sounded very appealing. And although Harry and Gil toughed it out here with me, I knew they deserved better, and what kind of captain would I be if I couldn't make them happy?
"Alright, I'll do it," I finally agreed.
"We're so glad to hear that," Ben said as he and Evie smiled at each other.
Harry and Gil both put their arms around me. They were both happy to be leaving. The rest of my crew began cheering.
"What about the rest of my crew?" I asked them.
"Well, we can't bring them over now, but they will be brought over soon," Ben explained.
I wasn't so sure about this. What kind of captain leaves their crew behind?
"It's okay," Desiree interjected. "We'll take care of the ship while you're gone."
"Yeah," Jonas added. "If you don't go to Auradon then you can't help any of us."
I took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll go." They all cheered. Feeling giddy once more, I screamed, "What's my name?"
They all shouted "Uma!" as Harry whispered my name in my ear and then kissed my cheek.
I pulled Harry and Gil into a hug and continued to celebrate with my crew.
...
We arrived in Auradon that same day. Ben and Evie left us when we pulled up to the school because they had meetings to attend to. Mal walked up to the limo. I started feeling unsure about this arrangement.
"I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now, but not only am I probably the highest ranking person here who isn't busy, but I promise that you probably don't want the any of the AKs showing you around either," Mal tried to reason with me.
I thought about it for a second and realized she was right. I don't think I'm ready to confront any of the AKs.
I nod at her and she leads us into the school. She starts showing us around and explaining the rules. She shows Harry and Gil to their dorm and let's them start settling in before she takes me to mine.
"I figured I should let you know that curfew is at eleven and boys are not allowed in the girls dorms after that," Mal explained. She must have seen the worried look on my face so she continued. "I know that you and Harry usually sleep together so I won't say anything about it, but it is a rule.
"Thanks," I mumbled to her.
"Also, my dorm is right next to yours and you can always come get me or Evie if you need anything."
I smiled at her, which surprised me, but I guess this place was affecting me already.
Harry snuck into my room that night. I gladly let him into my bed and snuggled up to him, but it wasn't long before there was a knock on my door. I opened it to reveal Fairy Godmother. She made Harry leave and informed us that the doors were enchanted to let her know if any boys came into the girls' dorms. Despite that, Harry snuck in the next night too, and we were caught again by Fairy Godmother.
On the third night, the same thing happened. I went to sleep worried about being alone.
I woke up in the middle of the night crying and shaking. I was having a panic attack. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't muster myself to do anything that might help, which made me freak out more.
Not long after, Mal burst into my dorm and came over to me.
"Uma, what's wrong," she frantically asked me.
I couldn't respond through my gasps and crying. She must have realized that I was having a panic attack.
"What can I do?"
"Get ... Harry..." I managed to say. Harry was the only one who could calm me down when I was having a panic attack. She nodded and sprinted out of the room. I heard her say something to Evie next door before hearing her running down the hall. Evie came into my room and grabbed my hand, in an attempt to comfort me. I squeezed her hand and we waited.
Finally Harry ran into my room and got into my bed. Evie let go of my hand as he wrapped his arms around me and started whispering to me. Evie joined Mal in the hallway and they went back to their room.
"Uma, Uma, okay, I'm here. You're going to be alright," Harry just kept whispering as he ran his fingers up and down my back.
Eventually I began to calm down and fell asleep in his arms.
After that night, Harry was never sent back to his dorm after sneaking into my room again. Mal explained that she had spoken to Fairy Godmother about the incident and she agreed to look the other way. I guess she thought it was better than me waking up in panic attacks every so often.
A few weeks after we arrived in Auradon, I wasn't having a very good week. The AKs weren't to welcoming to us being in Auradon. When I say us, I mostly mean me. The AKs didn't really know Harry or Gil and they were both attractive so they received a lot of attention from the girls at Auradon Prep. I don't really blame them after what I did during the Cotillion, but it didn't make my life in Auradon any easier. I also had three panic attacks this week. I was constantly stressed about it and was losing sleep.
Harry could tell that I was having a tough week, so on Friday, he planned for us to go to the beach after school. He knew I always felt better when I was around the ocean.
We found a secluded part of the beach and I already felt so much better. The water here was so much bluer and clearer than the water around the Isle. I couldn't stop staring at it and I had the biggest smile on my face. Harry grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I turned towards him and wrapped my arms around his neck. As I felt his arms wrap around my waist I was overcome by so much emotion.
I pulled away from him and began taking off my clothes to reveal my swimsuit. I started pulling him toward the water. He laughed as he attempted to take off his shirt with one hand. He somehow managed it by the time we reached the water. I dove right in with Harry not far behind.
We spent hours swimming around, splashing each other, floating on the surface, and just talking and relaxing. We were currently standing with water up to our chests, marveling at all we could see through the clear water. The sun was starting to set and the colors were reflecting off the water.
I looked up at Harry and saw that he had just been watching me in my excitement. I smiled at him and made my way to him. He smiled down at me and grabbed my hands. I looked at his face and into his eyes.
"Harry," I said quietly.
"Yes, my queen?"
I smiled at his response. "I love you."
I can't believe I just said that. If you had asked me this morning if I loved Harry, I would have told you that I still didn't know what love was. But being here with someone that I knew would do absolutely anything for me, I knew what love felt like and I was in love with Harry.
If it was possible, Harry's smile got even bigger. "I love you, too." He pressed his forehead to mine.
"What's my name?" At this point, I just loved hearing him say my name.
He bit his lip as I saw his eyes dart to my lips. He grabbed my face and pressed his lips to mine. As he pulled away I placed my hands around his wrists.
"Uma," he whispered against my lips.
I leaned up and captured his lips in mine.
...
It had been a few years since Uma and I had started dating. That word was still so strange to me. Some Isle habits were hard to break, and feeling strange about the word dating was one of them. Anyways, we had graduated from Auradon Prep but because of Uma's position as an advisor, we still lived on the school campus. Yes, I said we. Uma and I had graduated from me sneaking into her dorm to living in our own apartment.
Ben and Mal got married a few months ago. Despite the fact that neither me nor Uma were friends with Mal on the Isle, you know because we hated each other, and Uma tried to ruin her Cotillion, we had become pretty close to both Mal and Ben in the past few years. We were both part of the wedding; Uma was a bridesmaid and I was a groomsmen.
It was when Mal and Ben were saying their vows, that I realized I wanted to marry Uma.
The day after the wedding, I went to Evie's apartment and asked her to help me find a ring for Uma. She was ecstatic of course. We went to so many jewelry stores before we found the perfect ring. It was pretty simple and small. Uma wasn't a fan of large and extravagant. It was a silver band that was etched to look like waves surrounding a light blue stone. It was just so perfect and I knew that she was going to love it.
I carried the ring around with me for weeks. I couldn't decide if I wanted to plan something special or to do something spontaneous. When Uma told me that she, Ben, Mal, and Evie were making a trip to the Isle the next day to check on things as part of their advising duties, I knew that the perfect time had come. I'm not an advisor, but I always go with Uma on her advising trips to the Isle.
I immediately went to see Evie so she could help me plan everything. I have to be honest, Evie is the best at planning absolutely everything.
The next day, we went to the Isle. I followed them as they attended to their advising duties. Finally they were finished and I tried to convince Uma to come with me to the ship. Side note, the crew had opted to stay on the Isle when they had received the invitation to come to Auradon. They had wanted to continued looking after the ship. Uma finally agreed, not like she was gonna say no, she just liked giving me a hard time, so we headed over to the dock.
As soon as we stepped on to the ship, a huge smile spread over both of our faces. The crew excitedly greeted us. We spent a few minutes catching up with everyone before Ben walked over to us.
"We're going to be taking the ship back with us to Auradon," Ben revealed. This was part of the plan.
"Really?" Uma asked Ben excitedly, her eyes lighting up. I loved this look on her.
"Yep," Ben nodded.
"Oh my god, Ben!" Uma threw her arms around Ben and hugged him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Everyone was just so happy. Uma pulled away from Ben and I grabbed her hand. Triumphantly she shouted, "What's my name?" The crew chanted her name.
As it died down, I tugged on Uma's hand so that she turned to face me. "Uma," I said. She started smiling; she loves it when I say her name. I get down on one knee and he smile is replaced by surprised and she covers her mouth. I grabbed the ring box from the pocket in my jacket and opened it. "Will you marry me?"
Tears started welling up in her eyes. She started nodding. "Yes!" she gave me her left hand and I slid the ring on to her fourth finger. She pulled me up, wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. I could hear everyone cheering around us. But I wasn't paying attention to them. I was too focused on my Uma.