XJ had gotten all the information that she needed regarding Chad during the fight. She had gotten some more from the reactions of the wrestling team on each individual when she had beaten Cinderella's son. Therefore, she didn't have that much left to fill in their profiles.
CHAD CHARMING - arrogant, old-fashioned (parents' influence?), rich, daft, weak, desperate for admiration and glory, Audrey's ex
Objective: Help him win Audrey back in return for three favors. Favors will depend on the situation of Ben and Auradon.
Play: Obsession with Audrey
XJ closed the window that she had Chad's profile on and pulled up someone else's. She began typing in names as she heard them being shouted around in the gym. She looked up every now and then to observe the team rather than one specific person, and each time, she saw Harry looking at her.
Harry would wink and smirked at her and she would smile back at him.
At one point, it was finally Harry's turn to spar with Jay, and XJ took a small break. The wrestling team paid more attention than usual - it was going to be interesting to see two boys from the Isle brawl. They were doing free-fight as a break, especially after seeing that they clearly needed the training anyway after XJ had almost broken Chad's arm. Of course, Jay would lose - Auradon had mellowed him out and Harry was fresh from the Isle, but they still wanted to see how fast Harry was.
"Let's go, snake boy!" Harry yelled enthusiastically as he stood on the edge of the mat. He had been itching to use his fists ever since he had come to Auradon.
He looked up at XJ, who was grinning now. He blew a kiss to her, making some people around him look over to XJ. Harry thought that she would roll her eyes and scoff, but to everyone's surprise, XJ blew a kiss back before shouting so Harry could hear, "No permanent injuries, love!"
"I think she's talking to me," Jay said, smirking as he took his place opposite Harry.
Harry turned his attention back to Jay and snickered, "Auradon's softened you up, Jay. This is going to be easy." He cracked his knuckles.
"We'll see," Jay scowled, cracking his neck.
"Three," The wrestling team all counted down in unison.
"Two,"
"One! Fight!"
Harry threw the first punch. Jay ducked under it and tried to punch Harry's stomach, but the pirate caught his fist with ridiculous speed and strength. Harry laughed before twisting Jay's hand, making the other boy groan in pain.
Harry used his other hand to punch Jay in the throat, but Jay managed to just dodge it. Jay kicked Harry in the stomach and this time, Harry wasn't fast enough.
Harry let go of Jay's hand and growled, glaring at him. Jay glared back as he rubbed his fist. Harry swung at Jay again and Jay dodged it, but it revealed itself to be a feint when Harry's other fist connected with Jay's face.
The wrestling team gasped and winced, feeling Jay's pain. Jay stumbled back from the blow, but Harry sweeped his legs under Jay's while he was gathering his footing. Jay fell to the floor with a thump and Harry was about to pounce on him and continue the fight, but XJ yelled, "The round's over! You've won, Harry!"
Harry straightened up and grinned proudly at XJ, "Hell yeah, I did!"
XJ sighed but smiled. "Yes you did," She said in a quieter voice so only she could hear before turning back to her laptop.
The wrestling team was congratulating Harry and patting him on the back. Harry was grinning like a madman and was basking in the glory.
Jay slowly got up and held out his hand, "Good round," Jay said grimly, not at all pleased that Harry had managed to beat him.
Harry blinked at Jay's outstretched hand. He looked over at XJ, hoping that she would give him some sort of inkling as to what to do. However, XJ was typing away and wasn't aware of his predicament.
"Um... "
Jay raised an eyebrow before he realized why Harry wasn't shaking his hand. "Oh," Jay laughed, "I forgot that you're like me when I first got here."
"Um... Yeah?"
"It's called a handshake," Jay explained, trying to hide a smile, as he grabbed Harry's hand and held it up. He wrapped Harry's fingers around his own and shook it exaggeratedly. "That'd what people in Auradon do. Pretty different from the Isle, right?" Jay said knowingly as he let go of Harry's hand.
"I... Yeah, it is." Harry admitted, reluctant to agree with Jay.
Jay patted Harry's shoulder reassuringly, "You'll get used to it. It doesn't take long."
"You're right, it doesn't take long to forget about the people you left behind on the Isle." Harry said coldly as he walked over to XJ, making the smile on Jay's face drop.
"So?" Harry asked as he walked closer to XJ.
XJ glanced up and closed her laptop. "What do you mean 'so'?"
"Did I do good?" Harry asked, grinning mischievously as he sat down opposite her on the bleacher below the one XJ was sitting on.
XJ replied bluntly, "No."
Harry pouted, "Oh come on, lass. I beat him!"
"You also got socked in the stomach." XJ reminded Harry and sneezed again.
"I'm a big guy - I can't dodge like you can!" Harry whined.
XJ snorted. "That's not an excuse." XJ sighed, "At least you didn't get your face punched in."
Harry grinned, "Finally, some praise." He glanced at XJ's laptop. "So, uh, did you get everything you needed?"
XJ nodded, "Of course I did. This," She tapped the cover of her laptop, "will save me at least a day of observing."
Harry's grin grew wider, "So more time for me to hog you to myself?"
"No, Harry," XJ rolled her eyes. "I still have work to do. You can do that when I've gotten what I wanted."
Harry huffed, "That's going to take a while."
"Be patient," XJ sneezed and stood up, grabbing her laptop and her bag. "I assume practice is over."
"It is. Well, for me anyway. The guys who got beaten, which is everyone else, have to stay a little longer." Harry snickered. "I'm starting to love this 'team' thing. Are you going to join anything?"
"Unless I need something from it, no. I'm going to spend the rest of my free time in my dorm -"
"Brooding?"
XJ scowled as she started to walk out of the gym, "Planning."
Harry snorted as he took his own bag and followed. "Relax, you'll live longer."
"One misstep and everything could backfire, Harry. I'll be back to square negative one, with no drawing board."
"I know, but you could use a break."
"I'll take a break when everything's done." XJ said firmly.
Harry sighed, "You sure you don't want to act like an actual seventeen year old for once?"
"I do act like a seventeen year old."
"Yes, because seventeen year olds plan for world domination and study when they're sick."
"Will you give it a rest? I already told you my reasoning behind that."
"Hey, all I'm saying is that -"
"What's your point here, Harry?" XJ asked, interrupting Harry.
"I want to know if you want to go to the end of the year party with me." Harry said, a hint of nervousness detectable in his voice.
XJ sent Harry a look, "There are two things wrong with what you just said: a) I'm your girlfriend - who else am I going to go with? And b) there might not be an end of the year party as I might have taken the crown by then." XJ stated the last bit in a quieter voice to avoid someone other than Harry hearing her.
Harry shook his head, "That's actually not the point."
"Then why did you say it was?" For once in her life, XJ was at a loss.
Harry chewed the inside of his cheek, "I was hoping you would catch on so I wouldn't have to say it."
XJ was concerned now. She stopped walking and looked around. They had reached the staircase leading to the dorms and nobody seemed to be paying the two of them much attention.
XJ turned to Harry, who had stopped too. "Harry?" XJ said in a softer voice. "What's wrong?"
Harry laughed sheepishly, "About the end of year party...I wanted to ask if you would maybe, I don't know, postpone your takeover until after then?" Harry mumbled the last part, but XJ heard him.
XJ blinked, "I...I could, but why do you care?"
"I...uh...I wanted to try doing something normal as, you know, a couple, and I would ask you on a separate date, but the dance thing sounded pretty romantic and we never had that on the Isle, but I thought, uh, you would be busy with your planning so I..." Harry trailed off.
It was very out of character for Harry to be so unsure of something and even more so for him to stammer. In all honesty, XJ found it quite amusing.
XJ sighed and ran through her options in her head. If she did what Harry wanted, and took over after the dance, then her plans would have to change drastically and it would require more hassle, as well as her not being able to take over the kingdom as quickly as she would have liked. She didn't exactly see the point of the end of the year celebration either.
However, Harry seemed to want to go, and she couldn't blame him. He was right; the Isle never had any parties or dances and she couldn't fault him for wanting to see what one was like. She was curious as well, but her curiosity did not override her determination to do what her father couldn't and prove that she was better and stronger than him.
But she knew that the only person who was capable of making her feel guilty without even knowing it was standing right in front of her, and the look on his face said that he was certain XJ was going to say no.
XJ decided to surprise him.
"If it's really that important to you..." XJ said carefully, watching Harry's eye light up with disbelief. She sighed, "I can make an exception."
Harry was frozen for a bit, his brain slowly processing the stunning information. XJ took that as her cue to keep walking to the dorm, and Harry mindlessly followed. It wasn't until they were inside their dorm and XJ had put down her bag, did Harry's brain finish loading.
Harry picked XJ up without any warning, making XJ laugh, and spun her around with a ridiculous grin on his face.
"Put me down, Harry!" XJ said, laughing.
"Thank you!" Harry shouted with glee, finally setting her gently down onto the ground, but he didn't withdraw his arms from her waist.
XJ smiled at him, placing her arms around his neck. "You don't have to thank anybody. I shouldn't be taking over Auradon in the first place, but unluckily enough for Auradon, I'm not a nice person."
Harry grinned as he rested his forehead against XJ's. "We're going to have so much fun, I promise you won't regret it."
"I'd better not."
XJ suddenly frowned after a moment of comfortable silence. Harry noticed.
"What's wrong?"
XJ narrowed her eyes but didn't reply. She didn't seem to be narrowing her eyes at Harry though. She suddenly threw back her head and groaned. "I just realized."
Harry blinked, "Realized what?"
"I have to wear a prissy princess dress for the dance." XJ grumbled.
Harry laughed, "I don't know what you're talking about," He winked, "I think you'd look lovely in a dress, lass."
"It's not about whether I look good or not - it's about how hard it's going to be to kick someone as well as keep my dignity."
"You won't need to kick anybody," Harry grinned, holding back his laughter. "You're taking over after the dance, not during."
XJ grunted. "I'm not wearing a dress."
Harry shrugged, "It's up to you. I'm wearing a, uh, what do they call them?"
"What?"
"The uh, the silky things that people wear? They have like, coats and matching pants and ties around their neck..." Harry furrowed his brows, trying to think of the word.
"You mean a suit?" XJ asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes! That's what I meant! I'm looking forward to wearing a suit!"
"How do you not know what a suit is?" XJ asked, looking at Harry incredulously.
Harry shrugged, "They didn't have those on the Isle."
"Yeah, I know, I was born there and I still know what a suit is." XJ said in a sing-song voice.
Harry pouted, "Don't mock me. Anyway, I'm going to be wearing a suit. Do you think I'll look good in one?" Harry asked, smirking.
XJ groaned, "You're trying to pressure me into wearing a dress! I'm not wearing a dress!"