Ooh my badness, my loves, I'm sooo sorry for the continuity errors. During the time it took to update this chapter, in short, more info towards the bottom, I was reading the last chapters I wrote and I saw that I changed somethings unknowingly. Now that I know, I'll fix them. On to better news, here's the chapter.
"Alright, we got to call it quits because it's almost curfew," Manny said as he stood up with smile. Jake and Uma had been playing for hours and neither one of them would back down.
There were so many close calls, but the other managed to gain their footing back and the game went on.
You would think that after two hours, with breaks in the middle of course, of watching the same two people sword fighting would get boring, but no. Instead it got even more interesting because of the fact that they kept going, and they radiated pure happiness. The longer they went the wider their smiles became. Jake and Uma knew that they met their match but they weren't willing to give the other that sense of satisfaction.
Harry, Grayson, Manny and a few other students that came by to watch cheered them on, but Jake and Uma didn't notice, they were only focused on each other.
"Guys," Manny called again, he debated going between them to get them to stop but realized that it probably wouldn't stop them.
Jake, breathing hard, but still holding his sword up to defend against, Uma said, "Looks like it's a tie, Uma." Their swords clashed, forming an X.
Uma's smile wickedly as she said, "Looks like time saved you, Pan."
"More like it saved you," Jake winked, "Now since I don't hold it under you to not swing at me after I lower my sword, we will do it at the same time."
Uma laughed, "Jake, you've known me how long? I may be from the Isle but that's dirty even for us," she shook her head. Not offended at all, she probably would have done that. All's fair in war.
"Sure," he replied in disbelief. How long he's known her is the reason why he was doing it. "So on a count of three. One," he raised his eyebrow and Uma nodded, "Two," they both pulled their swords toward themselves, "Three," they lowered them and stared at each other.
A moment of silence passed between them before they both started laughing.
"You're good, Jake," Uma admitted when they stopped laughing.
"So are you," Jake replied. When Uma held out her hand, he shook it and then shook his head, "I've been sword fighting for years, mastered it when I became a guard," he stated, his eyes filled with wonder, "I've fought many people and only my father was able to meet me swing for swing," he looked at her with an impressed smile, "And now you."
Uma's smile widened. Being compared to the man who took down one of the best swordsman on the isle, felt good.
Jake looked up and noted that it actually was getting late. He looked around their group and said, "Alright you heard the man, everyone to their rooms." Slowly the crowd dispersed.
Harry walked up to them and looked at his dad's enemies son and couldn't help but feel impressed by him. Even Harry had trouble keeping up with Uma but Jake seemed to take it in a slide. "So you can hold up a good fight," Harry said.
Jake looked at him and nodded, "It's in my blood."
Harry nodded, "I agree."
Before a tense silence could pass between them, Grayson rushed up to them and said, "That was amazing! You made it look so effortless!"
Jake smiled and Uma nodded as she said, "And with practice, so will you."
Grayson's smile widened, "Well, I'll hold you to it. See you tomorrow!"
"See you!" Uma replied at Grayson's back because he had already turned to run away.
"Seems like you've finally met your match, Uma," Harry said.
Uma turned to Harry and smiled, "I know! He might be a better opponent than you," Uma teased, their problems momentarily forgotten.
"No way," Harry feigned insult, "I'm definitely better."
"I don't know about that, Hook. I've beaten you a few times. Doesn't seem like I can do that with Jake," Uma shrugged. Teasing clear in her eyes.
"That's because I let down my guard," Harry pouted.
"Which you should never do during a fight, Harry," Uma shook her head in mock disappointment.
"I call rematch!" Harry crossed his arms.
"Anytime of the week when you're ready for it," Uma smiled.
They stared at each other and smirked. Neither of them would admit that it felt good to be back to their usual banter. To not think of their problems, to just be them. A good sword fight, whether watching or playing always managed to clear their heads.
"Alright you two," Jake interrupted their moment when it went on for too long, "You two know where you should be."
They both groaned but nodded as they made their way back in the school and towards the dorms.
When they reached where the halls separated the girls from the boys. Then turned to each other and stared yet again.
Getting down to business, Uma said, "So I'll see you early, tomorrow, so we can get ready to leave for the Isle."
Harry's face immediately dropped at the mention of the Isle. For a split moment he had forgotten about his father's condition and how he was going to have to face him again.
"Hey," Uma said softly when she saw his expression change. She walked closer to him and lifted her hand to cradle his chin, he leaned into it. "He's going to be alright, and I'll be right there with you,"
"And you're sure this is going to help me?" Harry asked as he stared down at her.
"Positive," Uma nodded.
At Harry's unconvinced expression, Uma sighed and pulled him into her arms. Harry put his head on her shoulder and melted into her.
"I wouldn't suggest you do this if I didn't think it was in your best interest," Uma whispered so only he could hear her, "You are my number one, Harry, and I look out for mine," she lifted her hand to his hair and smiled when he squeezed her tighter, "Even when we are having problems," she added because she needed him to understand. No matter what, Uma took care of what mattered to her and Harry mattered a lot to her.
Harry pulled back a little with his arms still around her and asked, "So even when I'm being a pain, you'll still look out for me?"
Uma answered, "Yes," without hesitation.
Harry smiled as he pulled her back to him, squeezed her again before letting go. "Good," he said, "Because I'll do the same for you," he winked.
Uma shook her head but smiled. "Now go to bed, Hook. We've got a long day ahead of us."
"Aye, aye, Captain," he saluted her, bowed, gave a dramatic turn and walked away.
Uma watched him walk away as she shook her head, "What am I going to do with him?" She asked no one in particular.
"Admit you have feelings for him?" Jake answered. "It'll do you both some good."
Uma turned to Jake and glanced back to make sure Harry wasn't in hearing distance. When she noticed he wasn't she asked, "How do you know if you have feelings? On the Isle, our parents didn't love us. We weren't taught what love was or what it felt like. Just that it was bad."
Jake opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. He didn't know what to say. Uma shocked him by wanting to know. All the times he's mentionedher and Harry liking each other she managed to brush it off. Now it seemed like she genuinely wanted to know and it threw him for a loop. "Wait," he began, "You finally want to know?" At her nod, he said, "You know you have feelings when your heart skips a beat when you see the other person. When your day gets better just because they're in it. When the thought of them makes you happy. When you would do anything for that person."
Uma listened intently as Jake went on to describe what feelings were. Her heart dropped when she realized that after each sentence, Harry was the first thing she thought of. When Jake finished, Uma had an odd look on her face.
"What?" Jake asked.
"Everything you said, reminded me of Harry," Uma crosses her arms to comfort herself and looked away from Jake, "And I can't let that happen."
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Manny and Harry were walking to Harry's dorm in silence when they saw someone leaning on his door.
Getting closer, they recognized who it was.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked irritated as he walked closer to the figure by his dorm door.
Looking up, Jay straightened and said, "It's time we clear a few things up."
"There's nothing to clear up," Harry said as he stood in front of Jay and crossed his arms.
Jay watched him with a raised brow and said, "You know there is, and now that we are a team, and I'm injured," he points at his injury, "it really needs to be cleared up."
Harry smirked, "I didn't know you cared, Jay."
Jay narrowed his eyes, "I care about what's good for the team."
Harry blinked innocently with a hand on his chest, "And that means me now?"
Not bothering to answer his question, Jay motioned towards Harry's door and said, "Are you going to invite me in?"
"It's curfew," Harry replied, "Shouldn't you be back at your dorm, Mr. Rule Follower?"
He shook his head and smiled, "Not if I cleared this with Ben. We are having a mini-retreat."
Harry tilted his head, "What does that mean?"
"It means, you are stuck with me for the night," Jay clapped his hands.
"No," Harry said, "No way. No." He shook his head.
"You don't really have a choice," Jay shrugged enjoying the look of denial and anger in Harry's face.
"What about, Gil?" Harry said, "He's not a part of the team. He shouldn't have to be stuck dealing with us for the night."
"Already taken care of. He offered to room with Chad for the night. Now are you going to open the door or not?"
Harry tried another method to get Jay to back out from this, "You do know that the guards don't come in the room, right? Once that door closes behind us, it's just you and me and nothing can save you," his smile turned wicked.
Jay smiled, "I can take care of myself," he looked at Manny and nodded his head.
"Well it's your deathbed," Harry replied and finally opened the room door. He walked in and said with his arms spread out, "Welcome!"
The room had a pirate feel. It had two beds on opposites sides of the room and a large tv in the center across from them. There was black and red everywhere, not custom to the school but Ben pulled some favors. The windows were covered with dark black curtains, the only light that filled the room came from the lamps by their desks.
Harry walked to his bed and set down his sword and took off his jacket so he was only in his black pants and white tank top. He turned back to Jay and said, "Well, you said you wanted to clear things up. Let's get to it?" He flopped on his bed, put a hand behind his head and waited.
Jay walked over to the wooden desk by Harry's bed, took out the seat and sat. "Well, where to start."
Harry bitterly laughed as he held his hook in front of his face. "Maybe start on the fact that you are a traitor? And traitors don't get treated nicely by anyone."
Jay looked at Harry and shrugged his shoulders, "You do whatever you need to do to survive on the Isle, you of all people should know that."
Harry scoffed, "For trying to fix this, you seriously suck."
"I'm still a VK, Harry, we don't do things like this."
"Then why are you here?" Harry shouted as he rapidly sat up and glared at Jay, "Because I don't see the point of this."
Jay glared back, "Because we are a team, Harry. And a good team doesn't have any conflict between them."
"There's too much conflict to fix in a measly few hours," Harry's eyes flames as he clenched his fists. "Betrayal, Jay, is something, you should remember, I don't get over."
Jay rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. He knew what he did to Harry was wrong. But he also knew that if he could go back to change things, he wouldn't. "We were kids, Harry, on the Isle."
"But we still knew ally's were the few people you could trust on the Isle," Harry defended. Why he was even entertaining Jay, he didn't know.
"You should have never trusted a thief," Jay says.
"You never should have..?" Harry mocked in disbelief. For an apology this has to be the worst he's ever gotten. "Again, I see no point in this." He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose, a calming technique he was taught as soon as he got to Auradon. "If this is all I'm getting from you, it would be best you leave now. I'm am this close," he made a tiny space between his thumb and index finger, "From jumping you and getting sent back to the Isle."
"Okay, let's start over," Jay suggested. "Let's just forget about our pasts and start fresh."
"That'd could possibly work if trust wasn't already broken," Harry replied. He ran his pointer finger along his hook as he glared at Jay.
"We are a team now, Hardy and something must give," Jay sighed deeply, "You've got to cut me some slack."
Harry laughed incredulously, "Like you did when I first joined the team?"
"So maybe I didn't handle that as well as I should've."
"You think?" Harry scoffed as he rolled his eyes.
"But now we are in a different situation, where you will be taking my place for a few weeks."
Harry froze and looked back at Jay, "Come again?" He asked sure he hadn't heard that right.
"You will be filling in for me as Co-captain," At Harry's silence he went on, "You will be working alongside Lonnie for practices."
"Me?" He asked, "I don't think anybody else on the team will agree with that."
"Well they'll have to, or deal with me. Everyone on the team knows you are qualified for the position so they won't even think twice about it."
Harry nodded, "But what does this have to do with you?"
Jay smiled, "I'll be training you to fill in for me."
"Why would I need training? I thought you said I was qualified?"
"You are," he agreed, "But you have no experience running a team," Harry opened his mouth to argue that point when Jay held up his hand and said, "An Auradon team."
"It can't be that different."
"But it is," Jay said, "You can't control these people by fear."
"Who said I control my crew with fear?" He asked offended. Did Jay really think so low of him?
Jay simply just raised an eyebrow as if to say, "everyone does."
Harry's eyes narrowed as the anger that was slowly dissolving came back. He pointed his hook at Jay and said, "You obviously don't remember that fear doesn't last long on the Isle. Seems like Auradon has also wiped your memory clear of how things work on the Isle if you think fear is what keeps the crew in line."
Jay scoffed, "If not fear then what?"
"Loyalty, Jay. Have you heard of the term?" He asked with his head tilted. Harry didn't wait for an answer as he continued, "Everyone in our crew is there because they want to be there. Everyone is there because not only did they earn our trust, we earned theirs. Each and every member of our crew has been through tough times. And Uma and I have helped them all and vice versa." Harry narrowed his eyes more. He paused and made sure Jay was looking at him when he said, "So fear has nothing to do with it. Shows how little you remember our friendship if you could even think that was a possibility."
Jay sighed as he realized that he ruined things yet again. He wasn't good at apologizing because he never had to do it. If it wasn't so important he wouldn't have been doing it. He needed to change the conversation and he needed to change it now, "Well," he began rubbing his neck, "Auradonian teams still run a little differently. What you told me will help you with the teams but when I train you you'll be in even better shape to deal with them. Training you to work with our team would be a lot easier if we left our past in the past and create a new one. It's like what Ben said, Auradon is the place for new beginnings."
Harry slowly stopped glaring daggers and nodded at what Jay was saying. So he knew Jay and him were going to be seeing a lot of each other because of this new arrangement. Even he knew that it wouldn't work as well if he kept throwing jabs at him. Not for him and not for the team and something Harry would never do is hurt his team so he knew he had to get over what was done so long ago. He didn't have to forgive him completely, but he knew he had to move past it.
"So what do you say?" Jay asked. He hoped that Harry wouldn't be as stubborn as He knew he was.
Harry watched Jay silently for a few moments before nodding his head, "Okay, for the team," Harry replied.
"For the team," Jay nodded his head and smiled.
They got silent for a few moments before Jay said, "Well we should get ready for bed because you have a long day ahead of you," at Harry's raised eyebrow, Jay said, "Word gets around."
Harry groaned as he closed his eyes. "I'd rather not think about it."
"If it means anything... I would've done the same." Jay said as he walked towards Gil's bed and lied on it.
"Your father didn't abuse you," Harry pointed out. Not in malice, just as a fact.
"All Villain Kids were abused," Jay said sadly, "Violence isn't the only way to hurt someone."
At that statement Harry turned his head to look at Jay. Jay had a wary look on his face that Harry had never seen before. Not liking the look he said, "Well least your parent can't reach you here."
Jay shook off the look and his thoughts as he said, "Thank Satan, that's right."
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"Why can't you let that happen?" Jake asked confused.
"Because my mom..." Uma began but Jake cut her off.
"Your Mom can't reach you here," Jake said. "She also shouldn't be a reason you won't let yourself be happy with him."
"But..." Uma began but again got cut off.
"But nothing, Uma. That boy is so obviously in love with you and you with him. It's sucks to see that you are not only hurting yourself but you are hurting him by not letting yourself be with him."
"Since when do you care about him?" Uma asked.
"Since I saw that he's good for you," Jake said softly as they kept walking to her dorm. "You should know by now that I care for you and I'm here to make sure you are making good decisions and right now, I don't feel like you are."
"He's my best friend, Jake," Uma said softly. She just couldn't lose him. Him becoming more could end badly and she could end up losing him and she doesn't think she'd be able to bare it.
"I know, Uma."
"I can't lose him."
"But don't you see, Uma? That you putting up this wall between you and him is hurting your relationship. Can't you see that things haven't gone as smoothly as when feelings weren't involved? Can't you see that you might already be losing him?" They reaches her dorm but Uma didn't make a move to open the door.
"I'm not losing him," Uma stated, whether she was trying to convince him or herself, she didn't know.
"Are you sure?" Jake said softly.
I did it! I did it! I finally finished!! I've been trying to get this out for two weeks. Sorry I've been gone so long. University is killer, but I finished finals meaning that I might have more time to update. So how have you guys been? Cause I'm just excited that I'm on winter break.
Anyways. This must be mentioned, if I'm reading your book, I'll be getting back to it as soon as I can. I've just been so busy I have no time to breathe anymore. So please don't get mad, I will get to it. This was also updated on my phone so I'll fix the mistakes later.
Sooo here's another chapter, I hope you like it. Leave comments maybe? I love reading them. Did you enjoy the section of Jay and Harry? I might be adding a few more scenes of them later in the story.
Thanks for reading!
-TheOnly