So while Carlos isn't present here in the fic, his and Uma's relationship is mentioned several times so I just went ahead and decided to tag the fic as 'carma'. To all tuning into this fic, I hope y'all enjoy it.:D Feedback of any kind is very much appreciated.:)
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"Well, my darling, how you make friends is by simply being nice."
Audrey inhaled, eyes honed in on the school's only pirate crew Lost Revenge, the advice her mother had given her when she had been a friendless child yearning for companionship ringing in her mind. Momma always gave the best advice. Her advice always worked. She had her advice to thank for her being able to successfully befriend Janice, Opal, and Pam all those years ago, after all. Oh, and the kindly Ben, too, of course. She could do this. But geez, it sure would be nice if her nerves would stop making her sweat all over. There was nothing she disliked more than sweating, after all. The others at the table may be strangers to her but Uma's presence should at least instill a bit of ease within her. They were roommates, after all but Audrey didn't want that to be all there is to their relationship. She wanted to be Uma's friend.
Clutching her books close to her chest, the redeemed princess began walking forward in the direction of the cafeteria table the pirate captain and her crew were sitting at. Audrey decided as the distance steadily thinned between her and the group that she'd take the empty spot directly next to Uma.
"Hey there, everyone," Audrey greeted, a friendly smile on her face as she set her belongings down before settling down next to Uma.
As a puzzled Uma stared at her roommate, she felt Harry's eyes on her who was sitting at the left of her. But it wasn't just Harry's eyes who was on her but the entire table's save for Gil who had departed for the bathroom not too long ago. "Prissy... Hey."
Harry had gone quiet, his countenance quizzical as his eyes switched from his pirate captain to the elegant beauty sitting next to her. He didn't have a problem with Audrey but it's just that he'd been unaware that she was now a friend of Uma's. And something in him sizzles at his lack of knowledge on that fact because his reaction to being told by Uma that he hadn't been the first to be told she was dating Carlos was a petty, childish one.
Audrey tries maintaining a positive attitude because she knows that if she doesn't, the awkward atmosphere that had befallen the formerly lively table would get to her. Smiling from ear to ear, the princess says, "So—"
"I'm back, guys!" a grinning Gil exclaimed, sitting across from Uma. It took a few moments for the slow-witted pirate to notice that Audrey was sitting right next to the girl he considered to be his family. The grin that had disappeared from his face returns. "Oh, hi, Audrey!"
Audrey beams at him. "Hi, Gil."
Some part of Uma was thankful for Gil's reappearance because now the air wasn't as thick with awkwardness.
"I didn't know you were friends with Uma," Gil says.
Uma lets out a sarcastic, internal laugh. Yeah, neither did she. She liked Audrey, though so her presence wasn't much of a disruption.
Audrey decides not to disprove or approve his statement, continuing to simply smile at the well-meaning boy. She certainly wants to get the point where Uma sees her as a friend and well, she wouldn't mind befriending them either. After all, Uma was as cool as they come and if she thought they were cool enough to be her friends and a member of her pirate crew, then she's sure they'd make for good friends.
"Hey, wanna know what we were talking before you got here?" Gil says, a grin not just on his face but in his voice.
"You," Uma corrected, a dry smile on her face as she stared at the boy she couldn't help having a certain fondness for, despite his characteristic habit of always being slow on the uptake. "What you were talking about before Audrey got here."
Gil chuckles, nodding. "You get me there, captain." The boy with a hair color befitting of his intellect turned his eyes back on Audrey. "So what I was talking about before you got here was coming up with a cool couple name for Uma and Carlos now that they're dating."
Audrey giggled at the sound of Uma groaning, seeing the girl rub her temples from out the corner of her eye.
Harry scowled, the mention of the younger boy that had won Uma over souring his mood.
Gil leaned forward, eyeing Audrey closely as he says, "I thought 'Carma' really rolled off the tongue but Uma said it was stupid."
Audrey smiled, staring right at a disgruntled Uma as she says, "Really? Huh, she said the exact same thing to me." Uma turning her head to glare at her only made Audrey smile harder. The amused princess looked back at Gil. "Gil, I think 'Carma' is a great name."
Gil lit up. "Thanks, Audrey." The dim boy cleared his throat. "Okay, all in favor of 'Carma', raise your hand."
Uma sighed when the entire table, except for her and Harry aka the only two with some sense raised their hands. "All of you, except for Harry are fools."
Harry smirked, suddenly feeling significantly better now that Uma hadn't lumped him in with Audrey and his crewmates.
"'Carma' it is then!" Gil grinned.
Audrey giggled. She hadn't had this much fun spending time with others in a long time.
Audrey joining her and her crew for lunch wasn't just a one-time thing like Uma had incorrectly assumed, Audrey even spending time with her and her crew after lunch hours. Her presence had now become a familiar and welcome one, Uma observing how her crew went from feeling awkward and on edge when she'd come around to greeting her with friendly smiles and arguing amongst each other about who she should sit next to. Gil was Gil so it only took Audrey eating with them for the first time for him to accept her but Harry's stubbornness and suspicion is what had him taking the longest to warm up to the princess. Her crew were absolutely enamored with Audrey and she couldn't blame them because Audrey was a cool chick.
"We'll have to study together later," was Uma's reply to Harry, her first mate leaning against the lockers while she went through her locker. "Clingy wants to take me shopping."
Harry looked up from staring at his hook, raising an eyebrow at Uma. "Clingy?"
"Audrey," Uma clarifies, a smile on her face. "She said she wants to help me update my wardrobe and while I don't really give a shit about updating my wardrobe, there was no other way to get her to stop whining other than caving."
Harry chuckles. Trying not to like Audrey had been a really difficult task. In the end, it took too much energy out of him and he just simply accepted that she was a likable person, which is why Uma and the rest of Lost Revenge took so strongly to her.
Uma closed her locker. "In the meantime, tear Gil away from that damn video game and get him to study for the test tomorrow."
Audrey was completely still as she stood leant against the wall corner near Uma's locker, having heard every bit of her conversation with Harry, "clingy" being the only word that had left Uma's lips she couldn't stop thinking about. Uma thought she was clingy? Audrey deflated, sighing internally. She hadn't realized her presence had become a nuisance to her roommate, thinking that she'd befriended her and her crew and that Uma didn't mind having her around. But apparently, she'd been wrong.
Gil wasn't one to frown but the happy-go-lucky boy can't bring himself to smile at the moment, not really in the mood to eat either, impatient for the arrival of Audrey. "Hey, is Audrey sick, Uma?"
Uma breathed a mental sigh, drumming her fingers against the table as she looked over her shoulder, staring at the cafeteria entrance, hoping that Audrey would walk through the doors any second now. "No." The pirate captain frowned, recalling how yesterday Audrey had said something had come up and that they'd have to postpone their shopping trip. Uma had played it off like she wasn't disappointed. The bell signaling the end of lunch rang, Uma frowning even harder as she gathered her belongings.
Perhaps, if Audrey had been born on the isle, she'd be a good liar. Uma was quick to notice the princess distancing herself from her and when Uma questioned her about her odd behavior, Audrey would give her a stiff, plastic smile before reassuring Uma that she was okay and that she was just preoccupied with other things lately.
"I miss Audrey," Gil had said one day at lunch, Uma hating to see her normally cheerful friend so sad.
Harry was far more skilled at disguising his emotions than Gil but Uma could see that he wasn't pleased at Audrey's newfound absence from their group and well, neither was she.
"I saw her heading in the direction of the library," Lonnie says.
Uma gives the Swords and Shields team captain a grateful smile. "Thanks, Lonnie."
Audrey reached for the handle of the library entrance, her hand pausing near it when she hears a familiar voice.
"Prissy!"
Audrey turns around, blinking as Uma came her way and wow, her roommate did not look happy. Uma finally comes to a stop in front of her, the girl crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at Audrey with a pair of hard eyes. Audrey smiles uneasily. "Hi, Uma."
Uma sniffs in irritation. "So are you gonna finally tell me the real reason as to why you're avoiding not just me but the entire crew?"
Ah, so Uma had finally gotten fed up with all of her lies. Yeah, it had been bound to happen.
"Look, Gil really misses you and seeing him look like a kicked puppy is the worst so just tell me what the hell's going on you with," Uma says roughly.
Audrey's smile is so small that one would have to look close to see it. Gil missed her? Audrey looks down, allowing herself to smile full on but then the memory of the conversation she'd overheard comes back to mind. With sagging shoulders, Audrey says, "Sorry, I just thought it'd be for the best that I not come around as much."
Uma tries to keep her irritation from building but Audrey wasn't making any sense so it was hard not to. In a voice she thinks is calm, Uma says, "For the best of who exactly, prissy?"
"You," was Audrey's simple, softly said reply.
Uma's features contort, her lips parting. "Excuse me?"
Audrey sighs, lowering her head, playing with her fingers. "I overheard you call me 'clingy' and well, that's the last thing I wanna be so..."
Uma stared at Audrey with a baffled look on her face for a few moments before bursting into a fit of laughter. For someone so smart, Audrey could be such an idiot sometimes. Regaining her composure, a smile of amusement is curving at Uma's full lips as she stares at a confused Audrey. "Audrey, I was just fuckin around when I called you that. I don't actually think you're clingy."
The light that's been gone from the princess's eyes, since she distanced herself from Uma and the rest of Lost Revenge returned, Audrey smiling as she says, "Really?"
Uma scoffed, rolling her eyes. "No wonder you and pup get along so well. Yes, fool."
Audrey bit her lip, a hopeful look in her as she says, "So we're...friends then?"
Uma blinked at Audrey in disbelief. Maybe she hadn't been giving Gil enough credit because not even he would ask a question so stupid. "I can't believe you're making me spell it out for you. I do that enough with Carlos." Sighing, Uma smiles as she says, "Yes, Audrey. We're friends."
Audrey's grinning so big and hard that she's sure her face is gonna split in two. She skips over to Uma's side, linking arms with the amused looking pirate captain. "How would you and your crew like to come over for dinner at Honeymoon Cottage this weekend?"
Uma smiles. "Hm, Gil's gonna be ecstatic."
Audrey giggles. She'd have to let Momma, Daddy, and Grammy know that they'd be having guests soon.