Said With Grace

“I think we should play a different game now,” Evie smiled sweetly, “Two Truths and A Lie.”

Jay and Mal quickly voiced their enthusiasm as the potion should be kicking in any time but Jim seemed to hesitate.

“When exactly are Ben and Doug getting here?” Jim inquired.

“What are you scared you’re going to lose?” Jay challenged. Jim always seemed to be on his case, maybe turning the tables.

“Not really, I rarely lose. Most people don’t have what it takes to win,” Jim responded calmly as he sat, indicating that Carlos should sit next to him with a pat.

Evie, Mal, and Jay exchanged a look was that an honest answer or just bluster? They quickly arranged themselves on the floor, Mal sitting directly across from Jim; Jay between Carlos and Mal; and Evie next to Jim. Mal had magicked her phone invisible to others and attached it to her jacket. She pretended to dust some lint off of her lapel, as she pushed the button to record.

“Everyone knows the rules, right? Tell three statements, one of which is a lie. Everyone else gets to ask you one follow up question to try and figure out the lie and then we all vote. Whoever identifies the most lies wins. I’ll start and then we go to the left,” Evie stated. Once everyone had nodded in agreement she continued: “I learned how to sew when I was five years old. I hate the sound of knuckles being cracked.  I am in the process of patenting a chemical dye I invented.”

Evie’s tone never wavered and she looked evenly ahead the entire time she spoke, though Jay didn’t really care he just wanted to ask Jim some questions. He really hoped the truth would set them free, as the Fairy Godmother was always saying. It seemed much more likely that while Jay’s suspicions might publicly be confirmed, Jim seemed like the type who could slip out of any situation- just like his father had.

Jay suddenly noticed everyone was looking at him when Mal gave him a quick jab in the side.

“Uhh… Evie, if you hate hearing knuckles being cracked why don’t you get annoyed when Mal and I do it?” Jay asked.

“If I did, wouldn’t you both do it more often?” Evie answered him with her own question.

Jay was pretty positive he’d caught the lie. While what Evie had said made sense, revealing her dislike now would carry the same risk as telling them earlier.

“What was your first sewing project?” Mal queried.

“An apron, so I wouldn’t mess up my outfits while learning to cook.”

After a few seconds consideration, Mal called for a vote. Everyone raised their hand for statement number two and Evie confirmed they were correct.  Jay felt tension build in his chest as they moved on to Jim. What if what he said hurt Carlos? What if Carlos chose to stay with Jim anyways? Jay took a quick breath to control himself so he could actually listen to what was being said.

Jim began, “Life has always been pretty boring though it’s been a bit more interesting since you four showed up.” He took a quick gulp from his cup, almost seeming to want to cut himself off from talking. “I have a twin sister, Alana, who is nothing like me. I can’t believe I’m related to anyone in my family actually.” Jim’s eyes seemed to widen a bit, and Jay suddenly wondered if this was the first real emotion he’d seen on the prince’s face. Jim took a bite of food as if to slow himself down. “I think something’s wrong with me.”

“Do you need to go to the nurse or something?” asked Carlos, his voice rising in concern.

“Well that was a waste of a question, wasn’t it?” Jim slapped away Carlos’s hand and the smaller boy retreated a bit,”I don’t want to go to the nurse.The last thing I need is to be around an adult right now. I must be drunk or something. Stuff is just slipping out, but I can still beat you four at this game.”

Carlos darted a pleading look at Jay, obviously wanting his friend to call off the game. Jay couldn’t though, it seemed like Jim was honest as h was going to get and Jay wasn’t going to waste time seeing how long the serum lasted.

Trying to act as if the game was still fun, Jay asked the question that had popped into his mind as soon as Jim had started talking, “You said life got interesting when we arrived. Why?”

“Come on look around you- this is happily ever after. Everyone’s so nice, so happy. There’s no challenge to manipulating them. Sure I can make Punzie cry but a few minutes later she’ll just ask her parents if she’s really all that bad and she’ll be back to her perky self.  You four, on the other hand. You put all this armor up. Usually, I know what makes someone tick right after we meet, not so with you VKs. The best part is once I really looked though, there was so much there. Underneath it all you all, are so damaged and frightened. You especially, C.” Jay felt his temper rise at someone outside of their friend group using the nick name, “You wouldn’t go crying to someone if bad stuff happened. I could finally do things that the adults would get me in trouble for but you wouldn’t complain. Even now I know you hate me saying this to your friends, but you won’t tell me to stop. Will you?”

“But I will. Stop it,” Jay interrupted.  Jim seemed a bit disorientated and actually did shut up. “Carlos, are you ok?”

Carlos looked up from his lap. He seemed to be keeping a hold of himself. “What is going on?” Carlos directed his question at the four.

“We want to get to the bottom of what’s going on between you and Jim,” Jay said. They probably should have let Carlos know all along, “We, well, I think Jim’s been twisting the truth. Saying things are your fault even though it isn’t.”

“Well, it really is Carlos’s fault,” Jim said, using the same tone with which someone might comment on the weather. “He has all these feelings. He is weak. You’d think a villain’s son would have discovered the secret.”

“What secret?” Mal asked, her eyes a threatening neon green.

“It’s all pretend. You only have to act like you care, so to keep all the idiots around you from realizing that if they too stopped caring, they could actually live for once. Once you can get someone to like you, then you can get whatever you want If you really care about what they think, then you give all your power away. I’m in control because I don’t let the stupid rules and emotions get in the way.”

“Screw you, Jim,” Carlos said angrily. “What in Hades name made you more fucked up than us?”

Jim laughed, “Oh, normally I’d give some BS answer about the pressure of having to be the perfect prince.” His voice became overly pitiful as he impersonated the situation, “I’ve been really anxious lately. How will I ever measure up to my mommy and daddy? I worry no one will love me if I make even the tiniest mistake. It’s so hard. Alana never does anything wrong. Everyone likes her better.” His voice returned to Jim’s normal tone, “Honestly, I’ve always been this way. I’m lucky. I see the world how it really is.”

Jay struggled to remain seated. Violence on tape would mess up the whole blackmail situation. He glanced at Carlos who seemed at loss, unsure whether to remain angry or to forgive.

“Did you break Carlos’s arm?” Mal said. She was moving on to the list of prepared questions. Motivations were all well and good but if they didn’t have a confession, it was just a rant.

“Yes.” Jim seemed a bit proud of this. “Still, don’t know why I am telling you any of this. Is it some kind of spell.”

Mal ignored him, asking, “ Why?”

“Because he wasn’t doing what I wanted, it was the only way to get my way.”

“It wasn’t an accident?” Carlos asked in surprise.

“Of course not.”

Jay tried to radiate comfort, unsure if he should touch Carlos or not.

“C,” he spoke softly as Mal continued her questions, “Is it ok we’re doing this?”

Carlos nodded.

“Do you want to go outside? We’ve got a long list of questions but you don’t have to hear it all. We can leave. I’ll go with you. The girls can handle themselves.”

Carlos considered for a moment before nodding. Jay and Carlos got to their feet. Jim barely seemed to notice the difference, the spell description had said the serum caused the victim to be unable to focus on multiple things at once, as the distraction was counterproductive. Jay and Carlos walked down the corridor in silence, out of the dorms, and into a small, empty courtyard.

“What the hell, Jay,” Carlos hissed. “You couldn’t just leave it alone. Instead, you went to Mal and Evie and the three of you have some plan. You didn’t bother to ask me if I wanted any of this. Who cares about Carlos’ opinion! He’s too stupid and weak to notice his boyfriend is a psycho. We’ve got to go save him.”

“We didn’t mean it like that,” Jay protested.

“Well, you might not have meant to but seriously,” Carlos swore again. “ Do you think so little of me that you couldn’t  let me in on it? You used magic, didn’t you? You think hearing all my pain’s going to change anything?”

Jay was unprepared for a sudden shove that sent him stumbling backward. When he regained his balance, Carlos was half slumped over.

“I didn’t mean to cause you pain,” Jay said unsure where to begin, “It’s just when we talked I felt like Jim had messed you up, that you couldn’t think clearly. I couldn’t bear seeing you that way. You’re right, I should have told you our plan in advance.”

Carlos looked up at Jay. “You were right,” said Carlos sadly, “I’m living some big lie. I was willing to stay no matter what the cost. I couldn’t think for myself.”

Jay took a step forward, opening his arms if Carlos wanted a hug.

“I just wanted to be loved,” Carlos said in a small voice. “Maybe I knew something was wrong, but I thought- I thought if I loved him enough it would change. Like in the fairytales. True love can change anything. So dumb.”

“I don’t think it’s dumb. I just don’t think Jim wanted to change.”

“Yeah.” Carlos sat down on a nearby bench. Jay sat next to him, waiting for the younger boy to work through his thoughts. A few minutes late Carlos finally spoke again, “How’d I manage to find the one villain in Auradon?”

“At least you’re acknowledging there are other people out there besides, Jim. I’m sure the next person you date will be way better.”

“Yeah.”

The friends sat in silence for quite a while.

“I can’t do it anymore, not after what he said,” Carlos sighed. “I feel like a failure but it’s over, isn’t it?”

“Well, I don’t think you’re the one who failed,” Jay said. “But I get that you feel that way. I’m sorry you had to hear that crap.”

“What did you three do anyway?” Carlos finally asked.

“Gave him a truth serum. Mal’s also recording the whole thing- so we can,” Jay stopped himself, “So you can decide what you want to do with that.”

Carlos considered, “Show it to the Fairy Godmother, I guess. Maybe she can help him.”

Jay wanted to tell Carlos help was the last thing Jim deserved but Jay had made enough unilateral decision for one day.

“How come we’re all not spouting the truth?” Carlos asked, “We all ate and drank the same stuff.”

“The rest of us had an antidote beforehand.”

“Do you think I’m an idiot for believing in Jim?”

“No,” Jay said. “He’s clearly fooled a lot of people before you. I think the same thing could have happened to any of us.”

“Well, we’d better go back up and make sure the girls are doing ok,” Carlos said with a bit more confidence than earlier.

“Mal, while swearing is all well and good, let’s move on to something more productive, shall we?” Evie said calmly.

Jay found telling Mal no easier than Evie, it only made him feel more helpless.

“Why isn’t murder an option again?” Mal asked testily.

“You mean the option where we are all sent back to the Isle of the Lost to be murdered by our dear parents? An option that includes us being unsuccessful and still banished and Carlos is left here to fend for himself,” Evie rebutted.

“Carlos made me promise I couldn’t hurt Jim,” Jay added.

“Well, I promised nothing,” Mal stomped over to her bag and pulled out the spell book, flicking through the pages furiously. “See, the book is with me.”

She named the spell on each page she stopped on, “A poison that suffocates the victim leading to death, cursing an object so that contact with it will cause the skin to peel leading to death, a charm that will block his intestines leading to death… Need I continue?”

“Show me that last one,” Evie said with a smile.

Mal offered her the book which Evie promptly shut and handed to Jay.

“You open it, Jay. You have Carlo’s best interest at heart,” Evie said encouragingly. She turned her gaze to Mal, “Rather than murder.”

Jay took the spell book, turning it around to face him. He almost felt like wishing to find a spell to stop Jim before he opened it, but it wasn’t like many of his wishes had come true. He flipped the book open scanning the left-hand page.

“What’d you get?” Mal asked coolly.

“It’s truth serum,” Jay couldn’t hide the disappointment in his voice. “It’s easier to make then my last spell, but I don’t think it’s going to do a whole lot of good.”

“When C’s safe we’ll have a talk about this “spell” you found in my book without my permission,” Mal’s eyes glinted slightly as she took the spell book from him, “but for now we’ll figure out how to drug Jim with this serum.”

Evie tried to mollify Jay, “A truth serum won’t be useless- you were worried about people believing you and about what’s really going on. A truth serum should get us both.”

“We can try,” Jay conceded. “What are we going to do, pour it into his drink when he’s not looking?”

“That’s too risky,” Evie said, “There are so many people in the cafeteria. Maybe we could have another game night?”

“Sure, but we’ll still have to slip it in his cup,” Jay said.

“No, we won’t,” Mal looked up from the book, “We’ll have it in all the drinks we’ll all drink it.”

“Yeah right, Mal. I read the spell too- it seems powerful. It’s not just no lying it seems to take away the person’s filter entirely- so the truth can’t be held back. I don’t think we should all be spilling our secrets that night.”

“Clearly you didn’t read the whole thing,” Mal countered. “There’s an antidote listed below. There’s even a not saying it can be taken ahead of time so the serum will have no effect.”

“So we’ll all take the antidote except Jim,” Evie said excitedly. “Will tape his confession or just escort him to the Fairy Godmother for questioning?”

“I’m not sure the Fairy Godmother will take it seriously enough,” Jay said. “What I want is to make sure we keep Jim as far away from Carlos as possible.”

“We could blackmail him,” Mal suggested, “Tape it and tell him we’ll broadcast it to Auradon if he so much as breathes on Carlos again.”

“It has to be before Carlos moves in with him, maybe we can say it’s a moving party?” suggested Evie.

As they continued to craft their plan, Jay felt slightly uneasy. Creating the serum involved blood- that was powerful and dark stuff. Still, he couldn’t just watch while his best friend suffered- it wasn’t right. What they were planning might not be good, but it was necessary and he’d deal with the consequences when they came.

“It’s moving day!” Carlos said with forced cheer.

Jay nodded trying to conceal his nerves. It was tonight or never.

“Got you chocolate,” Jay said as he tossed the bar over.

“Gross! You already unwrapped it!”

“I know you’ll eat it anyway,” Jay teased. Of course, the bar had to have been unwrapped so he could dip it in the antidote. The girls had presented a convincing argument for keeping the younger boy in the dark. After all, they all how easily confused loyalties become around highly manipulative people.

“Tastes a bit funny,” Carlos mentioned between bites.

“Don’t eat then,” Jay said sarcastically.

“Too late,” Carlos grinned up at Jay.

“You’ve got a bit of chocolate on your face, here,” Jay indicated to the side of his own mouth.

Carlos attempted to lick the spot rather than using his hand. What a goofball, Jay thought. Perhaps he was wrong about the situation after all.

“You look worried, Jay.”

“I don’t want you to leave,” Jay said, his voice revealing more pain than he’d have liked.

“If it’s about what I told you,” Carlos chewed his lip a bit, uncomfortable, “You don’t have to worry. We talked it over. You were right it was just a misunderstanding. We really talked about it and he feels bad. He’s trying to change- he just gets anxious and stuff. He really opened up to me and told me how stressful it is to have to live up to all his parents’ expectations. I mean none’s perfect- and he’s expected to be.”

Jay tried to keep the pleading out of his voice, “I just want you to be safe and happy.”

Jay knew he should probably tell Carlos the plan or not place the serum in his back pocket in with the punch mix tonight but he couldn’t do either. If Jim had told the truth, there was no harm in verifying it.

“So what do you need to talk to me about, just the two of us?”

“Ben, is there, um, some kind of level at which someone here in Auradon would be considered a villain?” Jay asked, “You know, and sent to the island with all the villains?”

“Jay, I will never let any of you return to the Isle of Lost unless that is what you want. You are under my protection, and I’m the king so what I say goes,” Ben finished a bit sheepishly. “Not that I’d ever abuse my power.”

“I wasn’t really talking about us VKs.” Jay had a flash of inspiration, “You know what if someone- not you- abused their power or like intentionally hurt someone for the fun of it? Is there a point at which they’d be too bad to remain here in Auradon?”

“I don’t think so,” Ben seemed lost in thought for a moment. “I suppose my parents figured once we kicked all the villains out- there’d be no more problems. It sounds a little silly to say it out loud but it has worked for the last couple of decades. What are you worried about?”

“I’ve got my reasons,” Jay smiled slyly, not wanting to lie to a friend. When Ben’s brow crinkled in concerns he hastily added, “One of which is curiosity, wanting to be prepared for anything.”

“Well, if you really want to find out you can use a computer to search the statutes database. You should be able to access it from the library.”

“Right. Maybe if I have time…” Jay didn’t want to sound overly eager. He turned to head out of the room, “Thanks, man.”

Jay tried not to look in too much of a hurry as he headed towards the library. Sending bad guys to the Isle of the Lost seemed to be the Auradonian solution to problems, and he was hoping it’d work in this case. However, an hour of reading through the arcane wording of statutes containing the key words “Isle of the Lost” turned up nothing useful. Lots of legal decrees about the current inhabitants of the island and their situation but little on shipping a new person to the island. Jay then tried entering in crimes and punishment. Everything that came up was about the villains.  Surely there had to be some misbehavior worthy of being put into law in Auradon? He’d try asking Evie for help in searching the database.

“Treason,” Evie said. She’d been reading through several sections and taking notes for a mind-numbingly long time, “It’s never stated in as many words but it’s the crime the villains were accused of. As far as I can tell that would send someone to the Isle.”

“Why about being a horrible person?” Jay asked hopefully.

“Definitely not, Auradon citizens have the right to rehabilitation under that law.”

“Rehabilitation?”

“Community service, counseling, and so on. Support to get better. I mean that’s implied too. Ben actually had to make us citizens to allow us to come here, to give us the right to become better,” Evie tapped her notebook decisively.

“We weren’t citizens before?” Jay had not listened very well in history but he had always thought citizens was just another word for people.

“We were not. No one on the island is, otherwise, they’d have rights like here on Auradon- the right to nourishment, shelter, clean water, well-being, protection-“

Jay cut her off, “I get it. I mean I lived life on the island- anything we didn’t have was guaranteed basically.”

“Basically,” Evie said in defeated tone that matched Jay’s.

Jay couldn’t see a way out. Killing Jim would be treason, and Ben wouldn’t be able to protect him though he sincerely doubted the king’s ability to protect him if he stepped too far out of line. Even if he could bring Jim’s behavior to the authority’s the best that would happen is this rehabilitation nonsense. The plan had relied on someone believing Jay in this first place. This was a dung heap of a situation.

“What’s the obsession with this anyway?” Evie twisted a blue curl as she spoke.

“It’s not an obsession,” Jay snapped.

“Sure,” Evie’s voice sounded like she was rolling her eyes, “You just stared at me staring at a computer screen for a few hours. Either you’re obsessed with me or you’re obsessed with sending someone to the Isle of the Lost and we both know you’re not obsessed with me.”

“It was just a stupid idea,” Jay tried to sound dismissive.

“It will remain that way unless you tell me what is going on Jay,” Evie said with all the testiness of a queen. “If you want my help I need more details about this idea.”

“Let’s say, we wanted to stop someone from getting hurt by another person,” Jay said, “but we need to make sure it’s gonna work because otherwise the situation’s gonna just get worse. And don’t say telling- because I’ve got no way to prove it.”

Jay could tell Evie’s mind was quickly turning the problem over in her head as she seemed almost frozen in though other than her finger slowly wrapping and unwrapping a strand of her hair.

“Who’s hurting, C?” She finally asked.

“I never said it was him,” Jay said quickly.

Evie sighed, “If it was anyone but a VK, they would have already told Fairy Godmother about the problem. Now us villain kids, we’d be worried the problem would be turned back on us. So, it’s got be one of us- it’s not you and I know it’s not me. Mal wouldn’t be able to help it- she’d probably magic someone in that kind of a situation. So, it’s Carlos. Who’s hurting him? I have a right to know- I’m his friend too.”

Jay wasn’t sure if Carlos wanted it to be kept a secret from Mal or Evie. He messed with his hair, “Can you just worry about the solving part and I’ll worry about the who?”

“If you really want, we can try that but I can’t promise half my mental energy won’t be spent trying to work it out. Or I could just ask him.”

“Don’t you dare ask Jim,” Jay said roughly.

“I didn’t say that,” she paused. Her eyes widened. “No,” her voice trailed off.

Evie usually saw through his lies so he’d try a half-truth, “Jim wouldn’t understand. It’s a VK thing.”

Evie slammed down her note book, “You have got to tell me, Jay. It’s can’t be as bad as what I’m imagining. I mean they’ve been alone together so often. What has he been doing?”

Jay hesitated as Evie’s eyes bore into him. Carlos hadn’t wanted to say anything to the Fairy Godmother, surely Evie would be ok? He glanced around, the library still seemed pretty empty and the librarian's desk was far away.

“I’m not sure exactly,” Jay admitted in a whisper, “I have no proof like I said, it was more like a conversation with Carlos. I know there’s been some physical stuff- though I think that’s rare. I’m not even sure that’s the worst part. Jim’s got C’s mind all twisted up the way our parents did. But maybe that’s on Carlos,? I’m not sure. You know how we all have started changing since we got away from our parents? Carlos got more confident, his smarts showed, all that stuff. But lately, it’s like he’s collapsing back- and I think it’s Jim’s fault.”

The two fell into silence for a few minutes.

“Carlos won’t just leave him,” Evie said, “If you’re right about the manipulating.”

Jay was surprised her words made him tear up when telling her his suspicions hadn’t.

“No,” he said quietly.

“We have got to tell Mal,” Evie said.

“Ok, but no one else. I’m not sure C wanted anyone to know- not even me,” Jay sighed.

Jay couldn’t believe what Carlos had just said.

“Like what exactly did Jim say? You’re sure you didn’t misunderstand it?”

Carlos retreated from Jay’s shoulder, tucking his knees up under his chin and grasping his legs tightly. Otherwise he didn’t respond.

Jay continued, “I’m sure he was just angry- probably not even about you- and it came out. Please, just tell me. I can’t see you upset like this. I’m not judging you or Jim. We all say things we don’t really mean sometimes or we overthink something someone said. Just tell me what happened and I bet we can figure out what he really meant. What’d he say?”

“I don’t really remember. I mean, the things all get kind of jumble2?d together.”

Jay was shocked. Did Carlos mean this was more than one situation? That it had happened enough someone as smart as Carlos couldn’t keep them straight?  Carlos wasn’t the dramatic type- he didn’t exaggerate to get sympathy. Jay wasn’t even sure what to say next, he was way out of his depth. He didn’t want to pry into Carlos’s private life but something was deeply wrong. Years of friendship with the smaller boy had taught him Carlos was likely to shoulder his burdens alone. That was probably the reason Carlos hadn’t said anything to Jim. Probably  the prince had no clue that he was saying things to upset Carlos.

Unbidden, a selfish thought crossed Jay’s mind. Maybe if Jim didn’t find out Carlos was upset, Jim wouldn’t fix the situation and Carlos would eventually dump the prince. And then Jay could have Carlos to himself. Yet, Jay knew that would be wrong. He had to help Carlos sort out whatever was going on so that the other boy could make his own decision.

The silence must have prompted Carlos to continue talking, because after a couple tries he managed to speak through his tears, “The worst part is sometimes I think there’s something wrong with Jim, not me, but that’s just crazy right? That he likes seeing me in pain. But he cares about me, he loves me. I know he does.”

Carlos kept talking but Jay couldn’t help going back to thinking about the word pain.

“What do you mean he likes to see you in pain?”

“It’s nothing really. I mean- it’s just sometimes he seems,” a bright red color rose on Carlos’s pale face. “well, turned on by it.”

Suddenly a random flash of what seemed like a memory appeared in his mind, the deadly calm of Jim’s voice and the tangy smell of fear from Carlos, his muscles straining as he tried to get to his friend’s side. Jay closed his eyes trying to focus on the fragment as it retreated away. It felt so real- but it had to be a dream.

“You don’t want to hear about this,” Carlos said.

“No, I do. I mean, I don’t want to, because, well, some things I’d rather not…What I mean to say is... If it’s something you need to talk about it, we can talk.” Jay knew he had clarify something, to settle his own thoughts. “Is this physical pain or emotional?”

“It doesn’t really matter does it? Jim wouldn’t like me talking about this stuff.”

“It matters to me, C. I don’t care what Jim wants. What matters is what you want, what you like. That’s all I care about. You.” Jay was breathing heavily. If that asshole had hurt Carlos after implying Jay was holding Carlos back, Jay would wipe that ever-pleasant smile off his privileged prince face.

“I don’t want to upset you. It’s just- I know you, Jay, and I can’t have you hurting Jim. And I know you’d want to if- if-”

“If what?” Jay tried to sound less murderous.

“If you knew. And then you’d be sent back to the Isle of the Lost. Our parents are trapped there and they’ll kill you. I can’t lose you, Jay. Promise me you won’t. If I tell you, you promise you won’t touch him.”

Jay didn’t like the idea of unilaterally promising not to pummel Jim without knowing what was going on but Jay had to know. He knew whatever he’d think up in his head would be way worse. “Okay. I promise I will not do anything to Jim. Just tell me what’s going on.”

“It’s usually words The rest of it is mostly by accident. Jim lashes out when I upset him. He doesn’t mean to, it’s my fault really. Like when we were arguing about what do for the weekend and my arm got broken. It couldn’t have been on purpose. I mean, it wasn’t on purpose. Jim just overreacted.”

Jay bit back a swear word, “He broke your arm?”

“Accidently.”

“You said the rest- so there was more than just that time?”

“Yeah a few more times. Not many. He always apologizes after.”

Jay tried to keep his emotions in check. He’d never regretted a promise so quickly. This wasn’t a misunderstanding and it was way worse than he had imagined. Jim was intentionally hurting Carlos. Because if it had truly been an accident, why had Jim made up a completely different reason for Carlos’s injury? Who would break someone’s arm to make sure to get their way? If he wasn’t going to be able to use his fists, he still needed to make sure Carlos could see the truth of the situation.

“It’s not an apology if he doesn’t change his behavior. Can’t you see how messed up this is? You do something- accidently- and you get punished but that’s an accident? Somehow it’s your fault? That sounds cruel to me, Carlos. You deserve better.”

Carlos shook his head and avoided Jay’s intense stare.

“Look at me, C, please, “ Jay wanted to reach out and touch Carlos’s chin, “You deserve someone who treasures you. Someone who forgives the mistakes you make. I don’t know why Jim is acting the way he is but it’s not your fault or your responsibility.”

“What can I do? I’ve tried my best and it’s not enough.”

Jay thought of his mother, so desperate to fix his father she joined him in his banishment. Yet Jafar had never loved her.

“Maybe- it’s best to just walk away.”

“I wish I could but- Jim would never accept that.”

“I will be here for you. And, if you want, I can tell Mal and Evie. You shouldn’t be afraid.”

“But what am I going to do? I’m all approved to move out. I can’t tell, Fairy Godmother. I can’t betray him like that.”

Jay really felt like the Fairy Godmother should know what had been going on, but he supposed it was Carlos’s decision. “We’ll figure it out. I just want you to be safe.”

“Can we pretend to be someone else during this exercise?” Jay asked.

The Fairy Godmother raised her eyebrow and Jay raised his hand belated, “Can we?”

“You are supposed to be practicing genuine compliments. It isn’t genuine if you are pretending to be someone else,” said the Fairy Godmother. “We’ll switch pairs when the timer dings. Begin.”

Jay shuffled his chair around to face Carlos. Four more days until his best friend moved out. Stupid Fairy Godmother with her stupid favoritism towards stupid princes. Plus he had say something nice to Carlos right now, which shouldn’t be hard- but ever since he found out his true feelings for his best friends he’d been terrified Carlos would figure it out. If anything was going to expose Jay, he didn’t want it to be in front of the Fairy Godmother in a classroom.

“I guess, I’ll go first,” said Carlos. Jay could feel the Fairy Gomother behind him, listening in on their conversation. “Jay you are such a strong person. Not just physically, but in your identity and your character. You stand by your friends and are confident in yourself. I wish I could be more like that but I’m not-“

Fairy Godmother interrupted, “Carlos, don’t make it about yourself just focus on Jay’s qualities.”

“Umm, yeah, sorry… You are confident in yourself… and you never focus on past hurts or wrongs. I admire that.”

Jay was surprised Carlos thought he had inner strength, since Jay felt like his inner self was very confused and unsteady. Plus Carlos was way tougher than Jay on the inside- he had to be to have survived Cruella and still been so nice. The Fairy Godmother coughed discretely, cuing Jay to accept the compliment.

“Thank you. I appreciate your kind words,” Jay said glancing at the board for the appropriate phrase. He heard the sound of Fairy Godmother moving to the other side of their classroom.

“I didn’t really understand it, until we got here- and before I would have thought of it as an insult- but you are a kind person, Carlos. What’s amazing is you’ve always been that way. No one had to teach you. No one ever acted that way to you. You lived in a hard world but you didn’t harden your heart. I hope you don’t think of that as a weakness. Beyond being kind, you are ever hopeful. You never give up on a problem and you always find something to smile about and…. And… you are a strong person- only a strong person could have gone through what you have and still be a good person” Jay could feel himself getting carried away. He glanced over at the board, grateful his skin was unlike to betray the heat rising to his face. How was he supposed to end the compliment? “ I admire you for that.”

“You really think so?” Carlos seemed to be blinking back tears. “That I’m strong and good?”

“Of course, I do. Why would you ever think anything else?”

“Well, I just upset, um, people, sometimes. I mess up and end up hurting people I care about,” Carlos was looking at his lap and was nervously fiddling with one of his sleeves. Jay wished he knew what the right thing was to say- being good was so complicated.

“I don’t think it’s bad to make mistakes. I don’t think so at least,” Jay scratched his head, “ I think it might depend. Like how’d you hurt someone by messing up?”

“I don’t really think I should talk about it. It’s private and we’re in class.”

“What about later? If you want to that is. I just hate to see you worried.”

“Maybe…”

The timer rang and Fairy Godmother gestured at Mal and Carlos to switch seats. Carlos wiped his face quickly on his sleeve and headed over to sit with Evie. Mal sauntered over and plopped down.

“Why does being good have so many rules?” She sighed. She imitated Fairy Godmother’s voice, “Don’t compliment outer beauty, Mal, that’s superficial. I tried to explain I was complimenting Evie on her outfit because it shows her abilities as a designer but that woman is just always looking for something wrong with me, with us.”

“Yeah, we’re not very good at rules, are we?” Jay thought for a moment, “Speaking of good rules, if you hurt someone and didn’t mean to that doesn’t count, right?”

“Yeah, it depends on your intentions. What you do this time, Jay?”

“It’s not me. It’s Carlos.”

“Well if it was Carlos it definitely was an accident. That boy-he’s better with animals than a princess,” Mal chuckled, “even on the island he was terrible at being rotten.”

Jay was glad the hall monitor had finally checked on their room and sent Jim back to his room. Jay had pretended to be playing a videogame, but it had been hard to keep his focus with the packing going on in the background. Jim always seemed to find something wrong with the way Carlos was packing his stuff. It was like Jim didn’t realize the last time Carlos had packed he put his few things in a couple of trash bags.

“How do you put up with all that scolding?” The question was out of Jay’s mouth before he had time to think his words through.

“It’s not scolding. Jim’s trying to make me a better person,” Carlos said.

“I’m not really sure having to color coordinate the items you put in a box makes you a better person.”

A silence fell between the two boys and Jay wondered if he should have said what he did.

“It really matters to Jim, so it matters to me. I don’t want to upset him.”

“Are these the kind of mistakes you were talking about earlier? Because Jim’s got a really thin skin if he thinks you’re hurting him by doing things a different way than he would. Shouldn’t he just let it go?”

“ I don’t expect you to understand, Jay.”

“But I want to. Can we talk about it? It seems…” Jay searched for a kinder word than controlling, “overprotective.”

“Yeah, I suppose but he doesn’t mean any harm by it.”

“So he get judged by his intentions but you think you hurt him by accident?” Jay could see Carlos shutting down from the harshness of his tone. He took a deep breath, “Does he actually say that or do you just think that?”

There was a long pause. Carlos pursed his lips the way he did when he was about to lie.

“Carlos, does he actually tell you that you hurt him? I’m not saying it’s bad. I know communication is important. I’m just trying to see where you got this idea from.”

“Well, sometimes he says it. Other times I guess it might be in my head. It’s just…. I wish I could stop. I want to be good. I don’t want to hurt him.”

Jay fumbled around his pockets hoping he had a tissue. Of course, he didn’t. Beyond Carlos, Jay could see a box of tissues on Carlos’s bedside table. He crossed the space between their beds and grabbed the tissue box sitting beside Carlos.

“ We all make mistakes, Carlos. I, mean, we know that King Beast did- and he’s in charge. Jim’s just letting you know how he feels. He doesn’t think you’re a bad person because of it. You’re still good.”

Carlos continued to cry and sniffle, leaning against Jay. Jay rubbed his back.

“If this is upsetting you so much- ask Jim. He’ll say the same thing I did.”

“That’s the problem, Jay. He won’t.”

“That’s not true, C. Anybody can see you’re good. You’re beating yourself up about nothing.”

“You’re just saying that because you’re my friend and because you’re still learning what good is.”

“I might not understand all the rules but I know what goodness is because of you.”

“That doesn’t make sense. I’m afraid I’m irredeemable. I’ll never be good enough.”

Jay waited while Carlos blew his nose a few times and Took some deep breaths. For a second, it looked like he was going to stop crying but then another tear rolled down his cheek. Jay brushed it away.

“Has anyone ever said you will never be good enough?”

“Yes.”

“I mean in Auradon, once we helped save the kingdom. I know people were suspicious of us at first. Since then, has anyone said that?”

“Yeah.”

“Who would say a thing like that? Chad?”