Chapter Text
Remedial Goodness 101 class had ended, and the four VKs were talking about having breakfast together while Cal packed his things. Four VKs yes, because ever since the royal banquet incident, Minx and Risitos had tried to integrate Hellie more into the group. After all, she'd helped them against the Maligno, she was technically a VK, and now Ben's whole group was ostracizing her, except for Ben, of course.
—So, we’re going? —Cal said after gathering his things.
Cal felt like everyone stopped and stared at him the moment he spoke. He couldn't stand it. The teenagers left the Fairy Godmother's class and walked to the cafeteria. There, they lined up, and Minx kept talking as they walked, but Cal wasn't paying attention to what he was saying or how the others were reacting. Cal was only focused on the food, on the meat, and how, if he looked behind Mrs. Potts, he could see them preparing meat for lunch. Cal felt a touch on his shoulder, and after moving his shoulder to stop the touch, he turned to see who it was. At that moment, he noticed the other four teenagers staring at him, and that it was Artie who had touched his arm.
—What are you looking at?
—Are you okay? —Hellie asked, looking concerned.
—Of course I'm fine, let's eat
Cal hated being asked that. He was fine and had no reason to be upset, so whenever someone asked him something, he just glared at them. The five VKS sat down at a table in the cafeteria and, trying to ignore what was happening, began to eat breakfast. Hellie was impressed by how much Cal and Risitos could eat, but then it made her think about the Isle, which led her to unconsciously use her magic because of the anxiety she felt.
—Hellie, are you okay?
Ben's voice pulled the goddess from her reverie. The five VKS looked up and saw both Ben and Pomme looking worried as they carried their breakfast trays. Since the royal banquet, Ben had been trying to eat with them every other day since Chad and Audrey wouldn't touch them and Pomme started joining them almost a month later when she felt sorry for the anger the banquet had caused her. The VKS made room for them, and the two royal teenagers sat down with their friends.
—Your hair is lighter —Pomme murmured as she sat down.
—How subtle —Cal said with a smile, which made Pomme blush with anger.
Ever since Hellie had used a large amount of magic at the Royal Banquet to defeat Maligno, every time she used her life-cycle goddess magic, her hair lost more and more color, which was awful considering how vibrant it was and how her magic was triggered by her anxiety. So now, after using her magic for a few minutes, her hair was paler than when she woke up.
—Thanks, Pomme —Hellie said. She didn't want to be rude, but she didn't know what to say.
Cal didn't even realize when breakfast ended and his classes started. In the blink of an eye, he realized he'd gone from breakfast to Enchanted Biology class with Artie where one of his classmates was reading aloud the text everyone was supposed to be reading silently. He started copying the notes he should already have from Artie's notebook, who didn't complain and even moved their notebook so he could write better. When Cal noticed his classmate's reaction, he got angry and pushed the notebook toward the redhead.
—Hey, um- Artie —Cal said when class ended and they had to go to their next class. The teen turned around and gave him their full attention. Cal felt angry again— Can we switch rooms for a while? I'm not sleeping well, and if Minx keeps being Minx, I'll strangle him in his sleep.
—Uh, sure —Artie looked confused, but Cal didn't want to think about it much longer, so he nodded and walked away from the class.
The rest of the day, Cal remained numb, he didn't know what was wrong with him, and pretending everything was fine was difficult, but what was even harder was pretending he felt the sadness that everyone around him sensed he was feeling.
That night, Cal finished taking several of his things, including clothes, to Risitos' room. She had been out all day, so Cal was able to settle in, put away his things, and make sure no one saw the memento of his father that he still kept, in complete silence and peace. After taking a shower, he put on his pajamas and lay down on Artie's bed to read, wondering if Ben's offer was actually a good idea.
After several minutes, he heard the door open, but he didn't turn around to see who it was, since it was quite obvious.
—Ah! —squeaked Risitos, immediately embarrassed— What are you doing here?
—I'm trying to sleep —he said, closing his book and placing it beside the bed. He shifted so he couldn't see her— I sorted it out with Artie, if you want to complain go do it with them
—Mmm —Risitos murmured, looking around the room and noticing how half of Artie's room was now covered in Cal's stuff— Well, don't even think about coming near me
—Whatever
The dry tone, so unlike Cal, so... sad, made Risitos feel bad. She could be empathetic, she always had been with Artie, Evie, Ginny, Claudine, Enzo, and even Minx. But Cal was so despicable and annoying that it was extremely difficult for her. Even so, she tried, and after finding her pajamas to change into after dinner, she thought about how to connect with him.
—Do you want to talk about something? —she said, not knowing how much she could say about the event.
—Like what? —Cal knew perfectly well what she meant, but he thought that if he pretended not to understand, Risitos would be embarrassed and wouldn't insist.
—You know... that —luckily for Cal, Risitos did care about his well-being.
—I don't know what you're talking about, Risitos —Cal turned to face the wall and covered himself as much as he could with the sheet— evil dreams
—Aren't you going to have dinner?
—Evil dreams!
Cal sounded even more annoyed, so Risitos waited a few seconds for him to calm down, foolishly hoping that Cal would apologize or change his mind. After a few minutes, she realized that wasn't the case and sighed somewhat sad.
—Sleep a lot, Cal
In the middle of the night, when Risitos was already asleep, Cal couldn't stand it anymore, he'd barely slept all night and needed somewhere that didn't look like the princess room at Auradon Prep. He slipped on his boots as quietly as he could and walked through the corridors he knew were practically secret due to the minimal security and traffic. He walked and walked until he reached the back courtyard of the main castle, the same inner garden that connected several buildings at Auradon Prep. There, he sat on the grass next to a flowerbed with his back against the half-wall that surrounded the garden.
The night in Auradon was much brighter than on the Isle, partly due to all the natural light and partly due to the clear, sunny skies they enjoyed almost every day, Cal wondered if they had made a deal with Zeus to have such good weather.
He spent quite a while in the garden, observing the sky, the strange birds whose names he couldn't learn, and fidgeting with the small piece of horn he had kept from that day, it could have been 10 minutes, it could have been half an hour, it could have been 2 hours. But at one point he got up and, feeling somewhat tired, went back to Risitos' bedroom. Before lying down on his bed, he looked at his roommate, wondering how she could sleep as if nothing had happened; he felt jealous.
When Risitos began to wake up, since everyone on the Isle could sense when someone was watching them, she lay back down on her bed to sleep a little before her first class began.