ROTTEN APPLES ↝ DESCENDANTS [1]

[6]

The hallways of Auradon Prep were abuzz as students poured out of the classrooms, headed for their lockers to swap out their books for the last class of the day. As Merryweather's class was dismissed from that day's lesson of Life Skills Without Magic, Sabrina followed Ben, Audrey, and Emmett out into the quad, bringing a hand up to shield her eyes from the bright sunlight.

"Can you believe them?" Audrey asked, glaring daggers at where Mal and Evie walked by with Carlos hot on their heels. "Walking around like this is their school?"

"Just remember, babe, they are students now," Ben reminded Audrey, slinging an arm around her shoulders in an attempt to steer her attention away from them. "So it is their school, too."

"That doesn't mean they have to walk around like they own the place." she huffed in annoyance. "They're criminals."

"I don't think they're that bad, once you get to know them." Ben pointed out. "I'm helping Carlos out with Tourney stuff after school today, Emmett, you mind helping us out if you're free?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Emmett agreed, his gaze falling back to where Hannah stood at her locker, swapping out her textbooks, and Sabrina looked back and forth between the two Westergaards.

Despite their upbringings on opposite sides of the barrier, it wasn't hard to see the obvious family resemblance between the two cousins. They both shared the same green eyes held by the royal family of the Southern Isles off the coast of Arendelle, though whereas Emmett stood poised and tall after years of training for red carpets and other formal events, Hannah took on a much stealthier stance, used to hiding in the background and sneaking around the Isle.

"Have you spoken to her at all yet?" Sabrina asked, pulling Emmett's attention back to her, but he shook his head in response.

"Not yet," he said. "I tried to catch her after their goodness class this morning, but she was with that Jay guy so I figured I'd just find her later."

As if hearing the conversation from the royals at the other end of the hall, Hannah looked over in their direction, her gaze staying on Emmett's for a moment before her eyes locked with Sabrina's, a flicker of something she couldn't quite discern flashing in Hannah's eyes before she looked away from them, slamming her locker door closed and walking off in the other direction.

"See?" Audrey sighed, staring in the direction Hannah had disappeared. "Just look at them!"

"It's fine, babe," Ben tried to assure her.

"Whatever," she grumbled, pushing his arm away from her shoulders before stalking off in the other direction, and leaving the three of them alone to make their way to Tinker Bell's classroom for History of Woodsmen and Pirates.

As Sabrina walked into the classroom, flanked by both Ben and Emmett on each side of her, she slid into her usual seat, pulling out her laptop and waiting for class to begin. Seconds before the bell rang, however, Jay slid into the room with Hannah not far behind him, the same look in her eyes as before when she looked over at Sabrina.

She still hadn't had a chance to find out just exactly what Jay had wanted to speak to her about at the end of practice the day before, nor had she spoken to any of them since the incident at the museum, as if they were treading carefully around her. It seemed as if, anywhere she looked, one of the Villain Kids was within eyesight, but with the exception of Jay after practice, none of them dared approach her.

But what would they have been doing that night at the museum that would make them so afraid for her to find out?

As Tinker Bell's lecture continued about the First Pirate War, Sabrina typed her notes up as quickly as she could, even if her mind was as far away from the subject at hand as possible. She tried to turn slightly in her chair, just enough to catch a glimpse of where the two sat at the back of the room, but when she attempted to nonchalantly glance in their direction, she found their eyes still on hers, causing her to quickly turn back to avoid further confrontation. She forced her eyes forward after that, trying her best to focus back into the lesson at hand, but the dates were starting to mix up in her brain, and she couldn't discern one battle from the other as she continued her halfhearted attempt at making notes.