AllFreeNovel
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“Definitely worse. My dad would have things to say about him, that’s for sure,” said Jordan, whose father, Genie, was a famously talkative fellow. “Are you sure you’re all right, dude?”
“Nothing bruised but my pride,” Jay told them, feeling better already.
“Then he did us a favor.” The third girl laughed, fixing the tiny hat she wore sideways on her head. Freddie Facilier was one of the newer Isle kids, who had transferred over as part of the ongoing program to assimilate the villains’ kids into the Auradon mainstream.
“Thanks a lot, Freddie,” grumbled Jay.
“You’re welcome,” said Freddie.
“We’re not all like Chad,” said Jordan. “Some of us know that without you guys, all of Auradon would be Maleficent’s minions right now.”
“Goblins,” said Jay. “Maleficent’s minions are goblins.”
“That would be awful,” said Allie. “Green is quite a horrendous color on me.”
The four of them walked companionably over to the dining hall, bumping into Ben, who was headed the other way. The girls swooned and curtsied at the sight of the young king.
“You missed practice,” said Jay, bumping fists with his teammate. He and Ben worked well together, Jay usually setting up the shots that Ben would send flying into the goal.
“I know, I know, next time, I promise,” said Ben, looking harried. “Coach is on my case.”
“Our defense is really hurting. Offense too.”
“Yeah.” Ben sighed, craning his neck at the tourney fields longingly.
“Well, you better be back on deck when we play the Lost Boys,” Jay said. They were up against a strong Neverland team that weekend.
“I’ll do my best.”
Jay nodded. It occurred to him while talking to Ben that if his father, Jafar, was in Auradon, he would probably figure out a way to smooth-talk Ben into handing over not just the crown, but the entire kingdom. Whereas Jay only wanted to play tourney and hang out. Just went to show that sometimes the apple can fall far from the tree—or maybe in his case, that the baby cobra can slink away from the nest?
He wasn’t sure, but he hoped it was true.
“Hey,” Ben said, noticing Jay’s face for the first time. “Hold on. What happened at practice? Did Chad do that?”
Jay shrugged. He touched the skin around his eye and felt that it was swollen. He wasn’t a tattletale, but Chad must have flipped him harder than he thought. “Eh, it was an accident. I’m sure he didn’t mean for my face to meet the ground that hard.”
“I’ll talk to him,” said Ben, frowning.
“Nah, leave it. You’ve got bigger problems,” said Jay. “I can deal with Chad.” The last thing he needed was Chad telling everyone he had to go running to Prince Ben every time he ate a little dirt.
Ben looked as if he wanted to argue. He exhaled. “Fine.”
“Headed to dinner?” asked Jay, motioning to the dining hall, where the tantalizing smell of Mrs. Potts’s cooking filled the air.
“No, I’ve got king stuff.”
“Your loss,” Jay teased. “What’s the use of being king if you can’t even stop for a decent meal?”
Ben laughed. “Tell me about it. Catch you guys later. Take it easy.”
“Bye, Ben!” the girls called.
“Ladies?” asked Jay, leading the group to the building and opening the door for them like the gentleman he was. For a moment, he remembered the anonymous note he’d found in his gym bag earlier and wondered what that was all about. Who wanted him to return to the Isle of the Lost?
But he didn’t let it bother him too much as the girls fussed over his injuries. Allie promised to brew him a cup of her favorite tea as well as ask her mother for any of the Mad Hatter’s crazy cures. Jordan cheered him up with fanciful stories of traveling via carpet, and how he should really try it for longer trips sometime, and Freddie suggested ways to get even with Chad. “I’d substitute whipped cream for a tube of his hair gel. That would show him, don’t you think?”
Jay felt better already. Who cared about a cryptic note telling him he didn’t belong in Auradon? And for that matter, who cared about caves full of molten gold and treasures as vast as the eye could see? As he entered the cafeteria in the company of his friends, Jay felt as rich as the Sultan of Agrabah.
