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“Okay, good.” Carlos smiled. When she turned the other way, he surreptitiously smoothed down his shock of white hair. He was wearing it combed to the side these days, hoping it made him look older, more serious, and less like a computer geek.
They fell in step together off the field, Jane carrying the helmet under her arm. “Good game,” she said. “Poor mermen. They haven’t been having the best week.”
“Did you get caught in the rain too?” asked Carlos.
“Yeah, I went with Lonnie. We got drenched,” said Jane. “It’s my favorite of the Auradon celebrations too.”
They passed Audrey and the cheerleaders, who were squealing and holding their pom-poms while congratulating the team. Jane twirled a lock of her hair around her finger and glanced wistfully at them. “I was thinking of trying out for cheer,” she said. “But that seems silly, right?”
“Why would that be silly?” asked Carlos. “You should try out if you want to.”
“But I’m just the mascot,” said Jane. “Mascots aren’t cheerleader material.”
“That’s not true. Look at me, I never thought I’d make the tourney team,” he told her, swinging his paddle absently.
“Really?” asked Jane. “I thought you and Jay were recruited the minute you got here.”
“Jay was,” said Carlos. “I was more of an accidental addition. Coach saw me running away from Dude and put me on the team. I used to be scared of dogs when I got here.”
Jane giggled. “That’s funny.”
“See, if I can do it, you can.” He smiled.
“But you’re, like, brave and all,” she said. “You guys stood up to Maleficent. You can do anything.”
Carlos tried not to laugh at her assessment. But he had to set the record straight. “No way, I’m not brave. I was scared the entire time. Ask Jay. Or Mal. Or Evie.”
Jane was surprised. “Really?”
“Yeah, I’m scared of a lot of things. I’m also scared of heights. And my mom.” He shuddered.
“Aw, come on, everyone’s scared of your mom.”
“You got that right.” He turned to Jane and smiled. “But cheerleaders are definitely not scary. Come on, what do cheerleaders do? I’ll help you practice. Aren’t tryouts for the new season next week?”
Jane nodded. “Yeah. I was thinking of maybe auditioning.”
Carlos bounced across the field. “Come on, let’s practice flips. I’ve seen you do them in the mascot costume!”
Jane laughed and stepped out of the rest of the costume, leaving the outfit in a pile on the grass. She was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. “Okay! Let’s do it!”
She did a bunch of cartwheels and backflips, and Carlos taught her how to do a one-handed cartwheel that he’d picked up from R.O.A.R. training. She taught him the Auradon cheer, and the routine that went with it, and by the end, they flopped together on the grass, red-faced and out of breath. “That was fun,” said Jane.
“You’re really good,” said Carlos, and he couldn’t stop smiling.
“You think so?” she asked shyly.
“So you’ll try out?”
“Yeah. Why not.” Jane laughed again. She stood up and brushed her knees, her eyes twinkling like stars from her mother’s wand. “Me, a cheerleader…I mean, stranger things have happened, right?”
“Like villain kids going to school in Auradon?” said Carlos with a smile.
“I guess so,” said Jane. “Did you ever think you guys would end up here?”
He shook his head. “Honestly, it’s the last thing we expected. It was a total surprise, and we didn’t even want to go.” He recalled that day so vividly, how their parents had schemed and pressured them into going to Auradon as part of their evil plan.
Jane didn’t expect to hear that. “You didn’t?”
