Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   “Hello?”

   “What’s going on? You left a note and split and didn’t wake me up or say anything at all,” Red drove directly to her point, holding the phone to her ear just a little too tightly as she stared at Chloe’s side of the room as if looking at it hard enough would make her appear.

   Red had woken up this morning and Chloe had been gone with no trace aside from a note. Red then proceeded to call her, trying desperately to contact her and figure out what was going on. Chloe had not answered several times, and it was only just now that the bluenette had actually picked up.

   Needless to say, Red was on-edge.

   “No, no… I’m sorry, Red. I just… There was a situation at home, and Mom called me and I had to go right then. She was parked outside, and I just wrote the note, grabbed my stuff, and went,” Chloe explained as if that was supposed to just resolve all of Red’s questions and worries.

   And most importantly, her absolute terror that she herself had done something wrong to chase Chloe away.

   Red shook her head, trying to clear it.

   “Okay… Is everything alright?” Red asked her, her brow furrowed.

   “Yeah, yeah… It’s… just a family thing,” Chloe answered her.

   Red noted the amount of pauses that Chloe took. It made Red think that Chloe was not telling her the full story because it seemed that she was trying to weigh her words and choose them carefully as she spoke.

   “Chloe… Did I do something to upset you?” Red questioned, steeling herself and trying to mentally prepare for whatever that Chloe could throw at her.

   She heard the abrupt breath that Chloe took in as she started to speak.

   “No, absolutely not! Not at all!” Chloe reassured her, and Red nodded slowly despite the fact that Chloe could not see her.

   Red was honestly not entirely convinced, skepticism gnawing at the corners of her mind.

   This entire thing was really strange and nothing like it had ever happened before.

   Of course, Red did not know exactly what the specifics of Chloe’s family thing was. Maybe it was just as simple as that.

   But Red had too bad of a feeling about it for it to be just that.

   “It was a big family thing, and Mom wanted me to come home and help with it,” Chloe explained, and Red thought it through as she tried to believe the bluenette. She just could not quite bring herself to do so.

   Chloe sighed softly, and Red kept the phone close to her ear as she tried to hear anything that could give her any clue of what was really happening.

   “I promise, Red, you didn’t do anything wrong or upsetting,” Chloe added, and with the way that Chloe’s voice emphasized, Red actually did think that she was telling the truth.

   Something in Chloe’s words before had not been entirely truthful, and Red could hear it.

   After all, Red knew her best friend well enough to know when she was lying. After all, the girl never really ever told a lie, so any change from Chloe’s regular was a clear sign to Red that something was not right.

   “Okay,” Red simply answered.

   There was a noise on the other side of the phone and a yell, and things went dead quiet for a moment. Red furrowed her brow, squinting as she tried to figure out the sound. She also was not quite sure why that yell sounded so familiar.

   Before she could think much further about it, Chloe spoke up.  

   “Red, I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to go… Chad’s having a panic attack, and—”

  “Wait, wait,” Red stopped her, and Chloe was silent as Red interrupted. Red considered Chloe’s words for a moment before talking again.

   “Is that the family thing?”

   “Umm… Yeah, it is,” Chloe answered, and Red furrowed her brow, squinting as she tried to mentally decipher this. Red could hear that Chloe was lying, but she did not exactly want to outrightly accuse the girl of it.

   “So… Your mom made you come back home because Chad’s having a panic attack?” Red questioned.

   Chloe let out a breath that was so painfully familiar that it made Red wish that she was right there in front of her.

   “I know… It’s stupid.”

   Red held back her desire to ask why in the world Chloe could not have waited just a minute to wake her up and tell her this. However, as she thought about it, she began to wonder just how long that Chad had been having this panic attack.

   “How long do his… panic attacks… last?” Red questioned.

   “Oh, well, he’s… He’s having a breakdown, so like… He’s had more than one panic attack today,” Chloe explained, and Red huffed, allowing herself a moment to throw a barb at Chad despite the fact that she thought Chloe was full of it.

   “What? Is he upset that he can’t get a girlfriend on Valentine’s Day?” Red asked.

   Chloe laughed shortly and dare Red say it, nervously.

   “Maybe so. I don’t really know,” Chloe answered. Red narrowed her eyes, trying to figure this out, and Chloe spoke up again.

   “Um, I got to go now, Red! Oh, and happy birthday!” Chloe wished, and at the last words, Red blinked as she felt almost as if she had been slapped.

   The words were like an afterthought, and while Red had been used to her own concerns, wants, wishes, dreams, and overall sense of self being an afterthought, it hurt far, far more coming from Chloe.

   Red swallowed, trying to control the emotions as she let out a sigh.

   “Thank you…”

   “See you later, okay? Bye!” Chloe told her.

   “Bye,” Red answered, but by the time that she actually said the words, the phone had sounded off with the telltale noise of the phone call ending.

   Red lowered the phone, glancing at it as she shut off the screen. She sighed softly, looking down at the note that she had moved from Chloe’s bed over to her desk. Red softly touched the note, fingering a corner that had been dog-eared in the midst of Red’s fear and desperate attempts to contact Chloe.

   It was indeed Red’s birthday today. She had the unfortunate irony of being born on Valentine’s Day, and it was something that her mother delighted in both before and after the timeline shift that she and Chloe had pulled off. However, it had always been something that she herself had been less than pleased with.

   For her, it was a day where people were more focused on the holiday than upon her birthday. Granted, no one had spoken aloud of their sweethearts in Wonderland because her mother would have gone on some kind of angry warpath, but Red knew they had them. Even Maddox had a woman that he cared for.

   Of course, early on in Red’s life, she remembered that her mother had done parades for her, celebrating the child that would doubtlessly in Bridget’s mind, grow to be her mini-me. However, when Red reached somewhere around the age of eight or nine, the parades stopped after Red had rebelled against her, the throne, and everything that all of it stood for.

   However, she supposed that the one thing that she could say for her mother was that she never instituted Valentine’s Day after that as some sort of cruel punishment for her. But Red was not entirely sure if she had ever celebrated Valentine’s Day in Red’s lifetime or even prior to her birth, so it did not necessarily mean that she was just being terribly considerate of Red’s feelings.

   And then there was the mom that she had now. The one who she heard gushing about Valentine’s Day just last weekend. She loved it, and she actually allowed it as a holiday in Wonderland.

   However, to hear her talk about it, it seemed that she definitely believed that her daughter’s birthday was more important than that.

   Red found herself tempted to call her mother. However, as per usual whenever it fell her lot to call first, she felt a significant hesitancy to do so.

   She just honestly could not believe that Chloe had not made a bigger deal out of her birthday than she did. She was not being honest with Red, and she did not even mention hanging out with her later or anything to make up for it.

   Maybe Red was just expecting too much. She actually felt stupid for wanting more. She did not usually get much when it came to her birthday, and to hope for more or think that more would happen was just immature and naïve on her part.

   She had really thought that Chloe would not do that to her, though.

   Red swallowed, shifting her thoughts as she tried to think of someone else that maybe she could spend time with. At this point, she was bored and without Chloe around, she realized that she was not as good as handling being alone as she used to be.

   There had been points in time in her life where she had hardly spoken to anyone for a whole day. And now, because of one stupid, sweet blue-haired dingaling, Red had gotten used to this whole friendship and camaraderie thing.

   It was disgusting how far she had fallen.

   But yet, here she was finding herself texting Uma.

   “Hey, you around AP?” Red questioned. She moved over to her bean bag chair as she plopped down into it, waiting for Uma’s reply.

   The telltale dots appeared that told her Uma was typing, and she could not help her hope.

   “No, out with Harry for V-day,” Uma texted her, and Red let out a breath, trying not to let herself feel the pain that she was inevitably feeling right now as the hope slinked away and left her with nothing but an empty husk of nothingness.

   Ugh… Hope was for suckers.

   “Wait what r u doing?” Uma’s text came in.

   Red let out a groan as she stared straight ahead at the other side of the room.

   She then looked back down at the phone, exhaling through her nose.

   “Not getting in trouble if that’s what you’re worried about,” Red said aloud as she typed it in.

   Uma sent back a thumbs-up, and she followed up with another text.

   “You need smthing?” Uma questioned, and Red shook her head, sinking further into her bean bag chair.

   “I’m good,” Red answered her simply.

   “OK. Lmk.”

   “OK,” Red answered her.

   “Behave,” Uma told her simply, and the redhead just sighed, sending another okay to the pirate.

   Red leaned her head back against the back of the bean bag chair, looking up at the ceiling as she thought about how both Chloe and Uma were indisposed that day. Chloe for her stupid brother and Uma for her stupid boy toy.

   It was then that she was brought back to the thought that she had prior to contacting Uma.

   Well… her mother was now nice, and she always picked up when Red called…

   Red sighed, finding her mother’s contact as she clicked the button to call her.

   The phone began to ring, and Red waited.

   Red really was desperate at this point. She really wanted someone to care and someone to spend time with, and honestly, if her mother offered, Red knew that she might actually take up her mother on coming back to Wonderland for the weekend.

   However, an automated voice spoke up telling Red that a voicemail box had not been set up yet, and she pulled the phone away from her ear. Red felt crestfallen as she realized that her mother had not answered.

   She called once more, watching the screen as she tapped to put it on speaker.

   It rang, the sound resonating in the full, empty room. It was full of Chloe and Red’s things, but to Red, it felt empty without the bluenette.

   The automated voice came back again, and Red swallowed hard, the sting undeniable now as she felt a sense of loneliness that she had not experienced in a long, long time.

   Not only did she feel the sting of rejection and loneliness, but also the sting of literal tears in her eyes.

   Despite the deep sadness within her, she also felt anger rising up.

   This was stupid. She was being absolutely ridiculous and she should not even be crying right now. Her birthday was not a big deal. Just because her mom turned nice, she came to Auradon and found a new home, got a best friend that was like a sister to her, and found some weird mentor figure or something did not mean that her birthday was supposed to be any bigger of a deal now than it ever was before.

   A tear slipped down her face, and Red sniffed, clenching her jaw as she tried not to think about how she felt.

   However, before she could try for much longer, she heard a knock at the door.

   Red looked at the door quickly, and she sniffed once more as she wiped the tear away from her face. She was not sure who it was, but even though she wanted to just dismiss it and avoid answering so that whoever was outside would think no one was inside, some part of her was desperately hoping that maybe it was Chloe, Uma, or her mother.

   “Who is it?” Red called out, desperately hoping to hear someone that she would be interested in seeing.

   “It’s Evie!” a voice called, and Red groaned, closing her eyes as she let her head fall back against the bean bag chair not for the first time since sitting in it.

   Why did it have to be Evie of all people? Red was not a huge fan of her, even though Chloe felt starkly opposite. Evie was weird, too friendly, and back when she was principal for a day, she had seemed to think that she could somehow help Red be a better person when Red had not known her at all at that point.

   “Red?!” Evie spoke up, and Red groaned, making a quiet noise of unhappiness and desperation as she dragged herself up and out of her seat. She approached the door to open it.

   Unfortunately, even though she did not want to talk to her, she figured that it was probably the proper and polite thing to do to answer the door.

   Of course, if Red was being completely honest with herself, she wanted someone to talk to. Someone who cared.

   Red opened the door, and standing there was Evie. Evie offered her a wide, kind smile, her mocha brown eyes sparkling as she looked at the redhead.

   What had Red gotten herself into?

   “Hello, Red,” Evie greeted her, and Red was then hit with Evie’s perfume.

   Red tried her hardest not to wrinkle her nose.

   Because she wanted to. Really badly.

   “Hey.”

   “It’s so good to see you. How have you been?” Evie questioned, and Red raised her eyebrows, offering a tight-lipped smile.

   “Fine,” she told her, and Evie nodded, smiling at her as she tried to look around the redhead and see in the rest of the room. Red squinted a little, watching her as she tried to figure out what she was doing.

   “What are you doing?”

   “Oh! I’m sorry! It’s just… I haven’t seen this room since I was coming to school here,” Evie apologized, offering her a toothy smile. Red looked at her strangely.

   “It’s so different from how it looked when Mal and I lived in it,” Evie confessed, and Red raised her eyebrows, surprised at this revelation. She had no idea that Evie and Mal had this room before she and Chloe had.

   “You and Mal were in this room?” Red asked, and Evie nodded to her with a smile.

   “Yeah. Kind of ironic, honestly,” Evie shrugged as she smiled at Red softly.

   Red might have been less than happy with Chloe, but Red could picture Chloe’s face when she found out that piece of information about their dorm. Even though Red would probably not hear the end of it, it still would make her happy to bring that sort of joy to the bluenette.

   Of course, she was still hurt at Chloe, and she was not quite ready to share this new information with her as a result.

   Red watched her without a word, and Evie let out a breath, looking down before returning her gaze to meet Red’s.

   “So… Is Chloe here?”

   Red instantly felt the disappointment hit her hard as soon as Evie uttered the words.

   While she knew that Evie had probably not come just for her, it still did hurt because Evie, just like everyone else, did not have a need for her and simply wanted somebody else.

   Red shook her head, her hand gripping the door a bit tighter than it was previously.

   “No. Chloe went back home.”

   “Oh,” Evie raised her eyebrows, and Red sighed as she stepped back some, starting to close the door a little.

   “I can let you know when she’s back, and—”

   Evie stepped up quickly, and Red paused as she eyed her.

   “I don’t have to have her,” Evie interjected, her hand on the door as she kept Red from closing it.

   “I mean… Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, I could use your help with this if you wanted to,” Evie expressed, her tone warm as she addressed her.

   The younger girl watched her, not sure what to make of this.

   Red was not quite sure what exactly that Evie needed her help with, but she figured that it was probably something dumb that Evie liked to do and was into.

   Goodness, Red hoped that she was not wanting her to try on dresses. In the midst of Chloe’s drawn-out talks about Evie, she thought she remembered that Evie ran a dress and clothing business.

   Evie then shook her head.

  “You don’t have to. I can get Mal to come over later, but I just thought that I would ask you first,” Evie expressed.

   Red looked at her for a moment longer. She turned her head, taking in the sight of the empty room.

   The redhead looked back at the bluenette standing there. Evie was looking at her with this stupid, way too sweet expression on her face, and though Red was trying very hard not to, Evie was actually getting to her.

   Red sighed before shrugging.

   “What do you want me to do?” Red asked.

   A smile spread across Evie’s face that was quite simply blinding as she started toward Red. Red froze as she stared at the older girl uncertainly.

   Freezing in place as she seemed to notice Red’s face, Evie stopped just before actually getting to her.

   Evie then reached out a hand tentatively and squeezed her shoulder. Red remained still, the contact strange and reminding Red of back when she first came to Auradon and how people just freely touched people that they did not know all that well.

   It was odd to see someone who was a VK do the same thing. She wondered if it was a characteristic of Evie herself or if it was a product of her time in Auradon that taught her that.

   Evie beckoned her, and Red tried not to look too miserable as she pulled the door shut behind her, putting her phone in her pocket.

   As soon as she did, Evie was at her side.

   “Okay, so I have some things back at my starter castle that I could really use some help with,” Evie questioned, linking her arm with Red’s. Red blinked, looking down at where Evie was touching her.

   Evie started leading them down the hall toward the side of the school where the parking lot was.

   “It’s just a few things. Nothing too big, but… well… Maybe it’s a weird question, but what size do you wear?”

   Red stared at her blankly as the bluenette looked at her expectantly.

   “Uhh…”

   “Don’t worry, I’ll improvise. Mal’s super short and let’s just say I’ve had to get really, really good at making do,” Evie admitted, laughing a little as she looked at Red.

   Red widened her eyes briefly.

   It was definitely dresses. And now some part of Red was beginning to regret not turning her down.

   “Y’know, it’s really great to have the opportunity to hang out with you. Have you brought Uma any more cupcakes since I was principal?” Evie asked her, bumping her elbow against Red’s side a little.

   “No, look, do you ever meet a stranger?” Red followed up her answer to Evie’s question quickly with her own inquiry as she gazed at Evie with squinted eyes.

   Evie paused in the midst of walking with Red, and the younger girl stopped as well. Evie slowly looked down at where they were connected at the arm, and Red just raised her eyebrows in response.

   The bluenette smiled at her apologetically before removing her arm.

   “Sorry. I guess not,” Evie shrugged, understanding in her gaze as she looked at the redhead.

   Red sighed tiredly as they continued along.

   “So… You have any plans today?” Evie questioned with a friendliness in her voice, looking over at her. Red met her eyes, noting that the bluenette was actually a little taller than her.

   It was rare for Red to meet a girl that was the same height as her, and while Evie’s height was likely influenced by the fact that she was in heels right now, something made Red think that they were about the same height when they were both without shoes. Red might have been a little shorter.

   “If you’re asking about Valentine’s Day, then no. I actually don’t even like February fourteenth,” Red did not mince her words, not leaving any room for Evie to get some stupid idea.

   Evie nodded slowly, looking at her strangely.

   Red kept her attention focused on what was ahead of them, trying not to think about her woes as she and Evie headed down some stairs.

   “Well, Valentine’s Day might not be the best, but have you ever tried Galentine’s Day?” Evie questioned.

   Upon Evie’s interesting ask, Red looked at her with confusion, curiosity gripping her despite the fact that she was tempted to retain at least some amount of distance here. Especially with how Evie seemed to be one of those types that when given an inch, took a mile.

   “Galentine’s?”

   “It’s like Valentine’s, but instead of celebrating romantic love, it’s celebrating love with your friends,” Evie explained.

   Galentine’s Day… That was something that Red had never heard of.

   However, she could not help but think that she did appreciate the sentiment. Even if the only two people that she could think of that would qualify for her to spend Galentine’s with were Chloe and Uma.

   Evie continued in her description.

   “We always do Galentine’s the day after Valentine’s, and it’s just really nice because me, Mal, Uma, Audrey, and Jane get together and have a big sleepover at my place,” Evie told her, a painfully soft smile on her face.

   “We play games and talk… Uma and Audrey argue and fight like cats and dogs,” Evie chuckled as they approached the parking lot.

   “But at the end of the night, we all end up piled up in my bed somehow. Even though I have enough rooms for at least four people to have their own room, we all end up in my room. Uma always squishes Audrey, me and Mal stick together and are actually under the blankets like normal people, and poor Jane is stuck somewhere near not only the foot of the bed, but also near Uma’s feet,” Evie laughed at the thought, and Red tried her best to resist her urge to imagine she and Chloe in that situation with them.

   “We’re all really great friends, and I love them so much. They’re each so amazing, especially Mal, who’s my best friend, and I just… It’s just really nice spending time together with them,” Evie finished, moving her head in a way that was meant to portray nonchalance despite Evie’s own obviously very much opposite of nonchalant feelings about it.

   Since Evie had begun talking about this, Red had never removed her gaze from the bluenette, listening to her every word as she took in just how wonderful and just how fun that sounded. It was something that she herself wished that she had in some capacity.

   Granted, she would only really want to hang out with Chloe probably, but she wished that she and Chloe could be involved in something like that. Maybe even with that very set of girls that Evie had just mentioned.

   But she was hurt at Chloe right now, so she could not let herself think about things like that.

   “I’m sorry. I’m oversharing,” Evie apologized suddenly, seeming to have come to the thought as a result of Red’s silence.

   Red shook her head.

   “No… You’re fine,” she answered simply, and Evie hummed, a smile spread across her face as it lit up her face and eyes.

   Red could not help but think that Evie sure did like to smile a lot. It was strange but it was starting to be something that Red was getting used to from her.

   They were now in the parking lot, and Evie was approaching a red motorcycle,

   Red furrowed her brow, watching her curiously as she waited to see if that was really Evie’s vehicle or if she had the sedan on the other side of it.

   Evie looked like a sedan person. She seemed proper like that.

   However, in response to Red’s unspoken curiosity, Evie proceeded to quell it with her next words.

   “I took the motorcycle. I haven’t used it in a while and it needed to be cranked,” Evie told her.

   Red huffed a little, offering Evie a smile of her own as she looked at the vehicle with an incredulous laugh.

   “Y’know, this is the first cool vehicle I’ve seen in Auradon,” Red complimented, impressed at the sight of the motorcycle.

   Evie just beamed widely, another one of her thousand-watt grins coming across her face as she looked at Red. She moved her head nonchalantly.

   “Well… I mean… It is pretty cool,” Evie confessed, shrugging as she boasted a little.

   While Red was bummed out about Chloe, Uma, and her mom, she thought that maybe a motorcycle ride could make everything better.

   It would certainly be worth a try, anyway.

   “Let’s ride,” Red declared, legitimately looking forward to this as she approached Evie and the motorcycle. Evie sat down on it, her eyes still sparkling as her grin was tamed a bit upon extending a helmet to Red.

   “Safety first,” Evie told her, and Red paused as she looked at it.

   She looked back up, meeting Evie’s gaze. The bluenette just eyed her patiently, waiting for Red to take the helmet from her.

   Red let out a groan as she took the helmet finally, understanding that the older girl was not going to give on this. She felt her mood dampening a little.

   “Ugh… Should’ve known that you couldn’t stay cool for long,” Red grumbled, and Evie just laughed a little as she put on her own helmet.

   “You might be surprised,” Evie argued, her tone light as she smiled at her kindly. Red finished latching her helmet.

   “The proof’s in the pudding,” Red informed her, and Evie chuckled as she started to prep the motorcycle.

   “That’s an Uma-mism,” she pointed out, and Red furrowed her brow, squinting at her ass he eyed the bluenette.

   “Uma-mism?”

   Evie nodded as she looked back at her.

   “Things that Uma says. Uma-mism,” Evie told her as if it were supposed to make perfect sense.

   Red made a face.

   “Huh.”

   “Seriously, though. Just give me a chance,” Evie expressed, and Red eyed her for a long moment.

   One thing that she had noted during the time that she had known Evie and especially during her time talking to her today was how soft and warm that Evie’s eyes were, a fondness in them despite the both of them barely knowing one another. Interestingly, despite the fact that they were not the same shade of brown, her eyes reminded Red of Chloe’s.

   And while Evie had creeped her out and made her uncomfortable last semester when she was their principal for a day, after Evie had talked to her today about Galentine’s Day, Red somehow saw something else in her now. Something that Red could actually appreciate since it was something that was present within she herself.

   Of course, maybe Red was just desperate for someone to spend time with on her birthday and any kindness to her was going to be misconstrued into something greater than what it really was.

   Because if she was thinking that Evie was someone that she could actually befriend and find to be likeable, she must have really lost her mind.

   “We’ll see,” Red answered her simply, and Evie just nodded, accepting the answer easily enough.

   However, before Red could get onto the motorcycle behind her, Evie jumped a little.

   “Ooh! I almost forgot!” Evie declared before reaching into the saddlebag of the motorcycle. Red watched her questioningly, and Evie made a noise as she seemed to find what she was looking for.

   Evie turned back around to face Red.

   “Here. Put these on,” Evie instructed.

   Red looked down at what Evie was holding in front of her.

   A pair of goggles.

   Yeah. Now it was certain.

   Red was definitely desperate at this point.

Chapter Text

   “Here it is! Home, sweet home,” Evie announced as she smiled at Red, extending her hands.

   Red took in the look of the place, not sure what she had expected but not having thought it would look like this.

   “Hang on and let me just get this,” Evie muttered as she started to unlock the door, turning away from Red.

   Red sighed.

   She honestly did not know what she was about walk into, and she was currently trying to decide if it would be a good idea to turn and run back to the school while the taller girl’s back was turned.

   However, just as she was trying to remember the route that they took here in their mind so that she would perhaps have a hope of escape at some point, Evie got the door open and it was too late to run because now the bluenette was looking at her with a big grin.

   “The door sometimes jams. I’ve got to get that looked at,” Evie confessed before heading inside, beckoning Red to come with her.

   As soon as the redhead stepped foot in the house, she wrinkled her nose. It had that telltale smell of the offensive perfume that Red had smelled on Evie earlier. It was just far more concentrated here. Like walking into Abercrombie and Fitch or Macy’s or something.

   Of course, she was currently in the beast’s den, so honestly, what did she expect to smell?

   “Just follow me.”

   Based on both what she had seen on the outside and what she was now taking in on the inside, Red noted how the place had more of a cottage feel than that of a castle, despite Evie having called it a starter castle.

   Red supposed that the word “starter” might have been the vital word here… And castle might not have been the right word at all.

   More like her crazy cat lady cottage or something where all good VKs go to die and transform into some kind of warped Auradon girls.

   As she stepped further in, she noted that it was decorated with creamy walls and wood accents, a chandelier hanging over the dinner table. It was a large table, and it was big enough to seat ten by the looks of it.

   She could not help but think that it was an awfully big dinner table considering the fact that Evie only probably got four guests at most since she lived all the way out here in this weird little secluded spot.

   However, Red did not comment on any of her observations, finding herself too uncomfortable to really allow herself to make fun of anything. She was in this strange girl’s house and while there were a lot of things jumping out at her, she did not quite have the boldness to say them just yet.

   As she followed her further into the house, she began to see the presence of the other three original VKs. There was an entire wall of photographs of people that Evie knew. A considerable amount of them included various combinations of Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos together or singular pictures of Mal, Jay, or Carlos.

   Red stopped briefly as she noted a shirtless picture of Jay from where he had been on a beach with the other VKs. She raised her eyebrows as she took in an eyeful of his pectorals and the six pack there in the image.

   Maybe there was at least a little something good about Evie’s house, after all…

   The younger girl glanced in Evie’s direction before looking back at the picture.

   She was definitely going to come back and get a photo of that for herself before she left here.

   Following that decision, she kept moving, noting how the wall shifted into pictures of Evie, Mal, Uma, Audrey, and Jane in different arrangements and singular photos.

   Red raised her eyebrows as she saw a picture of Evie laying down on what appeared to be a barnwood floor, a cowgirl outfit on her as she looked utterly beyond upset. There was a stain on her leg in the picture, and Red moved in closer to the picture as she tried to decipher if it was poop of some kind.

   “That was one of our girls’ trips we had,” Evie told her, and Red looked away from it as she met Evie’s gaze.

   “I slipped on horse scat and fell down when Audrey and I were mucking stalls,” Evie explained.

   Red narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out if the bluenette was serious. Evie just chuckled warmly before turning away and heading down the hall further.

   “C’mon,” Evie told her softly, and Red followed after her as she took a look at what was on the other wall in the hall.

   On this side, there were countless drawings. There were a lot of drawings of Evie but there were also illustrations of Jay, Carlos, Uma, Audrey, and Jane. Red paused as she noticed that there was only one picture of what Red assumed to be Mal in the midst of all of it.

   Strangely, it was not drawn nearly as detailed or as close to real life as all of the rest and it appeared to have been done by a different artist. The primary way that she could tell it was Mal was the fact that the girl was wearing purple and had purple hair. It looked more like a fashion design or rough concept art than anything.

   “This is Mal’s picture wall,” Evie spoke aloud as Red walked along and looked at it.

   “She draws?” Red asked.

   Evie was quick to nod in reply, a giant smile growing across her face.

   “Yeah. She’s amazing. All these are ones that she’s either given me or ones that I thought were beautiful that happened to be the ones that she didn’t want to keep,” Evie explained, and Red tilted her head as she gestured to the picture of Mal.

   “Did she draw this one, too?” Red asked.

   Evie shook her head, laughing a little as her pearly whites showed in an expression of mirth.

   “No, that was me. I told her that until she draws a picture of herself for my stunning wall here, then I would just have to keep one of my fashion designs up there instead,” Evie smirked a little. Red huffed as she glanced at the older girl briefly before taking one last look at the wall as an odd feeling bubbled within her.

   It was strange that Red happened to have drawing in common with Mal. She was not sure how she felt about it.

   Evie then continued down the hall to a door at the end of it that was cracked. Red continued after her, avoiding pausing any further as she came along after the bluenette.

   She opened the door more fully, stepping in as she turned to face Red with a patiently expectant expression.

   Red looked around the room and the first thing she noticed was precisely how many windows there were. It was ridiculous how much light got into the room. If fresh air could be a room, Red believed that this would be it.

   “This is my workshop-sunroom combo,” Evie introduced.

   Red raised her eyebrows. There were countless fabric samples, fashion designs, and notes on the walls, some of them serving to block some of the windows. The redhead then spotted the sewing machine not far away from the bluenette with a sofa on the opposite wall from the device.

   As she turned to look at the other side of the room, she noted the mannequins there. To Red’s unhappiness, they were fitted with dresses, and Red felt a sense of dread creeping upon her at what she was probably about to have to do.

   “This is where all the magic happens.”

   “What do you want me to do?” Red asked, moving right past Evie's comment and clinging to some feeble delusion that maybe by some stretch of the imagination that Evie perhaps did not want her to try on dresses.

   Evie just smiled at her as she clasped her hands.

   “I am glad you asked,” Evie answered, proceeding to move past Red as she approached a mannequin. It had a baby blue dress put on it, the tulle coming out from the dress with fluffy abandon as it reached about knee-level. There were sleeves that came down and ornamentally hung on the arms loosely.

   Red tried to resist the urge to wrinkle her nose.

   “I was wondering if maybe you could try on some dresses. This one, actually, for starters…”

   She failed.

   Red took in a deep, long breath before exhaling somewhat noisily. Evie just looked at her with a winning smile, and Red tried not to make eye contact as she rubbed her head.

   Great. This was what she got for being lonely. She got all sad and mopey and missing Chloe and all that sappy crap and now she was stuck here trying on dresses for a chick that could not wipe a smile off of her face for more than two seconds.

   “How many?” Red asked tiredly, figuring that she might as well go ahead and get the full tally on how much she was about to get herself into.

   “Well, I need you to try on four outfits in total.”

   The redhead’s eyes widened as she stared at the taller girl.

   “Four dresses?”

   “They’re not all dresses,” she reassured.

   Red eyed her skeptically, and Evie brought back that frustrating, nearly constant smile as she looked at her with something akin to sheepishness in her gaze as she moved her head noncommittally.

   “Just three of them are dresses,” Evie admitted.

   The younger girl groaned, but when Evie held out the blue dress that she had just removed from the mannequin, she begrudgingly took it despite her reservations.

   “Where’s the bathroom?”

   “Right down the hall. It’s the door on the left,” Evie gestured as she tried to provide some semblance of a visual aid for Red.

   “If you have trouble finding it, just let me know. After all, this is a castle,” Evie joked, laughing a little at herself, and Red offered her a brief thumbs-up, going up the couple of steps that connected to the hall.

   As soon as she was out of earshot, Red made her own quip in response to Evie’s statement.

   “A castle for a leprechaun, maybe,” Red muttered under her breath.

   With fairly minimal effort, Red managed to find the bathroom. She proceeded to change into the ridiculous dress, and as soon as she had it on and was looking in the mirror, she already practically felt like someone else.

   Not to mention the fact that she reminded herself of that one famous royal lady… Red was trying to remember her name now. It was something that she and Chloe had studied in history and Chloe had connected it with some dumb song.

   Something to do with under the sea? The woman’s name was Muriel or something? Red did not remember. All she remembered was the way the woman had looked with that bright red hair that was similar to Red’s own and that seafoam dress she wore.

   Red was almost disgusted with how much she really looked like that chick and how much she looked the royal part right now. It just felt wrong. Especially with consideration to how much that Red had fought that entire princess thing.

   However, in the spirit of getting all of this over with, she headed out of the bathroom. She did not come back to Evie, though, until she had managed to snap a picture of that photograph of Jay that Evie had on her wall of old people pictures.

   When she came back through the doorway and down the steps to Evie’s sunroom, Evie was sitting at her sewing machine, looking over some notes. The moment that Red came into the room, Evie raised her eyebrows, her entire face lighting up.

   “You look absolutely stunning,” the bluenette complimented.

   Red just offered a tight-lipped smile, trying not to offer her real opinion on this entire thing.

   “In fact, you look downright regal,” Evie added on.

   Unfortunately, after Evie made that particular comment, she could not resist saying what she really thought.

   “I know. I disgust myself,” Red answered, sitting her phone on the arm of the sofa.

   “Well, you’re allowed to disgust yourself. Just don’t disgust the rest of us,” Evie answered, and Red instantly looked at her with surprise.

   Evie had carried on nonchalantly as ever, looking at her notes, and Red narrowed her eyes.

   “Did you just…”

   Evie looked up, and instead of that open, easy, sweet smile that she usually had, there was the presence of a smirk with something more wicked behind it.

   The redhead just stared at her, allowing herself a slight smile and a huff as she took in this new side of Evie.

   “Like I said… you might be surprised,” Evie shrugged, the curl of her rouged lips widening just a bit before she stood up. The smile then turned into an expression that was more serious, almost as if nothing had just happened, and Red watched her incredulously.

   Perhaps Evie had not lost all of her Villain Kid side after all.

   “Okay, now, stand here,” Evie instructed.

   Red complied, and Evie hummed a soft praise. Red narrowed her eyes a little, glancing at Evie weirdly. Evie never looked up from what she was currently inspecting on the dress, and Red wondered if the strange little hum-praise thing was just one of Evie’s weird quirks.

   “Extend your arms and keep them held out,” Evie told her.

   Red did as Evie told her.

   “Now, just be as still as you can,” Evie slowly told her, more focused on her work than she was on Red.

   As she stood there, looking ridiculous, Red found that she was suddenly compelled to throw out another barb just to see how Evie would respond to it.

   So, seeing that Evie seemed that she could take it, Red proceeded to snark.

   “At this rate, you could’ve just left the dress on the mannequin. It would’ve been the same thing basically,” Red told her.

   Sure enough, Evie’s comment came back, sharp yet playful.

   “Are you saying you’re shaped like a mannequin?”

   Red raised her eyebrows, and even though Evie was currently knelt down and inspecting a stitch at Red’s side, she could see a smirk growing. Red actually had a bit of a smirk growing on her own face.

   “No. Just saying that you got me to come here for a useless job,” Red declared.

   Evie raised an eyebrow.

   “Useless, huh?”

   Red scoffed, shrugging, but she watched Evie as she worked. The bluenette never made contact with Red, just bringing the cloth measuring tape to Red’s waist and appearing almost as if she were measuring the stitches.

   The redhead narrowed her eyes, but continued on despite the fact that she did not really see how measuring stitch distance or length was necessary.

   “I’m literally standing here not doing anything. It’s the same thing that the mannequin could have done,” Red said.

   Evie shrugged, eyeing the sash critically as she lightly touched the fabric, never actually pushing against Red’s form itself with her fingers.

   “Maybe I wanted company.”

   “Company,” Red echoed, her voice nearly monotone. There was a soreness in her arms now from holding them up.

   “Is there something weird about that?” Evie questioned curiously.

   “Considering the fact that we hardly know each other, then yeah. It’s weird,” Red expressed.

   Evie laughed a full laugh from where she was currently behind Red. Red raised her eyebrows, but found that she did not absolutely hate the sound. Something in her grew just the slightest bit warm at the fact that Red herself was the cause of it.

   Wow… She must have been terribly lonely to be happy with making Evie of all people laugh.

   “You’re probably not wrong about that. But I feel like I know you better than I actually do, probably. Turn left for me, please,” Evie instructed.

   “What do you mean?” Red asked as she turned.

   Evie hummed through her nose.

   “Uma talks about you a lot,” Evie offered her simple answer.

   Red felt something strange within her. It was a strange feeling that was nearly like pride and awe, and Red tried hard not to think about just how much it meant to her for Uma to talk about her.

   The younger girl, however, tried to shake it off with nonchalance.

   “Probably complaining,” Red scoffed a little, blinking a little as the ache in her arms was starting to get more unbearable.

   “No,” Evie paused, letting out a breath as she thought better of the answer.

   “Well, I mean… yes. She does complain,” Evie conceded, and Red nodded, expecting that much.

   Evie let out a breath, a fond expression crossing her face.

   “But she also talks about how you’re doing in school. Tells about new nicknames you come with for her… Says something when you’re more tired than usual,” Evie trailed off, and Red took in that fact incredulously and nearly disbelievingly.

   She knew Uma cared. After all, she had stayed principal after Red had asked her to. It was just really amazing to Red to hear evidence of precisely how much that Uma cared about her.

   Red swallowed, the discomfort in her arms glaring up more intensely.

   “Can I put my arms down?” Red finally asked her.

   “One more second… I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong with this sash,” Evie muttered.

   “It’s not red,” the younger girl answered her.

   “Well. Besides that,” Evie chuckled warmly.

   After a few more beats, Red felt the sash sliding off of her as Evie pulled it off.

   “You can take a break for a minute,” Evie granted, and Red let out a deep sigh of relief, not even trying to hide her exhaustion at this point.

   She headed over to the sofa, plopping down in it. A piece of tulle came up and touched her face, and she snorted a little, the stuff tickling her nose. Red annoyedly smacked it away.

   However, she felt a twinge of guilt as she thought about the fact that it was blue, because some dumb part of her brain made the connection between blue and Chloe and it felt like she was hitting Chloe.

   Of course, at the same time, she thought that maybe she should feel like hitting Chloe.

   But she knew that there would never be a situation in the entire world where she would hit Chloe. Red had decided a long time ago that Chloe was someone she would protect, and that was not about to change now.

   However, playful smacks might not be out of the question…

   Evie hummed something, muttering under her breath as she looked at something to do with her notes on the sash. Red lifted her gaze to look at her.

   Evie seemed unhappy, but whatever the situation was, it did not seem to be life-shattering.

   Red then reached over, grabbing her phone from the sofa arm where she had sat it earlier.

   To her unhappiness, there was not a single text on her phone from anyone.

   The redhead swallowed, trying to ignore the pang of despair that resonated within her chest.

   “Red, do you mind if I ask you a question?”

   The words successfully drew her out of her thoughts as she tensed up.

   Evie’s tone implied that she was moving away from the teasing territory with Red. Evie was going to move into something more emotional, and Red was not sure she was ready to try some sort of sensitive conversation with the older girl.

   Nevertheless, despite her misgivings she nevertheless sat up straighter, propping her head up on her hand as she relaxed her elbow on the arm of the sofa as she prepared to figure out what Evie wanted to ask.

   “What?”

   Evie quietly worked for a moment before tentatively bringing up her question.

   “Well… I was wondering why you hated February fourteenth so badly?” Evie questioned, her voice holding a certain carefulness to it as she regarded her.

   Red thought it through, trying to decide what she would say to Evie in response to that. She did not really want to tell her, but at the same time, something about Evie frustratingly made it easy to speak to her despite not knowing her very well at all.

   “It’s my birthday today,” Red confessed.

   Evie looked up at her in response to that, and Red continued before the bluenette could actually say anything to her about it.

   “And it’s honestly the worst thing ever because it’s on Valentine’s Day.”

   Evie tilted her head in confusion, letting out the breath that she had obviously intended to use to speak just prior to Red’s words as she chose to listen to her instead of try to contribute with her own opinions or thoughts.

   Red could see Evie’s unspoken yet clear request for Red to explain herself.

   “My mom’s the Queen of Hearts and I was born on Valentine’s Day. The day of literal hearts,” Red clarified, and Evie raised her eyebrows, not speaking as she appeared to understand what Red meant.

   Red found herself thankful that Evie had somehow found it within herself to be quiet and allow Red to talk through this. Evie even seemed somehow like she had experience with this sort of situation, which was simultaneously weird and comforting.

   “Worst irony ever,” Red muttered, and Evie just huffed softly in response to her, her eyes dancing warmly with mirth.

   Red thought of all of the birthdays she had before this year, and she found herself strangely tempted to talk to Evie about it.

   However, she knew that she could not speak about that with anyone except for Chloe because that would involve discussing things that occurred prior to the timeline shift.

   But she could talk about her birthday this year.

   And before Red quite knew what she was saying, she started talking again.

   “And not only that, but everybody ditched me,” Red said, finding herself shocked at her own admission.

   Evie’s eyes were soft as she watched her, not saying a word as she sat at her sewing machine and patiently listened.

   What in the world had Red gotten herself into?

   “Hey, look, nevermind,” Red tried to dismiss it, and Evie shook her head as she actually spoke for a brief moment.

   “No. I want to hear about it,” Evie encouraged, her voice gentle.

   Red stared at her for a long moment, both sets of light brown eyes meeting one another as Evie remained steadfast in her calm and quiet supportiveness.

   The younger of the two was not sure how she felt about talking about this, but something about Evie made her feel the strongest temptation to do so.

   She was not really sure what she had to lose aside from the fact that Evie could tell someone what Red was about to say. However, something about Evie in this moment made Red feel that she was trustworthy.

   In the past, Evie had made her uncomfortable with her smiles and overt kindness, but after having spent time with her for longer, she was beginning to see something in the bluenette that she had not before.

   So Red went ahead and confessed to her.

   “My mom didn’t answer the phone both times when I called today. And I know that’s stupid, but it’s just that,” Red paused as she thought through everything that she could say about that.

   Most of all, it made her feel like she was not important enough for her mother to answer and it brought her thoughts back to the previous timeline where Red would reach out to her mother in some way or another and her mother would simply dismiss it.

   “She always answers the phone and the fact that she didn’t answer on my birthday just,” Red shook her head, trailing off.

   “It’s not the best feeling,” Red admitted, and Evie nodded with a quiet hum in reply to her.

   Red looked down at her hands, looking at the contrast between the scars of her knuckles and the frilliness of the dress that they were resting on.

   “Uma’s taken off to spend the day with the hooker. And Chloe,” Red paused, taking in a deep breath and hating herself for suddenly feeling like crying as she brought up her best friend.

   Red scratched at her chin, opening her mouth just a bit before closing it and blinking. She looked out the window at the trees that had been laid bare by the cold fingers of wintertime in Auradon. Today had been an oddly warm day, she could not help but think.

   She cleared her throat, bringing herself back to the matter at hand.

   “Chloe had to go help both her mom and her dad handle her brother who is a literal grown man,” Red stated, mentioning the person that was the most special to her out of all three of those individuals.

   There were a few moments of silence, and Red shrugged as she tried her hardest to muster nonchalance and sarcasm.

   After all, it would be the only thing between her and breaking down.

   “So I mean… I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have parents that need me to come home and help them handle their own kids. I mean, next thing you know, Chloe’s going to be helping them wipe their own butts,” Red scoffed as she tired her hardest to avoid looking directly at Evie since she was so close to being emotional about this.

   There was a beat of silence, and Evie did not laugh at the quip. Red tried not to think about the possibility that Evie might have noticed how close Red was to tears.

   Red shook her head after a moment.

   “The bad part is that she probably would. She tries really hard to be there for people she cares about. She’s been there for me when no one else has,” Red confessed, thinking of the girl who was undoubtedly her best friend in the entire world despite whatever hurt that Chloe had caused her that day.

   Evie was quiet for a few moments before she finally tilted her head a bit.

   “You care about Chloe a lot, don’t you?” Evie finally spoke, eyeing Red as she made her shrewd observation.

   Red let out a soft breath before nodding, agreeing with her despite the fact that she was not quite sure where this was going.

   “Well… Yeah, I care about her. We’re best friends. But I mean, we haven’t known each other that long,” Red dismissively answered, trying not to admit just how much that Chloe meant to her considering the fact that they had not known each other for even a year.

   Evie hummed shortly and shrugged.

   “It reminds me of Mal and I. She’s my best friend, y’know,” Evie admitted, and Red shook her head.

   “Yeah, but you two have known each other forever. At least according to Chloe,” Red recollected from the times that Chloe had ran her mouth about the first four VKs to come across the barrier and attend Auradon Prep.

   “Yes. But I’ve cared about Mal for a lot longer than that. Jay and Carlos, too. The three of them have been really important to me for a really long time,” Evie admitted, and Red breathed out through her nose as she looked at Evie.

   Evie tilted her head.

   “I would do anything for those three,” Evie expressed.

   Red did not say anything as she looked down at the ridiculous dress she had on.

   After a few moments of silence, Red took in a soft breath.

   “Where are you going with this?”

   Evie looked at her for a long moment, wetting her lips as she watched Red calmly and sweetly.

   “From what you said… I assume your mother has been better than our parents.”

   Red was not sure about that because, after all, she had been raised by a woman who was an awful tyrant despite Chloe being the only person that knew that, but she did not interrupt Evie. Especially since she could not even tell her about it.

   Evie let out a soft breath, and Red recognized the look in her eyes. It was an expression that she had seen in her own eyes when looking into her mirror back at home after her mother had been on an especially bad verbal lashing.

   “As you know, our parents were really awful. Mal’s actually the only one of us that has a parent who is fully supportive of her and treats her well. And that’s only her dad,” Evie admitted, and Red did not really know what to say.

   Red just swallowed, looking at Evie carefully.

   “What are you getting at?”

   “What I am saying is,” Evie drug out the last word.

   The taller woman pursed her lips a little, moving her current project to the side. She stood up from her chair, coming over toward Red. Red watched her as the bluenette sat down on the opposite side of the sofa from the redhead.

   Evie’s light browns were soft and gentle as she looked at the younger girl. Red was not sure what her own eyes looked like at this moment, and she shuddered to think what Evie could see within them right now.

   “That it’s okay to have family that’s not necessarily blood-related to you,” Evie explained, her voice soft and careful.

   “What does that have to do with anything?”

   “Well… Chloe,” Evie trailed off.

   “What? Are you saying Chloe’s part of my family or something?” Red narrowed her eyes skeptically, the short, disbelieving laugh that escaped her feeling empty as the words resonated deeper than Red wanted to let on.

   “Yeah. If you feel that way about her,” Evie moved her head in agreeance as she looked at Red.

   Red let out a short breath, uncomfortable with just how much that Evie was able to see her.

   “I have a mom,” Red tried to dismiss.

   “I know you have your mother… But Chloe can be part of your family, too,” Evie explained, and Red let out a soft breath.

   The only thing she could think about right now was how she had started seeing Chloe as some sort of a sister and a best friend all rolled into one. What she felt for Chloe was stronger than friendship and leaned toward the familial.

   She tried really hard not to think about that, however. She had been doing her best to avoid that, actually.

   “Y’know… Mal’s my sister,” Evie confessed, and Red looked at her in confusion.

   “Literally or?” Red spoke up, drawing out the last word as she squinted at Evie uncertainly.

   “Well, as far as we know, we’re not blood-related, but that doesn’t really matter. She’s my sister,” Evie explained, stating it as if it were the most obvious fact in her life.

   Red’s jaw slackened a bit as she considered Evie’s words.

   Evie’s specific words resonated so perfectly with what Red was thinking, and Red honestly found herself surprised at her ability to identify with Evie. Or maybe it was Evie’s ability to identify with Red.

   Regardless, it was like talking to Chloe, but it was also like speaking with another version of herself. Which was a really strange combination.

   “And honestly, when I look at you and Chloe, I think about me and Mal.” Evie confessed.

   Red shook her head.

   “It’s not the same,” Red argued, and she tried not to think about how weak the argument sounded. How weak that it actually was.

   “Maybe not. But that same feeling is there,” Evie confessed.

   “And what exactly is that?”

   Evie had a look in her eyes like she had all of the answers to everything that Red had ever wondered in her life, and it was almost scary.

   And then she proceeded to say something that made Red’s brain completely short-circuit.

   “Love.”

   Love.

   Love.

   Red’s mouth went dry, the word shocking but at the same time feeling so right as Evie said it. She did love Chloe. Chloe was the best friend, the sister, and the family that Red had never had before in her life. The closest she had ever come was Maddox but Chloe had always been there entirely by choice rather than by duty or by something that Red’s mother had demanded.

   Evie had seen through her entirely, and Red honestly had no idea whatsoever as to what to do with that.

   So Red just stared at her, trying to find the words to say in response to that, and Evie’s eyes remained gentle.

   “What makes you think I feel that way?” Red tried to conjure some amount of toughness despite the feeling that all of the puzzle pieces were falling into place after being scrambled for far too long.

   Evie looked at her, her gaze far, far too knowing for anyone’s good but especially Red’s. Evie reached out toward her, pausing just before touching her shoulder.

   It was an obvious request, and Red was honestly surprised at the fact that she did not seem to mind the idea of what Evie was asking permission to do. It was honestly really considerate of Evie to ask her first.

   So, finding that she did not mind the idea of it so badly, Red looked at her with just the barest nod. Evie then let her palm fall against the younger girl gently. Evie squeezed her just a bit with a small smile.

   “Just a hunch.”

   They stared at each other for a moment more, and Evie then proceeded to get up from the couch, her hand leaving Red’s shoulder as if nothing happened.

   But something had happened.

   Evie had just completely and unintentionally brought Red to a sense of acceptance. It might have been an acceptance that she would never share with Chloe, but it was an acceptance nonetheless.

   She loved Chloe.

Chapter Text

   “Raise it up a little more… No, no, I’m sorry, Harry’s side!” Chloe called, looking up at the two people up on the ladders on either side of the giant banner draped between the two pillars.

   Despite his momentary glance of slight exasperation in Uma’s direction, Harry complied with Chloe’s instructions, bringing up his side as he fought a little against the weight of the fabric that was used for the banner. Chloe had hand-painted the thing herself, and she had left space for others to put their signatures and their own creative touches on it as well.

   Harry and Uma were currently in the process of hanging the birthday banner for the very much secret surprise birthday party for Red.

   They were in the ballroom at Auradon Prep right now, and everyone had had to park their cars in the opposite parking lot from where they had planned for Evie to park her motorcycle. By making Red think that Chloe was off to Cinderellasburg, it helped keep their presence in the ballroom an even better secret as a direct result.

   And right now, largely thanks to Uma, there were a lot of people here and participating in the process of setting up for this party. The entire thing had been Chloe’s idea, and this had actually been in the works for a long time.

   To begin with, Chloe had called Red’s mother two weeks ahead of time to get her in on the plan. Thankfully, Bridget did a fairly good job containing herself and not saying anything to Red about it during those two weeks, but Chloe had been admittedly afraid that Bridget would say something. Especially after Chloe had talked to her own mother about it.

   Ella was the first to tell Chloe that Bridget was not the best secret keeper when it came to exciting surprises. When they were young, Bridget got a little too excited and oftentimes would accidentally let things slip.

   Regardless, after Chloe had brought it up to her mother, her mom had offered to get involved in the effort as well, and of course, Chloe had been more than happy to have her mother on-board as well.

   Not only were Chloe’s and Red’s mothers here as well as Harry and Uma, but Audrey, Mal, Jane, Carlos, and Lonnie were there, too. Gil and Jay had come, too, but the two of them had left to go and pick up Red’s cake from the bakery in town.

   Evie would have been there with Mal probably, but since they had tasked her with distracting Red and keeping her occupied, she was otherwise indisposed right now. The distraction for Red had also been a great way for Evie to be able to give Red the birthday present that Evie had been working on since she found out that Red’s birthday was approaching.

   Chloe had been surprised at Evie’s desire to make something for Red that was as incredible, unique, and meticulously-crafted as the outfits that came from Evie’s Four Hearts, but at the same time, Chloe had not been that shocked. After all, Evie was Chloe’s hero for a reason, and one of Chloe’s favorite parts of her was her generous and giving spirit.

   That had actually been point three of Chloe’s presentation on Evie back when she had been assigned in her castle-schooling program to make a PowerPoint on an unsung hero. Evie had not been the most unsung hero, but Chloe had been eager to take any opportunity that she could have to talk about the woman that was undoubtedly one of the most incredible change-makers that Chloe had ever heard of.

   Chloe still thought Chad was an idiot for letting her go. Chloe might could have had Evie as a sister-in-law if Chad would not have been so… Well… Chad.

   Regardless, despite Evie’s absence here in the middle of things at the actual party, the others were staying pretty busy.

   Audrey and Mal were working on decorations together with Mal spray-painting some large heart that was supposed to go on the wall. It had to have a last-minute touch-up, and, standing over Mal as she worked, Audrey was distractedly handing the faerie spray-paint cans as Mal needed them. Audrey was far more focused on her phone, and Mal had started checking the spray-paint cans to make sure Audrey gave her the right one after Audrey had nearly caused her to spray the wrong color on the decoration.

   Carlos was currently trying to get the display to work on the large screen on the wall with Jane at his side while she seemed to be enjoying looking through the pictures of Red and Chloe. She had laughed a lot at one of the photos and when Carlos had looked at it with her, he had laughed with her just as much, looking at Uma.

   Chloe knew that they probably had found that picture that Red had taken of Uma so long ago with the silk cap and her nightgown on.

   Last but not least, since Lonnie was going to be the DJ for the party, Lonnie was currently organizing the order of the playlist after Chloe had compiled a collection of the songs that Red liked the most.

   It ranged from Joan Jett to Idina Menzel, and the playlist was truly Red in every way. It had stuff from Red’s self-titled “I Don’t Care” playlist that she always had blasting from her earbuds.

   It also had songs from the weirdly mellow playlist that Red sometimes played aloud in their dorm. The mellow playlist was songs that Chloe had ended up eventually realizing were songs dedicated to Chloe or their friendship, and while they had never ever talked about it explicitly, Chloe had figured out the meaning behind it just by Red’s glances at her while the songs were playing.

   Needless to say, Chloe was very excited to see how Red would react to the music.

   “How’s this?” Harry questioned, his thick accent coming through, and Chloe blinked as she was pulled from her thoughts about it all.

   Chloe narrowed her eyes, tilting her head a little and stepping back as she looked up at the banner.

   “Maybe go back down again,” Chloe uncertainly told him.

   Harry let out a sigh, glancing at Uma once more. He nevertheless dropped down the banner a little, his muscles straining with the heaviness of the canvas.

   “Wait, wait… Bring it just a little bit up,” Chloe corrected, turning her head the opposite way as she tried to align the banner as perfectly as she possibly could.

   Uma then let out a loud groan, holding up the banner in Gil’s absence. She was standing on the opposite side of Harry while perched on her own ladder.

   “Chloe, you better make up your dang mind where this thing’s going or you’re getting detention for a week,” Uma informed her with a grouchy grumble.

   Chloe then raised her eyebrows before holding up her hands in a swift, nervous thumbs-up.

   “Perfect placement! Nail it in right there!” Chloe nodded as she eyed them with a tight-lipped smile.

   “Sweetie, where do you want these refreshments placed?” Chloe instantly recognized the sound of her mother’s voice, and Chloe raised her eyebrows as she realized that Ella was currently carrying a large box full of water bottles.

   Her mother was dressed in one of her less extravagant gowns, and she looked more like she did on those lazy Saturday mornings that she, Chloe, and the family enjoyed back in Cinderellasburg as Chloe was growing up.

   “Oh, Mom, don’t worry,” Chloe came rushing over as soon as she spotted that box of water bottles.

    The minute that Chloe was in front of her, she took it from her, shouldering the heaviness of the load. Ella started to try to take it back from her, but Chloe maneuvered it so that her mother could not.

   “I’ve got it,” Chloe said with a nod.

   Ella narrowed her eyes at her, looking at her in a way that communicated precisely how she felt about her daughter taking on all the weight on her own. Chloe just offered her a grin, and she carried the box over to the nearby table.

   “I told you not to lift those water bottles by yourself,” Bridget scolded Ella as she came in behind Ella and was carrying her own container of juice boxes.

   Bridget was also dressed in something more casual than usual, and it was honestly funny to Chloe when she thought about it. They really did look like the older versions of Ella and Bridget that she and Red had met in the past.

   At Bridget’s words, Ella raised an eyebrow, looking at Bridget with a slight exasperation before moving forward to help Bridget carry the box she had.

   “Says the pot to the kettle,” Ella simply answered.

   Bridget just laughed a little, the sound brief as the both of them started toward where Chloe was making space underneath the table.

   When they came over, Chloe reached out, trying to help them get it into the place she had cleared for them to place the box.

   “Thank you for getting the drinks,” Chloe expressed, looking between Bridget and Ella, and they both smiled at her kindly.

   “Of course, my dear! It’s not just helping you, you know,” Bridget told her kindly. Bridget’s smile dimmed just a little as she reached in her pocket.

   “I’d do anything for my sweet baby girl,” Bridget expressed before her happiness faded away nearly completely as she looked at her phone. She let out a sigh, looking down at it worriedly.

   Ella looked at her caringly, reaching out her hand and placing it on Bridget’s shoulder with a gentle squeeze.

   Chloe’s eyes softened, and she felt a sadness grow within her. She knew why Bridget looked the way she did. Chloe could personally relate.

   The truth of it was that Chloe felt absolutely terrible having to lie to Red.

   However, she unfortunately had not been able to avoid actually answering the phone as Red had called her back-to-back. She originally had not planned to talk to Red. That was why she had left the note. She had desperately hoped that Red would take it at face-value and not contact her. Chloe had not wanted to lie to her and the reason that she had slipped out without a word was because Red knew her far too well not to have figured out that Chloe was lying.

   Of course, when she talked to Red on the phone, Chloe thought that Red knew she was lying. She just was thankful that Red had not pushed any further.

   But it did present the concern that Red might be hurting right now.

   Chloe tried hard not to think about that, though. If she spent too much time on it, she knew that she would go running to Red and spill the big secret.

   And they could not have that just yet.

   “I do hope she’s alright,” Bridget spoke softly, and Ella nodded to her, a gentleness in her eyes as she looked at her.

   “She’ll be fine. After she sees this beautiful party and all of the hard work that’s been put into it, she’ll be thrilled,” Ella reassured, and Bridget let out a sigh.

   “I just hated not answering her when she called. She’s probably thinks I abandoned her on her birthday,” Bridget fretted, and Chloe’s gaze softened as she moved her head in a sympathetic gesture. She could feel the guilt swelling within herself as well.

   “I hated having to answer her call and lie,” Chloe stated, and Bridget looked at her in a way that told Chloe that she understood completely how she felt.

   Ella sighed softly, her attention now focused nearly entirely on her daughter as she turned to more fully face her. She briefly touched Chloe’s cheek before letting her hand drop to Chloe’s shoulder near the base of her neck.

   “Honey, sometimes… Well… sometimes when it comes to things like these… and when it’s the right reason… you sometimes have to get your hands a little bit dirty,” Ella admitted, that age-old wisdom shining through in her tone.

   Chloe nearly froze up as her mother uttered the exact words that she had told her back when Chloe had met the young version of Ella. It was honestly really jarring to hear, and it was so strange for her mother to say such a thing as that. Chloe was not sure what to do with it even, and it made her wonder why in the world she had said it.

   However, she forced herself to smile at least a little as she looked at her, raising her own hand to touch that of her mother’s.

   “I know… But she’s my best friend, and I just… I really care about her,” Chloe confessed, and Ella smiled softly, opening her arm to invite Chloe in for a hug.

   “I know you do, baby,” Ella expressed, kissing Chloe’s temple gently.

   Chloe leaned into her mother’s side, and Bridget nodded with a smile and a bit of light in her eyes.

   “Yes… You two are so much like your mother and I were at your age,” Bridget expressed, a look of fondness crossing her features as she looked at Ella.

   Ella smiled as well, but her gaze turned to something a bit more reserved and regretful as she looked at Bridget.

   “Maybe just without so many mistakes,” Ella explained, and Bridget tilted her head just a bit.

   “Well… that’s all in the past now. Bygones are bygones,” Bridget expressed, a kindness in her eyes that still somewhat took Chloe off-guard considering the manner in which Chloe had seen her upon her first impression of the woman in the previous timeline.

   It was hard to believe that this was some version of the same woman that was responsible for one of the worst things that could have happened in Chloe’s life, for a violent coup that would overthrow Auradon as they knew it, and for the deep scars that Red suffered with even to this very day.

   Chloe wondered what exactly had happened to cause Bridget to close Wonderland. It had apparently been something that happened after Castlecoming, so Chloe wondered if when Uliana and the other VKs had been unfrozen by Merlin if they had chosen to take their revenge on Bridget then.

   Regardless, she understood that her mother apparently felt some amount of responsibility for it. Chloe was just not sure why. She was not sure that she would ever know why, because she did not know exactly what information she was expected to already be privy to.

   Ella reached out a hand to Bridget, and Bridget took it kindly. Chloe watched them and allowed herself a smile of her own.

   If only Red were here right now.

   “Hey, Chloe, come over here!” Uma called.

   Chloe turned her head in the direction that Uma’s voice had come from. She raised her eyebrows as she realized that Jay and Gil were back with the cake, and they were currently hauling the giant thing over to the table underneath the banner where the presents were currently gathered.

   There had been a place cleared out for the cake, but judging by the size of the box, Chloe was definitely thinking that there was not enough room. Uma was currently trying to move presents out of the way, and she presumably needed Chloe’s help.

   Chloe quickly pulled away from her mother as she scurried to the table to assist Uma. When Chloe was close enough, Uma handed her a present. Chloe took it and placed it on the floor, trying to throw together a haphazard yet halfway-nice present pile so that the presents would look less like they were put on the floor out of a lack of room.

   “Uma, did you know this thing is red velvet?” Gil excitedly questioned as he drew closer.

   He and Jay were waiting on the space to be cleared enough for them to sit the box down on a far side and have enough room for the cake to be moved out of it and to the center of the table. Needless to say, Uma and Chloe were hurrying to move things.

   As soon as he uttered the words, though, Uma turned to look at him quickly, pointing at him.

   “You better know that just because of the label, Gil,” Uma warned him, and Chloe paused briefly as she glanced between Uma and Gil. A momentary fear filled her at the thought that Gil might know that from tasting the cake.

   And the last thing that Chloe wanted was to give Red a cake that had been partially eaten.

   Thankfully, however, Jay shook his head from where he was standing on the other side of the cake box from Gil and holding it up.

   “Don’t worry. I didn’t let him eat any,” Jay answered.

   Chloe let out a sigh, and Uma glanced at Chloe briefly before looking back at Jay and nodding.

   “Good. I don’t think Lil’ Curly Q would’ve appreciated him taking a bite out of crime,” Uma answered him as she moved another present.

   “Lil’ Curly Q?” Chloe questioned, the words far too pronounced instead of being spoken in the same lazy manner that Uma had thrown them out there.

   Uma shrugged, gesturing to Chloe’s hair as if that were supposed to explain everything. Unfortunately, Chloe supposed it probably did.

   “It suits you,” Uma pointed out.

   Chloe huffed but did not argue with her.

   Uma put down one last present and stepped aside. Chloe stepped back a little despite the fact that the boys and the cake were at the opposite side of the table from Chloe.

   They placed it carefully on the table, and Chloe drew nearer as they opened the box.

   Chloe gasped softly as she looked at the cake.

   It was exactly what Chloe had asked for and sent to them in the very specific email that had been filled with all of Chloe’s exact instructions for what she wanted on the cake.

   The cake itself was in the shape of a heart with the outer parts of the cake lined with gorgeous red tulips made of fondant. The middle parts of the top of the cake were black icing, and Chloe smiled as she read the beautifully-written message on the top of the cake— Happy Birthday, Red in red cursive writing with a red heart at the end of Red’s name.

   Chloe could not help her smile, and she could only imagine what Red would think of it.

   “Oh, my gosh… Guys, thank you so much,” Chloe breathed. Jay smiled at her kindly, starting to speak, but he was quickly interrupted by Gil.

   “Ooh… Cream cheese frosting!”

   “Looks… delicious,” Harry’s voice spoke up just beside Chloe.

   Chloe flinched a little, realizing that Harry was now next to Chloe on the opposite side of the table from Gil, Jay, and Uma, and Harry was looking in the box alongside Chloe.

   Uma raised an eyebrow at the boys, and Chloe noticed how both Harry and Gil were looking at the cake with something that was definitely not just innocent interest. Chloe admittedly felt a bit nervous about the manner in which they were eyeing it.

   Uma cleared her throat, stepping up beside Jay and crossing her arms.

   “Neither one of y’all touch that cake,” Uma told them.

   There was a certain edge in her voice that made Harry look up at her, his blue eyes meeting the pirate’s. He looked at her for a moment, and Chloe watched the wordless exchange between them.

   Gil, however, was not as smart about reading the room, and he instantly started reaching his finger out.

   “A little taste’s not going to hurt any—”

   Harry moved the hand that was currently clad with a hook, and he looped it around Gil’s wrist swiftly, the pointy end running over Gil’s leather glove as he caught him. Gil instantly looked at him with surprise, and Harry offered a small smile and a shake of his head, something that was typically Harry and honestly a little scary in his gaze.

   “I don’t think so, Gilly.”

   “I just wanted a little taste,” Gil whined a little, and Harry shook his head as he raised his hook and moved it so that Gil unhooked his glove from it.

   “No touchy,” Harry told him, his accent shining through as he offered one last look to Uma.

   Uma nodded to him, a gratefulness in her gaze as she eyed him. Harry just smiled a little, moving his lips in a kiss to the air aimed in her general direction before he moved around the table and placed his hand on the back of Gil’s neck. He guided Gil away from the table, obviously aiming to preoccupy him with something else.

   “Got the cake, babe?” Audrey questioned suddenly as she came up behind Jay.

   She leaned into his side her hand touching his neck as her thumb moved absently along the side of it. He raised his arm to pull her more fully into his side, and he raised his eyebrows as he sighed.

   “Yeah, we got it. Gil nearly stole three cupcakes at the bakery, but we got it,” Jay told her with a sigh. Audrey moved her free hand to his chest and she rested it there over his heart as she looked at the cake.

   “Well, I’m sure you handled him just fine,” Audrey practically purred, squeezing the muscle underneath her hand just a little. Jay raised an eyebrow at her with a slight smirk, and Audrey smiled as she leaned into him more heavily, her eyes on his lips.

   Chloe flushed, looking down awkwardly as she tried to focus more on the cake than on the romantic display in front of her.

   Uma rolled her eyes, smacking Audrey lightly on the back as she stepped up a little where Jay and Audrey could see her better.

   “Look, Princess, y’all gon’ have to tone it down. You’re embarrassing the kid,” Uma told them.

   Audrey rolled her eyes but dropped her hand away from Jay.

   “C’mon. Let’s get this thing out of the box and to the middle of the table,” Uma told Jay.

   Jay nodded to her, and they both approached the box. They reached inside and they both slid their hands underneath the plate underneath it carefully. Chloe moved closer, outstretching her hands as she prepared to help them if she was needed.

   “Alright, now, we pick it up on three… One… Two… Three,” Uma declared, and Jay and her both lifted it up and out of the box.

   “Okay, do you guys need me to—”

   “We got it,” Uma assured her.

   They then moved over and sat the cake down carefully there in the center of the table.

   Chloe looked down at it, smiling as she let her hands drop just a little. Just as she did, she noticed a slight imperfection in the angle that the cake was directed. She reached forward, grabbing the cake plate as she turned it a little.

    She then stepped back, taking in a deep breath and letting it out.

   “Oh, my goodness!!” Bridget excitedly cried as soon as Chloe had finished. Chloe jumped just a little, but she smiled as she turned to face Bridget. Ella was standing there, too, and they both came closer as they came nearer to look at Red’s birthday cake.

   “Oh, it matches her so perfectly!!!” Bridget clasped her hands as she looked at Chloe with such happiness that Chloe could not help but puff up a bit with pride.

   “You did amazing, sweetie,” Ella praised, and Chloe beamed as she looked between them, shrugging.

   “Thank you! It wasn’t that big of a deal, though. I just put together something I knew she’d like, and sent the bakery a really long email,” Chloe admitted with a small laugh, trying to at least have some humility in the matter.

   Designing the perfect cake for her best friend was actually something that she had taken great pride in, and for the most part, it had not been a big deal because it had not been hard to do. The hardest part was trying to figure out what kind of fondant flowers to put around the cake because Red had once let slip that she hated roses, and so Chloe did not want to make the mistake of asking for those on the cake.

   “Hey…. The cake looks good enough to eat,” Mal spoke up suddenly, and Chloe realized that Mal, Jane, and Carlos had now come over to examine the cake as well. Uma was still standing there, but Audrey and Jay had moved away.

   “Chloe designed it herself,” Uma told Mal, and Mal raised her eyebrows as she glanced at the cake.

   “Really?”

   “Yep. She’s a real creative,” Uma stated, looking at Chloe and meeting her eyes briefly as she offered the compliment.

   Chloe felt her heart swell as Uma’s praise washed over her.

   It was rare to hear Uma praise her or Red, but Chloe was definitely taking what she could get as she responded to Uma with thanks.

   “You did an amazing job, Chloe,” Carlos nodded to her and Jane nodded in agreeance.

   “It’s an amazing cake. Everything’s so beautiful and Red’s going to love it,” Jane expressed.

   Mal then raised her eyebrows, seeming to remember something as she turned to face Chloe more fully.

   “By the way, I finished fixing up that decoration. I solicited the help of Uma’s monkey a minute ago, and we got it put up,” Mal declared, jabbing a thumb in Gil’s direction where he was now looking at the display that Carlos had set up.

   “Oh, yeah, and we finished the display with the pictures you wanted,” Carlos added on, and Chloe smiled widely.

   However, before she could try to thank either of them, Gil spoke up.

   “Uma, Uma!!!” Gil called.

   Uma turned to look over at Gil.

   “What, Gil?”

   “They got a super funny picture of you on here,” Gil laughed as he pointed to the screen.

   Uma narrowed her eyes, stepping backward to get a better look.

   As soon as she spotted the photo, her eyes widened, and she looked at Chloe quickly.

   Chloe offered Uma a nervous, far-too-big smile. Uma narrowed her gaze and looked at the bluenette.

   “Cap and gown? Seriously?” Uma questioned, and Chloe did not dare to turn and look at her mother and Bridget.

   “Well… To be fair, it’s Red’s favorite picture of you,” Chloe admitted, and Uma let out a deep, long groan.

   “Wow,” Mal simply stated, and Uma shook her head.

   “Don’t you even start,” she muttered, trying not to let out too much of her true personality around Ella and Bridget. After all, Uma was supposed to be principal of the school that their kids were going to, and Uma did not want to just fully fly her freak flag.

   Mal smirked widely, and Uma just glared at her without a word. They shared a silent exchange and Mal let out a short laugh before withdrawing her phone.

   “Okay, okay… Are we ready for me to call E and tell her to bring her over?” Mal questioned, looking to Chloe as she laid the decision in Chloe’s hands.

   Chloe softly inhaled. She looked around the place, taking in how everything looked all around her.

   It was all set up elegantly but with that Red-touch that Chloe had sought to bring to the entire thing. It was overall just practically perfect.

   Chloe then briefly made eye contact with her mother. She and her mother shared a smile, and Ella nodded to her without a word.

   Chloe then looked back to Mal.

   “I think we’re ready.”