new romantics; ❛ DAYLIGHT ❜
❝ It's still a good impression ❞

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That same afternoon, they all went home to pack. Goldie did not take much because she didn't have much. None of them did. She packed her clothes and the two pairs of shoes which she owned. She packed up all of her art supplies and her old drawings. It didn't take her long.

When she was done, she and her mother started walking toward the Maleficent household. On their way, they ran into Penny who seemed to be coming from the wrong side of the island. Goldie gave her a knowing look and Penny simply shook her head, the sour expression on her face not faltering. Goldie wished she didn't know where her best friend was coming from but she had a feeling it had something to do with a certain pirate who Penny has been on and off with for years. Of course, their relationship was a secret strictly because everyone would freak out over it. He was in a rival gang and Penny only told Goldie because she knew that she was the only one who wouldn't overreact. Even Carlos would freak out because he was terrified of anyone from that side of the island, especially one from Uma's crew.

Once they had all gathered around, parents started saying goodbye to their kids. Peter immediately wrapped his arms around Penny and pulled her tight into his chest. Goldie always wondered how Penny was able to be the most dangerous villain kid on the island while actually being loved by her parent.

Goldie looked at her mother who stepped closer to her with an emotionless look on her face. The girl let out a shaky breath and impulsively hugged her mother. Gothel froze but then reluctantly hugged her back. Goldie relaxed, suddenly feeling tears gathering in her eyes but not daring to make them fall. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make any glint of fear or sadness disappear. She was not crying because she was going to miss home or her mother. She was crying because that was the first time that her mother hugged her since she was a little girl.

The sound of a car parking behind them made Goldie squeeze her mother tighter. "I'll come back home soon, mom. I promise."

Maybe she just needed to prove to her that she would come back no matter how far she went. Maybe then, she wouldn't have to choose between her mother and her freedom.

"Damn." Penny muttered, her amazed gaze stuck on the limo. The driver got out of it and started putting the bags, which were scattered across the ground, into the back of the limo.

Goldie pulled away from Gothel and looked at the limo before sharing a grin with Evie, who was practically glowing at the mere thought of leaving.

The six started climbing into the limo while their parents yelled after them.

"Bring home the gold!"

"Bring home a flower!"

"Bring home a puppy!"

"Bring home a prince!"

"Bring yourself back home in one piece!"

Bring home the wand. Maleficent's words were unspoken but they all knew what she would say to her daughter if the driver was not present.

Evie started applying some blush to her own cheeks after making a show of fixing Penny's lipliner. The blue haired girl narrowed her eyes at Mal, who was sitting next to her and staring out of the window in complete silence. "You're looking a little washed out." She brought the make-up brush to her face, causing Mal to slap her hand away.

"Ew, stop." She grumbled. She hated when people touched her. "I'm plotting."

Evie took a bite of blue candy which she found in the limo. "Well, it's not very attractive."

Penny and Goldie laughed while the latter started eating the white chocolate in front of her. Penny frowned at the food. She looked a little skeptical but eventually tried some caramel. Her eyes widened and she brought her hand to her mouth to keep herself from gasping. Neither of them have ever even ate good food, let alone candy.

"Oh!" Carlos exclaimed after eating something. "It's salty like nuts, but it's sweet like I don't know what."

"Let me see." Jay scooted closer to him, accidentally (or probably on purpose, even) pushing him which caused Carlos to get annoyed and push him.

Penny rolled her eyes and sighed as the two started arguing like usual. She looked out of the window and her eyes dramatically widened once she saw that the limo was driving off the island and straight toward the sea surrounding them. She slapped Goldie's wrist and she followed her gaze. Her blood ran cold and she muttered, "Guys... look."

"It's a trap!" Carlos yelled.

Panicked yells filled the back of the limo and Evie hardly gripped Goldie's hand, squeezing her eyes shut in fear and bracing for impact.

"Oh..." Carlos muttered.

Penny opened her eyes, realizing that nothing happened and that they were still driving. She looked outside at the sea underneath them. "What just happened?"

"Magic?" Goldie tilted her head.

Evie smiled. "It must be!"

Penny's hand twitched and she narrowed her eyes down to her hands. "It's definitely magic."

Mal turned to her, trying to read her expression. Then, she turned to the driver. "Did this little button just open the magic barrier?"

He lifted his hand to reveal the remote in his hand. "No, this one opens the magic barrier. That one opens my garage." he clicked another button, "And this button..."

He didn't even finish the sentence because the small window between them and him closed. Penny snorted in amusement. Mal smirked, "Okay. Nasty. I like that guy."

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The limo dropped them off right in front of a big castle which Goldie guessed was Auradon Prep. She was the first one to step out of the limo, followed by Mal, Penny, Evie and finally, Carlos and Jay who literally fell out of it while fighting.

"Boys." Penny whispered harshly, glaring at them.

Carlos and Jay snapped their eyes toward her. Goldie rolled her eyes and said, "We have company."

Jay quickly got up and offered Carlos a hand to swiftly pull him up. They awkwardly tried to clean up the mess that they had made but they were stopped by a woman's voice.

"Leave it like you found it. And by that I mean, just leave it." Her warning was high-pitched and not nearly as harsh as it would have been coming from a teacher on the Island of the Lost.

Jay nodded and his eyes immediately fell on the blonde girl standing next to the woman. He grinned and took a step closer. "Hello, blondie. The name's Jay."

The girl smiled and nodded, slightly thrown off by the blunt flirting. "I'm Raven."

"Welcome to Auradon Prep!" The woman next to her exclaimed with a forced big smile. "I'm Fairy Godmother. The Headmistress."

Goldie pursed her lips and shared a look with Penny.

"The fairy godmother? As in, "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo"?" Mal asked, forcing her smile to appear genuine.

The Fairy Grandmother beamed at her. "Bibbidi-bobbidi you know it!"

"Yeah, I always wondered what it felt like for Cinderella when you just appeared, out of nowhere, with that sparkly wand and warm smile." The Headmistress smiled and Mal added. "And that sparkly wand." She chuckled. Penny's eye twitched and Goldie wished for the earth to open and swallow her whole. She was being painfully obvious but she hoped that those people were naive enough to not send them home before they even stepped foot into the school.

"That was a long time ago. And as I always say," The Fairy Godmother lifted her hands dramatically, "don't focus on the past or you'll miss the future."

Then, a boy their age stepped up to them with a genuine and warm smile on his face. "It's nice to finally meet you all. I'm Ben."

Then, a brown haired girl who stood behind him grabbed his forearm and gave them a smile so fake that Goldie wondered how her face didn't hurt. "Prince Benjamin. Soon to be king."

Here we go. Goldie thought a split second before Evie took a step forward and grinned in a charming manner. "You had me at prince. My mom's a queen, which makes me a princess."

The brunette's smile faded in the blink of an eye. She gave Evie a look that immediately made Goldie realize that the girl thought that she was better than all of them combined. A perfect little princess with money, wealth and status who valued nothing other than that.

"The Evil Queen has no royal status here and neither do you."

Goldie clenched her jaw and glared at her.

Ben let out a nervous chuckle. "This is Audrey."

"Princess Audrey. His girlfriend." Audrey let out a dreamy sigh, gripping his arm tighter. "Right, Bennyboo?"

"Bennyboo?" Goldie snorted, and put her hand on her mouth to hide her amused smile. She really hoped that not every girl at Auradon was like Audrey.

Ben gave her a sheepish smile, his cheeks growing red which only caused Goldie's smile to grow.

"Ben, Raven and Audrey are going to show you all around, and I'll see you tomorrow. The doors of wisdom are never shut! But the library hours are from eight to eleven. And as you may have heard, I have a little thing about curfews." Fairy Godmother told them brightly and turned around to head back into the school, leaving them alone with Ben, his girlfriend and Raven.

Ben started shaking hands with everyone. He shook hands with Penny first and then moved on to Evie who already looked smitten. He shook Mal's hand, then Goldie's. She gave him a small smile which caused him to stare at her face for a couple of moments too long. Penny raised an eyebrow but so did Ben's girlfriend. Goldie, on the other hand, did not notice because she was too focused on trying to figure out why Ben was so familiar to her.

He cleared his throat and took a step back. "It is so, so, so good to finally meet you all. This is a momentous occasion, and one that I hope will go down in history──" Jay shook his hand quite roughly in an attempt to seem intimidating and because he found him staring at Goldie weird. It caused Ben to laugh. "Strong grip." He shook Carlos' hand next and looked down at his hands which were now covered in chocolate. "Is that chocolate?" He asked with a fond smile. Carlos lowered his head sheepishly. Ben continued his speech. "── as the day our two people begin to heal."

"Or the day you showed six people where the bathrooms are." Mal cut him off sarcastically.

Ben cringed. "A little over the top?"

"More than a little." Goldie smiled.

His shoulders fell and he shook his head. "So much for my first impression."

"It's still a good impression." Goldie assured him. Why was she being so nice to the guy she had just met? To make his bitchy girlfriend angry? Maybe. To gain his trust so they could take over the kingdom faster? Maybe.

"Hey!" Audrey chimed in, her venomous stare and poisonous smile now directed toward Goldie. "You're Gothel's daughter, right? I am sure that you and Raven here can bond on so much! You know, she's the daughter of the princess that your mom kidnapped." Goldie gaped at her and looked at the blonde who was on the other side of Ben who offered her a short and sheepish wave. After giving her a tight-lipped smile back, Goldie looked down. Audrey looked at Mal. "And you're Maleficent's daughter, aren't you? You know what? I totally do not blame you for your mother trying to kill my parents and stuff. Oh, my mom is Aurora. Sleeping──"

"──Beauty." Mal cut her off as if she just remembered who she was talking about. "Yeah, I've heard the name. You know, I totally do not blame your grandparents for not inviting everyone in the whole world but my mother to their stupid christening."

"Water under the bridge." Audrey laughed.

Mal laughed back. "Totes!"

Kill me now. Penny rolled her eyes.

"Okay! So, how about a tour?" Ben suggested, tearing through the awkward silence. They all shrugged and nodded. "Yeah?" Ben turned around in the direction of the school and everybody started following him. "Auradon Prep, originally built over three hundred years ago and converted into a high school by my father when he became king."

He showed them a statue of the king turning into a beast. Carlos yelled and jumped straight into Jay's arms. He caught him with a deadpan look on his face. Goldie laughed, smiling at Carlos' terrified face.

"Carlos, it's okay." Ben assured him softly. "My father wanted his statue to morph from beast to man to remind us that anything is possible."

"Does he shed much?" Goldie asked him, still smiling at the scene.

"Yeah." Ben sighed dramatically. "Mom won't let him on the couch."

Goldie narrowed her eyes at him, surprised that the son of Belle and the Beast could have a sense of humor. He smiled at her reaction and led them to the inside of the school. Then, he was very quickly dragged off by Audrey and then Raven proceeded to lead them to their dorms.

"Mal and Evie are staying here while you two are going to be just down the hall." Raven told them. "I didn't want to separate you guys too much but the Fairy Godmother does not allow boys and girls to have dorms next to each other."

On que, a boy with dirty blonde hair and a buzz cut walked out of the room next to Mal and Evie's.

"Fuck you, Ed!"

Penny's eyebrows shot up in surprise and they all watched a girl slam the door in front of "Ed" shut. He sighed and turned around, startled by the five girls looking at him.

"What did you do now?" Raven asked him with a glare, clearly very familiar with him.

"Don't worry about it, Rae. Allison is a drama queen. She'll get over it." He looked at the four villain kids and smirked. "I see the transfer students have arrived. My name is Edwin but you can call me Ed."

Evie stepped up first to shake his hand and smile. "I'm Evie."

"Goldie." Goldie smiled but did not move to try and shake his hand.

Mal gave him a blank look and stayed quiet, so Ed turned his attention over to Penny. "I'm Penny." He grinned and lifted her arm so he could kiss it.

"It's a pleasure."

Penny raised a curious eyebrow and Goldie swore that she noticed a ghost of a smirk on her face. Not another one. Penny Pan always fell for the assholes.

"Leave the girls alone, Ed." Raven huffed. "All of them."

He rolled his eyes. "You never let me do anything fun, sis." He sighed dramatically and started walking down the hall, calling over his shoulder. "I'll see you around ladies!"

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a/n: I actually really like this chapter