Petra's POV

Before I could even think about fighting, I knew I had to reunite myself with Carlos. I landed at his side and put a hand on his shoulder, unintentionally startling him. "You sneaky genius, I can't believe you actually got away with that!" I said, playfully punching his shoulder. Carlos glanced behind me at the pirates approaching us. "We haven't gotten away with anything yet." He said, grabbing a sword from the barrel behind us and handing it to me. "You know how to use this thing, right?" At this I raised an eyebrow and snatched the sword from his hand, throwing it up in the air and catching it. "Is that even a question?" I said with a smirk. Before he could answer, I flew over the docks and towards the ship.
Flying is an experience of it's own, but flying with a sword in hand and fighting pirates all at the same time is by far the most exhilarating thing I've ever experienced in my life. I began to get pretty creative, at one point I pulled one pirate's bandanna over her eyes and let her stumble around until she fell overboard. Then I used one of the nets holding the mast's in place as a slingshot (with Tay's help pulling me back) and threw myself at the group, causing them all to fall in the water. But no matter how many pirates we beat they kept on coming back, they all could swim apparently. Whatever the next phase of Mal's plan was, she better hurry up and put it in motion.
          Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Carlos fighting off a buccaneer on the docks. He was doing great, he was on the fencing team after all. But creeping up behind him was Harry with his hook in the air and fire in his eyes. I abandoned the pirate I was currently fighting and shot through the air and in between Harry and Carlos. Just as Harry brought his hook down I blocked it with my sword. "Hey, you aren't playing fair!" I said with a smirk. I heard Carlos say something behind me, but I couldn't hear it with all the noise already surrounding me. By now Tay had returned to my side and hovered over my shoulder. "I'm not playing fair?" Harry said, putting pressure on his hook so I had to push harder against him with my sword. "I haven't seen you play fair once! You're just flitting around like a little cowardly sparrow."
          I knew I shouldn't have let him get to me. I'd learned my lesson about pride the hard way. But maybe it was the smug look on Harry's face or that he was trying to make me look weak in front of Carlos, or maybe it was the fact that I had been training with a sword for years and when I finally got the chance to use my skills he was ridiculing me. But I had let Harry push me around ever since I got to this god forsaken Isle, and I had just about enough of it. "A cowardly sparrow?" I retaliated, pushing harder on my sword against the hook. "We'll see about that." I quickly removed my sword and jumped out of the way as Harry stumbled forward, not expecting me to move and therefore have all his pressure on nothing. I pointed my sword at his back. "I'll fight you man to man. With one hand behind my back!" I shouted.
          Tay cleared her throat and whispered in my ear "Don't you mean 'woman to man'?". I shushed her and replied with "You're ruining the moment!". From across the deck I heard Gil gasp in excitement. "Just like in the story!" He squealed. Carlos on the other hand, wasn't as excited. "Petra, don't!" He said, but it was too late. "Is that so?" Harry said with a smirk. "Then let's get on with it!" Just as he finished speaking, Harry took a swipe at me with his sword to which I quickly ducked out of the way. I told Tay to leave so I could keep my word of fighting alone. I returned Harry's attack by taking a jab at his legs, but he jumped to avoid it.
           We moved all across the ship and the docks, but we were too caught up in our battle to care. We were so focused on trying to find each other's tactics that we didn't pay anyone else mind. I'm sure I knocked at least five pirates into the water trying to get a hit on Harry. The problem was that we were both evenly matched, yet we were both too stubborn to admit it. My feet hadn't left the ground and my hand hadn't moved from behind my back as promised. I knew I had to come up with something no one had ever seen before to throw Harry off, only then would there be a true winner here.
          Suddenly, on my right I saw a flurry of green smoke that was so thick you couldn't see what was on the other side. All it took was a quick glance to see that it was Jay who was responsible, it was a smoke bomb of some kind. I smirked. "Jay! Throw me a red one of those!" I yelled, turning back to Harry. "That is your favorite color, right?" Harry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion for a moment, then Jay threw the smoke bomb my way. I took my sword in both hands and swung at the smoke bomb like I was a batter at a baseball game.
          Red smoke filled the air, so I followed the sound of Harry's coughs to find the one-handed wannabe. So when the smoke began to clear, I was already ten steps ahead of him. Before he could orient himself I kicked the hand his sword was in so that he dropped it and used my own blade to remove the hook Harry held in his other hand. Then I pointed my sword at him. "You're mine, Hook!" I shouted in triumph.
          I heard Gil cheer for me, but Harry was quick to shut him up with a cold glare in his direction. Harry put his hands in the air and took his hat off his head, putting it over his heart. "Alright, Ms. Pan. You win." He said, eyeing the hook that hung at the end of my sword. Did this thing mean that much to him? I decided to test that theory by holding my sword and the hook over the water. Harry panicked. "Wait, give it back! I surrendered!" He stuttered out. This was the first time since I met him that he was the one at a loss for words. I decided to take advantage of this moment. "I'll give it back, on one condition." I said, toying with my sword and watching the hook wriggle at the end of it. "You have to apologize to Ben and I."
          Harry didn't look too happy about this, but once I let the hook slide closer to the end of the blade he obliged. "I'm sorry." He whispered. I shook my head. "I can't hear you!" I said.
          "I'm sorry!"
           "For what?"
          "For kidnapping you."
          "And?"
          "Knocking you out and cutting your cheek."
          "And?"
          "Tying you up?"
          "And?"
          "And what?"
          I shrugged. "I don't know, just wanted to see how far you'd go." I said. I began to reach for the hook, I never intended on throwing it in the water in the first place. I just wanted to mess with the pirate a bit. But just as I was about to close my hand around the hook, I felt someone shove me from behind. I stumbled forward and the hook fell into the waters below. I turned to see the culprit who pushed me. "Carlos!" I yelled. He had his eyebrows furrowed together and his hands were clenched in fists at his sides. "What? He deserves it for what he did!" He argued. I shook my head profusely. "He apologized!" I replied. "But he clearly wasn't sincere!" Carlos said.
          Just as I was about to argue with him further, we heard a splash behind us. I turned to look at Harry, but found he was gone. He wouldn't. But turning towards the water again and seeing a red blob under the sea I saw it was true. Harry jumped in after his hook. "Is that Harry?" I glanced behind me and saw Gil. "Why would he do that? He knows he can't swim."
          My eyes nearly popped out of my head. "He can't swim?" I repeated. Gil shook his head. "Nope! Can't even doggy paddle." But he didn't even have to finish for me to begin slipping off my shoes and throwing my sword to the side. Carlos saw what I was doing. "Hey, stop!" He said, grabbing my arm. "This is what he deserves!" I looked up in shock and connected eyes with Carlos. His blue orbs weren't the playful, happy shade they usually were. They were dark and guarded. This wasn't Carlos, not my Carlos. "If we sit here and let him die, that makes us worse then him!" I said. "I know it runs in your blood, but I'm not about to become a villain today."
          Carlos' eyes shifted in an instant, but time was running out. I slipped my other shoe off and dove into the water, and the last thing I heard was "Petra, I'm sorry! I love you!"

Carlos' POV

          Oh Walt, I'm such an idiot! I should have known when I felt my face getting hot and my muscles tensing up that it was time to use Evie and Jay's advice. 'Don't let the anger get to you, don't become your mother.' And what did I do? I went along and tried to drown Harry Hook. And now my girlfriend had jumped into shark infested waters after him.
         But then I realized something even more shocking. I said I loved her. I said that I loved her out loud for everyone to hear. I was in love with Petra Pan.
          Now I felt so giddy I wanted to jump for joy, but then I realized one of two things. Number one; I don't know if Petra loves me back. Number two; I never will know unless she makes it out of this situation alive.
The fight seemed to be dying down quite a bit, the pirates were getting exhausted and it looked like my friends were beginning to make their escape. I looked back down at the water. Come on, Petra!
Then as if my prayers were answered, two figures rose from the water. The first was Petra, her red and green hair sprawled across her face, I was surprised she could see through it. The second was Harry with his hook in hand and arm on Petra's waist. The two swam to the ladder connected to the docks and I called out Petra's name. She glanced up at me, then made sure Harry had a good hold on the ladder before flying my way. She was absolutely soaked with water dripping everywhere. "Come on, we've got to go!" I yelled. Petra nodded and grabbed my hand, making a full sprint towards the bridge connected to the tunnel leading back to the limo. The pirates were close on our tail, but Uma stopped to help Harry ashore. Once we joined Mal on the other side of the bridge, she pushed it into the water so Uma couldn't follow us. The captain yelled in frustration, but by then we had left the entire crew in the dust.

Petra's POV

Once we had returned to the limo and packed everything in the trunk, we all began to climb inside. But as I was about to take my seat, Jay stopped me. "Hey! What are you doing?" He exclaimed. "You're soaked! You'll ruin the leather seats!" "Jay, now isn't the time!" Evie answered, quickly gesturing me to climb inside. But I didn't. Instead I took a step back and looked around. "Where's Dude?" I asked.
As if on cue, the sound of small feet pattered towards me. Dude sat at my feet and hanging in from his mouth was my bag, he must have gone back for it while we were fighting Uma's crew. I smiled and ruffled his fur. "Good dog." I said, climbing into the limo with Dude sitting on my lap.
          Soon Jay started the car and we began our journey back to Auradon. The only sound that could be heard was our heavy breathing from all the fighting we just endured. I took my wrinkled flannel from my bag and attempted to dry myself off as much as I could with it. Despite how big the limo was, I still found myself squished between Carlos and the door. I hadn't spoken to him since before I jumped into the water. The things he was saying, it wasn't him. In that split second he had changed, but what had triggered it?
         But the real question was, what had snapped him out of it? Just before I submerged into the ocean I heard what he said. Those three fateful words that I knew would make or break me. I love you. I never thought I'd hear anyone say that to me, let alone Carlos. Love is such a foreign concept to me, how do I know I love him back if I've never experienced love before? Whatever it was, it wasn't a conversation I wanted to have in front of all these people. It would have to wait until we returned home to Auradon.
          Evie began talking to me. "When we get back, we still have to make you a dress for Cotillion." She said. It was difficult to look across the seat at her and avoid eye contact with Carlos as the same time. "I have something else to work on first, but right afterwards we'll do your fitting." I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. "I'm not really into dresses, Evie." I confessed. "The closest thing to a dress I've ever worn was a t-shirt that went all the way to my knees because it was 10 sizes too big." But Evie was already running a color palette by me. "We're definitely going for green. Would you prefer a more cool, forest shade, or a bright neon color?"
          Evie and I talked about my dress for the rest of the drive, which made the trip much easier to bare. But soon we arrived back to Auradon Prep. The campus was much livelier today then usual from the excitement of Cotillion tonight. We stepped out of the limo and Tay immediately took her place on my shoulder. "Can we go back to the our dorm please?" She whined. "Those pirates were filthy, I think I need a shower just from being near them." I didn't answer her at first, knowing I had more important things to do right now other then a shower. I glanced over at Carlos, who seemed to be talking with Evie, Mal, and Jay. I knew they had a lot to talk about, so I decided I had all day to reconcile with Carlos and began heading towards our dorm.
          The sun had dried me off significantly, so I wasn't dripping water with my every step anymore. I knew Fairy Godmother would have my head if I got water on the carpets, so I had to make sure I was dry before entering the school. But just as I was about to head down the hall towards the girl's dormitory, a voice from the boy's dorm stopped me. "Well look who decided to show up!" The snarky voice called out. I sighed and turned around to face Slightly. "It's nice to see you too, Slight." I said, using the nickname I only used on occasions. "And yes, I am safe after being kidnapped by pirates. Thanks for the concern."
          Nibs arrived soon after Slightly. "Oh,  thank Walt you're safe." He said, stepping towards Tay and I. "Carlos texted us and said you were on your way back, since then we've been looking all over for you!" Carlos texted them? Before I could continue my thought, I felt Nibs' hand on my cheek. "Woah, what happened here?" He said, running his thumb over the cut I forgot I had. I slapped his hand, causing him to take a step back. However bad it was, I knew him touching it was only going to make it worse. "It's nothing." I assured him, but Nibs just shook his head. "Nope, you're coming to our dorm to clean that up."
Slightly immediately began to protest against this, and I think it was one of the first times we've ever been on the same side. The last thing I needed was Nibs becoming my doctor. But Slightly's argument was different. "You said the second we found Petra we were going to practice for Cotillion tonight." He said. Nibs had already grabbed my hand, ready to lead me to the lost boys' dorm. "I changed my mind." He simply said. "You take Tay and start getting set up, Petra and I will join you later." And before any of us could protest, Nibs dragged me down the hall to the boy's dormitory.
          The lost boys' dorm wasn't nearly as messy as before. They must have cleaned it while I was gone. Sure there was a few stray papers lying here and there, and their beds could have been made a little better. But I was never one to be bothered by untidiness.
          Nibs sat me on his bed and took his first aid kit off the shelf on the far side of the room. He always carried it with him since the boys are pretty injury prone. Then he got a wet washcloth the bathroom the lost boys shared and sat by my side. Ever since I was a kid Nibs would be the one to do this kind of stuff. Keep an eye on me, clean my wounds, offer me guidance. Things my dad wasn't the best at. I always thought that was one of the reasons Nibs and my dad never got along, but I didn't know for certain. "Is it that bad?" I asked, bringing my hand up to my cut, but Nibs stopped me. "It could be worse, but it'll definitely leave a scar." He mumbled, extremely focused on his work.
          As Nibs rubbed the washcloth over my wound, I couldn't help but bring up what's been bothering me ever since I returned to Auradon. "Why did you want to grow up, Nibs?" I asked. He paused and looked at me for a split second, but quickly returned to his work. "I don't know if I necessarily wanted to." He said, bringing the washcloth down and taking a small vial of what I knew was rubbing alcohol out of the first aid kit. "We all have to grow up eventually, and the boys and I decided it was finally our time to do so. But I assume you mean, how did we know we had to grow up?"
Nibs always knew what I was thinking. I nodded as he poured the rubbing alcohol onto the washcloth. "Well, it was different for all of us." He said. "Cubby wanted to go to school, Toodles wanted to meet more people, and I-" Nibs cut himself short and shook his head. Instead of finishing his thought, he said "This is going to sting." He started putting the rubbing alcohol on my cut and I immediately winced. It definitely hurt, but not as much as when Harry cut me in the first place. "Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?" Nibs asked, ignoring my obvious discomfort.
          I sighed, trying to find the words to say. Nibs helped me with my last dilemma with Carlos, who's to say he couldn't do it again. "Nibs." I said slowly. "He said he loved me."
Nibs stopped and stared at me for a moment as I anxiously waited for a response. But finally, he dropped the rag and embraced me in a hug. I smiled into his shoulder. "Well, do you love him back?" He said. I shrugged and shut my eyes. "If I did, would that make me grow up?"
Nibs pulled away from me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Petra, you can't let your fear of growing up get in the way of your own happiness." I crossed my arms and scoffed. "I'm not afraid of growing up." I said, but I knew that Nibs wouldn't believe me. Mostly because he was right. I hate it when he's right. "I'm just- I don't know if I'm ready." Nibs shook his head and picked up the rag again. "You'll never be ready." He said, continuing to clean my wound. "And once you grow up, you can never go back. But we all have to cross the threshold sometime. And trust me when I say that the longer you wait, the harder it will be."
I sat in silence and pursed my lips, taking in everything he was saying. He was right, I loved him. I loved Carlos DeVil. A smile stretched across my face. "I'll tell him right now!" I stated, jumping up from the bed. I felt so giddy it was unbelievable. I turned to thank Nibs, but he had stood up and blocked my way to the door. "Look, you can go confess your undying puppy love later. Right now, we have to get to rehearsal for Cotillion tonight." I gasped, I forgot all about Cotillion. I hadn't practiced at all! Carlos would have to wait. "Let's go." I said, assured.
We left not long after that, my clothes had dried by now but they were still filthy. I figured I could clean myself up after rehearsal, the lost boys would be the last people to judge me for how I looked. Nibs explained on the way that they had set up the stage on the royal yacht, where Cotillion was being held. And when we got to the dock Nibs told me the big news, the news he neglected to tell me before I made the decision to dress like I went dumpster diving moments before.
"Oh by the way, King Adam and Queen Belle are here to watch us rehearse."