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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟗
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

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After going through her usual routine of attending classes and practicing Tourney on auto-pilot, Rylee found herself alone in her dorm room. Silence surrounded her as she doodled the sun symbol of Corona in her sketchbook, which was something she could do in her sleep. Morgan offered to stay with her best friend, but the daughter of Rapunzel and Eugene wanted to be alone despite how much she hated isolation. Rylee needed some time to truly process what happened between her and Pete last night because it still didn't make sense to her.

As soon as she finished the final ray on the sun, Rylee went to grab her colored pencils, only for her to stop in her tracks when she heard a knock on the door. The blonde girl let out a quiet sigh as she walked across the room then she opened the door. It didn't surprise her one bit when she found Elliot standing in the doorway with a small smile on his face.

"Hey, Elli," Rylee greeted her brother while stepping aside to let him into her room, "what are you doing here?"

"Pete told me what happened," he responded after sitting down on his sister's bed as he tried to hide the concern in his eyes, "I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," the blonde girl responded, earning an unconvinced look from the boy sitting next to her, "really, I am. Completely and totally fine."

"Don't give me that, Lee. You and Pete dated for three years and have been friends for a lot longer than that," Elliot retaliated, only to receive an emotionless look from Rylee in response to his words, "are you really gonna tell me that you're perfectly fine?"

"Perfectly."

A small sigh passed over the eldest Fitzherbert sibling's lips as he turned so that he was fully facing his sister. After studying every inch of her face for what felt like an eternity, Elliot finally opened his mouth to speak. "Evie also told me how you cried yourself to sleep while she and Morgan were with you last night."

Rylee just stared at Elliot for a long moment before she broke her gaze and looked at the floor. Her eyes began to water, causing her to try to blink them away so that they could end this conversation and move on. However, the next thing she knew, a pair of arms wrapped around her before she was pulled into a tight hug. Her brother's actions only made the tears the blonde girl was trying to hold back fall and stain his shirt. The Fitzherbert siblings stayed like that for what felt like an eternity before Elliot ended their moment. He kept his hands on her shoulders as he looked into her eyes before the smallest of smiles formed on his face.

"I think we need some brother-sister time," he said while giving her shoulders a small squeeze, "you need to get away from all the gossip and rumors before they get to your head."

"Morgan, Ben, Ruby, and Roland will be mad if we have a great time without them," Rylee responded with a chuckle before using her palms to wipe away the tears on her cheeks.

"We'll make it up to them," Elliot told her as he got to his feet, forcing his sister to stand up with him, "now get changed and meet me outside. You have ten minutes."

Rylee sent Elliot a small nod in response before he gave her one last hug and left the room. The blonde girl let out another sigh as she turned around to change out of her comfy clothing. After changing into something half-decent, she exited her dorm and headed downstairs to the lobby, passing her peers who sent glances here and there. That was what the Fitzherbert girl always hated about Auradon Prep. Everyone wanted to know the drama and they thought everything was their business when it wasn't. Rumors would spread so fast and different stories formed that were never close to what was true.

When Rylee finally made it down to the lobby, she saw her brother standing with Morgan while they talked to two people she hadn't seen in months. The forced smile on her face instantly became genuine as her steps quickened. It wasn't long before the Fitzherbert girl was sprinting through the courtyard and towards the two younger teens.

"Ruby! Roland!" the blonde girl shouted while her feet continued to move faster than humanly possible as she watched the two in question turn around to face her with huge smiles on their faces. As soon as she reached them, Rylee pulled the pair in for the biggest hug she'd given anyone in a very long time. All her worries and negative emotions seemed to fade as their arms wrapped around her. After a long moment of the three of them squeezing the life out of each other, they pushed away from each other and shared the biggest smile of their lives.

"How come you never hug us like that?" Morgan questioned with a smirk on her face, causing Rylee to playfully nudge her before the latter pull her best friend and older brother in for a hug.

"What are you guys doing here?" the Fitzherbert girl asked the younger duo after breaking away from Morgan and Elliot, "I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow with Mom, Dad, Aunt Merida, and Uncle Ryan."

"They let us come up a day early after Elli told us what happened and the plans he and Morgan made," Ruby explained while the boy in question walked forward to stand next to his sisters.

"We wanna make sure you get out of whatever slump you're in before your next Tourney game," Roland added with a smile then he turned his attention back to Elliot, "is Ben coming too? I haven't seen him in forever."

"He said that he'll try to meet up with us later. He's still working on some things for Family Day tomorrow," the oldest of the group answered before letting out a small sigh and looking over at Rylee and Morgan, "he never takes a break, does he?"

"Have you met him?" the royal advisors responded while trying to hold back their laughter before the five of them made their way toward the car that dropped Ruby and Roland off to head into town.

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After a long day of walking around Auradon City, the group of five headed up to Rylee's and Morgan's dorm room to watch a movie. The second they opened the door they found a smiling Ben leaning against the Fitzherbert girl's desk, which was now completely covered with different kinds of popcorn and candy. Before a word could even attempt to leave Rylee's mouth, Ruby and Roland sprinted toward Ben and tackled him to the floor.

"Sorry I couldn't meet up with you guys earlier," Ben told them as he, Ruby, and Roland get back to their feet before they faced the three teens standing near the door, "I just finished all the preparations for tomorrow when I got Elliot's text about you coming back for a movie night. So I decided it was time I decided to finally join you guys."

"Did you set this all up on your own?" the Fitzherbert girl asked as her eyes scanned over everything on her desk before they flashed back up to meet the future King's gaze.

The smile on Ben's face turned sheepish as he reached up to scratch the back of his neck. After a short moment, he let out a small chuckle and opened his mouth to speak. "Even though I'd love to take all the credit, I can't. Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos went with me to get everything and came back here to help set it up. I asked them if they wanted to join but they said that they didn't wanna intrude."

"Intrude? Seriously? That's absurd," Morgan scoffed while rolling her eyes at the thought before turning back toward the door, "I'm gonna get them in here right now and then we're gonna have an awesome movie night."

Laughter filled the room as they watched the Macintosh girl storm out of the room. Out of all the teens in that room, Morgan was the best one to send to get the four from the Isle since she rarely took no for an answer. As soon as her footsteps vanished down the hall, those remaining pulled out the girls' two giant bean bag chairs from under their beds and placed them in the center of the room. Rylee and Ruby sat down in one of the bean bags to find a movie to watch while the boys went to grab some snacks.

Just as they found a good movie to watch, the door swung open, causing everyone in the room to jump. When they turned their attention toward the entrance of the room, they found Morgan literally dragging a very confused-looking Jay and Carlos into the room. It wasn't long before Mal, Evie, Lonnie, Jane, and Doug appeared in the doorway and followed the trio into the dorm

"I picked up some stragglers. Didn't think anyone would mind," Morgan announced while pointing toward the three Auradonians before she sat down next to Roland on the beanbag and took a piece of his popcorn.

"Are you sure it's okay we're here?" Lonnie asked as the seven of them stood awkwardly in the doorway and glanced around the room.

"Yes. You're not getting out of it," Rylee declared before gesturing around toward the food on her desk and the empty seats, "now grab some snacks and get comfortable so we can start this movie."

Their laughter filled the air once again before the two royal advisors introduced their younger siblings to the four from the Isle. As soon as everyone was comfortable and had snacks in their hands, they played the movie and enjoyed the lack of drama for the night. Even though they all secretly knew it wasn't going to last much longer.

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