The air was cold and moist, while the rain was pouring down. Rain was … a rare occurrence in the always sunny USA (the United States of Auradon), so of course it had been a surprise for most of the students at Auradon Prep, the school for prissy princesses and princes according to Mal. By now almost every single student at the school was lying inside their dorms, under the covers, in their cozy beds. It almost felt like winter.
The day had actually started out quite nice - sunny and beautiful, like any typical morning in Auradon. Then Audrey, the head cheerleader who had been sitting with her usual gang of jocks and, well, cheerleaders felt something hitting her perfect nose. Not long after that everyone had been running screaming inside and now the castle grounds (for the school was indeed a castle) were almost completely empty. Only Mal and Ben, Auradon Prep's power couple, were outside, running towards the entrance. They had been on a date at the Enchanted Lake, and on their way home it had started raining.

Jane was sitting at her window in her own dorm. Rain had always been a beautiful thing, in Jane's eyes. But only when she was sitting inside, looking out. Or when it was night and the rain was drumming on her window, while she was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep. It actually looked a bit like the intro to a movie: a big and tall castle, rain that was pouring down, and a girl sitting at one of the castle windows looking out and dreaming away. But of course, Jane could never be in a movie. Looking at herself in the mirror she could point out at least ten different imperfections. Her worst feature was definitely the thing attached to her head, also known as her hair.
It had now been half a year since Ben's coronation where Jane had tried making herself look prettier, which had resulted in a big mess involving a dragon trying to kill everyone. Jane still felt guilty. Everyone kept saying it wasn't her fault, but how couldn't it be?
She sighed and tugged on the ends of her hair which now went a bit past her shoulders. Then she waved down to Mal who had stopped running when she saw Jane, and was now waving with both of her arms in front of the window and gesturing for her to come out. Which was a big no from Jane's side. She had a test tomorrow and she couldn't risk being sick inside the classroom. It would just be horrible, having a runny nose and a cough while writing about Mother Gothel's past and what lead her to kidnap a baby and trap her inside a tower for 18 years. Besides her hair would go from plain ugly to a catastrophe if she went out in the pouring rain.
Jane shook her head and Mal nodded in response.

"COME ON!" she shouted on the top of her lungs. Ben was now standing by her side, doing the same thing as Mal which offended Jane a great deal. He was supposed to be on her side! They had known each other for way longer than he had known Mal. But then again, the two of them were dating after all.
Jane mouthed the word "traitor" and Ben just grinned. Jane opened her window and the sound of the rain increased. The cold air snuck inside her room.

"WHY?" she shouted to Mal, who just laughed. Her and Ben both looked like they had decided to jump in the lake with all their clothes on.

"JUST BECAUSE!" Ben shouted. Jane shook her head, closed the window, mouthed a sorry (while not being sorry at all) and closed the curtains. She caught a glimpse of an offended Mal and a laughing Ben. Then she moved from the chair to her bed, where she lay, staring at the ceiling and listening to the rain. The ceiling was actually an interesting thing to look at. Anxelin had recently painted the whole ceiling, and it was now covered in lots and lots of drawings and paintings. It had been a challenge, trying to paint a masterpiece on the ceiling, but Anxelin's mother was after all Rapunzel. She'd also wanted to paint Jane's walls and her floor after that, but Jane had suggested that she moved on to Lonnie and Audrey's dorm instead, which she did happily.
The sound of something hitting the glass on Jane's window reached her ears. She turned her head and looked questioningly at the window.
"It's probably just Mal," she mumbled and stood up, heading to the window, where she opened the curtains and looked out. But it wasn't Mal or Ben. It was Carlos de Vil who was standing under her window with Dude by his side. Carlos and Jane hadn't spoken that much. They danced together at Ben's coronation but after that, their meetings consisted of only a wave and a smile. Jane was personally too shy to start a conversation with him. She rarely spoke with anyone at all. So, she was obviously very surprised to see the white haired boy, always in shorts, standing there.

Carlos waved and smiled at her, just like he did every time they saw each other. Then, he proceeded doing exactly what Mal and Ben had been doing; gesturing for her to come outside, in the pouring rain, and risking being sick for the upcoming test. Jane furiously shook her head and opened the window. The cold air gave her goose bumps.

"Did Mal ask you to do this?" she asked him, while he stood, dripping wet from head to toe.
"What? … no … "he said. "Okay, yes. But are you coming down? It's really fun! "
"No! I'll be sick for the test tomorrow! Why are you even out here?" Jane asked, eying the couple behind him. Mal had pushed Ben. He was now lying face-flat in the grass while Mal was laughing evilly at him. Jane wouldn't want that to happen to her either, which was exactly what would happen if she stepped outside. She knew that from own experience.
"Dude really wanted to go for a walk, "he said, glancing at Dude, who was jumping around and enjoying the rain. "And you're really smart! There's no way you won't pass!".

Jane blushed at his compliment. No one had ever really complimented her academic talents before. People just assumed she was smart because her mother was headmistress of the school. And it really was a compliment coming from someone like Carlos, he was the youngest student at Auradon Prep, and still managed to be one of the smartest.

"Carlos just go back inside, you'll be sick! "Jane shouted. For some reason Carlos only wore shorts. Evie had tried lots of times to make him wear something else, like jeans, but every time she sewed him a new set of pants, he and Dude mysteriously disappeared. Sometimes Jane could hear Evie complaining about how stupid his shirt looked, when wearing shorts, but Carlos didn't really care. That wasn't his problem, he said. But Jane thought it very soon could be his problem, when he by tomorrow was lying sick in bed because he had refused to wear long pants and went out jumping in water poodles.
Carlos looked down at his bare legs.
"You're probably right, "he said and he and Dude headed towards the entrance.

"Dude, wait up! You can't just walk into the castle like that, we'll get in trouble! "Carlos said while looking horrified at Dudes muddy paws and the marks they had left on the floor. He quickly threw his shoes off and moved the carpet a little. Not much, just enough to cover up all the mud.
"I'll clean it up later, "he mumbled. "Now, how do I get up without dripping everywhere? Any suggestions Dude? "he asked looking down at the dog.

"Carlos? You're gonna get in so much trouble … "Jane's voice said. Carlos looked up and saw Jane standing in front of him with a worried expression. "There's water everywhere," she said while looking down at Carlos' feet where a poodle of water had started to form, due to Carlos' clothes, and hair, and everything dripping.

"… Oops. "Carlos said sheepishly. Jane laughed, and Carlos let out a breath of relief. Honestly he had been a bit scared that she would scold him, being daughter of the headmistress and all. Of course he knew she wasn't like that, but whenever he had done something he knew he would get in trouble for doing, he couldn't help but get a little paranoid. To say it straight forward, he was still scared of his mother. He was scared that if he did something wrong, people would have the same reaction as she did every time he made a mistake. And he was scared that he would get thrown out of Auradon and back to the Isle.

Jane seemed to sense something was wrong, because she stopped laughing and a concerned look crossed over her features.
"Are you okay? "she asked him worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I was just zoning out, "he said, breaking into a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Jane opened her mouth, but then closed it again and decided to leave the subject alone, seeing now wasn't the time to talk about it. They both stood there in silence, looking at Dude who was running around outside again with Mal and Ben. Finally Jane cleared her throat.

" … Umm ... Carlos? Thank you, "she said smiling. When Carlos only looked confused, she continued, "For dancing with me, I mean, if you and Jay hadn't asked me I probably would've just sat there being ashamed of myself. I know it's too late but I never got to tell you that I appreciate what you did,"
This time Carlos broke into a real, genuine smile.
"Actually, thank you Jane for wanting to dance with me, "he said, "It was fun … and you shouldn't be ashamed of yourself, "
Jane looked down at her feet.
"I should." she mumbled. "I did what I did, and for the dumbest reason. Because I wanted to be prettier, "
The next thing Carlos said, caused Jane to look up at him with surprise.
"Well, I really like your hair. "
Right at that moment Jane almost burst out laughing.
"What? I'm serious! "Carlos said with a hint of a laugh.
Once again, they both smiled at each other.

His fears were still hiding around every corner. And the guilt was still crawling underneath her skin. But for now, on this particular rainy Sunday, it was forgotten, and cast away in the dark. Because they had finally found something (or someone) else to occupy their minds: each other.