The Value of a Crew

Chapter Thirteen

They arrived in Auradon without any fanfare or anyone really noticing they'd been gone. A surprising feat considering one of the members of the group was the King of Auradon but maybe it was a good thing.

As it allowed Mal to drag Jay off to the side without anyone noticing, Estelle trotting after her dutifully.

"Did Uma pull me out of the Cove that day?" Mal growled as she turned to face Jay. "No lies this time Jay. I want the truth."

Jay sighed. "...yeah, she did. I was the one who pulled out Harry and she got you with your dad's help."

"You...you let me, you let us, lose our best friends over a lie?" Mal growled, furious that Uma had been right. That she'd missed out on years with her best friend, with her cousin, because Jay for some reason thought it better to let her live in a lie.

"I didn't let either of us do anything," Jay told her. "I was just as upset as you were Mal."

"You could have told me Uma had helped instead of just laughing her tentacles off! But instead you let me think she didn't care instead of the truth! That she was trying to comfort me?"

"...you were upset. I didn't know how you would take it."

"I would have been glad! You watched me cry in the clubhouse as we waited for them, watched me think that my best friend had betrayed and abandoned me and didn't say anything when you knew it wasn't true!" Mal exclaimed, blinking back the tears that were in her eyes.

Reporters were everywhere after all, and the last thing she needed was a report about her crying in an argument with Jay to be the next running story every time she turned on the news.

"Mal, what was I supposed to do?" Jay asked, keeping his voice down to avoid attention as well. "If I'd told you after you dumped the shrimp tails on Uma, you wouldn't have believed me. And you were so shaken up after the Cove, I don't think you even noticed it was Lord Hades helping Uma get you out of there! And don't forget, I lost my best friend too!"

"You could have told me when we were waiting in the clubhouse for them! Remember, when we were discussing the motto? I'm sure they were coming anyway! We would have never split!"

"Yeah okay I could have told you then. Would you have believed me or would you have thought that Uma had convinced me to tell you that?" Jay asked.

"I would have at least gone to Uma to ask if it was true or not! You were the one who reminded me that our motto was Ruthless yet Loyal."

"Are you saying I wasn't being loyal? Harry looked ready to punch me that day! I've had your back since day one Mal!"

"I know Jay," Mal sighed. "And you have no idea how grateful I am for that but you left me believe a lie for eight years. You practically bit my head off when you found out that I was in a flirtationship with Harry."

"...I was jealous," Jay said, his voice soft. "You could reconnect with Harry but because of everything, I couldn't do the same with Uma. You got my best friend and...and I guess a small part of me thought I was losing you to Harry."

Mal couldn't help the small, sad smile that pulled at her lips as she rested a hand on Jay's shoulder. "Jay...the whole point of the flirtationship was to see if there was any chance of reconnecting the old gang. If it'd worked...you would have gotten your best friend back. I was trying to get Harry back to you."

"Harry would have welcomed us back no problem," Jay said with a small sigh. "You and I both know that. But Mal...I said some horrid things to him that day, compared him to his father. Plus I said some stuff when Ben and I saw him in the clubhouse...called him a traitor..."