Half and Half

Chapter Five

"Wait...that word you said earlier...what does it mean?" Mal asked. She had never heard it before and the last thing she wanted was to look like a fool in front of some Boreadon boy.

"Maman? It means mama," Ben said with a smile as Mal's eyes grew wide. She'd been talking with the Crown Prince all this time?

Okay it was official, Ben was nothing like the typical Boreadon royals they saw on the television.

"Belle's your mother?"

"She sure is!" Ben nodded, his smile morphing into a grin before giving a small bow. "What's your name? You never said."

"Oh...I'm Mal," Mal said. "Hey...if you're the Crown Prince, shouldn't you have like a nanny trailing after you or something?"

Ben shook his head. "Mrs. Potts watches me sometimes but I don't have a nanny. I've got Chip though but he's with his mom right now."

Mal nodded slightly. "You know...you can come in if you want. I mean it's your castle but it's probably easier to talk if you're not in the doorway," she said with a small shrug.

"Maman and papa say it's rude to just enter someone's room without them saying it's okay," Ben said as he walked in and pulled himself up onto the chair by the bed. "They say the only time it's okay to do that is on Christmas Day."

"You always do what your parents say?"

"No...one time I was playing with Chad near the rose bushes and maman and papa said not to go near them because they were getting trimmed but we lost our ball so I had to go in and I got scratched."

"What a rebel," Mal said, shaking her head. "Why aren't you playing with that Chad guy you mentioned instead of hanging around here?"

"Well Chad's not here first of all," Ben said with a small smile. "But also because you're our guest and you're hurt and lying in bed by yourself is boring."

He set Flamey on the bed next to Mal. "There we go. Now you're not in bed by yourself anymore. He's a good listener if you have anything you want to tell him."

"Why would I do that?" Mal asked. Talking to a toy was just a good way to be overheard, at least that's what the older kids would sometimes tell them. Especially Harriet, though her lessons were in way of Harry so Mal wasn't entirely sure how accurate they were. "What would I even tell him?"

"Whatever you want," Ben said, shrugging slightly. "I do it all the time."

"Oh really? What do you tell him?" Mal asked. If nothing else I can get some potential dirt on Benny to use at a later date. Then Maleficent might tell me the rest of my name!

"Now that would be telling wouldn't it?" Ben said, teasing Mal slightly.

Mal couldn't help but chuckle slightly. "I guess it would be."

She couldn't deny it, Ben was growing more and more interesting with every minute she talked to him. He definitely wasn't someone she expected to find in Boreadon.

"So...where are you from?" Ben asked, as if to break the silence that had fallen between them.

"A far away place," Mal told him, but with a playful note weaving into her usual snark.

"Oh really? That's not fair, you know where I'm from!"

"Life's not fair Benny, surely you know that by now?"

Ben shook his head. "Fine then, keep your secrets. I'll find them out at some point you know."

"Maybe you will, maybe you won't," Mal teased. "I'm good at keeping people from finding out my stuff."