As The Poison Apple Falls (Harry Hook)

5

"If someone hands you a crying baby, do you A) curse it, B) lock it in a tower, C) give it a bottle, or D) carve out its heart?" Fairy Godmother asked. Since we were villain kids, we were required to take a class called "Remedial Goodness" which, unsurprisingly, was the most boring thing in the world.

Evie raised her hand, causing Fairy Godmother to point at her. "What was the second one?"

"Oh, okay. Anyone else? Quinn?"

I looked up from my sketch, an artistic way to keep me preoccupied that I had learned from Mal. "Uh, C) give it a bottle," I answered.

"Correct again." Fairy Godmother nodded approvingly and shot me a smile.

"You are on fire, girl," Carlos exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. "Just pick the one that doesn't sound like any fun." The boys and Evie sat back in realization as I glanced over at Mal. She was drawing a picture of the wand, seemingly becoming obsessed with it, but who could blame her? Her mother trusted her with this mission- trusted all of us.

The small clicking of heels tore my thoughts away. Looking up, I saw a girl dressed in bright blue who squealed with fear as she passed us. A small smirk fought itself onto my face.

"Oh, hello, dear one," Fairy Godmother greeted.

"Uh, you need to sign off on early dismissal for the coronation," said the new girl. Fairy Godmother complied immediately and signed the paper, turning the kid around once she was done.

"Everyone remembers my daughter, Jane?" The daughter of Fairy Godmother... she could be quite useful. I looked at Mal who must have been sharing the same thought as she smirked and met my eye. She was already coming up with a plan.

"Mom, no!" Jane called out.

"It's okay. Jane, this is everyone." The younger girl started walking out of the room.

"Hi, it's okay. Don't mind me. As you were," she finished, making her way out briskly.

Fairy Godmother tapped her pointer on the board. "Ahem, let's continue."

~~~

Mal and I walked to her locker as we schemed of ways to use Jane to our advantage, but it was proving slightly difficult considering we were in a new place.

When we reached the lockers, Mal opened hers as I leaned against the one adjacent. "Maybe you should just corner her, find out her weak spots, and then use your spell book."

"That would work, but I'd have to find a chance to get her alone," Mal responded. "And that would require her not being scared of me, which is most likely not going to happen."

I shrugged in response. Then, Ben appeared and started walking towards us. Mal slammed her locker shut and turned to him. I straightened myself and stood next to her.

"Hey!" Ben remarked happily.

"Hey," Mal replied in a monotone voice.

His smile never wavered. "How was your first day?"

"Super." Ben looked a bit taken aback at her sarcastic remark, but it wasn't very noticeable.

"Uh, you know, you should really think about taking this talent off the locker and into art class. I could sign you up?" he offered, looking at Mal's painted locker.

Before she could answer, I saw a meek looking Jane walk past us and elbowed Mal. I glanced towards Jane, and her eyes followed before turning back to Ben. "Way to take all the fun out of it."

With that, she walked away, leaving me with the golden boy himself.

"So, how about you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"How was your first day?"

I rolled my eyes. "Great," I responded, trying to lace my words with the same amount of sarcasm Mal had.

"What didn't you guys like?"

"Are you being serious?" I asked incredulously. Who would like being ripped away from their home and placed in "goodness" classes?

He looked sincere as he explained. "Yeah, I want to improve the school for everyone. If new students don't feel welcome, I'd like to fix it."

Luckily, I had an excuse to leave the boring conversation as Jay walked around the corner aiming for me.

"Looks like I've got to go. Catch you later, Beasty Boy." Just as I finished and Ben opened his mouth to respond, Jay swept past and spun me around with an arm that landed across my shoulders, never stopping to even look at the other boy.

He had an infectious smile on his face as we walked towards the dorms. "Why are you in such a good mood?" I asked.

"Guess who made the tourney team?"

"Really?" I knew Jay would be good at it, but I never expected him to actually accept a spot on the team. However, I was happy for him and equally felt bad for the players he would soon be up against.

"Yeah. I figured I'd have a little fun before we take over the world. Did you know you get to basically tackle people in tourney?"

A laugh escaped my mouth as he continued to share about his new experiences.

~~~

It was late that same evening, and Jay, Carlos, and I were sitting on a kitchen counter as Mal and Evie were making cookie dough. Earlier that night, Evie told us everyone was invited to the coronation where Fairy Godmother's wand would be used, etcetera, etcetera, so now, we were making a love potion so Mal could sit up front with Ben and grab the wand.

Everything was going swimmingly before Lonnie walked in. I had met her earlier when she barged into our dorm asking for a new hairstyle from Mal.

"Oh, there you are, Mal! All of the girls want you to do their hair. Midnight snack, huh?" the intruder asked, staring at the potion.

"Uh, yeah, just some cookies," Mal responded, ignoring whatever else the girl wanted.

We all then reached for Lonnie's arm as she dipped a finger into the batter and ate it before we could stop her. We all cried out, but it was too late.

"What?" she asked, confused. "I'm not gonna double dip."

Mal stared at her warily. "Feel any different?"

"Maybe like it's missing something?" Evie added.

Jay jumped off of the counter and slowly made his way to the girl, leaning on the counter when he arrived. "Hey, there," he tried, but was met with a blank look.

Carlos and I nearly fell off of the counter as we laughed at him, making him walk back over with a pout before hitting both of our shoulders lightly.

"Could use some chips," Lonnie said, breaking up the laughter.

"And those are?" Mal asked angrily.

Lonnie pulled a small container out of the fridge. "You know, chocolate chips. The most important food group. Didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies? Like, when your sad and they're fresh from the oven with a big old glass of milk and she just puts everything into perspective." She hesitated, looking around at the sullen faces. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

I finally spoke. "It's just different where we're from."

"Well, yeah, I know. I just thought, you know, that even villains love their kids." She faltered. "Oh, how awful." The glimmer of a tear left her eye which Mal snatched up immediately and threw into the dough without the girl realizing what had happened.

Mal talked her into leaving but the rest of us blocked their conversation out, most eyes on the ground. We all knew what the others were thinking. Our parents loved us deep down, even it it was very deep down.

I hopped off of the counter as instructions started to be demanded. "Jay and Quinn, cookie sheets. Evie, oven. Carlos, clean up," Mal ordered.