𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒⇝ 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔

☙𝑭𝑬𝑬𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺❧

"I don't know how to start girl talk," Carlos admitted, turning to Jay as Ruby gave him a small smile.

"What up?" Jay shrugged as Evie and Ruby chuckled, while Mal had a sad expression, not knowing exactly what to say.

"Um, I'm a mess. " Mal trailed off, looking down before chuckling sadly. "I'm just a huge mess. I mean, six months ago, I was, you know, stealing candy from babies. And now, everybody wants me to be this Lady of the Court, and I have no idea how to keep this act." Mal explained as her eyes filled up with tears.

"Then don't." Carlos shrugged, stating as if it was the obvious answer.

"See? This was dumb." Jay shrugged as he tried to get up, but he was soon stopped.

"Maybe it wasn't. We're always gonna be the kids from the Isle. I tried to forget it, I really tried, but those are our roots. And we all did what we had to do to survive, but it made us who we are. And we're never gonna be like anybody else here. And that's okay. That's okay." Evie smiled as she looked at everyone, one of her friends.

"Evie's right. The Isle is a part of us, and we shouldn't forget that." Ruby said, smiling at her friends.

"And we can't fake it," Carlos added as Evie agreed.

"No." Evie shook her head.

"Yeah, I mean, especially without my spell book." Mal nodded as she thought about it.

"Well, if Ben doesn't love the real you, then he's not the one." Carlos shook his head, explaining to them with a small smile.

"I like that." Evie smiled, thinking of what Carlos was saying.

"Give him a chance," Carlos told Mal as she was lost for words.

"I'm going to make some changes to your dresses, and if you're up for it, only if you're up for it, it'll be waiting for you, okay?" Evie looked at the girl seriously before hugging her.

"Come on, buddy." Carlos stood up along with Evie, Ruby, and Jay as Mal stayed sitting down, thinking about everything.

༺♔༻

After the talk with Mal and the other VKs, Ruby was heading to the gardens. Walking around them always made her feel calm. And since she was hurt and had a sword fight, she needed the soothing walk.

Ruby admired the flowers as she walked by them. She even cared for a few of them that needed to be watered. As she tended to the flowers, Ruby didn't notice Reggie, who watched her with a smile on his face.

"I can feel you watching me, Reggie," Ruby said as she tended to the red roses. Ruby turned to the prince, seeing him smiling. "What's up?"

"I wanted to, um...ask you something," Reggie said, and Ruby nodded as he walked over to her.

"Okay, what is it?" Ruby asked.

Reggie sighed, "Um...would you like to...uh would you want to...sorry." Reggie muttered.

"Reggie, are you okay?" Ruby asked, and he nodded his head.

"Yeah. I just get nervous when I talk to you." Reggie admitted making Ruby's eyes widen.

"You do?" Ruby questioned, and Reggie nodded.