Wicked Ones ♛ MAL [✓]

➣ eight.

008. | FEELS LIKE HOME

I was curled up in bed a few hours later, trying my best to remember that night. But I couldn't remember it at all. It was just a blank space in my mind-a space that I desperately wanted to fill.

Sighing softly, I got up, picking up my book bag and reaching inside. After fishing around for a moment I found it: a small black leather journal with a green-eyed cat silhouette imprinted on the front. It was my songbook, and my most prized possession. No one knew I had one - not even my mom or Mal. And no one even knew I wrote songs to begin with. My plan was to keep it that way, so I only wrote when I was sure that I was alone.

I opened it up, flipping to my most recent song; one I had started writing right before we had gone to Auradon. I hadn't given it a title yet, but it was pretty much finished, and I wanted to have it sound right. So I began humming to myself, coming up with the melody and rhythm in my head as I edited the lyrics on the faded yellow paper.

That's when the door opened, and I quickly shut the book as Mal and Evie came in, talking and laughing. But they instantly fell silent when they saw me on the bed.

"I'm gonna go find Doug," Evie said to Mal, sensing the tension between us.

Once she was gone, Mal looked at me. I saw she was all dressed up, but soaking wet at the same time, and it made me wonder what had happened to her during the course of the day.

"You look nice," I said.

"Thanks," Mal said, then added, "You look cute."

I snorted. I had my hair in a low, sloppy ponytail, and I had no makeup on whatsoever. Plus, I wearing a large gray T-shirt and baggy emerald green sweatpants. I was far from looking cute.

"No, I mean it," Mal said, taking off her jacket and hanging it up. "I like it when you're like this. No makeup, no facade. Just you."

I just stared at her before looking down at my hands. "Thanks, I guess." After a pause, I added, "Why'd you get all dressed up?"

"I was on a date with Ben."

I felt my heart wrench at her words, but I still said coldly, "I bet you had a blast."

Mal snorted. "Hardly. I'd much rather be hanging out with you."

I felt a dip in the bed, and I knew that Mal had sat down next to me. But I still refused to look at her.

"Freddy, I know you're upset," Mal said. "But the least you can do is look at me when I explain why you can't remember what happened."

I looked at her in surprise. "So you will tell me?" When she nodded, I said, "Then please, do."

"You stayed at my house for two full nights," Mal began. "On the third night, we were just laying on my bed, talking and laughing about random stuff..." She trailed off. "Then my mom came in, and she saw the two of us, and she just lost it. She grabbed you and brought you back to your house, explained to your mom that you were with me, and your mom lost it, too. Then she forced me to help her make a forgetfulness potion. So you'd forget all about it." Mal sighed. "You didn't want to take it. None of us wanted you to take it, either. We all tried to convince our parents to stop, but they didn't listen. Your mom forced it into your mouth, and that's when you forgot."

I looked down at my songbook, a million questions running through my head. But only one genuinely stood out in my mind.

"Why did your mom lose it, Mal?" I asked.