Wicked Ones ♛ MAL [✓]

➣ eleven.

"Revenge time," Jay agreed.

"You really want to do this?" Ben asked us.

Mal looked at him sadly. "We have no choice, Ben! Our parents–"

"Your parents made their choice." We fell silent as he added, "Now you make yours."

Mal was silent for a few moments before she said softly, "I think I want to be good."

"You are good," Ben told her.

"How do you know that?" Mal demanded.

"Because..." Ben paused. "Because I'm listening to my heart."

His words seemed to sink in, and Mal nodded her head. "I want to listen to my heart, too." Turning to us, she said, "And my heart is telling me that we are not our parents." She looked at Jay with a smile. "I mean, stealing things doesn't make you happy. Tourney and victory pizza with the team makes you happy." Jay nodded in agreement, and Mal went on to Carlos. "And you, scratching Dude's belly makes you happy. Who would've thought?" We all laughed softly at her words, and Mal said to Evie, "And Evie... You do not have to play dumb to get a guy. You are so smart." Her eyes finally went to me, and her words hit me straight in my heart. "And I don't want to take over the world with evil. It doesn't make me happy. I want to go to school." She walked up to me, taking my hand and kissing my knuckles. "And be with Freddy. Because Freddy makes me really happy."

In that moment, I didn't care about the shocked gasp from the crowd, or the whispers that followed. All I cared about was Mal and my friends. I felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I smiled as I rested my forehead against hers.

After a minute, we turned to Carlos, Evie, and Jay. Mal had her arm around my waist, as if she never wanted to let me go.

"Us being friends makes me really happy," Mal said. "Not destroying things." Sticking out her fist, she added, "I choose good, you guys."

I stuck out my fist as well, watching our friends for their response. At first I thought they weren't going to agree with us, but then Jay stuck out his fist.

"I choose good, too," he said.

Evie did the same. "I choose good."

Carlos looked at us hesitantly. "So, just to be clear, we don't have to be worried about how really mad our parents will be?" We all started laughing at his words, and he went on, "Because they're gonna be really, really mad."

Ben smiled. "Your parents can't reach you here."

Carlos looked at him before sticking out his fist. "Okay, then. Good."

Mal called Ben over, and he joined our little circle. The crowd began to cheer as I rested my head on Mal's shoulder, and she pulled me closer to her with a content sigh.

Then, the moment was shattered when a ball of billowing green smoke burst through one of the windows, and, much to my horror, my mother flew in behind it, riding her broomstick with an evil cackle. And when the ball of smoke landed, it materialized into a person.

Maleficent.

"We're baaaaack!" Maleficent taunted.