The Right Side of Wrong

Gifts

There wasn't much I could do when I got like this except take deep breaths and bury my feelings. I wanted to hit something a good ninety percent of the time now. I always just needed to get something out of my system.

Jane was staring at me, highly concerned and Evie and Lonnie were slowly making their way over as well.

"I say pen toppers," I blurted out, not wanting to discuss what had just happened.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You won't regret it," Jane replied, excitedly.

"I can hardly wait to see what your wedding will look like," Lonnie exclaimed.

"What?" I asked, only half listening.

Wedding? What wedding?

"The Royal Cotillion is like getting engaged, to be engaged, to be engaged," Jane explained, which only complicated things for me more.

"I knew it!" Evie squealed.

Hold up. They thought I was going to marry Ben? Marriage was barely even a thing from where I was from! And now they were planning to ship me off with the guy I had been dating, or even known, for less than a year?

"Well, everyone knows it," Lonnie laughed.

"I didn't know it!" I interrupted. "How come nobody told me that? Is my entire life just planned out in front of me and nobody-"

"Hi Mal," Ben interrupted, reaching around me.

His touch sent a shock through me and I leapt away from him, covering my gasp.

"Woah! Is everything alright?"

I wanted to cry. My heart was getting faster and faster and every minute more people were looking at me, concerned.

"Yes," I replied, but it was muffled underneath my hand. "I'm going to be late for class."

And with that I ran off, dodging people as I went down the stairs towards my next class.

~ ~ ~

I had heard from a lot of kids at Auradon that your senior year was supposed to be your easiest year at school, but so far this had proven to be untrue.

I was rushing through this week. I found myself running to all my classes, trying to meet the requirements I needed to graduate on time, and keep up with my royal responsibilities.

I had gotten good at avoiding people as I ran down the hallway to my locker after homeroom on Wednesdays. It was my most stressful day. I had three different classes, all within 5 minutes of each other, and they were an hour and a half each. I often found myself missing out on a quick lunch just so that I had all my books with me for chemistry.

I threw open my locker, and dropped my backpack at the bottom.

"Hi Mal," Ben spoke up from my right.

I jumped. He really hadn't learned not to sneak up on me yet. "Hi."

"I have a little surprise for you," he smiled.

"Again? Wow," I mumbled to myself. "That's like everyday now."

"Every other day," he corrected, which didn't make me feel any better. "The even dates. Because you're even more perfect than I thought."

I laughed, sarcastically saying, "That is me. I am perfect."

He seemed to pick up on my hesitance. "Come on. Let me spoil you," he insisted, hanging off my locker door. "You didn't have a lot growing up."

I rolled my eyes, turning back into my locker. "I managed."

He put a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back to face him. "I know you did. But you didn't have to. And I want to make up for that."

I shook my head. "That's not your responsibility to me."

"Hey," he paused, looking into my locker. "Didn't you donate that to the museum?"

I glanced inside and sitting right in front of the shelf was my spellbook. In my panic, I slammed the locker shut.

"Is that still in there?" I asked, innocently, trying to distract him. "Um, I got to get to class. I really don't want to be late."

I tried to side step him, but he had my arm in a minute, pulling me in the other direction. "No. You come this way."

"Ben, seriously-"

"First off," he interrupted, then led me around the corner where a lavender colored motorcycle was parked, with a gold bow laid across the handlebars.

I gasped. "What?!" I shrieked.

He giggled next to me. "You like it?"

It was really nice. It must have cost so much, not that Ben couldn't afford it. "Ben... This is amazing! It's purple."

I walked over, feeling the seat. It was truly a beautiful ride.

"I didn't get you anything," I admitted.

"You're taking me on a picnic with all my favorite foods, remember?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, but that's not until tomorrow."

"What? I thought you said Thursday."

"It's only Wednesday."

The corners of his eyes scrunched together as he laughed at me. "It's Thursday."

"No, it's not," I argued.

"Yes it is," he shot back, pulling out his phone to show me.

Sure enough, it was Thursday. My eyes widened. How had I lost complete track of time like that? Good thing he had warned me, or else I would have ended up walking straight into the wrong literature class period.

"I knew that," I lied.

"I mean, if you don't have it, that's fine," he reassured me.

Of course I didn't have it ready. I had planned to make dishes that needed to be prepared hours in advance and I didn't have that time at all. I should have done this all yesterday, but of course yesterday I was caught up in memorizing more of my responsibilities, so it wouldn't be possible even if I had remembered.

"No, no, no! I was fully messing with you. I knew it was Thursday. I just have one more thing to go bake and then I am all yours."

"Well, what about class?" he asked.

Now that I realized it wasn't Wednesday, I didn't have to run to class, but I couldn't tell Ben that, because then he would know I had been lying. So I just shrugged and said, "She multi tasks."

"She dabbles," Ben responded.

"She dabbles!" I called back, running to the dorms.

"You're the best!"

"That's me!"

I said it as cheerfully as possible, but of course, I was utterly terrified now. What was I going to do? This was the one thing that I had set up for Ben and I couldn't even do that. I couldn't even set a day aside to just make some food dishes and hang out with him for an hour or two.

Ben was under much more pressure than I was, I reminded myself. I went to less than half of his events. I wasn't making the big decisions he was. I was just the pretty piece on his arm. And still, I never saw him break down on camera or complain about being king.

He deserved so much more from me.

~ ~ ~

Later that afternoon I scurried back to my locker to grab my spellbook.

Guilt coursed through my body. Perhaps Evie was right. Maybe I had become too reliant on my magic to get me through life. But what else was I supposed to do in this situation? There was no time.

Besides, while I was in the kitchen, Carlos had asked me to make him something.