Were You Expecting Flowers? ✔️

5

I listen to the labels, listen to the man
Try to keep a sense of knowing who I am
I try to be an angel but I don't think I can
Think I'm reaching my limits, yeah
____________________

MY SENSES are about to overload. And that scent of lavender? It's killing me. I've never smelt something so good in my life.

Doug was leading us through a labyrinth of hallways. He had introduced himself as Dopey's son, from the seven dwarfs. And I might not be a matchmaker, but I'm pretty sure that look he gave Evie said more than he wanted to.

He stopped abruptly and turned towards us, clipboard held tightly against his chest. "Mal, Evie, Brae. This is your room."

I swallowed the urge to tell him never to call me that again, realizing that I needed a name to be addressed with anyways.

"We'll see you guys later okay?" Evie told the boys.

I looked at them and caught Carlos staring. He turned away almost immediately and quickly nodded his head.

What's his deal?

When we stepped inside, Evie's smile grew twice as wide.

"It's gorgeous!" She exclaimed.

"It's disgusting." Mal tutted, before throwing down her bag.

I stayed silent, taking the bed closest to the door. I touched the fabric and stilled. It was unbelievably soft, unbelievably comfy.

"Oh wow." slipped from my lips.

"I know right." Evie smiled at me, "it's amazing here."

"Which is why we need to steal the wand." Mal intercepted, holding her arms up, "So we can have all this."

"It's not gonna be easy." Evie sighed, "That's for sure."

"We need a plan." Mal announced. She tapped her foot on the floor, then turned to me. "What do you think?"

Me?

"Aren't you the one with the plans?" I asked.

Whether she took it as an insult or a compliment I couldn't tell.

"You're the genius here when it comes to stealing." She said.

"Jay is the genius."

"Still." Mal shrugged, then sat down at the desk. "Listen, I know you and I aren't exactly friends, and you don't like talking. But we all don't want to be here, so let's get this over with ASAP."

"I want to be here." Evie said quietly.

Mal turned sharply towards her. "Really?"

"This place is a million times better than the Isle."

"But," Mal looked genuinely confused, "doesn't it make you mad? They've been keeping it all to themselves."

Evie apologized, as if afraid of Mal's change of tone.

"Okay you know what?" I said, "Do we even want to do this?"

"Of course we do!" Mal snapped, standing up, "We're evil! That's what we do!"

Evie looked away.

"Guys!" Mal was getting angrier by the second, "If we don't pull this off, our parents will slaughter us."

"Your parents." I answered bitterly.

"Jesus!" Mal threw her hands up, "Why are you always bringing that up?"

"Because," I faced her off, "for your information, I have lived the first sixteen years of my life completely alone. I make my own decisions. And now I'm surrounded by people I barely know, pushing me around. I didn't ask to be involved in this!"

Someone knocked loudly on the door. Evie opened it to reveal Carlos and Jay.

"You guys seriously need to chill." Jay said, "We could hear y'all from the end of the hall. You're lucky everyone's in class, or else we'd get kicked out."

"Oh I'm sorry." Mal replied sarcastically, "I was trying to get the Isle Orphan to cooperate."

I glared at her.

"Anyways." Jay continued, his tone indicating that he's fed up, "We have a full day to check this place out until classes tomorrow."

"We have to go to school here?" I said in disgust.

"It's called Auradon Prep." Mal rolled her eyes, "in case you didn't know."

"Can you guys stop your bickering?" Evie said.

"Yeah it's driving us nuts." Jay added.

Mal crossed her arms. "I'm sorry, since when were you in charge of me?"

"You're acting like five year olds!" Jay shouted back.

"I'm trying to get everyone to work together!"

Jay snickered. "And you're doing a dandy job, huh?"

Evie stepped in between them, expression serious. "Guys. Stop it." Her voice was calm, and she motioned to the boy at the far corner of the room.

Carlos had his hands tucked in his vest, his head down, eyes squeezed shut. He was shaking, crying.

We all stared at him, partially shocked.

I gulped. "Uh, Carlos? You good?"

He didn't respond, and continued to shake.

"Dude." Jay said.

Evie approached him. "What's wrong?"

She touched his shoulder, and suddenly Carlos recoiled back in fear.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He gasped, almost tripping over Evie's baggage. "I won't do it again."

Jay and I exchanged puzzled glances.

"Carlos. Get a grip." Mal said, "It's just us."

You could tell the boy was desperately trying to steady his breathing. He slowly looked up at us, wiping his sweaty palms on his shorts.

"Sorry," He said again, "I don't know what happened to me." He heaved, "I'm-I'm gonna go take a walk or something."

Carlos swiftly exited the room, leaving us stunned.

"What's up with him?" Jay asked.

We all shrugged, exchanging looks of concern and bafflement.

"I feel like it was our shouting." I said meekly.

"He cries when people shout?" Mal said.

We shrugged again.

"Okay, well." Mal said, crossing her arms, "God knows where he went. We should start touring the campus. And hopefully find out more about that wand."

The wand, the wand, the wand, the wand. If I didn't know better, I'd say she'd gotten a bad case of the wand fever.

No one argued with her, and one by one we left the room, Jay closing the door behind us.