Daughter of Maleficent

Chapter Four

A rather uneventful week had passed since the first day of the school year. Homeworks had begun to pile up, and the students and professors alike steered clear of the villain kids out of fear.

Typical.

Still, that made things easier for Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos. After all, since no one wanted to be near them, getting a table in the cafeteria during lunch became easy.

More importantly, Mal was not having any progress with meeting Jane, and her frustration was steadily increasing. Evie had shown her a picture of the girl taken straight from Jane's Pixie account, but Mal never saw her in any of her classes or anywhere on campus.

Just as the bell rang signaling the end of fourth period, Mal bolted from her seat and went straight to the bathroom. A girl wearing a ruffled blue dress with a pink bow in the center stood in front of the mirror. Upon looking at the girl's reflection, Maleficent's daughter immediately recognized her.

It was Jane.

The gods of evil must have blessed Mal today. She approached Fairy Godmother's daughter and tried her best to appear friendly.

"Hey. You're Jane, aren't you?", Mal asked, attempting to start a conversation. "I'm Mal."

Jane squeaked, unable to answer as she realized who was talking to her. Her shoulders visibly stiffened in terror.

"There's no need to be afraid. I just want to make friends.", Mal offered, smiling.

"O-Oh. How did you know me?", Jane asked warily, shoulders relaxing slightly.

"Who wouldn't? I mean, Fairy Godmother is legendary. Of course, we'd know about her descendants."

"I'm not exactly great like my mom. I'm nobody, but you're the one who everyone knows about."

"Bah! Nothing interesting about me. Let's talk about you.", Mal said a little too cheerily for her own taste. "How does it feel being Fairy Godmother's daughter? Does she go bibbity bobbity boo on you too with her magic wand?"

"I wish! But the king and queen have discouraged the use of magic since Auradon was formed. They want us to rely purely on our own talents. All magic items are at the museum now, including my mom's wand."

"That's too bad. Doesn't she make an exception for you? I'm sure she has the authority to take out her wand every now and then."

"Nope, never. She does take her wand out once a month or so and brings it to her office to maintain it, but she's never used it for magic. She believes that real magic is in the books."

Mal struggled to contain her excitement at the information she learned. Jane was such an easy and naive prey.

"Tell you what—unlike your mother, I can work my magic on you. How about it? Do you want some new hair?", Mal suggested, bringing out her spellbook.

Jane's eyes widened in shock. "Can you? I mean, um, I don't think you're allowed to do magic."

"Don't worry! This old spellbook only has harmless spells. Now, where's that about new hair?", Mal muttered, flipping through the pages. "Aha! Here it is."

The purple-haired girl cleared her throat and recited the needed incantation for the spell. She flicked her fingers and her eyes glowed a bright green as she casted her magic. "Beware, forswear, replace the old with new hair!"

Jane felt the change at once. Her straight, shoulder-length hair became longer, its tips curling and framing her face perfectly . "Oh my goodness, look at those curls! Thank you, Mal!", she squealed, taking Mal's hands into her own.

"No. Thank you, Jane. You don't know how much you've helped me.", Mal replied, smiling knowingly.

- - - - - - - - - -

Carlos eyed the tourney field warily, his body leaning against the lockers. He made a face as soon as he saw the assistant coaches setting up the dragon cannons.

"I don't want to do drills today.", Carlos moaned.

"It's just passing and scoring.", Jay remarked as he tried to stash his bag inside his overflowing locker filled with a collection of items he had stolen from different locations inside Auradon Prep.

"But Coach is having us dodge those dragon fires for the first time!", Carlos whined.

"Just dodge them then.", Jay said, not quite understanding what the younger boy's problem was.

"Easy for you to say! You're so athletic that you can probably dodge them with your eyes closed."

As Jay finally managed to close his locker door, he turned to his friend and shrugged. Jafar's son had an aptitude for sports, and he had no problem with doing physical activities. Carlos, on the other hand, had always been physically weak, and he'd rather spend his time reading a book than playing tourney.

The two jogged over to the field and lined up with the rest of their classmates who were waiting for Coach Jenkins to start their gym class.

"As I said last time, we'll be having drills on passing and scoring. However, we'll also be using the dragon cannon today.", the coach announced. "You have to learn how to dodge the dragon fires and be aware of your surroundings if you want to score. Each of you will take turns being inside the kill zone today. Do warm-up exercises for 15 minutes, then we'll start. Understood?"

"Yes, Coach!", the students shouted in unison. Each of them found a comfortable spot on the field and began their own stretching routines. Most of them then proceeded to run several laps around the area, Jay included, while Carlos chose to jog after the group half-heartedly.

After 15 minutes had passed by, the class was made to form teams of 4. Each group was to simulate passing across the field, and the goal was for every player to go through the kill zone and try to score a point.

When it was Carlos's turn to score, the ball ricocheted right off his helmet as his teammate passed it to him, but he was fortunately able to catch it with his tourney stick. He ran into the kill zone, screaming and desperately trying to balance the ball on his stick. He was barely able to dodge the first projectile, while the second one got him.

"Keep your eyes open, Carlos!", the coach instructed him.

Meanwhile, as expected, Jay's turn went by flawlessly. He caught the pass squarely with his tourney stick and dodged the dragon fires without any difficulty, ending his turn with a score to the net. The coach nodded his approval at the boy's performance.

At the end of the class, Coach Jenkins gathered his students for an announcement. "As you all know, I serve as the coach for the Auradon Fighting Knights, our school's official tourney team. For all those who are interested in trying out for the team, you are welcome to join us during our first practice next week. The team members, assistant coaches, and I will be assessing your abilities. That would be all, dismissed."

The students lumbered out of the field, their feet shuffling tiredly after a strenuous session of tourney. Carlos couldn't be happier that gym class was done for the week, and he was looking forward to taking a hot bath tonight to soothe his aching muscles.

"Hey, do you want to order pizza later? I feel like I could eat a whole box.", Carlos exclaimed hungrily to Jay. "Let's invite the girls too and have a sleepover, just like old times."

There was no reply to his question, and Carlos turned to look at Jay beside him who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Jay, everything alright? It isn't like you to think at all.", Carlos teased as he nudged Jafar's son with his elbow.

"Should we go to the tourney tryouts? It sounds like fun.", Jay said, choosing not to respond to his friend's insult.

Cruella De Vil's son shook his head vehemently. "No way! You definitely should but not me."

"I'm not going there alone. I'll drag you even if you protest.", Jay said smugly.

"No!", the younger boy cried out, though he knew that it was pointless no matter how much he refused, especially when Jay's mind was already made up.

Carlos groaned loudly as he saw Jafar's son grinning wickedly at him. He absolutely hated tourney.