Daughter of Maleficent

Chapter Twelve

Evie entered her Chemistry classroom, and all eyes immediately trained on her. The lively noise earlier fell to a whisper, and she spotted Chad in the back not even bothering to look up at her.

She gripped her bag tightly and sat on the empty seat beside Doug. Dopey's son looked at her with concern in his eyes. "Evie, uh, are you okay?", he asked.

"What do you mean?", Evie replied with another question.

"I heard what happened with Chad.", the boy explained.

Evie's eyes widened in surprise. "Where did you hear about that?", she hissed.

"From a friend.", he answered nervously, not wanting to anger the girl. "It's all everyone's been talking about."

Evie gritted her teeth. It had to be Chad that spread the story. Her friends were loyal and trustworthy, and they wouldn't do that to her. 'That bastard.'

She felt Doug's worried eyes still on her. "I'm alright, Doug. Chad's a jerk, and I'm sure I'll be able to find a better prince than him."

"What's the deal with you and princes, anyway?", Doug asked curiously.

"Hm? Well, Mom has always told me to marry a prince. What's a better companion to someone with power and wealth than a pretty face, not to mention the fairest of them all?"

Doug appeared to be deep in thought. "I don't think you're someone who needs a prince. You're definitely more than a pretty face, Evie. You're smart, creative, and independent. You can succeed without men in your life."

Before Evie could reply, Mr. Deley entered the room which cut their conversation short. A small smile appeared on Evie's lips as she pondered over Doug's words. She didn't know that he could be so sweet.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Ben, where are we going?", Mal asked as they traveled through Auradon City.

After leaving Mathematics, her last class for the day, she had found Ben waiting for her outside the classroom. He immediately whisked her away to his car, and no matter how many times she kept on asking, he still wouldn't tell her their destination.

"That's the third time you asked in five minutes!", Ben pointed out, laughing. He took a deep breath and glanced at her seriously for a moment. "Promise me you won't get mad."

"I promise."

"I'm taking you to Beast Castle."

There was a short silence in the car as Mal processed his words. Her eyes bulged as she realized what he meant.

"I'm meeting your parents?!", she shouted angrily. "Like, meeting them as your girlfriend?"

Ben winced at her volume. "You said you wouldn't get mad."

"This is an important matter, Ben!", Mal snapped. "Why didn't you tell me? I could've at least worn nicer clothes."

"Mal, we both know that you'd bolt if I told you earlier. Besides, you could wear a potato sack, and you would still look perfect."

"You're not flattering your way out of this one, Benjamin.", she threatened. "Isn't it a little too early for you to introduce me?"

Ben held her hand in his and interlaced their fingers together. "Everything just feels so right with you that I know this is a good decision. And Mom has been bugging me for weeks to bring you home.", he chuckled.

Soon enough, the front gates of the castle came into view. Recognizing the plate number on Ben's car, the guards immediately opened the tall and golden wrought-iron gates. The car moved up the driveway towards the looming structure that was Beast Castle.