Into the Depths

Chapter 4

A tapping on the window of the art room's door broke into Mal's thoughts and Mal turned to see Jay on the other side of the door.

"It was unlocked you know?" Mal asked after getting up to let her friend in.

"And risk getting a spritz of spray paint to the face? You did that to me one time when I was eight, I'm in no hurry to do it again," Jay said with a chuckle.

"You snuck up behind me and grabbed my shoulder," Mal said. "Any kid worth their salt on the Isle would have sprayed you. Just be thankful I realized it was you before I started kicking."

Jay nodded and tossed one of the apples in his hand to her as she sat back down. "Eat it. I made sure it was a softer apple for you. I don't care how long we've been in Auradon, the hard apples are impossible to get used to."

Mal nodded and got up to eat the apple. Soft apples had the tendency to squirt when you bit into them and the last thing she wanted was for Ben's painting to be ruined because of her snack.

The two friends sat on the couch that was for some reason in the classroom. Neither one of them really knew why and, to be frank, sometimes it was better just not to ask. Auradon was weird sometimes.

Mal didn't know why her thoughts had gone in the direction they had, but she felt her mind drift toward the Isle of all places. She had thought about her former home a bit since the viewing but this time, her thoughts focused on two specific people.

Uma. Harry. What were they up to? Were they plotting to get off the Isle or were they content to just spend their time in their ill gotten territory?

It had been their territory too once upon a time, Mal thought with an inward sigh, trying to not think about the times where she had run around with those two. The days before she knew Evie or Carlos or hell even Jay.

How different would life be? If the split never happened? Mal thought as she brought her legs under her. Uma, or at least the Uma I knew as a kid, would have hated the prissy princess room we got when we first arrived...and Harry and Jay in Auradon together? We'd be lucky if the school was still standing after a week.

Still, she had to wonder if her old friends were missing them too. There had been something odd about the Uma in the viewing. The very fact that she gave back Ben's ring...pirates didn't willingly give up their loot after all.

"Hey Jay?" Mal asked, breaking the silence. "This is going to sound a bit odd but do you ever think about how different it'd be if the others were here?"

Jay shrugged, seemingly catching on to what Mal meant by 'others'. "To be honest, I haven't given much thought about the 'others' as you called them since we got to Auradon."

Mal sighed. "I'm not saying I miss them or anything but it's been on the back of my mind. You don't think about them at all?"

"Sometimes," Jay admitted with a sigh after a minute or two of silence. "A little more now since the viewing. Granted that's only been a day but—"

"She gave my ring back Jay. Or at least the version of her in the viewing did," Mal said softly, looking down at the aforementioned ring.

Jay snorted. "Mal, Uma's many things but she's not an idiot. You were a dragon in the viewing. What was she going to do, hold Ben hostage?"

"She very well could have and I'll thank you not to put that image into my head," Mal snapped but sighed. "But she didn't. She gave back the ring. And almost..she almost looked like she was crying a little as she swam off."

"Uma doesn't cry," Jay muttered.

"Uma also doesn't give back things she stole either," Mal said with a shrug. "Like I said, I'm not willing to go spring them from the Isle, especially knowing Uma might put a hypnosis spell on Ben once she has access to her magic. But I can't help but think about the what ifs...."