3rd POV
'Is she going to Ben?' Carlos asked Evie and Jay.
Mal had just left the dorm and they switched off the tv. For a while it had been silent until Carlos asked the question.
'Probably so,' Evie said. 'This ain't good.'
'Well, it's not like they're getting back together... right?' Carlos asked.
Jay looked a bit upset. 'After everything that's happened, she better not.'
'He didn't actually cheat on her, remember?' Evie reminded him.
'I know, but she doesn't know,' he told her. 'After everything we've done to save her from him, them still getting back together because of some stupid speech would be the biggest failure in the history of failures.'
'But it's not gonna happen, okay. She's not stupid. Most of the time, I mean,' Evie said.
'Let's hope so...' Jay sighed.
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'Guys, I'm back,' Mal said, walking into the dorm about half an hour later.
'Where were you?' Jay asked her.
'I went over to Ben's dorm to, like, thank him for standing up for me,' she explained. 'I just- I kind of feel bad for him, you know, the way he looked at Gianna... It must be hard for him.'
'Please- don't let him get to you, Mal,' Evie said.
'Of course not,' Mal said. 'Trust me, Ben and I, we're in the past. It was just a thank you.'
'Okay, good,' Jay said, relieved.
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One thing that was generally a well-known fact was that Mal was quite unpredictable at times. She could surprise you at the most random moments.
'Mal, we're ba-,' Carlos said, stopping mid-sentence as he noticed a furry creature asleep in Mal's lap. 'ck.'
'Uh, what's that?' Evie asked.
'A cat,' Mal said, nonchalantly while petting her new pet.
'I can see that, but what is it doing in our dorm?' Evie asked, looking at the cat.
'Uh well, funny story, I was walking in the park and she came up to me. When I sat down on a bench she jumped on my lap to lay down and fell asleep,' she said. 'After about an hour I had to go home so I decided to take her with me.'
'How do you even know it's a she?' Jay asked her.
'I... checked,' she answered.
'And you're sure she doesn't already belong to anyone?' Carlos asked, crouching down to pet the cat.
'She doesn't have a collar or anything, so I just assumed it's a stray,' she said, shrugging her shoulders.
'It's not a dog, you know that right?' Jay asked, raising his eyebrows.
'Cats wear those, too. I think,' she said. 'Do they?'
'Maybe you should go to the vet to see if she's chipped,' Carlos suggested. 'Most pets are.'
'Yeah, I have to take her to the vet anyway to get her checked up,' Mal said.
'M, to be honest with you here, I don't think it's wise to take a cat right now. You're already taking care of a baby and you have another one on the way, don't you think that you have enough on your plate already?' Evie asked her, being the realist as per usual.
'Cats are very independent animals. I'll manage just fine,' she assured her friend.
'Alright, if you say so...' Evie mumbled.
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'But it's good that she's back with her owners, isn't it?' Jay asked Mal.
'If we just wouldn't have gotten her checked for a chip, I'd still have her,' she said, clearly upset.
'What's going on?' Evie asked, joining them in the cafeteria.
'The cat already had an owner,' Carlos told her. 'Mal just misses her very much.'
'She was my cat,' she told them.
'She was their cat first. She had run away and was probably lost when you found her,' Jay said.
'Didn't you see how evil those people looked?' she questioned them.
'That little girl in that pink dress with matching bow in her hair you mean?' Carlos asked, trying hard to retain his laughter. 'Very evil.'
'Don't be fooled by the sweet and innocent, Carlos. Those are often most evil. I've seen enough movies to know that,' Mal told him.
'Well, I think it's good that the cat is back to its owner,' Evie said. 'There are enough other things you have to focus on.'
'You guys are so unsupportive of me,' she said. 'I was finally embracing the animal kingdom...'
'It was a cat, Mal...' Jay said.
'Guys, the registrations for this year's school trips are this afternoon,' Jane said as her and Lonnie joined their friends as well.
'Ooh exciting, where are we going this year?' Evie asked.
'They haven't said anything about that yet, but I'm hoping somewhere exotic,' Lonnie said.
'I think my mom will announce it in a few hours,' Jane said. 'I tried to get her to tell me already, but she wouldn't budge, of course.'
'Well, we'll see what it's gonna be then,' Evie said. 'I love surprises anyway.'
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'Ben, can I talk to you for a sec?'
Ben turned around to see Amelia standing behind him. He was just putting some books in his locker and ready to go to his dorm after a long day of classes. 'What do you want to talk about then? Something else you can do to ruin my life?' he asked, shutting his locker.
'Please Ben, I'm so sorry that happened, okay. I- I didn't mean for it to get out and mess everything up. It just- I- I wasn't thinking and then it just happened and I'm so sorry, okay. I'm so sorry for everything that happened to you...' she told him, with tears in her eyes.
'Sorry doesn't give me back my family, Amelia. I have to go,' he told her, trying to walk away.
'Wait, Ben, come on... I'm gonna try to make it up to you, alright. I'll... I'll-'
'Don't you think you've done enough already? There's nothing you can do to make this right,' he said and quickly walked off.
And there she stood. The plan wasn't going as she had hoped, but she wasn't giving up. There was surely something she could do...
A couple minutes later she was knocking on Mal's door. 'Uh, can I help you...?' Mal asked her, surprised and not too happy to see her.
'Actually, yes, you can,' she said. 'May I come in?'
'I guess,' Mal said, letting her in.
'Okay, look, I know I do not even deserve to talk to you after what happened, but I'm just really desperate right now,' she told her, pacing around the room, acting quite nervous.
Mal raised her eyebrows, not knowing what om earth she wanted from her. 'Uh-huh... so, what is it then?'
'After that whole fiasco, you know, with that stupid video... everything just really became one big mess,' she said. 'I was so wrong for doing that, it was all my fault, he didn't do anything. That video is just very misleading. But- Ben literally hasn't talked to me since. He's so mad at me, I didn't even know he could be this mad. I guess I deserve it, he has every right to be mad at me. I ruined his life, his family and all because of that one stupid moment. It shouldn't have happened, it was so wrong, I-,' she babbled.
'Can you get to the point?' Mal asked, barely being able to follow what the fast-talking girl was saying.
'Right, sorry,' she said, trying to focus. 'The point is, Ben won't talk to me again until you two work things out. I know it's a lot to ask from you, but if it helps, what happened between him and me was never his intention. It was all on me.'
'I already forgave him for what he did. I'm not going further than that, I'm sorry,' Mal said.
'You already forgave him? And he knows that?' she asked her, finally standing still.
'Yeah, I told him,' Mal told her. 'And I told him to move on, which he clearly hasn't.'
'But- why- why is he still so mad at me then? You forgave him, that whole video situation is resolved now...' she wondered.
'I don't know and to be fairly honest I also don't care, either, so...' Mal told her.
'Right, yeah, well thanks anyway,' she said, walking to the door.
Mal shook her head slightly as Amelia closed the door behind her. The nerve of some people...
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'She forgave you?!' Amelia exclaimed as she stormed into Ben's dorm.
'What?' Ben asked her, a bit startled by her entrance.
'She forgave you, but you still can't forgive me?!' she questioned him.
'What the hell are you talking about?' he asked, confused.
'What do you think I'm talking about?!' she asked, getting quite frustrated with him.
'If you would just calm down-' he tried.
'Why can't you forgive me?' she asked him, trying to calm herself down.
'Are you seriously asking me that right now?' he asked her. 'Do you want me to list all reasons?'
'I just went over to talk to her and-' she said before being interrupted by Ben.
'What? Why- why did you go talk to her?' he asked her, not liking this one bit.
'I wanted to apologize and ask her to forgive you, but apparently-' she tried to continue.
'She talked to you? What did she say?' he asked her.
'That's the thing, she told me she had already forgiven you, so that made me wonder why the fuck you won't forgive me?' she asked him.
'You don't get it, do you?' he asked her. 'She might've forgiven me for that video incident, but that's it. She still doesn't believe that that video was edited. I'm not getting her back, do you understand that? And it's your fault. It's your fault, for all of this! For making me lose the love of my life, for making me lose my daughter, for hurting not only me but her even more. It's all your fault.'
'I wasn't the one who filmed and edited that video, they are the real bad guys here,' she reminded him.
'Perhaps, but they honestly just took advantage of the situation that you created,' he told her. 'If you hadn't kissed me, they wouldn't even have had the chance to do that. You are the villain in this situation, Amelia. Don't you see that?'
'I- I didn't want any of this to work out like this, okay. I told her that it wasn't your fault for what happened and- and I thought that if I told her that, she would finally believe it...' she told him.
'Well, she didn't. I fucked up too many times already for her to forgive me once again. It's a lost cause, Amelia,' he said.
'Maybe if- maybe if I would go talk to her again and- and convince her it was all my fault and that- and that you-' she stammered, desperately.
'Why do you think she would believe a single word you say? You are the other woman in this story. You're the reason we're no longer together. You were lucky enough that she even wanted to talk to you in the first place,' he told her. 'I don't even know why I am talking to you right now.'
'Come on, Ben. I'd do anything to make you forgive me for what I've done. I've lost everything that I had in my life already and I thought I'd finally have one thing back but I screwed up. There's no denial there, okay. I screwed up and I've never had more regrets in my life than I have for that. All because I wanted to get back what once was but doesn't exist anymore. And I know I don't deserve your forgiveness or your pity but please, don't make me lose you again...' she said, tears rolling down her face.
Ben looked at her, a bit taken aback by the emotions. He couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for her. She had been through a lot, she had suffered too. The only thing she wanted was to make things right again, but it failed miserably. Perhaps he saw a bit of himself in her. He'd kind of been through the same last year. He knew that feeling of loneliness and regret.
He sighed and sat down on his couch. Amelia looked at him through the tears in her eyes, as he padded his hand on the couch next to him. She walked over to him and sat down. 'Look, I get that you wanted to fix this and I appreciate the effort, but it's just not that easily fixable. This situation goes way further than just that video. It's an accumulation of incidents and mistakes. That video was the last straw.'
'What happened between the two of you anyway?' she asked him. He looked at her, thinking about what the best way was to answer that question. 'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to-'
'I could tell you but it's a long story,' Ben warned her.
'I love long stories,' Amelia told him. 'Spill it.'
'Okay, to start at the beginning; we uh we had, well, I guess you could call it a one night stand. And I was still with Audrey, also headed for that arranged marriage, so yeah, it was just not ideal. At first we decided that I wasn't gonna be a part of the baby's life. I didn't even try to make it work somehow, in my head being king was the only thing that mattered. Then we slowly became closer and closer and caught feelings for each other. We secretly got married and told no one about it. Eventually Mal told her friends, one of them, Jay, was really angry with me. Which, honestly, I get. After that we were going strong, everything seemed to be working out, until the king work and school started to pile up and I was so busy that I basically shut her out for weeks. She was finally fed up with me and left me, which was also totally fair. A while after that she had our baby and that day she finally let me talk to her. I told her to come to the wedding, and I think you've already seen that video somewhere. But anyway, we got back together and than you came back. First that thing when she caught us in the common room, then the incident at Cinderella's ball and then the video. And well, here we are,' he told her.
'Wow,' Amelia said. 'That's uh... that's a lot.'
'Yeah, I could go into detail, but than we'd be here a while longer,' he said.
'I'm sorry I screwed up, Ben. I really wish I could take back my actions so that everything is back to how it should be...' she told him.
'But you can't. And I get that,' he said. 'But you also have to understand that it's really difficult for me to forgive you for what you did. I will get there, it's not healthy to hold grudges anyway as my grandpa always told me. It'll take a while, but everyone deserves a second chance.'
She smiled slightly at him. 'Thank you, Ben.'
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'You're shitting my dick...' Caitlyn said, her mouth hanging open.
'I know, it's really messed up,' Mal said. 'You can't tell anyone though.'
'No, of course,' she assured her, still recovering from the news. 'You really don't have luck on your side, do you?'
'I surely don't,' Mal agreed.
'What are you going to do? He will find out eventually, won't he?' she asked.
'Unfortunately, yes,' Mal sighed. 'I don't know what to do. Honestly, if I could I'd just move far far away and start a new life, you know. Leave all this drama behind.'
'So, why don't you?' she asked her.
'First of all, I'm still in school and I don't intend on dropping out. Second, I don't want to leave my family and friends behind. They've always been there for me through everything and I wouldn't know what to do without them,' Mal explained.
'So you're going to tell the king about the baby then?' she asked her.
'Yeah, I guess so. Not sure how or when, but I'll figure it out,' Mal said.
When she got back to her dorm after her lunch with Caitlyn, Evie was still not back. A few hours before, she went out with Troy on a date. Jay and Carlos had training that afternoon, so she decided to go for a stroll around the garden. She found this to be a good way to clear her head and get some much needed vitamin D. Gianna was finally asleep so she carefully put Gianna in her front sling and put some music on, before walking outside. It seemed that more people had the same idea; it was quite busy in the school garden. A lot of people were having a picnic, playing games or taking walks in the late September sun.
'Hey, Mal,' Uma greeted her. Mal snapped out of her thoughts and looked to her right to see the pirate trio sitting on a blanket, seeming to be having a little picnic. She took of her headphones. 'Oh, hi guys,' she greeted them back.
'Where are you going?' Harry asked her, while offering her a strawberry.
'Oh, nowhere, just taking a little walk,' she shrugged her shoulders.
'Do you want to join us?' Uma asked her. 'We're never going to be able to finish all this food by ourselves anyway.'
'Yeah, sure,' she accepted the offer and sat down with them.
'So, what have you been up to this Sunday? Haven't seen you around since breakfast,' Uma said.
'Oh, yeah, I was downtown with Caitlyn,' she told them. 'Wanted to catch up and see Anna again.'
'Anna is her daughter?' Harry asked.
'Yeah, born on the same day as Gianna,' she said.
'How are you doing? You looked a bit aloof when you walked past us,' Harry said, noticing that she was acting off.
'Just... a lot on my mind,' she said. 'It's not important.'
'Only that it obviously is,' Uma told her. 'You can tell us. We're not Evie or Carlos or Jay, but we're your friends too.'
She smiled at her. 'Well, Caitlyn asked if and when I'm going to tell Ben about you know what and I've just kind of been ignoring it until she brought it up. Like- what am I supposed to do?'
'How long do you think it'll be until you're going to show?' Uma asked.
'I don't know... about 8 weeks, maybe 9,' Mal said.
'So you've still got 2 months to figure it out,' she told her. 'You don't have to decide now what you're going to do with this. I mean, you never know what's going to change in those two months.'
'I know, I'm just overthinking everything lately,' she said. 'My mind just automatically goes into worrying mode whenever it gets the chance.'
'So, you need distraction?' Harry asked.
'Yeah, I guess,' she said. 'I do want to do fun things, but doing things alone doesn't really work. Then I'm still alone with my thoughts.'
'Why don't you ask Evie, Jay or Carlos to go do things together?' Harry asked.
'They're always busy, to be honest,' she explained. 'They do often make time for me, but they have a lot of their own stuff going on and I hate keeping them from their own things.'
'Well, we're not really busy people. At least we don't really plan ahead, so you should join us sometimes. We go for trips on the water after school and in the weekends, when we feel like it. Or go to the city, or explore other parts around here.'
'But, I'm not a pirate though...' Mal reminded them.
'Everyone can be a pirate,' Harry told her. 'Even Gil became one.'
'What?' Gil looked up by the mention of his name. He'd been too occupied by all the delicious food to even pay attention to the conversation.
'Nothing. Here take this,' Harry said, grinning, giving him another sandwich.
'We still have that pirate hat of yours,' Uma recalled. 'You're always welcome to our crew, remember?'
'I didn't know you pirates could be so kind,' Mal said, grinning.
'Only to the right people,' she said, shrugging her shoulders. 'Don't get used to it though.'
'I wouldn't dare,' she promised.
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'Mal, I'm back,' Evie said, walking into their dorm.
'Hey, E,' Mal said, walking our of the bathroom holding Gianna.
'Why is she wearing a pirate hat?' Evie asked, chuckling.
'Gil made it for her,' Mal said, adjusting the hat on Gianna's head.
'That's so sweet,' Evie said, taking of her coat and hanging it in the closet. She sat down on the couch to take off her shoes. 'I have a question.'
'What is it?' Mal asked, sitting down as well.
'Tomorrow afternoon we have this kind of rehearsal show with the fashion class and I was wondering if you'd like to come,' Evie said.
'I wish I could, but I have my first doctor's appointment tomorrow at 3.30,' Mal said.
'How come I didn't know about that? Would you like me to come with you? It's really no problem, that show isn't really important anyway,' Evie said.
'Oh no, no it's fine, you don't need to come with me,' Mal promised her.
'You sure?' Evie asked.
'Yeah, I'll be fine. Doctor Lynch is my doctor again and I know the procedures. It'll be just fine,' Mal assured her.
'Alright, but if you change your mind and you do want someone to come with you, you can always ask me. You know that right?' she asked.
'I know, thank you, E,' Mal smiled.
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'Uma, Gil and I are going for a little trip on the sea, do you wanna join?' Harry asked Mal as they walked out of the last class of that day.
'Isn't it storming right now?' Mal asked.
'Yeah, that's why we wanna go now,' he told her.
'As fun as that sounds... I have a doctor's appointment in an hour, so I can't,' Mal said.
'Oh right, you have your first appointment today,' he remembered. 'Who's coming with you?' he asked.
'No one, it's no big deal,' she shrugged her shoulders.
'It's the first appointment, of course it's a big deal. First ultrasound is special, isn't it?' he questioned.
'Well, yeah, I guess...' she said. 'But Evie, Carlos and Jay are all busy this afternoon, so.'
'I could come with you,' he offered.
'No, Harry, you're going on that trip,' Mal reminded him.
'So what? There are many trips to come. This is way more important. There should be someone with you on this occasion,' he said.
'You'll be bored,' she said, not wanting him to waste his time on her.
'I won't,' he insisted.
Mal thought for a few seconds. 'Alright, you can come with me. I guess it's nice to have someone who can drive me there anyway,' she gave in. 'And you could watch Gianna for me.'
And so the two were driving to the hospital an hour later. Harry was right, Mal had to admit. It was nice to have a friend there. She got quite nervous going into the room. Of course she had been there many times before, but it didn't take any nervousness away. The moment she saw the little embryo on the screen next to her, tears started filling her eyes. Harry took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly.
It should have been Ben there with her this time, she thought to herself. It's a thought she had been trying to push away, but as she was laying there she couldn't ignore how painful it was that they failed again. Or rather he failed them.
She was glad Harry was there with her. Although she wouldn't admit it to anyone, it was always nice to have someone come with her to these appointments. It took a bit of the Ben thoughts away. She didn't need him, she'd tell herself, she had her friends. And that was true. There was always someone there for her, no matter what.
'Thank you for coming with me,' Mal thanked Harry. 'It was actually really nice.'
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'Harry went to the appointment with you?' Evie asked Mal when she got back to the dorm. It was a few hours later. Mal and Harry had joined Uma and Gil for a cup of coffee at a café by the docks after the hospital visit. When they got back to Auradon Prep, they walked her to her dorm and then went their separate ways.
'What- yeah, how did you know that?' Mal asked her confused, putting Gianna in her crib.
'It was on Auradon Talks,' she told her.
'Of course it was...' she sighed, wondering when those people were finally gonna leave her alone.
'Did everything go alright though?' she asked.
'Yeah, everything's looking fine,' Mal said, putting a blanket over Gianna.
'Good,' Evie said, a bit relieved. She went back to doing her homework as she was doing before Mal walked in. Mal sat down next to Evie at the table and decided to just do her homework as well for once.
After a while of them doing homework in silence, Mal put down her pen. 'I'm gonna tell Ben tomorrow,' she said, totally out of the blue.
'Gonna tell him what?' Evie asked, not following.
'About baby nr 2,' Mal said.
'Are you sure about that?' Evie asked her.
'I have to tell him at some point and now that I've had the first ultrasound, I feel like it is time,' she said, determined about her decision.
'If it feels like the right time for you, you should do it,' Evie said. 'Just have to rip that bandaid off.'
'Exactly and then I can just move on again,' she said.
Evie smiled at her. 'If you need someone to go with you when you're gonna tell him-'
'No, this is something I have to do on my own,' she told her. 'It's gonna be okay...'
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Author's note
Hi everyone:)
I'm back and I know, it's been a hot minute. To be honest, I just had a major writer's block and lost inspiration. But I'm back at it now and I hope it's any good.
For the people who are still sticking around, thank you so much for your support! I really appreciate it still<3
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed.
Don't be afraid to vote or leave a comment!:D
See ya next chapter!
xx Pava