Six months had passed since the Isle kids arrived, six months since the coronation of King Ben, and six months since Bella and Evie began dating. They didn't become girlfriends the day after the coronation, the two were so distracted being with each other that they forgot to make it official. It wasn't until October 8th that they realized and finally made it official.
Despite having been dating for six months, they hadn't gone public nor had they come out to anyone besides their small circle of friends which was the vk's, Ben and Doug. Bella was blessed to have a beautiful genius as a girlfriend but she felt that going public would hurt them, she didn't want Evie to have to deal with any of the backlash they'd receive from the media. Evie agreed, especially because she was making a name for herself in the fashion world! After the coronation, people fell in love with her work and were trying to book her for all their upcoming events.
They weren't the only ones who decided to keep their relationship private, Ben and Carlos had also decided it was best if they too kept it all between themselves. Mal volunteered to help by being Ben's beard, officially now, which meant they had also been dating for six months... Bella tried not to be a negative Nancy about it but she couldn't see how this wouldn't blow up in their faces.
Since the pair decided to continue their fake relationship, Audrey switched schools after winter break. It wasn't only their relationship that took a toll on her, after someone leaked the fact that Ben never even broke up with her the media used it to embarrass her. They praised Ben for it, of course, they did, they said he did what men were born to do and that he shouldn't be expected to be tied down to one girl forever. Ben never figured out how someone found that out, nor did he try to reach out to Audrey to apologize, this made Bella hit him repeatedly with the rolled-up magazine that first broke the story.
Her parents used this incident with her brother to continue to push the debutante ball and social etiquette classes on her. Part of this included making her write sincere apologies to Chad for hitting him, and Queen Leah for insulting her. She refused to do so as she saw it as a proper lesson in 'actions have consequences' but she reluctantly did when they threatened to send her to a foreign boarding school. Somehow her father had managed to convince her mom to agree on this method and it worked unfortunately, Bella couldn't act out of line or else she would have to say goodbye to Evie. Part of her felt like they were bluffing but she couldn't be sure so for now, she just had to make sure to stay on her parents' good side- well her father's at least.
Their father had asked Ben to join them for brunch, Ben decided to drag Bella along because she was his 'right-hand woman', so she was currently at the castle having brunch with her family. They were discussing and complimenting Ben on having done an excellent job at strengthening their relations with other countries. She was anxious to leave, don't get her wrong she was proud of her brother too but it was Friday and they had a half day at school which meant she had the rest of the day to be with Evie rather than having to be in classes.
"Now, before we all depart, I wanted to quickly mention the cotillion which is this Saturday. Bella as it seems you don't have a date yet, your mother and I were just wondering if we needed to arrange something." Bella looked at her parents as if they had their heads screwed on backward, in what world was she going to discuss dates to a stupid dance with them? Her mom was looking at her as if she was waiting for her to admit she had a secret boyfriend.
"Whichever of the many male friends you have you decide to bring will hopefully also be your escort to the ball?"
"What's that supposed to mean? "Many male friends" why did you say it like that?" She wouldn't put it past him to imply that she was a scarlet woman!
"Ignore him, honey, have you considered asking your friend Doug to accompany you to the dance, I know you two are very close," Belle answered for him, she wouldn't stop giving her that look implying that she knew Doug was more than a friend- which he wasn't! "If it's that important that I bring a date then sure, but we'd be going just as friends." That seemed to be the end of that conversation, for now anyway.
"Oh, before we go, I just wanted to let you know that I'll be moving forward with our Help the Isle Act," Ben said as they all began to stand up to leave.
""Our"?" Adam crossed his arms over his chest. "Yes, our, Bella and I worked on it together so it's our act." Bella paused at the end of the table to see how this would play out, she placed her bet on Ben winning whatever this was.
"I don't remember your sister being crowned alongside you."
"Bella is my right-hand man- er woman, she helped so yes it's our act and she will get credit anytime we work together, and so will anyone else." Their father did not seem pleased with his response or his attitude but he bit his tongue and said nothing. "What is the 'Help the Isle' Act then, what more do you possibly want to do for them?"
"For starters, the island has a permanent storm cloud over it permanently taking away their sun, which results in health problems, especially for the younger children. They live in run-down homes, they have no fresh fruit or vegetables, and no access to any medical supplies. We would be undoing this and provide them the resources they deserve."
"They're villains, they don't deserve anything!" Their father argued, he practically yelled out but this did not phase Ben.
"They're still human beings, denying them access to clean water, fresh food, and safe living conditions is a violation of their human rights! With the proper resources, a lot of them would be more open to reform! They at least deserve the chance." Bella was next to her brother now, it was them against their father now. This was not staying on her father's good side but she felt strongly about this issue so she wasn't going to keep her mouth shut.
"Villains can't change, just look at what happened with Maleficent! She was on the island for so long and the minute she got out she went back to her old ways! I know for a fact she's not the only one either."
"Maleficent is just one case, either way, that doesn't mean their children deserve to live in poverty. We know the kids can change if given the opportunity because we saw it happen unless you forgot who took down Maleficent."
"Bella's right, plus you and mom's story is a prime example that people can change. You locked Grandpa away in the castle for picking a flower from your garden, you were cold and harsh to Mom, a beast. Still, you manage to change when given the chance and so can they, everyone is capable of doing so. We'll be starting small either way, the children are our main priority. It'll take time to bring more children over, but for now, I want the ones still on the Isle to be safe and healthy."
Adam looked between his kids, he had more to say but Belle decided to finally add her voice into the mix. She stepped to her husband's side and took his arm, rubbing it gently as if to calm him down, it seemed to work.
"I think it's a wonderful idea, the people of Auradon are lucky to have a king with a heart of gold. Your father knows it too, it just takes him a while to see the better side of things. Now, I'm sure you two have plans for the rest of the afternoon, just don't let all this planning get in the way of your schoolwork. We'll see you two on Saturday." Their mom smiled at them before leading their father out of the dining room.
"I mean really, where does he get off on yelling about not deserving chances, we wouldn't be standing here having this argument if he hadn't changed and Mom hadn't fallen for him. He's so- ugh!" Ben laughed as he grabbed his mug of coffee from the table and finished it off, ever since becoming king he's started drinking a lot more coffee all the time.
"Well he can't say anything about it either way, the final decision is up to me. Do you need a ride back to school?" He asked as they headed towards the door. She shook her head, she had plans to bike back to school. "I'll see you later, I have one last thing to do before heading back." The twins said their goodbyes as one headed out and the other headed to the kitchen.
Mrs. Potts was already waiting there for her with a picnic basket and a warm smile. While she had decided to join her brother for lunch with their parents she didn't eat any of it, she had a picnic planned for her and Evie so she'd prefer to watch with her.
"Ah, thank you so much!" Bella hugged her before she handed her the basket. It was quite heavy, hopefully she wouldn't struggle with it on the way back.
"My pleasure sweetheart, he must be a special boy if you're bringing him food. You know, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, have fun." Mrs. Potts is a very kind sweet lady, Bella couldn't even get annoyed at the assumption that it's for a boy, a boyfriend everyone seems to think they know about but doesn't exist.
Bella thanked her again before heading out, Frank was waiting there with her bike ready to go. He helped her strap the picnic basket onto the bike's front basket and handed her a helmet before she could leave. It was nice that he cared about her safety but she didn't want helmet hair, still, she reluctantly took the helmet. She thanked him before leaving, it was about thirty to forty minutes back to Auradon Prep on a bike, and Bella was determined to make it there in fifteen to twenty minutes.
After many shortcuts and bumpy trails, Bella arrived at Auradon Prep with five minutes to spare. She took off the helmet and let it rest on the handlebar, to her surprise she hadn't been sweating at all. She just hoped she looked alright still, a couple of branches did hit her along the way.
Evie arrived at the front of the school in no time, her face lit up the moment she saw Bella. She was wearing a blue velvety mini skirt with a black band tee that had the sleeves cut off, it was Bella's, and her favorite combat boots. Evie ran up to her girlfriend and looked around before kissing her cheek.
Bella felt like the luckiest person on earth to be dating Evie, she was the most beautiful girl in the land and the smartest! She thought Auradon was lucky that Evie woke up every day and blessed them with her presence.
"Your chariot awaits," Bella tried to hand Evie the helmet but she was distracted, she was staring at her girlfriend's chest. Bella was wearing a white lace bralette top, she had hidden it under an oversized flannel she and Evie had thrifted a few weeks ago while at the castle, but she had unbuttoned it while she had been waiting for her girlfriend. She was also wearing high-waisted wide-leg jeans and combat boots but Evie didn't seem to be paying attention to that.
"My eyes are up here."
"Yeah, give me just one more second."
Bella laughed and put the helmet on Evie for her before buttoning up her flannel. "You can stare later, let's get moving, hop on princess." She gestured towards the back pegs of the bike and got back on herself. Evie got on and leaned forward placing her hands carefully on Bella's shoulders.
"I still don't this is safe." She said as Bella began to peddle. "Next time I'll come with a horse-drawn carriage." Now that the weather had improved, not by much as it rained a lot in April, the two girls used every free moment they had to spend time by the Enchanted Lake. It was an open area so they had to be careful still, but it beat staying inside the dorms all the time. Evie enjoyed their little picnic dates, Bella always made sure to bring her favorite snack: her! The minute they were alone, Evie just had to have her mouth on her, not that Bella minded, she loved kissing her more than anything.
"How was lunch with your parents?" Evie asked as they approached their stopping point, they wouldn't be able to bike to the lake. "The same as always- proud of Ben, had something to say about me, and then some arguing to top it off. Oh, they asked about the cotillion and if I planned on bringing a date, pretty sure my father implied that I'm a slut and my mom is confident I'm dating Doug." Bella told her as they got off the bike, she took out the basket and handed it to Evie before hiding the bike behind a rock, not that anyone would steal it.
"There's no way he believes what those articles say, he must be able to see how bullshit everything they spew is!" What Evie was referring to was a series of online articles that kept assuming every guy Bella was seen with was her new fling, their favorite boy so far was Jay. The issue with this, aside from it being full of lies, was that every picture they shared of Bella and some guy was that they would crop Evie out of it.
Bella shrugged as they set off, there wasn't much she could do about it anyway.
"Never mind that what am I going to do about the cotillion? My parents want me to bring a boy but I don't want to go with anyone."
"No one at all?" Evie played along, they were holding pinkies as they walked along the trail. "Well, there's this really pretty girl in my chemistry class that I've been wanting to ask to but she would never give me the time of day," Bella said as she swung their hands.
"And why would you want to talk to yourself when you've got me." Evie pulled her back closer to her and kissed her on the lips. Bella tried to deepen the kiss but Evie didn't let her, "Not until we're there," She winked before she led them forward again.
When they were close to their spot, Bella stopped and turned to look at Evie. "If I get to there before you, I get to take you to the dance." She agreed, on the condition that if she won then she would take Bella to the dance.
"Alright, three... two.."
"One!"
Evie cut in and dashed forward, leaving her girlfriend behind with her mouth gaped. "Cheater!"
She heard her yell making her laugh, but she didn't stop to see if she ran after her. Evie stood triumphantly under the pillars as Bella finally reached her.
"My legs are begging me to sit down," She said as she leaned against one of the pillars. Evie shook her head and handed her the basket so she could lay out their blanket. "No like, I biked from the castle to the school, which is a long way but I was peddling so hard to get there on time. Then I biked us here, and now I'm running, I need to sit down."
"All I hear is you had a good leg workout, come sit down you drama queen." Evie teased as she finished setting up. Bella let herself collapse on the blanket for a few seconds before sitting up to make space for Evie and the basket.
"I'm going to teach you how to ride a bike so we can share the load." They had discussed what stuff she could teach Evie, and so far they've gotten down ballroom dancing, showing her all her favorite stores, and all the best fabric stores. A lot of the other stuff was more summer activities like swimming, which Evie couldn't wait to start for very obvious reasons.
The girls began to get the food out, both stomachs growling as the smell of the food hit them, and they dug in. There was a lot of fruit, having not grown up with fresh fruit on the Isle, Evie fell in love with fruit as a whole, which resulted in Bella always giving her some.
She took out an orange and began pealing it before handing it to Evie, it was small things like this that she loved noticing about her. She watched Bella as she ate the orange, the sun cast a glow on her that left her shine and she was just so beautiful. Bella had the sort of beauty that made Evie see the good in everything, even on the worst days one look at her and Evie was in Eden. Sometimes at night, she felt like the stars had aligned for her to be this happy, that she must've done amazing things in her past life to be living this life.
"So what do you think?" Bella asked her sipping on a juice box, her slurping had made her snap back to reality. That was fine, she had all the time to admire her whenever she wanted. "What do I think about what?"
"About my plan for the dance, we go together but with Doug. I bring a guy to please my parents while still getting to go with you and Doug gets to be photographed with two beautiful girls in his arms."
"Wouldn't you showing up with Doug further push the rumors that you too are dating?" At least she hadn't picked Jay, certain gossip blogs were just waiting for there to be a confirmation about those two, and they'll never get it!
"Not if we go as a trio, it's not like there's a lot of guys left to ask. If you don't like it that's okay, you know, it's just an idea. Even if I do show up with a guy, my father will still find something to criticize me for." She said like it was nothing but Evie was sure it hurt her more than she was willing to admit.
Evie thought about it, the thought of having to share Bella with anyone, even Doug, for a night didn't seem fun but she also knew that it was important for Bella to stay on her father's good side unless she wanted to be away for her for a whole school year... Plus giving Doug some street credit with the ladies didn't seem like a bad idea.
"No, I like it, we just need to make sure Doug's on board too. How will we manage the dancing though, there'll be more slow dancing than at your birthday party. Doug gets one dance each and that's it, you should only be slow dancing with me." Bella blushed at how possessive she sounded, she liked it.
"Okay, enough about the cotillion, we can discuss that while you're doing all the final fittings tomorrow. Here," She took out a sandwich from the basket and unwrapped it, it was heart-shaped! "half a year in Auradon and you've never had a regular peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I know you've gotten used to the delicacies Auradon Prep has to offer but this is a classic."
"I've had peanut butter crackers and jelly donuts, doesn't that count?" Evie was only joking, she thought a heart-shaped sandwich was the cutest thing ever. How could something as simple as a sandwich make her want to cry, Bella knew how to make her feel special.
She almost didn't want to bite into it because then it wouldn't be a heart anymore but she did and she liked it, simple but effective! She only ate half of it and gave the rest to Bella so she too could enjoy it.
They continued to eat and talk, once full they put away any remaining food and disposed of the garbage. They lay together, Bella had her head on Evie's shoulder and she had her head resting against Bella's head. They looked at the clouds and began pointing at them and saying that they resembled.
"That one looks like a dragon."
"Kind of looks like a funny-looking dick."
They stayed like that for a while longer, it was nice and peaceful the only sound around them coming from the wind and the birds. They felt at peace, it was nice having their relationship be theirs only and not have to worry about what anyone else had to say about them.
Unfortunately for them, they couldn't stay all day there, they had other obligations. Two days till the cotillion and Evie in particular had a lot of work to do, she was making so many suits and dresses for it!
"We should start heading back, princess. We have one more class before we have to meet with Doug to finish our work." Evie said to her, she kissed her on the forehead before Bella moved. "Oh yeah, almost forgot about that, so comfortable here with you like this." They sat up and stretched, Bella kissed her on the cheek as she stretched out. Evie grabbed the basket as she got up and Bella folded up the blanket to return it to her bag.
"How about you ride the bike back to school," Bella suggested as they began walking back down the path toward the bike. Evie gave her a funny look, "I can't ride a bicycle."
"It's easy, especially if I teach you, you're a fast learner so you'll get it right away." Evie was flattered that Bella thought so highly of her, what would her mother think of her now?
When they got back to the road, Bella helped Evie get on the bike and made her take the helmet again. She was terrified of losing her balance so Bella promised to hold her from behind, she showed her how the basics were going forward and breaking, and made sure to remind her she could always just put her foot back down on the ground to stop.
"Okay, I'm going to push you but you have to pedal yourself, slowly, slowly. There you go, keep going." The bicycle was moving slowly but it was moving which was a good sign, thankfully the pavement was not bumpy or else Evie would have freaked. "Okay you can go faster now, yes just pick up speed slowly, see I told you you'd get it right away. Now keep going at your own speed." Bella let go, and Evie didn't notice.
Evie kept going and going... She wasn't stopping, Bella called after her but she didn't turn back. Uh oh... She picked up the basket and started running after Evie who was now going faster, she thought her girlfriend was still holding her from behind. Bella was only able to catch up to her when Evie decided to come to a stop.
"That was so fun! Oh, can I do it on my own? Or can I take us back to school? You okay, Bella?" She was standing bent over her knees behind Evie trying to catch her breath. She gave her a thumbs up to let her know all was fine. When she was finally able to breathe again, she put the basket in the front and agreed to let her ride it back to school. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!!" Evie stood up to kiss her once more before they headed back.
Bella got on behind her like she had done before and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. Evie tightened her grip on the handles and kicked off towards the school. The wind was in their hair, a smile on their faces and the horizon seemed endless, moments like this made life seem perfect in Auradon.
[I was going to take a break for April but we got Found Heaven by Conan Gray and TTPD by Taylor Swift this month so here's an update <3 Also, the break is just for me to catch up on writing because I am behind literally just cause I can't stop reading.]