CHAPTER vii:
UPENDI
SIX MONTHS LATER
Once upon a time there had lived a girl who wanted nothing more than to be like her father, to make him proud in the wrong doings she did. At the time, all the things she had learned from him and the ways her environment treated her, were all the rights things―stealing, being mean, paying no mind to people's feelings, rudely ridiculing others, being rotten to the core. But when she was granted the opportunity to prove a prince and his kingdom that she was nothing like her father, she had a little bit of trouble doing so.
Auradon was contagious, just like The Isle of The Lost. It was easy to enjoy what Auradon had to offer because The Isle was the complete opposite. The fresh fruit, the freshly baked cakes, the smells, the buildings, the stores, the school's, the people, everything. Auradon had it all and it really showed how much Kleo had on The Isle, which was close to nothing.
Yes, The Isle gave you freedom and the people there had character and the culture was strange, but it wasn't a good place to live or raise children. Kleo was a product of her environment and her father's bad influence only made it worse. Auradon only showed her what she really wanted from life and being bad wasn't one of them.
She wanted to be good. But not too good to the point she forgets where she came from and completely morphs into a different person. But she still wanted to be bad, break the rules, speak her mind, act brutish. It was hard to be both when you had expectations to meet. Her expectations have changed drastically over the last six months. Transforming her whole being of being the girl with wild hair, scary scar, and ripped clothes to freshly (and frequently) groomed hair and looks, beautifully sewn dresses and skirts and heels that hurt her feet, lightly applied makeup with the help from her surrogate sister Evie. It was a big change in such a short time, but Kleo knows she needs to adapt to survive, otherwise she will be chewed up and spit out by the press that has been following her all morning and afternoon!
They shout her name as she tries to, stealthily but fails, scurry across the front of the school's garden. She tries to run but the heels (Evie, Mal, and Tiger Peony practically held her down that morning to get them on her feet) she's in are limiting her escape. Kleo's back heel is digging into the grass, her journal (that was replaced from her old, beaten up one) almost slips out of her hand, along with her phone and her new (very expensive) purse Ben gave her two weeks ago. Kleo wants to go hide in a tree again but she doesn't think Evie will appreciate her ruining her shoes even more.
Kleo can't run anymore when the group of reporters corner her in front of Adam's statue. He's the Beast right now, and Kleo wants to turn into a Beast of her own herself. But she got scolded the last time she turned into a lion, scaring the group of reporters to death, nearly biting the leg off one of them. She shields her face from all the flashes of cameras as they irritate her eyes. They all shout questions at once.
"Kleo, please, over here! Kleo!" Not with all this flash.
"Only a few days to the Royal Cotillion. Ever think a girl like you would be Lady of the Court?" No. Never wanted to be anyway. Only doing this for Ben.
"How does it feel to be the most envied girl in Auradon?" Right now, terrible. Thanks for asking.
"Well, do you like having short hair?" I do, but I miss my big mane. Curse you Evie!
"Is Mal's mother still a lizard?" Yes, and why don't you corner her and ask her your damn self?
Kleo lets out a warning growl when someone grabs for her, but she turns to see Ben, almost shielding her from the reporter's invasive questions. "Okay. Alright. Excuse me. Uh, we will let you know if and when that particular situation changes." Ben wraps his arm around Kleo protectively, as she buried her face in his shoulder to shield her eyes from anymore flashing cameras.
"Please, make them go away, Ben," pleads Kleo. Ben rubs her back to soothe her irritation.
"We're done here," dismisses Ben. He then turns his back to the crowd of reporters as Fairy Godmother intervenes, trying to shoo the suffocating crowd away from the two teens. Ben then cups Kleo's face in his hands, brushing stray pieces of her from her face, black hair falling out of her tight bun.
"Why do they do that? Coming after me like vultures?" asks Kleo, sighing frustratedly.
Ben kisses her lips quickly, and then another. "They're just doing their job. Even when it can be overwhelming and very inconvenient at times."
"Like when they spooked me and I ran halfway across the school from them, jumping into a tree knowing I'll have trouble getting down."
"I've never seen you run so fast," chuckles Ben, kissing her temple. Kleo smiles, as he pulls her closer.
Fairy Godmother has gotten the crowd under control now. "Shoosh, shoosh. This is still a school, so if you're here either skipping or trespassing." She shuts down anyone trying to poorly reason with her, motioning towards the opposite direction of the king and his girlfriend.
"Thank you, guys," says Ben.
"Thank you. Thank you. Go away," says Kleo, happy they're gone now. Thank you, Fairy Godmother!
Fairy Godmother turns to them. "Kleo. Ben."
"Fairy Godmother," they both say. And then Fairy Godmother is off.
"Glad that's over," huffs Kleo.
"I'm glad I came when I did. My princess needed saving."
"Oh, really," says Kleo, raising her eyebrows and then smiling a bit mischievously. "Because the last time I checked, I was saving you, your highness."
Ben's face turns red for a moment before he steals a kiss from Kleo as she chuckles. When they break, he says, "You know, maybe we should do something. We should go somewhere. Get away."
"Perhaps a continuation from last night's adventures," says Kleo, coyly. Her hands creep from his chest to the top of his belted slacks. Ben's face grows a bit redder as he halts her hands and stumbles on his words a bit. Last night, Kleo persuaded him to take a break from his king duties, guiding him into an intense make out session that left him a little hot and bothered and begging for more. They were seconds away from ripping each others clothes off when Ben insisted on waiting a little longer.
"Maybe―I'm not sure―um," he glances at his watch and cups her hands in his. "I have a council meeting. I'm so late!"
"Oh, whoops! I'm sorry, Ben," says Kleo.
"No, no, I'm sorry too―I just forgot!" he kisses the corner of her lips. "We'll figure something out for later."
A harsh tug pulls Kleo back from Ben, as she loses her footing, Ben tries to steady her. Evie, accessories tiara's and blue hair and dresses, has rudely interrupted the couple. Kleo has been avoiding Evie as well, attempting to get out of her fitting for Cotillion. No matter how many times Kleo complained about how itchy or tight her blue and gold dress was, Evie would bark at her to stop complaining and suck it up.
"If we don't do a fitting for your gown right this minute, you'll be dancing in your bathrobe? Okay?" says Evie.
"That doesn't sound too bad," says Kleo, trying to get out of Evie's death grip.
"Yes, it does!" practically exclaims Evie. She looks at Ben and gives him a smile. "Hi. Hello." She turns back to Kleo. The look she has is telling Kleo not to cross her anymore. "Let's go, Kleo." Evie drags the lioness off as she waves the king goodbye.
✧
Kleo feels like the dress she's in gets tighter every time she puts it on. Or, maybe because Evie won't stop tightening and re-tightening it every five seconds. Evie had been going non-stop with her dressmaking. She's made quite a profit off the student body at Auradon. There were a bunch of dresses in every color hanging on multiple racks in she and Mal's bedroom.
"Alright, Evie!" says Kleo, taking in a sharp breath. Evie just tighten the living daylights out the back of her dress. "Calm down back there. I think my bellybutton is saying hello to my spine. Geez, I can't fucking breath!"
"Stop complaining. You can breathe after Cotillion," dismisses Evie. She then gives Kleo a disapproving look at her colorful choice of words. "No cursing, Kleo. You know how Ben feels about you and your potty mouth!"
"What he doesn't know won't hurt him," grumbles Kleo. She's been trying to cut back on her cursing. It was another thing she has been scolded on. Evie has told her that that language was frowned upon now that she was on her way to becoming Lady of the Court. Frankly, Kleo could care less. Saying how she felt was something she needs after her roller-coaster of emotions six months ago.
Ever since she became Lady of the Court, or more specifically Ben's girlfriend, people have been expecting a lot from her. To become more Auradonian and less of the girl from The Isle. And that's something she's been struggling with. So many things have been added to her daily agenda since she became Ben's girlfriend and they have been chewing at her mind like a maggot. Of course, she has gone through with everything she had to attend to with Ben, it was just too much in such a short amount of time.
The bedroom door is hastily thrown open and in comes Mal a bit disheveled. She looks completely different than she did six months ago. No longer sporting her short purple hair, long bleach blonde locks with light purple tips are in its place. She doesn't wear her dark Isle clothes anymore, retiring her leather jacket that hangs on the coat rack, has opted for pastel dresses. She's changed her appearance to fit in more. And to stop being trashed on in the tabloids ever since she and Tiger Peony (Kleo's roommate) started dating. Since Tiger Peony is considered a princess (her mother, Tiger Lily, is Chief-tess of the natives in Peter Pan), the reporters had been hunting her down as well. And she isn't handling it any better than Kleo. Actually, she's handling it worse than Kleo.
"How do you do this, Kleo?" asks Mal, out of breath and red in the face. She flops down on her bed, pushing aside some blue and gold fabric.
"How do I do what, Mal? Breathe in this dress? I'll tell you when I figure it out myself," wheezes Kleo. She winces when Evie, harshly, straightens her slouching shoulders.
"Deal with the press and all the questions and remembering events and just being perfect! How do you it and how do you do it so well?" asks Mal, trying to calm herself down.
"What? Are you jealous?" asks Kleo, teasingly. Mal gives her a look. Kleo laughs but is pinched by Evie to stop. "I don't know really. I try not to stress about it even though I want to cry every time someone adds something to the agenda. Just focus on one thing at a time."
"Well, I sincerely doubt I can't not stress about this. I have at least twenty more events after Cotillion, and I can't even remember what a single one of them is." Mal looks like she's about to cry. Kleo would go and hug her friend but she thinks Evie will break her neck if she tries moving while she works.
"Just breathe, Mal―unlike me," says Kleo, messing with the ruffles in her dress.
Evie finally emerges from the back of Kleo's dress and examines it. She looks quite satisfied. "Impeccable."
"Kleo? Evie?" asks Mal, finally calming down. Evie hums while Kleo clicks her tongue. "Do you guys ever think about what we'd be doing if we were back on The Isle right now?"
"A little," mumbles Kleo.
"That's funny," chuckles Evie. Evie's attention turns to the TV when she spots Kleo and Ben on it. They're dressed in traditional Arab clothing while eating with Jasmine, Aladdin, and their son Aziz. "Ah! Look who's on TV," Evie cups Kleo's face like a mother would when, annoyingly, adoring their child.
Kleo, playfully, swats her away while taking a seat on Evie's bed, staring at the TV:
"As the royal couple continues their tour of the kingdom, they dined with Sultan Jasmine, Aladdin and prince Aziz. Six months ago, no one thought King Ben and his girlfriend from the wrong side of the bridge would last. Kleo must be counting the days until Royal Cotillion when she will officially become a Lady of the Court."
Kleo lets out a drawn-out sigh as she tries to itch that annoying itch inside her tight dress. "Dumb thing."
"That 'dumb thing' will make you look good at Cotillion―Kleo stop! You'll mess it up! Kleo!" Evie scurries her way over to her lioness best friend, helping her take the dress off. Kleo briefly flashes her friends with her breasts before finding her bra on the other side of Mal's bed. Putting it on, as Evie hangs up Kleo's Cotillion dress, she notices Mal pull out two books from her bedside: a regular book to help her for a future event and her spell book. She flips to a page in her spell book and then grabs the regular book.
"'Read it fast at lightning speed. Remember everything I need,'" incantates Mal on the normal book.
"Hey!" shouts Kleo, slipping on her dress. "If Mal can do magic then I should be able to cuss."
"No!" scolds Evie. Evie looks ready to start spraying Kleo with water... again. "I know Mal's secret to fitting in," says Evie, almost in a singsong voice. "and I don't think Peony would appreciate you doing it. Haven't you two had enough secrets already? And, Kleo, why haven't you told Peony about this!"
"Simple: snitches get stitches," shrugs Kleo, laying down on Evie's bed.
"Thank you," mumbles Mal. Evie rolls her eyes. "Evie, you and Kleo remember what I was like before I started using my spell book. I mean, I was a complete disaster."
"And you still are," grins Kleo. Mal throws a pillow at her and she catches it, adding it to the other pillow for more support.
"Well, personally, as your best friend, I strongly believe that this spell book―" Evie snatches the book from Mal's possession. Mal pouts. "It belongs in the museum, along with my mirror. Don't give me that face. Put the pout away. Mm-hmm. You know I'm right."
"You guys don't ever miss running wild and just breaking the rules?" asks Mal, abruptly.
"Like stealing and lying and fighting?" asks Evie, in disbelief of Mal. How could she say that?
"I do miss making Kato angry with me," nods Kleo. Evie shoots her a look and Kleo frowns.
"Yeah!" exclaims Mal, smiling at Kleo. Someone gets it.
"No!" says Evie.
"What?" her smile falls.
"Why would we? M, come here," Evie holds onto Mal's arms to look at her. "Look at where we are. We're in Auradon―"
"Peponi!" exclaims Kleo, in Swahili. "Paradise!"
"What Kleo said! And we're Auradon girls now."
Gross.
"Since Kleo revealed her love for sweets, she has received hundreds of homemade recipes of sweets from her admirers. Here she is enjoying a cozy bite..." says the TV. It turns to a clip of Kleo feeding Ben a bite of her chocolate cake.
"See," Evie's eyes sparkle at the sight of Kleo so in love with Ben. "this is the land of opportunity. We can be whatever we want to be here. So, please, let's just leave the past in the past, okay?" A new shoe she designed for Kleo's dress catches her eye. She admires her work. "Besides, I mean, look at the shoes. Look at them." Evie shoves the shoe in Mal's face, then Kleo's face.
Kleo nods. "Mm. Severe."
✧
AUTHOR'S NOTE: this chapter is kinda short but i needed to get part two started. hope you enjoyed!