Marissa took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down as she walked to the library for her first tutoring session with Finn. It was hard enough to see him in the hallways, but now she was being forced to spend time with him! On the bright side it was bonus that Marissa could get extra time to make fun of him. She chuckled softly to herself at the thought of his annoyed face. NO! What are you thinking! No laughing, Marissa! This is strictly a part of the plan to get the Fairy Godmother's wand, take over Auradon, and finally gain mother's affection.
Marissa shoved all these weird feelings aside as she entered the library. She hadn't been told specifically where Finn would be so for the time being was searching around the shelves and tables for him. After nearly five or ten minutes of searching, Marissa saw him at the end of a long row of shelves, sitting at a two person table, looking down at a textbook.
Marissa walked over to the desk and dropped her books obnoxiously loud on the table, starling Finn. He jumped at the sound, and looked up only to come face to face with a smirking Marissa. "Aww," she said, pouting. "Did I scare the baby with the books?"
Finn rolled his eyes and closed the book he had been reading. He mocked a laugh. "Very funny, Marissa."
Marissa smiled victoriously and moved the books to the other side of the table. She looked down, noticing the lack of a chair. "Um, where's my chair?" Finn pointed to the seat next to him on his side of the table. Marissa rolled her eyes. "Is this another lame attempt to get me close to you?" she teased, smirking.
"Actually, I do this thing called tutoring, and usually it's better to have the student seated next to me so they're learning can improve." Marissa could feel the sarcasm dripping from every word he spoke. The corners of his lips turned into a small smirk. "But you can think whatever you want." He winked at her.
Marissa wanted so badly to gag at his flirting, but instead showed her lack of interest with a signature eye roll. She gathered her things and rounded the table, taking her seat next to Finn.
"Alright," he began. "Jiminy Cricket tells me that you aren't doing well with your math."
Marissa shrugged. "I guess not."
"Well do you know anything specifically that you're struggling with?"
"Is everything a reasonable answer?" Marissa asked him.
Finn chuckled softly. "Tell you what," he said, bringing out a piece of paper from his folder. He handed it to Marissa. "Why don't you go through and complete this worksheet. It'll give me an idea of where you're at and what we need to work on."
Marissa accepted the worksheet and nodded. Though she couldn't why Finn was acting so genuine. It may have just been because they were not working as enemies anymore, but as Tutor and Tutored. He probably just wanted to stay professional.
It took about thirty minutes before Marissa completed the sheet and handed it back to Finn who had been patiently waiting for her to finish. He looked it over before placing it in the middle of their table space so both of them could see the sheet.
"Well, you seem to understand the basics, like order of operations and that's huge in the world of math. But it looks like the first thing we should work towards is solving for a variable, because trust me, that will never go away."
Marissa nodded, and listened to Finn as he explained to her how to solve for a missing variable. Marissa was shocked by how much sense it made after just another hour with Finn.
"Not bad, Gothel. Not bad at all," he said when their lesson had finished.
Marissa smirked. "You weren't to bad yourself, Fitzherbert."
Finn smiled. "I don't think it'll take you to long to catch up with the rest of the class. I'd say another month or two of this and you'll be ready to get back into it."
Inside her mind, Marissa was smirking to herself. Another month, huh? In another month I'll be standing beside my mother in the ruins of Auradon. But at the exact moment she was thinking about her mother and Auradon, her heart got another feeling. It was like it had gotten all twisted and wanted to be ripped out of her chest. Marissa didn't know why her heart felt this way, but she wasn't sure if she liked it.
***
Auradon's clock struck 8, signaling the beginning of curfew hours. Marissa thought that 8 was a ridiculous time to start a curfew, but that was just Auradon doing what Auradon does best. Following rules.
Normally would like to spend time in her room, talking to Mal and Evie, but tonight she just wasn't feeling it. Not after today. She just needed time to herself. Grabbing her notebook off her nightstand, she hurried out into the hallway. She crept quietly through the dim lit hallways, slowly making her way to school's music wing.
She had heard people talk about it before, but never wanted to go down their during school hours, in fear of being seen. As a villain kid, it wasn't exactly a good thing to be seen in such a place. If news like that were to ever reach the Isle, Marissa would become the laughing stock of the villain community.
For some reason though, she didn't seem to care. All the mattered was that she got a chance to sing to herself.
Marissa stalked down the hallway until she reached the last door, opening it to reveal a sound bounded room with dozens of musical instruments. She smiled at the sight of it.
It had been so long since Marissa had actually sung. Not since the incident when Evie had discovered she could sing. After that, Marissa swore she would never sing again, fearful that someone would discover her little secret. The only time she did was when her mother forced her to rehearse the magic healing incantation just so that she would never forget, should an opportunity coming knocking at the door.
Marissa opened her notebook, thumbing through the pages she had written of little moments of inspiration. Things that could become something, if given the time of day. Nobody knew about the book, though she had had it for years, hiding it from her mother at any cost. She knew exactly what her mother would say if she were to find out that her nasty little daughter was writing down her thoughts in a notebook.
Different emotions came flooding through her at once as she thought of different memories. Her mother, the Isle, the other Descendants, her father...
Marissa set the notebook on top of the piano, as words just came to her. Words so good that she couldn't even write them down if she tried. Instead, she began to sing them to herself:
When she finished, Marissa heard clapping from behind her. Startled, she turned around, shocked to see Finn, leaning on the door frame as he applauded her. Marissa was still stunned and couldn't shake the thought that someone had just caught her singing. And not just anyone. Finn Fitzherbert. The son of her mother's greatest enemy. The boy she couldn't stand with every nerve in her body.
"H-how long have you b-been standing there?" she stuttered, still shocked by his sudden appearance.
Finn stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled at her, slowly walking forward. "Long enough to hear that you have a beautiful voice," was his answer.
Marissa felt a crazy sensation of heat to come to her face. She wasn't sure if it was the compliment or the fact that Finn was wearing a skin tight shirt, but something was making her do that. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said, turning around, her arms crossed over her chest.
She heard Finn chuckle behind her, practically feeling his amused smirk radiating through the room. "Oh, yeah? Then what was that I just heard?"
Marissa hesitated. "It was... It, uh..."
"I'm waiting," Finn drawled slightly.
Marissa let out a sigh of frustration. "Fine! I was singing! I admitted it! Happy?" She was about to storm out of the room when she remembered her notebook was still sitting on the piano. She turned around to get it, but saw that Finn was leaning back on the piano, holding the notebook. He wore a smug expression.
"Forget something, Gothel?" he teased.
Marissa walked forwards, meeting him at the piano. She held out her hand expectantly. "Give me the book," she ordered.
Finn rubbed his chin, with is free hand. "Now why should I do that?" he asked no one in particular.
Marissa rolled her eyes. "Because I told you to."
He shook his head, still not looking at her. "No, I don't think that's a good enough reason." He looked down at her. "I'll tell you what. I'll give you your book back if you keep coming here to sing, allowing me to come and listen. But if you don't," he shrugged. "Well, I'll have to tell Fairy Godmother that you were breaking curfew."
Marissa was both shocked and the tiniest bit intrigued by him now. "Are you blackmailing me?" she asked, placing her hand over her heart in an offended sense. Finn smirked at her. "I never took you for the blackmailing type, Fitzherbert." She smirked back at him. "Not to bad for a rookie."
"I'm just full of surprises," he replied, subtly winking at her. There was a moment of silence. "So, we got a deal or not?"
Marissa bit her lip. It's not like she was afraid of getting in trouble, but Marissa had to keep a low profile, meaning Fairy Godmother couldn't find out she'd broken curfew. That meant she'd have to agree to the deal, for her book and for the future of the villains.
"Alright," Marissa sighed. "Deal."
I'm so excited about this chapter! I think it turned it really well :D
I'd love to hear what you guys think about Marissa and Finn now that you've gotten to see them interact through this chapter.