4 months. The life inside of Mal was finally 4 months old. 4 months old and their father still had no idea they existed. Harry had distanced himself completely after their talk, keeping their interaction to a minimum. Mal's heart ached for him whenever their eyes instinctively met but he always looked away within seconds; this was her punishment, she felt as though she were Prometheus. Her heart felt as though it had been ripped from her more times than she could count.
"Happy 4 months, baby," Mal whispered, rubbing her hand over her stomach. She hadn't needed the enchantment to conceal her pregnancy previously but as Mal's hand travelled the expanse of her stomach to felt her hand undulate over the forming bump. Mal bit her lip as a smile formed and tears burned in her eyes.
Her intimate moment was broken seconds later when a wave of nausea hit her. She ran to the en suit before throwing up whatever she had been able to stomach yesterday. Mal's body had been playing up frequently meaning she could barely keep any food down long enough to digest. Evie had been with her every second, helping Mal and comforting her as her head hung over every toilet bowel around the school.
As if on cue, Evie padded into the bathroom seconds later, pulling Mal's hair back into a ponytail and rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"Took you long enough," Mal grumbled as she sat herself against the side of the bath, her body seemingly done with vomiting up the contents of her stomach.
Evie pulled the flush before she stood to grab Mal a glass of water. This was their new routine and it ran like clockwork every morning. "Good morning to you to, Mal," Evie chuckled, handing her the glass before kneeling down so she was eye line with Mal's stomach, "Good morning to you too, babe. It's Auntie Evie here. Happy 4 months," Evie whispered, kissing Mal's stomach, causing her to let out a giggle.
Soon enough the girls were getting ready for the day. Evie wore a red plaid skirt paired with an oversized navy sweater and a pair of red wrap around heels. Mal always smiled whenever Evie got ready in the morning. It always looked she was going to Paris Fashion Week, not an 8 hour school day. Mal lounged on her bed until Evie picked her outfit out and threw it at her. Her outfit was a plain white tee worn under a lilac sweater vest paired with a white tennis skirt and some white sneakers.
10 minutes later they walked out of their room holding all their supplies for school. They had missed breakfast that morning, once again due to Mal's incessant nausea, so when they met Carlos in the hallway before Chemistry he had handed Evie a croissant and some orange juice.
Evie smiled in thanks, "You are a fucking lifesaver, thank you!" she kissed his cheek and began to eat her breakfast before class started. Carlos gave Mal a slight frown causing Mal to roll her eyes and pull out a pack of salty crackers, she always carried around in her bag, and a bottle of water. Carlos nodded, content that Mal was properly fuelling her body before Mr Gepetto came barrelling down the hall, shouting his apologies, ushering them into the labs.
As the trio walked into the classroom, Mal silently surveyed all the seats, sighing when she saw that Ben wasn't in class today. They seated themselves at the back and waited for class to begin.
It was lunch before they knew it and the trio stood by Evie's locker waiting for Jay to arrive before heading to the cafeteria. As they stood around chatting about anything and everything Mal's gaze lifted in time to see Harry striding down the hall probably going to find Gil. Whenever Harry was in the school halls people jumped to get out of his way as if he was going to snap at any moment; Mal inwardly laughed as a first-year squealed when she saw him. As if on instinct his eyes met hers and his stride faltered slightly. Mal smiled and gave him a small wave, genuinely happy to finally see him today. Harry simply turned his head and kept walking, the only acknowledgement of Mal's existence being a forming scowl on his features as he walked off.
Mal inhaled sharply, she felt like she'd been punched in the gut. Evie put an arm around her shoulder, rubbing Mal's arm lightly.
"E, I can't keep doing this," Mal sputtered, "It's all my fault."
"Okay, M," Evie muttered, "Carlos we'll meet everyone later at lunch. Go find Jay and then make sure the pirates aren't getting themselves in any trouble. If I find out that anything has happened I will hold you accountable, De Vil," The two girls strode off towards the girls' bathroom before Carlos had the chance to answer, leaving him gaping and unsure of what to do now.
Carlos found himself standing at the edge of the VK table glaring at an oblivious pirate hoping that he burst into flames. Harry had been shovelling food into his mouth, it was chicken nuggets today and they were decidedly his favourite, when he finally looked to see Carlos' seething figure.
"Jeez, what's got your knickers in a twist, mate?" Harry said, wincing at the stare he was getting from the smaller boy. He could almost feel the heat burning into his soul, "Fuck sake. What have I done now?"
"What is your problem, Hook?" Carlos growled, "What? You mope about Mal for months and when you finally got a chance to be with her again you ignore her like she doesn't exist. Do you know what that does to a girl? Do you know what I now have to deal with?" Carlos finished by hitting his head on the table.
"What?" Harry said, very confused by the fast-speaking boy in next to him, "I did not mope ab-"
"Just answer the question, Hook."
"It's for her own good. Yeah, I was pissed off she left me for a Prince, and yeah maybe I still am. But I'm avoiding her so she can find a guy who isn't like me. She deserves way better than what I can give her. So, yeah I'm fucking leaving her alone; she can get back with Beasty boy and have a good life without me," Harry said, pushing what was left on his plate with his fork, avoiding eye contact.
"Are you fucking serious?" Carlos exclaimed, dramatically, "Do you know how miserable Mal was before? When she was with Ben, he fucking drained her of life. Constantly telling her to look and act different and criticising everything she did. You know, he kept comparing her to his ex. Fucked up, I know. And when they weren't putting on a show for the press he barley even acknowledged her presence, summoning her when he needed her. Don't even get me started on what the press were saying about her. We had to ban her from reading that shit," Carlos was loosing his breath while talking and Harry was staring at him in disbelief. He did not know that. "And when Mal broke up with him he called her a 'charity case' and basically called her worthless."
Harry's nostrils flared in anger. What the fuck is wrong with the guys here? First the charming kid now beasty boy?
Carlos took in a deep breath and continued to loudly whisper the facts to Harry, "So Hook, don't go telling me that Mal will be happier with the pricks here in Auradon than she would be with you. She needs you okay? Back on the isle, I may not have known you were dating, but she was at her happiest. And when she found out you were here, there was this fire in her eyes that I hadn't seen in a fucking while. So please, get your head out of your ass and tell that girl how you feel. Cause watching you ignore her for these past few weeks has been extremely painful for everyone because I don't think Mal has ever loved someone like she loves you," Carlos' breathing had increased by tenfold as he finally relaxed into his chair and began to eat his lunch.
Harry just sat in shock as his brain processed all of this new information. The table finally began to fill up when Gil sat next to Harry and slapped his back, snapping him back to reality. Harry smirked up at his friend and as lunch carried on he lent over to Carlos, "Thanks mini man, I fucking needed that," before turning back to Gil and continuing their conversation. Carlos just smiled to himself, satisfied with his work today.
Finally.
Evie and Mal were sat in a bathroom stall as Mal finally began to calm down from her meltdown. Evie was reapplying the makeup to Mal's face as Mal let her breathing even out.
"He'll come around, M," Evie said, giving her friend a sympathetic smile.
"But what if he doesn't, Evie?" Mal sniffed, "I'm pregnant with his baby and he doesn't even know."
"It'll all work out, babe, now come on. I am not missing another meal. We've got about 15 minutes left of lunch," Evie grinned, holding her hand out to her best friend. They strode off to go get Evie some lunch and for Evie to grab some snacks for Mal later.
Audrey stepped out from behind the door, mouth agape. What had she just over heard? She wasn't even trying to eavesdrop that time. She smirked as she applied a fresh coat of her lip gloss. Time to ruin lives, she thought, smiling to herself and formulating a plan.
Long chapter for me. 1600 words? Yessir. If you're still reading this book, thanks. I'm going to keep trying to find new YT edits cause they are literally so good :)