"I hate this."
Ruby had her arms crossed over her chest, a glare firmly plastered on her face and directed at her four supposed friends. Said friends all let out sighs at hearing another one of Ruby's complaints. They were well aware of her hatred towards their plan, but they really didn't have any other options.
"Ruby, you know this is the only way. We have to do this." Mal rolled her eyes. In her opinion, their red-haired friend was being a bit overly difficult.
"No, this is not the only way. You or Evie could do this as well. Hell, with the love spell, I'm sure Carlos and Jay can pull it off too. Yet, you're making me do this, so let me reword my previous statement: I hate you lot for making me do this."
"We voted on this, Rubes. You'll have to suck it up and deal with it." Mal huffed. Ruby huffed and sat down on a chair across from Mal and Evie.
"You know what? Fine. But don't expect any help from me on this. You can figure out the love spell all on your own because I have to do the worst part anyway." Ruby got out a bottle of blood-red nail polish and started painting her nails to emphasize that they really could just sod off and figure it out themselves.
Mal and Evie shared a look and started making the batter for the love potion, while Carlos and Jay just snickered quietly, amused by Ruby's defiance.
By the time Ruby had finally painted her nails to perfection, the other VKs had nearly finished the batter. The only thing they still needed was a tear of human sadness. Ruby snorted at hearing it but didn't comment. Instead, she blew on her nails to dry them. Her friends were being difficult about the tear, which Ruby didn't mind at all. The more they argued, the bigger her chances of not having to act like Ben's girlfriend became.
Ruby only paid attention when Evie began explaining the difference between an emotional and a reflect tear, showing off her brains instead of beauty for once. Ruby smiled a little. She never liked it when Evie acted dumb, she was much better when she acted to her intelligence.
The door behind Ruby opened, stopping her from blowing her nails and making her turn around. A girl with long brunette locks and pink PJs had entered the kitchen, her eyes lighting up when she saw Mal.
"There you are Mal. I've been looking for you everywhere. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair." She paused and looked at the cookie batter. "Midnight snack?" She guessed. She dipped her finger in the batter and tasted it despite the numerous calls for her not to. Ruby hadn't attempted to stop the girl, instead she stood up with a smirk and waited for something to happen. "What? I'm not gonna double dip."
"Feel anything?"
"Yeah, like it might be missing something?" Mal quickly added to Evie's question. The girl, who Ruby only now remembered to be called Lonnie, looked confused. Jay saw this as his chance and stepped forwards. He tried flirting with her, hoping that the love spell would give him an edge, but alas, it hadn't worked. The others sighed in relief, while both Jay and Ruby were disappointed, both for different reasons though.
"It could use some chips," Lonnie answered Mal's question.
"And those are...?" Mal asked, less than interested in the answer.
"Chocolate chips. Just the most important food group." Ruby watched as Lonnie grabbed something from the fridge. She showed them a bowl of dark brown drops, which didn't look familiar to Ruby. She stole one from the bowl, mindful of her still wet nail polish, and tastes it. The sweet thing melted on her tongue and Ruby found herself liking the taste a lot more than she had expected. Lonnie put a handful of the chips in the batter, getting strange looks from Mal and Evie.
"Wait... didn't your Moms ever make you, like, chocolate chip cookies?" Lonnie asked. Ruby's smile faded a bit at the question and the others wore similar expressions to hers. Lonnie continued, "Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven with a big ole glass of milk and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and..."
All remains of a smile melted from Ruby's expression like the chocolate chip on her tongue. Her gaze dropped to the counter and her hand subconsciously reached up to her neck. Another scarf was hiding her skin there, but Ruby knew what it was hiding. She could imagine the jagged skin vividly. Her mother didn't make her cookies, never made her laugh, and certainly never made her feel better. Her Mom did the exact opposite.
"...why are you all looking at me like that?"
"It's just different where we're from," Mal muttered.
"Yeah, I know. I just thought... even villains love their kids..." Ruby looked up at the mention of love. It was a strange concept to her. A concept she knew very little about. Lonnie looked around at their faces and seemed to realize what all the VKs had been thinking.
"Oh... How awful." Ruby saw a tear escape Lonnie's eye and after a second, she realized why. It was a tear of human sadness. Lonnie was sad for them—something Ruby found strange but undoubtedly true. Ruby had reached up to wipe the tear away and discreetly flicked it into the bowl.
Mal saw and hid her smirk. She quickly ushered Lonnie out of the kitchen despite Lonnie's confused protest. Evie mixed the batter as quick as she could.
"Okay, boys, cookie sheet. Evie, oven." Mal instructed. She then turned to Ruby and smirked. "I thought you weren't going to help us." Ruby glared.
"Well, apparently you're hopelessly lost without me stepping in. You idiots were going to let the opportunity slip through your fingers." Mal just kept smirking.
"You helped."
"Shut up."
. . . . .
The following morning had come way too soon in Ruby's opinion. Carlos and Jay had come into the girls' dorm to go over the plan, both carrying sports bags for their tourney match later on that afternoon. It was a Saturday and that meant tourney, which excited the whole school for some reason Ruby didn't understand but didn't care about.
She had more important matters on her mind, like how she was supposed to give Ben a love cookie later that same day. She loathed the whole plan and had tried to pick holes in it all morning.
She had, for example, told them that it was in no way plausible for Ruby to have made cookies. It just didn't make sense. Ruby was in no way, shape, or form the baking type. She reminded them of this and said that Ben, whilst gullible, would never buy it. Ruby's friends had to agree, which is why Evie was now going to offer the cookies along with Ruby and would move out of the way before they took effect, ensuring that Ben would fall for Ruby.
Ruby had then decided that she had never hated her friends more.
She had been in a sour mood all morning. She had delayed their plans several times, so much so that it was now afternoon and the tourney match was going to start in an hour. Mal had finally put her foot down, which was why Ruby was now standing at Evie's side near Ben, who was talking to Chad. Surprisingly, Audrey was nowhere in sight, which Ruby didn't mind in the slightest.
Mal was a little way further from the two girls who were about to spell Ben, talking to Jay about something. Jay moved over to a bunch of giggling girls, but Ruby ignored all of it. She was still trying to come up with a way so that she wouldn't have to do this. Everything inside her was against the idea of spelling Ben to be in love with her. Even Ruby didn't fully understand all the reasons why. All she knew was that she didn't want to and that was enough for her to push back.
"You ready?" Evie whispered, pulling Ruby from her thoughts. Ruby glanced over the blue-haired princes' shoulder at Ben. Chad was just leaving and this was their chance. Ruby turned back to Evie with a dry smile.
"No."
Evie rolled her eyes at the response and grabbed Ruby's hand, dragging her towards Ben. "Come on, Rubes."
Ben saw the duo coming his way and smiled like always. Ruby had to wonder how his cheeks didn't hurt from it.
"Hey, Ben." Evie smiled happily in return. Ruby rolled her eyes and gave the prince a nod.
"Beastie Junior," she greeted. Evie squeezed her hand tightly in reproach, while Ben didn't seem bothered in the slightest.
"Hi, girls. What can I do for you?"
"Oh, well actually, it's what I can do for you." Evie smiled slyly, reciting the agreed-upon lines. "I made a batch of cookies yesterday. Chocolate chip. I didn't even know it was a flavour. First batch I ever made and their so delicious. Do you want one?"
Evie's over-excitement was very well-played, Ruby had to admit. It was definitely more convincing than anything she could've come up with. It seemed to work as well, seeing how Ben's smile softened a bit.
"That's great, Evie, but I've got a big game and I don't eat before a big game. But thank you. Thank you so much! Next time. Definitely," Ben said. Evie faked an upset pout, her happy smiled faded. Now it was Ruby's turn.
She scoffed at Ben's words and grabbed Evie's hand to pull her away. "I told you he wouldn't take one, E. Nice try, but Auradon kids will never take any food from us. I mean, who knows? Maybe we've poisoned it or something because we're just that awful."
"Hey, hey. No that's not it," Ben objected. He grabbed onto Ruby's free hand to stop the two princesses from walking away. Ruby raised an eyebrow, while Evie kept her upset look plastered on her face.
Ruby scoffed again, "Isn't it, though?"
"No, no, really! I just—" Ruby ignored Ben's sputters of protest and turned away once more.
"Come on, Evie. I'm sure Jay and Carlos will want to try one of these." Ruby said, grabbing one of the cookies in Evie's bag and holding it up as example.
Ben, feeling as if he had to prove his trust in them, grabbed the cookie from Ruby's hand and took a bite. "See. I totally trust you. It's delicious, Evie."
Ben was looking at Evie as the spell started working. Evie's eyes widened in panic, but luckily Mal had noticed as well.
"E! Come help me!" Mal called. Evie didn't know how fast she had to spin around on her heels and rush to Mal's side, leaving Ruby as the only person Ben could focus on. Ruby was a tad disappointed but knew there was no going back now, so she finally gave into the plan and accepted what had to happen.
She took a step forward, lessening the space between her and Ben significantly. She raised an eyebrow up at Ben, who was still taller despite her heels. Ben looked awestruck as he gaped at Ruby.
"So, you do take treats from villain kids, huh?"
"I trust you. Really, I do." Ben nodded, his voice trailing off as he stared at the beautiful redhead in front of him.
Ruby hummed, smiling a bit, "I don't know if I should call you brave or stupid for that."
"Your smile is beautiful, did you know that?" Ben asked seemingly entranced. Ruby ignored his comment like she did the light blush that appeared on her cheeks.
"So, what do you think?" Ruby asked. She nodded her head towards the cookies. Ben either didn't notice or pretended not to, for he answered,
"I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever met. You're fierce and amazing and you're so strong-willed, and-"
"Okay!" Ruby interrupted, putting her hands in front of Ben's mouth. "I think that's enough compliments. You've got a match to win if I'm not mistaken." Ruby took the cookie from Ben's hand and shooed him off with the other. Ben grabbed onto that hand and kissed it softly.
"Then I will win it for you."
"Yeah, great. Thanks. Bye," Ruby said. She was uncomfortable and slightly nauseated by Ben's overly sweet and romantic behaviour. Ben finally left with Carlos and Jay in tow and Mal and Evie joined Ruby's side. The first thing the princess did was throw away that damned cookie.
"Nice going, Rubes." Mal smirked.
"I feel like I'm gonna throw up. That was sickening."
"No, that was sweet. He was so cute," Evie gushed. Ruby shot her a look.
"You've got to be kidding me."
"She isn't. But let's go. Your boyfriend is going to win this game for you," Mal teased. Her and Evie laughing at Ruby's expression. The redhead let out a groan as she let her friends pull her towards the sport fields.
"Oh, Underland, don't even start with the b-word."
Mal and Evie simply laughed more, while Ruby truly felt like she was going to be sick. Nothing about this felt right and it was making her feel like she was going to throw up any second now. The trio reached the stands and Ruby halted.
"You two go ahead. I'm gonna get some water."
"Alright, but hurry up. The game's about to start," Evie said. Mal dragged Evie up the stands and Ruby turned around to get herself a cup of water.
She halted in her tracks, however, when an angry, upset Audrey appeared in front of her. Audrey's hands were balled in fists and if Ruby didn't know better, she'd say that the pink princess had been crying. Ruby just raised an eyebrow at the girl.
"You ruined everything," Audrey hissed. Ruby wasn't impressed.
"I tend to do that a lot. You'll have to be more specific."
"You ruined my life."
"And how could I have possibly done that, princess?" Ruby did not have the patience for this and rolled her eyes at the vague statement. Audrey took a step closer, jabbing a manicured finger in Ruby's direction as she glared.
"You stole Ben from me." Now that wasn't something Ruby expected the cheerleader to say. Of course, it was true, but there was no way Audrey knew about that already. Was there? She had only given Ben that cookie fifteen minutes ago and as far as she knew, Jay and Carlos had hauled him off to the lockers. Ben couldn't have told Audrey anything yet, could he? Either way, Ruby figured it was best not to admit to anything and play it innocent—or as innocent as she could manage.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I think you're losing a bit of sanity, princess. And believe me, when even I point it out, you know you're going down the rabbit hole."
"Oh, stop playing games. You know exactly what you did. Flirting with him and stuff. Don't play dumb, Ben told me this morning. Said that he'd fallen for someone else and that we couldn't be together anymore. That someone being you, of course! You ruined everything!"
Ruby opened her mouth to retaliate, but froze before she could. Something Audrey had said, struck her.
"Wait. Hold up. Ben dumped you this morning?"
"Yes!"
Ruby had never been more shocked in her life. She only spelled Ben this afternoon and if he dumped Audrey this morning, that means that... No, it wasn't possible. Maybe Ben dumped her for another, but there was no way that it was for her.
"For me? He said that?"
"Well, no. Not immediately. But oh, I had my suspicions alright. I knew it was you, so I asked him and he admitted it. Now, I don't know what you did to him or how you got your hooks into him, you evil, deranged witch, but I'm going to find out." Audrey snapped. She took a deep breath to calm down and looked Ruby up and down in disgust. "God, I don't know how he could've ever fallen for someone like you." She huffed before storming off to the cheer team. Ruby blinked.
"You and me both, princess. You and me both."