Mal sighed as she read the latest article about her; once again criticizing her short purple hair and her leather clothing. Couldn't these people come up with any new material to write about?
Well, it could be worse. They could still be writing about the horrible interview she gave two weeks ago. Though, let's be frank, if you're going to ask a stupid question about holiday traditions on the Isle, then you should expect a blank stare in return.
Mal gave an inward shudder as she thought about the hours of post interview lectures she had gone through by people who were supposed to make adjusting to royal life easy. Honestly it just felt like a parole officer. If they had been members of the Learning to be Royal club, that would be one thing.
How had Ben done this his whole life? Mal thought with an inward sigh as she thought about her upcoming trip to Agrabah with Ben. People poking you, prodding you, trying to get you to be someone you're not?
But then again, the perfect prince persona was Ben. Mal couldn't remember a time where he let loose and made a little mischief—unless you counted giving the guards a day off when they went on their date.
"Knock knock," Evie said, breaking Mal out of her thoughts and the purple haired girl turned toward the door. Evie's brilliant smile dimmed a bit as she saw Mal sitting at her desk. "Please tell me you weren't here all holiday."
"No," Mal shook her head. "I spent some of it with Persephone and Hadie, the rest I spent with Rapunzel and Eugene. Rachel and I had a painting contest in one of the dungeon walls—Rapunzel had a friend called Variant who came up with this paint that washes off the wall. Rachel said we might be able to do it in the summer."
Evie smiled and Mal couldn't help but feel happy for her best friend. "I take it your holiday with Snow was uneventful?" Mal asked, taking in the newly tanned Evie. "One would think a princess with skin 'white as snow' would avoid the sun?"
"They make this stuff called sunscreen ," Evie shot back as she flung her suitcase on the bed. "Oh M, the place was amazing! I swear, the sand on the beaches were whiter than anything you could imagine! Emma and I went snorkeling—well after I learned how to swim of course..."
"Wait, you did what now?" Mal asked, sitting up straighter and knocking the paper off her lap.
"I know!" Evie grinned, turning to face Mal. "It took a bit of time before I was skilled enough to snorkel but once I was out there, oh Mal the fish looked like the ones on television. Moana took us on a tour of the reef afterwards—above water that time."
"Glad you had a fun time," Mal said, giving a brief smile while picking the newspapers up, tucking them under some of the books on her desk. Considering how everyone had acted when the first report came out, Mal didn't want Evie to know that they were still going on. "We should go sometime."
"We totally should," Evie nodded as she started to unpack her bag. "Oh! Girl's trip! You, me, Kitty, Emma, and Dizzy of course!"
Mal couldn't help but notice that her friend's good mood had dimmed a bit at the mention of Dizzy. Their younger friend had, for some reason, chosen to go back to the Isle and Mal just couldn't understand it. She would think of all the people from the Isle, Dizzy would be the last to willingly go back.
"Have you spoken to Ben since the holidays?" Evie asked, uncertainty audible in her voice as she continued to unpack her bag. Mal shook her head, turning away from Evie. There was only so long that she could watch someone unpack a suitcase.
Speaking of which, I should really unpack mine from when I visited Rapunzel and Eugene, Mal thought with an inward chuckle as she looked at her bag; half hidden under her bed.
"I haven't really spoken to anyone over the holidays," Mal told her. "Well, with the exception of Carlos but that was because I think he needed to geek out about the sheer number of dogs the Radcliffe's have."
"Trust me, I have about a thousand messages from Carlos that I still need to listen to," Evie said, plugging in her phone. "Of course he's the only one who bothered to call during the holiday. Do you know what Jay did on his vacation? Other than go to Agrabah I mean."
"Someone say my name?" Jay asked, popping his head in to their room; wearing a beanie that Mal had to assume was newly acquired as she had never seen it before. "Evie, looking good!"
"Thanks Jay!" Evie grinned. Jay turned to Mal and gave a small look of concern.
"Were you here this whole time?"
"Like the whole conversation or the whole holiday?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow as she leaned against the bedpost.
"The first one."
"No Jay, I just appeared like magic," Mal told him, rolling her eyes. Jay shook his head and plopped down on the non suitcase occupied side of Evie's bed.
"How was your holiday in Agrabah?" Evie asked and Jay grinned, leaning back on the bed. The former thief didn't even need words for the two girls to see how well his holiday went. Mal couldn't help feel a twinge of jealousy at how easy her friends were having it but she shoved it down as quickly as it came.
She could do this—maybe she just needed to talk to someone in the LTBR club, as she had started to call it in her mind?
The problem was who would be available. Tiana had just given birth over the holidays so she was out, at least until her home life was more stable. Cinderella had buried herself in projects to handle the stress of Dizzy going back and the council dragging their feet on Anastasia. Anastasia Romanov was pregnant herself with her second child and Dmitri was freaking out.
Anna was pregnant as well so Kristoff was out of the question, especially seeing as Akiho knew about the meetings. The last thing Mal wanted was for this to get back to Ben.
Aladdin was clearly too close to Jay for Mal to risk it getting back to her friends.
Belle was Ben's mother and had told Mal that if she ever needed to talk, she'd be available. But there was a line you didn't cross with your boyfriend's parents and talking about her fears of not being able to fit into Ben's world was certainly crossing that line.
Looking back, I could have talked to Rapunzel and Eugene but there just wasn't time over the holiday, Mal thought with an inward sigh. I've made it through worse scrapes than this. If anyone can figure this out, it'll be me.
"Oh, I can't believe I didn't tell you this sooner!" Evie exclaimed, turning to Mal as Carlos slipped into the room.
"What's up?" Carlos asked and Mal could hardly believe the change in her friend. He seemed more relaxed, and definitely healthier. At least it was clear that he had gotten three square meals a day and, unless her eyes were tricking her, the tiniest bit of muscle had started to appear on his arms based on how the shirt fit had changed.
Apparently, helping out with over one hundred Dalmatians was good for him. Who knew?
"Snow has given me a small amount of funding to start a clothing design business here at school!" Evie exclaimed, breaking Mal out of her thoughts. "I tried to insist on paying it back of course but even Ferdinand agreed it was a gift. Snow even got the mannequins from Rapunzel before we left for break and we got permission from Fairy Godmother so we can set up in the dorm!"
"Oh wow Evie! That's great!" Mal told her. Evie beamed, her eyes shining with delight.
"So Mal, I know you and Ben have that trip to Agrabah in the next couple of weeks. I'd love it if—"
"No."
"Please!" Evie begged, the light in her eyes still present. "It'd really help me spread the word of mouth about my business."
"Couldn't you just use the fact that you designed Mal's dress for coronation?" Carlos asked, plopping onto Mal's bed. Evie shook her head.
"Fashion is all about the present day," Evie told him. "Coronation was two months ago, at best. None of the fashion blogs are even talking about it anymore meaning it's old news. Please Mal?"
Mal sighed. "Fine. But only because it's you."
"Oh thank you Mal!" Evie grinned and shot off her bed. "I'm going to go sketch some designs for us to go over right now!"
With that, Evie almost bounced out of the room; Mal didn't even have the heart to make a quip at how Auradonian she was acting.
"Okay then," Jay chuckled as he got up. "I'm going to and snatch something from the kitchens and then I'm heading back to the room to see if I can beat my high score. You guys want anything?"
Carlos shook his head and Mal declined as well. "We're good. Thanks Jay."
"Any time," Jay said as he walked out of the room. Mal turned to Carlos, a little confused as to why the younger boy was still in the room. While she loved spending time with her friends, she would have thought Carlos would have gone straight to his video games especially with Jay threatening to monopolize the time on them.
"You okay?" Carlos asked, looking at Mal. "I saw the interview over the holidays. That was a train wreck."
"Yes, thank you Carlos," Mal sighed, running a hand through her hair and sat down in her desk chair. "Ben's already under a lot of stress being king. I don't want to add to it by being a horrible good girl, but that interviewer clawed at my last nerve. Of course we don't have holiday traditions on the Isle! We're lucky to get food more than once a day!"
"Have you talked to anyone?" Carlos asked, sitting up so that he was resting on his elbow. "I know you have the "Learning to be Royal" club—Anita's friends with some of the royals in there."
Mal shook her head. "They've all got their own lives, especially as most of them seem to be expecting or having babies. Last thing they'd want is the daughter of Maleficent around a newborn. Besides, if we went to an adult back on the Isle, we'd be labeled as weak."
"True," Carlos nodded, seemingly ignoring the comment Mal had made regarding her and newborns, and then sat up fully. "Oh, I wanted to talk to you about something. Something magic related."
Mal nodded, turning in her chair so that she was facing him. Mal wasn't going lie, she was genuinely curious what Carlos was going to ask her. "Shoot."
"I have feelings for Jane," Carlos said without any preamble and, at Mal's lack of surprise, kept going. "I figured it out over the holidays—Dalmatians are surprisingly good listeners. I tried to talk to her over the break. But every time I try to say something to her or tell her how I feel, I just get tongue tied. It's stupid."
"It's not magic related though," Mal pointed out, confusion settling in. "You know how many times Doug got tongue tied around Evie? Honestly we might have to thank Chad for stealing Evie's mirror because otherwise it would have been painful to watch Doug work up the nerve to ask Evie out."
"I know but you might be able to find a magic solution?" Carlos asked, his brown eyes shining, almost as if he was the dog begging for table scraps. "I don't want to blow my chance or have her only think of me as a friend."
"I don't know Carlos," Mal sighed and looked at the stack of newspapers on her desk. "If they catch a whiff of me doing anything that could be conceived as bad or evil, the jackals will pounce before Fairy Godmother could get out the first 'Bibbity'."
Thank goodness Ben and Fairy Godmother had worked to make sure that reporters could not get onto the school grounds. Unfortunately, that hadn't deterred the reporters whenever Mal stepped off school grounds. Hence why most of Mal's holiday was spent inside either the school or Rapunzel's castle.
Thankfully, Persephone was extremely terrifying when she needed to be and Rapunzel was rather threatening with a frying pan. The look on the one reporter's face when confronted with said pan was one of the highlights of Mal's holiday.
"Who said anyone has to find out?" Carlos asked. "I'm not asking for you to make a magic solution, only see if there is one. Please Mal?"
Mal sighed once more and nodded. It was tough to say no to Carlos, especially since he never really asked for anything. While that was common for the kids on the Isle, it went double for Mr. DeVil.
"I'll search for something," Mal said, and pointed her finger at Carlos. "That's it. I'm not promising any results."
"That's more than what I could ask for Mal," Carlos said with a beaming grin. "I got to go—I promised Jay I'd help him with Swords and Shields now that Tourney season's done."
"Why would he need help?" Mal asked, causing Carlos to chuckle.
"You mean he didn't tell you?" Carlos asked, as he realized Mal was still staring at him. "Oh man, Jay. He really kept a lid on it over the holidays, didn't think he'd be able to. When he told me, he and Emir were geeking out over the phone. Thought they'd burst my eardrum."
"What is it?" Mal growled. She didn't really like being kept out of the loop like this.
"Jay got the captain spot for Swords and Shields this year," Carlos said with a smile so large his face was in danger of breaking, and Mal honestly felt shocked yet happy for her friend. Jay had never seemed like the 'captain' type but at the same time, Mal knew he'd be a good fit.
"Good for him," Mal said, brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes. "We'll have to celebrate later. A true Isle celebration though."
"What about the jackals?"
"Screw 'em," Mal said with more confidence than she felt. It must have fooled Carlos as he smirked in response and walked out the door. As the door to her room closed, Mal could feel the wall she had built around her friends slowly crumble down.
There had to be a way to get some of the stress to end. Maybe Carlos was right—maybe there was a magical solution.
"Well might as well see if there's anything for him. Certainly better than rereading these articles," Mal muttered as she pulled out her mother's spell book from the top drawer of her dresser. A truth spell or potion would certainly be something 'evil' enough to make it in there. Flipping through the pages, Mal paused upon seeing the hair spell she had performed on Jane. It honestly felt like a lifetime ago.
"I wonder..." Mal muttered as she walked over to the mirror, book still in her hand as she stared at her reflection. "No. It's not worth it. Besides, the reporters aren't idiots despite trying to act like it. They'd be able to figure out a magical makeover."
Turning from the mirror and walking back toward her bed, Mal accidentally bumped into her desk chair; knocking some of the newspapers off her desk. Groaning, Mal bent down to pick them up and paused as she saw her picture splashed all over their front pages.
She didn't need to read the articles to know their contents; she had poured over them constantly. Each time she thought she had fixed an issue, a new one would be reported on. Her posture wasn't straight enough, she looked too ridged, she seemed way too friendly, she didn't seem friendly enough, she seemed to love to get into trouble. Not to mention the constant comparisons of her hair to other princesses of Auradon.
"To hell with it," Mal growled, tossing the paper over her shoulder and standing back up. Turning on her heel, Mal stared at her reflection in the mirror.
"Beware, forswear, replace the old with long, blonde hair," Mal said and quickly did the necessary finger motion before she could talk herself out of it. Before she could blink, her head started to turn on its own and as the dizziness faded, Mal was amazed to see an almost platinum blonde reflection staring back at her.
"I can't believe I did that," Mal whispered, staring at her reflection in shock. Her hair was about shoulder length and from a glance looked like it could easily be put up into a bun or left down without anyone commenting on it.
"Okay, that was the only use of magic," Mal promised, still looking at her reflection. It was almost like looking at a completely different person. "At least for me. Now, back to what I was doing."
But there was something wrong with the hair. It didn't look right, at least to Mal's judgement. She missed the purple—it was a part of her. As well, and this would sound odd, but it was also a connection to her mother. To the Isle.
Now granted she still had her mother but it was hard to remember as currently her mother was living as a lizard in a fish tank on her dresser. Not the best for mother daughter relationships.
Muttering a quick spell, Mal smirked as she saw about an inch of purple color creep up her hair and stop.
"There," Mal sighed. Maybe that would be enough to keep the reports at bay for a week or so. She knew Persephone would willingly go to Zeus if Mal asked but this was a battle she could fight. Besides, it might make things harder for Ben if his girlfriend's uncle blew up a newspaper office. Even if it was one as sleazy as the Gazelle.
"Okay, back to work," Mal muttered as she plopped on her bed. The thing about long hair? It likes to plop with you so Mal was quite startled to see a sea of blonde in front of her eyes instead of her mother's spell book.
"That was odd," Mal grumbled, brushing the hair out out of her eyes. That will certainly be something to get used to. Flipping through the spell book, Mal couldn't help but feel more and more frustrated upon not coming up with anything.
"Seriously mother?" Mal growled as she slammed the book shut upon reaching the end, whacking it on the mattress for good measure. "Was a truth potion not evil enough for you? Or did you think you just intimidated everyone into telling you the truth?"
Looking back, that probably was the case. As long as Maleficent didn't sing to them, she was genuinely scary in her own right. A truth potion might seem more up the Evil Queen's aisle considering her penchant for potions and elixirs. Maybe Evie had heard her mom talk about a truth potion at some point?
Mal shook her head, remembering the disapproval Evie had sent her during the viewing when she changed Jane's hair with magic. Even though this was for Carlos, Evie still might not approve. Especially if it messed with their chances at staying in Auradon.
Mal shook her head; it was weird but a small part of her missed the Isle. There, you didn't have to follow any rules or protocols because no one cared about that. Kids were allowed to run wild and act up. Here, the only roughhousing that was allowed was on the sports team and rule breaking got you in detention—or in Mal's case, the front page.
She loved being with Ben but she wasn't going to lie, being his girlfriend was extremely stressful. Mal had to admit, she could understand why Audrey was always so high strung the few times they had interacted.
Running a hand through her hair, she went to put the book back in her dresser but paused when there was a knock on her door. Whirling around, she was surprised to see Hades standing in her doorway.
"What did you do to your hair?" Hades asked, staring at his daughter with a bit of shock evident on his face. "Lose a bet? Or did you and Sleeping Beauty's daughter skip on down to the hair salons, being the best of chums?"
"What do you want?" Mal replied, crossing her arms. She really wasn't in the mood to be interrogated by her father. Hades walked in to her room and grabbed Evie's chair, sitting down. "Oh please. Come in. Have a seat."
"The council's decision came back," Hades told her, ignoring Mal's snark as he propped his feet on Evie's desk and proceeded to lean back in the chair. Mal had to bite back a smirk as she pictured Evie's reaction to the little bits of dirt dropping onto her desk. "I'm just too evil to stay in Auradon. Ben certainly went to bat for me though; you picked a good one."
"Oh," Mal said, her face going blank. While she was never close to her father, and they didn't even spend the holiday together, she didn't expect the council to boot him back to the Isle.
"Yeah," Hades nodded, sitting back up and bringing his feet down. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Hadie and Persephone are going back with me—"
"What?" Mal exclaimed, cutting him off mid sentence. "Hadie doesn't deserve the Isle."
"If you'd let me finish," Hades told her, shooting a small look her way. "Ben's reseting the six month counter. Considering this was supposed to be Persephone's six months on the Isle with me, it'll be a good way of getting Hadie readjusted with everything. Persephone and Hadie will come back when the six months are up."
Mal nodded, trying to not show her dad what she was feeling. While she couldn't honestly say she'd miss Hades, she didn't know how she'd make it without Persephone to at least talk to. Plus Hadie was an endless stream of positive energy she really needed.
It seemed like the support group she was supposed to have was shrinking—whether intentionally or not.
"When will you be leaving?" Mal asked, picking a piece of fuzz off her shirt and trying to pretend that she didn't care.
"Tomorrow," Hades said. "Persephone already has her stuff over there, plus Hadie's looking forward to seeing Dizzy again. I have to say, even I miss the little energetic fireball. Besides, Pain and Panic are probably burning something down without me there."
"Have you heard from Virgil?" Mal asked, the words slipping unwillingly from her mouth. But she hadn't heard anything from Ben about the other kids they had invited and Hades' mention of Panic had reminded her.
"Got the letter for you," Hades told her, holding a slightly crisp letter between his fingers and handed it to Mal. "I'm sure Ben's gotten an official response but you never know. Take care of yourself Mally."
Mal nodded, taking the letter from her father. Without saying a word, Hades left; closing the door to her room as if to give her privacy to read the letter.
Running a finger along the top, Mal tore the envelope open and pulled out the letter.
Mal,
I have to say, the invitation to attend Auradon Prep was something I hadn't seen coming. I know you had to lobby for my invitation and I'll always be grateful for that. But attending Auradon right now would be the equivalent of putting a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Maybe at some point I'll be able to join you but right now I'll stay here.
Dizzy's in good hands. I promise. I'll keep Harvey Dense and the Duke away from her—I already know Shrimpy has given the order that her crew's to leave Dizzy alone.
Stormcloud
PS: Your mom managed to end my headphones when she came by the lair. No way duct tape will fix these and I doubt the Sir Singsalots of Auradon are going to throw any headphones out anytime soon . Think you could sneak a new pair over to the Isle?
Mal chuckled as she folded up the letter. She should have known that Virgil would have turned down the invitation to attend Auradon Prep but it still hurt that the younger boy wasn't going to coming to Auradon Prep.
Lying back on the bed, she unfolded the letter to reread it. Mal couldn't help but smile a bit as she read the part where Virgil promised to take care of Dizzy. She knew Dameon and Remus, or Deceit and the Duke as they insisted on being called, would be easy for the anxious boy to take care of.
He'd done it before.
Sighing, Mal slipped the letter into one of the drawers of her desk and ran a hand through her hair. Grabbing one of the many books her new handlers wanted her to read, Mal tried to focus on the material but it was so dense at times. Who needed a book to be a princess?
Certainly all the princesses had proven that there was no right way to be royal in Auradon, right? Why were they trying to fit Mal into a mold that not all the princesses fit themselves?
Also, why did they think she'd be able to get this in two months without issues? She wasn't Evie, raised to be prepared to be royalty (or who was actually royalty depending on who you asked). She was the daughter of Maleficent!
"Hey Mal?" Lonnie's voice broke through her inner rant and Mal poked her head up to see said girl looking at her. "Doing some studying?"
"More like princess prep," Mal told her, tossing the book to the side. Either Lonnie hadn't noticed the change to Mal's hair or just wasn't commenting on it. "What's up?"
"I was wondering if you or Evie might want to help me train for Swords and Shields?" Lonnie asked, holding up a sword. "I read the rulebook and there's nothing in there saying girls can't join the team. Odd considering how antiquated that rule book is but still."
"I didn't expect you would be into that sort of thing," Mal told her. "After all, you were really girly when we first met."
"Don't judge a book by its cover," Lonnie chuckled. "'Sides, you inspired everyone to break their molds. You know Jane's going after Audrey's spot on the cheer team?"
"Wait, why?" Mal asked as she walked to the door.
"Well, Audrey's grandmother is funding a six month spa trip with Flora, Fauna and Merryweather so the new head cheerleader needs to fill the spot," Lonnie told her, shifting the weight of the sports bag that was slung over her right shoulder. "Audrey told me that her grandmother wants to make up for the "trying time" Audrey's been having. Believe it or not, Audrey may have thrown in an eye roll."
"I thought I felt my ears burning," Audrey said, walking up on the two of them, adjusting the strap of the bag that she had over her right shoulder.
"Heard you're leaving?" Mal asked. Oddly enough she wasn't that relieved to hear. Audrey was a royal pain but she was a constant. Mal knew about what to expect with her.
"Not really my choice," Audrey sighed and gave a shrug, one of the least 'princessesy' things Mal had seen her do. "Grammy wants to buy back my affection after Ben ousted her from the council so she's doing a spa getaway. I honestly can't believe mom went along with it. Maybe Flora was the one who suggested it?"
"We'll miss you Audrey," Lonnie told her, giving the once prissy princess a smile. "Hopefully you're not gone for too long. You'll miss all the fun here."
"Thanks," Audrey said, straightening the strap on her bag. "Oh, Mal. Jane's going to be in touch with you about Cotillion."
"Why?" Mal asked, more than a little confused. If Jane was already planning Cotillion, why would Mal need to be involved?
"Well usually I would plan cotillion when I was dating Ben. Now it's your turn," Audrey told her. "It's fun! Just don't go over budget. Ben usually fusses about that sort of thing."
"Wha—no—Audrey!" Mal exclaimed but Audrey had already walked away. Cotillion was four months away; why was she finding out about this now?! Sighing, Mal looked over at Lonnie. "Did you know?"
"No!" Lonnie told her, shaking her head. "If I had, I would have let you know a long time ago. Like when you first started dating Ben."
"Okay then," Mal said and took a breath. Yet another thing to put on her already stacked plate. All she could hope for was that her teachers didn't dive into lessons once classes started and she could avoid some stress in that regard. "Swords and Shields time? I really need to get some stress relief out."
Lonnie nodded. "I know a spot by the woods we can train. Jay's in the gym and I don't want him to see me. I want it to be a surprise at practice."
"You want to surprise people who are wielding swords?"
"Yep!"
"Okay then," Mal chuckled. "Lead the way!"
"One minute," Lonnie told her and handed her a hair tie. "If you're going to rock the long haired look, you're going to need this. Helps to keep your hair out of your eyes when doing the sporty stuff."
"I'm guessing you learned the hard way?" Mal asked, taking the offered hair tie. "Considering you had really short hair when we first met?"
"Got it in one," Lonnie chuckled as both girls made their way to the woods.