A/N: I'm sorry. I had no idea what Jay's last name should be, so I thought of a famous thief. My mind wandered to Bonnie and Clyde, so now Jay's last name is Clyde. At least in this fic. I haven't read the series, so if he has an actual last name, I don't know. Now, without further ado, enjoy!
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Mal hates Auradon Prep.
She has some friends she cherishes, and a teacher or two that she's fond of, but that's about it.
The college is overrun by goody-two-shoes and princesses, do-gooders and royalty. And that makes her sick to her stomach.
One of the thousand other reasons why she despises Auradon is because of the school's resident asshat, Chad Charming.
This is the second time this week that the fire alarm has gone off in the school, and it's no surprise who caused it. Mrs. Fairy (also known as the Godmother, since she's so kind and nurturing to everybody at the college) made that quite clear when she dragged him away from the other students to reprimand him on his insolence.
Right now, it's under thirty degrees, which is pretty rare. It was surprising enough for Mal to be up studying at midnight, in the warmth of her dorm without any protection against the harsh weather, without a warm jacket.
Evie, her roommate and best friend, had earlier sped off without a goodbye to cuddle with Doug, her boyfriend. He, being the nerdiest kid in the whole school, was well prepared and equipped with blankets, a hat, several coats, and mittens for himself and Evie.
Mal glares at the two, the sight of them cooing at each other makes her hold back a gag as the dangerous, frigid air bites through her thin jacket. They're nice and cozy. What she wouldn't give for some body heat right now.
Speaking of which…
"Jay!" She calls to her friend.
The boy turns around from ten feet ahead of her, hugging the fuzzy blanket closer to his shoulders. His trademark maroon beanie has finally proven useful, and he tugs it down to cover his ears.
"What do you want, Mal?" He shivers. Like Mal, he wasn't wise enough to grab a sweater or anything, and he shakes in his usual sleeveless motorcycle jacket.
"Care to share it with me?" She asks, falsely sweetly as she points at his beloved duvet.
Jay, being just as devious himself, sees right through her. "Hell no. I'm not sharing with anybody." He snaps, clutching to the blanket territorially.
"Hey, Jay! Can we share? I can't feel my hands, they've gone numb." Carlos de Vil, a tiny, white-haired boy pops up from behind Jay a second later. He's wearing shorts, just like always, and his lips look off-color.
"Sure." The other boy immediately replies and Mal resists the urge to scream. Of course he'd let his crush have it.
She's positive Jay will attempt to make a move on him anyways, talking about how shared body heat helps you warm up faster.
As heartless as she may be, she softens a little as Carlos steps closer, placing his hands on Jay's chest. Jay drapes the blanket over the both of them, getting way closer than he needs to, and his eyes soften.
They're so oblivious of each other's feelings, she wants to lock them in a closet together until they sort their shit out.
But… Looking at them now, and how Carlos is fucking plastered to Jay's abdomen and how the other boy's grinning like he just successfully nicked a million dollars, she doubts she'll have to.
"Umm… Mal, is it?" A bubbly voice asks.
She turns around to see Lonnie, the pretty girl from her home economics class. She's tan, has soft, brown hair and is just cuddly overall. Lonnie is easily overexcited, honest, and lets her emotions show. She's great with a paintbrush and an even better cook.
In other words, she's completely different than Mal, but she's always been one to believe opposites attract.
"That would be me." Mal replies.
As beautiful as Lonnie is, she can't give in that easily.
Plus, she doesn't even know if Lonnie's into girls. She better not push her luck.
"I just happened to notice Jay rejecting you and I was wondering if you wanted to share my blanket." She offers unabashedly. Lonnie isn't the queen of tact, so Mal can kind of respect that.
"Sure, whatever floats your boat." She says nonchalantly.
Mal sides over so that their shoulders are brushing and Lonnie loops her arm around Mal's shoulders. The girl starts the relax into Lonnie's embrace, resting her head lightly on the other's chestnut curls, not asking for permission.
So much for pushing her luck.
Mal's heat issue isn't solved immediately, and she comes up with the solution of squeezing her arms and rubbing them to provide warmth.
Her fingertips brush Lonnie's arm and she gives a yelp. "You're so cold!"
"Yup. Kinda like my heart." Mal drawls. She expects Lonnie to laugh at her joke, but all she gets is the other girl staring directly into her eyes.
Mal is normally good at keeping her composure and acting, but she feels shrunken under Lonnie's gaze, weak and self-conscious.
"Don't say that, Mal. I know you have a big heart, even if you don't let it show all the time." Lonnie says, and Mal can tell that she's telling the truth.
The brunette takes Mal's hands in her own, and she's shocked at how warm Lonnie's palms are.
She sees a pair of mittens sticking out of Lonnie's pocket, and Mal doesn't ask why she didn't just give her those instead. It feels nice to hold someone's hand, she hasn't done that with Evie since a year or two, and she's starting to think Lonnie prefers this anyways.
"Are you still cold?" The Asian asks, concern written across her features.
Mal reaches out impulsively, taking her hand from Lonnie's and cups her face in her hands.
The other girl looks shocked and Mal realizes what she was doing.
"Sorry, there's something on your cheek." She lies, quickly brushing off an imaginary speck off of Lonnie's face. Her skin is really smooth, and Mal is too close. In the limited proximity there is, she can smell fresh-baked cookies from Lonnie's breath and her warm, chocolate-colored eyes have golden flecks in them. The flecks match Lonnie's highlights.
"Mal, are you okay?" Lonnie asks.
"Never better." Mal mumbles, before snapping out of her daze a second time.
Was it just her, or did Lonnie move closer?
This all starts to add up in Mal's brain, all the times she thought Lonnie did something were probably true. Other girls would've shied away by now, this was probably crossing the line. And Mal could've sworn she saw Lonnie noticeably gawking at Evie when her elegant blue dress was too short.
"Attention all students," someone says over a megaphone much too loudly. It's Mrs. Fairy, who isn't completely clear on how most technology works.
"That means you too, Mr. de Vil and Mr. Clyde." She adds.
Mal looks at their direction. The two boys were caught in the act, and they quickly stepped apart. They couldn't have been kissing… Could they?
Jay looked positively dreamy… Not in the attractive way, like his eyes were misted over. A good looking Jay? No way. Not in Mal's eyes at least…
But his lips were a little puffy, and Carlos' were certainly redder than before.
"About time." Lonnie says quietly.
The whole school must've picked up on their unresolved sexual tension, also.
The rest of the Godmother's words go over the purple-haired girls' head, and she feels drowsy as she leans into Lonnie more.
The Asian doesn't seem to mind, in fact, she seems to be snuggling closer.
Mal's knees buckle and swift arms snatch her around the waist, and Mal realizes she fell asleep momentarily.
Again, she's nose to nose with Lonnie, but now she's wide awake and on high alert. The position is a little awkward, Mal's slanted backwards a little and Lonnie's practically dipping her.
"Why don't you two just kiss already?" Jay ruins the moment.
"Jay, shut up!" Carlos chastises.
Mal doesn't dare look at them, they'd get an eyeful of her rosy cheeks and probably wouldn't stop teasing her for years.
Lonnie looks at the two accusingly. "It took you a year to get together yourself." She points out.
Mal likes the new feistiness in her tone. She hates to admit it, but she's a little turned on now.
But wait… Did Lonnie just imply that they were going to get together?
She must have, because Jay is giving her a knowing smirk and Carlos is dragging his new boyfriend away to give them some space. The rest of the students are gone, probably to get back to sleep as tomorrow's still a school day.
"You look really nice in the moonlight." Lonnie says unashamedly.
Mal is starting to love her honesty, it's a nice contrast to her secluded ways and constant lies.
"I know." Is all Mal can manage. The sentence is too short, which is good for the purple-haired girl, because she just really wants to stop wasting time and kiss Lonnie already.
So she does. Lonnie lets out a little noise, and her eyes are wide open.
It's all or nothing now, Mal thinks as she pulls the taller girl impossibly closer and basically shoves her tongue in Lonnie's mouth.
The Asian's eyes flutter closed as she finally kisses Mal back, dipping her more like a stereotypical romance movie.
Mal instantly takes back everything she said earlier.
She loves Auradon Prep.
Especially Li Lonnie, who is hopefully her new girlfriend.