A/N: the concept of this was inspired by a c/mren fic on ao3 called mean girls that i'm embarrassed to admit i like bc i try not to read rpf esp c/mren since lauren so vehemently dislikes it but... i had a moment of weakness.
anyway. atm i'm not sure if i'm gonna do side jaylos or side benlos but one or both of those will happen and when it does i'll tag that too. the rating will also probably go up, idk for sure yet but i think there'll eventually be some smut? we will see.
it starts off w some evie/ben but that shit dissolves fast. also there's lot of evie and audrey being best friends because they're the brotp we all deserve. also the soulmate stuff doesn't rly come into play until a bit later but i try to establish it in this chapter.
oh, and, yes, i do know that technically grimhilde is evie's mom's first name but. it fits.
Arm linked in King Ben's, Evie tries to keep herself from fidgeting with the sleeve of her jacket. The anxiety brewing in her stomach is overwhelming but the voice of her mother telling her for the millionth time how unladylike her nervousness is and how she'll never marry a Prince if she keeps this up is even worse. Especially since her mother has wanted her to marry Ben since it was announced he would become King at the end of sophomore year. That had been why she even agreed to this... this ridiculous project.
The very project Evie finds herself once more wishing she'd declined so she could be unpacking in her room with Audrey and laughing about how silly it was that Ben thought it was a good idea to bring in yet another villain's kid to Auradon Prep. It's definitely too late now though, and her mother would never let her hear the end of it.
Fully accepting her fate as the limo pulls up, Evie forces her mouth into a bright smile, turns to Ben, and asks, "do you think she'll like me?"
Before Ben can answer, the door to the limo is open and a purple haired girl dressed in leather is stepping out. In a word, she's... different. Unique, maybe. Evie thinks that, with a new haircut and wardrobe, maybe a little makeup, she would blend right in in Auradon. She is gorgeous. Just rough around the edges.
The first words out of her mouth are mocking and coated in venom, "so you're Mr. and Mrs. Let's Give Villains A Chance, I take it."
She's a little rougher than Evie had hoped.
"We're not betrothed yet, but, yeah. I'm your new roommate, Evie," the taller girl forces a smile, extending her free hand.
Said free hand is stared at disdainfully for a second but not shook. "Princess Evie, I'm sure. The Queen's kid, right?" There's something amused to her voice now (Evie can't help but panic, wondering if she knows the truth about Snow White and her mother), but still far from pleased, "and you must be King Benjamin, His Majesty." Green eyes turn to ice as they set on Ben. If this girl doesn't like Evie, she despises Ben.
Ben, for his part, takes it well. Very kingly, really. He smiles diplomatically and says, "you can just call me Ben. There's no need for formal titles, Mal."
Evie thinks she should swoon her because Ben is so charming, so she does. It makes Mal scoff loudly and say, "right, right." The words are drawn out almost painfully, painted neatly with sarcasm and disgust. "So, did you decide to have the princess here room with me because you needed your girlfriend to keep tabs on me? Don't trust the daughter of the baddest of the bad, right?"
A nervous laugh. Ben pulls his arm out of Evie's hold (Mal cocks an eyebrow at this), says, "no, not at all. I asked Evie if she would be willing to because she's a model student and the kindest person I know. She'll be too busy campaigning for class president again to keep tabs on you anyway so you don't have to worry about that."
Her hip juts out, like she's analyzing Ben's words. Looking for a lie, most likely. Whether or not she finds one is hard to tell with her poker face on. "Well then, let's get going, roomie, or does His Royal Majesty wanna show me the bathrooms first?" she arches a brow, tongue wetting her lips and eyes sharper than ever.
In typical him fashion, Ben smiles once more and simply goes along with Mal's sarcasm. He's a little too eager to give her the tour, even with Evie's assistance.
The sight of both Mal talking to Ben (and herself) like that and Ben letting her makes Evie's eye almost twitch. This girl, who agreed to come to Auradon, is so suspicious of them and their motives, and so irritatingly sarcastic that Evie thinks she might smack her.
She doesn't though. Because that would be un-princess-like and un-lady-like and un-everything-her-mother-wants-her-to-be-like. Plus she's above violence. And anyway, maybe Mal just needs to warm up to her first. Or maybe Mal will keep her quips to herself if Evie leaves her alone the second Ben is gone.
Once the tour is over and Ben bids them goodbye (without a kiss for Evie but he's always been shy about PDA so she says nothing), Evie expects Mal to want nothing but silence. She's right, until they get into their now shared room at least.
"Listen up, Princess," Mal starts, voice lower than before and her hands firmly on her hips, "don't think that I believe that bullshit about you not keeping tabs on me for a second. I get it, your saint of a mother wants you to marry a prince, Ben's not horrible to look at, but you stay out of my way, and I stay out of yours. Deal?"
It would be intimidating if not for the fact that with the added height from her heels, Evie has at least five inches on the girl. Well, it still kind of is if for no reason other than the way Mal's eyes glow. Still, Evie won't let herself be intimidated by Mal. That's not how things work in Auradon and she will be damned if she lets Mal believe that being Maleficent's kid gives her any kind of status here - that the possibility that she knows the truth about Evie's step sister means she can just boss her around or use her royal status against her.
Defiantly, Evie strides right past the shorter girl and sits down neatly on her bed, to use her laptop.
"Believe it or not, you don't know anything about me or my mamì or Ben. And more importantly," she logs back on, making her sure her typing is emphasized by the pause, "the only thing about you that scares me is your split ends."
For a moment, Mal does nothing but size Evie up. And then, once she's decided how she feels about Evie and what she said, Mal chuckles. It's low and almost throaty sounding which catches Evie off guard because she hadn't expected something like that to come out of the Fae. "Nasty, you really are your mother's daughter, aren't you, E?"
E. This girl she's known all of thirty three (beyond crappy) minutes is calling her E, like they're friends. Worse, she's calling her E while insulting her mother.
Glowering, Evie grinds out in the most un-lady-like way, "what did I just say about my mother?"
"A total lie. We both know what she did, and we both know you belong on the Isle just as much as I do, but, hey, keep out of my way and I won't say anything at all to Benny Boo," she grins wickedly, like the dragon Evie is sure that she is.
Determined not to give her any more attention, Evie huffs irritably and turns back to her laptop. She doesn't say another word to Mal for the rest of the day. Won't give the girl the satisfaction. (Doesn't have the comeback for it, either.)
That night, Evie sits herself down in Audrey (and now Jordan's) room, arms crossed and a child-like pout on her face as she tells Audrey just how awful Mal is while Jordan ignores them both from the comfort of her lamp. Audrey sits behind her, braiding her hair neatly and gasping indignantly and adding comments like "what a witch!" in all the right places as Evie rants.
When she's done ranting, Audrey finishes braiding (and re-braiding) the other girl's hair. A beat. Dark eyes try to make out the chicken scratch notes being written by Evie's soulmate and thus appearing on Evie's arm. Then, moving to Evie's side, Audrey rests her head on the other girl's shoulder. Her hand finds Evie's quickly, thumb taking to stroking the back of the girl's palm.
Evie sighs into the gesture, nuzzling against Audrey.
"Do you want my advice, Eves?" Audrey asks in that voice that makes it clear she has at least eight possible solutions for this problem and that if Evie declines, she will gladly watch the dark haired girl struggle with this for the rest of the year. Presumably with popcorn.
A groan. She supposes she has to ask. "Fine," she sighs.
Audrey giggles softly at that. "Try being nice to her. Don't you remember how Jay and Carlos took Chad's... less than kind welcome last year?" Evie hums grumpily. She's always hated being wrong. "Uhuh, and do you remember how they took Ben being all kingly?" Another hum of acknowledgement. "And what happened when Lonnie treated them like people, who've been through some rough things?"
Evie practically whines at this.
"Elvira," Audrey says, soft but stern.
Her head lifts from its place on top of Audrey's, admits, "they started opening up and adjusting..."
Grinning, she squeezes Evie's hand. "That's my girl," she whispers, sitting up straight again, "you can stay here a little longer though. Because I don't totally hate you."
"Thank you," Evie mumbles before burying her head in Audrey's lap, "love you too, A." She thinks she'd rather stay put exactly like this than go and face Mal again. Really, Evie would rather stay put with Audrey than do anything. Audrey is her rock, even if the pair had gotten off to a slightly rocky start. Plus Audrey's lap is kind of really comfortable.
The two sit there until ten, at which point Jordan comes out of her lamp to tell them to stop being gross and affectionate which Evie has long since learned is Jordan for "get the fuck out of here, I'm tired of you." But, like, in the nicest way possible. For Jordan, at least. (Which, she supposes, isn't saying all that much.)
Just to spite the genie, Evie is sure to give Audrey the tightest hug she can with an extra sappy completely un-them goodbye. She tops it off by calling Audrey her princesa which is so disgustingly cute that Jordan mimes gagging. It leaves her with a grin on her face until she arrives at the door of her dorm and remembers just who she's rooming with now.
Right. Of course. Ben's newest project. How could she ever forget?
Mal, surprisingly enough, is fast asleep. Or at least, she's under her blankets pretending to sleep so Evie will leave her alone. Which exactly is happening Evie isn't sure but she's willing to bet that it's the latter and that Mal is up to something or another that she doesn't want the other girl knowing about. Whatever, she supposes as she removes her makeup in the bathroom. She can always apologize to Mal in the morning, over breakfast or something.
That sounds like a good enough plan. The islander looks about as underfed as Carlos had when he'd arrived. If Mal is anything like Carlos (Evie kind of doubts it because Carlos is just so sweet, but she digresses), food will for sure be the way to win her over.
Over breakfast (which Evie is kind enough to bring up to their room to spare Mal the trip to the cafeteria), Evie finds out that food is not atall the way to win Mal over. It starts when she wakes Mal up with a sweet albeit forced smile and a tray of pancakes and scrambled eggs.
And then there's the greeting that's probably a bit too nice. In hindsight, she should have known they weren't yet at the point of pet names. And that, being from the isle, Mal wouldn't take well to being called sunshine. She definitely did not expect for Mal to growl at her though.
Maybe she's just not a morning person. Or she hates Evie. Both are very, very plausible.
Still, Evie doesn't think she really deserved to have the tray knocked out of her hands. And then to have Mal shrug and, in complete monotone, say, "whoops" before walking out the door. As if Evie believes she's going to class early.
Audrey will definitely be hearing about this. And then Ben. Definitely Ben. Maybe he'll even get rid of Mal and she can go back to rooming with Audrey and balance can be restored to her universe. The thought of Mal away from her does sound really, really appealing. But maybe not totally away because, after meeting Jay and Carlos, the thought of Mal back on the Isle leaves a sinking feeling in the bottom of her stomach.
Briefly, she thinks that maybe that's why Mal comes off so... abrasively. Then she remembers that she has to clean up the mess of syrup coated pancakes and eggs on the bedroom floor and decides that whatever might have happened to Mal, she's still a bitch. And, anyway, if Evie and Carlos could have had the mothers they have and come out not total bitches, Mal really doesn't have an excuse.
She doesn't see the demon-spawn of a girl again until lunch. It's only then that she realizes just how tired she looks. There are bags under her eyes and her skin looks even paler and more washed out than Evie thinks is normal, even for someone as white as Mal. Vain as ever, Evie can't help but smile at the sight of Mal looking so awful. She catches Mal's eye to do so and everything, goodness be damned.
(She's sure Audrey will understand. After all, she did try. For about ten minutes.)
Not missing a beat, Mal sneers back. It's almost threatening, except Mal can't lay a hand on Evie without getting sent back and they both know it so it's not quite.
Carlos doesn't miss the interaction. He tugs at Evie's sleeve, eyebrows knit together. "Eves, what's up with the cold war? Mal is bad news," he whispers. She doesn't miss the urgency and the anxiety in his voice, but, really, she doesn't get why she should be so afraid of Mal. Just because her mom is the baddest villain of them all doesn't mean Mal deserves to be feared.
"Her wardrobe is bad news, she's just annoying," Evie scoffs back, "don't worry so much, Carlos. She wouldn't even try to hex my hair, not if she wants to stay, at least." And she does. Of course she does, she wouldn't have agreed to come if she didn't want to be here.
Distress worsens at this, says, "E... I know you think she won't but - but Mal isn't like me and Jay..." Whoever Mal is like, Carlos doesn't find the words to tell Evie.
Not before Lonnie joins them and changes the topic to how much she hates what the hairdresser did to her hair and Evie is listing off the things she could do to fix it because, really, it doesn't look good at all. It looks just bad enough to keep her distracted from how bad Mal looks right now. In fact, Mal doesn't cross her mind for the rest of lunch. A much welcomed change of pace.
She wakes up and her hair is blue. She wakes up, and her hair is blue. As in, not black, not natural, and not something she wants. More importantly, something definitely magical and extremely Mal. (Though, once she's done screaming in horror at the sight, she does have to admit that the color compliments her skin tone.)
"Morning, Princess, nice hair," the other girl yawns, already dressed. As if she can talk about hair, with those split ends and that obscene purple color.
Evie storms right past her, fire in her dark eyes and not even concerned with the fact that she's still in pajamas and without makeup because she's so pissed about her hair. Exactly what she'd told Carlos she was sure Mal wouldn't dare to do - Mal must have been eavesdropping with magic or something. Whatever the case, Evie can't believe this and she will be damned if she doesn't tell Ben to fix this.
Her hair, her roommate, all of it.
She's so mad her nails have almost cut into her palms by the time she reaches Ben's dorm. She doesn't even take note of it as she angrily knocks on his door, not caring to be courteous to the early hour because, as far as she's concerned, Ben can get beauty sleep after he fixes this.
No answer.
Now blue haired girl resumes pounding on the door. Says, "Ben! Get up! We need to talk!" and vaguely hopes he doesn't think she's going to break up with him or anything ridiculous like that. (She would never, her mother would have her head - or worse, give her a crisp, red apple.)
Still no answer.
This time, she yells with a knock punctuating each word, "Benjamin Florian! Get! Up! Now!"
Finally, Ben responds. Incoherent, but still an indication that he's finally up. He's at the door in less than a minute, a shirt pulled on inside out and his hair a wreck for once. He takes a moment to realize what's wrong and when he does, his jaw drops.
"Evie," he starts, blinking rapidly like he's not sure he's seeing correctly, "um, your hair -"
Her nostrils flare. "Mal," she seethes, "she's a monster."
Ben blinks some more, doe eyed and hazy. She thinks maybe he's searching for some positive spin on this or some other diplomatic, kingly bullshit that, any other day of the week, she would sigh at. "It, uh, it suits you..." he tries, "a little startling but... blue looks nice on you - and, and you love blue." The 'please don't yell at me or Mal' is unspoken but it makes Evie growl anyway.
"I also love not looking like a delinquent, Ben! Can't you do something, about this - about her?"
"Well... I can take you to Fairy Godmother to see what we can do about your hair but, Evie, if you pass Mal on after two days, no one will take her, please just try a little longer - I'll talk to her for you," he says, hand grabbing hold of hers. His eyes are desperate and pleading and Evie has always been too nice for her own good. According to her mother, at least.
Relenting, she sighs. "Fine. But if she does anything else like this again, I want her gone."
The king scoops her into a hug and she already regrets agreeing to give Mal another chance.
She regrets even more when Fairy Godmother finds she can't seem to undo what Mal did to her hair and she has to walk into her first period History class with her hair the color of a blueberry and three kids (Jay, Chad, and Lonnie - of all people) snicker. Mal is, officially, dead to her. Of course, she has no idea just how dead Mal is going to be to her. Not yet, at least.
Because this? This is nothing compared to the havoc Hurricane Mal is about to wreak on her life.
