As a current high school senior, I know how much of a reality check twelfth grade is. I'm lucky enough to have an intended major and to have been accepted to my dream school as well as offered a high scholarship. However, the stress of waiting, the effort you put in to getting the grades you want in those AP classes, the anxiety some have over being undecided in their intended major, and the knowledge that in less than a year you will be considered a real adult can take a real toll on a bunch of seventeen and eighteen year olds who still have to ask permission to use the restroom.

I've cried. I know a lot of my friends have cried. Couples have broken up. Senior year is hard. There's a lot of pressure to succeed, even more so than usual. I've learned to take it one day at a time and not to beat myself up.

This story, however long it may end up, will be a story that reflects the truth about senior year. It will be loosely based on my own experiences, but I will stay as true to character as possible.

This story will help me reflect on my own high school experiences, enhance my writing, and come to terms with the events of my life as well as doing the main purpose, which is of course to entertain all of you! Maybe I'll even make some new friends!

I hope you enjoy this story! Feel free to PM me at any time as well as creep on my tumblr (princess-of-the-lost)!


"Take a piece of my heart and make it all your own so when we are apart, you'll never be alone." ~Shawn Mendes


They had known the day was coming for weeks, but neither of them had really wanted to accept it. It had come too soon.

Mal was a very independent person, she had to be to survive her childhood, but she had grown used to Ben to be as much as a constant in her life as Evie sharing her dorm room and Dude begging for a treat every day.

They were always a short walk away from each other needed to talk. They always held hands and sat close together (Mal needed to know Ben was beside her, she liked the reassurance his presence gave her). They spent a lot of time near each other, not because they were clingy, but because it made them comfortable.

Ben was an introvert who had to pretend he wasn't for the sake of his kingdom. Mal was there to squeeze his hand and sit in silence with him for a few moments until he recovered from a meeting.

Mal was walking attitude with a beautiful personality underneath, full of love and spontaneity. Ben was there to remind her that not everything required a sassy comeback (no matter how good it was) and that yes, she was good.

They needed each other. They needed each other so much that Evie was already looking into wedding decorations in private and Ben's parents had scoped out the hallway where their son's room was located to make sure there was a room suitable to one day become a nursery.

They weren't obsessed with each other, they had their own lives to live, but it just so happened that they were a big part of the other person's life.

It was so hard for Ben to leave.

He really didn't have a choice, though. It was his duty. He spent his first and second years as king getting used to the position and was to spend his third traveling all over Auradon. He hated it. He hated the idea. But it was necessary. He wanted to push it back another year at least, but it proved impossible.

His father was going with him (Belle had declined to go in favor of staying behind for Mal and Evie and Carlos and Jay who didn't have anywhere to go back to for the holidays except the castle and she didn't want them to be alone. They needed a mother figure and she was more than happy to fill that role), but that didn't really make him feel better. He was going to miss home! He was going to miss his senior year! He would only be able to come back for Christmas and prom and graduation if he was lucky. He was going to miss everything- his last Tourney game with the team, his last homecoming... Heck, he'd even miss the dorms!

But most of all, he'd miss Mal.

They were laying together in his bed, just laying. They weren't looking at each other, just holding hands and staring at the ceiling he had covered with glow-in-the-dark stars when he was seven or eight.

Neither of them had said anything for a long while, they were just appreciating being near each other. It would be the last time for months. Ben would be gone at an ungodly hour for someone who had been sleeping in for summer break, too early to wake her and say a proper goodbye.

It was late, they should have both been asleep for hours, but they couldn't. They wanted to spend as much time as possible together, and if that meant staying up all night, so be it.

Was Mal really allowed in his room? Probably not. Especially not so late. Even though he was the king, he still had to listen to his parents. They had never said anything specific about rules when Mal was over, but they had often dropped hints ("It's almost eleven o'clock, kids. Might want to think about hitting the sack"). Ben knew they trusted the two of them to behave well (if they didn't, he doubted Mal would be allowed in his room at all), but it seemed to be the very thought of a teenaged boy and his girlfriend being the only ones awake and being in the same room that worried them.

But Ben didn't care at that moment. He just wanted Mal next to him. Sure, they would text and call and send pictures to each other, but it wouldn't be the same.

The clock in the hall struck two. Ben needed to be awake before five. Less than three hours.

Apparently, Mal was on the same train of thought because she made almost an inaudible whimper and curled against him as the bell tolled. He ran his fingers through her hair. Gosh, he was going to miss her.

He was had wanted to be the first boy to ask their girlfriend to homecoming. He had wanted to plan something sweet to ask her to prom. He couldn't now, but he had wanted to.


Belle had come to wake him at quarter to five and was surprised when she saw a shock of purple hair on her son's pillow.

"Sh," Ben whispered, getting up carefully, as not to disturb his girlfriend. He was exhausted, but he could sleep in the car. "She only fell asleep an hour ago."

"Was she here all night?" Belle asked in an equally quiet tone, not scolding, just curious.

Ben nodded a little sheepishly.

Belle patted his shoulder gently. "Go get ready, sweetheart, you've got a big day ahead of you."

Ben smiled and kissed her cheek as he slipped past her.

Belle went over to the bed and carefully pulled the blanket over the sleeping girl. Mal shifted a little in her sleep and Belle pushed a lock of hair off her forehead lovingly. She had a feeling that finding Mal in Ben's bed would become a common occurrence.

This year was going to be rough, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle.


A/N: I hope you enjoyed chapter one! I don't know how long this will be, but I hope you stick around for the ride!

Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated!