This is my take on why Mal, Jay, Evie and Carlos were at Family Day. This has nods to both the novel The Isle of the Lost and Descendants. As well If Only. (second chorus, cause I thought the words to it were important.) All of which I own none!
Family Day
On the ride back from the Enchanted Lake, Mal's mind was on the nightmare, 'no it was a dream' she corrected herself; that she had, had just a few weeks before coming to Auradon. It had just happened. Just now she had been at the ruins she had seen in that dream. The honey-brown haired painfully handsome boy was there too. Why hadn't she realized it before? She thought about the first day they had met. There was something about him, when they shook hands, it was like a shock. That was why she pulled away from him. But not before their eyes had locked for a little too long.
"You ok back there?" Ben asked pulling her out of her thought. "Not too cold?"
"I am fine thank you." She said, totally not sounding like herself. She went back into her thoughts.
Every step, every word If only I knew what my heart was telling me
With every hour I am falling in
To something new, something brave
To someone I, I have never been
I can't decide what's wrong, what's right
Which way should I go
Don't know what I'm feeling, is this just a dream
Uh, oh, yeah
If only I could read the signs in front of me
I could find a way to who I'm meant to be
Uh, oh
If only
Mal had been so lost in thought that she hadn't seen they had arrived back at the school. "You sure you are ok?"
"Oh yes. Just lost in thought." She admitted, not sure why.
"Mal, what are you doing next Sunday?" Ben asked before she could walk away.
"Nothing." Mal said, then remembered it was family day. 'Oh I am avoiding Family day, like the black plague' she really wanted to say.
"It's family day."
"Not really something my friends and I have any reason to attend now is it?" The old Mal was back.
"I'd really like you—all of you to attend as my guests."
"I don't think family day is a good idea. We are barely welcome by your friends, I can't see their parents too welcoming to the 4 of us."
"I think you are wrong. You guys have made a good impression on the campus, I am sure they have shared that with their families."
"Are you ever negative?" Mal quipped, sorry she said it as soon as it came out. "Sorry, it's just.."
"I can see your side too really, but I want you there. Besides you 4 are a family, I can see it. You guys grew up tight."
Mal wanted to laugh, if he only knew the truth. "Look, I will think about it."
"I would really like you to meet my parents." He saw Mal take a deep breath. He touched her arm. "It's fine, they see the good in everything too."
"No promises." Mal said, she was about to walk off, but saw Audrey and Chad were watching so she leaned over and kissed Ben's cheek. "I had a wonderful time." She whispered in his ear.
"Me too. I have never taken anyone there before. It's my favorite place in Auradon."
Mal walked away stunned that he had never shared it with Audrey. From what she had heard they had been seeing each other for a year before she took over. Mal walked into the dorms and up to her room. She walked into the room she shared with Evie, and as usual, if the four of them weren't in the boy's room, they were in theirs and sure enough they were all waiting for her. "Mal, what happened to your hair?" Evie exclaimed, as Mal collapsed onto her bed.
"Let's just say we all need to learn how to swim." She remarked with a huge amount of sarcasm.
"Did he take you off campus?" Carlos asked. Surprised, seeing as though that was one of their rules, they weren't allowed off campus.
"Yeah. It's really…pretty out there." Mal reluctantly admitted.
"All I have to say is if he hurts you…" Jay said slamming a fist into his open palm. It was because Evie was trying to fix Mal's damp hair. Evie walked back over to her dresser to get a different brush.
Mal shook her head no, saying, "I sort of fell in." she turned from them and looked out the window.
The boys exchanged looks, and walked out.
"Guess they didn't want to hear the details, ok spill it? What happened?" Evie said plopping back down and started to use the new brush on Mal's hair.
"E?" Mal said looking back at Evie.
"Yes?" Evie could tell Mal had changed, even just a little.
"Sorry if I messed up my dress, I really liked it." Mal said trying to straighten the skirt.
"What Happened Mal?" Evie was curious for two reasons, one because of the change she was seeing in her friend, and second, because she wanted to know what a date with a prince was like.
"So we drove into the woods. He parked and we walked down this path. The trees are such a vibrant green here, not like the Forbidden Forest. We made our way to a bridge that went over a waterfall. E, the view…" Mal's voice trailed off as she remembered the view. "Nothing like that exists on the Isle."
"I bet." Evie thinks back to the bride they had to cross in the forest.
"So we walked a little further. He made me close my eyes…when I opened them there was a stone platform on the edge of water. And a picnic."
"Talk about romantic." Evie gushed.
'I guess." Mal said, but she did blush.
She went on to explain about the strawberries, and Ben swimming away, and her panicking when he wasn't answering her calls, and lastly how she got wet. As Evie watched her friend she couldn't help but see that Mal had fallen for Ben, almost as hard as the cookie had made him fall for Mal.
'Oh boy was Mal in trouble.' Evie thought. Mal crossed the room and grabbed a change of clothes. She went down the hall to the bathroom and took a quick shower. When she came back, Evie was sewing another dress. "Hey, M?"
"Yes."
"Why did you go into the water after Ben if you know you can't swim?"
"I don't know why." And she really didn't. "When we got back to campus he asked if we were going to Family day."
"I thought we agreed to avoid it." Evie reminded her.
"Yes, but… E…he never took Audrey to where we went today." She said, as if that were the answer to Evie's question. Evie realized that she hadn't answered her question, but instead was letting her feeling slip out.
"They dated for like a year right?" Evie asked, trying to see how deeply her friend had fallen.
"That's what Lonnie said yes." Mal agreed.
"Maybe we should go to family day then." Evie said, 'maybe a dose of what Auradon's elite has to say about us will snap Mal out of it, or prove to her that maybe we shouldn't…'
"I just don't know…" Mal intrupted Evie's thoughts.
"Mal, what did he say when you told him no."
"How did you know I told him no, at first." That last part slipped out.
"Cause I know you. We may have only been friends for a few months but we are a lot more alike than you will admit. I also know you were lying to me earlier when you said you weren't afraid of your mother. I see it everytime she stares at you." Evie confessed, that always scared her when Maleficent did that to Mal.
"Yeah." She smiled knowing there was no lying to Evie. "He wants me to meet his parents."
Evie almost jumped off her seat. "Ok, we do need to blend in until the coronation, so going to family day might help. And I have material that will make us both acceptable dresses to hang with Ben's parents."
"I told him maybe, no promises." Evie just giggled, knowing Mal had already decided that they were going.