Chapter One

Mal sat on the gigantic rectangular picnic blanket, in between Ben and Evie. Carlos, Jane, Chad, Lonnie, Doug, and Jay were there too, sitting in a big circle.

She didn't tell Ben or the rest of the AK's but she had used a spell to cook the entire picnic.

Lonnie but into the bread,"These are so good Mal." Mal looked down,"Thanks." Ben took two hors d'oeuvres,"Yeah they are good." Ben smiled,"How long did this take you to make.

The VK's looked at Mal because they knew she didn't really cook it. "Oh I don't know it seemed like days." Doug nodded,"Yeah I can imagine his took at least a week."

Mal concentrated on her own food,"Don't even ask." She said with a fake laugh.

Thankfully, Jay changed the subject.

"Hey Chad when do the tryouts for swords and shields start. Coach told me, but I forgot."

Chad swallowed his food,"Oh um, next weekend. Carlos are you joining?" The white haired boy nodded,"Yeah, it's like sword fighting right?" Chad nodded.

Evie jumped in,"Really that's so cool."

"It's guys only though." He sneered. Lonnie frowned,"How come girls can't play." Chad scoffed,"Girls aren't allowed it's in the rule book."

Mal frowned, but didn't say anything, clearly upset about that small fact, Lonnie and Evie were also a bit put out too. Meanwhile, Jay and Carlos were confused. On the Isle it didn't matter the gender, if you could fight you fought.

Plus, Mal and Evie were some of the best female sword fighters they knew. Sure Evie didn't do it as much as Mal, but that didn't mean she was bad or couldn't.

Jay had confusion written all over his face,"So?"

Chad scoffed again," So? It's against the rules."

Doug drank some juice, that Evie had brought,"Why do you sword fight?" He asked Evie. The daughter of he Evil Queen nodded," Almodt everyone on the Isle knew how to fight. I mean I didn't fight as much as anyone else, but I can use a sword."

Ben turned to Mal,"Can you use a sword too?" The newly blonde haired girl told him,"I can and I have multiple times, I can beat Carlos in a fight and 2/4 times I beat Jay, were like tied."

Carlos absentmindedly said,"Yeah Jay and Mal learned together and then Mal had extra teaching from one of her boyfriends, and he's one of the best fighters on the Isle."

Mal gave him a look and glared at the same time. Evie and Jay's eyes widened, that's when Carlos realized what he said.

Ben shifted to look at Mal,"I didn't know you had another boyfriend."

Mal's eyes darted around, she was clearly uncomfortable," Um… it wasn't anything serious, only lasted a month or two when I just turned fifteen."

Ben tilted his head,"Who?"

"Harry Hook."

The AK's eyes widened. Then Lonnie realized something,"Wait you said one of her boyfriends, that means multiple."

All eyes were on Mal now.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Ben continued to pester her, "Who else Mal?" The girl in question tensed and threw a glance at one of the VK's, who looked away.

"Drop it Ben." She said firmly.

Ben pursed his lips,"Okay."

The picnic continued on, and at least half of the feast was gone, because that's how big it was. They were all talking, or just sitting there thinking.

Carlos groaned,"I'm set for life, I'm so full."

Chad groaned in agreement.

Jane stretched,"That was so good, but I don't think I can eat more."

Doug nodded,"Thanks Mal." Lonnie joined in and said her thanks.

Said girl brushed it off,"It's nothing."

Ben shook his head," It's not nothing. The fact that you took time out of your day to do this for me means a lot."

Mal looked away.

Ben licked his thumb,"Hey do you have napkins."

Mal nodded, faking her cheerfulness,"Oh yeah! I'll get it." Ben and Mal went for the basket at the same time, but Ben got there first.

His hand hit something hard, and he was confused. What else could be in here he thought. Ben pulled it out, and saw Mal's spellbook, and immediately everyone was focused on the couple.

The daughter of Maleficent stuttered and tried to explain herself,"I just threw that in there in case it… rained." She said lamely.

Ben gave her a look, and opened the book, to one of the three green post it notes sticking out, "Speed reading spell."

Then he opened it to the second one,"Blonde hair spell." Everyone looked at Mal's hair that was a pale blonde with purple tips.

He went to the last one,"Cooking spell."

He abruptly stood up, feeling outraged and betrayed, he waved the book in the air in front of him,"And I was giving you props for fitting in so well. I thought we were doing this together Mal."

"We are in this together." She pleaded, but the king wouldn't have it,"No we're not."

He glared at her,"This isn't the Isle Mal."

Something inside Mal hardened, all the anger, frustration and annoyance burst out,"Believe me I know that." She said calmly, but with so much hatred and control in her voice.

Ben looked at her with sad eyes," Then why?"

A few tears leaked out of Mal's eyes,"Because I'm not one of those pretty pink princesses Ben! I'm not one of those ladies of the court! I'm a fake! I'm a big fake okay."

She motioned towards her hair, "This is fake." Then towards the food,"This is fake."

Mal reached out and snatched the spell book out of Ben's hand, and flipped to the right page,"Take this feast this scrumptious meal, turn it back to what is real."

She made the hand motions, and the entire feast turned into two peanut butter sandwiches and two glasses of milk.

Jay and the rest of the villain kids looked at Mal worriedly.

Mal snapped the book shut, with tears welling in her eyes. That was when Ben seemed to realize the damage he had caused. "Mal."

But the girl walked away,"No Ben, no."

Ben quickly bent down, and grabbed one of the sandwiches, and shouted after her,"Peanut Butter Jelly is my favorite."

She ran away, and Jane looked around nervously, "Shouldn't someone go and talks to her."

Doug looked at his girlfriend, "Why don't you go?" Evie shook her head, and both she and Carlos looked towards the thieving son of Jafar.

Carlos nudged his head in the direction Mal went,"Jay."

Jay got up, and straightened his leather vest,"Alright." He blew out a breath, and ran after Mal.

Ben was about to ask something but Chad beat him to it,"Why Jay?" Lonnie jumped in,"Yeah how come Evie couldn't go?"

Evie chuckled quietly and looked at her hands,"Believe it or not those two are the closest. In fact Mal hated me."

Doug furrowed his brows,"What do you mean?"

"When were all around the age of six and my mom threw a birthday party for me, and she tried to upsurges Maleficent's rule on the Isle so she didn't invite Mal, and Mal and Maleficent got mad." Evie started,"Then Maleficent banned my mom and I from being in the Isle and we had to stay in our castle for ten years."

Evie took a breath,"After ten years of castle schooling I went to Dragon Hall, the school on the Isle, and Mal hated me at first."

Carlos stopped Evie from going into details,"Then bad stuff happened, and Evie and I only became friends with Mal like two months before coming to Auradon."

Lonnie was surprised,"Wow, I had no clue."

"Yeah you and Mal seem so close Evie." Jane added."

The two VK's left mumbled something incoherent, and then Ben pursed his lips,"Okay, I think we should head back to the castle." Chad nodded, and followed his lead.

Meanwhile…

Mal paced in her room wearing her old purple leather jacket, hyperventilating, and Jay was trying to calm her down.

Jay roughly grabbed her shoulder making her stand still. "Hey Mal look at me. Calm down, deep breaths."

Mal closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, before exhaling. Jay nodded,"Good." Then he dropped his hands, and Mal pulled him to sit on her bed with him.

"Do you ever miss the Isle Jay?" She asked him.

Jay pursed his lips,"Not really. I have tourney, swords and shields, and then there are the guys." A small smile played on his lips. "Plus all my closest friends are with me." He bumped shoulders with her.

Then the former thief turned serious,"How come you didn't tell Ben about us?" Mal looked away from his warm brown eyes,"I don't know."

He turned her face towards him, "Why'd you end us Mal? You never told me why." He searched her eyes with his, looking for some sort of explanation.

Mal twiddled her thumbs,"I was afraid Jay." She choked on her sob, "So so scared. You know my mom, I didn't want her disappointed in me Jay. I was so tired of never being good enough for her, and you know what she said all the time"

Jay nodded," Love is a weakness. To love is to be weak. You have to be evil, rotten, ruthless." He paused, to gather his thoughts before continuing,"That doesn't mean you had to end it though."

She looked up at him,"If you didn't want to end it why did you agree to."

This time, he wouldn't meet her eyes,"You said it was better like that. That we'd both be happier. I just always wanted you to be happy Mal. Does Ben make you happy Mal?"

Ma sucked in a breath, and started slowly," When we first moved here, and I first started dating Ben, I was happy, I liked my freedom, Ben gave me that. Then he said he loved me, and I just couldn't believe it. Mother used to always tell me to never fall in love, and that no one will ever love me."

Her tears returned and Jay cupped her face in his hands,"That's not true."

She gave a watery laugh, and sniffles,"I know that now, but he was the first person who told me that they loved me. And I couldn't believe it. That made me really happy back then."

Jay felt a pang in his chest, he had always loved Mal, first as a best friend, then into something more. But he had been too afraid to say it, it was something he regretted a lot.

"But…" he said, and put his hands in his lap. She nodded,"But not anymore. I won't get my happily after here. I miss the Isle. The thrill, the rush. I could do anything I wanted. Now that I think about it, without my mother there, I would happy."

He scooped her hands into his, and pleaded with her," Mal don't go. Stay here. We can be happy here, you can get a happily ever after Maybe it won't be with Ben, but just stay please. Not just for me, but for Evie, Carlos, Jane, Lonnie, Doug."

He listed their new friends, desperately trying to hangs her mind.

Mal shakily breathed in,"ok." She said in a small voice.

Jay breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped her in a hug.