Chapter 2: Va, dal Furor Portata

As the voices faded away, Aria couldn't be happier. It was their first successful run through of When You Wish Upon A Star without Scarlet missing her solo. Not to mention Gavin was sounding better after his weeklong cold. In just an hour the group was able to get through the first half of the song they were singing for the Cotillion.

"Alright, guys, that was a great run through," Aria said, clapping her hands together as she smiled at the group. "I think we'll have this down in the next two days."

"I just wish Jane gave us a heads up instead of three days before Cotillion," a dark skinned girl commented, folding her arms over her chest. "As much as I love the group, I do have homework to do and my dress fitting with Evie."

A dark-haired girl raised her hand, nodding her head lightly before tucking a strand of her short hair behind her ear. "I have to agree with Nikolette," she answered softly. "We'll end up pulling longer practices which will cut into any time that I have to work on my project for History and I really need to spend time on it too. Also food. Will we get lunch or dinner breaks?"

"Yeah same here," a boy said, who looked like Nikolette. "I have to work on my project for

"Dude," a brown-haired boy said, turning to the dark-skinned boy, "that's not due until next month."

"I know, but it's like my mamma always said 'you have to work hard to get ahead in life'." There was a proud smile on his face which earned a heavy eye roll from the first girl.

"Try hard," Nikolette scoffed.

"Shut it, Niki," the boy said, glaring at her. "At least I listen to Mama. You haven't even started your book report in Literature yet."

"I'm almost done. I just have to finish reading," she said, waving her hand at her brother.

"Yeah with chapter one," the boy mumbled, turning back to face Aria.

"Tony! Nikolette! Focus," Aria said, sending pointed looks at the glaring twins. "I understand that. We'll just be having about 30 minutes to an hour added to the usual practice. That way you'll still be able to have time for homework," she said look at Tony. "And snack breaks." She looked to Scarlet. "And dress fittings." She turned to Nikolette. "Now if we could just run through the first half again we can start on the last half."

Just as Aria raised her hand to begin the tempo for the song and opened her mouth to find the pitch, the doors to the auditorium slammed open. All heads turned to the entrance, squinting to see past the stage lights that were shining on them to see Ben jogging up to the stage. The young king practically jumped onto the stage as he took two steps at a time. In seconds he was next to Aria, panting furiously as he grabbed her arm.

"Aria!" he gasped. "I need to talk to you."

"Uh okay," the redhead said, blinking up at her friend. The sudden appearance of the light-haired boy took the girl aback. Last she had heard, Ben and Mal were on a date. What was he doing here? "We can take a break. What's up?"

"Uh not here," Ben said, glancing over at the others, who all wore curious expressions on their faces. "I need to talk to you alone. Right now."

Aria's brow furrowed as she felt her friend grab her shoulders and start leading her off the stage. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ben!" She stomped her heels into the ground, doing her best to get her friend to stop pushing. "Stop, Ben!" Ripping herself out of his hold, the young girl turned to the acapella group. "We'll pick this up tomorrow." Doing her best to ignore the cheers and sighs of relief from the rest, she followed - dragged by - Ben into the hallway. "Ben! Enough!" Aria ripped her arm out of the boy's hold and glared up at him before taking a breath. "Ben, what's going on? You seem more stressed out more than usual. Weren't you supposed to be on a date with Mal?"

"That's what I want to talk to you about," Ben said, his voice lowering to nearly a whisper.

The redhead's brow furrowed as she looked up at her friend. There were few times when she saw her friend with such a stressed and downtrodden expression as he had now and those times were when he was stressed about his coronation and some of the recent duties he has as king. "...What happened?"

"Mal and I got into a fight and she ran off crying and I don't know what I can possibly say to apologize to her," Ben said in one go. If he wasn't out of breath from his run into the auditorium he certainly was now.

"Oh Ben…" Aria sighed and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

"Well..." Ben hesitated as he thought over his words. "The date was going well and then I found Mal's spell book…" He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Aria's eyes widened. "Her spell book? But I thought she donated it to the museum?"

"That's what I thought!" He groaned again. "I saw it in her locker and I should have known. She's been using magic all this time even after she said she would stop using it! She's used it to change her hair, speed reading, and to cook the food for the date! She even tried to spell me to forget I found it." A groan of frustration came from the young king as he began to pace back and forth. Aria's eyes followed him as he went, biting her lip as she tried to process everything. Ben grabbed his hair in his fist before turning sharply back to his friend. "I got mad and went all Beast Mode on her. I yelled at her, Aria, and she ran off crying. I just...I just don't know what to do. I get it that it's not easy for her to adjust to life here, but it's not easy for me to adjust to being king. We were going to do it together."

"I get that you guys were supposed to figure it all out together, but you can't expect her to quit cold tuna," Aria said, raising a brow at him. "You shouldn't have yelled at her."

"I know that!" Ben snapped. He blinked and took a step back, looking down at his feet. "Sorry…" He sighed. "I tried to stop Mal from running off. I just don't understand why she was keeping secrets from me. I'm dealing with learning to be king, I get what she's going through."

"No, you don't, Ben." Aria stared at her friend with an incredulous look, slowly shaking her head. "Ben, you do not get what Mal is going through. You learning to be king and her learning to be an Auradon kid are two completely different things. You have spent your entire life, learning, growing, waiting for this moment. To be king. I am not saying that it's easy for you, but you have to think about where she's standing. She is a girl in a completely different world from what she grew up in. All she's ever known is evil and magic. You grew up with parents who cared about you and showed you love. Parents, who taught you how to be a prince and how to be a king. Your dad started taking you to counsel meetings when you were thirteen. Mal had a mother, who expect her to be an exact copy of her, who never once took time to learn what her daughter wanted or anything about her. She was used as a tool by her own mother. You grew up with everything you could have possibly wanted while she grew up with barely anything. So, no, Ben, you do not understand what she's going through." At the sight of Ben opening his mouth to say something, the redhead flung a hand up silencing him. Taking a shaky breath, Aria continued. "I get that you two were going to figure things out together. You learning to be king and Mal learning to be a lady of the court. But she did not grow up the way you did, and you shouldn't have expected her to learn everything in just six months. Mal didn't grow up learning to be a princess, she learned to be evil and then she learned what it was to be good. She's still adjusting, and you should have known that. No, she shouldn't have kept secrets from you, but clearly, she was afraid you'd react just as you are now. I don't even think you realize what you've been doing to her - and your friends - since you started going to council meetings and everything else that goes into becoming a king."

Ben searched his friend's face, his brow arching upwards as he saw the hurt look in her eyes, taking in every word she was saying. Since he had started learning to be king? He opened his mouth to say something only to close it and open it a couple more times. Finally, words slowly tumbled out of his mouth. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Aria practically shouted. "Ben! This is exactly what I'm talking about. You don't even know what's going on in your friends lives! You've been too busy with your kingly duties to even take time to be with us. You don't even know that Lonnie tried to take your place on the R.O.A.R. team only to be shot down by Chad and Jay because of the stupid rule book saying only men could be on the team. Wes didn't even bother telling you he got the flute solo in band because the few times he tried you kept brushing him off because you had documents to look over, school work, or some council meeting. I haven't even told you about the argument I got into with my mom because you're never around. You even missed our weekly late-night snack meetup last night! You missed a couple actually, we've been doing that for years now. And don't get me started on what you've been doing to Mal! You are constantly abandoning her for your king stuff. She's willing to adjust to be a part of Auradon, to be a part of your life, but she needs someone to be by her side and help her along the way. That someone is you, but since you're hardly around she's relying on her spell book to help her get through and make you happy!"

Ben's face was completely downfallen as he hung his head.

"Just stop for a minute. Take a step back and look at the bigger picture. This isn't all about you. Life happens."

And with that she stormed off, leaving the blond prince stunned and ashamed in her wake.

ooOOoo

"You said all that to him?" Wes said, food falling from his mouth as he stared at his fellow ginger.

"Ew, Wes! Close your mouth," Aria said, making a disgusted face at her friend before tossing him a napkin. "I can definitely see you get your manners from your dad. Lost boys never grow up."

"Damn right," Wes said, winking at her as he took the napkin and wiped his mouth. He swallowed the remaining bit of food in his mouth before continuing. "But seriously, you said that to Ben? What did he say?"

A heavy sigh and a glance down at her tray of food, Aria shook her head. "I didn't even wait for him to reply. I was so mad at him that I stormed off before he could say anything."

"Ouch," the male ginger said, wincing. "Think he's going to that to heart?"

"It's Ben we're talking about," Aria deadpanned, "he's kind and cares about his friends. He's going to take everything I said to heart and apologize repeatedly as he tries to make things better."

"Mmm," Wes said, taking a large bite of his sandwich, mustard smearing at the corner of his mouth. "That's very true."

"Seriously, Wes!" Aria scolded, rolling her eyes. "I know your mom has taught you manners."

"Oh she has," the boy nodded, wiping the mustard off his face, "but it's just you, Aria, I don't need to behave because I know you're stuck with me. You would have left a long time ago."

A groan came from the female as she leaned her cheek against her fist. "You're right…" She kept her gaze on a tree doing her best to ignore the wide grin on Wes' face that she saw in her peripheral. She sighed. "I don't want to stay mad at Ben, I want him to realize what he's been doing, and I hope he starts to change. I get he needs to learn to be king, but kings have friends and they take time to be with them."

"You're not wrong ther-"

"You!"

The two red-haired teens' heads snapped up when they heard a female voice shouting in their direction. With barely a glance in her direction they spotted Evie thanks to her signature blue. The VK was sporting a blue high-low dress with a red leather jacket. In her hand was her heart purse that she was holding in a death grip as she made her way across the grass to their table.

"Come here!" she said as a greeting once she reached Aria's side. She grinned brightly at her. "I've been looking for you all day. I need to do your dress fitting. Hi, Wes, sorry but I need to borrow Aria." She grabbed Aria's elbow and pulled her to her feet. "Come on!" she practically squealed.

"I'll see you later, Wes!" Aria exclaimed, tripping over the seat on the picnic table. Evie was quick to help her up, knowing well that it was a common act from the redhead. With a quick thank you, Aria turned to Wes as Evie began dragging her away again. "Eat whatever is left on my tray if you want to."

"Oh, I want to!" Wes laughed as he grabbed her remaining sandwich.

"You are going to love what I've done to your dress!" Evie squealed. "Oh and I have to thank you once again for those gorgeous photos you sent me. They helped so much with some of the dresses I've been working on! I have to show you some!"

"That's great, Evie," Aria said, smiling brightly at her friend's excitement. "I'm sure everyone will love their dresses."

"And then there's yours. I've been trying to figure out the perfect design for yours, but I think I've found the perfect one. You're going to love it!"

"Thanks, Ev," the ginger girl said, her smile growing as they reached the blue-haired girl's room.

After the stress of organizing the acapella group's song for Cotillion last minute, the fight with her mom, and now dealing with Ben, Aria was ready to just have a moment without all of that weighing on her shoulders. That was one of the things she liked about Evie: she didn't cause drama and she was always there to lend an ear if need be. After the incident at Family Day and the Coronation Evie and the rest of the VKs slowly became part of Auradon, making more and more friends by the day. It was a nice after everything. It was nice to see that even after how their parents treated them, the four VKs were actually good at heart.

"No need to thank me, Ari," Evie said, waving a dismissive hand. "You're the one who's been helping me with the designs thanks to your pictures. You and Wes. He's been such a great help with these Cotillion orders it's made everything easier. Who knew that he would know how to sew!"

"Well he got it from his mother after the number of times she had to sew his father's shadow back on," Aria said, laughing at the memory of the last time she saw that happen when she visited Wes at his home over the summer.

"I still don't understand how that works," Evie said, shaking her head. She paused a moment when they reached her room and she fished through her purse, producing her room key. "How can his shadow just separate from him?"

"I've been trying to figure it out since I've known Wes, and to this day I still don't know." Aria shook her head, looking up at the ceiling. "Wes never makes sense either when he explains. It's a lost cause."

Evie laughed, pushing the door open. "I'll grab your dress and once you change into it we can start see what needs to be altered," she explained as she made her way into the room. "I know I keep saying it, but you are going to love it! It's one of my favorite dresses I've made. The details were just so much fun to make."

Stopping at her desk to deposit her purse she stopped, her eyes landing on something atop. Aria stood off to the side, watching as Evie's smile fell into a look of horror and heartbreak.

"Evie?" Aria said, cautiously moving to the blue-haired girl. "Evie? Is everything alright?"

Slowly, Evie turned to the redhead, holding a piece of paper. "Mal's gone…"

I finally finished this chapter. I knew what I wanted to happen with it, but I kept losing focus and had no motivation to write. But I finally finished and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. There are some things in here that I feel I could have written better, but no matter how many times I read through those scenes I couldn't figure out what I could have change it to. Either way, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I want to thank everyone who's favorite and followed the story. I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I also want to thank MaliceMalAmyMalevFaery, dontstopbelieving123, and GodzNo for your reviews. They have made me smile and I really appreciate you taking the time to write them. They mean a lot and give so much motivation for me to write. Thank you.

Thank you to dontstopbelieving123/booksthegreatestweapon (tumblr), em3kitty/proud-to-be-a-puff (tumblr), and Looop/loopally (tumblr) for allowing me to bounce ideas off of you. Thank you for listening to me ramble every now and then when I was stuck on what to write. You guys have been such a big help with this!

I haven't written this long of an author's note thanking people for their help, reviews, and such since probably high school so I'll just end it here. I created a tumblr for this story. You can find it at inthe-drowningdeep. You can also find me on my personal blog at melapede. If you have any questions feel free to message me here or on either of those tumblrs.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'd love to hear your thoughts so please leave a review. Any and all feedback helps me improve and figure out what I should do more of and such.