A/N

Happy reading everyone and thank you all for your kind words and support of the story!


The past two days were nothing but a blended mixture of pure excitement, panic, and nerves. Ben, Mal, Fairy Godmother, and Ben's parents oversaw the entire overhaul of Auradon Prep in anticipation for the arrival of the new villain kids, hoping the first impression would kick-start their transformation to good. The lawns were perfectly manicured, every shrub and bush perfectly trimmed, every window sparkling and spotless, walls and floors scrubbed and clean, and every wooden surface dusted. Auradon Prep looked like a castle out of a fairy-tale, where every prince and princess lived in happily ever after.

While Ben and the others spent their time overseeing the overhaul of Auradon, Evie and Doug were given the task of setting up the class schedules of the new villain kids and prepping their dorms. Evie happened to notice that a certain pirate was going to be in three of her classes. Was it a pure coincidence or was it a slight of hand trick from someone else? Whatever the cause was, Evie couldn't help but be excited and nervous at Harry being in her classes. If you were to ask anyone else however, Evie was a bundle of nerves the past two days and she rarely left her dorm room unless absolutely necessary, spending most of her time on the family day outfits and the class schedules.

Dizzy Tremaine was a curious case for Evie and the rest of Auradon Prep. Considering she was only eleven, she wouldn't be in any classes with Evie but in classes more age appropriate with students like Pin, Pinocchio's son. However, a silver lining fell upon Evie one day. She managed to successfully persuade Ben to have Dizzy's dorm be two doors down from her. The only downside: she had to dorm with Uma of all people. Auradon hadn't anticipated one of their transfers being so young, and with every other girl her age being paired up, they had no choice but to put her in a room with Uma. Harry and Gil would obviously be in a dorm three doors down from Jay and Carlos.

Carlos was the only one in the group who voiced his concern over having Harry and Gil so close to them, knowing how unpredictable the group was. Truth be told, Evie also had this feeling, but never voiced it to the group, feeling she was still on thin ice with them over her secret romance. Jay and Mal repeatedly assured them that nothing would happen to them. Jay and Mal had become the group's older brother and sister per se, looking out over them and defending them when needed. The VKs were a family, and no one would be able to break that family, not even pirates from the Isle.

Finally, the morning of the big day had come. The moon still hung outside amongst the thousands upon thousands of tiny stars, but the thin, orange glow on the horizon meant sunrise was coming. Evie slowly opened her eyes and let out a huge yawn. If her mother saw her now, messy bun and all, she would've gotten a stern lecture that a princess always had to look her best, even when she woke up. Evie sat up in bed and reached her arms overhead in a long body stretch, trying to bring life into her heavy, sleep-ridden body. She pushed the covers off and made her way over to the plush chair by the window. She slowly peeled back one of the curtains and looked up at the sky.

Evie had always started her morning like this before she began her awfully long beauty routine. She never was able to leave the house until she looked absolutely perfect, even if it meant waking up at the crack of dawn. But Evie had always liked the quiet times by herself. It gave her a chance to have deep thoughts with herself and work through any issues she would be facing. But her deep conversation with herself this morning couldn't find a solution to the Harry and the pirate problem. Harry was going to be here soon, and Evie had no choice but to accept it. With a conclusive sigh, she stood up and trudged her way over to the bathroom, ready to begin her day.

An hour and a half later (a new personal best to Evie), she emerged from the bathroom with perfectly groomed eyebrows, sharp-winged eyes, and lips covered in her favorite shade: Candy Apple Red, a symbol to represent her new life in Auradon. She walked over to her closet, careful not to step on any of the discarded fabric on the floor and any other accessories for her customer's dresses. She couldn't afford to be late with her orders or else she'd be dealing with very angry princesses, particularly one Audrey.

She automatically picked out the dress she planned to wear for weeks. It was one of Harry's favorites (truth be told, anything she wore was a favorite of Harry's). The blue color of the dress perfectly complimented her skin tone and made her eyes sparkle like someone had dropped some fairy dust in them. Slipping the dress on over her head, she carefully tied the straps behind her neck and smoothed it out. Reaching into her shoe bin, she picked out the heeled boots she loved so much and slipped them onto her feet. She grabbed the cropped red leather jacket off the hanger and placed it on the bed before sitting down in front of the mirror on her vanity.

Looking over her reflection, something was missing. It wasn't the tiara she always wore, but she knew something was missing. She opened one of the drawers and searched around in it before she finally found it. A pearl bracelet. It wasn't a birthday gift from her mother, but from a blue-eyed pirate with connections.

Harry had given it to Evie one day completely out of the blue. It was a pearl bracelet he made himself from old, discarded fishing line and some pearls that fell off from a broken necklace sent from Auradon. He managed to snatch them before anyone else, thinking they would have some value on the Isle, but pearls were practically useless on the Isle considering there was no occasion in which one would wear them. Tracing her fingers gently over it as if it would break under her touch, she carefully clasped it around her wrist and held it up in front of her face.

"Perfect" she whispered, hoping to avoid waking the dragon that slept in the bed next to hers.

In the mirror, Evie saw Mal stirring in her bed. Mal slowly opened her eyes before bolting straight up in her bed.

"What time is it?!" she desperately asked Evie, hoping she wasn't late for today.

Evie gave her an amused smile, knowing Mal never really broke her habit of being late. Her spell-book prevented her from being late in the past, but now that it was in the museum, Mal was reduced to being a mortal like everyone else.

"Relax, it's only a little after seven. Breakfast isn't until eight so you still have time."

Mal let out a small breath of relief before getting out of bed and sitting in the plush chair previously occupied by Evie. She looked over Evie and immediately zoned in on the bracelet around her wrist.

"That's a new accessory. Is Evie's Hearts now going into the jewelry business?" Mal teased her.

"First of all, it's 'Evie's 4 Hearts', something you should know considering you're asked who you're wearing every time an event happens. Second of all, I just felt like wearing pearls today."

"Uh huh" Mal said. "Is this because someone is expecting a certain someone today?"

Evie only gave her small smile, confirming what she said was the truth.

"Honestly, I'll never understand what you see in him, but you do you girl" Mal replied before standing up and heading over to the bathroom.


An hour later, the group was sitting in the cafeteria, enjoying a delicious breakfast. Mal went back into the line to grab some more strawberries. Ben was supposed to join them this morning, but he had to take care of a last minute emergency. The entire cafeteria was abuzz with the news of the new villain kids who were due to arrive soon. Evie was too nervous to eat anything (a really bad habit she picked up after her first major chemistry test), but at the persistence of Carlos, she begrudgingly ate a piece of toast with apple jam on it and slurped down a cup of coffee.

"I still don't see the big deal. It's not like they can try anything bad here. If they did, they would be expelled anyway, like how we almost were when we tried to borrow that speedboat" Jay said after swallowing a piece of egg.

"Do I constantly have to repeat myself?" Evie asked, slightly annoyed. "Like I said, he seems way too attached at the hip with Uma. Second of all, it's Harry, Uma, and Gil. We never know what they're up to anyway."

"And like I said" Mal said, taking her seat back at the table and setting down the filled bowl of strawberries. "They aren't going to try anything or else they'll be back to rotting on the Isle."

Carlos let out a small breath of relief. While he may have grown in his confidence and bravery, Harry still gave him the creeps. Of course, Harry did that to any normal person.

Lonnie eventually joined their table, taking her seat next to Jay. Her and her brother often ate meals together, and it so happened to be one of those mornings that they did. After Cotillion, Jay had asked Lonnie to be an official item and Lonnie had quickly accepted his proposal before dragging him off to her dorm. They were known as the athletic power couple given that they were the captains of the Tourney and R.O.A.R. teams. Lonnie managed to notice the lack of food in front of Evie after greeting everyone around the table.

"Evie, you ok? Last time you didn't eat much, you had a Magical History exam. Come to think of it, you never did eat much before big tests."

Leave it to Lonnie to not miss a single thing, Evie thought.

"Evie's fine. She had some cereal and bacon before you got here so she's full" Mal said quickly, hoping to avoid that conversation. Evie looked over at her best friend and gave her an appreciative smile.

"You know, I'm surprised Ben allowed Uma and them to come. Last time we saw them, they tried to kill us and Uma spelled Ben to try and bring down the barrier" Lonnie said, continuing on the path that no one else wanted to go down.

"Lonnie, don't..." Carlos tried to cut in.

"I mean, Uma did turn into a giant ass octopus at Cotillion after Mal freed Ben."

"Lonnie" Jay said, causing her to look at him. With a slight shake of his head, Lonnie picked up on the hint he was trying to give her. She gave Mal an apologetic look, not knowing the real reason behind the awkward moment she created.

"So, what classes are guys excited about?" Evie asked, diverting the conversation again.

Carlos' eyes immediately lit up, and he went into a long monologue of how exciting his new classes sounded. Language of the Stars and Politics of the Palace were looking to be his favorites. Carlos was always the nerd of the group, and he had once or twice managed to anger the registrar's office by trying to sign up for more classes and credits than allowed, but it was just who he was. He eventually turned the conversation to Tourney and who may make the team and their upcoming chances in the season.

Evie silently tuned out the conversation and her surroundings, staring down at the empty plate on her tray. She felt an aggressive tap on her shoulder, and she looked up to see who was behind it.

"What? What did I miss?"

"Fairy Godmother came over and told us we had ten minutes until the limo is here" Mal said.

With that, the group began to diverge. Jay and Lonnie stayed behind to help clean up the table, Carlos went to take Dude on his morning walk, and Evie and Mal went into the bathroom. Well, Evie went to the bathroom. Mal had an impromptu jog in the hallway trying to catch up to Evie.

"E, wait!" Mal shouted as Evie managed to slip into the bathroom. Mal had to put her arms out to stop the door from slamming into her face. "What's the problem now?"

"Mal, you don't get it! He's going to be here in ten minutes" she said, taking shallow breaths and letting her nerves race. "The last time I saw him, it didn't end well. Go back even farther, it still didn't end well. And you know how Harry is; he's not one to let a grudge go or let revenge pass him by."

"So you left on bad terms. So did Uma and I. Big deal. Like Carlos always says, 'forgive, forget' right?"

Evie could only chuckle at what she said, knowing that Carlos had that mantra on the Isle as a way to explain his bad behavior.

"Mal...put two and two together. Harry...me...revenge."

Mal had a look of concentration on her face, until her eyes met Evie with a look of complete understanding. She wasn't scared about Harry the person. She was scared about what Harry would do to her once he got here. Evie had nowhere to hide. And with Harry and Uma being close, Harry had another ally in his plot for revenge. On the Isle, Evie was flanked by Jay and Carlos. But now, Harry was sure to find her when she was alone and exact his revenge on her.

"The bracelet though...?" Mal asked with slight confusion in her voice.

"Only using it in an effort to soften him up a bit." Evie said, fidgeting with the bracelet between her fingers.

"Don't worry E. It's going to be alright" Mal said in a comforting voice while placing her hand on Evie's shoulder. "If he and Uma start to attempt anything, we have your back. They won't try anything funny. And if you still feel weird, just go into a public space. Besides, Ben had those peepholes and locks replaced on the doors after Chad started to sneak into Carlos and Jay's room all the time."

"Leave it to Chad to ruin things for everyone these days." Evie and Mal shared a laugh before Evie gave Mal a hug. "Thanks, M."

"Besides, it's not like I can't turn into a dragon and breathe fire or anything" she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Evie let an amused smile grace her lips. "I still don't know how you did that."

"Trust me, neither do I."

Evie and Mal linked arms and exited the bathroom, ready to confront their pasts.


A/N

I thank you guys for the support and the views of this story so much. I truly didn't think you guys would like it this much. The only time I ever wrote creatively was a short fiction story for my Introduction to Literature course back in my freshman year of university three years ago. I only scored a 90% on it, and trust me, that was a miracle for me. Outside of that and this story, the only things I wrote were research papers and informative papers for classes.

Let me know what you guys think!