8:38 am - Mal and Evie's room
Mal had slipped out from the King's office and ran back to her dorm, encountering Evie on the way so the purple haired girl had resulted to dragging her friend back through the school.
"Why are you slouching like that?" her roommate observed as they entered their dorm. Mal's eyes quickly scanned the room and breathed a sigh of relief when she realised Harry had truly left after she had gone, then she rearranged her posture so that she was stood tall but her neck was still hidden within the collar of her clothing.
"M?" Evie questioned again, putting her hands on her hips to emphasise her authority. "Whats going on? Did you speak to Harry?"
"You know how I left earlier, well I came back here to get dressed but Harry was bunking. I guess someone is in his bed or something-"
"Yeah, Carlos, now get to the point missy," Evie supplied.
"Well, I kinda jumped him and we were fooling around but before anything could happen, Cogsworth interrupted and I was whisked away to see Ben," Mal told her best friend, tossing her the glass trinket as she went about looking for her journal, throwing mounds of clothes and objects around in search of the small book.
Evie sat on her bed and unwrapped the cloth to reveal the heart. "Oh, its... very Auradon," she hesitated, trying to mask her distaste. "Not really my cup of tea though but its sweet that he got you something," Evie said, watching Mal rip their walk-in closet apart with amusement.
"But its gross," Mal protested. "And he still thinks we're okay," she shouted from the depths of the closet. "Have you seen my diary anywhere?"
Evie got up from her bed and shuffled her hand under Mal's mattress, pulling the slim book from underneath. "Got it. What did he want to talk to you about?"
"You're just gonna let Harry and I go?" Mal wondered, re-entering the room and making grabby hands for the book.
"No, that's more important so we will talk about that last. First, what did the King want?" Evie only let go of the book when Mal nodded in agreement and the two sat on their beds, facing each other.
"He told me we were having lunch together, the audacity," she huffed, "But I had already agreed to meet Harry at lunch to talk some things through," Mal began, rapidly flicking through the pages in search of a particular passage.
"And...? Did he let it go or what?" Evie prompted.
"Wanted to meet after school but I am tutoring Gil, and tomorrow we have a project so can't meet him then either," Mal made a satisfied noise in the back of her throat when she found the right passage.
"Oh, do we now," Evie smirked, knowing that the lie was Mal's way of controlling the situation with Ben. She wanted to deal with it in her own terms and so Mal needed time, which Evie would happily give her.
"To hide this mark in a quick fix, I need to use some clever tricks," Mal chanted, her eyes glowing and her fingers seeping her trademark acidic green magic. Evie watched, transfixed as always, as the magic made its way from Mal's fingers to her neck and chest, ghosting over her skin like smoke over water.
"Were they love bites?" Evie questioned with a half quirked smile and Mal blushed slightly. "I won't let Doug do that anywhere near me."
"How are you and Doug?" Mal asked, waiting for the tingle of the magic to fade.
It was Evie's turn to blush and she hid her smile in her hands. "We are celebrating our anniversary at his family's forest cottage this weekend. It supposedly the one Snow White found when she was on the run from the Hunter but Doug thinks thats just a rumour," Evie told Mal, getting up from her bed to begin her morning routine before classes began.
"Doesn't one of his uncles still live there?" Mal asked, copying Evie's lead and she sat at her vanity, applying a light dusting of makeup over her newly clear neck and décolletage. Through the reflection of the mirror, Mal watched Evie stare into the depths of their overflowing closet, mentally picking an outfit for the day.
Using the large fluffy brush in her fingers as though it were an extension of her hand, Mal used it to point along with her words at the figure in the back of her mirror even though Evie had her back to her.
"What? Oh, no, they all moved into the main town so its deserted. Doug suggested that we all went one time, you know, like a slumber party but off of the grounds," Evie had her head and upper body in between the racks of clothes, reaching for something behind them so the words were slightly muffled but Mal nodded anyway.
"Would Doug let us go alone, I mean without him?" Mal asked.
Evie's head appeared in the closets doorframe, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "Why would we not invite Doug to his own cottage?"
Mal laughed. "No, I mean if I were to go there with, say, Harry or someone, without Doug, would that be alright?"
"I guess, I'll ask him in first period."
The two girls slipped into a comfortable silence as Mal finished her makeup and Evie got changed, the pair finishing their hair and the final touches to their outfits at the same time. Evie's stomach rumbled and the two laughed. Mal glanced at her wrist watch and then smiled at her best friend.
"We've got ten minutes to get some breakfast and then get to homeroom so we better leave," she said, gathering her books and school supplies, missing Evie's deadpan look. Mal turned to look when she received no verbal reply.
"You are telling me everything about Harry as we walk, don't think I will let you weasel your way out of it," Evie told her, linking their arms as they left the dorm.
Mal struggled to not purse her lips and roll her eyes. "How could I think otherwise?"
9:03 am - Mr Thatcher's Homeroom
Evie and Mal had snagged the last of the breakfast bars and some fruit from the Dining Hall and they were forced to take the stairs to their homeroom two at a time.
When they arrived at their homeroom, both girls swore loudly and crudely when they saw the small note taped to the window of the door informing them that their homeroom for the year had been transferred to another teacher on the floor below.
"Fucks sake, now we are well and truly late," Mal sighed, running with Evie back down the stairs and with a fore longing look at the fruit, Mal put the two apples in her hand back in her bag, knowing she wouldn't be able to eat them properly on the short run back down a floor.
"Nice to know Smee is still a coward though isn't it, continuity and all that," Evie joked as the pair whipped around one corner and down another empty corridor, highly aware that they were verging on being marked as absent they were that late.
The two skidded to a stop in front of the room that had been written on the note. It was a classroom neither had been in before so Mal knocked gently, opening the door and pushing Evie in first.
"Ah there you two are, I was about to send a search party out for you," a tall man with unruly curly hair and horn rimmed glasses clapped eagerly from behind a long desk. He looked to be in his early twenties and he smiled at the two shocked girls. "Didn't get the memo?"
"Uh, no, we didn't realise. We went to Smee's room," Evie explained carefully, unsure of the teacher in front of her. He barely looked older than some of the seniors and she mentally wondered why she had never seen him around the campus before.
"Well, take a seat, I think an unofficial table have been saved for the pair of you," the teacher smiled, jerking his head towards Harry who was sat alone at a table at the back, his feet on one chair and his hook on the table top on his other side. To answer him, the pirate flashed a dangerous grin at the girls.
"Right..." Mal drawled the word, staring the teacher hard up and down, her was so hard to read that the man visibly shivered for a moment.
"I'm Mr Thatcher, I teach biology," he told the two, gesturing the way to their table with his arm. "I will introduce myself to all of you in a moment," he told the entire class and it was then that Evie realised most of the students in the room had no clue who the man was. The duo shared a look and then went to their seats either side of Harry.
"Sir," a lower status princess named Annalise had her hand straight up in the air, her fingers waving lazily until he nodded for her to continue. "Biology isn't in the curriculum here."
"It is now, starting this term every single student will be taking two science based classes and the majority of the upperclass men are enrolled in my biology course, does this answer satisfy everyone?" the rhetorical question was met with some nods but most remained sceptical.
"Alright," Thatcher clapped his hands onto his thighs and pushed off from his desk, walking around the table to look at his open notebook. "I have ... several of you in my first period class today, including you Annalise so I hope I will be able to answer more of your answers then."
"Sir-"
"Please call me Thatcher, I feel like my dad when you say 'sir'," Thatcher interrupted with a laugh. "Come on then, out with all of your questions."
"What happened to Smee?"
"Who are your parents?"
"How old are you?"
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
All of the questions were said simultaneously and a few titters went around when the girl who had asked the final one slapped a hand over her mouth as if she hadn't meant to say it aloud.
Thatcher chuckled. "Smee requested a transfer of homerooms; my parents are humble villagers; I am too old for all of you, and I think I will leave the questions there today as the bell will ring any second now," Thatcher finished his answers and the chime of the bell rung as soon as he had finished, as if ordered by his words.
Mal stood up, gathering her bag when a sharp tug to her elbow brought her crashing back into her seat, her balance leaving her momentarily so she was jerked back into Harry's chest with a squeak.
"We're also lucky enough to have first period biology," he whispered into her ear. "I seemed to have hit the jackpot with biology 'n anatomy this morning. My knowledge is quite vast ya know," he purred into her hair as Evie waved to Carlos and Doug as they entered the classroom and made their way to the back of the room, both ignoring the pirate and Mal who was leaning on him now without resistance.
"Oh really?" Mal played along, running a hand through her hair which exposed the column of her neck.
"Yeah, for instance, I know that when ya suck and bite at a patch a skin, on the neck for example, the capillaries burst and ya left with a mark," Harry's fingertip ghosted over her pale, unblemished skin. "I believe a bit a witchcraft had been goin' on here," he said lowly.
Both Mal and Evie (who couldn't help listening in to the flirtatious banter) sat straighter in their chairs and shushed the pirate, bringing more attention to them than before.
"Don't go mentioning magic just anywhere, Mal's not supposed to be doing any," Evie hissed and Carlos nodded seriously from the next table as he and Doug were leaning in close.
"Especially not when you don't know half the kids in here, they would love to get into Fairy Godmother's good graces by snitching on Mal," Doug said quietly, looking around at the chatting classroom.
"Don't know why ya bothered, makes me wanna mark ya more," Harry nuzzled Mal's neck making her laugh as he nipped playfully at her skin.
Just then, the final bell rung around the room and Evie punched Harry's upper shoulder hard, shaking her hand after as she had thrown her weight behind it.
"Shit!" Harry laughed away the stinging pain, pulling away from Mal as Ben walked into the room.
"Language," Thatcher warned from the front, welcoming the King as he glared at the pirate.
"Thanks," Mal whispered to Evie, avoiding Ben's eye as he made his way to her. Mal was glad that there was no chair next to her but it didn't seem to stop the King. Ben simply dragged a chair from another table so he could sit to her right, oblivious to the hand on her left thigh, partially hidden by both her hands and the hem of her skirt.
"Hey, I didn't realise you were in this class," Ben greeted Mal happily, pressing a kiss to her temple. Harry tightened his grip on Mal's thigh and she shifted as Thatcher began teaching.
"I never realised this was even a class here," Mal replied, the pitch of her voice higher than usual as Ben gripped her right hand and Harry's fingers began to crawl up her leg, his body turned away from hers and his face impassive.
Mal swore in her mind as she realised she had no clue how to stop Ben's advances without upsetting him too much as she didn't feel as though it was the right time. Thatcher was calling upon students to answer a question and he chose Ben who snapped to attention and pulled his fingers from hers.
"I'm sorry sir, I didn't hear the question," Ben apologised, his easy charm helping it sound sincere.
"As I was saying, what do you know? It can be anything at all," Thatcher said and when Ben's face remained blank he sighed. "This term's graded topic is 'health and relationships' your highness, so I was asking the class to tell me what they know about intimacy," he prodded and Ben's cheeks darkened at both being called out, referred to formally and the topic.
"Uh- it is something that happens when two people love each other," Ben stuttered and Thatcher nodded until he began to shake his head.
"Correct, sexual intimacy is something that is practised by married couples here on Auradon, but in other cultures, like that on the Isle of the Lost for instance, it is not held in such a high regard," Thatcher turned to the black board, writing the word 'intimacy' in large sloping letters.
"Excuse me but what does that have to do with us? And why are we being taught such a depraved thing?" a girl at the front of the class sneered, looking at the VKs through slanted eyes and Mal struggled to focus on her scathing words as the pads of Harry's fingers were now tracing her upper thigh.
"My parents would be horrified to know I was being taught such filth," another girl spoke up, her tone one of snobbish disgust.
"Actually, everybody's parents were notified in the change to the curriculum during the summer and told to withdraw their children if they felt it was wrong. As you are still here and I am assuming your parents can read, I can only fathom a guess that they are alright with it," Thatcher told the girls with a straight face. "Learning about other cultures, especially one in which you interact with people from that culture, is a vital part. The introduction of this topic is backed by multiple kingdoms so I'm afraid that your prejudices will need to be left at the door from now on," he finished, his expression hard and arms crossed.
"Sir," a boy spoke as the two girls sat dumbstruck. "Does that mean that those on the Isle of the Lost are intimate before marriage?"
At this question, most of the heads in the room, including Ben's, turned to the four VKs sat in a line at the back of the classroom. Mal crossed her legs under the desk, creating a barrier so that Harry's wandering fingers could rise no further for the time being.
"Well, I am not from the Isle, nor have I ever been so I cannot answer that properly Samuel," Thatcher answered slowly, recognising the dangerous territory the class was heading towards.
"Do you?" a curious girl asked and the VKs could feel the class' collectively hold their breath in anticipation for the answer.
"Its alright, you don't have to answer," Thatcher said from the front but Mal could tell her was intrigued despite his best efforts to keep his voice neutral.
"Some wait and some don't." Doug was the one to answer and Samuel, the one who asked it in the first place, whistled through his teeth.
"You don't wait for true love?" The question had already been asked before so Doug regurgitated Jay's answer from a few days previously.
"For homework, everyone is to research, to the best of their abilities, the customs of love and intimacy within another culture, that can the Isle or another kingdom, and write a scroll and a half about what you find," Thatcher ordered and the class briefly intermitted to take note of the work and middle complain.
Ben leaned closer to Mal, still oblivious to both her discomfort at his closeness and Harry's hand. "Can I ask you some questions later, for the essay?"
"It'll have to be tomorrow, or maybe Wednesday, I'm really busy," Mal said, slowly writing the assignment down and not looking at the King's expectant face. "Maybe if you write the questions down I can write the answers and give it to your secretary so you aren't waiting half the week for the-" Mal's voice slipped as she felt Harry's palm cup her through her underwear.
"Mal? Are you okay?" Ben asked quickly, worry evident in his voice. "Sir, I think Mal may need to go to the nurse," he said loudly, placing the back of his hand to her forehead.
Thatcher stopped teaching and made his way to the back of the class. He could see that Mal was gripping the wood of her desk with white knuckles and her face was screwed up tightly. Both Ben and Thatcher missed Evie elbow Harry in the gut and his arm retreating back to his side, eventually both hands coming to rest on the table top when another elbow landed in his stomach, as it happened in a split second.
When Thatcher had finally reached the back of the classroom, Mal's expression relaxed and she had let go of the desk, her hands now swatting Ben's away from her face.
"Mal, do you need to see the nurse?" Thatcher asked slowly, assessing her closely.
"No, I'm fine," she replied, glaring at the groaning, doubled over pirate next to her and then at the King who was still trying to take her temperature. "But could I move seats please," she requested, finally looking up at the teacher with a hard expression.
"But you whined and you do look a bit flushed," Ben protested, a pout naturally forming along with a crease in between his brows. "You definitely sounded in pain Mal."
"I am fine Ben. Sir, please," Mal was stood up now and Thatcher nodded, watching her move to sit next to Carlos at the other end of the table.
Thatcher returned to the blackboard and resumed talking about the pre-wedding rituals in Agrabah.
Evie leant forward in her seat. "Ben still thinks he and Mal are together you idiot," she said to Harry quietly. "Don't do something that'll embarrass her, she is a lady of the court."
Harry nodded minutely and Evie settled back in her seat, knowing that they she would have to keep an eye out at lunch to make sure the two survived their so-called 'date' and didn't end up killing each other, ripping each others clothes off in the Dining Hall or missing afternoon classes.
Author's Note:
So, I received my A Level results so I'm a little more free with my time (they were better than I expected so I no longer feel as guilty about spending as much time on here as I was)
ALSO THE RATING IS GOING UP WOOHOO. Enough people wanted a little more naughtiness so from this chapter forth you will be getting that AND I have scrapped my original plan and I am extending the story so it should be between 20-25 chapters, possibly more as I have yet to plan that far ahead.
Anyway, as always, please favourite, follow, review and enjoy XO