What If
Chapter 13
Classes resume, and so does some of the anti-VK attitudes.
After the long week celebrating Ben's coronation, school resumed. A lot of the kids were thrilled to see Mal and her friends, and some still had trouble with them being part of the school. As a tradition at A.P. they held the mandatory Monday morning meeting. Fairy Godmother addressed the school.
"Good morning Students. I assume we have all enjoyed coronation week?" All clap. "Very good. I want to share something with you. This video was sent to all your parents this morning, especially those of you who had parents in the cathedral. I want you to know ahead of time. Mal and I had a plan, no one was ever in danger…well until the plan changed." She looked at Jane who looked at the floor. "I want you to see what happened while we were all frozen by Maleficent." Fairy Godmother showed the clip of what happened from the time Maleficent broke through the window, until she unfroze everyone. "Does anyone have any questions? First, kids, come join me." Mal, Jay, Evie, Carlos and Ben walked up to the stage, thunderous applause burst from the crowd. The four from the isle exchanged looks. "Ok, anyone?"
Chad stood. "Mal? If you planned to give the wand to Fairy Godmother why didn't you right away?"
"Hey Chad, that's actually the one thing I wanted to talk about. My mother was on the roof from the time I got the wand from Jane. She was trying to control me and I was trying to fight it. But seeing Ben, his parents, Fairy Godmother and my friends, it helped me fight her. It wasn't easy believe me."
"OK. Cool" Chad said.
"So now what?" One of Doug's cousins asked.
"We stay and go right on as we were before coronation day." Jay said.
"And we are all safe?" Another young girl, the foursome didn't know asked.
"Yes. The dome over the isle was repaired as soon as I unfroze everyone. And the hole in the dome was in the top, so really only Maleficent could have escaped." Fairy Godmother reassured.
"I meant from them?" She said pointing to Mal and her friends.
"You have nothing to fear from them." Ben said. "I have complete trust in them."
"But they were after the wand?"
"And we could have left with it, but we didn't." Evie pointed out.
"We aren't here for anything other than what you are here for, an education." Carlos pointed out.
"I assure you Belinda dear, if I thought these kids weren't safe they wouldn't be here." Fairy Godmother again pointed out.
"They have magic." Another kid pointed out.
"True, Mal and Evie do, and that is an issue that the council has already addressed and the girls are aware of their limitations and the rules of Auradon about magic. That is not a concern for any of you."
"But are they allowed to do magic?" Chad asked, going with the flow of the negative kids.
"Yes, just the same as anyone else in Auradon who has magic, they are aware of where they can and can't use it. No cheating on tests, tricks and so on. Relax Chad." Ben said, glaring at Chad.
"I was worried about all those pretty girls having their hair changed back." Chad teased Mal. She laughed and Ben just shook his head.
"Honestly, Chad." Fairy Godmother scolded. "Is there anything else, any other concerns?"
"So are Ben and Mal an item, for real or was that just magic?" A female voice called out, but no one stood.
"For real." Evie, Jay and Carlos said for the couple, who just exchanged looks.
"But was Chad right did you steal Ben from Audrey?" Mal looked around for both the voice and Audrey. She found neither.
"I went willingly." Ben admitted. "Mal, helped me realize I was dating the wrong girl. I have already had a talk with Audrey, and she understands." He was also looking around for Audrey. He knew it was unlikely she was here, Monday morning meetings and Audrey never mixed.
"Now enough of this time for first period. Dismissed." She looked at the 5 on the stage and signaled them to follow her. "Ben have you talked to Audrey, I see as usual she wasn't here."
"I have. She really isn't ok with it, but she understands my feelings, that's what I meant."
"I see. I will have to get her into my office and show her that clip. Her parents received it as did the other parents."
"Understood." Ben said moving towards the door, looking at the clock. "Ok, off to class."
"Mal, Jay, Evie and Carlos, here are your new schedules. I have filled in remedial goodness with other classes. If they aren't to your liking let me know. It's only a few weeks until semester ends anyway. Then we have all new classes."
The four looked at their schedules. Mal now had art. Evie had a design class, Jay had martial arts class, and Carlos had an audio/video class. They all looked at Fairy Godmother and nodded. "Very good."
The rest of the morning went well. Their new classes were the last ones before lunch. They met at lunch and exchanged their opinions of their new classes. "OK, so I should have let Ben sign me up for art, weeks ago." Mal admitted. "But don't tell Ben I said that." She joked.
"The design class is an introduction one, but after the first in-class assignment the teacher thinks I will be placed in advanced next term. I designed a man's suit today." Evie said pulling out her sketch pad.
She was just as good an artist as Mal. "E you are awesome. You should take art with me next term"
"Maybe I will. I have never drawn anything other than clothing though."
"Well think about it we have time." Mal said. She looked to Jay. "How was your class?"
"I got to 'hurt' people without hurting them. This martial arts stuff is a huge stress reliever. I really like it. It teaches control." HE said that first part for Chad who happened to be walking by at the time.
"Good thing." Evie said while Mal and Carlos laughed. "What about you Carlos?"
"I am liking it, but I have a huge project due, and because I am new, I have extra time, but… the theme is home."
"OH." They all say.
"What is the project?" Ben asked coming up to the group. He kissed Mal's cheek, hugged Evie, then high fived Carlos and fist pumped Jay.
"We need to do a video about home. I can't exactly go home for that one."
"Mal, can you draw somethings from the isle for Carlos to film?"
"Brilliant." Carlos said, looking at Mal with puppy dog eyes.
"What do you need?" She relented. She actually had quite a few sketches of home, she had done when she had first arrived, when she was actually feeling home sick.
"It has to be a 1 minute video of home. Anything you can get. I have to add music from home, too. No clue what to do about that. We didn't really have any, other than the Bad Apples, and I can't play their stuff here."
"That's true. Well just find something here and explain there wasn't music on the isle." Evie suggested.
"Well if he can't accept that, he can talk to fairy godmother." Mal agreed.
"He seems nice, he did tell me to do what I could and he did give me a few extra days, since I was new."
"There see, your fine Carlos." Evie reassured him.
Audrey walked by and snubbed them. Jane walked past, you could see she was trying to catch Audrey, but the Princess was avoiding Jane's attempts at gaining her attention. As she passed by, Ben looked at Mal. She quickly said the spell and returned Jane's, longer hair. Jane touched her head and mouthed 'Thank you', to Mal.
"Audrey, Audrey." Jane called after the princess again. "My mother needs to see you. You missed morning meeting again."
"I don't need to miss my beauty sleep over that nonsense." Audrey retorted.
"Maybe so, but my mother still needs to see you, now." Jane said feeling more confident with her longer hair back.
"Fine." Audrey huffed and walked away.
Jane came back over to the group. "I want to thank you again, for…the other day." She said to Mal.
"It was my fault that you felt you needed the wand Jane. I meant what I said to you." Mal stood to face the younger fairy.
"Then why change my hair now." Jane asked shyly.
"I like the confident Jane that comes with that hair. But still, you look lovely either way." Mal said.
"Care to join us?" Carlos asks.
"Thank you." Jane sat down. "Do you like your new classes?" Mal returned to her seat next to Ben after patting Jane's shoulder.
"We do." Carlos said.
Just then Doug walked up. Evie had danced with him at the after party, but they had never really talked about family day. Doug shook Ben's hand and looked at Evie, his eyes showing sadness. "May I borrow Evie?" He asked the group. Jay was about to object when Evie stood.
"We are here." Mal pointed out their support. She knew Evie had been dreading this talk.
"I know." Evie walked to an empty table and Doug followed.
"I just want to say…I was so wrong! I never should have listened to Chad. But when you took out that spell that sprayed him all I could think of was all those stories my Dad and uncles told me about your mother and I judged you, and I shouldn't have. The look he gave me when I tried to apologize later, and the fact that they were saying that you guys would be sent back for that, I knew I had to live here with them and well…I choose wrong. And I know I have no right to ask for forgiveness, cause I messed up big time, but please, if you can see it in your heart to be my friend again or more…I know I don't deserve it." He blurted out without breathing. Evie touched his arm.
"I understand Doug. I didn't like it, but I understand. It's going to take a while to get back to where we were Doug, but I welcome your friendship." Evie smiled at him. "Start over?"
"I'd like that. Thank you Evie. That means a lot. I thought I had totally blown it."
"I know what peer pressure is Doug. It happened a lot back home."
"I…yeah. Can I join you for lunch."
"All of us, yes."
"Good." He said following her back to the table.
"We all good?" Jay asked, glaring protectively at Doug. HE wanted Doug to know he was the big brother of Evie and Mal and he took his job seriously.
"Yes." Evie said. Mal looked at her, and she mouthed, starting over. Mal smiled, pleased her friend realized how pressured Doug had been, and that he deserved a second chance.
Meanwhile in Fairy Godmother's office, Audrey was watching the video from when she was frozen with the rest of the people in the cathedral. When it was over, she looked at Fairy Godmother. "So she still could have taken it."
"Audrey, Mal and I had a plan she was never going to take it. We were going to have her grab it, cut the video feed to the island, then explain to everyone why. Then we were going to turn it back on and say they were arrested and would be serving out their sentences here and that was that. They would be rid of their parents, and no one on the island would have known they hadn't tried to complete their mission. But Jane messed it up."
"She still threatened Ben with it."
"No, she was fighting her mother then. She was already on the roof of the cathedral, talking to Mal. Mal was trying to fight the voice in her head, not Ben."
"I…I just don't know about all this. They came here to take it."
"Because they were led to believe differently about Auradon and its people. When they learned the difference they changed, and choose good."
"She spelled Ben."
"And he was well aware of it. Ben was only spelled for about 24 hours."
"But she used magic."
"Magic isn't outlawed, it just isn't used Audrey. And the changing hairdos and a love spell on Ben didn't hurt anyone. It actually taught a lesson to not only Jane, but to Mal and Ben. To me those little spells were life lessons. The spray Evie used on Chad. I gave Mal to use. If it had been done right Chad would have slept for hours. I did it weak on purpose. And no it wasn't for Chad, Evie just didn't think when she used it. We have already addressed that and she was punished accordingly. But it was only a simple knock out spell, so no harm came to Chad. As for Magic, Mal and Evie will be allowed to perform magic, as long as it stays to small things. Anything big and they will be informed and punished. They are well aware of their limits and restrictions."
"I don't trust them."
"You are in the minority then Audrey." Fairy Godmother said, opening her office door. "Have a nice day, Dear."
Audrey made it back to the lunch area, to find a crowd around Mal's table. The kids surrounding them were all talking about the video.
"Mal, had you ever seen your mom's dragon form before?"
"Those green eyes, what was that?"
"What was your mom saying to make you doubt your plan and threaten Ben?"
"Guys, guys, relax. Give her a chance to eat." Ben defended his girlfriend.
"It's ok Ben. I'd rather give them the truth, than they guess. NO on the Isle there was no magic, so mother couldn't transform. She would talk about the past, so I knew she could do it. The green eyes, was how my mother could control me. It was a lot harder to fight her on the isle. That was the only thing she could do there. Having found out the truth about Auradon helped me fight her, and the power of friendship. What she was saying, was things like Run, bring me the wand. Do it or you'll regret it. You disappointed me again Mal." She let the last one sneak out without thinking. Ben picked up her hand.
"Wow. Thanks for fighting that." Chad admitted. Seeing the look on Mal's face softened Chad just a little. "Let's leave them to eat."