(Evie)

Thursday had come unusually quickly, Tuesday and Wednesday drifting passed Evie so swiftly that she often found herself questioning what had happened during both of those days, whether she had done anything, or not. Sometimes, she wondered how she had managed to find herself in each of her classes during their scheduled time, her mind so overwhelmed that it proved to be a constant distraction from her responsibilities as a student. She knew it was foolish and she still couldn't help but let it continue, and she continued missing her classes despite being present for every single one of them, the teacher's voice diminished into a distant murmur as her mind wound too quickly for her to keep up.

The first thing at the front of her mind was Mal. She couldn't help but worry about the girl, especially given the fact that she still remained unconscious, never once waking – or even stirring – from the seemingly deep slumber she had fallen into Monday night. In medical terms, Evie had found out that it was called a coma, which Belle had explained as a deep state of unconsciousness that not everyone woke up from. And so she found herself constantly worried about the girl's health, perpetually terrified that she might never wake again, still feeling as though it was completely her fault.

She thought about things that didn't seem to matter to anyone else. She thought about what might have happened if she hadn't left Mal alone in the infirmary; she thought about what might have happened if Mal hadn't come running after her; she thought about what the girl's life would be like if she hadn't shown up in Auradon at all. She thought about it all, right down to wondering what would have happened had her mother never given her the necklace that still hung around her neck, now completely dormant from any abnormal pulsing or skin-searing heat. Every 'what if' that came to mind tore her apart, but still she asked herself more, wondering if a simple fact being changed could have stopped it all from happening.

However, Mal's health wasn't the only thing that demanded her attention.

Though she was worried to the point her stomach twisted with nausea, another emotion battled for the front row seat; confusion. Ever since she had managed to remember every little detail of what had occurred between her and Mal down by the water she hadn't been able to stop thinking about Mal's words, one sentence in particular. Use your own powers to control the necklace. Not only was she anxiously waiting for Mal to wake so she could know the girl was alright, but she was also desperate to ask her what she had meant by saying that. My own powers? As in magic? She had never been more confused by anything. I don't have any magical powers. Her mother had magic, she was well aware of that, but she had never inherited any of the woman's powers, and she was convinced that they would have made an appearance by now if she had. She knew that some magic was required to work the magic mirror, but it was only the faint presence of her family's powers in her blood that allowed her that ability; she was just as mortal as the majority of those in Auradon, she was sure of that. But still, part of her wondered if there was something she didn't know about herself that Mal somehow did, resulting in the girl telling her to use powers she knew she didn't have. She's probably just like everyone in my family. Knowing I should have powers, only to become disappointed in me when it's realized that I can't do anything outside of work a magic mirror. And that's the answer she was stuck with; the belief that Mal merely guessed she had magic because it wasn't a secret that her mother is the Evil Queen.

And that had her wondering who Mal's parents were, though she was well aware that the girl never discussed her past. Thankfully, she wasn't allowed the time to over-strain her brain in desperate search of the girl's past, the sudden high-pitched ring of the school's bell drawing her from her helpless thoughts.

Once again disappointed with herself for missing an entire lesson, Evie moved slowly as she packed her supplies into her bag with an organized order, a light sigh moving through her body as she debated asking the teacher what the assignment was. However, before she could even get to her feet she found herself startled when she noticed the teacher standing directly in front of her desk again. She opened her mouth to apologize, but the woman beat her to speaking.

"I've been told the student currently in the infirmary is your roommate, is this correct?"

Surprised by the current topic, Evie could only manage a nod as she swallowed the thick lump that had formed in her throat, the mention of Mal causing her stomach to crumple back into a nauseous mess. Her teacher sighed, her usual stern look turning into something resembling sympathy.

"Then no doubt you were close with her," the woman spoke softly, as if afraid she would break Evie if she were to speak any louder. "I've noticed you've been a little distant in class this week, but knowing that I can only guess what you might be going through at the moment with your roommate, I've decided to be lenient. You deserve a few days to process and come to terms with everything," her words surprised Evie, and before she could respond the woman continued. "I'm terribly sorry for everything that's happening, and I hope that whatever happens you'll find the comfort that you need."

Feeling suddenly uncomfortable and not knowing what else to say, Evie hoisted her bag onto her shoulder. "Thank you, Ma'am."

Her teacher offered her a sympathetic smile as she walked around the desk and made her way to the door, feeling almost guilty. She should have told the woman that she hardly even knew Mal, and that she wasn't even sure if they were friends or not, but in the moment she had found herself grateful for an excuse to remain distracted by everything she couldn't seem to understand. I'm such a terrible person. She stopped in her tracks when she turned in the direction that would lead her to her locker, finding her path blocked by Jay, who was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.

"Jay," she spoke quietly, barely more than an audible exhaled breath.

"Hey, Evie," Jay broke out into a wide smile as he pushed off the wall. "What was that all about, with the teacher?"

"Oh, nothing," Evie shook her head, not wanting to discuss her current lacking skills in class with him. "What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you, clearly," Jay replied, gesturing for her to lead the way, indicating that he'd follow her. "I just wanted to see how you were holding up."

Evie knew Jay could see right through her, so she didn't dare lie to him. "Good enough, I mean, I could be more focused, but it's not like I'm sick or anything."

"You just seem shook up," Jay shrugged, glancing at her briefly. "I mean; it must be hard. Having been there and all."

"I think I'd be better if I knew what happened," Evie said honestly, sighing as they turned the corner and reached her locker. "All I know is that there was a bright flash, and then she hit the ground and…" she couldn't finish it.

"And hasn't woken up since," Jay finished for her, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

Evie paused briefly, her fingers gently clasping the knob of her locker for a few seconds before she started twisting her combination. Something felt off to her, something about the way Jay spoke of everything that had happened with Mal, but she chose to ignore it, not sure if she was imagining it, or not.

"You should come get something to eat with Audrey and I," Jay continued, clearly knowing she wasn't about to respond to his previous words.

Evie laughed lightly, almost dryly. "Yeah, no thanks."

"Come on," Jay pestered, nudging her lightly. "I'll make sure she plays nice. It couldn't hurt."

Or it could hurt a great deal. "No thanks, I'm just going to go check on Mal."

"Evie," Jay groaned, holding a few of her textbooks without complaint as she handed them to him. "I really want you two to get along. She's my girlfriend and you're my friend."

"Tell that to her," Evie muttered, taking the books back from him and sliding them in her locker carefully now that she had made space for them. "I would love to get along with whoever you're dating, Jay, it's just that you're dating Audrey. And no matter what I do she just seems to continue finding new ways to crawl under my skin."

"I get that, I do," Jay stated, casually lifting Evie's bag from her shoulder and slinging it over his own. "But I've had multiple talks with her, and she's said she's willing to try. So, can you just come along this once and test it out?" He was pleading with her, and she knew she was going to give in before he even finished. "I promise that I'll do something about it if she says anything rude to you."

Yeah? Like break up with her? She knew it was too wild of a hope given how much Jay seemed to actually like Audrey. Glancing in the direction of the infirmary she sighed in defeat, turning back to Jay and gesturing for him to start walking.

"Yes!" Jay smiled widely, seemingly ecstatic that he had gotten her to agree to accompanying him. "Thank you, Evie. You don't know how much it means to me that you'll give her another chance."

Oh, I think I do, she thought to herself, reminding herself to store this moment away in case she needed to use it to get Jay to do something for her. Normally, she wouldn't think this way when it came to doing favors for friends, but the fact that it meant she had to spend time with Audrey made her utterly unfazed about the idea of holding this favor against him. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to become Audrey's friend, in fact, she had tried so many times that she had lost count a while ago. Audrey was the one making it impossible, constantly feeling the need to threaten her with one ridiculous thing, or another. And it only took a few seconds when they had met up with Audrey for the girl to begin again.

"So, Evie?" Audrey got her attention as they made their way to the pizzeria Jay had chosen for them to go. "Where's your boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?" Jay questioned, eyebrows knit in confusion as he glanced over at Evie. "I thought you said you…"

"Yeah, I do," Evie cut Jay off, not wanting Audrey to know about her preference for girls; it would only open new opportunities for the girl. "He's perfectly fine, Audrey. I think he's just practicing some new plays."

It was almost amusing how confused Jay appeared, and she found herself having to hold in a laugh as Audrey responded. Oh, Jay, if you only knew what your girlfriend thought of your two best friends.

"Did he finally realize he's bad at the game?" Audrey faked a pout, but Evie saw right through her.

"No, just that there's always room for improvement," Evie replied smoothly, not missing a beat as she gave Audrey the most convincing smile the girl had probably ever seen. "I'm proud of him."

Audrey's eyes narrowed at her briefly before she moved ahead of them, pretending she had seen someone that interested her. Evie finally allowed herself to laugh, though only for a short moment before Jay came closer to her side.

"I'm still confused," Jay announced, watching Audrey greet someone. "What boyfriend are you two talking about? You're into girls, Evie."

"Carlos," Evie answered nonchalantly, a small shrug of her shoulders meant to let him know she wasn't bothered by any of it. "She thinks I'm dating Carlos, and I'm just too tired to keep up with her ridiculous accusations, so I just go with it."

"Picking them younger, are you?" Jay joined in the joke, clearly finding it just as amusing as her that Audrey believed the two were seeing each other.

"Well, I know Cruella wouldn't approve since I'm eighteen and he's still sixteen, but I just can't help it," Evie said playfully, a smile reshaping her lips. "He's just so adorable."

"She seriously believes you two are dating?" Jay questioned, dark eyes lit with amusement.

Evie nodded, humming. "Mmhm."

"Jay!" Audrey called, stealing their attention from the conversation they were having. "Can we eat here instead?"

Evie raised her eyebrow, glancing at Jay and watching as he didn't put up any form of a fight despite the fact that he had really wanted to eat pizza for dinner. Carlos was right, she does have her claws buried deep in him. She said nothing as she followed Jay over to the fancy awning, knowing that it wasn't the correct time to be bringing up relationship issues. Sitting down at one of the tables after Jay and Audrey she glanced around curiously, finding that it was mostly princesses filling the area. Of course she'd want to eat here. She picked up the menu, ready to keep her focus on something other than the girl sitting in front of her.

Just as she thought Jay had managed to take her mind off everything happening, the thought of Mal crawled its way back into the front of her mind, immediately lowering her spirits. I hope you're okay, Mal. Please be okay. She knew that the first thing she would do when the girl woke up was apologize for being the one who put her in a coma. Though part of her hoped the heavy weight of guilt would leave her shoulders if Mal turned out to be fine she knew it wouldn't no matter what she did, she would always blame herself for what had happened to the girl, well aware that it had been her necklace that had caused it. Oh my goodness, that sounds so ridiculous!

"Evie!"

Her name being shouted yanked her forcefully from her thoughts of Mal, bringing her back into reality where she found both Jay and Audrey staring at her. She hummed in question, looking at both of them, the fact that Audrey seemed utterly annoyed not slipping her notice. I'm sorry, does not having everyone's undivided attention bother you?

"Do you have problems with your attention span as well?" Audrey asked angrily, her irritation coming through thick in her voice.

"Audrey…" Jay started, but was unable to finish.

"Only when I'm with you," Evie replied, offering Audrey an obviously forced smile.

"Evie," Jay's voice was laced with a warning, the look in his eyes begging her not to hit back.

She averted her gaze, knowing she shouldn't have taken Audrey's bait, but she couldn't help herself when it came to her. Audrey irked her more than anyone else ever had, and she wasn't one to sit back idly while anyone – let alone some conceited Princess – repeatedly fired shots at her. Still, she had told Jay she would give the girl another chance, and right now, neither of them seemed to be doing as Jay wished.

"I'm sorry," Evie apologized quietly, preparing for the lie she knew needed to slip from her lips. "I didn't mean it."

Audrey laughed at this. "Wow, you're real tough."

"Audrey, please stop," Jay pleaded with the girl, leaning over to slide his hand into hers. "You know she's my friend."

"Friendships seem to be formed with the lowest of people on the Isle," Audrey didn't stop, though, only digging further as she turned to Jay. "I know it must be hard when no one there is worthy of your time, sweetheart."

That one had swooped low enough to hit exactly where Audrey had meant for it to, and Evie didn't hesitate another second before pushing from her seat, grabbing her bag and walking away from the couple, no longer willing to spend an afternoon with Audrey no matter how much Jay begged her to. Although Audrey couldn't possibly know about it, Evie had been the last person on the Isle Jay wanted to make friends with, and the reminder stung more than she would have originally believed. She knew Jay remembered the way he had reacted to the idea of becoming friends with her, and she knew he remembered just how deep his words had struck. Through that they had managed to become incredibly close friends, learning things about each other that neither of them would have guessed could possibly be true, but despite their unbreakable bond, Audrey bringing up that she's not worthwhile of Jay's time wounded her because it reminded her of the time Jay had said the exact same thing.

Jay didn't come after her, she didn't expect him to, and she could already picture the look of victory shining in Audrey's eyes, the idea of the girl knowing she had struck a deep nerve disturbing her; but not enough to get her to go back. If there was one thing she was sure of in that moment it was that she was done giving Audrey more chances to make Jay happy. If he wanted to continue dating her, that was his issue, but she would no longer allow him to expect it to be hers as well.

She had no idea where she was headed, but she wasn't surprised when she found herself pushing through the front doors of the infirmary. After all, she had spent the entire school day wishing she could visit her roommate. However, as she approached the room she knew Mal occupied she found herself slowing her steps until she stopped just outside the door, just out of view from those inside the room.

"Lunch wasn't horrible, I mean, it never is since I get to see my friends. But the class after that is my least favorite, so that's pretty sucky."

It was Carlos. Growing curious as to who he was talking to she quietly stepped around the corner of the door, finding herself completely bewildered seeing that the boy was the only one inside the room – not counting the unconscious girl, of course. He was talking to Mal.

"The teacher in my sixth class always gives me a hard time," Carlos continued talking about his day, Dude sleeping on the floor by his feet. "I don't really tell my friends that because I know Jay would cause a huge scene if he knew."

The corners of Evie's mouth curved into a smile; half because she knew Carlos wasn't exaggerating about how Jay would react and half because of the scene unfolding in front of her.

"After school I practiced for a bit on the tourney field, but I wasn't really feeling up to it today, and that's when I came to see you," Carlos spoke softly, yet with perfect clarity, his words coming out strong as they did only when he was comfortable. "Am I forgetting anything? Oh, yeah, Jay's out with Audrey, you know, the girl I really wish he wouldn't stay with."

You and me both, Carlos. Her heart fluttered at the sight in front of her, the knowledge that Carlos cared enough for Mal to visit her and tell her about his day despite the fact that she couldn't hear him lightening the crushing weight she had earlier felt pinning her chest down. She was touched and incredibly grateful that Carlos seemed to like Mal, the rest of her friends – not including Lonnie – constantly reminding her that they felt there was something wrong with the girl, something dangerous about her.

Looking passed Carlos her gaze fell on the unconscious girl hooked into several machines, the sight tightening her chest. As she studied Mal's features from a distance she couldn't find what her friends tried pointing out to her, the girl seeming so small and fragile at the moment. She's just like the rest of us. And she believed that with zero doubt, not seeing anything about the girl that made her seem dangerous in any way.

"He said he was going to ask Evie to go with them, but I don't think that will last long," Carlos spoke again, his fingers manipulating the material of the blanket draped over Mal's body. "Evie's worried about you, you know. She thinks you're in a coma because of her, which is ridiculous," he paused, and by the shift of his head Evie could tell he had lifted his gaze to find the girl's face, half covered by an oxygen mask. "We both want you to get better. We know you will."

The amount of emotion present in Carlos' voice made Evie's chest ache, made her want to take the boy into her arms and hug him tight enough to squeeze every ill emotion from his body. Still, she remained in her spot by the door, not ready to interrupt Carlos' moment with Mal; and she felt slightly guilty witnessing it.

"You'll probably want to leave Auradon when you wake up," Carlos chuckled, clasping his hands together on the bed in front of him. "Two accidents in one day. I'd want to leave, too, if it had happened to me."

Evie's heart dropped into her stomach at the thought of Mal leaving when she woke up, the idea having never occurred to her before then. It would make perfect sense if the girl left, given the fact that she had been terribly wounded and then placed in a coma not even twenty-four hours later, but Evie found herself thinking selfishly anyway. I don't want her to leave. I want her to stay. I want her to stay for me the way she wanted me to stay for her that day. It was entirely selfish, she knew that, especially since she had left the girl helplessly wounded when she had begged for her to stay, but she couldn't help the way she thought, couldn't help what she wanted.

And what she wanted was another chance. Another chance to stay with the girl when she needed her; another chance to stay with her even when she didn't need her; another chance to be the one she could count on for anything. She wanted it so much that it no longer remained a desire; she needed another chance to show Mal who she truly was. She needed another chance to show Mal that she could be that person the girl had clearly been searching for in her that day.