Instead of concocting the love potion that night, Mal decided to do a little more research into the ingredients and the steps. The fairy eventually discovered that she made the right choice of not diving immediately into making the potion. Apparently, to disguise the potion, it is required to bake the concoction into the recommended dessert. The magic will fade away if the treat isn't devoured within twenty-four hours.
So the night before the big Tourney game, Mal was in the middle of whisking together the ingredients for the love potion while Evie searched the cabinets for any other ingredient that may be needed. Meanwhile, Carlos was busy typing away on his laptop to make last minute changes to the revenge plan. Jay watched only because he was curious about one thing.
"Damn," Jay commented as he squinted at the screen. "I can't believe she would cheat with someone as small as him."
Carlos paused a moment to look at his friend with a raised eyebrow. "And you're any bigger?"
"Of course," Jay boasted confidently. "Just ask my boyfriend."
The technology genius snickered as he went back to work. "You just wanted an excuse to call Aziz that."
The boys' conversation didn't get go unnoticed as Evie twirled around to face them, her hands on her hip in a demanding pose. "What are you doing?" Evie interrogated forcefully. "You're supposed to be helping with the potion."
"Trust us, this is way more important," Jay promised.
"And twice as entertaining," Carlos joked as he continued typing away on his electronic device.
"Focus on this for a few moments," Mal ordered while referencing her spell book for the thousandth time. "The last thing we need is a tear, but I don't cry."
"Let's chop up an onion then," Carlos suggested as he grabbed one next to the bowl that Dude was currently sitting in. "Quickest way to get one."
"That won't work," Mal denied with a frustrated huff. "It says we need one tear of fairy sadness. We have to follow the recipe exactly for it to work."
"A tear's a tear," Jay complained with an annoyed eye-roll. "And will it even work since you are part god?"
"As long as Mal has fairy blood, it will work," Evie argued knowledgeably. "The god part of her will just intensify the effects of the tear. Besides, although both have antibodies and enzymes, an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear."
Mal smiled proudly at her second-best-friend. "Listen to you," she cooed. "Sounds like all that extra studying has paid off."
While Evie beamed bashfully at the compliment, there came a sound of a creaking door. Making a quick decision, Mal threw a kitchen towel over her spell book to keep it hidden just as a teenage girl with luscious brown hair wearing a bright pink floral pajama set walked in.
"There you are, Mal!" the unknown-girl exclaimed happily as she flounced toward her. "I was looking for you! All the girls want you to do their hair."
Jay raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the girl. "And you are?"
"Jay, this is Lonnie, the daughter of Mulan," Mal introduced while mixing the ingredients in the bowl. "She had asked me to spell her hair a couple days ago. Lonnie, he is—"
"I already know," Lonnie interrupted with a mischievous smile. "Aziz told me all about his boyfriend."
The Lost Boy didn't bother hiding his surprise. "Really? He's told me nothing about you."
"We really don't talk anymore because of the people I hang with," Lonnie claimed with a careless shrug. "So what midnight snack are you making?"
"Nothing special," Mal insisted with a shrug of her own. "Just craving some cookies."
"Have you added chocolate chips?" Lonnie wondered as she headed to the fridge to retrieve a bowl of the dark sweets. "It is the most important ingredient for a cookie recipe."
Hearing no immediate protests from the group, the Chinese girl sprinkled the chips into the dough, causing the Lost Girls to stare at the strange contents in the bowl. It was only then that Lonnie realized that they were staring blankly.
"Wait . . ." Lonnie tilted her head in curiosity at the group. "Didn't your moms ever make you chocolate chip cookies?"
Their eyes were still blank, so she further explained, "Like, when you're feeling sad? They're fresh from the oven, with a big glass of milk. She makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective . . ."
Lonnie trailed off the moment she noticed their mystified expressions. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Mal adverted her gaze to hide her emotions about missing a certain someone, stirring the batter as she blinked through her watering eyes. "It's different where we're from. . ."
"Yeah, I know," Lonnie commented while trying not to be too pushy. "I just, I thought . . . even villains love their kids."
Like water breaking through a dam, Mal clutched the table while bowing her head, her emotions overwhelming her. Although she tried her hardest to contain her sobs, she was unable to stop the tear that streamed down her cheek and into the batter.
The final ingredient for the potion.
"I'm so sorry!" Lonnie apologized while shaking her head in denial. "I-I didn't mean to upset you."
"You're alright," Jay reassured as he swooped in to comfort his best friend. The moment he was by her side, Mal buried her head into his shoulder to hide her sorrow from the world. "She just doesn't have a great relationship with her mother," he fibbed, rubbing soothing circles on the fairy's shoulder blade. "Mal tries a little too hard to please her mother, but nothing works."
"We have to get these cookies in the oven now if we want to make curfew," Evie abruptly insisted, mixing the dough once again since everything was inside. "We'll see you tomorrow."
Although confused and reluctant to go because of what she did, Lonnie slowly walked out of the kitchen to tell certain princes what transpired.
Meanwhile, after the 'goody-goody' was gone, Jay turned toward his friends. "Carlos, Evie, take over from here," he instructed as he still had his arms wrapped around the fragile fairy. "I'm going to take Mal back to her room and try to cheer her up."
The next morning—after collecting herself from her emotional disaster the night before—Mal and Jay walked outside the school by the lockers. When Mal opened hers, Jay noticed the baggie she pulled out with a special love-spell cookie inside.
"Are you feeling kind of weird about this?" Jay wondered, his last attempt to make her change her mind. "I mean, it's not so bad here."
Mal twirled around on her heels to face her friend. "Are you insane?" She scolded quietly so no one could eavesdrop. "We need the wand so we can bring down the barrier. So I can see my baby girl again."
"But is this really necessary?" Jay interrogated while leaning against the locker next to hers. "Maybe Ben already likes you. Maybe he broke up with Audrey so he could be with you."
Mal scoffed at the 'ridiculous' idea. "Yeah, right. A prince isn't going to sweep me off my feet on his own. My life isn't a fairy-tale. It's a nightmare. The only good part in it is you, Dad, and Mallory."
"But will you be comfortable with this?" Jay urged to try to voice his concerns. "After everything you've been through, is spelling someone to be in love with you the right choice? Are you ready to be in a relationship, even if it's fake?"
Hesitating for only a moment, Mal reassured timidly, "I'll be fine. Even though he will be spelled, Ben is still a prince and a gentleman. He won't hurt me like Harry did."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the hall, another set of best friends were having a conversation of their own.
"I can't believe you changed the revenge plan," Aziz complained as he leaned against the locker next to Ben's. "Why?"
"Thinking about it, sending the messages so the videos could be seen was a little too harsh," Ben insisted quickly so no bystanders could hear him. "The screenshots of the messages will still show that she cheated."
"What does your beast want to do?"
"Leak the actual messages," Ben answered like it obvious. "But I'm the one in control. If Audrey or Chad somehow denies it after the initial leak, then the second leak will be the videos, specifically the one where she admits to cheating."
"I guess I'll be fine with that," Aziz teased, though his demeanor quickly turned serious. "What are you going to do about the charmed cookie?"
"Say that I don't eat sweets?" Ben answered, though he sounded uncertain. "If she is persistent, then I probably will eat it."
"Jay said there's a love potion in it," Aziz reminded warningly. "You're still going to eat it knowing that?"
"The potion won't work," Ben stubbornly insisted. "I'll prove it to you."
So, while Aziz and Jay moved off to the side to mingle with Evie and Carlos, Ben approached Mal with a bright, yet somehow comforting smile. "Hey," he greeted as he, once again, kept a respectful distance from her. "How are you? Lonnie told me and Aziz that you were a little . . . emotional last night. She didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm fine," Mal reassured a little too quickly. "It's just been a rough couple days, but I made a batch of cookies." The fairy held up a baggie with an innocent smile on her face. "Do you want one?"
Ben eyed the bag suspicious. "I don't eat sweets during Tourney season. Maybe next time?"
"No, yeah. I completely understand," Mal commented with a dramatic eye-roll. "Be careful of treats offered by kids of villains. I'm sure every kid in Auradon knows that."
"That's not it," Ben argued.
"No, I get it." Mal interrupted, finding herself somewhat nervous by her calm façade. "You're cautious. That's smart. More for me, I guess." She took the cookie from the baggie and acted like she was about to take a bite.
Ben grabbed it before she could and took a large bite to prove a point. "See that? Totally trust you."
Mal glanced over her shoulder at her friends, then back at Ben. "How is it?" she asked.
"It tastes good," Ben complimented while handing the cookie back to the fairy. "You added just the right amount of chocolate chips. You should consider baking more."
"Maybe I will," Mal agreed, though it was only to cover the sinking feeling in her stomach.
Ben offered a small smile to the fairy. "I'll see you at the game."
Mal could only nod as she watched him walk away with his closest friend.
Once he was out of hearing distance with Aziz, Ben bragged, "I told you the potion wouldn't work. You can't put a love spell on someone that's already in love."
