As I said this is my fourth update for the day, just to be nice! Also because I'm really enjoying writing chapter 16 of the sequel and I felt like posting again.
Replies to reviews:
Villiangirl: Yeah Mal's pretty much thinking that since she gave everyone else a chance she owes it to Leah to at least hear her out, while Belle personally would prefer not to but she doesn't want to influence Mal's choice. And don't worry you won't have to wait long.
Danifan3000: Oh yeah, under the circumstances it would be considered treason because of the reasoning behind her doing it.
Jeremy: Maleficent is definitely going to confirm that Mal is her daughter yeah, and Leah definitely has a more villainous role.
The week passed in a blur of activity, after the chaos of Family Day Chad and the White twins were possibly the least popular kids in Auradon prep, much to Mal's satisfaction.
There were one or two students who sided with them, but the vast majority sided with Mal, Audrey and the Isle kids.
Mal was no longer avoiding them when she could either, since the boys were worried about Evie, so they ended up spending a fair amount of time in the girls dorm room, and eating together at lunch, during which time Mal found Ben shooting her smiles and winks that made her blush and made Audrey and Evie tease her whenever they were away from the boys.
Of course in Mal's opinion the highlight of the days leading up to the Coronation was the day that, right in front of Samantha and Steven, Doug had walked up to Evie, placed a hand on her cheek-on the non-scratched side, told her she was the most beautiful girl in Auradon and had kissed her before asking her to go with him to the Coronation.
The squeal Evie had made that had nearly burst Mal and Audrey's eardrums was worth it to see the giddy smile on Evie's face, and the furious jealous looks on Samantha and Steven's faces when the people in the hall around them had cheered and laughed.
Even during Tourney training things had changed slightly, Braeden and Jay had been made Co-Captains of the team, and Chad and Steven had both been kicked off of it and given a two month ban for their behavior at Family day, and the best thing was no one on the team blamed the boys at all, which Mal had been slightly worried they would.
Chad and Steven might be assholes and idiots but they weren't bad players, she'd worried that them getting kicked off the team would be bad for morale, but given the three new players, who had all proven themselves at the last game no one was too worried about the two teens who'd been kicked off.
And Carlos, who admittedly hadn't fit in that well with the rest of the team received a lot of praise for defending the two girls and stopping Steven from attacking Mal.
Truthfully the Family day disaster had made the Isle kids more popular than they had been before.
When Friday came Mal was awake bright and early, six in the morning, and so were Audrey and Evie-who had hurried off with a bag that Mal was sure held Ben's coronation outfit.
When the blue haired girl left the room Audrey, who was already in the middle of applying her make up turned her head to look at Mal. "How are you feeling? And don't lie to me Mal." the other girls brow furrowed, "You never lied to me before but you have been lately I know it... I know something more happened between you and Braeden... I won't ask what, you'll tell me when you're ready but... tell me how you feel."
"I.." Mal bit her lip, pausing in the act of brushing her hair, "I'm terrified." she admitted, "Completely terrified, what if I mess up-"
"Mal you'll be fine." Audrey finished applying her mascara and moved to her best friend's side, grabbing her hands, "You'll be perfect, just remember to breath and stand tall and proud."
"What if I trip or something?" and what if her faith in Ben was wrong? God but she really, really hoped it wasn't.
"You won't. You have to believe in yourself Mal." Audrey plucked the brush from Mal's hand, moving so that she was sat behind the other girl as she got to work on Mal's hair, brushing it out, "You're the Crown Princess of Auradon, this is what you've been raised for you'll be fine." she frowned, brushing her fingers over the blonde curls. "Mal... you don't have to, obviously.. but I think you should hair your hair it's natural color today." her voice was gentle, "It's what suits you best and you'll be utterly beautiful Mal. Not that you aren't always but..."
"You think?" Mal's voice was hesitant, "I... Blonde is more of a Princessy color-"
Oh screw that." Audrey prodded Mal's shoulder, "Stop being a dumbass Mal. You're going to be the Queen of Auradon, screw what anyone else thinks. You should look like yourself.
"I.." Mal gave a slow faint smile before nodding "Alright." she pointed at her head, mumbling the words of the spell and closing her eyes.
When she opened them again her hair was its natural color, and Audrey hugged her gentlt from behind as she looked into the mirror "See, beautiful." she smiled, "Think I should go natural today?"
"I... do you want to?" Mal turned her head slightly to look at Audrey, "I can spell your hair if you want?"
"Yeah... yeah I think I would, it'd make mom happy and it'd keep Grammy off my back."
So Mal repeated the spell again, smiling faintly as she watched her best friends hair darken into it's natural smooth deep brown waves. "There."
"Perfect." Audrey grinned before she got back to work, brushing through Mal's soft curls carefully, "You mom should be here soon with your dress."
"I know." Mal frowned faintly, "It's just... I haven't even tried it on in weeks and it didn't feel right."
"I know." Audrey gave a slight grin, "We'll wait and see how you feel when it's on. No matter what you're gonna be perfect today Mal."
"I know." Mal took a deep breath. "Has Evie got a gown?"
"Yeah, she made herself one.. it's gorgeous, I wish she'd done mine." Audrey admitted, "But hey, next big party I totally am gonna have an Evie exclusive."
"Is she gonna wear the tiara you gave her?"
"She says so." Audrey nodded, "I'm wearing the one mom gave me last year."
"It'll look perfect." Mal smiled softly, leaning back against Audrey before turning her head when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in!"
The door swung open and Belle stepped into the room, already dressed in her own gown, a beautiful floor length yellow gown
with beaded straps and loose chiffon bunched just off the shoulders. There was delicate detailing at the waist of the dress, and she was carrying, with the help of Lumiere, a rather bulky dress bag.
But Belle wasn't smiling like Mal had expected her to be, her expression was grim and worried. "Mal, Mal sweetie there'a problem with the dress."
"What? What is it?" Mal frowned, "Mom what's wrong?"
"It.. it seems that Sarah also works for the Charming's... and for the Whites... and she's got a soft spot for Snow's daughter.. I didn't know until I checked the dress this morning darling.."
"Oh god." Mal felt her heart sinking, how bad is it mom?"
"Lumiere help me hang it on the closet and shut the door please." Belle carried the dress bag into the room and hung it on Mal's closet, and Lumiere moved away quickly to shut the door as the woman unzipped the bag and pulled the cover to the side.
The beautiful ball gown, a replica of her mothers dress in her fathers favored royal blue would have been beautiful, even if Mal hadn't felt quite right about it. But the dress had been ripped and cut and a blank ink or something of the sort had been thrown over it leaving a huge stain and splotches of ink around the main stain.
Mal let out a horrified gasp, her eyes instantly filling with tears even as Audrey cried out and rushed to her side, wrapping her arms around Mal tightly. "My dress! Oh god mom what do I do my dress it's ruined!"
"Oh Mal!" Audrey shifted so that she was hiding the dress from Mal's sight, "Mal it's okay-"
"No it's not!" Mal shook her head, "My Coronation dress was supposed to be special Audrey! And she ruined it! I don't have anything else to wear I... this is a disaster!"
"We're going to fix this!" Belle's voice was firm as she moved to her daughters side quickly, gently grasping the teenagers shoulders as Audrey stepped back to let Mal's mother comfort her. "I promise you Mal. Sarah's going to be punished and we're going to find you a new gown-"
"Mom you're the one who said my gown had to be bespoke! You're the one who said it needed to be perfect! I'll never get a new one in time!"
"We're going to fix this." Audrey stated firmly, "This... she's horrible for doing it but you didn't feel right about that one anyway-"
"It's the only one I had!" Mal shook her head, "What am I supposed to do now."
"Wait here." Audrey ordered, "And calm down everything is going to be fine Mal I promise you. Belle can you start on Mal's hair and make up please?" she reached out, grabbing Mal's hand and squeezing before rushing out of the room, make up still half done and still wearing her pajamas as she rushed out of the room.
"Mom what do I do?"
"You breath." Belle took a deep breath, "Audrey seems to have a plan, though I don't know what it is. She's your best friend, I'm sure she knows what she's doing Perhaps she'll get Evie to try and patch it up." Belle brushed her fingers through Mal's hair, pulling her to the bed and sitting down behind her, "It's going to be okay sweetie. Lumiere can you get me some tissue and some face wipes?"
"Of course." Lumiere nodded and quickly fetched them, and Belle carefully used the tissue to dry the tears before wiping Mal's face gently, singing softly as she did, the lullaby that she'd always sung when Mal was little and she had nightmares.