"Mal, do you have a moment? I need to talk to you," the teacher spoke, and Mal and Evie paused as they started out the door.

Evie and Mal were just leaving Algebra class, talking and cherishing each other's company as usual. They had taken a test recently, and Evie was excitedly discussing all of the concepts they had covered as well as all of the new ones that they had studied today. Mal had mostly been quietly listening and Evie knew that the faerie was not nearly as enthused as Evie, but the bluenette still appreciated her willingness to listen.

They had actually begun to leave the classroom when Mr. Kurt suddenly called Mal.

Mal started to move toward the teacher, and Evie began to go with her, knowing that there were never any secrets between her and Mal. Also, they were currently holding hands and Evie was not about to let go of her best friend. But to her surprise, Mr. Kurt gave Mal a stern, strange look and the purple-haired girl suddenly stopped and turned to face her, a much too cheery smile on her face that was obviously quite forced as she held Evie's hand.

"Hey, E, I'll be out in just a sec. Why don't you go wait by the door?" Mal suggested, and Evie immediately found herself quite perplexed. Evie knew very well that Mal did not ever want to speak to teachers alone. Anytime she had to talk to one, she would always drag Evie along, regardless of whether the teacher wanted the bluenette there or not.

"Okay… Are you sure?" Evie questioned concernedly, allowing her worry to show through.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Mal reassured, but somehow Evie did not find the words comforting at all. Evie furrowed her brow before squeezing Mal's hand gently.

"Alright," Evie hesitantly replied and headed outside to wait on her sister.

As soon as she was outside, Evie leaned against the wall, wondering what the teacher could possibly want with Mal. Moreover, why in the world would Mal all but tell her to go outside? It was such a strange situation, and Evie was eager for the younger girl to exit the room.

After what felt like an agonizingly wait, Mal finally joined Evie. Evie immediately moved toward her, resisting her initial urge to press her forehead against Mal's and force her to tell her everything. Instead, she reached out, touching Mal's arm and tilting her head slightly.

She swiftly noticed that Mal's face was very much guarded, which made Evie's stomach flip in anxiety and worry.

"What did he say?" Evie asked curiously, and Mal instantly forced a slight smile. However, Evie could see the despair and injury hidden deeply in the other girl's eyes as she tried to keep a brave face. To the average person, Mal looked perfectly normal, but to Evie, the person who knew her better than anyone in the entire world, Mal did not look happy at all.

"Nothing really. Just some yammering about some extra homework for practice, y'know," Mal dismissively spoke before proceeding to talk about her most recent dabbling in charcoal in her art class.

Evie outwardly was attentive to Mal's words, but inside, she found herself quite upset indeed. Why was Mal so determined to keep her conversation private?

…

"Hey, M," Evie greeted, and Mal just offered a small two-fingered wave from her hand's grip on the sketchbook before her as she focused entirely on the drawing pad before her. Evie furrowed her brow a little, immediately noticing the difference in her best friend. Usually, Mal would have smiled at least somewhat when waving or she would have looked up.

Of course, she was already curious about Mal since the girl had seemed so eager to usher Evie out the door so she could talk to the teacher on her own. And Evie had been extremely worried and confused when Mal just blew off her concerns earlier when she had left the room.

Evie put her purse down nearby, preparing herself to move in for the kill. Evie proceeded to head over to Mal's bed where she was currently lying. Without any hesitation whatsoever, Evie just sat down there. However, Mal hardly reacted to Evie's presence. Evie wasted no time in lying down on the bed and scooting over next to Mal, resting her head on Mal's shoulder as she watched her work her magic on the page.

She was working with charcoal today, and to Evie's complete and utter surprise, Mal seemed to be drawing the bluenette. It was absolutely gorgeous so far, despite the fact that Mal had not finished it yet. Of course, there was no guarantee that it was Evie, but the fact that Mal had just the slightest softness of her features as she worked—one of soft looks reserved just for Evie— told Evie all she needed to know.

Still, the slightly older girl was going to ask what Mal was drawing. If for nothing else, it would be a good conversation-starter. And then she could start prying further into Mal's guardedness.

"Whatcha drawing?" Evie questioned sweetly, pressing her head against Mal's as she snuggled closer.

"You," Mal honestly replied, not hiding anything. At least, not hiding anything that was to do with her drawing. Evie smiled in spite of herself, unable to keep her heart from swelling with affection despite her concern about Mal.

Evie turned her head, kissing Mal's cheek before snuggling back against her. There was a pleasant moment of quiet, Mal just quietly working the page. Evie did not let this silence last for too long, however.

"So… Now that we've got time… What did Mr. Kurt give you for extra practice? Anything I can help with?" Evie asked, feigning as much innocence and nonchalance as she could possibly infuse her voice with. Mal immediately stiffened, and Evie could feel the chase begin as she silently prepared herself for a battle with Mal and her stubbornness.

"It's nothing really."

"C'mon. Was it polynomials? I'm great with those," Evie helpfully supplied, smiling sweetly as she tried to poke the answer out of Mal. To her surprise, Mal did not even react to Evie's joking cockiness with that typical roll of her eyes and that slight grin.

"No, like I said, it's nothing," Mal insisted, but Evie was not about to give up before she could get the answer out of her sister.

"Synthetic division? Maybe the binomial theorem?"

"E, just drop it, okay?" Mal told her firmly, and Evie shook her head, moving her head so that she could look at Mal.

"Why? I just want to help," Evie persisted, and she could feel Mal's body growing a little hotter as she grew more agitated with the situation. It was one of those usual side-effects of having dragon blood.

"There's nothing you can do, okay?" Mal answered dismissively, and Evie huffed in confusion, furrowing her brow and tilting her head.

"How's that?" Evie questioned, applying her own stubborn side to the conversation.

"Evie, it's not that simple," Mal informed her, and Evie could hear the irritation rising in her voice to the point that the girl was borderline angry. Despite the fact that Evie hated to aggravate Mal, she still felt that it was necessary to get the answer out of her since Mal seemed so upset. Plus, she was hiding something, and she never hid anything from Evie unless something was wrong.

"I promise I can help with whatever you need, M. I'm sure it's not that hard, and—"

"I'm failing math, E!" Mal snapped, her eyes flashing a bit of that green glow before she swiftly regained control of herself. She sat up swiftly, moving the sketchbook over to the side of the bed as she crossed her arms over her chest and closed in on herself.

Evie's eyes were wide as she just gaped at the younger girl. She had absolutely no idea that the issue ran this deep and that Mal could have possibly been failing math. Evie knew that Mal had issues in school a lot of times and especially in the area of math, but she never would have guessed that the girl was failing.

"Is that what he wanted to talk to you about?" Evie questioned, completely dumbfounded as she stared at the back of Mal's head. Mal nodded wordlessly, and Evie looked down at the mattress, still trying to process this information.

She could see the stiffness in Mal's shoulders as she sat there on the side of the bed. Evie indulged in only a moment of hesitation before moving forward and huffing Mal from behind and resting her chin on Mal's shoulder.

"M… Why didn't you tell me?" Evie asked softly, and she felt Mal exhale long and hard before actually speaking up and answering her.

"I didn't want you to think I'm stupid," Mal replied in that typical brutally honest manner as she refused to look in Evie's direction. Evie furrowed her brow.

"I'd never think you were stupid. You know that, don't you?" Evie questioned, and Mal just shrugged with a slight smile of bitterness.

"Everyone else does. I wouldn't blame you if you thought so," Mal replied simply, and Evie felt a thousand knives stab into her heart with those words. It absolutely broke her heart more than anything to hear her most favorite person in the entire world utter that statement. Evie could not imagine who in the world would think Mal was stupid.

"Who?" Evie pushed the word from her throat, feeling a lump grow in it as she spoke. All she wanted to do right now was squeeze Mal and never let her go.

"Mr. Kurt, Audrey, Doug, and all the nerds," Mal named off, and Evie felt a red rage rising within her heart as she clenched her teeth despite her mother's teachings against the action. Of course, at this moment, Evie was more focused on wanting to choke Doug and kill him before going and reporting Mr. Kurt to Fairy Godmother.

"Did they say you were?" Evie asked, trying to understand the situation fully despite the fact that she was not sure her heart could take it.

"Mr. Kurt recommended an evaluation to see if I could get some sort of special placement because, and I quote, 'Not everyone can keep up with the rigors of advanced math,'" Mal told her, and Evie could hear the slight wobble in her voice as the girl repeated the words. Evie sighed deeply, trying to keep her anger at bay as she just held Mal tightly.

"And as you know, Audrey has said I'm stupid plenty of times… I've heard Doug and his disgusting nerd friends talking about how I was dangerous but especially dangerous since I was easily provokable and seemingly unable of understanding things in the way that they actually are. Oh, and I'm your pint-sized fighting rooster, too," Mal informed her, and Evie felt a renewed infuriation fill her every muscle as she tried her best to resist the urge to go and find Doug and the rest of the nerds and throttle every one of them.

However, right now, she needed to worry about Mal, so she did her best to put aside all of her animosity, ill-will, and murderous whims in favor of comforting the faerie.

"Look, M… Mr. Kurt doesn't know what he's talking about," Evie decided to settle on the first of the offenders that Mal had brought up.

"He's the teacher, E. He must know," Mal sadly pointed out, and Evie shook her head.

"Mal, sometimes people in charge don't know what they're talking about. Just because they have some kind of degree? That doesn't mean that they're geniuses," Evie assured her, pulling away a little so that she could sit on the edge of the bed with Mal.

"Remember, people can get degrees when they're earning barely above passing," Evie told the girl, and Mal just gazed at her sadly, listening to her words.

"And moreover, Audrey, Doug, and the nerds don't count. Audrey is a brat and Doug is a pathetic little weirdo. And the rest of the nerds are just yes-men to their ridiculous nerd king," Evie explained, and allowed herself a proud grin as she managed to pull a small laugh from Mal in response to her statement. But her smile sunk to nothing when Mal descended into her unhappiness once again.

"So you're not stupid, M. Not at all," Evie told her firmly, reaching her hand up to Mal's face and cupping the younger girl's cheek. Mal leaned into it a little, but she still did not seem to be too reassured.

"What's so hard about the math?" Evie asked, her voice coming out softly as she addressed the younger girl with as much love as she could manage.

"I don't get it. I can't learn it like everyone else," Mal responded, and Evie just tilted her head as she let her hand fall from Mal's face.

"Huh," Evie trailed off, considering all of the many paths that Mal could take to learn math. There were quite a few indeed.

"I'm just stupid in math, E," Mal stated in a matter-of-fact tone, and Evie felt a whine of protest building up in her throat as soon as Mal spoke.

"You are not stupid. You think differently!" Evie replied, and Mal just chuckled humorlessly, shaking her head.

"Yeah. Not the normal people way," Mal informed her, looking at Evie in pure dejection as she dwelled increasingly upon her failures. Evie shook her head.

"Mal," Evie huffed with some aggravation in her tone, irritated at the fact that she could not get it through Mal's head her own worth. Evie knew how smart that her best friend was. Mal just needed to have confidence in herself. Also, it did not help that the teachers here were not willing to bend from the typical curriculum in order to give Mal the new pathway that she needed.

"A different way does not mean you're stupid. Carlos thinks differently. Does that mean he's stupid?" Evie inquired, and Mal wasted no time in shaking her head quickly, a shocked look on her face at the mere thought of the idea. Evie knew that she would get Mal's attention with that statement, and she allowed a smile to pull at the corners of her lips at Mal's response. Evie just might win this battle indeed.

"Well, of course not! But he actually succeeds in school, E. There's a bit of a difference," Mal admitted, and Evie shook her head, grabbing Mal's face in her hands and looking into her eyes.

"The only difference is that he has figured out a pathway that works for him. Me and you just need to figure out a pathway that works for you, M," Evie explained, stroking Mal's cheeks with her thumbs as she searched the younger girl's green eyes.

"Everyone thinks differently, Mal. But it's the truly special and amazing people that don't learn the mainstream way," Evie told her carefully, her nose touching Mal's as she spoke to her softly. Mal just stared at her for a long moment, that normally so mischievous gaze filled with an uncharacteristic mellowness.

"Huh. I guess that explains why you taught yourself everything you know," Mal stated, raising an eyebrow with a slight smile that did not quite reach her eyes as she so blatantly complimented Evie. Evie just chuckled a bit, moving away but not before kissing Mal's nose affectionately.

"Which means I can definitely teach you a way to learn everything I know because you are one of the most extraordinary people I've ever met," Evie assured her, and she saw Mal brighten ever so slightly with the praise, despite the fact that she still had the remnants of sadness lingering.

Evie sighed deeply before pushing a grin on her face.

"Alright… What do you say that we go and get ice cream, and then come back here and see what we can figure out? We've got a whole weekend ahead of us, M, and I'm completely sure that you can learn everything you need to know before the quiz on Monday," Evie told her, standing up and reaching both hands out to Mal.

Mal looked at her for a long moment before suddenly smiling a true smile for the first time that day after the meeting with the teacher. She took Evie's hands and allowed her to pull her to her feet.

"I'd like that."

…

"Mal, can I talk to you?" Mr. Kurt asked, and Mal stopped next to Evie just before they left the classroom. Mal and Evie shared a glance and Mal squeezed Evie's hand firmly, giving her a nod. Evie looked at her in some concern, but Mal shook her head. Evie just gave her one long last look before heading out the door to wait on the faerie.

Mal took a deep breath and headed toward the desk.

"Yes?"

"Well… I checked your quiz before everyone else's," he spoke, looking over the paper, and Mal swallowed back a snippy, sarcastic response about how he was being horribly biased about her and wanting her to fail. He looked quite surprised as he gazed at the quiz, and Mal mentally crossed her fingers and hoped for the best.

"And… I have no idea how you showed so much improvement in such a short amount of time," he spoke, offering Mal the paper. She looked it over and to her complete surprise, there was a bright red one hundred on the top-left-hand corner of the paper.

Mal held back her smile as she just looked at the teacher, unimpressed.

"Why? Because 'not everyone can keep up with the rigors of advanced math?'" Mal questioned, and the man suddenly looked quite sheepish and rather ashamed.

"I will have you know that I'm not everyone, sir. I'll never be like everyone. And unlike you, my best friend knew that and was willing to work with me and teach me some special ways to get answers that I understand. Which is kind of funny considering that's supposed to be your job," Mal informed him bluntly, and he blinked in surprise, just staring at the faerie in pure shock. Mal smiled slightly, giving him a onceover as she leaned toward him a little.

"So feel free to forward your paycheck to her account, 'kay?" Mal told him, a grin tugging at the corner of her lips as she straightened and started out the door, her quiz paper in her hand. She paused just by the door, unable to keep the giant smirk from her face as her eyes lit up in that infamous lime green.

"Have a nice day," Mal wished before heading out the door.

Evie was there as soon as she got out the door, and she could not hide the huge, cocky smile as she held up the paper and showed it off to Evie. Evie's face lit up with her pure enthusiasm at Mal's success, that one-thousand-watt grin spreading across her face like a bright beacon of love as she rushed forward to hug Mal.

"Mal! I knew you could do it!" Evie excitedly proclaimed, squeezing Mal tightly with a little squeal of happiness. Mal enjoyed the hug for a moment before pulling away so she could look Evie in the eyes.

"I couldn't have done it without you, E. Thank you for believing in me," Mal expressed, offering Evie that smile that was only ever directed at the bluenette. Evie's giant grin softened as she moved her head to the side slightly, looking at Mal with what could only be described as pure adoration in her eyes.

"You're welcome, M."

A/N: Thank you to Carpenterfan03 for the wonderful suggestion! It took me way too long to do it, lol (my inspiration is running slack) but I hope you guys enjoyed this! I've got another Mevie friendship one coming up soon, so please be sure to hang with me. I'll try my best to do it within this lifetime XD

Also, for context, this one took place around the events of the first movie and the second one. :)

Please let me know what y'all thought! Until the next fic!