The Next Day

"Uh oh," Uma said as she bumped into Ben. It was hard making it look like it was unintentional considering, when disguised as Millie, she was thinner than most models.

Seemed. She reminded herself. Carver had reminded her many, many times that she hadn't magically turned into Millie. The knowledge required for that magic was much too advanced for either of them. But Carver was skilled enough to cast and maintain an illusion that fooled all five senses of anyone who looked at them. The feeling of looking into a mirror and knowing that her mind was playing tricks on her was almost as odd as it was smiling to Ben's face as he bent down and picked up her books for her, chivalrous as usual.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Uma said, flashing a smile as she stepped aside to avoid all the students coming out of the door behind her. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's no problem," Ben said, looking behind Uma at the classroom doors. "I'm guessing class is over."

"Yeah, it just finished," Uma said. "We didn't learn anything today. But the teacher told us we'd have to do a huge project at the end of the semester about the significance and culture of the kingdoms where we were born. It has something to do with how our own history is just as important as Auradon's. I have an extra copy of the rubric if you need it."

"Could I have it please?"

"Of course. Are you okay today? I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you look a little...tired." He had bags under her eyes and he'd missed a class. That was how Uma knew it was time to bump into him.

"I'm fine, there's just been a lot of work recently."

"I hope everything's alright, Your Majesty."

"Yes, yes, everything's...fine."

The fact that he couldn't even look her in her eyes when he said it was all the proof Uma needed to know he was a horrible liar. She put a worried look on her face as she said, "Oh no, is something wrong?"

"No, everything really is fine. There were...reports of danger in a few kingdoms, but they were only false alarms."

She pretended to be confused when she said, "False alarms?"

"Yes," Ben said. "There were bad thunderstorms in Hawaii, a mudslide in China a whirlpool in Atlantica. They all struck during the same night and all of them suddenly stopped the next morning. The only thing that's still a problem is the eels that got into the Mermaid's Grotto in Neverland."

What about the flood in Corona? Uma thought. I spend two hours raising water and they don't even notice it.

"Anyway, everything is being taken care of. It just took a while for me to sort things out, so I accidentally overslept today."

"I'm glad everything's okay. I never realized how much work being king is."

"It is, but there's nothing I can imagine that's more rewarding."

"Well, if there's ever anything I can do to help you, I'm always available. Even if you need someone to bring you your schoolwork or any help catching up."

"Thank you, Millie. I think I'll end up taking you up on that offer."

"No problem, it's-." The bell rang right in the middle of her sentence. "Well, I'd better get going before I'm late. See you later."

"Later," Ben said, waving at her with a smile as she left.

Later That Day

Carver was wearing Mason's face again as he closed his locker. When the door was swung shut, Mal was revealed to be behind it.

"Hey," Mal said.

Mason waved at her with a smirk.

"Jerk," Mal said, rolling her eyes. "So, how're you enjoying regular school recently?"

"The whole waking up early every morning part isn't my thing, but I don't have any other complaints."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"You have trouble waking up early, too, Ms. Soon-To-Be-Queen?"

"Not really common to be a morning person where I'm from. And where'd you hear I was gonna be queen?"

"You do know you're the talk of the school, right? No matter where I go, I can't help but hear about...you know."

"No, I don't know. What do you hear about?"

"Every aspect of your life, pretty much. It...I don't know, it just seems rough not being able to have any privacy and space to just...live, you know? Exist."

"Eh, you get used to it," Mal said. The nonchalance of her tone and the shrug that accompanied the words even made it pretty convincing. But hiding things from Carver wasn't really an easy thing to do. He imagined that his mind was a fishing rod, casting a metaphorical line out into Mal's thoughts and pulling the biggest one back.

When the thought reached him, Mal's voice echoed in his head, I just wish I could talk to someone about it without making them worry about me.

Interesting. Carver thought, his mind working quickly as he schooled a warm expression on his face. "Not to get all mushy and everything, but if you ever want to talk to someone about anything...I'm a great listener."

"Uh. Thanks. I think I might take you up on that sometime."

"Cool," Carver said. He was about to say something, but the bell rang. "Guess I'll see you around."

"Bye," Mal said. She didn't know why, but she found herself watching him go until he disappeared around a corner in the hall.

In The Math Classroom

It was very, very late at night when Uma finally arrived outside the classroom. She'd been held up for ten minutes after almost getting caught by the janitor. It was still hard getting used to Millie's height and not tripping on her long legs. Or the illusion of her long legs, at least. But, after waiting for him to finish his cleaning, she didn't find any other interruptions. She tried the door, but it was locked-as she'd guessed it would be. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the ring with the purple seashell gem before putting it on her finger. It was too noticeable to wear around while in disguise, but too important not to keep close by.

"No need for me to knock, this door will unlock," Uma said, the ring glowing purple as she heard the lock click. She entered the room, closing the door behind her and making her way to the desk. Yesterday their teacher had told them there would be an important quiz today and after all of the problems she'd created for Ben she doubted he'd had time to study for it. But, just to be safe, she had to make sure he failed it. After finding Ben's test, she held her hands over it, the ring glowing as she began her spell. "His responsibilities and duties the prince will lament, since he'll score no more than ten percent." The ink from Ben's pen lifted from the page into the air before falling back down on the wrong answers. Uma heard her phone buzz and opened it to see a message.

"Mason": What's taking so long? Do you need help?

Not at all. First step complete. She replied.