In The School Hallway

For some reason Mal couldn't explain, she needed to get something from her locker. It was weird, but she just had the nagging feeling that she'd forgotten something despite not knowing what exactly it was she lost that kept getting worse and worse the closer she got to her locker. That nagging feeling stopped when she heard something fall behind her, followed by someone saying "no, no, no, no, no." She turned around and saw Mason rushing down a staircase to pick up a phone that had dropped all the way from the top. When he picked it up, he saw that it was completely broken, with shards of metal and glass on the ground where it fell. Mal was going to turn back in the direction of her locker, but she stopped when she saw Mason's eyes begin glowing gold.

"Having a broken phone isn't what I'd recommend, so it's time for this device to mend," Mason said. The phone and all its broken pieces rose into the air, combining together as it magically repaired itself. After it was completely fixed, it lowered back into Mason's hand.

Mal couldn't hide the gasp she released. "You're...you're a..."

Mason's head jerked to Mal and his eyes widened. He accidentally relaxed his hand and his phone fell back to the ground, the screen shattering again. "Oh, for the love of..." Mason said as he picked it up again.

"You're able to use magic?" Mal asked.

"No," Mason said with a completely straight face.

"I literally just saw you."

"Well...okay yes. Please don't tell anyone," Mason said, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to the side of the hallway.

"Why? Can't a lot of the students here use magic, too?"

"You don't understand. Ever since Rumpelstiltskin almost took my brother, my mom and dad never really trusted magic users. Not even people like the fairy godmothers or Genie. So the magic ban is enforced a lot more...severely. Anyone that can use magic is kept under really close supervision and have a lot of restrictions placed on them and the way they can live their lives. If what I can do was ever common knowledge, I'd be...I'd never, ever have any sort of freedom again. I'd never, ever, ever become king and...my sister just can't handle all that pressure by herself. I don't think my parents would even be able to make an exception for me considering how it would look after they made enforcing the law such a big deal." He looked into Mal's eyes desperately as he pleaded, "Please, please don't tell anyone about this. Please."

"Don't worry, I won't," Mal said quickly. "I can kind of understand how you must feel and I promise I'd never do anything like that."

"Thank you," Mason said. "Thank you." He said again, seeming to not know how to adequately express how grateful he was. "Have you ever noticed," he started, "how much we always tell each other that we can 'understand' or 'relate to' or 'recognize' things about each other?"

"Now that you mention it, I guess we do have a lot in common," Mal said. "It's almost weird."

"I, personally, would've called it cool, but weird is okay. Sorry to get sappy, but it's nice to have someone to talk to that's...you know, not so..."

"Royal?"

"Yeah."

"I know what you mean."

"But, a word of advice." She tapped one of the golden cuffs that were on his wrists. "When you've worn ten different pairs of these, it might be a safer move to just replace the phone."

"I was going to, but I was about to win the last level of this game."

Mal chuckled.

"So, can we also keep the fact that I'm out after curfew secret, too?"

Mal pantomimed zipping her lips.

"Thanks. And, by the way, if you hear anything about the skeleton in Biology being replaced with one that dances...it totally wasn't me." When Mal just raised an eyebrow, he said, "What? That class is boring. If anything, I'm being a hero by giving everybody some entertainment."

She finally chuckled before saying, "My lips are sealed."

Mason waved before turning around. He suddenly stopped, turning around again. After whispering something, his phone-still broken on the ground during their entire conversation-repaired itself and flew into his hand. "One last time." He said with a wink before he turned and left.

Now that he was gone, Mal stood in the hallway. She started walking in the direction of her math class to get her...wait. She wasn't going to her math class. She was going...to her locker? Or was it the library?

A Few Minutes Later

When Carver got to his dorm, Uma was sitting on the couch in the shared living area. She flipped her braids out of her face, the gold woven into them in Millie's form clinking with the motion, and asked, "Did she fall for it?"

"Yep," Carver said. "Your turn now."

The Next Day

A...a...a Zero? Ben thought, his eyes widening as he saw the grade on his quiz.

"Congratulations, Your Highness." The teacher said as they handed out another quiz to Millie's desk. Since he was seated right next to her, he was able to see her score.

"You got a fifteen out of ten?" Ben asked, without thinking. When he realized that he was looking over he added, "Sorry to intrude. Never mind."

"No need to apologize, it's fine," Millie said. "I asked for a quiz with more difficult questions so that I could get extra credit."

"Really?"

"Yes. I wanted more of a...challenge, I guess. My schoolwork has been a little too easy lately."

"That's...quite remarkable."

"Well, I have to be wise if I'm going to rule Aurelia one day. You understand, right?" When Ben didn't reply, she asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I think I'm having trouble with the whole wisdom thing currently."

"What's wrong?"

"I didn't get the grade I would've liked. Actually, now that I think about it, is your tutoring offer still available?"

"Of course. That sounds fun."

"Really?"

"Yes, I love tutoring. Everyone has the potential to do amazing things and, with a little nurturing, it can be brought out. It's like gardening." Millie looked down, her braids clinking like bells. "Sorry, I must sound so pathetic right now."

"Not at all. I've never seen your passionate side before," Ben touched her hand. "It's quite remarkable."

"Thank you, your majesty," Millie said.

"Does tomorrow afternoon in the library sound like a good time to start?"

"Yes. See you there, Millie. And you can call me Ben if you want."

"See you there, Ben," Millie said as she stood up and grabbed her bag before walking away.