Uma & Carver's Room

"I can't believe it," Uma said, looking up from a magazine at him as a pen, glowing gold, finished up her homework on the table in front of her. "Something interesting actually happened before it was supposed to in your whole 9-Month Plan."

"I'm a little surprised, too. How do I look?" He smoothed his sleeveless shirt and straightened the gold cuffs on his arms, these ones with ornate depictions of straw turning to strings of gold.

"Great, amazing, princely," she said, not even bothering to hide the fact that she wasn't even paying attention to him now that she'd turned back to her magazine. "Can you turn me back to myself now?"

"Do you think that's really wise? I won't be able to turn you back to Millie if anyone shows up here."

"I know. But I figured it was worth a try asking, considering I wanna go to sleep early tonight. Do you know how hard it is to sleep when your hair keeps tinkling like bells every time you move? Hm." She tilted her head to the side. "Maybe her family makes her wear the gold. Millie's super quiet, so maybe she wears it so they know when she's around. Like putting a bell on a cat."

Carver chuckled a little, despite saying, "That's extremely mean."

"I know," Uma said with a smile.

Carver's phone dinged. "Time for me to go. See you tomorrow morning."

"Bye," Uma said, still looking down at her magazine. After he closed the door to the dorm room behind him, she grinned, turning the page on her magazine finally to reveal the page she'd scribbled a bunch of spells onto. "And while Carver's away, I'm gonna play."

Mal & Evie's Room

"You so cannot do this," Evie said to Mal, giving her a disapproving look for the hundredth time.

"It's not a big deal. We're just going to Tiana's. As friends." Mal said, running a brush through her hair.

"Do you get dressed up and have dinner late at night with Jay and Carlos? With lip gloss?"

"First, 7 isn't late. Second, I got used to wearing it now. And third, once again, it's not a big deal."

"And when Ben finds out about this?" Evie pressed.

"Well, it's nothing for him to worry about. I'm just hanging out with a friend. He's free to do it, so why shouldn't I be?"

"Mal-" Evie was interrupted by a knock on the door. She rolled her eyes and approached the door. For some reason, after all the times her mother had schooled her into thinking that it was unbecoming for a lady greet a "gentleman caller" before a date herself, she couldn't help opening the door for her friend.

"Hey," Mason said with a smile. "It's a pleasure to see you."

"Thank you," Evie said, stepping aside to let Mal pass her.

"Wow," Mason said, unaware of the slight glare Evie sent his way when he said it. "Excuse me, where are my manners." Mason bowed as he said, "You are as radiant as a sunrise, as fair as the snow-capped mountains of Arendalle, and as breathtaking as..." While he was speaking, for the first time, he seemed like a prince, from his voice and expression to his posture. But then he paused, breaking out into a smirk as he finished, in his regular tone, "a punch in the stomach." Even Evie chuckled at that.

"Really?" Mal laughed.

"Sorry, I probably should've thought of something beforehand. But a punch in the stomach is pretty breathtaking."

"Thanks."

"Shall we go?" Mason said, extending his arm out to Mal. After she took it, he turned to Evie. "I swear I'll bring her back her before sunrise tomorrow."

"What a gentleman," Evie said, struggling to stay chilly. Then she realized what he'd said. "Wait, sunrise?"

"That's part of a little bit of a surprise I have in store."

"Oh," Evie said, turning her gaze back to Mal. "Enjoy your not-date."

"Thanks, Eve," Mal said sweetly. "See you soon."

A Little While Later

After being escorted downstairs to a car, with a chauffeur waiting to open the door for them, Mal and Mason sat and talked for a while.

"So what's the deal with this whole surprise? You can't be serious about being gone until tomorrow morning. Even if we could eat that much, the restaurant would probably run out of food."

"You'll see," Mason said with a grin.

"Come on, don't make me bring out the lightning," Mal joked.

"Fine. I'll tell you. Look out your window."

Mal looked out of her window and saw that they were passing Tiana's Place. "Wait, where are we going?"

"I'm kidnapping you and I'm going to torture you with bad jokes for the rest of your life." Mason teased. When Mal rolled her eyes, he conceded, "Kidding. I said we could go to Tiana's Place. But I didn't say we were going to one in the capital. I'm taking you to the only one worth going to."

"Is this a prank? We're not seriously going to New Orleans are we?"

"Only the best for a girl as breathtaking as a punch in the stomach."

"You can't be serious, this is...crazy."

"We can be there and back in just a few hours depending on how we get there. And, trust me it's so worth the travel. Have you ever been?"

"To New Orleans, yes, but not to the first Tiana's. There was never any time."

"Well, it's gonna be fun. And it's about to be a weekend, so you don't have to worry about school. If there's any homework you have, I'll help you with it when we get back. And you can sleep on the way there if you need to. Come on, let's be spontaneous."

"I don't know." Mal still looked unsure.

"Well," Mason said with a grin, "we can turn around and go to the diner, or back to the school if you want." He was still wearing a grin wider than the Cheshire cat's, "But, then, you wouldn't be able to try the special strawberry beignets I asked Queen Tiana to make for you."

That's when Mal's whole demeanor changed. "Huh?"

"I'd asked her to work on the recipe a few weeks ago since it could be a good birthday gift one day, but I figured tonight would be the perfect occasion. And there's also gonna be strawberry tarts, strawberry cake, a whole desert list a mile long. A crate of the best strawberries in the world was rushed from Aurelia this morning. I think they were just plucked yesterday. And don't get me started on the world-famous gumbo. But we can go back." Mason reached for the button to roll down the partition. Before he could touch it, Mal grabbed his wrist.

"Don't you dare. We're going."

"Are you sure?" He asked with a smug grin. "It's not a problem to go back."

Mal gripped his wrist tight enough for him to feel it through his cuffs.

Mason laughed. "Wow, so glad to know that you can't be persuaded by a fun time with me, but food'll do the job."

"Well, you should've led with the beignets from the beginning."

"So, now it's time for you to make a decision. How do you wanna get there? I didn't know if you had a thing with heights or seasickness, so I got all three MOTs ready."

"MOTs?"

"Modes of transportation. We can take a jet, speedboat, or I can drive us."

"No thing with heights, so jet. You didn't have to do all this, though."

"It's worth it to spend time with someone that's fun to be around. And this is gonna be amazing."

"Oh, definitely. Now let's get to Tiana's."

"You heard the lady, driver," Mason said dramatically. "Onward, to the strawberries."