Mal is still reeling from her shocking realization about her feelings towards Evie as she stomps her way into the cafeteria to find Jay. She refuses to accept she might actually like the girl. Not possible. Mal does not like anyone, certainly not annoying blue-haired princess wannabes. But she can't deny she feels something when she catches Evie's soft brown eyes gazing back at her, or notices Evie's tongue adorably peeking out between her teeth whenever she's concentrating on something.
So maybe she likes looking at Evie but who could blame her? She can't deny that Evie has a certain aesthetic appeal to her, but that's all it is. That's all she'll allow it to be. And it's not like she's the only one who finds Evie attractive; Jay has been obnoxiously open in his quest to get Evie into bed (a quest Mal is happy to see him fail at repeatedly and spectacularly), and Mal's pretty sure Carlos has a crush on the girl—why else would he follow Evie around like a lost puppy. Not to mention all the passing comments Mal overhears at school that have her gritting her teeth and snarling at unsuspecting students in the halls.
Evie may be attractive but Mal is stronger willed than any of her hormone-driven peers and she won't let Evie's blatant flaunting of herself lull her into some sort of schoolgirl crush. She knows Evie is as smart and shrew as she is alluring, and Mal wouldn't put it past the daughter of the Evil Queen to intentionally use her looks to weaken her enemies. That's what this feeling in her chest has to be, Mal decides. She's simply reacting to the trap Evie's set for her, but she won't continue to fall for it.
Mal doesn't care how fair Evie's skin is or how red her lips are, that girl is utterly devious and after the stunt she just pulled in P.E., Mal is ready to teach the princess who runs this school once and for all.
She's not sure why she even went to P.E. in the first place, it's not like she actually bothers to going to any of her other classes. Then again, Evie isn't in any of her other classes. Mal shakes the thoughts from her head and forges on to the newest phase of her master plan.
Mal slams both palms down on the table, effectively drawing Jay's attention away from his lunch.
"You still looking for way to keep your dad off your back?"
Jay shrugs and shakes his head, returning his attention to his food. "I'm good. Evie brought me that stuff she said she would—a whole pillowcase full. It should buy me a few days of peace."
Mal shoves Jay's tray to the side and leans forward over the table to get his attention. "Forget about whatever junk Evie gave you. I know something that will really impress your old man."
"I'm not looking to impress him, I'm just looking to keep him off my back for a while," Jay says with an annoyed look as he pulls his lunch back towards him.
"Bullshit," Mal calls his bluff. "If you don't care about impressing your dad then why do you swipe every lamp you see?" she challenges, one brow lifted. Jay glares petulantly in response and Mal smirks smugly. "Admit it. We're both looking for respect from our parents and I have a way we can both earn it."
Jay raises his eyes to indicate his interest. "Fine. I'm listening."
"Evie's heart pendant," Mal says with a wicked smile.
Jay wipes his mouth against the back of his hand and eyes Mal with mild curiosity. "What about it?"
"It's a real ruby. That's worth more than any of the crap in your father's shop."
"You want me to steal Evie's heart necklace?" Jay asks. Sure he had thought about stealing the necklace from the moment he saw it hanging around Evie's neck, but the more he got to know Evie, the less time he spent thinking of ways to lift the pendant off her.
Mal nods, eyes alive with mischief. This will be a major blow in her war against the blue-haired vixen who has become the bane of Mal's existence. Mal remembers how sentimental Evie was as a child, and judging from the way she spoke about the necklace her mother gave her, likely still is. Evie won't take losing her mommy's precious pendant well.
Jay remains unconvinced. "And how exactly will that impress your mother? Maleficent doesn't care about money or jewelry."
"No but she cares about exacting revenge on her enemies and the Evil Queen is one of her biggest enemies," Mal explains.
Mal doesn't actually care about impressing her mother, not this time anyway. Maleficent would likely be pleased to hear of any distress brought to the Evil Queen and Mal knows the old witch will flip her lid when she sees Evie lost her precious necklace, but that'll just be an added bonus. Mal has one goal in mind at the moment—drive Evie out of Dragon Hall and out of her life for good. No more confusing feelings or uncontrollable urges to kiss anyone.
"I don't know," Jay chews over Mal's plan. "Evie's been kind of cool to me and Carlos is pretty pissed at you for messing with her. I don't need the headache."
Mal huffs dismissively. Carlos will come crawling back to her once his little playmate runs back home to mommy. "Don't be such a wuss. She deserves it."
"Does she?" Jay questions, his usual grin replaced with a serious expression. "Aren't you getting tired of messing with her?"
"Never," Mal says firmly. "Look, Evie won't even miss the stupid thing. She probably has 6 more just like it at home. You heard her, she has plenty of stuff just laying around that big ol' castle of hers she's willing to part with."
Jay considers Mal's words. Evie does seem to have a lot of possessions, especially for an Isle kid, maybe she won't miss the necklace.
"I could probably get some decent coin for a rock that large. Keep my dad off my ass for a whole week. Maybe two," he admits. It's not that he wants to mess with Evie, but two weeks of freedom from his dad is too good an opportunity to pass up. Besides, everything was fair game on the Isle when it came to survival and it's not like villain kids were expected to have any scruples. His fingers already feel like they're itching to hold that ruby.
"Sure," Mal agrees easily although she has no intention of actually letting Jay sell the pendant.
Jay wastes no time in tracking Evie down after he leaves Mal. For once, he's a little unsure about a planned heist and he'd prefer to get it over with before he changes his mind. Carlos had told him he was skipping lunch to meet Evie in the science lab so Jay assumes they're both still there working away at whatever nerdy little project they've got going on today.
With Evie's arrival at school, Carlos has been spending more time tucked away in the lab playing with wires and chemicals and bonding with Evie over science stuff Jay had no interest in. And while Jay misses hanging out with the other boy, he's happy to see Carlos so relaxed at school. Having Evie around to share in his interests has been good for Carlos and Jay just hopes Mal's little plan doesn't mess things up for him and Carlos too much.
Jay spots the pair huddled over a notebook at a long lab table covered in glass bottles and beakers. Carlos's head is bowed in careful concentration as he furiously writes away in the notebook while Evie gently rolls a beaker between her hands. The liquid sloshes up the sides of the glass as Evie moves her head and she furrows her brows and frowns.
"It's not oxidizing!" Evie pouts.
When Carlos had suggested trying out some basic experiments that he had done in class last year to determine what mixtures and reactions might be useful to them down the line, Evie jumped at the opportunity to catch up on some of the lessons she had missed while practicing eye-lining techniques with her mother. Evie's always had a certain fondness for mixing and blending the various ingredients and components she managed to get her hands on at home. She's created plenty of elixirs of her own, some of use, but most simply for the sake of experimenting. Dragon Hall's lab is hardly state of the art but at least she has a place to work without fear of punishment if caught and a partner to indulge with. And after the tumultuous start to her school career, she's perfectly content to be tucked away in the lab repeating old chemistry experiments with Carlos instead of out in the cafeteria dealing with the noise and the rumors—and Mal.
"Let me see," Carlos says, snatching the glass from her. "That's because you didn't wait for it to dissolve."
Evie feigns annoyance and blows a few strands of blue hair out of her eyes before gently nudging Carlos in the ribs with a smile. "Well aren't you the little genius."
"Damn right, I am," Carlos agrees, tongue against his cheek as he sets to mixing his ingredients.
Jay approaches the pair with his signature grin, his gaze flicking down to the gem hanging around Evie's neck as he nears. "Hey beautiful, whatcha doing?"
Carlos only spares the boy a quick glance but Evie snaps her head up with a start, only to relax a moment later when she realizes it's Jay.
"Using potassium bromate ions to oxidize malonic acid into carbon dioxide," she explains with a smile.
"Sounds hot," Jay quips, coming over to lean against the table Carlos and Evie are working at.
"You need something, Jay?" Carlos asks as he continues to take notes of their experiment. One day he'll get them all off this stupid island and since he can't count on anyone coming to save them, he'll need to make it happen on his own. He's not too sure how exactly he'll do that but he figures his brain is his best weapon. He may not be wired like Jay and Mal but he's capable of hatching a plan or two of his own.
"Just wanted to hang out with my two favorite nerds," Jay says easily. "Hoping some of that knowledge might rub off on me." He punctuates his statement by playfully ruffling Carlos's hair, earning a small laugh from Evie.
"Not likely," Carlos cracks, swatting the older boy's hand away from his head.
Jay leans over Evie's shoulder and feigns interest in the solutions laid out before him. His chest presses softly against her back and he drapes an arm over her shoulder to gesture to the glass in her hand. He needs her focus to be directed forward if he's going to be able to lift the pendant from around her neck without detection. "So what's this stuff called again?"
Evie tenses slightly at the boy's proximity but quickly steadies her shaky hand and sets her beaker down.
"Jay, you mind," Carlos interjects, noticing Evie's discomfort.
Jay backs off with an apologetic smile. "Oh, yeah, my bad."
"This is called an oscillating reaction," Evie explains as she pours the contents of a test tube into the beaker and sits back as the solution inside starts to change in color.
"Pretty cool," Jay notes.
Carlos returns his attention to his notebook and Jay leans over Evie once again, careful not to actually touch her this time. "Your hair smells really nice."
"Thank you," Evie smiles, not caring that she's breaking two of the rules Carlos, Jay, and Mal laid out for her on her first day at Dragon Hall. "I make my own shampoo from cedarwood and peppermint," she adds proudly.
Jay draws back with a smile of his own, his fingers closed around the coveted pendant. "Well, it's working for you, princess."
Carlos rolls his eyes at Jay's flagrant flirting. He knows Evie can handle Jay on her own but he's starting to wonder if he should have a word with the other boy and tell him to back off—if only to spare Jay the embarrassment of shamelessly pursuing a girl who couldn't possibly be less interested in him romantically. Carlos had pulled Evie aside after her first day and explained that Jay was just a natural flirt and posed no threat to her whatsoever. She seemed to take Carlos's words to heart and is generally pretty relaxed around Jay now, and has even started to refer to him as a friend, but Carlos notices Evie still flinches if he gets too close without warning. But Evie is a master of disguise and considering her dedication to keeping her home life a secret, Carlos supposes talking to Jay will likely do more harm than good.
"On that note, I better get going," Jay says, stealthily dropping the necklace into his pocket and spinning away from the table. "You two try not to nerd out too hard now. Wouldn't want those big brains of yours to fry."
Evie shakes her head with a soft smile and calls out her goodbye while Carlos waves the boy off with a simple grunt.
That had almost been too easy, Jay thinks as he strolls down the hall in muted triumph. Despite the mission being a success, it failed to provide him the usual rush of excitement. Evie was an easy mark, clearly unaccustomed to fending off thieves and pick-pockets due to having spent the majority of her life locked away in a castle. Stealing from Evie was like stealing from a baby, except he likes Evie more than he likes most babies. But maybe this can be a learning experience for her, Jay muses. Once he gets the ruby to his father and earns himself a break, he'll set about teaching Evie some basic Isle skills and self-defense moves to protect her from thieves like him in the future. It's the least he could do.
Evie makes a quick pitstop in the school bathroom before she heads home for the day. She had spent nearly all afternoon in the lab with Carlos and she wants to be sure there's no trace of the day's experiments on her clothing. She doesn't need a repeat of the soup-dress incident with her mother.
After careful inspection of her blouse and skirt, Evie looks up at the mirror hanging haphazardly over the broken sink to check for any flaws in her hair or makeup her mother might take issue with upon her return home. She combs her fingers through her hair in an effort to give her flat blue locks the volume her mother is always on her about and reapplies a fresh coat of mascara to her eyelashes. She's about to touch a gloss-coated finger to her lips when she makes the horrifying discovery—her mother's ruby heart pendant is gone.
Evie's hand flies to her bare chest with a small gasp and she sweeps the floor with wide frantic eyes in search of her missing necklace. Her panic quickly escalates when she fails to find the piece of jewelry anywhere inside the bathroom and she rushes back into the hallway to retrace her steps. She makes all the way to the door of the lab when she stops short with a startling realization.
Finding Jay had been easy, Evie just followed the gaggle of giggling freshman girls out to the front courtyard. There on the steps where she, Jay and Carlos had eaten lunch together only a day ago, she spots Jay happily holding court with a crowd of enamored girls surrounding him.
Evie marches determinedly up to the boy, the gnawing feeling of dread in her stomach twisting into blinding outrage.
"Jay! Give me back my necklace!"
At her words, the group instantly quiets and Jay peers at the blue-haired girl over the heads of the nameless girls he had been flirting with.
"What necklace?" Jay feigns ignorance.
"My ruby heart necklace. I know you took it," Evie accuses harshly. Her eyes narrow on the boy she had briefly considered a friend as angry tears threaten to spill onto her cheeks.
Carlos had told her Jay was harmless and she believed him. She feels so foolish for letting her guard down. Jay is a known flirt and a proud thief, Evie knew that of course, but she thought perhaps he saw her as more than a potential mark. She thought he could maybe be a true friend to her one day, like Carlos. But all he saw in her was easy prey.
"Can't say I know what you're talking about, princess," Jay says with a neutral expression.
The girls glare at Evie with disdain and exchange hushed whispers about her possible involvement with Jay. Jay decides he's bored of them and shoos them away.
"Jay, please. My mother—" Evie trails off, her voice strained by the lump in her throat. She stops herself from losing control of her emotions in front of Jay's groupies, who continue to cast scornful looks in her direction as they scatter.
Her mother is going to be furious with her. That necklace is the only thing of tangible value the Evil Queen has ever given to her and she made sure Evie knew just how irreplaceable it was. Before it graced Evie's neck, the pendant had been worn by the Evil Queen herself. Her mother had given it to Evie the day before she started school at Dragon Hall and it had come with a stern warning to never lose or disgrace it. The "or else" was, as always, implied. While she made it clear she did not deem Evie fit to wear the crowned heart ruby, the Evil Queen had been adamant about Evie carrying her mark in public. Evie had sworn to keep it safe, eager to prove to her mother that she was worth more than her body, that she was fit to wear the treasured talisman of her mother's lineage. And now it's gone, because she had gotten too comfortable around a boy she hardly knows.
"I need that necklace. I can't go home without it," Evie insists, her voice bordering on pleading.
Jay shrugs and jumps down from the steps. He recognizes the desperation in Evie's voice, the flash of panic in her eyes that so many kids of the Isle bore, but there's nothing he can do about it now.
"Sorry, princess. It's out of my hands now."
"What do you mean?" Evie asks urgently.
"Mal has it."
He's not proud to admit it but Jay had totally gotten played. As soon as he showed Mal the stolen necklace, she snatched it from his hand with impish fervor. It was obvious from the gleam in her eyes that Mal had no intention of parting with the pendant, no matter what she led Jay to believe leading up to the score. Mal had used Jay's skillset to her benefit and while annoyed, Jay wasn't particularly surprised by the move. It was the Isle way and he'd likely do the same if the need arose.
Evie feels her heart sink at the increasing hopelessness of the situation. She shakes her head, finally giving in to her tears. "No, no, no," she cries quietly.
