I couldn't find a place to break this chapter up without making the first one super short, so you're getting a nice long one today. Remember, I own nothing; I just like to play in Disney's sandbox.

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Lunch With Ben

Evie's point of view

"I'm having lunch with Ben tomorrow." Mal said with a matter of fact look on her face. She didn't seem particularly enthused or disgusted, and I could tell that she was plotting.

I squealed with excitement. This was my chance to get Mal into a cute outfit without massive complaining, and it could be our ticket to a connection that could get the rest of the kids off of the Isle. "This is so amazing," I said, "you'll have the future king all to yourself for a while, so you can get him to fall in love with you and ask you to be his girlfriend. You'll have his ear and he will listen to your suggestions, since he seems to be the type of guy who would listen to those around him. I can do your hair up with braids to go with a green dress, to bring out your eyes, and I can use a light blush…"

"Evie," Mal said, snapping her fingers in front of my face. "This lunch is because I turned down his request for a date, but he still wants to get to know me."

"What? How could you turn down a date, do you know the opportunities being his girlfriend would open to you?" I looked at her, stunned at her matter of fact tone when saying she turned down such a desirable place in Ben's life. I knew she wasn't completely indifferent to his charms, and accepting would have been a strategic move.

"Accepting a date and becoming his girlfriend on the same day he dumped his old girlfriend would only serve to hurt our position here in Auradon." She started to outline her reasoning, and I should have known that she was thinking three steps ahead of me, as usual. "I would be decried as the villain who stole the heart of the future king, probably with a love spell or some such nonsense. I would make enemies of all Audrey's friends, and justify the opinions of those that felt it was too dangerous to bring kids from the Isle to live alongside the precious offspring of the last generation's heroes. I need to wait until gossip over Ben and Audrey's break-up calms down before letting him pursue me." Mal then got one of her playfully evil looks on her face as she continued, "which is why I need you and Doug to sit with us tomorrow." I gasped in shock; she knew I needed a prince to satisfy my mother, so I didn't understand why she would dangle the one boy who might change my mind in front of me. "And," she continued, "I shouldn't dress any differently than usual because it is supposed to be a casual meal between friends. I can't be seen as trying to win his attention, and we shouldn't be alone."

I was so busy freaking out over a lunch date with Doug, that I completely missed her comment about not getting to dress her up like a doll until after she escaped our room. "One day I'll be with it enough to give a witty comeback when she tries to dodge a makeover," I muttered to myself. "Now does she plan to ask Doug to eat with us, or is that up to me?" I hate it when she leaves me without clear instructions. On the upside though, she leaves plenty of loop holes that way. I smiled gleefully as I proceeded to remove all pieces of clothing from Mal's closet except for what I wanted her to wear the next day. I'll call it a laundry mishap, and she can't get mad because she never told me I couldn't choose what she 'shouldn't' wear tomorrow. She could dodge my hair brush and makeup palate, but I could still control her wardrobe. I could just see the mix of frustration and reluctant respect in her eyes now. Tomorrow would be a good day.

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Evie's Point of View

"EVIE," Mal practically screamed the next morning when she opened her wardrobe.

I smiled to myself in satisfaction and looked at Mal through my vanity mirror. "Is something wrong Mal?" I could tell that my light tone was feeding Mal's frustration. When her eyes started to glow though, I thought that I may have gone a bit too far.

She practically growled, "where is my jacket?" Her eyes were flashing brighter now and I realized that taking her favorite jacket away was definitely going too far. I was trying to get her into a cute white sweater, but I should have remembered how much of a security blanket her jean jacket was for her. It hid the most private of scars and she had been wearing it ever since I first met her. I hadn't seen her without the jacket until a full two years after I was accepted into her crew, and it was a moment that I wouldn't soon forget. It was that day, when the jacket was first ripped apart, that I finally understood how cruel Maleficent truly was. Mal had begged me to fix the jacket, and I have done so several times since that day. Denim does wear down over time, and I started getting her to wear other jackets whenever I was patching up her old one. Whenever she was unsure or felt threatened though, she still went for the old faded jacket. Apparently, she was more nervous about this "simple lunch" than she let on. Was she anxious about making a good impression so that Ben would listen to her about getting the other kids off of the Isle, or did she actually like him?

Mal's eyes were fully flashing now and her head was starting to steam. I knew that I had gone too far when she started to steam with anger, and that she didn't like it when anyone saw her do it. She didn't talk about that particular quirk, and I think that I'm the only one who knows why she does it. She blames the eyes on her mom, and most people assume that the steam is related to her mother's dragon form. She doesn't correct them, and the only reason I know the truth is that I caught her in an unguarded moment after she met her father's eyes in the marketplace last year. She doesn't talk about her father, and usually parrot's her mother's description of him as a "useless mortal." I think that Jay and Carlos suspect his identity, but Mal never said anything to them and they cared about her enough not to push.

"I'm sorry, I'll get your jacket for you." Mal's eyes didn't leave mine as I reached sideways into my wardrobe to grab her jacket. "I just thought that you might want to wear something a little more…"

"Pretty pink princess like," she spat out as she threw her jacket around her shoulders. As her arms slipped into the sleeves, her eyes calmed down and she stopped steaming. She did wear the green dress that I left in her wardrobe, but she wadded up the sweater and threw it under her bed. I made a note to pick it up later, when she wasn't around. "I'm not an Auradon debutant, so don't try to dress me like one. If Ben is going to listen to anything that I have to say, then he needs to see me as the edgy Isle girl that I am, and not someone trying to forget herself in the new world he's opened up for me. I am not leaving the Isle behind, and he needs to understand that or we will never work."

"For someone who's not trying to win him as a boyfriend, you sure sound like a girl with a crush." I tried to redirect the conversation into a teasing area, and Mal finally let it go.

"Just don't expect me to swoon at his feet like a fool." Her eyes were no longer flashing and the corner of her mouth quirked up in a slight smile, so I knew that I was back in her good graces. Which is a good thing, because Mal can be vicious when she is angry. "If he wants to pursue me, then he is the one who will have to do the swooning." We laughed as we linked arms and headed to our first class of the day.

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Ben's Point of View

I stood in the lunchroom, fidgeting as I waited for Mal to walk through the door. I wanted to make a good impression, but Mal was correct in saying that I tried moving too quickly. I didn't know much about her, but I knew how I felt the first time I took her hand in mine. It felt like coming home, and the spark in her eyes stirred my very soul. I knew that I would do anything to win her, and wait as long as it took for her to love me back. Wait, love? I took stock of my feelings and realized that I did love her. I guess love at first sight really does happen.

I saw a toe tapping in front of me and my eyes followed it up the boot clad feet to the hem of a green dress, continuing up to a jean jacket and then into the face of the girl I was just contemplating. Her eyes were amused as she said, "earth to Ben. Are you with us?"

I chuckled and responded, "I will always be ready to spend time with you. Are you ready for lunch?" Well that was a stupid question, I kicked myself mentally, if she wasn't hungry then she wouldn't be here during lunch time. Mal didn't say anything, but I could tell that her thoughts echoed mine. If flushed a bit and gestured towards the lunch line. I looked up and saw that Evie was with her, and Doug quickly joined us. It looked like Mal was making this a double date to deflect attention, which is understandable giving her reservations about dating to begin with.

As we approached the food, I took note of the hungry expressions in Mal's and Evie's eyes. They seemed to take everything in and Evie turned to Mal at one point to ask her what the yellow noodles were. "I don't know," Mal responded, "I don't think any of it ended up on the Isle before it spoiled so I've never tried it." They looked at each other and quickly put a scoop of it on both of their plates.

"It's macaroni and cheese," I said, "basically it's a cheesy sauce over noodles." They looked a bit sheepish, knowing that I heard their whispered conversation, and I wondered why. When I recalled the exact words of the exchange, I started to wonder about their food situation on the Isle. As we sat down at a table I asked, "is the food here so very different from the Isle?"

Mal and Evie exchanged glances and I could practically see their conversation about what to tell me take place through their eyes alone. Evie seemed to be urging Mal to speak, but Mal seemed reluctant. "Let's just say, that food on the Isle is less plentiful and not quite as varied." Evie rolled her eyes at Mal's clear understatement. Spurred on by that look, Mal offered up further elaboration. "The amount of food shipped to the Isle is not enough to feed everyone, but your trash also gets processed through our Isle so we try to make up the difference. Your kingdom has a habit of throwing away food before it spoils completely, so we make do with what we can find.

My jaw dropped. "What do you mean the shipment isn't enough? How far off are we and why hasn't anyone said anything?"

I could see that Mal was gearing up for a sarcastic answer when Evie jumped in. "I don't think anyone knows how to contact the king directly because the shipment is automated. The kids on the Isle now outnumber the adults, but the supply shipment hasn't changed." She kept her voice even during this revelation, but I could tell that Mal was fuming.

"Mal," I turned to her, "is that true? Are the people of the Isle starving due to our negligence?"

Mal had calmed down and seemed to choose her words carefully. "Your father failed to take the potential of children into account when he shipped all of the villains off to the Isle. There was no source of entertainment, so the adults made their own and it resulted in a population boom." Her words were a bit crass, but I could tell that they were all true.

"I…I… how do I help," I stammered. "You shouldn't have to go through trash to get enough to eat. Do you know how far off the shipment is? Has there been a recent census that would help me to calculate a new shipment?"

Mal and Evie looked at me, seemingly stunned by my immediate attempt to find a solution. Mal replied, "the kids outnumber the adults by at least two to one, so the shipment could be tripled and it may still not be enough." I looked at the plentiful food on my plate and was slightly sick to my stomach. How could I justify eating when I had a whole Isle of people under my rule without enough to eat? Well, technically it was still my Dad's rule until my coronation, but I would be discussing this situation with him tonight and will work on getting an emergency shipment out tomorrow at the latest.

Mal seemed to understand my dilemma and spoke up, "if you don't eat now, then you won't have enough energy to help anyone else later." She looked at me kindly and I realized that she was telling me that she trusted me to help, but that she understood that nothing would be fixed right away. Every time she says something like that, I fall deeper in love with her. I just hope that she will be able to return my affections one day, when she feels more secure.

The rest of our lunch together went smoothly, with Doug, Evie, Mal and I exchanging amusing anecdotes about growing up. Evie's and Mal's stories were amusing, but I could sense that some details were missing. Reading between the lines, it sounds like they mostly subsisted on stolen items, and that it was a common occurrence on the Isle. When lunch ended, I made sure that Mal knew I wanted to continue eating lunch with her and anyone else who wished to join us. I could tell that Doug had enjoyed himself, and hoped that the four of us could make this a habit. Who knows, maybe adding new people to our lunch group would help Mal and the others to form friendships with people who could be powerful allies.

I wasn't naïve enough to think that I would be able to expand the program to bring more kids to Auradon without some political support, and kids are often the most effective way to sway their parent's decisions. Mal and the others could also use more human connection with people who don't expect anything in return for being nice. I come from a land where love at first sight is accepted and celebrated, while Mal comes from a place where love of any kind is considered a weakness. I knew that winning her trust and her heart would be a challenge, but I also knew that it would be worth it in the end.