"four Months Ben, four whole flipping months Ben and she still hates me. I get that my mother tried to kill her family but for Lucifer's sake, I am tired of her and Chad's comments, I am tired of her trying to influence the school to hate me. But that's the worst bit Ben, they target me and only me, not Carlos, Jay or Evie." Mal ranted and raved as she paced around Ben's office. Ben was trying his hardest to focus on his purple haired girlfriend's problems but it's hard to resolve something that in his mind doesn't exist.
"Mal, I can promise you that she isn't doing anything. I haven't seen her do anything and neither has Jay, Carlos or Evie. None of the teachers in your class have seen anything." Ben figured it was better to tell her the truth rather than sugar coat it.
"No Ben, she doesn't do anything when you're around me but she singles me out Ben and I hate it. I can't believe my own boyfriend doesn't believe me." Mal was pissed at this point, the one person she thought who would help her has turned their back on her.
"Mal I'm not saying I don't believe you it's just no one has seen or heard anything so I can't exactly pick sides, can I?" Ben's anger was growing, why couldn't she accept that he doesn't want to single out her or Audrey and Chad for something that Mal claims they have done.
"I'm not asking you to pick sides Ben" Mal have given up on acing around his office at this point, so instead she sat on one of the couches in the corner of the room, rubbing her temples in frustration.
"Then what are you asking for Mal?" At this point they both knew that that Ben was one the verge of becoming a beast and Mal was on the verge of becoming a dragon, but this wasn't over.
"I'm asking you to believe me, or look into it. Whatever happened to 'Mal I'll always be there for you' or 'Mal I promise I won't let anyone hurt you' huh Ben? You what, don't answer that, if you won't find the time to believe me then I won't find the time to listen to you" Mal grabbed her jacket off the back off the couch and stormed out of the room, making sure that the door slammed as loud as possible. Ben wanted so badly to retaliate and shout something back but he knew that if he fell into one more fit of rage, he would literally unleash a beast. He slouched down into office chair, completely regretting everything but there was nothing he could do now.
[The Next Day]
Mal was currently sitting in her art class working on her final piece that she must hand in to the teachers within the next few weeks to be assessed and graded. Mal used to really enjoy her art lessons, she 'used to' because recently Audrey was asked by the teacher to change seat and sit next to Mal. It wasn't so bad at first but then the comments started rolling in. First it was words written on scraps of paper, then it became whispers and taunts. That lasted for a couple of days before it became pokes and kicks underneath the table.
This week Audrey had reverted to the whispering torture technique as Mal liked to call it. Audrey burst through the art room door, designer handbag in hand and her newest phone in the other. She walked over to her and Mal's desk and puled the chair out as far as possible before taking a seat and scratching the chair against the floor as she inched closer to the table.
"So, rumour has it you and Ben have had a lovers tiff and I'm guess by the way you avoided him in assembly this morning, you two haven't got back together, correct?" Audrey was looking extremely cocky at this point. "Congratulations Mal, I mean I never thought that you and Ben could last that long. Wow, four months but that's nothing compared to me and Ben, we lasted eight years and I would've been his queen until your little homewrecking ass came along." Audrey spat the words out at Mal as she jabbed her with the tip of her pencil in her arm. Mal hissed at the pain as she retracted her arm and distanced herself as far as possible without falling off her chair. As soon as Mal had settled down, Audrey grabbed the top of her arm tightly and pulled Mal closer to her, causing the table to jolt forward which caught the attention of the teacher. "It's only a matter of time before you go back to plotting world domination again, maybe for once you can make your mother proud." Audrey growled in her ear before shoving Mal back into her original position on the chair. Obliviously to the two girls, their teacher was sat at the front of the class watching Mal and Audrey's every move.
After that small incident, the bell rang which signalled for Mal that she now had a free period. As she started packing up her art supplies, Mal felt a presence behind her. Not wanting to cause any more problems, Mal simply started and ended the conversation by muttering "Leave me alone Audrey" All Mal wanted was to go back to her dorm room and finish some homework for her Remedial Goodness class.
"Miss Mal?" Mal stood there in a short state of shock before slowly grabbing the handle of her bag and turning around to see her art teacher, Mrs Levin, standing extremely close to her.
"Yes, Mrs Levin?" Mal asked, her voice shaking slightly.
"I've noticed Audrey's and your behaviour today in class. Is everything alright? Do you need me to put a point on her record?" The Plump teacher asked. Mal wanted to tell Mrs Levin or anyone who will listen, what has been going on, but Mal didn't want everyone involved, she just wanted Ben.
"No, everything is fine miss, we've just had a slight falling out but everything should be fine within the next week" or so Mal hoped. She just wanted to get out of the art room as quick as possible.
"As long as you're sure" Mrs Levin replied before cleaning up the scraps of paper that were scattered across the desks. Mal shook her head in response before bolting out of the class room and across the courtyard, small tears threatening to spill.
While walking through the courtyard, someone called her name. Mal quickly came to a halt before turning around to see the owner of the voice. It was Jay. He was getting ready to go and meet the team for practice but for some reason he decided to stop Mal and miss the beginning of his practice.
"Yes Jay?" Mal sighed, not wanting to be involved in any more human contact.
"I saw you coming out of Art class and you looked really upset, plus I've heard from Melody that Ben was looking down in His Business Studies. Has something happened between you two? Or was it Audrey and Chad again?" Jay quizzed while staring her straight in the eyes.
"it doesn't matter Jay; can we just drop it?" Mal begged to him to leave everything alone. Jay was about to respond but was interrupted when a flood of Tourney players came swarming by and started making their way down to the pitch. As Jay opened his mouth he was cut off.
"Oi Mal, don't burn out here, I'm sure your mother must've warned you about what happened when witches stand in the sun for too long" Chad yelled over the crowd. One of Tourney players eventually grabbed one of his shoulders and pulled him with the rest of the group before yelling for Jay to 'get his ass down to the pitch'. Jay clenched his fists together in anger, Mal noticed this and knew that she had to get it under control before Jay did something that they both new that he would regret.
"Jay just leave it, I can handle it" Mal begged gripping the side of Jay's arm.
"But Ma..." He started.
"No Jay just leave it, I promise that if I need help, I will talk to someone, just please don't do anything" Mal wanted everything to be over just like everyone else who knew about the abuse but she needed to do it by herself. Before Jay could do or say anything else, Mal walked away and made her way to a set of glass double doors that lead to the girl's dormitories.
Once Mal pushed the set of doors open, she started to make her way up several sets of stairs and towards room 095, her and Evie's dorm. As soon as Mal pushed the key into the lock and forced the door open, she flopped down onto her bed and groaned into her pillow.
"Knock, knock" a voice boomed from the dorm door.
"Go away Jay, I said I'm fine" Mal moaned as she barely raised her head.
"Last time I checked, I am not Jay" the voice replied as they closed the dorm door.
"Ben?" Mal's whole body shot up from the bed. "what are you doing here?" she questioned as she tried to nurse her head rush that she had gained.
"Well, I wanted to apologise for yesterday and I missed you" Ben admitted as he came and sat down opposite Mal on her bed.
"I thought you had Tourney practice now, why aren't you there?" Don't get her wrong, Mal was happy that Ben was with her but she didn't want him to start picking up bad habits because of her.
Ben lifted his arm up gently and rested his fingers on Mal's face, slowly stroking her left cheek. "Well, I had a meeting about ten minutes ago and I thought it would run over into my Tourney practice so I left Coach a message to inform him that I would not be able to attend the lesson. Then when the meeting finished early, I thought why not come and see you." He explained.
"I really am sorry Mal, for getting angry yesterday. I know I know I can't be there for you all the time or I can't promise you a lot of things but I want to change that. Mal I love you and I want everything for you. I promise I'll love you forever Mal and that's a promise I know I will keep." He promised. They both knew that due to his status as King, they would hardy spend any time together and Mal was okay with that because she knew that it would be worth it in the end.
"Ben don't make promises that you can't keep. Let's be honest here Ben, after a while you're going to realise that I'm not good enough for you, just like everyone says, and then you're going to find yourself a real princess. I know that's what is going to happen, it always does." Mal felt tears prick her eyes, as one fell down her cheek, Ben was quick to wipe it off her face.
"That's never going to happen Mal, you are the only one for me and one day I will get down on one knee, one day we will be standing at the altar, one day we will be waking up next to each other and one day we will have children together. I wouldn't want anyone else" Ben proclaimed as he etched closer to Mal.
"Ben please, you can't prove that." Mal disagreed, she bowed her head in shame, but mostly to let the tears drip than run down her face. However, Ben had other plans, he made sure that Mal looked him right in the eyes before he spoke his next words.
"Let me prove it" their faces drew nearer before they fell into a passionate kiss which lead to something more. (If you catch my drift).
A/N I hope you guys enjoyed this, this chapter is the first one in my new book 'Our Advice To You' i wanted to post the first chapter on here for you to read and if you enjoy it, the next chapter will be posted in the next few days