"Son you have to think about every decision you make from here on out. We cannot press upon you enough the seriousness of this situation." Ben stood in his family living room being lectured by his parents. While him and Mal had not been caught at the party. His parents knew immediately he had been there when he tried to sneak back in with wet hair and swim trunks on.
Belle continued, "You are so lucky you weren't amongst the kids caught with alcohol. They are all facing discipline. But for you the stakes are so much higher. You're the king. You are expected to behave in such a manner. Be someone the people look up to and can rely on no matter what. The media is all over your every move you have to be more careful."
Ben felt stressed, frustrated, and ashamed. He knew he had to conduct himself in such a way. He had heard this, been trained for it, his entire life. And he loved being king. He loved being given the opportunity to better the lives of the whole kingdom. To do his best to make everyone happy and safe. But times like these he just felt incredibly burdened. Ben just wanted to be able to breathe and be a teenager sometimes.
"I understand mother, I'm sorry." Ben looked down.
Belle's face softened and she walked up to embrace her son. "I understand how difficult this transition is on you. And the burden of the public eye I really do. You're so young and it's not fair you aren't able to just be a teenager. But this is the cross our family bears. It's bigger than all of us Ben."
"I know mom I know." He hugged her back.
"Alright then son. Go shower and get packing. We have to be ready to leave for Ariel and Eric's castle tomorrow at 6am sharp to kick off the tour of the kingdom." Ben nodded and off he went.
Mal let the hot water pour all over her in the shower as she calmed down from the day's excitement. She tried her best not to dwell too long on anything that had happened. When she stepped out of the shower she found Evie had returned.
"Evie I'm so sorry I ran off. Are you okay?" Mal asked her best friend.
Evie sat down on her bed and let out a deep breath. "I'm okay. We got really lucky that Jay was able to hide the cooler when Fairy Godmother came storming through with her blow horn. But where did you go?"
"Ben and I were swimming on the far end of the lake when it happened and were able to sneak away." Mal tried.
Evie smirked, there was no fooling her. "Um no you were missing before that."
Mal blushed in shock, all the way up to her hairline, and tried to look away.
Evie gasped at her. "Did you sneak off to hook up?!"
Mal stuttered trying to answer. She never felt comfortable talking about this kind of stuff. "No we didn't. Ben wanted to show me this secret cave with all these crystals."
Evie let out an easy laugh. "Then why are you blushing and being so weird about it? For a VK you can really be a terrible liar."
"Evie I just really don't want to talk about it." Mal admitted.
Evie softened her assault, "Then I'll talk. I'm happy for you that you're so happy. It's okay to enjoy it and not feel guilty. I know you Mal. This is special to you. You don't have to talk to me about it but I do hope you're talking to him about it."
"Evie I can't. How can I possibly tell him my past without him being faced with the real reality of me being an Isle kid and all our differences. They don't act like we do here."
Evie hugged her friend, "Mal, Ben loves you. He doesn't care about any of that stuff."
"He only said that because I spelled him! How do I know that's really how he feels?!" Mal started sniffling. Evie was the only person allowed to see Mal cry.
"Mal I can't tell you that. But we can all see it. The way he looks at you and attends to you."
There was a knock on the bedroom door and Mal rushed to the bathroom to hide.
Evie got up to find Ben at the other side.
"Hi Evie. I just came to check up on Mal and make sure we was all packed and ready for tomorrow."
"She hopped in the shower at the moment but I'll relay the message." Ben looked disappointed.
"Okay thank you, 6am the limo is leaving."
"Got it," Evie gently closed the door on him and, after a moment's hesitation, heard his footsteps walking away.
Mal cracked the bathroom door open, checking that the coast was clear.