Here is the next chapter!
This one is pretty lengthy to make events go by quicker. Two chapters from now, you will see how I solved the plot hole. That chapter is where things start to get a little more interesting for future chapters.
Oh! And I have a cute idea on how I'm gonna turn Carlos into a sort of 'Momma's Boy' during the last book and during "Descendants 3". I think some of you will like it.
Enjoy.
GASP!
"Evie!" Mal whined as a tight squeeze knocked her out of breath. "I can't breathe!"
As the moment, Mal was standing on a platform in her shared dorm room as Evie fitted her for her Cotillion gown for possibly the twentieth time. With its many layers of tulle and darkly glinting gems, the yellow-and-blue garment was clearly hand crafted for a true Auradon princess. Problem was Mal's not an Auradon princess, she's an Isle princess.
Evie seemed to have forgotten that over the last few months, as did their other friends: Jay and Carlos.
After pinning the bodice in place, Evie lifted Mal's arm to give her a smile. "Well, you can breathe after Cotillion."
Mal laughed at the idea, knowing it wouldn't be possible. "I sincerely doubt that. I have about twenty more events directly behind it, and the only one I can remember is me finally getting the chance to meet my uncle in person."
Evie raised a skeptical eyebrow at the comment. "I thought mortals weren't allowed on Olympus."
"He's making an exception for me," Mal revealed as her depressed attitude suddenly turned giddy. "My uncle arranged for the visit a couple weeks ago. The press and everyone else believe he wants to meet me to see for himself that a 'villain' can turn good. Him and I are going to have lunch together Sunday, the day after Cotillion. There's going to be some kind of wireless camera setup for the news people to record our meeting and lunch, but my uncle claimed that he could short-circuit the machines so we could have a proper first meeting."
"Sounds like fun," Evie grumbled as she held a measuring tape across Mal's gown.
Knowing her friend wanted a subject change, Mal adverted her gaze upward to find something else to talk about. Almost immediately, she locked eyes on her old purple leather jacket, hanging aimlessly on a hook besides the flat-screen TV. Mal didn't want to part with the jacket because it had been a birthday gift from her father from when she turned fourteen. She had developed a bad habit of wearing his overly large leather jacket around the house, so Hades got one for herself in a successful attempt to get his back.
Mal couldn't help thinking about him and her mother again. If she had just stayed on the Isle of the Lost, her family wouldn't be separated like they were now. She missed eagerly waking up every morning so she could be in the presence of her parents' love for one another. It was such an unbelievable sight that she has yet to see in Auradon.
"Evie," Mal called out in a distant tone. "Do you ever wonder what we'd be doing right now if we were still on the Isle?"
Evie scoffed at the idea. "No," she denied a little too quickly before she stepped away from her beautiful model. "Something's not right with the dress. Take a break while I look at the sketch."
The blue-haired princess strolled to her desk to observe the drawing once again. There was just one insignificant detail that was throwing off the whole design. What was it . . . ?
Meanwhile, Mal used the chance to plop onto the side of her canopy bed, surrounding herself in a sea of yellow tulle. Grabbing 'The Lady's Manners' book from her beside table, Mal also snagged her spell book from under her pillow. Time to do some studying.
Opening to a conveniently marked page, Mal incanted, "Read it fast, at lightning speed, remember everything I need." Turning the pages of The Lady's Manners, Mal magically absorbed the book's facts to help her with future royal events.
Evie, noticing what her friend was doing, casually strolled over to Mal. "You don't need that book, M," she insisted while wrapping an arm around the bedpost. "You were doing perfectly fine without it. You know Ben wouldn't approve of you using magic in such a way."
Mal momentarily stopped to gaze up at friend. "I learned everything from my parents, who taught me an outdated version of how to be a princess. Now, I need to learn the modern version so I don't make Ben or myself look like a fool."
"Personally, as your best friend, I strongly believe that your spell book belongs in the museum," Evie advised as she swiped Mal's book before she could complain, before adding almost reluctantly, "along with my magic mirror."
Evie was referring to the magic mirror that her mother, Evil Queen, had once given her to compete with the gifts Maleficent gave her daughter. For the last six months, Evie has done practically everything to detach herself from her mother, yet she still insists on dying her hair that unnatural blue color.
Mal pouted at her possession being taken away. "Evie, I promise I will donate it to the museum after Cotillion. I just want to keep it a little longer, just in case I find a spell to save my mother."
Evie rolled her eyes at the excuse. "You said that when I gave up my mirror four months ago," she argued with a huff. "You really need to stop clinging to the past. This is the land of opportunity. We are Auradon girls now!"
"You are an Auradon girl," Mal corrected as she stood almost defiantly. "I'm still the girl from the Isle, who's pretending to be an Auradon girl."
"You wouldn't have to pretend if you just left the past to the past."
"Well I'm sorry I have such a good relationship with my parents while yours with your mother is about as worse as hers with Snow White," Mal retorted bitterly.
Silence.
In that dead silence, Mal wished she could take back the nasty comment. "Evie, I'm so sorry," she apologized sincerely. "I'm just stressed from all this learning and planning for Cotillion. I didn't mean what I said."
"Yeah, you did," Evie claimed as she slowly unwrapped her arms from the bed post. Her eyes displayed her sadness as she sighed. "You wouldn't have said it if you hadn't. That's okay. It's better that you get your frustration out on me instead of a news reporter."
The blue-haired princess adverted her gaze from her friend with another sad sigh. "Let's get you out of that dress," Evie suggested softly. "Our next class starts in thirty minutes. We don't want to be late."
"E . . ."
"Don't worry about it." Evie shrugged carelessly despite her inner feelings. "I can take it. I was raised on the Isle of the Lost. Remember?"
Mal remembered.
But Evie was the one that forgot.
On the way to their Auradon classes, the Core Four strolled outside the school to get some fresh air, something that wasn't really possible.
Forgetting what she wore a mere hour ago, Mal changed into a frilly pale green dress, with her hair in long blond tendrils. She was clutching a textbook from Fairies 101, a class she is currently failing because of Knotgras—Flora! Mal had to remind herself all the time to call the three pixies by their human names, not their fairy name. The one time Mal did, which was during an argument with said teacher, she was suspended from that class for a week for 'reminding her of painful past'.
Bull shit.
Knotgrass didn't want to be reminded that she was teaching the daughter of Maleficent, who knew the truth of her past. She knew perfectly well what happened with Maleficent, yet she played dumb when interrogated by Fairy Godmother, as did Thistlewit and Flittle—Fauna and Merryweather, if you don't know their other names. They didn't want it to be known that they were traitors to their people.
Auradon is filled with secret criminals, yet Mal was the only one that knew.
Or was she?
Anyways, Mal kept her head down as she walked beside Evie. Jay and Carlos could tell something was wrong with the girls, but Evie insisted that they were having more trouble with the dress, causing a little stress that it wouldn't be finished in time. Mal didn't bother inputting her opinion, considering what happened a few minutes prior. Only slightly convinced by the lie, Jay and Carlos led Dude—Carlos's scruffy but adorable dog—up some steps and onto an outdoor patio.
Fellow students holding textbooks milled about. Some were perched in the niches of the stone wall while some sat on the stone railing. They smiled politely at the Core Four as they walked by.
The VKs had come a long way since first arriving in Auradon. Before, they would be looked down upon for being the children of the villains on the Isle of the Lost. Now, they were treated with respect since everyone falsely believed that the Core Four saved them from Dragon Maleficent. It killed Mal inside to let everyone believe her mother was such a horrible villain, but Jay and Evie didn't seem to care. Carlos, on the other hand, had to refrain from snapping at people for referring to his caring godmother in such a horrible way.
Walking through the patio, Mal was lost in thought as she absentmindedly heard Jay teasing Carlos, resulting in Evie to laugh at the playful bickering. There was just so much for Mal to do, yet none of them seem to care or bothered to listen.
"You'll be fine," she heard Jay reassure their youngest friend. "Even if you don't ask anyone, there may be a couple girls wanting to dance with you at Cotillion because of the suit your mother made."
Mal perked up at the comment. "Carlos, Cruella made your suit?"
"And sent it to me last week," Carlos confirmed with a small smile. "She did a fantastic job, as usual. She offered to do your dress."
No, that couldn't be right. If she had known that, Mal definitely would have let Cruella make the dress instead of Evie. Yet, this was the first time Mal heard of it. "When?"
"Right when Cotillion was first announced." Carlos tilted her head curiously. "Mom sent Evie a letter offering to do so if she was too busy with all the other requests. Didn't Evie tell you?"
Mal was about to lash out at her friend for keeping such a 'minor' detail a secret, when Jane suddenly came out of nowhere. "Mal!"
Of course, Mal snapped to her attention and plastered on a fake smile to successfully hide her anger. Jane, with her hair at about waist length now, stood in front of the Core Four with a tablet securely in her hands. Lonnie stood by her side, looking as chipper as ever as her long black hair stood out against her pink dress.
After having one and a half confrontations with Evie, Mal doubt she could handle answering any more Cotillion questions without lashing out. She knows Jane doesn't mean to be so annoying. Jane was only trying to do everything and anything she could to help plan the event.
Thankfully, Carlos unwittingly distracted Jane, giving Mal a chance to calm herself. "H-hey, Jane," he greeted nervously.
"Hey." Jane smiled kindly at him.
"Uh." Carlos turned into a stuttering mess as he became distracted by Jane's beauty. "I was wondering . . . if you . . . uh . . . liked the carrot cake last night?"
"I had the pumpkin pie," she corrected sweetly, a little confused by the question.
"Oh. Cool." Carlos adverted his gaze for a brief second, unsure of what to say next. "Um . . ."
Jay walked behind him and gripped his shoulders. "Smooth," he complimented sarcastically in a low voice. Jay swiftly dragged Carlos and essentially Dude away to their next class to save Carlos from further embarrassment.
Mal braced herself for the barrage of questions, ready to answer them as calmly as she could in her current situation. However, she was bought a few extra moments when Evie chimed in, announcing, "I have an opening for a fitting at three! Who wants it?"
"Me!" Lonnie shouted as she rudely jumped in front of Jane before she could comment. Then, Lonnie winced at what she did. "Sorry. . ."
"It's okay," Evie reassured before she smiled encouragingly at Jane. "I'll take you later."
While Evie dragged Lonnie aside to talk about the dress, Jane stepped in front of Mal, almost like she was preventing Mal from leaving. "Mal, I hate to keep bugging you," she began with an unsympathetic tone, "but the decorating committee needs a couple more answers. As much as I hate to keep bugging you, I just need these last few and I'll be finished."
"Sounds great," Mal commented with a small encouraging smile. "But can we do this later? I have to get to class and I don't be late."
"You know what? Just nod if you like it," Jane instructed, not having clearly heard the purple-haired girl.
Before Mal could say a word, Jane started sweeping through an array of photos on the tablet screen, one after another in a dizzying flurry. "Chair swags. Entry banner. Twinkle lights. Uh, let's see. Napkin design. Table bunting . . ."
Mal bobbed her head at each image, not even paying attention to any of the options. She would have been more than fine with Jane choosing everything herself. She's already done such a fantastic job.
"And you still haven't picked out the party favors yet." Jane added as she paused momentarily.
"Honestly, Jane, whatever you want to go with, I totally trust you—"
"I mean, we could do chains, key charms, pen toppers," interrupted Jane, continuing to tap through images. "I kind of love the pen toppers," she added. "But we could do all three if you want. . ."
"You know—" Mal's eyes suddenly flashed bright green. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, her eyes returned to their normal shade of green. She smiled and rested a hand gently on Jane's arm. "I say pen toppers," she decided calmly.
"Really?" Jane asked she perked up at the decision. "Okay! You won't regret it!"
At that very moment Evie and Lonnie walked back over to Jane and Mal once they were finished speaking about the dress. Lonnie exclaimed cheerily, "I can hardly wait to see what your wedding will look like!"
Mal raised an eyebrow in amusement, knowing something like that would be mentioned thanks to her father's warning. "I'm not ready to be married," she informed, "and I would rather wait until after I graduate high school before I get engaged."
"Come on, you probably thought about getting married," Lonnie insisted with a teasing smile. "Maybe even dreamed about the perfect wedding dress?"
Mal shrugged carelessly. "Not really. I always assumed I would wear my mother's dress."
Jane tilted her head curiously at the answer. "Your mother's? She was married?"
Shit!
Eyes going slightly wide, Mal tried to think of some kind of fib to cover her stumble. Out of nowhere, Ben appeared at Mal's side in his royal-blue suit, scaring her half to death, but distracting the other girls. "Hi, Mal."
"Hiii, Ben," Evie, Jane, and Lonnie greeted in a sing-song unison, mainly because they didn't want the king to know about their previous conversation subject. Nonetheless, Mal glared at them for not being subtle.
Ben continued to smile happily at Mal as he leaned his forehead against hers, grateful for the few minutes they could have together. However, that was quickly ruined when Jane lightly grabbed his arm.
"Quick moment!" Jane pleaded as she pulled Ben to the side, away from the trio of girls before the king could protest.
Once they were a few yards away, Jane whispered, "Alright, the surprise for Mal's big night is almost finished." On her trusty tablet, Jane showed Ben images of a stained-glass window that held a young happy couple on it. That happy couple was none other than Ben and Mal, the latter wearing a beautiful purple and black dress and her hair its original purple color.
"Cruella did a fantastic job designing Mal's dress for this piece," Jane complimented.
Surprised?
You see, a few months ago, Ben overhead Carlos mentioning to Jay that Evie was going to make Mal's Cotillion dress instead of his mother and Mal's godmother—Cruella. Carlos thought it was strange since Cruella always created Mal's outfits, but he assumed it was an attempt by Mal to fit in with the Auradonians. Once he heard that, Ben sent a letter to Cruella, asking if she could design a dress for Mal that was fit for a queen so he could surprise her with a gift. The next day, Ben received a letter from Cruella saying she would love to help with the gift for her 'Bertha'.
Jane eagerly jumped up and down at seeing the almost finished product. "Mal looks so beautiful! She's going to love it!"
"Make sure her eyes are green," Ben reminded. He wanted to make sure his gift for Mal was perfect, since she has been working so hard for him. Mal deserved the whole world, but this was all he could give at the moment.
Behind Jane, Mal caught Ben's attention and nodded sideways as if to say, Are you coming with me? Ben called out to Mal that he'd catch up with her later before he turned his attention back to Jane.
"Which green should they use?" Jane asked as she showed a few rectangular pieces of green stained glass to Ben; the shades were nearly identical.
"Uh . . ." Ben took them and smiled as he picked the darkest green with no hesitation. "This one." He stared through it dreamingly, clearly imagining that he was staring straight into his beloved's eyes.
Sometime later on that same day, Mal rushed to her locker, slamming it open to get a certain object from in there. Just a few minutes before, realization had hit her about the spell her mother used to transform herself. Mal was looking in the pages of the book for the spell, but her mother wouldn't keep her most used spell there. She would put it—
"Hi, Mal."
Mal jumped at the voice, not getting a chance to grab her spell book. "Hi," she greeted with a nervous laugh, failing to act natural.
Ben was leaning against the locker door next to hers with a small smile on his lips. "I have a little surprise for you."
You always have a surprise for me, Mal thought as she forced a grin. Yet I have nothing for you . . .
"Another one?" She wondered instead as she pretended to be surprised. "I don't deserve so many."
"Yes, you do. Let me spoil you." Ben pleaded as his smile faltered slightly. "You didn't have much growing up."
Mal's smile turned a little sour. "I managed," she insisted, "because I had two amazing parents that raised me with love and compassion, yet they received neither one from you Auradonians."
Knowing he said the wrong thing, the king decided to find something to change the subject. Peering inside Mal's locker, he noticed her spell book sitting in a wire tray. "Didn't you donate that to the museum?" He reached for it, but Mal guided his hand away, closing the locker door before he could get a better look.
"Is that still in there?" Mal asked playfully. She brushed Ben's hair out of his eyes with her finger. "Sorry, I have to get to class. I don't want to be late, so—"
"No, you don't," Ben agreed. "But . . ." He took Mal's hand and led her by the arm to her gift. A few steps away, there was a sparkly purple motor scooter with a gold bow on top.
"Ta-da," announced Ben, gesturing to it.
Mal gasped and cupped her hands to her mouth. "What?"
"Do you like it?" Ben wondered.
Mal beamed, genuinely thrilled. "Does an ogre like cheese puffs?" She stepped closer to the scooter and inspected it, feeling the new seat and handles. "This is amazing!" She looked up at his smiling face. "It's purple! My favorite color!" She let out a joyful laugh, but then her face fell once she remembered something. "All I have for you is a simple picnic . . ."
"And that's perfect," Ben insisted as he smiled encouragingly. "Fairy Godmother is going to let you and me get out of school couple hours early so we can avoid the paparazzi."
Mal tilted her head curiously. "Did she do that for you and Audrey?"
"No," Ben denied with no hesitation, "because I love you, not Audrey."
With her heart beating erratically, Mal cleared her throat to clear her mind. "Well I have couple things to finish baking," she informed with a small smile, "and a test in my next class that I can't miss. After that, I'm all yours."
"Then I'll see you in a couple hours."
Smile growing just slightly, Mal patted Ben affectionately on the chest before she walked off. Once she was a few yards away, she let the smile drop into a frustrated frown. She was so close—
Yet her mother would have to wait a little longer.