"And a terrific pass from Chad to Jay, who dodges his opponent, he goes for a sprint. He makes it into the kill zone! Dodges a blast, and another, terrific block by Carlos. And a pass to king Ben. Oh no, intercepted by a player from the Neverland Lost Boys, he shoots up the field. And what a tackle from the new recruit Alex, who storms back into the kill zone. Oh, he got hit, but he keeps on running. Tackle from a Lost Boy, but he shrugs it off. And a pass back to Carlos, who passes to Jay. Jay for another run up the field. Dodges an opponent and finds new recruit Aden on the side! Aden with a spectacular faint! And another! Aden lays back to Chad! Chad takes the shot! Oh, it was a fake shot! Ball lands to king Ben! KING BEN SCORES!" the commentator shouted enthusiastically.
The entire crowd went nuts as the Auradon Knights ran to the side of the field to celebrate with the fans. Mal saw Ben jump into the air with a cheer before scanning the audience looking for her. When he found her, he blew her a kiss before joining up with his team on the field.
The cheerleaders, led by Audrey and Jane, had erupted into a loud cheer.
"BEN! BEN! HE'S OUR KING! HE ALWAYS SCORES, WHAT DID YOU THINK?"
Mal had to laugh at the cheesiness of the line, but happily cheered nonetheless.
The Auradon Knights were now up 3-0 and the game was almost over. Aden and Alex had seamlessly blended into the team, which had made it even more formidable than last year's, when Jay and Carlos had joined. Aden had been deployed mainly on the flanks, since he was the best dribbler, and Alex stood at the back, using his sheer size to scare away opponents from their goal.
Mal stood about half way up the bleachers, joined by Evie, Freddie, Jordan and Lonnie. Archer, Royce, Lancelot and Doug, who held Dude in his arms, stood a row below them.
"I taught Aden that move." She heard Archer boasting to his friends.
"You have now officially taken credit for half of what the team does." Royce said skeptically, though he did clap loudly.
"Actually, it was only about twenty percent." Doug said to him.
"Don't go throwing specifics at me." Royce snarled before loudly whistling when the Neverland Lost Boys kicked off again.
"He was correct though." Lancelot said. "I doubt whether I can say the same about you Archer."
"Are you questioning my integrity." He said, with an exaggerated hand to the chest.
"You can't question what doesn't exist." Freddie said from beside Mal, and both the girls and the guys loudly hooted as Archer looked back with amused shock.
"I take offense from that comment." He said with a broad smile.
"It was intended to." Freddie replied, and she ruffled up his hair.
"That's it! I am cancelling the dance!" he said with authority.
"Oh well, you still gotta pay Evie for your suit." Freddie said.
"That's true." Evie piped in, and everyone burst out laughing again.
Mal smiled at Freddie and Archer's banter. She had not seen Freddie this happy or outgoing since she had arrived in Auradon. Archer had told her he would simply take her to the dance as a friend but seeing them together like this made her wonder if at least one of the two didn't want there to be more. Mal knew that Freddie had never had a relationship on the isle and was thus brand new to the whole dating scene, and Archer was an annoyingly easy person to fall in love with, truth to be told.
The dance would take place tomorrow night, to give everyone a bit of time to calm down after the first tourney game. Evie had almost single-handedly supplied the entire school of new dresses and suits and had made a small fortune in the process. Pretty much everyone Mal knew had also found a date; Mal naturally went with Ben, Evie with Doug, Jay with Lonnie, Carlos and Jane, Archer and Freddie, Aden and Arabella, Alex and Jordan, Chad and Audrey and Royce had asked Aden's sister Ruby, which had caused a lot of name-calling and an extremely stern warning about not laying a finger on someone. The only one Mal knew did not have a date was Lancelot, though she knew he had not actively been searching for one.
Mal was roughly brought back to reality when a sharp whistle sounded, and a deafening cheer erupted from the crowd around her, signaling the end of the match and a solid victory for the Auradon Knights.
The team threw their helmets and sticks into the air and joined up with the fans to celebrate. Mal and her companions made their way through the crowds with some pushing and shoving, until she stood eye-to-eye with a drenched in sweat Ben. He smiled broadly at her.
"We won." He said breathing heavily and pointing generally around him.
"I can see that." Mal replied with a smile.
Ben moved closer to her. "I love you, did I mention that?" he said with a grin.
"Don't even think about singing!" Mal said before she locked lips with him.
They were broken apart when some people grabbed Ben and he was put on the shoulders of a roaring crowd. Ben looked at Mal apologetically but smiled nonetheless when the entire team was carried back to school.
There, all the fans joined up in the lunch yard to have a small victory party. Ben had urged them to not make too much of a fuss since there was still a dance to have the next day, but that hadn't stopped Jane from at least placing some food and drinks and a large celebratory banner.
When Ben and his team mates got back from their showers, the crowd raised their glasses in celebration and the team happily took part in the festivities.
While most guys discussed the game and Auradon prep's now large chances of reprising the title they had won last year, pretty much all the girls were talking about was the dance. Audrey bothered nearly everyone who would listen about how they would style their hair or what accessories they would have.
"You will see tomorrow, Audrey! Now stop bothering me!" Mal said annoyed after Audrey had been bugging her for over five minutes.
"I just want to know what to look out for." Audrey said stamping her feet. "Come on, what will you do with your hair?" She then asked eagerly.
"If you don't stop with the questions you should worry more about what I will do with your hair!" Mal snapped back and Audrey reached for her ponytail in fear. She then looked over Mal's shoulder and her look soured. Mal looked behind her and saw Archer and Freddie standing next to each other, both with a cup in their hand and smiling.
"Fine, I'll see you at the dance then." Audrey said before abruptly turning around.
As Mal looked back at Archer and Freddie, she saw how they were being joined by Jay, Lonnie, Lancelot and Jordan. Archer suddenly saw her and walked up to her.
"Hey, do you have any idea where Ben is?" he asked.
"I believe Chad is showing him a rewind of the game and pointing out all his mistakes." Mal said with an annoyed look.
Archer nodded. "That unfortunately sounds like something that could be true." He said as he took a sip from his cup.
"How are things with you and Freddie?" Mal asked suddenly and Archer choked a bit on his drink.
"Things are fine, great even. Why do you ask?" he said, and he stared at her with those incredible blue eyes.
Mal nodded her head towards the entrance to the school and Archer followed her there. "What exactly are your intentions with her?" Mal asked when they were far enough away.
Archer looked a bit perplexed before answering. "Take her to the dance, dance around a little, have a fun time, why?"
Mal looked over to where Freddie was sitting and then back to Archer. "You know she likes you right?"
"Well, I like her to. She's great, very funny and easy to talk to-." He said before being interrupted by Mal.
"No, I mean, she really likes you. Can't you see the signals? She likes you in a 'relationship kind of way'." Mal said hesitantly. This romantic talk really wasn't her forte, it had always mostly been Evie who would do such a thing.
Archer looked back at her with something of panic in his eyes. "Yeah, I know." He said as he cast his eyes downwards.
"So?" Mal asked as she fidgeted around. "Do you like her in that way?" she asked slowly and hesitantly.
Archer looked around. At the wall, at the ceiling, at Mal and back at Freddie before answering. "No. Not in that way. She really is a great girl, but it's not like what you and Ben have for example." He said and Mal saw that it hurt him to admit it.
"You must tell her." Mal said as she crossed her arms. "She deserves not to be let down."
Archer started fidgeting even more. "Well, I did make it painstakingly clear that I would only take her to the dance as a friend. I mean, I never made any attempt- I never said I wanted-." He stuttered.
"Tell her!" Mal said loudly.
"Tell who what?" a voice said and Mal and Archer both saw Ben approaching from the lunch yard. "There you guys are, what are you doing here all huddled together?" he said with just the slightest hint of suspicion.
"Making out, so please respect our privacy." Archer said skeptically, which caused him a punch to the arm from Mal.
Mal directed herself to Ben. "I believe Freddie likes Archer, in a more than friendship kind of way, but Archer doesn't feel that way about her and I don't want Freddie to get her heart broken."
Ben smiled at her. "Look at you, worrying about other people's feelings." He said as he pulled her in for a hug. "But yeah, I see the problem."
"What do I do man? I mean, I don't want to hurt her in any way." Archer said.
Ben piped up even more at this. "Well, who's asking who for guidance now?" he said with a grin.
Archer gave Ben an exasperated look before speaking again. "So, what do I tell her? When do I tell her?"
"As soon as possible." Mal said. "Don't give her any illusions."
Archer paled at this. "But I still want her to have a fun dance. What if I tell her and she doesn't want to go with me anymore?"
"Take the risk dude." Mal said. "Don't waste her time."
"I'm not wasting anyone's time, I just want her to have a good time. I'll tell her after the dance, I owe her a fun night at least." Archer said.
"You pussy." Mal said disapprovingly.
"Mal!" Ben said with a half-smile, "Let Archer decide what he thinks is best."
Mal looked at him perplexed. "Am I the only one who care for what happens to Freddie?"
"I care for her! You know that! Don't act like I'm actively trying to hurt her, I want to save her from getting hurt. It's just that this is not my area of expertise and I have to think of a solid strategy so to speak." Archer said wildly gesturing with his hands.
"This is not a war, Archer." Mal said crossing her arms.
"I know that. This is much harder, they don't teach you these things." He said as he waked back to the festivities.
"He's gonna blow it." Mal said as Ben hugged her again from behind.
"Try and have a little faith in him." Ben said.
"You are really asking a lot here." Mal said and Ben couldn't help but smile.