The halls of Auradon High were unusually quiet for that particular afternoon. The auditorium was deserted. Not one sound echoed inside the cavernous cafeteria. In the indoor Tourney field, a lone janitor cleaned the trach from the bleachers. No one was rushing up the stairs and no one was running down the hall. In fact, the only sound that could be heard was Fairy Godmother talking to her homeroom class . . .
But, of course, no one was listening.
Ben Adams, captain and one of the stars of the Tourney team, gazed at the clock on the wall, trying to will it closer to '3'. He glanced over shoulder to look at Mal Fae, his beautiful girlfriend. Twirling a lock of her purple-dyed hair in boredom, Mal smiled back flirtatiously. They were both thinking the same thing: only a few more minutes until they could spend their entire summer together.
Ms. Paxson, or 'Fairy Godmother' as she tells the children to call her, was completely unaware that she didn't have everyone's undivided attention. "Learning is never seasonal," Fairy Godmother lectured, "so do allow the shimmering light of summer to refresh and illuminate your fertile young minds."
Jay Arabia struggled to keep his eyes open as he waited for the bell to ring to start summer vacation. Gil Playfair was studying for his new summer online class since he would have to take a couple classes to have an appropriate amount of credits for the start of senior year. Uma Facilier was unconsciously tapping her feet in a dance move while whispering to Harry Hook, who was twirling a strand of Uma's incredibly long hair in his fingers. Evie Queen sat with her hands folded on her desk, looking like the perfect student, even though she was just as anxious for the bell to ring so she could go on dates with her Doug, so she could finally tell him those three 'little' words.
"Your future greets you with its magic mirror, reflecting each golden moment, each emboldened choice," Fairy Godmother droned on. "So, use these incipient summer days and weeks wisely and well…."
Chad Charming rolled his eyes at the teacher's speech, muttering to his two 'friends', "Lucky for me, I don't have to listen to these boring lectures anymore."
"And lucky for us, we don't have to listen to your arrogant mouth anymore," Carlos de Vil retorted bitterly while running his fingers through Dude the dog's fur.
"Carlos," Audrey Rose chided, looking up from her summer notes to softly glare at the teenager. "We only have to deal with Chad for one more summer at the resort. Try not to let him get a rise out of you."
"And it's just one more summer until that resort is sold to my parents," Chad countered, as his way of angering the girl.
"For the hundredth time, my grandfather does not own it," Audrey reminded with an annoyed eyeroll. "He doesn't have the right to sell it. My parents bought it years ago, so they choose who to sell it to. My grandfather may think he's the owner, but he's nothing more than a manager."
As the students began fidgeting in their seats more and more, the ticking sound seemed to grow louder, drowning out Fairy Godmother's voice. The clock on the walled seemed to bet bigger as nearly everyone started at it longingly.
"Summers have passed fleetingly since I was your age," Ms. Fairy Godmother continued wistfully. "Yet I recall them with poignant clarity, so . . ."
Riiiiiinnngg!
Classroom door flung open while the school erupted in cheers at the final bell ring. Students poured into the halls to say 'good-bye' to some of their friends for the summer.
Grouped together for some odd reason was Ben, Jay, Gil, and Harry, who all walked toward their lockers. Opening his locker for a moment, Ben complained, "Tourney camp is going to be a drag this year. Dad's forcing me to go as punishment for doing the musical, even though I need to find a summer job. I need money for college in case I don't get any scholarships."
"Which is highly unlikely," Jay claimed with an eyeroll. "But I need a job too. Dad said he would try matching whatever I make this year."
"I need a job that will work for my summer class," Gil insisted with a soft sigh. "If I don't pass or finish all the assignments by the summer deadline, I'll have to take extra classes senior year."
"Well, I need to save up for a car." Harry paused to nod toward Uma, who was standing across the hall with her lady friends. "So I can take that gorgeous girl on a proper date."
"You need a license first," Jay teased. "I can always be a chauffeur if you need it. Hell, I won't charge for your first date!"
Harry raised an appalled eyebrow at the offer. "I'd rather walk."
His friends snickered. Getting a summer job wouldn't be easy since they were still in high school. Still, nothing could dampen the excitement of the last day of school, which included signing yearbooks.
Speaking of such, Audrey stood by her locker as she signed her name with grand flourish in a student's yearbook. She perked up when she noticed someone walking by her. "Mal!"
Pausing for a moment, Mal smiled politely. "Hi. Do you need something Audrey?"
"No, I have something for you," Audrey corrected with a happy smile. "My family's resort needs an artist, someone who can draw portraits of the guest within five or ten minutes. When I heard my parents talking about it, I instantly thought of you! What do you think?"
Mal hesitated. On one hand, she would love to get paid for what she enjoyed doing every day. But on the other . . .
"What about your grandparents?" Mal wondered almost timidly. "I look nearly identically to my mother when she was my age, and you know there was conflict between them. I don't want to spend the entire summer avoiding their harassment."
"I'll try to make sure they don't harass you," Audrey promised, then added, "but you may want to hide your purple hair. Besides, Mom really wants to meet you. You don't know how happy she was when I suggested you for the job."
"If I accept the job," Mal speculated, "and if I have to hide my hair, can you do something for me in return at the resort?"
"Of course!" Audrey agreed with a vigorous nod. "My parents can make whatever you want happen, as long as it is within reason."
"Hopefully, it is," Mal reassured. "If possible, I want . . ."
During their conversation, Uma, Evie, and Jane Paxson had started their own conversation regarding summer jobs.
"Mal and I have had five job interviews," Evie informed with an annoyed sigh. "We keep getting beat-out by college kids. And the interviewers always make a rude comment about Mal's hair."
"I heard the stories and have been so tempted to dye my hair teal again. I'm starting to miss it," Uma admitted. "Jane, what are you planning to do this summer?"
Jane looked at Uma, who was a little taller. "Grow," she joked wryly, before stating the obvious. "Write and play music." Then she glanced up at Evie, who was a lot taller than her, adding again, "Grow."
The girls playfully laughed at Jane's statement as they walked down the hallway.
Meanwhile, Mal had finished her negotiation with Audrey and was now in the process of cleaning out her locker. As she was almost finished, Ben snuck up behind her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug.
"Your summer activities consultant has arrived," Ben announced professionally. "After Tourney camp, we'll see movies, have a picnic, maybe a little karaoke, as long as my dad doesn't find out. Worse case scenario, we just chill. What do you say?"
"It sounds like fun," Mal encouraged softly. "But how will your parents like you spending all your time with me? I know they don't like me."
"But I love you," Ben professed, "so it doesn't what they think. This summer is about you and me. It starts with you and me."
Mal smiled teasingly. "That sounds like a song lyric. Are you writing music?"
"I peaked at some of Jane's music sheets during free period," Ben admitted with a careless shrug. "I think she wants us to sign up for a talent show at some resort she's working at this summer, but that's for another discussion. I have something for you."
Mal raised a curious, yet amused eyebrow. "For a king, you are very blunt. Royalty should have more poise and elegance when they announce something."
"The gift will make up for it," Ben claimed with a smile. "Turn around please."
Eyebrow still raised, Mal turned her back to him with a curious smile. Inhaling a deep breath to calm his nerves, Ben pulled out a gold necklace from his pocket and placed it around Mal's neck.
Mal couldn't help the gasp that escaped her at noticing the charm's design, which was two dragons shaped together to form a heart. Instead of writing her name on any of her artwork, Mal would paint or draw that same heart in a corner as a replacement for her signature. The two dragons', which represented her parents, love for each other created the heart, which represents Mal. Ben had asked her about the dragon heart a few weeks prior, but she didn't pay no mind to his intentions. Still . . .
Holding the charm delicately in her hands, Mal turned back to Ben with a guilty look on her face. "Ben," she began with a disbelieving shake of her head. "I can't accept this. I can tell this is real gold and it must have costed a fortune to custom-make my design. This is way too expensive of a gift just for me."
"I carved the design into the heart," Ben revealed, shocking Mal with the 'little' detail. "I used the tools in my grandfather's stain-glass shed for it. As for the gold, Grandpa had some leftover from an art piece he did. Do you like it?"
"I love it." Mal wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck with a sly smile. "And I love you, my king."
Of course, the couple shared a loving kiss, like they were the only people in the entire kingdom.
Or at least, the only people in their school.
Meanwhile, on another end of the school, Carlos was helping Audrey gather all the books she needed for her summer classes when Chad arrogantly walked over.
"Finally, I can do whatever I want," Chad informed, not that the two were listening. "I'm just glad I won't have to see any of these losers at my resort."
"It's not your resort," Audrey argued for the umpteenth time. "And you shouldn't speak so rudely about other people."
"Especially since over half of them can kick your ass," Carlos retorted as he adjusted his dog's leash in his hand.
"Carlos," Audrey scolded for the umpteenth time as well. "Just one more summer, remember? If we're lucky, we may not have to see him that much."
"Until my parents buy the resort," Chad reminded snobbishly. "Within a month, the resort will belong to my family. You know, 'Charming's Palace' sounds so much better than the boring 'Enchanted Dominion'."
"You know what sounds better?" Audrey questioned rhetorically while shutting her locker. "You not talking at all. Until my parents sign the paperwork, the resort belongs to my family. As long as I have a say, my parents will never sell the resort to your family."
Two weeks later, during the evening, Ben finally returned from Tourney camp. Instead of having Jay, who had his license and his own car, drop him off at his place, Ben requested to be taken to his girlfriend's house. There was no particular reason that he wanted to go to Mal's first, just that he wanted her to be the first person he saw when he got back.
So, at about nine that night, Ben practically burst through his girlfriend's front door and swallowed Mal in a massive hug, having already warned her a few minutes before about his 'impromptu' visit.
"Hello to you too," Hades teased from the living room, where he sat on the couch next to his wife. "Was camp really so terrible that you couldn't walk inside calmly?"
"It was hell!" Ben insisted while keeping an arm around Mal's waist as they walked into the living room, sitting on the love-seat across from the parents. "My dad was the co-camp director this year, so I was pushed even harder than the others. I would do a move exactly the same as Jay, yet only I would be punished for doing it 'incorrectly'. I'd do nothing wrong, yet I somehow would get in trouble, resulting in getting punished again. I must have run around the entire camp a hundred times the past two weeks. That doesn't compare to how many laps I ran around the Tourney field. I lost count at two hundred, Gil lost count at three hundred, Jay lost count at five hundred, and that was within the first three days!"
"You do look significantly thinner than when you left," Maleficent commented worriedly. "Did they feed you boys properly?"
"I was put on a 'new diet' as part of my punishment." Ben used air quotes for the phrase, explaining, "In other words, my portions were a fourth of the size as the guys'. They tried giving me whatever they could without getting caught, but it wasn't much."
"Jay told me a few days ago," Mal informed before smiling softly. "That's why I texted him to drop you off here last week. I spent the last three days cooking everything I thought you would like. I even baked a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and strawberry slices between the layers. It's set out in the kitchen if you're hungry."
Ben raised a curious eyebrow. "I love you so much for doing that for me, but how am I going to eat everything and be home at a decent time?"
"You're staying over tonight," Mal answered, before quickly adding, "If you want, of course. I've been planning this since Jay first told me. He and his father are going to tell your parents that you fell asleep in his car and decided to have you spend the night at their place."
"The guest room is a mess, so you'll be sleeping in Mali's room. I am allowing you to sleep in the same bed as her," Hades claimed before sternly gazing at Ben. "Don't make me regret my decision."
"Aidoneus," Maleficent chided as she lightly slapped her husband's arm, not noticing the embarrassed teenagers' blushing faces. "You know as well as I do that Ben is a very respectful young man, especially when it comes to our daughter."
Before either he could die from embarrassment, Ben's phone conveniently ringed, much to his relief. Not recognizing the number, Ben scrunched up his nose in confusion when he answered hesitantly, "Hello?"
"Ben Adams?" an older, middle-age woman's voice questioned. "This is Aurora Rose, co-owner of the Enchanted Dominion resort. We are in need of some summer workers. My daughter, Audrey, spoke to a fellow classmate about hiring her for a job as an artist. She requested that you and a few others join her as staff members. Some will work in the kitchen, around the resort, or by the pool. What do you think?"
"That sounds amazing!" Ben declared while glancing at a mischievously smiling Mal. "When can we start?"
"You and your teammates need a break after just returning home from Tourney camp," Aurora insisted knowingly. "Three students will start Sunday while the rest of you will be given a tour on the same day, but start Monday."
"That sounds fantastic!" Ben exclaimed. "Thank you so much!"
Waiting until he hanged up, Mal teased in a sing-song voice, "You're welcome for the job! All it costed was me having to hide my hair."
"There's something I need to speak with you regarding the job." Hades leaned forward to seem more serious. "I know you don't know the history, but Aurora Rose's parents blatantly hate Maleficent. If they find out our daughter is working there, they will make her life so miserable that she will want to quit. I want you to promise me, as a king, you will do everything to prevent them from tormenting my daughter."
With a short, brisk nod, Ben vowed, "I promise, I will do everything in my power to protect my princess."
