18:15 pm - Dining Hall
Mal and Evie had chatted with the two girls until they reached the Dining Hall. The older girls pointed out which tables were already unofficially taken and what to avoid on the menu as they ordered.
"That's a free table over there," Evie pointed to a circular table tucked into one of the corners of the large hall. "Why don't you two sit there and the rest of your year group will know where is safe," she suggested, discreetly pointing to three younger students hovering on the fringe of the room, clutching their trays with white knuckles.
"Thanks, Evie," Dizzy grinned, grabbing Annabelle's hand, balancing her own full tray, and she pulled her through the crowd.
"Daughter of the Evil Queen, yeah right," Mal scoffed, teasing the kind-hearted girl who simply shrugged her shoulders with a smile.
"My mother would probably pass out if she knew what I was like now," Evie sassed back as the two made their way with their trays to their usual table.
Evie slotted in beside Jane and Mal took the space on the bench next to her, apologising to Gil across from her when she roughly set her tray down, shoving it accidentally into his own. He simply smiled around a large mouthful of fries, assuring her it was alright and the three settled into a conversation.
At the opposite end of the long, rectangular table, Jay was unfortunately sandwiched between Lonnie and Audrey, an unusual sight at the VKs table. He was looking straight ahead, a deadpan expression on his face as he chewed his food. Audrey was complaining about something irrelevant, using her hands to make large gestures which Jay ignored. Lonnie had tried to look interested but had followed Jay's route and was ignoring the princess, nodding or making a sound when Audrey demanded one.
"And then my mother simply says that I can't be there!" Her voice had taken a scratchy tone. "I mean, if Ben is staying in my castle then I should be able to help play host!"
"Your mother's castle," Lonnie whispered under her breath and Jay cracked a smile which Audrey saw.
She twisted in her seat, poking Jay's upper arm. "Do you think this is funny?" She questioned loudly, the demand carrying down the table and catching the rest of the VKs attention. Jay shook his head, unwilling to start an argument.
"I mean, it's not as if his girlfriend even cares he's gone. He must be starving for any scrap of attention he can get so it's really no wonder that he left for a home visit instead of having my parents come to the school," Audrey snapped, glaring at Mal from her seat.
What Audrey couldn't see was Mal and Evie rolling their eyes together, causing each other to nearly laugh. Nobody but Evie and Fairy Godmother knew about the breakdown in the King's relationship.
Jay's eyes slowly slid to Audrey's and he was about to say something when Harry dropped his tray down opposite him, making a loud commotion and causing Audrey to jump.
"What on earth do you think you-" Audrey's shriek was cut off when she saw Harry. He set his hook down with such force that it pierced the table top and the Dining Hall went silent. "I don't think we've been introduced yet," Audrey's sickly sweet voice made Harry glare and he picked up his cutlery, cutting his meat up silently.
"He doesn't care, Audrey, leave him alone," Lonnie sighed, returning to her food as the rest of the Hall watched in anticipation.
Audrey's hand shot out, practically underneath the pirate's nose. "I'm Audrey, the daughter of Aurora, or you may know her as-"
"She was right lass, I don't give a shit so get ya hand out of me face," Harry's voice was low and threatening and he was glaring up through his lashes. From further down the table, Mal and Evie could read Harry's tight and defensive body language, the way he was almost curled around his hook.
"Oh no," Gil and Jane said simultaneously but for different reasons. Audrey was spluttering, her face contorting and turning a pale shade of red as Fairy Godmother began to stride determinedly towards the table from where she was sat with the rest of the faculty.
"Excuse me, what did you just say to me? I am a princess I'll have you know," Audrey sniffed, rising from the bench.
"And I don't give a shit ya snobby little bi- priss," he bit back, faltering as he censored himself.
Fairy Godmother was now rushing, scooting around table legs and chairs to reach the scene quicker.
"Look, I am just trying to be nice. I am a good friend to have," Audrey's tone was sultry now and she was leaning closer to the pirate.
"Audrey," Lonnie's voice carried a warning that the princess ignored.
"Just think about it," she purred, reaching out to run a hand down the pirate's cheek but he was suddenly stood up, towering over her shorter frame with the point of his hook millimetres from her right eye.
"HARRY HOOK!" roared Fairy Godmother the same time that Mal did. Both were now stood behind Harry, Mal's small arms going around his torso to tug him away.
"I said I ain't interested in a bitch like you," Harry's accent was thicker and rougher, but the threat was quiet so that only those on the table could hear once Audrey had stopped shrieking. Mal had finally pulled Harry away as another princess rushed over to Audrey's side, simpering over her.
Audrey held out a shaking finger, "you are evil," she spat. "Who thought that the children of villains would be any different! She wasn't and you certainly aren't!" Her hysterical tone caused Fairy Godmother to go to her side, settling a steady hand on the princess' shoulder. Mal stiffened being called evil but quickly continued to try and pry Harry away.
"Come on," Mal urged, standing on her tip-toes to whisper in his ear. Evie, Gil, Carlos and Jay joined her side, Jay gripping the silver hook, silently willing the pirate to move.
"Go to your rooms and I will deal with this tomorrow," Fairy Godmother told the group, dismissing them in favour of calming Audrey who was still talking about the evilness in the VKs bloodlines. "Go on," she said firmly and it was then that Harry finally stood down, pushing Mal off of him and storming out of the Dining Hall, his exit watched by every single person.
8:50 pm - Carlos and Jay's room
The VKs had followed Harry out, Gil running ahead to stop the pirate sinking his hook into the walls and framed photographs as they walked back to the boy's dormitory wing.
"To the left," Jay called out and Harry mindlessly followed it, kicking open the door directly to his left. The door crashed loudly and the boys both winced.
"Thanks, Jay, we've gotta replace that door now," Carlos said sarcastically.
"Don't push him," Evie warned and Carlos turned to look at her?
"Who? Jay or the pirate. A guy you don't really know can I just remind you," he replied, his hands out in front of him and his eyebrows furrowed.
"Watch it, they've been friends for years, Carlos," Mal said in her best friend's defence and Carlos stuck out his tongue childishly, an act that was mimicked by Mal.
"I just think we shouldn't be badgering him about Audrey," Evie murmured, watching Carlos join Jay and Gil as they entered the dorm room.
Mal cocked her head, watching the emotions play across her roommate's face. Evie had always been easy to read and in that moment, Mal watched her friend think hard about something that was upsetting her.
"E?" Mal laid a hand on her friend's forearm, snapping the blue-haired girl back into reality. "You okay?"
Evie smiled brightly. "I am perfect. Come on, let's make sure they've not killed each other."
"Inside the boys' room, Harry was pacing, Gil and Carlos were on one of the beds and Jay was sat at his desk, watching the pirate intently.
"Harry," Evie felt she was the calmest and most neutral person in the room so she gently approached the agitated man.
The pirate swung around and Evie reached out, her reflexes quick and sharp. She had stopped the arc of his arm with her hand, glaring at the pirate.
"Talk."
The pirate stared at her and then rolled his ice blue eyes, a grin breaking out. "I ain't spillin' me guts in this room princess," he joked, the words slow and teasing on his tongue. "Ya gonna have to get me alone and drunk for that."
Evie crossed her arms and pursed her lips. "Fine." She was never one to back down from a challenge.
Jay's head dropped back and Mal swore as Harry looked shocked. Evie's confidence stance didn't alter.
"Mal, you're going to have to bunk somewhere tonight. Maybe Gil will lend you the spare bed in his dorm. Harry and I are having a sleepover," Evie and Harry squared off.
"Fine," Harry said tersely and gripped Evie's arm, dragging her back out of the room with a growl and Mal and Jay's protests were ignored as Evie bid them goodnight.
"Classes haven't even started and already I am stressed," Carlos sighed, collapsing on his bed as Gil proposed a game of cards, ignoring the tension that had settled over the room.
"He won't mess her around. Relax," Gil's easy manner made Mal shake her head with a fond smile and she agreed, still anxious about her friend but the warning look Evie had sent her before she had left made her stay put.
19:17 pm - Evie and Mal's room
Doug whistled as he walked down the girl's corridor, a single rose in his hand. He had waited all afternoon to give it to Evie and it had been sitting on his bedside table since the previous afternoon.
He knocked on the door gently and it unlocked after a few moments. Evie welcomed him in, making sure he wasn't seen as she pulled him inside.
"Stand on the plinth next to Harry and hold your hands out in front of you," she demanded, miming what a stereotypical zombie's stance would be.
Doug nodded, giving her the flower and she squealed with glee, kissing his lips soundly making the half-dwarf blush.
"Wait," Doug comprehended what his girlfriend had said and looked at the pirate stood on the plinth Evie used for those who she made clothes for. He had silk and cotton draped over him in meters, the fabric piling up and held in place by his chin. Harry looked the man up and down and simply smirked as Doug joined him warily.
"Didn't meet ya properly this mornin'," Harry commented with a lazy smile as Evie busied herself with finding something to put the rose in. "Name's Harry Hook," the pirate introduced himself, the tip of his hook peeking out from under the fabric he was holding.
"Doug looked between Harry's satisfied face and the sharp point. He gingerly wrapped his fingers around the cool metal and shook once.
"I'm Doug," he supplied, watching his girlfriend flit over to the large chest at the foot of her bed. Evie was leaning into the chest at her hips, her entire upper body submerged into the thing.
"Eve, do you need help?" Doug questioned as her objects began flying over her shoulder.
A hand became vertical, holding a massive spool of golden thread. "I've got it," she called, climbing back out of the chest with a satisfied smile. "Hold your hands out."
Doug followed the order as she went to Mal's bedside and opened the drawer and pulling out a stubby pencil.
"Mal entrapped a weaving spell into the pencil for me but I needed two people to help. One to hold the material and the other to wrap the thread around," Evie explained when both boys looked at her as if she had grown another head.
"Mal's still casting illegal spells for you?" Doug asked at the same time Harry swore happily.
"Good to know she hasn't changed that much. Always loved using amulets for entrapments," Harry told them. "Go on then, do it. I dare ya," he taunted and Evie gave him a cold look. She tossed the spool to Doug and then whispered the words Mal had told her, breaking the entrapment and Mal's green magic seeped out of the pencil and into the thread. Doug stuck his fingers in each end of the spool as it unwound itself, the thread being pulled by an invisible force.
Mal's green magic formed itself into a needle and the thread went through the fabric Harry was holding, sewing itself into intricate designs.
"Now Hook, talk," she said, knowing that neither boy could leave until the spell had finished.
"I said I wasn't talkin' unless I was drunk," he reminded her, his cold attitude dropping slowly as Evie simply wore him out.
The blue-haired girl rolled her eyes and dropped to her stomach, inching her way under her roommate's bed and shimmying out with a small bottle of clear liquid. Doug's eyebrows disappeared into his hair but he didn't say anything, too intrigued at the VKs attitudes.
"Now ya talking'" Harry breathed out, slightly impressed that Evie would go to such extremes to find out what was bothering him.
Evie unscrewed the cap and crossed the room to Harry, holding the neck of the bottle up so he could take a deep swig. They didn't break the eye contact until Doug cleared his throat./p
"It wasn't him was it?" He asked, unable to hold his tongue.
"What?" Evie asked, confused.
"He didn't take your virginity did he, cause I don't know how I would feel about that," Doug confessed as Harry coughed and spluttered, nearly spitting the alcohol out.
"Oh, Gods above! No, it wasn't him," Evie coloured, turning away from both eyes. "And do NOT spill anything on that material!"
"Good, just wondering," Doug said, grinning as Harry's cool persona cracked in front of him. "Go on then, I think you were going to spill your guts to the lady," he smirked and Harry laughed loudly back, finally feeling like he was with his crew back on the Grace, an easy friendship and understanding settled on the trio.
"Go on then."