Evie, Maizy and I walk into our new room. I am instantly disgusted by all the pink frills it's adorned with , but at least it's not on the Isle. I place my purple duffle bag on the bottom bunk of the bunk bed in the room while Maizy claimed the top bunk and Evie claimed the single bed. Not long after we sat down on our beds there is a knock at the door.
" come in!" I call. Dizzy and the boys walk in the room and leave the door open.
" this place is epic." Jay says as he leans against my bed.
" yeah, my roommate is so nice , she says her name is Jane." Dizzy says. Carlos instantly blushes at the mention of his pen pal.
" don't be surprise if Carlos and I find a way to hack the video games." Mar says laughing as Ben walks in the room. He hands us each a box.
" are these actually cellphones?!" Carlos questions as we all pull out different colored devices from our respective boxes.
" yeah, they all have your pen pals numbers on them, my number and your guys numbers as well." Ben explains . We all go silent as we marvel at our phones.
" I'm glad you guys are settling in nicely. If you want to come with me I have arranged for you all to meet your pen pals." Ben said breaking the silence , giving me look that was foreign to me.
" let's go ." Maizy exclaims as she jumps off her bed,much to Ben's dismay. We exit the room and shut the door.
" Mal can I talk to you for a second." Ben whispers to me
" yeah sure." I reply as my friends stop and look at us.
" you just need to go down this hall and take a left and enter the third door on the right. We will catch up in a bit." Ben instructs my friends as they make their way to the party.
" what did you need to talk about?" I ask Ben.
" I'm so happy to actually be able to see you in person. Writing to you these past three months has really built a connection between us and so I'd like to know if you'd want to hang out sometime." Ben asks me hopefully. A huge grin developed on my face as I delivered my answer.
" yes, I'd love to." I reply. Ben grabs my hand and we walk to the party. I feel like this is the start of some sort of relationship between us , I just don't know what kind yet. We walk into the room to find everyone mingling with their pen pal.
" ooh Mal's got a boyfriend." Evie taunts as she sees me and Ben holding hands. I merely roll my eyes at her before replying.
" I don't have a boyfriend... well not yet." I say, whispering the last bit to myself.
" whatever." Evie replies, trying to draw attention to her outfit by flipping her hair.
" we start school tomorrow, right? " I ask Ben as we walk to a nearby corner.
" yeah. We already put your schedules together and uploaded them to the system . There is a picture of it on your phone. But I'm pretty sure all of your classes except Remedial Goodness are shared with me. We tried to make sure that the pen pals were placed in the same classes." Ben explained as he helped me pull up my schedule.
" so will you help me find my way to my classes tomorrow." I ask Ben , hopeful.
" of course. Anything for the world's best pen pal " Ben replies with a grin. I think back to the letter I was going to mail to him today and how the wish I discussed in it had come true. I packed it with me , and I may read it to him tomorrow after school or something.
" oh and also, you and Mason are both signed for Art club, Evie and Dizzy are signed up for fashion design club. Even though Dizzy will only be in Auradon Jr. Prep she will have an assigned buddy, Chad's sister , Charlotte, and the after school clubs for both schools meet together. Jay, Carlos and Martin are signed up for the tourney team as well." Ben explains to me. Everyone seems to be enjoying their time with their pen pals. Ben and I eventually leave the party so we can truly talk alone. I guess I'll be reading that letter I wrote earlier than anticipated. We reach my dorm and sit together on my bed. I pull the letter out of my bag and open it.
" can I read this to you. This was going to be the letter I sent to you today." I ask Ben as his face lights up.
" i would love to hear it." Ben replied happily.
" Dear Ben,
Things aren't going so well on the Isle. Crime has increased and my friends and I are becoming even more terrified of our parents by the day. They are planning something, I just know it. If you could somehow get my friends and I out of here then maybe we can help put a stop to our parents' plan. I also can't help but think that I've seen you in a dream before. No wonder the photograph you sent me seemed so familiar. I can't wait to receive your next letter. Hopefully we will get to me each other in person someday.
Mal
PS. Maizy totally thinks we are a couple how silly is that." I read to him. He looks a little concerned.
" why do you think your parents are planning something ?" Ben asks me as I have him the letter written in my messy script.
" they kept on rambling about replicating Carlos's experiment that momentarily broke the barrier so they can steal the wand and take over Auradon. " I reply rather straightforward.
" that's a pretty strong indicator." Ben replied as I looked down at the ground.
Ben POV
I start to rub my hand along Mal's back. When I'm around her I get this strange feeling, I know she hasn't been here long but I'm determined to help her in any way I can.
"I hate my mom." Mal says. I'm taken aback by this. I know her mom is Maleficent but it doesn't change my level of shock to this statement.
" I know Maizy and Mar feel the same way." Mal stated. Any time we even felt the slightest bit happy we were punished. We were forbidden from have any feelings . We weren't allowed to smile, or cry or show any kind of expression except for smirks. There would be times Maizy and I would have to rescue Mar from being beaten by mom because he would wrestle with jay and Carlos. He's our younger brother , so we took the punishments I star of him." Mal exclaimed as she started to tear up. I hug her and continue to rub her back.
" shh.. it's ok. She can't harm you , Maizy or Mar anymore. I'm not going to let you return to that , it's never going to happen." I tell her in an attempt to comfort her. It seems to work.
" thank you for being my pen pal Ben. It was great to have someone to confide in that's not my family." Mal murmurs into my chest.
" you're so welcome. I can't imagine having a better pen pal. " I reply grinning. I start to open my mouth to say something but I quickly decide to not say it. I was going to ask Mal out on a date but it's only her first day, it would probably be overwhelming. I'm so glad I broke up with Audrey last week. That relationship was honestly toxic for both of us. I wasn't happy and I could tell that she wasn't that happy either. I hope that I'll be able to become closer to Mal. Thanks to her being my pen pal I feel extra protective of her. I want to make sure she is happy , safe ,and loved. I feel something towards Mal that I've never felt before. It's almost as if my stomach was fluttering and balloon of joy burst all over me. Hopefully I'll be able to explore this new feeling over these next few weeks.