Chapter 8

(side note cause someone asked me. I left Jay out of the magic classes, because I never saw any hint of him having magic in any of my readings.)

Not sure I am happy which way this is going. But posting for now.

Confession of the love spell

Mal walked out of the office, and into the hallway. She walked past Audrey and Chad. Both whispering behind her back. Mal had noticed, since coming to Auradon, and even more over the last 24 hours her senses were heightened, and she could hear them clearly.

"I am not in trouble, Chad. It was a meeting to change a class. No more remedial goodness class." Mal smiled, and kept walking. She found Ben in the hall talking to Doug. "Hi." She said coming up and under his arm. While she wanted to be close to Ben, it was also a show to Audrey. Doug nodded and walked off.

"Hi, all set with Fairy Godmother?" Ben asked kissing her head.
"Wednesday afternoons."

"Good, so what are your plans today?"
"I wanted to share something with our King, if I can have an audience." She teased.

"I think he can clear his schedule for that." He could see she was serious. "Let's go for a ride?"

They drove off campus and to the enchanted lake. As they crossed the bridge, Mal was rather quiet, Ben decided to try and draw her out. "You ok Mal?"
"So…I want to talk about that love spell…" She had no idea how else to start the subject.
"Ok?" His curiosity was peaked. "Go on?" He encouraged as they kept walking.
They came to the stone platform, sat down, removed their shoes, and both put their bare feet into the lake.

"So I just read this and felt I needed to share it with you." She read him the passage from the spell book.

"Love spells cast purely for personal gain will work on the recipient for only a brief time. In the end they will always back fire on the spell's castor. The only exception is if either the recipient or the castor has true feelings for the other. If both have feelings, whether known or unknown, the spell can magnify into untold acts of expression of love that both hold for each other. It is the recipient of the spell who preforms these grandiose expressions."

"No wonder I broke out in song." HE laughed. Mal was so relieved.

"It was my fault." She admitted, providing him with the information he needed, showing him she had feelings for him before she cast the spell.

"Mine too." Ben admitted. "I already had feelings for you Mal, long before you spelled me."
"Oh." She said looking down, embarrassed. He lifted her face to his, he moved in to kiss her, but she ducked the kiss. He said nothing, he knew it would be something she would have to accept at her own pace, but it was beginning to bother him. "So King Bennybear, now what?"
"I actually have to talk to you about a few things. There are a few perks to being the girlfriend of King Bennybear." He teased back.

"Is that what I am?" She smiled at him

"Yes." He answered seriously, lifting her hand and kissing it.

"I am sorry I shouldn't have teased about that, I am so proud to be your girlfriend, honestly."
"Got you." HE teased again. "But seriously, there are a lot of things that go with it. And if you ever feel it's too much, just say so and I will…"
"End it?" She was shocked.

"NO, never, I was going to say, slow it down. Mal as my girlfriend there are a lot of social obligations."

"Oh…" Then it hit her. "OH."
"No need to panic. I promise we will start off slow."

"It's just I don't want to do, or say something wrong."
"Never. You will be fine." He looked deep into her eyes. "If you can handle yourself as you did around Queen Leah, you will be great." He leaned in for a kiss, and she turned her face, so he got her cheek. "Can I ask why?" He gave in and asked.
"My mother's solution for the curse on Audrey's mother was true love's first kiss. My mother knew I had found love. I am just.."
"I get it. No rush, I should have thought it through. I will wait for you." And he did understand.
"I would rather try it where we are close to help if we need it, for either of us."
"You think she would curse you."
"It's a strong possibility, in fact more likely me than you. Ben she was there, while I was grabbing the wand from Jane. It's why I had trouble just handing it to Fairy Godmother. She was talking to me. Trying to control me. It wasn't easy to hold her off. She was telling me to run."

"So she was there, that explains how she knew about the ring." He remembered the video. "Lets hope she didn't have time to curse either of us." He said slightly splashing her with his feet. She splashed back. He took a cell phone out of his pocket. "This is for you."

"Ben, you need to stop giving me things, I just want to be with you." She almost said I love you, but she still wasn't ready for that either. The weight of any possible triggers to a curse, heavy on her mind.

"It's more, because I want to be able to talk to you, and well…my mother likes you. She wants to be able to get to know you better. And that means a lot to me, because honestly my mother did not like Audrey." They both laughed.

"I have never had.."
"Carlos can show you how to use it I am sure. I…I got one for each of them too."
"Ben…ok I understand, it's very nice of you. And yes Carlos is very techy like that."
"Now, you will also need this." He handed her an id card.

"I have a school id."
"NO, this one has my seal on it. It gives you permission on certain days, to be off campus after curfew. There will be evening events that you will miss curfew, this gets us back on campus." He took out his as well.

"You're going to continue to live in the dorms?" She had over heard Audrey weeks ago, about how once Ben was crowned, he really wouldn't have time for school.
"I want a normal teen age life, well as normal as I can have. " Mal touched his face. She was really proud of him for wanting a normal life.

"Mal, I promise you: you, Jay, Evie, and Carlos are always welcome in Auradon, Forever."
"We know that." She was going to go on, but Ben's cell phone rang.

"Hello, Mother." He said.

"Oh, I am so sorry, we were talking and I lost track of time…. Yes, I am still with Mal…..we are about 30 minutes from the castle….I'll ask her." HE held a hand over the phone. "Mom wants to know if you want to join us for dinner." Mal looked at her outfit. "Casual I promise, I'm not changing either."
"Sure." She admitted nervously. He kissed her cheek.

"Relax, they like you." He went back to the phone. "We will head out now Mom."
"Oh man."

"Don't be nervous. I mean it, they like you. Mom asked Audrey over once, and after she left, she asked me if she always talked about only herself." Mal burst out laughing. "She never asked her again. Mal we dated for over a year." Mal just looked at him. This was only her first invite, she could only hope there would be more.