What If Chapter 14
A secret revealed.
What Mal had said about her mother telling her she disappointed her again, really bothered Ben. For the rest of the day, he couldn't get the sadness of Mal's voice out of his head. He texted her and asked her to meet him at her locker after their last class.
"Hi." She said, when he arrived. "What's up?"
"Care to take a walk?"
"MMM, with you?" She teased, putting her books into the locker, and taking the arm he offered.
"That's the idea." HE led her away from the common area, and into a garden, where they sat on a bench. "I want to ask you something, and if I am asking too much just tell me to back off."
"I promised your mother the truth always and I make the same with you."
"And I the same." He looked at her, and Mal became concerned. "I…I can't get what you said about disappointing your mother again out of my head. Did she say that a lot?"
"Ok, I am going to admit something, but well…" She looked around, seeing no one, she whispered a quick spell. "Make my words be the only thing he can hear, let only Ben hear my confession, loud and clear and let me only hear his." All of a sudden Ben couldn't hear anything other than Mal's voice, the wind in the trees and birds chirping were gone. "Ben on our first date you asked me to tell you something no one else knows. And I did. My middle name is Bertha, and no one but you knows that. What I didn't tell you was that my first name, Mal is a nickname. I am Maleficent Bertha." Mal waited for the look of shock. She saw none. "Did you know that?"
"Nope. But that's not a big deal. Go on." HE said holding both her hands looking into her eyes. That gave her the strength to finish.
"She said she gave me that name to bring fear to the people of the isle, when either of us was around each other. But she refused to ever call me by that name. She said I needed to earn it. I had to earn the right to be called my own name. I always disappointed her." Mal said looking down at the ground.
Ben lifted her face to look into his eyes again. "I told you on our first date, that I could see good in your eyes, and the fact that even on the isle you couldn't ever do anything bad enough to be called that name, shows I was right. You are good Mal Bertha. And no one has to ever know your full name?"
"Well Jay, he knows."
"Jay?" Ben was a bit jealous.
"Yeah. I have known Jay the longest. Than Carlos, and Last Evie. That's a long story for another time. Not a secret, just a really long story." She said looking up at the sky, it was growing dark. "Looks like it's almost dinner time."
"Yes. Let's get something to eat. Care to join me?"
"I thought you'd never ask." She smiled. Our secret confessions are over, allow us to hear everything again."
"That's a cool spell. Where did you learn that one?"
"I use it on myself sometimes, to block out voices when I wanted to study, or just not hear the gossip. It's an adaptation from one in my mother's book."
"Oh, Mal." HE hugged her. "You shouldn't need to block out gossip."
"I know, and I have gotten better. It was really when we first got here. I haven't used it for that in a long time. Now I use it mainly to have silence in my room sometimes."
Ben just laughed. "Never thought you'd be popular did you?"
"No, and it started before we started dating, so don't think you can take credit for it Benny Bear." She teased.
"I wouldn't dream of it Mal." He pulled her close and kissed her. "See still no curse."
"Thank goodness." Mal smiled.