Chapter 8.

„Babe, wait up!"

Jay turned around to the sight of his girlfriend making a small dash towards him in the middle of the school hallway in order to catch up, which looked rather ridiculous in the high heels she was perpetually wearing. He was kind of glad to see her, he wanted to talk to her as well. When she finally reached him, they continued walking side by side in normal pace.

„So, there's something I wanted to discuss—" Audrey began but then she stopped abruptly, looking at him weirdly with a small frown on her face and halting by his side which made him stop walking too. Jay raised a questioning eyebrow at her and tilted his head slightly in confusion. „Jay-Jay," She smiled rather forcedly. „What happened to your hair?" She asked, the smile on her face only widening. It was so unnatural, almost eerily so, that Jay actually felt a little spooked. Then he remembered he hadn't bothered to put his hair up.

„Ah, yeah," He said, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin, while she looked at him expectantly. Was he purposefully trying to ruin all of her progress? It was no easy task to make a prince out of him and if he didn't cooperate with her, things would be frustratingly more difficult. „I had practice, so…" He trailed off not really sure how to explain himself. Then he realised he didn't have to.

„Listen, Audrey," Jay began, remembering the decision he had come to several nights ago. „I wanted to talk to you about something."

„Oh, that reminds me!" Audrey exclaimed, energetically breaking into a walk again, making Jay trail behind her after she cut him off so abruptly. „That thing I wanted to discuss with you." She anounced, shooting him a serious look. „It's very important to me." Audrey told him softly, using her sweetest voice, the one she used whenever she wanted something from her daddy and he always complied. Jay sighed inwardly.

„What is it?" He asked curiously and she smiled at him lovingly, taking his hands into hers.

„Boo, I think it'd be best if you got some distance from those friends of yours." She stated, her voice pure silk, as she rubbed circles over his knuckles. Jay's eyebrows furrowed and he shot her an incredulous look. What the hell? As he opened his mouth to retort that there was no way in hell he was doing anything of the sort, Audrey interrupted him again, sensing that he was about to disagree.

„It's not forever!" She exclaimed, trying to rush out the words before he could speak and portray her request in the best light possible. „I just think some separation would do you good, you know? New people, new habits…" She cooed, smiling convincingly, waiting for his features to soften in acceptance or at least in contemplation, only, they didn't.

Jay was standing there, listening silently, intent on hearing out what Audrey had to say before breaking things off with her. I mean, he had already made his dicision but now he was absolutely certain it was the right one. He waited to see if she had anything else to say.

Noticing that her little speech wasn't having the desired effect she had in mind, Audrey continued, heavily bent on persuading him to cut off his ties with those rogues he called friends. After all, a man is known by the company he keeps, so there was no way for her to mold him into the royalty she wanted while he kept those, those… villains company.

„I mean, not that you don't know what's best for you," She went on sweetly, trying on a new tacitc. „But maybe you could do me a little favor and stay away from them for a little while?" She asked tenderly, the smile still plastered on her face. It made Jay wonder how her cheeks didn't hurt. „Especially that witch Evie." Audrey muttered as an afterthought under her breath. Unfortunately for her, Jay still heard it. His whole body went rigid in an instant.

„What?" He growled lowly and his voice was so cold and angry that Audrey actually felt chills run down her back. His eyes flashed with fury and he didn't notice how his hands clenched into fists. Audrey had never seen this side of him. It scared the crap out of her, she had no idea he could even get like this. In truth, he almost never did, but when it came down to his friends (and mostly Evie, although it had never come to his attention before), he was not willing to stand by while someone threatened or insulted them. And Evie… hell, he wasn't going to let anyone talk bad about her. „What did you say?"

„I—" Audrey stuttered. Jay's darkened gaze really intimidated her. „I didn't—" She tried again but her voice faltered once more.

„You know what, Audrey?" Jay said evenly, trying to stay calm. „I think we're done." He told her, his voice still and unwavering.

„But—" Audrey gasped, this was not what she had expected at all. To her utmost surprise, Jay didn't even wait for her to answer. He just turned on his heel and stormed away from her.

Jay's anger got the better of him. He didn't even care what Audrey had to say, whether she agreed to the break-up or not – he was done with her and this was the end of it. He decided to ditch, he wasn't in the mood for lessons right now and the bells had sounded more than fifteen minutes ago anyway. It was a good thing that the hallway was mostly empty, everyone was in class or outside, and Jay was thankful because he didn't want to rave in front of an audience.

Once he reached the big entrance doors, Jay stepped outside to get some air but he was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Ben and Mal standing to his right. Mal was leaning her back against her locker and Ben was standing in front of her with his arms lightly resting on her waist, while her index fingers were hooked through two of the loops of either side of his jeans (normally he'd wear trousers but Mal was really starting to rub off on him).

„Hey, Jay." Mal called out once she spotted her friend coming out and as soon as he turned his head to face her, she noticed something was off about him. Jay took a deep breath to steady his nerves, though he had mostly calmed down already and offered her and Ben a lop-sided smile which seemed a little forced to Mal.

„Hey." He echoed, directing it at Mal and then nodded at Ben in greeting, who returned it with a small smile of his own. „What are you guys doing here?" Jay asked, turning his body so that he faced his friends, though he didn't take a step towards them.

„Free period." Mal responded. „What's up with you?" She asked suspiciously, though it didn't sound in the light tone of voice she used. Jay's stance was really tense and his smile didn't quite reach his eyes like it normally did. Mal wondered what was wrong with him, she was a little worried, she had to admit.

„Nothing. Don't worry about it." Jay shrugged it off with a shake of his head. He was really itching to talk to Evie right now, he always did after something like this. „Listen, I've got to go. Talk later." He told Mal, giving her an apologetic smile, then he nodded at the fair-haired boy again and walked off. Ben turned his head to look at Mal, whose eyes followed Jay until he was out of her sight.

„What do you think happened?" Ben asked, leaning in and gently nuzzling her neck, making her sigh in content.

„I'm not sure but I bet it's got something to do with Audrey." Mal replied, turning her head, so she could bump her nose against Ben's temple affectionately. There was no doubt in her mind that Jay's behaviour must have something to do with Little Miss Prissy, I mean, what else could it be? He couldn't have gotten into a fight with Carlos or Evie; it was unlikely for him to have problems with the team, everyone liked Jay because of his light personality, he was just a happy-go-lucky kind of guy; trouble in class was possible, but he didn't really take those kind of things to heart, so that just left Audrey. Man, and here Mal thought this girl couldn't get any more unappealing.

„You think they're having trouble with their relationship?" Ben spoke against her skin, his voice slightly muffled as his lips moved up her neck and rested on the pulse-point below her ear.

God, I hope so, Mal thought internally, an image of Jay and Evie snuggled up together flashing though her mind, but she didn't voice her thoughts out loud. Instead, she glided her hands across Ben's stomach and up his chest until her arms were wrapped around his neck, and gently tugged him closer, as he moved his head so that their foreheads were touching. He smiled lovingly at the girl in his arms and brushed his nose against hers tenderly, causing her to scrunch it up in an affectionate manner.

„I don't know, but I'm glad that we're not." Mal said, looking up at him through her long dark lashes with a soft look on her face. Moments like this made her wonder how in the world she had gotten so lucky.

Ben, on the other hand, just smiled knowingly and leaned in to press a gentle kiss to her lips, thinking about how much trouble he would be in if anyone realised that he was ready to give up the whole kingdom for just one of Mal's kisses.

A/N: Again, I wanted to thank XxxBrEndAxxX for the wonderful long review she left me on the last chapter, thank you so much, once again you've managed to put a huge smile on my face :)

Also, I've been getting requests for more Mal/Ben, so I hope you're happy.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, so leave me a note if you can :)