Mal laid there in her dorm bed, Ben next to her under the blanket, about what her life had become. It was once filled with fear, abuse, fighting and survival, but now her life was filled with love and compassion and the odd romantic rendezvous with Ben and there was maybe the odd comment from Chad and Audrey. Okay, it was a lot of comments but in the end, it was worth it.

Mal felt Ben start to move around in his sleep, she glanced at him to the clock that read 11:55 am. Noticing that her and Ben's escapade had run over into the lunch hour, she decided to wake him up before Evie came back to their dorm to revise. Gently, she placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a small nudge.

"Baby?" no response

"Ben Baby, we're going to be late for lunch?" Not even the sound of food could wake him, Mal knew that she had to move to Plan M to wake him and it wasn't a plan she used often. She leaned down to his ear for gently screeching the following words.

"Ben, Maleficent is coming we need to run!" and with those words, Ben shot up from the bed, his sleep gazed eyes trying to focus on the room, his hair swinging in different directions. It was a full minute before he finished scanning the room for any danger, his eyes landed on Mal.

"Wha …. What?" His mouth clearly not functioning as fast as his brain was.

"It's lunch period now Ben and I'm pretty sure Evie is going to be coming up here soon to study so we need to leave." She explained as she crawled out of bed and towards the clothes that were discarded halfway across the room. As she picked up and untangled her clothes, she began throwing Ben his shoes and tie.

"It's nearly twelve now, how about we got out for lunch? My treat" Ben offered as he finished buttoning his shirt. Mal gave him her award-winning smile that to someone who had never met her, could be interpreted as a smile that meant the girl was happy to dine with a man of his style. But to Ben, her smile clearly meant 'if you don't buy me strawberries, I will kill you' but it was a smile that he wouldn't change for the world.

As soon as Mal finished putting her hair up into a loose bun, her and Ben started to head out the door, unbeknown to them Chad had just been exiting his dorm at the same time and had saw them both leaving together, quickly he hid behind the nearest student that was walking past and whipped out his phone to inform Audrey of his discovery.

Audrey, you will never believe what I have just seen? XxX

What Chad? I don't have all day you know? And please stop putting Kisses at the end of your texts, it's creepy. -A-

Whatever, I have just seen the king and the dragon walk out of her dorm together, you know what that means right? XxX

No Chad, I don't, please stop bothering me, last week you thought Mal drinking water was suspicious and wasted my time on that. -A-

They have both done the deed, believe me, I know that smile the king has, it clearly reads 'I have just done the deed and I'm proud of it'. We should do something XxX.

You might be on to something their Chad, give me an hour to fix my makeup and change and then I'll meet you in the courtyard, but please stop sending kisses it's weird. -A-

See you there XxX

After their conversation, Chad bolted down the corridor, hoping that no one saw his strange interactions, apart from the pupil who he hid behind.

Meanwhile, Ben and Mal were down at school canteen, they would've gone somewhere where there was better tasting food but due to the time limit and the fact that Mal still isn't allowed to leave campus due to Fairy Godmother's request as she still was quite new to her magic.

Ben went off and joined the lunch line grabbing two trays, one for him and one for Mal. While waiting for Ben, Mal started to daydream, thinking about all the special moments they both shared. However, that daydream was soon shattered as soon as Mal heard a certain cocky high-pitched princess scream her name.

"Oh, Maaallll!" Audrey drew out her name longer than it needed to be, Chad was trailing behind her like a love-sick puppy. They both pushed past many of the students that were walking around trying to find a seat, once they came close enough to Mal's table, they pushed everything off the table to make room for themselves.

"So, Mal, how does it feel to be the biggest slut in school?" Audrey asked bluntly as she pulled out a small compact mirror from her large handbag

Under her breath, Mal muttered "last time I checked my name wasn't Audrey Beauty" and luckily for Mal, no one heard. All Mal could do was bow her head in retaliation to Audrey's question.

"Oh yes Mal, Chad and I here have heard all about your alone time with his majesty, in fact, I'm pretty sure everyone heard you," Audrey added as she reapplied her blush. Mal clenched her fists under the table, tears forming in her eyes.

"Can't wait for the whole school to find out" Chad declared as he picked up his bag from the floor and held his hand out, ready for Audrey. As soon as they both left, Mal decided that she wasn't hungry anymore, so she picked up her bag from the floor that Audrey had knocked over and pulled out her sketchbook and her pencil case to write a note to Ben.

Sorry, I left you, I've just got an emergency text from Evie saying that she needs to take a new set of measurements for my dress next week. Can we reschedule? love you Mal xx

Once she finished writing the note, she stuck it down on the table and picked up her stuff and left. She headed straight back to her dorm, all she wanted to do was curl up and cry on her bed and let it all out before her next lesson. Unfortunately for her, Jay, Carlos, and Evie were all chilling in her dorm, playing on the new flat screen that Fairy Godmother had installed for the girls. Once Mal closed the door, all three VK's turned to see her, expecting a somewhat happy Mal, instead, they turned around to find Mal with a set of fresh tears in her eyes.

"Mal!" Evie yelled as she dropped the remote controller and ran straight over to Mal with the boys chasing behind her. "What happened Mal?" Evie pulled back from the hug and looked Mal straight in the eyes.

"Woah Mal, Are you okay?" Carlos asked as he placed a reassuring hand on Mal's shoulder. Mal looked at the hand before looking up and meeting eye contact with Jay. Jay flashed his eyes at Mal before raising his voice at the trio.

"Mal. Here. Now." He pointed towards the area near him. Mal did what he said and came closer to Jay. He leant down into her ear.

"it was them, wasn't it? Don't lie to me Mal, in all the years I've known you, the only you have cried is at Ben's coronation." Jay tried to get her to look at him but this didn't work.

"Jay don't" Mal knew that he wasn't going to let it go, so she knew she needed to make up a lie to get him off her back. "Jay, I sorted it all out, Ben and I spoke to them and Fairy Godmother, I promise it's all over now. I promise" She begged.

"Are you …" He started but Evie and Carlos cut him off.

"Can you hurry it up, Jay? I want to make my sister feel better because she is clearly looking like crap and probably feeling it too" Evie pouted as she walked over to Jay and Mal and dragged Mal by her arm and pulled her into an embrace.

"I'm fine guys, I promise." Mal pleaded, all she wanted to do was to curl up and cry before next lesson.

"What even happened Mal?" Carlos asked as he pulled out a chair for Mal to sit down on as he could see that she was shaking a lot.

Again, Mal knew she needed to lie her way through this if she wanted to keep her problem private. "I just found out that I failed one of my classes and I swear I studied really hard for" and here she wanted to cue the crocodile tears to make it seem real, instead she literally cried. She just let it all out while the other three VK's all crowded around her.

Mal knew that this was going to be a long week, all the constant lying and the date ditching, but she didn't see any other way out.