Unhinged Behavior

[Auradon Prep. 10:30 am]

Evie's POV

Two days later, I was in the library for study hall. I didn't have a class with Mal after science. And study hall was second my class. I was sitting at a computer cubicle desk, working on some school work. The cubicle was in a perfect spot in the library. It was by itself, separated from the other computer cubicles that were lined up on a long desk. Plus, unlike the others, this one was right by a window. So I occasionally looked out the window and saw the nice view the window provided. The cubicle was near a corner of the building, so I had a good view of the library as well. As I was writing some things down in my notebook, I saw Mal walking up to me.

"Hey." she said.

"Oh, hi, baby. Whatcha doing here?" I asked.

Mal slammed her bag right in front of me and on top of my notebook. I looked at her, confused on why she just did that.

"I need this computer." she said.

"Oh, um...well I'm using it right now. Can you wait a little bit?" I asked.

Mal sighed and crossed her arms.

"How long is a little bit?" she asked.

"Well, I don't know. I'm kind of in the middle of this assignment." I replied.

"How long have you been here?"

I looked at the clock in the bottom right side of the screen.

"About twenty minutes." I replied.

"That's long enough. Now move." Mal said, demandingly.

"Mal, what's with the attitude? There's other computers to use." I said.

Mal scoffed and faked a laughed.

"Take a look around, Evie. Do you see any computers available?"

I stood up and looked. There were a lot of empty cubicles when I got there. They filled up and I didn't even realize it. I slowly sat back down and stared at Mal's bag in front of me.

"Well, aren't you going to move?" Mal asked.

I looked at Mal. Something was bothering her.

"Mal, what's wrong? Why are you upset?" I asked.

"I'm not upset. But I will be if you don't move." she replied.

I didn't know why Mal was upset. But I didn't want to anger her more.

"Okay, Mal. You can have it." I said.

I moved Mal's bag aside so I could get my notebook and pencil. On the computer, I saved my work on a flash drive that I had inserted and removed the drive and closed the pages. I put the flash drive in my bag along with the notebook and pencil and moved aside. However, as I moved the chair so Mal could sit down in it, her left foot somehow got caught in the feet and she tripped and fell over the chair.

"Ow!" Mal exclaimed loudly.

So loud, some people shushed us.

"Oh shush yourself!" Mal said to them.

"Mal, are you okay?" I asked.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Mal asked.

Again, some people shushed us. Mal slowly got up and rubbed her left knee.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to hurt you." I said.

"Oh the hell you weren't."

"Mal!"

"You told me I could have it. And you sure gave it to me."

"You know that's not what I meant." I said.

Mal grabbed her bag and glared at me.

"You know what? You can keep the damn computer." Mal said before storming off.

I stood in front of the cubicle, completely at a loss on what just happened. Something was definitely bothering Mal. Something has made her upset. And I want to know what it is so I can help her feel better. I walked into the direction where Mal went. I saw the girls' bathroom straight ahead. I figured that's where she went. When I walked inside, I saw Mal checking herself out in the mirror. She then looked at me and smiled.

"Hey, Evie!" she said happily.

"Hi, Mal." I said cautiously.

That wasn't right. Why is Mal suddenly so happy?

"Mal, are you alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. How are you?" she asked.

"I'm good as well. Just wondering...why you're here." I said.

I was about to say "just wondering why you're suddenly happy", but that wouldn't have sounded right.

"Oh, well I need a book about medieval times. You know, knights and all that stuff. It's for my history class." Mal said.

Her mood was very calm. Like she was herself again. Perhaps she got over whatever made her upset. Because she's fine now.

"Yeah. Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"Yeah, if you don't mind. This library is big and I don't often come in here. So I don't really know my way around."

"Yeah, no. Not a problem. I know where they are. I'll show you." I said.

As we left the bathroom, I decided to put what just happened behind and led Mal to the history section.

"Here we are. This is the medieval history section. There are lots of books here on the subject so I'm sure you'll-"

I turned around and thought Mal was behind me all along. But she wasn't. I was just talking to myself.

"Mal?"

Right when I started to walk around the corner of the bookshelf, Mal jumped out from the other side.

"BOO!" she yelled.

I screamed so loud, Mal laughed and everyone in the area shushed us.

"Sorry, so sorry." I said to them.

I looked at Mal, with my hands over my chest. My heart was racing. She really scared me.

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

"Do what?" Mal asked.

I crossed my arms and frowned at her.

"Mal." I said.

"What?" Mal asked.

I relaxed my arms and sighed.

"Never mind. Here, this is the medieval history section." I said as I pointed the bookshelf full of books on the subject to her.

"Thanks, Evie." Mal said.

"You're welcome, Mal. Now if you don't mind, I have some work of my own to complete." I said.

"No, go ahead." Mal said, cheerfully.

She kissed me on the lips.

"I love you." she said.

"I love you too." I said.

I walked back across the library back to the computer and rested my head in my hands.

"What in the world was all of that?" I thought.

Something strange was going on with Mal. After study hall, during passing period, as I was walking to art class that I have with Mal, Jane approached me and wanted to know if she could talk to me for a minute. I said sure and we walked out to a small grassy area.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I want to talk to you about Mal." Jane said.

"Mal? Um, okay?" I said.

Jane hesitated to speak after.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

I sighed.

"What did she do?" I asked.

"It's not really what she did, but more how she is. Mal had an outburst in her class. She got mad at everyone and she walked out of her class. We're worried that something is really bothering her. But she won't tell us." Jane said.

"Yeah. Earlier today in the library, Mal was unreasonably upset. She yelled at me, and when she accidentally hurt herself, she blamed me and stormed off. But when I confronted her, she was her normal self." I said.

"That's what happened in her class. Any idea what's with her?" Jane asked.

"No. None at all. But we have a class together next, so I'll see if I can get to the bottom of this." I said.

"Okay, please do." Jane said.

We went our separate ways. When I arrived at the door to art class, I saw Mal walking up. Since we still had a few minutes left of passing period, I decided to pull her aside and talk.

"Hey, Mal." I said.

"Hi, Evie!" Mal exclaimed.

She was happy to see me. She ran up to me and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back tightly.

"Before we go inside, may I talk to you for a sec?" I asked.

"Of course." Mal said.

I walked her to around the building. The classroom was at the end of the building and we were around the corner from it, so we wouldn't have to worry about being late.

"What's up? Mal asked.

"I'm going to just cut right to the chase, why were you so angry in your last class and in the library?" I asked.

"What? Angry?" Mal asked.

"Yes. In class, before this one, I was told that you had an outburst in your class which made you walk out and I think you came to the library afterwards." I said.

Mal looked at me confused.

"Evie. I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. My last class was history, and I do remember going to the library. I was in the bathroom and you walked in. I told you I was there to get a medieval history book and you showed me where they were." Mal said.

"And you scared me there." I said.

"Scared you?"

"Yes! You came from around a corner and yelled "boo" right at me and scared me the daylights out of me."

Mal looked at me puzzled.

"Are you sure, Evie? I would never scare you like that." Mal said.

"You don't remember what I just told you?" I asked.

"Outbursts and scaring you?"

"Yes."

"No. I don't remember that. Are you sure it's me you're talking about?" Mal asked.

"Yes. You honestly don't remember any of that?" I asked.

"I don't, Evie. I'm being honest. I really don't." Mal said.

The bell rang, indicating passing period was almost over. Mal kissed me on the lips.

"Are you okay, Evie?" she asked.

I cleared my throat.

"Yeah. I'm okay." I said.

Mal smiled and hugged me. I smiled and hugged her back.

"Okay. Let's go to class." I said.

We walked into the classroom and took our seats right when the final bell rang. As class went on, I carefully observed Mal. But she seemed fine. She was her normal self. As the day went on, when Mal was around me, she was fine. She told me that she wasn't going to be at the dorms after school for she had some study hall of her own to attend to. I believed her and went back to our dorm room by myself. About an hour later, I heard a knock at the door. I walked over and opened the door and saw Audrey and Jane.

"Audrey, Jane. Hello." I said.

"Hi, Evie, May we come in? We really need to talk." Audrey said.

"Sure." I said.

I opened the door wider for them and then closed it behind them.

"What's going on? You both seem kind of tense." I said.

"We are." Audrey said.

"It's about Mal." Jane said.

"Mal?"

"Yes. "Long live evil" is spray painted in green across the side of the gym building." said Audrey.

"What?!" I said.

"And Mal was yelling at people again. She's mad about something. And when I tried to talk to her, she almost pushed me to the ground." said Jane.

"This doesn't make any sense. Mal was completely fine when we had our remaining classes together." I said.

"We're only telling you what we saw." Jane said.

"It's only natural that Mal is fine around you. But if Mal has really gone off the rails, we have a serious issue." said Audrey.

"And we don't know where she is. She took off running and we can't find her. We thought she might have come back here." Jane said.

I sighed in disbelief.

"This is absurd. Are you sure it's Mal?" I asked.

"Oh, positive. There is no other girl around here with purple hair." Audrey replied.

I walked over to my desk and grabbed my phone and went on an app.

"What are you doing?" Audrey asked.

"We tried calling her, but she won't pick up." said Jane.

"I have this app that I paired Mal's phone with." I said.

"What?" asked Audrey.

"I'm searching for Mal's phone signal. Not that I'm calling you both liars, but it's just, it's hard for me to believe. A quick check for Mal's phone will tell me that she is nowhere near your incident." I said.

The app finished loading and it showed me where Mal's phone was.

"In fact, she's just returning now." I said.

I put my phone aside and the three of us waited in silence as we heard footsteps approaching the door. They stopped and we saw the door handle turn and the door opening. Mal walked inside and closed the door behind her. She put her bag down on the floor and looked at us.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"We were just...wondering where you've been. We haven't been able to reach you." I said.

I looked at Mal's arms as she took off her jacket and didn't see any signs that she was using a spray paint can. No paint was on her arms or her clothes.

"I have my phone on me. Why didn't you call me?" Mal asked.

"Have you checked your phone?" Audrey asked.

Mal pulled out her phone from her pants pocket and looked at it.

"Oh wow. Five missed calls." she said.

Audrey scoffed. I walked up to Mal and put my hands on her shoulders.

"Baby, where have you been?" I asked her.

"Study hall." Mal replied.

Her demeanor was calm. Like how she usually is.

"Okay, well. The library isn't near the gym. And what you did-"

"Audrey, I'll handle this. Thank you. You both may leave now."

Mal glared at Audrey as Audrey glared at Mal. Jane opened the door and signaled Audrey to leave. Mal blew a raspberry at Audrey which made Audrey exclaim in disgust. Jane grabbed Audrey's arm and led her out of our door room. After they left, I had Mal sit on my bed with me so we could talk. But Mal didn't want to talk. She wanted to cuddle. She made me lay down so she could lay on top of me. As we were hugging each other, I was thinking on what Audrey and Jane told me.

I know in the morning, Mal got angry, cause she was that way with me. But spray painting those three old words did not make sense, because that was not her anymore. I didn't buy any of it. I know Audrey would like to be with me, and I'm beginning to think she'll try what she can to get me to be mad at Mal. Well it won't work. Because my love for Mal is strong and always will be.

I locked the door for I didn't want anymore visitors today. I want to spend some quality time with my girl. We kissed and made love for awhile after. When dinner time arrived, we went to the city to eat and then came back. We got out of our clothes, had sex and slipped into our nightdresses. We laid next to each other in bed, holding hands and giving kisses.

"Oh, E!" Mal exclaimed, startling me a little.

"What, M?" I asked.

"I want to show you something." she said.

As Mal got out of bed, I smiled as I caught a glimpse of her bare bottom. Mal walked back to the bed with her sketchbook in her hands. I sat up as she sat next to me. She opened the sketchbook to a page and handed it to me. It was her drawings of her dream house. There were eight detailed pages

"Wow, baby. These are amazing." I said.

"Hopefully one day. It'll be a reality." Mal said.

"It will baby. It will." I said.

I handed Mal back the book and she put it on the nightstand and we cuddled close to each other and fell asleep.