After the 5-minute break, everyone returned to their seats as Hera cleared her throat, softly drumming her fingers on the book cover before opening it and finding the new chapter to read.
" " Well, you look very pleased with yourself," said Jay as Mal settled into her front-row seat and propped her feet up on the desk next to her.
"I am," she said. "I just taught that little blueberry what it means to feel left out…" "
"Propping your feet on the desk is not ladylike, Mal," Fairy Godmother said, lightly scolding Mal.
"Sorry," Mal replied sheepishly as she lowered her head slightly.
"Blueberry?" Audrey asked.
"I mean, I heard Anxelin calls you Cherry," Chad shrugged. "So I guess it's fair game."
"….fair enough."
" "Carlos looked like he was going to have a cow when you told him he was hosting your party."
"You mean a dog?" Mal laughed, even though the joke was getting old..."
"Ok, these jokes are getting out of hand," Emir said, "as we can see previously in Carlos's chapter, he was terrified of dogs to the point where he was paralyzed."
"True," Shelley nodded in agreement with Emir.
As he heard Snow's daughter's gentle voice, Emir glanced at Shelley and a blush started to form on his cheeks. Shelley saw Emir's face and smiled softly.
Emir had a huge crush on Shelley ever since they were in elementary school, but he never actually talked to her. Probably because he was mesmerized by her beauty inherited by her mother or he was just too nervous to strike a conversation with her, fearing that she might be not interested in him. He was most likely both.
But tonight, all of that would change as Emir decided to muster all the courage and talk to her when the next break came.
As soon as Shelley caught Emir blushing, she couldn't help but smile softly at him. She thought that the youngest son of Jasmine was cute as his cheeks turned red.
In truth, Shelley actually liked Emir, for a long time but she never spoke to him. She thought that Emir was shy or wasn't his type. But, based on the actions she'd seen from him at school from time to time, Emir was sweet, gentle, and a little mischievous, which made her secretly chuckle when he was not looking.
Shelley hoped that Emir might as well talk to her as soon as the next break came…
Shelley sighed happily at the thought of Emir talking to her as she continued to listen to Hera's reading.
" Mal was in a good mood. This class was her favorite: Advanced Evil Schemes and Nasty Tricks, taught by Lady Tremaine, otherwise known as the Wicked Stepmother. Mal was particularly fond of Mean-Spirited Pranks..."
Cinderella shuddered as she heard her stepmother's name. The memories of her mistreatment under Lady Tremaine started to flood back into her mind.
" "Hello, you dreadful children," Lady Tremaine said, entering the room with a swish of her petticoats and casting a bored look at the class in front of her. "Today we will embark on our annual class project: Crafting the Ultimate Evil Scheme…" "
"Oh dear…" Cinderella gulped and facepalmed.
Chad swallowed into the bean bag as he heard Lady Tremaine.
Anthony and Dizzy sighed.
" She turned toward the chalkboard and wrote in earsplitting cursive: The Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Broken Glass Slipper. "As you well know," she said, as she turned back to the students, "my manipulation of Cinderella was my greatest evil deed. For years I kept her in the attic and treated her as a virtual servant. If not for some horrid meddling mice, one of my daughters would be the queen of Charming Castle right now, instead of that ungrateful girl. And so, the goal of every teacher at Dragon Hall is to train the new generation of villains not to make the same mistakes we did. You must learn to adapt, to be faster, more cunning, and wickeder than ever before. You will spend this year working on an evil scheme of your choosing. The student with the best nasty trick will win Dragon Hall's Evilest of the Year award…" "
The moms gasped in shock upon hearing this from Lady Tremaine.
Even Hera was surprised by Lady Tremaine's words as she paused for a moment and resumed reading.
As she heard this statement from her stepmother, tears started to flow down Cinderella's cheeks, crying softly. All this time, Lady Tremaine mistreated Cinderella, she was manipulating her! Lady Tremaine did this intentionally just to make Cinderella suffer.
Henry saw his wife crying and he instinctively gathered her in his arms, whispering words of love to her.
From the back of the room, Chad watched his father comforting his mother and he too wanted to join but he was conflicted. He wanted to stay with Audrey, but seeing his mother weeping after hearing what Lady Tremaine did to her years ago made him indecisive.
Audrey studied Chad's features and realized he looked troubled. She then asked, "Chad? What's wrong?"
"I want to comfort Mom but-" Audrey instantly knew where Chad was going and she cut him off.
"Go, Chad."
"B-but why?"
"It's nice that you're with me. Really I appreciate it but your mother is crying and she needs your support," Audrey told him.
Chad stared at her, agape.
"What will happen to you?"
Audrey shook her head. "I know that I'm emotionally unstable, but your mother is more important. I advise you to stay with her. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine alone," she lowered her eyes at the last part of the sentence.
Chad wanted to protest, but he sighed and reluctantly obliged with a short nod.
As Chad got up from his bean bag, he slowly took up his bean bag and glanced at Audrey before he left her and carefully went over to his parents. Audrey felt a little sad like her heart was heavy as Chad left her, but it was for the best. Cinderella needed support and her son was one of the biggest supporters.
With that said Audrey sighed as she tilted her head and placed her cheek in her palm, focusing her attention on Hera's reading.
Anxelin took a quick glance at Audrey from the back and flickered her hazel eyes to Chad comforting his mother.
Anxelin's lips curled slightly. As much as she hate to admit it, Anxelin liked the fact that Chad had changed; he wasn't the same douchebag who had dated 11 (10 actually) girls at once and played them and abused them, especially Jamilah. Anxelin hoped that Chad would continue on the right path and if she ever found out Chad hurt Audrey, she would come after him.
The goth girl tore her eyes away from the Charming family and fixed her eyes on the goddess behind the podium.
" Mal heard a soft giggle. She looked over her shoulder to find that annoying new girl Evie chatting cheerfully with Carlos De Vil as they played with some sort of black box on his desk. Ugh. That girl had nothing to be happy about. Why, hadn't she, Mal, just told her she couldn't come to the howler of the year? Mal was slightly disconcerted for a moment, until she realized: the evil scheme of the year was right in front of her..."
"You hate to see Evie happy, don't you Mal?" Uma asked, casting her brown eyes on the purple-haired girl.
Mal blushed a light shade of pink. "Yeah…pretty much."
"I wonder what kind of 'Evil Scheme' Mal is gonna whip up?" Akio said, sounding as if he asking a question.
"No idea, but one thing's for certain it's not gonna be good," Emir replied, sinking into his seat further.
" A twisted smile formed on her lips, and she chewed her fountain pen for a moment before scribbling a page's worth of notes.
She would show that blue-haired princess a thing or two..."
"Like what exactly?" Anxelin arched a brow.
" Mal wanted to do more than ruin Evie's day, she wanted to ruin her year. On second thought, maybe keeping Evie out of the party was the wrong move. If Evie wasn't there, then Mal wouldn't have the opportunity to torture her to her heart's delight..."
The Auradonians fixed their eyes on Mal, and she sunk into her seat in shame.
'I'm screwed…' Mal thought to herself in a panic.
If the Auradon adults ever found out what Mal did to Evie…
Audrey rolled her indigo eyes and huffed before folding her arms across her chest.
Ben, on the other hand, pursed his lips, not uttering a word as he continued to listen to the chapter.
Mal looked up at her boyfriend and studied his face, realizing that his expression was unreadable; It was hard to figure out what he was actually thinking and this caused her to worry.
Mal wanted to ask Ben what was going on in his mind but she decided not to bother ask, although the question was aching her.
" "Hold up," Mal said as she spotted Carlos and Evie coming toward them.
Evie looked genuinely fearful and Carlos wary as they approached Mal, who blocked the doorway…"
"It looks like Carlos and Evie knew what's up," Lonnie noted.
Jamilah nodded in agreement. "Yup. And isn't just me or is it Carlos and Evie are closer than ever? Like friends perhaps?"
"You're not the only one who noticed, Milah," Nina said.
'Friends…' Evie mused for a moment before a soft smile curled her cherry-red lips. She didn't notice it back then, but she and Carlos were friends til this very day.
And speaking of Carlos…
Evie turned her head and checked on the small boy in his bean bag and noticed that he was listening intently to the chapter at hand.
And as if he felt her gaze on him, Carlos looked up at Blueberry and gave her a small wave with a gentle smile.
Evie returned the gesture.
" "Hey, Evie, you know that party I'm having?" Mal asked.
Evie nodded. "Um, yeah?"
"I was only kidding earlier," Mal said with the sweetest smile she could manage. "Of course you're invited…" "
"That was…..sudden," Aziz said, frowning but no less surprised.
" "I am?" Evie squealed. "Are you sure you want me there?"
"I don't want anything more in the world," said Mal grandly, and truthfully. "Don't miss it."
"I won't," promised Evie with a nervous smile..."
"Evie walked into a death trap," Anxelin stated.
Evie shivered slightly at the mention of the word 'trap'.
If only Auradonians knew what Evie went through…
" Mal watched her and Carlos skitter away with satisfaction. Jay raised an eyebrow. "What was that all about? I thought you didn't want her there," he said, as he deftly stole a rotten banana from a first-year's lunch pail.
"Plans change."
"An evil scheme, huh?" Jay waggled both eyebrows…"
Lonnie rolled her eyes. "Jay…!"
"Hehe, sorry," Jay replied sheepishly with a light pink blush appearing on his cheeks.
" " Maybe," Mal said mysteriously, not wanting to give anything away. It wasn't like Jay could be trusted. "Thieves' honor" meant neither of them had any.
"Come on. It's me. The only one you can stand on this island."
"Don't flatter yourself," she said, only half smiling…"
"I'm still curious as to the sudden change from Mal?" Akio asked.
"Well remember the Evil Schemes thing from Lady Tremaine?" Emir reminded him.
"Oh, right! Lol."
" " Don't you hate parties? You didn't go to Anthony Tremaine's kickback the other week, and you missed my cousin Jade's 'Scary Sixteenth.' They were off-the-hook, as the pirate posse would say." He smirked..."
Jade made a face. "Eh, I wasn't upset that Mal didn't come to my birthday. In fact, I'm glad she didn't!"
"Wow," Anthony's eyes widened. "I got a mention!"
Harriet scoffed. "It's not like you're a celebrity, Tremaine."
"I know, but it's nice."
" " Those were different. Anyway, you need to hop to it. Carlos can't throw my party alone." She grabbed his arm. "We need jugs of spicy cider, bags of stale potato chips, sparkling slop, the works…" "
The Auradon adults furrowed their brows but didn't say anything. In the previous chapters, they found out that these Isle kids live on eating stale and harmful foods.
" " …make sure it's the good stuff from the wharf, from the first boats. I've got a reputation to uphold…" "
Again, the adults, including Hera, furrowed their brows. Some sighing.
" He saluted and tossed the banana peel on the floor, and they both watched gleefully as a fellow student slipped and fell. Things like that never got old..." Hera finished as she gently closed the book and shook her head in disappointment at Jay and Mal's actions.
"Not cool, Jay and Mal," Li'l Shang said, slightly glaring at the two.
Lonnie nodded, agreeing with her older brother.
Jay gulped while Mal basically buried herself in her bean bag.
"Okay, I will read the next chapter," Hera announced. "But first, we're going have another break. Right Blue Fairy?"
"Yes," Blue Fairy nodded.
"Great!" Hera smiled. "I'm surprised that this chapter was short," she said as she stepped down and went over to her family.
Most people got up from their seats and found themselves at the snack table, while the others huddled and chatted with their friends.