After successfully putting the crowned prince under a love spell, Mal should've been totally focused on the plan she and the other VKs had concocted. But her best friend was making that very difficult.

While everyone else's eyes were on the players on the field, Evie seemed to only have eyes for a certain redhead sitting further down in the bleachers. When she wasn't cheering on Ben, she was glancing over to see Evie looking like she was in her own little world. Even more suspicious was that she'd caught Honey also looking back at Evie more than a few times.

Mal was no fool. Deep down she didn't want to admit it, knowing it could potentially throw a wrench in their plan, but it was obvious to her that there was something between Evie and Honey. At first, Mal had just thought Evie was attracted to the girl's naturally sunny aura and positive vibes, but now she saw it was so much more than that.

It was the little things. How Evie couldn't stop talking about Honey even when she was nowhere near them. The longing stares as they passed each other in the hallway. The way they both blushed whenever their hands touched. They were both crushing hard and it drove Mal insane.

On the one hand, Mal was over the moon that Evie found someone who made her feel happy and loved. Honey wasn't Evie's first crush, but she was the first crush Mal actually approved of, knowing she would treat her with the respect she deserved but so often never received. On the other hand, however, they came to Auradon for one reason and one reason only – to steal Fairy Godmother's wand so they could free all the villains and take over the world. Relationships and romantic feelings had the potential to screw all of that up. Evie was getting attached – and attachments were dangerous.

Honey didn't share that sentiment, though. Between cheering for the Auradon Knights and chatting with her dad, Honey found her mind and eyes wandering to Evie. At this point, she couldn't ignore her feelings even if she wanted to, and boy did she want to. Not because she thought her crush was dangerous in any way, but because she was scared. The last crush she had was Audrey, and obviously that didn't work out. And anyone else who'd shown any interest in her only used her to get close to Ben before dropping her like trash. Evie seemed different, a lot nicer than any of the Auradon kids despite her upbringing. But, still, she was scared history would repeat itself.

Honey, after finally tearing her eyes away from Evie, nearly burst out laughing as she noticed the crazed expression on her father's face. Everyone else around them seemed to be jittery with excitement as well, but none could hold a candle to Hubert Baker. It was down to the wire; they were running out of chances to get ahead of the other team before time ran out. The anticipation was absolutely eating Hubert alive.

"Papa, you act as though you've never been to a tourney game before," Honey managed through a fit of giggles.

"It's the first game of the season! Besides, gotta show some support for Ben and your new little friends," he said, gesturing over to Jay and Carlos as they had just been taken off the bench and put in the game.

"Oh, which reminds me, you should totally meet them after the game."

"I'd love that, sweetie. And I gotta say, I'm real glad you've made some new friends. Much better than those two snobby kids always hanging around you and Ben," he mumbles, sending a not-so-subtle glare toward where Audrey was cheering and screaming Ben's name.

Honey stifled a laugh at that, knowing how much her father despised Audrey and Chad. While she was somewhat used to their teasing and bullying, Hubert always resented them for excluding her and making her feel like an outcast. From what she'd told him about her new friends over the phone, they seemed to be much better friends to her – and better people in general.

Honey grows anxious as Jay's shot is blocked by the other team's goalkeeper. With only twenty seconds left in the game, there wasn't much time left to break the tie and take the win. As it was the first game of the season, and Jay and Carlos' first tourney game ever, the stakes definitely felt higher than usual. The cheers of the crowd got louder the closer Jay got to the goal, and as Jay passed the ball to Ben who then scored the winning goal, the crowd went utterly wild.

Honey felt her body be jostled around by crazed fans, and she felt like she would go deaf if the cheering didn't subside soon, but all she could focus on was Ben's beaming smile as he and the other players made their way toward the crowd. Her smile mirrored his until-

"Excuse me! Can I have your attention, please?"

Honey felt the crows around her stall as the prince took the microphone from the announcer and commanded their attention. She stared at her best friend with furrowed brows, She'd been to possibly hundreds of his games, and never once has he done this before.

"There's something I'd like to say."

Ben paused to look around at the awaiting crowd, eyes briefly landing on Honey who stared at him questioningly.

"Give me an 'M'!"

Everyone in the crowd excitedly followed his order to spell out the letter with their bodies, doing so for the next two letters "A" and "L" as well. It dawns on Honey exactly what is happening as she slowly lets her arms fall to her sides, and as she looks over at Audrey standing in front of her, she could see the brunette starting to realize as well.

"I love you, Mal. Did I mention that?"

The band starts playing as Audrey runs off the field, and Honey's legs instinctively propel her forward off the metal stands to chase after the girl, not without sending her best friend a glare first.

She finds the cheerleader leaning against a tree, her body shaking as she sobbed into her hands. She sniffles, drawing her hands away from her face, and yelps when she notices Honey cautiously approaching. Just past the redhead, she could see Ben singing and dancing about another girl and started sobbing all over again.

"Oh, hey, no no," Honey rushes forward toward the girl, pulling a handkerchief from out of her bag. "Here." The brunette's eyes flicker between the fabric and the other girl before snatching it out of her outstretched hand. She didn't thank her, not that Honey was expecting her to, but the fact that she didn't yell at Honey to go away let her know her actions were appreciated.

"Why would he do that?" Audrey whispered, wiping her eyes that were slightly smudged with mascara. Her heart broke for the girl in front of her. No one, no matter how awful they are, deserves to be publicly dumped and humiliated like that.

"I don't know. But whatever reason he had doesn't give him the right to do what he did. Hey," Honey stepped forward, reaching for the girl's hand, "You don't deserve this. I know it's not easy being rejected by someone you love," she looked away as Audrey gave her a tearful, knowing look. "Audrey, you deserve a boy who will worship you."

"I am a princess after all," she lets out a wavering laugh as she flips her ponytail over her shoulder. Honey rolls her eyes, but still smiles knowing she made Audrey feel somewhat better. "Why are you being so nice to me?" she asks as her smile drops, furrowing her brows as she looked at her hand still in Honey's, "I've been awful to you since we were kids."

"It looked like you needed a friend," Honey shrugged with a small smile. Her eyes widened and she let out a surprised gasp as Audrey wrapped her arms around her. The embrace only lasted three seconds before Audrey seemed to remember who she was hugging and pulled away quickly, but Honey still savored every second.

Audrey's eyes drifted to the field again where the song seemed just to be wrapping up. She saw Ben crowd-surfing toward Mal in the stands and it was like a fire was lit within her.

"You're right. I do need someone who will worship me."

With her eyes fixed on a new target, the brunette stomped her way back to the field feeling confident, not even sparing Honey another glance.

"You're welcome," Honey weakly called out to her.

Shifting her eyes from Audrey to Ben, who was now standing in front of Mal in a sea of cheering fans, Honey felt anger bubbling up inside of her. Ben has angered her in the past, usually small things like when he'd used her stuffed animals during archery training as targets, or when he'd spilled punch all over a nice dress she spent months saving up to buy.

But this time was different. She'd never felt this angry about anything before, period. She was angry, disappointed, and so, so confused. How could the sweetest guy she knew do that to someone he loved? Someone he's known since he was a baby?

One thing was for sure, Ben had a lot of explaining to do.

Ben, blissfully unaware of the love potion coursing through him, strolled through the hallways on his way to class with a big goofy grin on his face. He wasn't even carrying his backpack, forgetting it in his room as his thoughts were too consumed by Mal.

Mal was actually the topic of many students' thoughts after his public declaration of love for the purple-haired villain kid. Her popularity was skyrocketing thanks to Ben and the fact that she was giving girls magical makeovers.

Honey would've been happy for her new friend if she wasn't so focused on her anger toward Ben.

Catching sight of him walking in her direction, she quickly stepped in front of him and blocked his path. His smile momentarily faltered before he regained his big, toothy grin. Honey stared at his expression in bewilderment. There was something so fake about his smile, it didn't quite reach his eyes. And his eyes, God they looked positively insane, like he was running on no sleep and twelve cups of coffee.

"Oh, hey, Honey. How are–"

"Save the small talk chit chat, lover boy," Honeyc cuts him off with a huff. "I've been wanting to talk to you since your little performance yesterday. Where have you been?"

"I've been with Mal," he admits with a dopey grin. Honey resisted the urge to roll her eyes as he began staring off into space, likely daydreaming about his new girlfriend.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about her."

"Isn't she great?"

"Well, yes, but–"

"And so pretty."

"Yeah, that too, but–"

"And so talented."

"Uh huh, but–"

"And–"

"Ben! Shut up!

Both their eyes widen at her outburst and she profusely apologizes before remembering the reason for her outburst.

"What is going on with you, Ben? What happened?"

"What do you mean?" He cocked his head to the side, staring at her with a lost and blank expression.

"I mean what happened yesterday after the Tourney game?"

"I asked Mal out," he said in a blunt tone as if it were obvious. He could clearly see his best friend was confused, and even a little mad, but he genuinely didn't understand what the big deal was.

"What about Audrey?" Honey asked sadly. She and Audrey may not be best friends, or even friends at all, but she still cared about her. They hadn't talked since Honey tried comforting her yesterday, but she could only imagine how heartbroken she must be feeling right now after her boyfriend publicly sang about loving another girl. "Why would you do that to her."

"I love Mal now." He shrugged with a big goofy grin on his face as he started thinking about the purple-haired girl. Again.

Honey watched in astonishment as Ben seemed to completely ignore her now, eyes glazed over as his mind drifted elsewhere. This wasn't the Ben she knew and loved. Even though he and Audrey didn't have the healthiest relationship, he still deeply cared for her. She would never imagine in a million years that Ben would do something like humiliating her the way he did. She was just about to voice her thoughts when Ben cut her off.

"Isn't this great? Now you might have a chance with Audrey." Honey took a step back at his words, completely floored. She was struggling to form words, which Ben must've noticed because he continued. "Oh, come one. I'm your best friend. You think I haven't noticed the massive crush you have on her?"

Had, she thought. But it wasn't the time or place to bring that up.

She could feel her face heating up, both from embarrassment and frustration. Not only was Ben annoyingly calm about this whole thing, but now she was being dragged into this as well. The way he said it made it seem like she was doing her a favor by breaking up with Audrey. He acted as if she should be grateful. As if the only thing holding Honey back from being with Audrey was out of the way now.

"Are you being serious right now?" She asked in disbelief. She had to close her eyes and take a deep breath before speaking again because she felt like she was seconds from exploding. "This isn't about me. Don't you dare make this about me. Look, I like Mal. I think she's great. But what you did to Audrey was just...just awful, Ben! How can you not see that?"

"Why are you defending her?" He was getting defensive now, eyebrows furrowed as his chest rose and fell rapidly. "It's not like she's ever been nice to you. You used to come crying to me whenever she would make fun of you, only to chase after her like a lost puppy a few minutes later."

His face dropped as he registered his words and the hurt expression on Honey's face. The air around them was incredibly thick, the silence only making it worse. They never fight like this and it was clear neither had any idea what to do next.

"I'm sorry." He pinched his nose, already internally beating himself up for his big mouth. "I don't know why I said that."

"Who are you right now?" Honey whispered, hurt evident in her voice. She felt like she was staring at an entirely new Ben, one she definitely didn't like.

"I'm so sorry, Honey," he tried apologizing again, but she'd already turned from him and was briskly walking away, sniffling and trying to keep the tears from falling.

He watched her, guilt racking his mind before, magically, his thoughts were replaced by Mal once again. All thoughts of Honey, school, and even his royal duties, were all replaced by her.

Just as Mal had planned.

a/n: Holy Moses, I haven't updated this in over a year. oops.

i've been super stressed lately but writing has been a good distraction, and luckily i recently regain my love for Descendants, so i figured i'd finish this chapter that has been in my draft for a year.

hopefully i don't take another year to publish the next one.