⚔︎

"So many ways to be wicked." Mal sang, tossing an apple to Elodie who was standing in the distance — the last thing she saw before breaking out of her imagination. Blinking back into reality, cameras were flashing in her eyes, microphones being shoved into her face, and questions coming at her out of every direction. Reporters were begging for even a sliver of her time, and Mal was exhausted.

"Mal! Mal! Mal!"

"Mal, please, over here!"

"Only three more days to the Royal Cotillion." A darker skinned woman stated, pushing her way towards the front to reach the girl. Mal skimmed her eyes over, wide and frantic, as they looked one another in the eyes.

"Ever think a girl like you would be Lady of the Court?" Another reporter asked, and the now blonde haired girl scrunched her nose up a slight bit, feeling insulted.

"How does it feel to be the most envied girl in Auradon?" A man asked, Mal diverting her eyes towards him. There was an unbelieving glint in them, saying she couldn't actually believe that to be true.

"Do you like being blonde?"

"Is your mother still a lizard?"

Suddenly, Ben cleared his throat, getting the reporters to put a halt in their questions, "Okay, all right. Excuse me." He said, making his way through the crowd and towards his girlfriend, "Uh, we will let you know if and when that particular situation changes."

The questions started to change direction and the same darker skinned woman asked him, "Did you ever think you'd be with a villain kid?"

Ben chuckled uncomfortably and put his hand up, "We're done here."

Fairy Godmother then pushed her way towards the front of the crowd, separating the reporters from the royal couple, and shushing loudly, "This is still a school, so if you're here, you're either skipping or trespassing."

The reporters started to shout, asking and pleading for more time, the woman shushing them much more harshly this time, clamping her fingers down in their faces. They all turned away as Fairy Godmother gestured them to do so with her hands.

When they were out of sight, the Fairy Godmother turned to Ben and Mal, curtsying and turning away, off to do the rest of her duties.

Elodie watched this happen from the window in her dorm. She sat silently as Claudia typed away on her computer — no doubt doing her math homework — and watched with pursed lips as Evie came along and dragged Mal away from Ben, most likely for her Cotillion dress fitting.

She couldn't help but feel a slight tinge of sadness at remembering Evie hadn't even asked her to make a dress for her, like she normally would have.

Thank God she was on Charlotte La Bouff's good side.

Claudia watched her roommate intently from her desk, "Hey El, you okay?" She asked, although already knowing what was running through the redheads mind.

"Hmm, what?" Elodie hummed, turning her head slightly, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine."

Dia squinted her eyes at the girl, before deciding not to push, "Well, guess what!" She squealed, already excited.

"What?"

"My mom sent in our dresses for the Cotillion." Claudia said, squeezing her hands together in excitement. Elodie raised a suspicious brow, "We're actually going to that?"

"Duh. It's your duty as Ben's best friend."

The redhead hummed, "Well, Ben's girlfriend is also my ex best friend. They kind of cancel each other out."

Claudia rolled her eyes at her friends dramatics, "C'mon," She whined, "We'll go eat breakfast and go to first hour then we'll come back here during break and try them on!"

"Fine." She mumbled, sagging her shoulders.

⚔︎

Walking with Jane and Lonnie, Elodie trailed behind with Claudia next to her. They were talking about the Cotillion and Elodie couldn't have been more bored.

That is, until Jane was stopped by Carlos, who was walking with the other three VK's.

The King girl rolled her eyes, something that didn't go unnoticed by anyone around her.

"Hey, Jane. I was wondering..." The de Vil boy trailed off, freezing up and causing Elodie to suppress a laugh, "If you liked the... carrot cake last night?"

"I had the pumpkin pie." Jane said, a wide grin on her face. Jay watched the interaction with a smirk. Patting Carlos on the back, he walked off, pulling the blonde with him, "Smooth."

Evie didn't miss a beat stepping forward, "I have an opening for a fitting at 3:00. Who wants it?" The blue haired girl eyed Elodie, the redhead rolling her eyes.

If Evie wanted to make her a dress, just outright say it.

Lonnie immediately called out, "Me!" Before turning to Jane, "Sorry."

"Perfect." Evie said cheerfully, although there was a sad glint in her eyes, still gazing at Elodie, "I'll take you later." She directed towards Jane before walking away with Lonnie.

When they were halfway down the steps, Mal stepped forward, "Mal," Jane said, holding her hand out, "I hate to keep bugging you, but the Decorating Committee needs more answers. So, as much as I hate to, um... You know, um..." she trailed off and Elodie almost rolled her eyes.

"Bug me?" Mal asked.

"Right."

She sighed, "Jane, I would love to. I just have to get to class." She went to step away but the fairy stopped her, "You know, just nod if you like it."

"Okay."

"Chair swags, entry banner, twinkle lights, napkin design, table bunting, and you still haven't picked the party favors yet."

"Honestly, Jane, whatever—"

Jane cut her off, "I mean, we can do chains, key charms, pen toppers. I kind of love the pen toppers, but, I mean, we can do all three."

Suddenly, Mal snapped her head up, her eyes glowing a bright green. She took a second to close her eyes, taking a deep breath in, before opening her eyes. "I say pen toppers." Mal replied, a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"You won't regret it."

And just as Elodie went to turn away with Claudia, Evie and Lonnie ran back up, "I can hardly wait to see what your wedding will look like."

"Me, too." Mal replied absentmindedly before realizing what the Li Shang girl just said, "Wait, what?"

"The Royal Cotillion is like getting engaged to be engaged to be engaged." Jane explained. Evie gasped, "I knew it!"

"Everyone knows it." Lonnie insisted.

"I didn't know it." Mal said, starting to panic, "How come nobody told me that? Is my entire life just planned out in front of me?"

"Hi, Mal." Ben said, suddenly appearing behind the girl. Elodie jumped in surprise at her friends appearance, "Hi, Ben." She, and everyone else, replied.

The King smiled at the redhead before being pulled away by Jane, leaving Elodie to stand with Mal.

"Hi." Mal said, timidly.

"Bye." Elodie replied immediately, before a hand caught her wrist, pulling her back. "What." She bit, rolling her eyes.

"I just want to talk, El." Mal sighed, "Please."

Elodie inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself down, "Look Mal, I really need to get to practice, we're working on our fencing cheers, maybe later." She said promptly, before walking away with Claudia.

"I still can't believe you're a cheerleader." She heard Mal mumble, Claudia laughing at the comment.

⚔︎

In the amphitheater, Elodie was up on one of the ledges with the team, smoothing out her wrinkled shirt.

The boys were grunting and swords were clinking, but she loved the sound. It reminded her of a special ship and it's crew.

"Keep your center!" Jay yelled out, sliding underneath Carlos standing on two blocks, "Eyes on your opponent. Up and over."

Someone tapped her shoulder, distracting the redhead from the match as one of her teammates needed help with their bow.

Sudden cheering caught her attention, making her, and the team, look out over the ledge to see what was going on.

"Get him, Jay!" Carlos encouraged from the bench, looking at a frustrated Jafar boy.

An unknown opponent pulled a few moves Jay — or anyone really — wasn't expecting. And although he tried to keep up, he wasn't a match.

The unknown person gracefully took hold of Jays sword, holding it up with their foot before kicking it back into his hand, to which Jay gripped the hilt tightly as he took off his protective headpiece, tossing it to the side.

"Who are you?" He questioned loudly. The person took their headpiece off as well, and long brown hair flowed out of its confinement. Tugging the mask all the way off, Lonnie's face revealed itself, sending a wave of gasps all over the amphitheater.

"It's Lonnie!" Jane gasped, cheering loudly.

Elodie grinned at her — a warm, genuine smile that made her cheeks hurt. This was the type of plot twist that she liked. The guys on the fencing team were frozen in shock, while the cheer team did what they did best — cheered.

"Not bad." Jay commented, genuinely impressed. Lonnie nodded her head, "You should put me on the team."

The Jafar boy began walking forward, seemingly thinking over the idea before Chads voice cut through the room, "Hey... what? No, no, no. We'll be the laughing stock of the league. And what's gonna happen next? We'll have girls playing tourney. Come on, guys."

Elodie rolled her eyes, "So?" She asked, making the prince, and everyone else, look up at her.

"So?" He repeated, "So have you not read the rule book?" He suddenly pulled said book out from his pocket, "Section 2, Paragraph 3, 11-4. "A team will be comprised of a captain and eight men." Mmm?" He finished holding the book up in Lonnie's face before moving it around the room.

Elodie's eye glowed blue and the book was plucked from his grasp with a blue mist.

"You should read the rule book." Chad directed towards her and Lonnie both.

"That's what I'm doing, blondie." Elodie deadpanned. Lonnie stepped forward to defend herself, "Okay, but you're down a man. You know, since Ben had to leave to do all that king stuff."

"Exactly. We're down a man."

Both Elodie and Lonnie turned towards the Jafar boy, "Jay." but he just shook his head, "I'm sorry. Coach trusts me. I'm not gonna stay captain if I just throw out the rule book."

"If my mother thought that way," Lonnie started, "she would have lost the war."

Chad merely scoffed, "Okay." He shrugged, making her walk away. "Rulebook. Rulebook." he tauntingly called out after her.

"Jay," Elodie called out, still on the ledge, "if people trusted your captain-ness, they would still let you be captain even if you let a girl on board."

"On-board? This isn't the isle, King." Chad laughed out.

The redhead raised a brow, "Jay's still a villain kid, blondie. Maybe he's forgotten with how hard he's been trying to cover it up, but the isle is always going to be apart of him." She snapped back, eyes locked on the Jafar boy and never wavering.

With getting no reply, she simply scoffed before retreating towards the exit on the ledge.

Jay sighed, "Practice is over, lets go."

⚔︎

Carlos sat on his bed, typing away on his computer, with Elodie sprawled out on the end of it.

"How to get out of the friend zone." He read out loud before looking over to Dude, "I see you looking over my shoulder."

"I don't see why you don't just march up to her and ask. Like, is it really that hard?" Elodie asked, absentmindedly playing with a strand of her hair.

"Yes." He deadpanned, "It is hard. She's just so... perfect."

"Aww, that's so sweet." The redhead cooed before her eyes hardened, "puke."

Suddenly, the door opened and in slipped a newly blonde girl. She was panting and quickly locked it, the sounds of cameras flashing dying out.

Carlos and Elodie's heads snapped up at the intrusion, Mal pacing back and forth, panting heavily. The TV that had previously been playing a news broadcast of said girl was immediately shut off by her.

Elodie's face was held in a glare, but she hadn't said a word yet to give the clearly overwhelmed girl space.

Mal's eyes flashed a glowing green and she gasped, making Carlos let out a shocked noise, "Whoa. Easy, girl."

"What?" Mal snapped, "You think this is so easy? You don't have people taking a photo of you every single time you open your mouth to say "boo!"" She yelled, before calming down slightly, "I mean, its not that I could even say "boo" but, you know..."

"I'm sorry." Carlos mumbled, looking down. Elodie, however, spoke up, "You just said "boo" twice."

Mal ignored the comment, but looked intently at the both of them. "Carlos, El—"

"Don't call me that."

The fae gave her a look, "Don't you ever miss screaming at people and just making them run away from you?"

Carlos let out an airy chuckle, "You're thinking of my mother. And I was usually on the other end of that. So, not really, no."

Mal shook her head in disbelief, looking towards Elodie who had her mouth clamped into a hard line, deciding whether or not to voice her true opinion.

"Oh, hey." Carlos started, "Did you bring it?"

"Bring what?" Elodie asked, perking up with curiosity. Though the comment was ignored by both of them as Mal reached to grab something.

However, the door opened and the sound interrupted the exchange. As the creaking sound echoed through the room, Chad Charming slipped through the crack, his back facing the three VK's.

As he quietly closed the door back up and turned around, he stopped dead in his tracks as he made eye contacted with them. Dude growled and the blonde chuckled, "Hi. Just came to use your 3-D printer. Wont be a sec."

"How's you get a key to my room?" Carlos asked, eyeing him intently.

Chad made a face, "Oh, I printed it off last time I was in here."

Mal, Carlos, and Elodie all looked to each other with raised brows. Chad watched them carefully before explaining, "You guys were sleeping."

The redhead turned to the boy with a disbelieving smile on her face as he pointed to the machine, "Look, I just... Your printers so much better than mine. And you installed these hacks. And everything runs so much smoother than mine."

Carlos didn't look amused as he pointed towards the door, "Out." Chad's face fell, and the de Vil repointed "Now."

"Fine. Fine." He said, raising his arms.

"Chad." Carlos exasperated, making him turn around, "What? Hmm?"

"Leave the key." He said sternly, pointing towards the table. Chad did as asked before opening the door and walking out angrily, slamming it closed in the process.

"Mal," Carlos started, gaining the attention of not only her but Elodie, too, "My potion."

"Excuse me, your what?" Elodie asked, raising her voice.

"Yeah, um..." Mal trailed off, holding the gummy up. Carlos looked fascinated, "So, this think will make me say what I really feel to Jane?"

"Yeah. I mean, this is a truth gummy, so... Take it or leave it."

"Perfect."

"No," Elodie interrupted, making both Mal and Carlos turn to face her, "not perfect. You asked miss back-stabber over there to make you a truth gummy and not me? And besides that, are you sure you really want to take that? Because that is going to make you say the truth to, like, everyone, all the time, no matter what."

Mal gave her a sad look before turning back to Carlos, "I was going to ask the same thing, because I know if I took this right now, I would get myself sent back to the Isle. Which, it's not that that sounds super unappealing but, you know..."

Carlos looked to the both of them before responding, "Yeah. I'll take my chances, I guess."

"Okay." Mal sighed, putting her arm that was holding the gummy to her side. What she failed to notice was that Dude jumped off of the bed and went to the sweet smelling potion.

"No, Dude!" Elodie yelled, but he the gummy was already in his mouth.

"Ooh! Bad dog." Mal exclaimed as he jumped back on the bed. Dude shook, grunting out, making the three humans let out gasps of shock, "Man, that thing was nasty. And you?" He directed towards Carlos, "You just gotta man up."

Elodie — who had jumped off of the bed and was now standing by Carlos — turned to look at him, "That's what I was saying!"

Carlos gave her a look as Dude ignored her, "And while you're at it, scratch my butt."

Mal let her jaw hang open, "You heard him. Scratch his butt." She said before turning and walking away.

"Mal." Carlos called out as the door closed, "You're just gonna leave us with him?"

"Come on," Dude started, "You scratch you're own all the time."

"I'm sorry, what?" Elodie asked before doubling over in laughter and patting him on the shoulder, "Not us, you." She said, walking towards the door and slipping out.

⚔︎

Emily speaks !

Bad Seed is officially off hold now that I have motivation for this back!