"Ellie! Earth to Ellie!"

I snap out of my daze, turning to Ben. "Sorry, what?"

"I said, how is Cotillion going?" He repeats. 

"Oh, um... Well, Jane's doing most of it, but it's going well." I say. I rub my arms as we watch Mal answer questions from reporters. She looks a bit nervous. Who wouldn't be, bombarded with questions like that?

"Mal! Over here, please! Mal!"

"Only three days until the royal Cotillion! Ever think like you would be Lady of the Court?"

"How does it feel to be the most envied girl in Auradon?"

"Do you like being blonde?"

"Is your mother still a lizard?"

I elbow Ben. "Seriously?"

He clears his throat and shoulders through the crowd. "Okay, okay. Excuse me. Uh, we will let you know if...and when that, uh, particular situation changes." Ben tells the reporters. I shove my way in too to stand next to Mal. She smiles gratefully. 

"Princess Elicia! How are your new powers adapting?"

"Is your mother still afraid of you?"

I stare at the reporter who asked that. Ben clears his throat again and the reporters move on. 

"Did you ever think you'd be with a villain kid?" Someone asks Ben. 

Ben gives a tired laugh. "We're done here." The reporter crowd erupts into questions and complaints, and FG comes in. 

"Shush, shush! Shush shush! Shush shush!" She clasps her hands. "This is still a school, so if you are here, you are either skipping, or trespassing."

They erupt into questions again, but she ignores them. "Shush! Shush! Shhh. Shhh. Shhh!" She gestures for them to leave and they sadly start to turn away. 

"Thank you guys!" Ben says. 

FG nods to us and then leaves. Mal looks at Ben then. "Whew!"

"Don't pay any attention to them." Ben tells her. 

"That's a lot easier said then done. Right?" Mal says. 

"I know. I know." Ben sighs. "Maybe we should do something. GO somewhere. Get away."

"Yeah!" Mal says hopefully. 

"Yeah, what do you---" Ben looks at his watch. "I have a council meeting. I'm so late."

"That's okay!" Mal assures him. Someone elbows me. 

"Hi, Evie." I tell her. 

"She's crushing hard." Evie whispers. "He needs to do something with her before she explodes."

"I agree." I tell her. "I'm completely invisible when he's here. We all are."

Evie nods. Then she grabs Mal's arm. "If we don't do your fitting for your gown right this minute, you'll be dancing in your bathrobe, okay? Hi." She tells Ben. "Let's go. Let's go!" She drags Mal off. 

"Bye, Ben!" Mal calls back. 

"Bye." He says. 

"Have fun!" I tell Mal, who promptly sticks her tongue out at me. 

"KING BEN! KING BEN! PRINCESS!" Suddenly the reporters are back, with all of their annoying questions. 

"Princess, who are you going to Cotillion with?"

"Ben, where is Mal going?"

"What will your dress look like, Princess?"

"How did your mother react to your power breakthrough?"

"Shush!" I yell, mimicking Fairy Godmother. "Shush!"

They pause for one minute. Then one person bursts out, "Can you demonstrate your powers for the paper?!" And they all break loose again. I groan and rub my hands together. 

They want a demonstration? Fine.

I tap the statue behind us once, and ice crawls up in, making it look wintery. The second all of them are looking up with "Ahh"s and "Ohh"s, I grab Ben's hand and sprint away. By the time they look down again, we're gone. Both of us explode in laughter. 

"Thanks, Ellie. I don't know how long I would have been there." Ben sighs. "I gotta go. Coun--"

"Council meeting! Yeah." I say. "Go on. They're probably waiting."

"That doesn't make me feel better." 

"No, but it will make you move faster! Go!" I yell. He takes off, running way faster than someone in a suit should. I laugh. 

"Ellie! Hey!" 

I turn and see Jay running towards me. "Hi, Jay."

"Have you seen Carlos? He forgot Dude by the lake again." Jay gestures to the furball trotting behind him. I laugh and kneel down. Dude happily comes over and hops into my arms. I pick him up, scratching his ears. 

"Did Carlos forget you again? How dare he. How can he forget such a sweet dog like you, Dude?" I tell the dog. Most people use baby voices when talking to dogs, but I like to think they can hear us. 

Jay laughs. "He probably had a certain someone on his mind when he left him."

"Oh, shut up." I slap his shoulder. Jay's the only one who teases me and Carlos about it, but Evie is the one who prods it on. It's slightly annoying, actually, because I know Carlos will never do anything about it. 

Jay smirks and brushes frost off his shoulder. "I'm glad you're not wearing gloves anymore. I never liked them on you." he tells me. 

"And yet, I still have the random urge to tug on them." I say. 

"And ya always will, until you decide not to." He says. 

"You realize that doesn't make any sense, right?" 

"Dude! There you are!" Carlos comes running over. "Oh! Hi Ellie. Ummmm..."

"Here." I hand him Dude. "Bye, Dude. Sorry to run off, but I have to find Jane." I tell Carlos and Jay. "Have you guys seen her?"

"No." They chorus. 

"Hey, Ellie. Ummmm..." Carlos stops. "I was wondering if maybe... ummmmmmmmm..."

"Ellie!" Jane calls.

"Sorry, Carlos." I tell him. Can't be that important of a question, because he just smiles and nods. "Bye guys!"

"Ellie! There you are. So, did you ask Mal what party favors she wanted? I want pen toppers, but the rest--"

"No! I'm sorry, I didn't ask her." I tell Jane. "I'll ask her tomorrow."

"No, I will." Jane says. "I can't focus. I'll ask her before class. Bye!" She runs off again. 

Sheesh! This girl has no attention span, not while Cotillion is here. 

________________________________________________________

"Look, there's Mal!" Jane asks. "But I need to find Ben! You go ask!" She shoves me towards Mal. 

"Ugh, fine! Don't push. Mal!" I say, coming up.

"Oh, hey Ellie!" Carlos says. 

"Hi."

"I was wondering....uh....if you....liked the....carrot cake? Last night?" He sputters.

"I had the ice cream." I tell him. 

"Oh. Cool. Uh..."

Jay grabs Carlos away and mutters something to him while they both leave. Evie moves forward. 

"I have an opening for a fitting at 3:00. Who wants it?"

"Me!" Lonnie says out of nowhere. "Sorry." She says to us. 

"Perfect. I'll take you two later." She says to me and Jane, who'd also appears from nowhere. 

"I thought you were looking for Ben?" I ask. 

"Couldn't find him." She mutters. "Did you ask Mal yet?"

"No."

"MAL!" She screeches. "I hate to keep bugging you, but the decorating committee needs more answers. So, as much as I hate to, um... you know, um..."

"Bug me?" Mal asks. 

I walk off to Evie and Lonnie. "Hey Evie, did you finish my dress yet?" I ask her. 

"Almost. You can't see it yet, but it's gorgeous." Evie gushes. 

"Well, you made it, so I'd be surprised if it wasn't." I tell her. She smiles. Then Mal comes over. 

"Oh, Mal, I can hardly wait to see what your wedding will look like." Lonnie beams. 

"Me too. Wait, what?" Mal exclaims. 

"The Royal Cotillion is like getting engaged to be engaged to be engaged." Jane says.

"I knew it!" Evie says. 

"Well, everyone knows it!" Lonnie says. 

"I didn't know it! How come nobody told me that?" Mal looks like she's panicking now. "Is my entire life just planned out in front of me--" 

"Hi Mal." Ben says, coming up behind her. 

"Hi, Ben." We all say. 

"Oh! Oh, quick moment!" Jane pulls Ben away and I can see her showing Ben the glass windows. Mal starts to walk off and he turns back. "Oh, uh, see you later, Mal."

"Okay." She says. I walk next to her. 

"Are you okay?" I ask, rubbing at my arms. I seem to never be able to be warm nowadays. 

"I'm fine. Why would I not be fine? Just nobody thought to tell me I'm suddenly engaged! And I'm going to a dozen different meetings a day, and I want to go back to the Isle, of course I do! Why would I want to go back to the Isle? No, I was kidding!" She bursts, giving an unconvincing laugh afterwards. 

"Mal." I say sternly. 

She sighs. "Ellie, I just... I don't fit in very well here."

"What are you talking about? You're doing great!" I tug on her hair.

"That's the point. This," She gestures to her hair. "Was magic. I used magic to make it this way, Ellie."

"Oh..." I say. Now I get it. I bite my lip. Should I really tell her? I mean, if it makes her feel better... "Well, you're not the only one who's having trouble fitting in still." I admit. 

She instantly looks up. "What?"

I twist my white hair around my finger. "I'm not exactly on the best terms with my mom. She's angry that I didn't give up my powers, because she's afraid of what I can do. Just the other day, I froze a flower and it still hasn't melted, which I know that doesn't sound entirely dangerous, but it should have melted by now if I had the control level Mom wants."

"Chad hasn't been doing anything, hasn't he?" She asks suspiciously. "Or Audrey?"

"Audrey hasn't." I say. "She's on that spa trip with the three fairies, remember? But Chad..." I sigh and let go of my hair. "He's not happy that he has to take Goodness 101 with Ned and a few other kids."

Mal drops her books. "Fairy Godmother actually did that?"

"Yup. I was present for one once. It was hilarious. Until Chad cornered me afterward and basically called me a witch." I rub my arms while Mal picks her books back up. 

"He what??" She exclaims. "Ugh! Ellie, I'm sorry, I've been so busy, I didn't even---"

"It's fine, really." I stop her. "Just... don't tell anybody, okay? I want to fit in here, but everybody giving me pity party would make it worse. And, Mal?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you really want to go back to the Isle?" 

She sighs. "Sometimes. I mean, life was so simple there. You're the biggest, baddest, villain you can be, and you're free to do whatever you want. Here, I just..."

I put my arm over her shoulder. "I hear you. But, do me a favor? Don't go back. Please. I know you're having a hard time. But if you went back... there might not be a way to get you here again. And I don't want to lose one of my friends."

She smiles. "I'll try, Ellie."

_______________________________________

Hello, whoever's reading this! So, the blocking thing seems to have been fixed... for now. Sorry if this chapter is a little boring, but next one will be better. Hopefully. Maybe. 

ANY-way, as long as the blocking doesn't randomly come back, I'm back to updating every five seconds! YAAAAAAY! Hope it stays that way! 

If not.... well, you'll be able to tell by my silence. 

Hope you like Descendants 2! (My version, anyways.)