I watch with Jane as the VK's struggle through the lesson with FG. Well, three of them struggle. Mal's not even paying  attention, and she's still getting all the answers right. Jane and I have been watching for the last like ten minutes, and FG is still completely positive to them. 

FG starts again. "If someone hands you a crying baby," She points at the chalkboard. "Do you A) Curse it? B) Lock it in a tower? C) Give it a bottle. Or D) Carve out its heart?"

I gag at the last one. I might be able to stomach A-C, but killing it? No way. In fact, I can't remember any villains doing that before....

Wait. Nope, Evil Queen tried to. With Snow White. Technically not a baby, but still. Better the pig or whatever the hunter used than Snow White! She's the biggest fashion creator in Auradon. Though I want to know where Evie gets her clothes. I'm super jealous. I wonder if she could ask whoever they are to make me better gloves?

Jane nudges me. "Look!" Evie's hand is in the air, wiggling excitedly. FG beams and points to her.

"Evie!"

Evie puts her hand down. "What was the second one?" She asks.

FG loses a bit of her happy sparkle. "Oh, ok. Anyone else."

None of them answer, Mal fixated on whatever she's doing on her desk. 

FG looks at Mal. "Mal?" She asks. Mal looks up while playing with a chunk of her purple hair. 

"C, give it a bottle." She says. 

"Correct. Again." FG gushes. 

Carlos looks over at her. "You are on fire, girl!"

Mal looks up barely and lets go of her hair. "Just pick the one that doesn't sound like any fun." She says it like it's the most obvious thing ever.

"Oh..." The rest of the VK's say. Jane taps me. 

"I've gotta get mom to sign this. Come with me?" She pleads. I hook my arm through hers. 

"Sure."

She smiles then starts into the room. I let go of her arm since the area's too small for two people to walk together. Jane squeals when she passes the VK's, but I'm more interested in what Mal is drawing. I peek as I walk by. FG's wand! 

"Hello, dear one!" FG says to Jane. 

"Hi." Jane says breathlessly. "You need to sign off an early dismissal for the coronation." She says, shoving the clipboard to her mom. I speed up to get up there with Jane. 

As FG signs it, she starts talking. "Everyone here remembers my daughter Jane?"

"Mom! No!" Jane pleads. I take her hand. 

"It's okay! Jane, this is everyone." She shoves Jane towards the VK's. 

Jane shuffles forward. "Hi." she squeaks. "That's okay. Don't mind me. As you were." She bolts past them and squeals again. I roll my eyes jokingly and follow her. But I stop by Mal.

"That's a great drawing." I tell her, pointing to FG's wand."

She covers it with her arm. "This? It's nothing." She waves it away. "Elicia, right? Ice Queen?"

I sigh. "I'd like you to remember me as "the nice girl" or "the funny girl" not "Ice Queen", but yeah."

FG hears. "Ellie! That reminds me, we need to talk."

"Now?" I ask. 

"Oh, they don't mind. Do you, kids?" FG asks the VK's. Mal just goes back to drawing. So I walk up to FG, dreading what she'll say.

"Ellie, Ben tells me you've made up your mind already. Is there no way I can dissuade you?"

I shake my head, crossing my arms over my chest. "I know my powers will be permanent after my birthday. I get it. But I want to keep them."

FG wrinkles her nose. "Well, no, not permanent. But they will  be much harder to remove after your birthday. You're sure? I heard you had an accident the other day."

I scowl and hide my hands more. "I'm positive. Bye, Fairy Godmother."

She smiles and lets me go. As I start to leave, I notice Mal watching me. 

"What?" I demand. 

"They want you to get rid of your powers?" She asks. 

"Yeah. But I think magic is amazing. We've all but lost it." I say. "Nobody's taking my powers. Nobody. You'd be surprised how focused I can make it when I'm angry."

She laughs. "Well, Ice Queen, see ya around. I think your friend is leaving without you." She points to Jane's shrinking figure. I roll my eyes and chase after her. I glance back once. Mal's calculating gaze makes me wonder what she has planned. 

______________________________________________________

"Audrey!" I call. "Hey! Audrey!" I chase after her. She's already in her blue-and-yellow cheer uniform matching mine. Mine has gloves, of course. And every time I look at them it reminds me that my deadline is tonight. But I've already told FG. I will not back down. 

Audrey turns to glare at me. "What do you want, Ice Queen?"

I scowl. "It's Ellie. Stop it, Sleeping Ugly." I snap. I'm so over her bratty attitude.

She flushes red. "I heard you refused Fairy Godmother's generous offer. Is it true? You're keeping them?"

"Why is it any business of yours?" I demand. 

Her eyes narrow. "It's true! You realize your mother almost killed her sister with her powers, right? It's only a matter of time before your family gets sent to the Isle. Mark my words."

Her words drive a stake into my heart. "Take that back." I hiss. But she just turns and sprints onto the tourney field. I tear after her, anger fogging my vision. I don't even realize I've stripped my gloves off until the tourney field starts to grow cold. I shoot a blast of icy magic at Audrey. But Audrey hides behind the coach and I barely see him, advancing on her. 

"COACH! Ellie's using her powers against me!" She shrieks. 

"Oh, you're going to wish I'd use just my powers." I snarl. I try to push the coach away, but someone grabs me from behind and holds me back. "Let---me---go!" I snap, trying to see who has me. I turn and see Carlos has a firm hold around my waist. "What---let go of me!"

He shakes his head and points to the coach. He's glaring at me. "Elicia, you know not to use your powers on the other students. New kid. Let go of her!"

Carlos instantly backs off. But he doesn't stop looking at me. "Are you okay?" he asks once everyone's walked away. 

I shake my head and go to retrieve my gloves. He catches my arm. "Hey! I asked a question. You're Ellie, right?"

I jerk my arm away, tears threatening to break loose. And that couldn't even work right, because they'd freeze the second they air anyway! "I'm fine." I tell him.

"Are you sure? I'd never expected to see any Auradonian get that angry. Isle kids, sure." he grabs my arm again. "What'd she say to you?"

I shake my head. "No offense, but I literally just met you yesterday."

He smiles. "I know that. But you seemed really mad, so I figured you better blow off your steam on someone you don't know before you unintentionally hurt one of your friends."

I sigh. There is some logic to that. "Okay, to get what I'm mad about, you'd have to understand Auradon. Magic is in a way forbidden. Not really, but nobody has them anymore. So I grew up with a deadline looming in my future. FG offered to take my powers away. Tonight is the deadline, and I've said no."

"That doesn't explain why you went all Maleficent on Princess Pink over there." Carlos points out.

"Let me finish! So most of the people in Auradon are really mad about that. I've had quite a few...accidents. Nothing where I hurt anybody, but I have frozen quite a few swimming pools and frosted the grounds in the middle of summer. People think I should be forced to give them up, or sent to the Isle."

"What? Why?" Carlos asks. 

"Because my mom! Everybody thought she was a witch, and they're calling me one now, and they say I'm planning to freeze King Ben, and some awful rumors are going around that I forced him to bring you guys here!" I explode. His hair gets coated with frost on the tips. But he just smiles and brushes it off. 

"So, what'd Audrey say to you?"

"She told me it was only a matter of time until I got sent to the Isle." I whisper. 

"WHAT?" comes a new voice. I turn and see Ben standing there with a shocked look on his face. "Sorry, Ellie, didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I wanted to make sure you were okay. Audrey said that?"

I give a mute nod.

Ben looks really concerned. "That'll never happen, Ellie."

"Doesn't matter if it does or doesn't. What matters is that people actually think that." I sigh and start to walk toward the cheer team, where Audrey has a smug look on her face. I stick my tongue out at her and take my place at the front next to her. 

Ben glances at her one time before joining the tourney team on the field with Carlos. I hadn't even noticed he'd been in uniform too. I spot Jay on the field. Then I see how lost Carlos looks. I laugh as the coach yells, "Hey! Hey! Hey, you! Lost boy!" Carlos turns his way, confused. "Put your helmet on, get outta the kill zone! Come on!"

"Kill zone? What?" Carlos asks, wandering out of the red and white.  

"Pick it up! Put it on! Two hands!" Coach yells. Carlos finally gets his helmet on and walks off the field. Coach blows the whistle and the practice game starts up. Jay takes the ball right off, banging hard into other players and knocking them off their feet. We start cheering, me being the loudest. Finally! Someone put Chad in his place!

The game ends in a matter of minutes. Audrey is the only one who watches the game in disgust. The highlight of the game was when Jay was about to score a goal and Carlos dances around in front of it. 

"Jay it's me it's Carlos! Wait! Stop! Jay, stop!" he throws his wooden spoon (please comment if you know what it's actually called, I have no idea) at Jay in a panic. "Oh, no no no no no no!!!" he curls up on the ground with his shield over his head. Jay runs over him and shoots the ball into the goal with ease. We all start cheering, me the loudest again. Audrey glares at me. 

"I suppose you're happy, seeing as your buddy won the game!" She huffs. "You're just like them. Evil." Then she tosses her ponytail and stalks away.

I shrug. I don't care right now. Jay's victory dance is way too funny to dampen my spirits. "OH YEAH! C'mon! Let's go! OH! Whoo! OO, OO, oh oh!" he throws his stuff on the ground and dances about. I laugh then actually, and he sends a grin my way. 

"What just happened?"

"Who is this guy?"

TWEET!!! "YOU! Get over here!" Coach yells. We all keep cheering as Jay runs over to the coach. Coach better not get him in trouble. I jog over to see for myself.

"Whatd'ya call that?" Coach demands. Jay doesn't answer. "I call that raw talent! Come find me later, I'll show you something you haven't seen before. It's called a rulebook! Welcome to the team, son!" he claps Jay's shoulder, and I don't think I've ever seen a kid look so confused. 

Then Coach looks to Carlos and sighs. "You ever thought about band?"

Carlos laughs sarcastically, but Jay cracks up. Carlos looks so dejected.

"I'll work with him, coach!" I break in. I used to be on the tourney team until Chad decided to get the rulebook out. Apparently, girls can't play. So cheer was next best option. I still hate Chad for that.

Coach gives me an doubtful look. "All right. Let's run that again!" He blows the whistle and I watch as Jay turns around, right into Chad's face. Jay ignores him and keeps walking, slamming his shoulder into Chad's. 

"Ow!" Chad moans once Jay's walked away.

"What, you need a band-aid?" I ask. "Or a cold compress?" I hold up my hands and he scrambles away.

"COACH! SHE'S GONNA FREEZE ME!!" Chad screams. 

I glare. "I am not! I was offering to get him an ice pack!"

Coach hasn't heard though, so Chad just glowers. "You were going to freeze me, just like you'll freeze everybody else someday. Take the chance while you can, Ice Queen. Lose your powers before we have to make you. Or you hurt somebody."

"I'm not going to hurt anybody!" I scream. Someone appears beside me.

"Leave her alone!" Carlos tells Chad. Chad snorts. 

"What? You're actually defending her? This is perfect, Ice Queen's found her true home! Ben'll see sense soon." he tells me.

I shove Chad backward so hard he lands on his butt. I didn't take my gloves off, and yet two handprints of frost are on his uniform.

"COACH!!!" Chad squeals. "SHE USED HER POWERS ON ME!" He scrambles up and runs over to coach to display the frost prints. I bury my face in my gloved hands and start to run away. Carlos catches me.

"Don't run away. They'll think you're guilty." he pleads. "Trust me."

So I don't. I stay. Coach comes over with Audrey, Chad, and the rest of both teams trying to eavesdrop casually. Jay comes over too when he sees Carlos is involved. 

"Ellie..." Coach sighs. 

"He was insulting her." Carlos breaks in. "He was telling her she should get rid of her powers and that she was going to end up on the Isle."

Chad gapes at him. "I would never say that to Ellie! I was merely informing her that she shouldn't be hanging around VK's!" he grabs my arm and pulls me away from Carlos. "They're obviously a bad influence."

I'm tempted to shove him away again, but that wouldn't help my case. "You were not. You were telling me exactly what Carlos said you were."

"Ah-ah-ah!" He speaks over me so Coach won't hear. "I think you're  getting a little tired, Ellie. Why don't you go back inside?" he holds my arm tight enough to leave marks and starts to drag me away. I try to break away now, but Chad won't let go. That is, until Carlos punches him in the gut.

"OH!" Chad moans, losing his grip on my arm. Carlos doesn't pay attention, looking at me.

"Are you okay?"

I check my arm. Sure enough, he left crescent-moon nail marks. One of them is bleeding. "He cut me." I mumble. 

Coach breaks in. "What do you think you're doing, hitting one of my start players?"

"Your star player was holding Ellie against her will." Carlos argued, showing Coach my arm. Ben stares at it and Jay glares at Chad's moaning form. Audrey is giving me and Carlos murderous looks.

Coach sighs. "Audrey. Take Ellie and Chad to the nurse's. The rest of you, get back on the field!"

Audrey grabs Chad off the ground and I groan. Alone with these two. What could possibly go wrong?

___________________________________________________

For the few people that have bothered to read this, please comment! I love hearing feedback! Also to the few people who are reading this, thanks a million!