"Shut up," Mal groaned, rolling her eyes as she filed into the English classroom, Carlos and Georgiana following behind her. Her two friends were taking turns pinching each other and tugging on each other's hair. And Neville was no help, right there behind them and egging them on by encouraging Georgie.

"C'mon. You can't let a man beat you. Think about feminism," Neville said, snickering.

Georgie then slung her arm out and hit Carlos hard in the gut, who bent over and groaned, holding the sore spot. "Jesus, Georgie."

"Don't blame me," she shrugged. "Blame feminism."

"Get a move on, freaks," Audrey said from behind them, clearly annoyed that they were blocking the door.

"Sorry," Georgie muttered while scurrying to her desk. She was always trying to be nice to Audrey since stealing her boyfriend inadvertently — though she did seem happy enough with Chad. He was handsome and royalty, so that was all she needed.

As of late, Neville had made a point of swapping desks with Doug so that he could sit next to Mal. And though the two were dating, the purple haired girl still was playing it cool. She couldn't let anyone know that she was actually starting to like the love-spelled boy — though Georgie and Evie could see right through her. She was starting to like him and Auradon.

"Alright, class, settle down," their teacher, Mrs. Hamilton said, gathering their attention. "Jane is so kindly passing around our next book for the term. It's another classic — Othello."

When Jane handed the book to Georgiana, she thanked her softly and began flipping through it. She hid her grimace well when she saw lots of ancient words. It didn't help her reading challenges when the sentences were structured so oddly and formally.

Mrs. Hamilton began assigning parts to students, and Georgie was so thankful when she wasn't given a part. Carlos was stuck with someone named Rodrigo, and Audrey had Iago. The name made Georgie snicker, knowing Jay would find it funny too if he were in the class.

However, they only got through the first few sentences of the scene before Audrey was clearing her throat and raising her hand. When she spoke, she sounded much more hoarse than before.

"Mrs. Hamilton, I think I have a sore throat," she said with a huge pout on her face, like it was just tragic that she couldn't read that day. "Maybe someone like Georgiana could take my place."

"Very well."

Georgie froze, and she looked at Carlos in panic, who usually volunteered for her if not Ben. But Ben was out and making plans for the festivities being held the next day to welcome parents.

"Actually, I can read," Mal said quickly. "Then I can tell Jay all about the character his pet bird was named after."

Mrs. Hamilton stared down her nose at Mal, who was usually too busy defacing her desk to participate in class. "How unusually helpful of you, Mal. But I believe Miss Gaston does not need your help."

Except she did.

Georgie stared down at her book, beginning to sweat as she looked at the passage. It was so long, and her breathing came quickly.

"Any day now, Georgie," Audrey said, her sick voice long gone as she leaned forward like she was expecting something.

So, she took in a deep breath and read. "D - Despise me, if I do... not. Three great ones of the city, in per - uh - pears - um..."

"Personal," Carlos whispered, leaning toward her a bit.

"Personal suit to... make me his li - le - lu—"

"Stutter much?" Audrey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Audrey!" Miss Hamilton snapped. "Enough with the commentary. Keep going, Georgiana."

Georgie bit her lip hard and stared at the words on the page, none of them making sense to her. It felt like she was regressing, all of Ben and Evie's lessons flooding out of her brain. She was back to being that stupid little girl trapped on the island.

She could only stutter out a few more sentences before tears blurred her vision, keeping her from seeing the words.

"Oh, my god," Audrey said, her mouth a jar. "Can you even read?"

"Can it, Princess!" Mal snapped, glaring at the girl. "Or I'll—"

"You'll what?" Audrey asked, knowing Mal couldn't try anything with a teacher in the room. "Volunteer so Georgie doesn't have to read?"

"I can read!" Georgie muttered, not sounding very confident given how tight her throat felt.

Already, the students were whispering amongst themselves.

"Then what's the next word?" Audrey asked mockingly.

Georgie blinked away her tears and looked at it. Epithets. She didn't even know where to behind other than it started with an E sound. And it was so embarrassing as she incorrectly sounded the word out.

"Wow," Jane whispered, her blue eyes wide. "She really can't read."

More and more people voiced their thoughts, and soon, all Georgie could hear was their snickering. And so she bolted, sliding out of her desk and leaving her books behind. And just before she made it outside, she passed Audrey's desk, who snatched her wrist tightly, a vengeful smile on her perfect lips.

"If you think you can just show up and steal someone's boyfriend without consequences, think again."

Georgie ripped herself free and ran from the room, trying to ignore the laughter as the teacher tried to settle everyone down. In doing so, she couldn't hear Neville and her friends trying to chase after her.

Figuring the library was a little too ironic, she ran to the next best secluded place, knowing no one would be outside when class was in session. She made it to the bleachers by the track field and hid underneath them, sitting in the dirt with her knees pulled to her chest as she cried.

She'd never felt so humiliated and shameful. And though she knew it wasn't her fault — she was just a product of the Isle and her father's cruelty. But that didn't make her feel any better.

The first to find her was Jay, of course. When Mal and Carlos lost her, they did the next best thing and found Evie and Jay in class. Jay was leading the small group that consisted of everyone but Neville, who'd gone off to find Ben, figuring he must've already known about the not being able to read business.

"Hey, come on," Jay said, taking a seat next to Georgie. In an instant, she hid in his arms as he hugged her tightly. "I'll beat her up for you."

She sniffed and shook her head. "You can't beat up a girl."

"We can," Evie offered, broadening her shoulders to try and appear more tough. Mal, of course, always looked tough as she held her chin out. In her mind, Audrey was already toast.

"What am I gonna do?" Georgie asked in a small voice as she pulled her head out. She looked at the distraught faces of all her friends who didn't know how to help her. "I - I can't go back to classes."

"Sure you can, George," Carlos said, trying to look on the bright side. "You've got us with you. Not to mention Ben."

"Neville too," Mal added, knowing he'd never judge Georgie for something like this. "And there are others, I'm sure."

But really, she knew it wouldn't matter in a matter of days. Not when they had the wand. Then they'd make everyone who laughed at Georgie pay.

"I can't," Georgie sighed, rubbing her eyes. "God, they all know how stupid I am now."

"You are not stupid," Ben said, having come across them finally. He had a stern expression on his face and he was trying to mask his fury at Audrey for what she'd done. And he was kicking himself for not being there. "Don't ever call yourself that again."

She sniffed and leaned a bit away from Jay to look at her boyfriend, only to get more emotional. In an instant, he was crouching in front of her and taking her from Jay, letting her cry into his chest.

"No one important cares that you're still learning to read," Ben kept on. "Not your friends, not me, not my parents."

Georgiana paled at that. "Oh, I can't meet your parents tomorrow, Ben. Not now. Someone will tell them. It was bad enough being Gaston's daughter, but now this?"

"Hey," he said softly, cupping her cheeks so that she'd look at him. "In what world would my mother ever judge you for that? And my father certainly wouldn't cast any stones."

"But I'm not - not what they have pictured for you. I'm not a perfect princess, Ben," she tried to reason. "I can't even read. I'm an embarrassment to be dating."

"I think I can decide when I'm embarrassed and when I'm not," he said. "And I'm certainly not going to be embarrassed when I introduce someone so kindhearted and giving and selfless and beautiful as my girlfriend. You'll just have to be okay with that. Now, promise me that you'll be there tomorrow. Or I'll have to hunt you down in your dorm and drag you to Family Day."

"I don't know, Ben," Neville said with a smile. "I've seen you run. She's much faster. She could get away."

Mal rolled her eyes playfully and nudged his stomach to shut him up. Ben just chuckled and looked back to Georgie. "Now, can you promise not to let anything Audrey says to you bother you?"

Georgie sniffed and wiped her eyes so that she could see Ben's crystal blue ones more easily. She didn't understand why everything felt like it was going to be okay when she looked into his eyes, but she didn't complain about it.

"I promise to try."

|

All of the Villain Kids aside from Georgie were gathered. After the day she'd had, Ben took Georgie back to the Enchanted Lake so that they could have some alone time. Word was spreading like wildfire around the school that she couldn't read, so Ben didn't want to risk anyone seeing her for a while until she'd calmed down.

"Okay, we all know what this looks like. So it'll be up on the dais under the Beast's spell jar, and we'll be coming in from here," Mal was saying as they went over the plan for the coronation. "I will be in the very front with Neville and Georgie. You all will be up in the balcony. Okay. Carlos?"

He nodded, recalling his part of the plan. "Okay, so I'll find our limo, so we can break the barrier, and, uh, get back on the island with the wand."

"Perfect. Evie?"

"Yeah?" she asked as Mal held up what looked like a perfume bottle.

"You will use this to take out the driver. Two sprays and he'll be out like a light."

"Okay," she nodded

They all shared a look, and each could practically read each other's minds. They were all having doubts, but each was too afraid of their parents to voice those doubts. And so with a nod, Carlos and Jay moved away while Mal sat at the table, looking at her spell book. Evie frowned when she saw the page she was studying.

"M? You want to break Neville's love spell?"

"Yeah. Ben's too. You know, for after. I don't..." As she trailed off, Evie sat next to her. "I've just been thinking, you know, when the villains finally do invade Auradon, and begin to loot and kick everyone out of their castles and imprison their leaders and destroy all that is good and beautiful, Neville still being in love with me just seems a little extra... cruel. Not to mention Ben and George."

Then Mal snapped her spell book shut and stormed off.

"M?" Evie tried. But Mal was long gone, off to cook up the ending to her and Georgiana's happiness.