𝙼 𝙰 𝚈 𝙱 𝙴
stave i 🥀 chapter 5

( third person narration )

𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙡𝙮, 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙮
𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚.
𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣.

Quinn stood with Jay and Mal by the lockers, with Evie and Carlos a couple of feet away. The cookies were finished and now the VK's were waiting for Ben to show up. They were going to give him the cookie, make him fall in love with Mal, get her front row seat at Coronation, steal the wand, bring it back to their parents, and take over the world.

"Are you feeling kind of weird about this?" Jay said, echoing Quinn's thoughts, "I mean, It's not so bad here, you know."

"Are you insane? Long live evil! You're mean! You're awful! You're bad news!" Mal snapped, "Snap out of it!" She snapped her fingers in front of Jay's face.

"Thanks, Mal," the thief nodded, "I needed that." Jay stepped away from the girls and leaned over the railing, looking at the girls at the picnic tables. "Oh, hello. The name's Jay. You all going to the tourney game tonight?"

"Yeah," they responded in unison.

"Keep a lookout for number eight, all right? Scoring the winning goal," Jay flirted, causing Quinn to roll her eyes.

Watching Jay's interactions with girls stopped with a tap on Quinn's shoulder. The half-redhead turned around to find Percy behind her. Seriously.

"Hey," Quinn said with a fake smile.

Percy smiled at Quinn's smile. "Hey," he beamed, "So, I need your help with something."

Quinn was preoccupied. She was looking at Ben and Mal talking. Quinn saw as Mal wiped out the bag of cookies.

"Uh, yeah, sure. What's up?" Quinn asked.

But she paid no attention to Percy, who rambled on about writing some song, or whatever. She watched as Mal shook the bag of cookies. Quinn tried to read lips as much as she could, but she got more from facial expressions than she did from mouths.

Quinn watched Ben frown, and Mal frown. Next thing she knew, Mal was about to eat the cookie, until Ben snatched it right out of her hands.

"So, tomorrow? In the music room?" Percy finished.

"What?" Quinn asked, paying attention now, "Yeah, yeah, sure. Music room. Tomorrow." She looked back to Ben, who was eating the cookie. "Good luck at today's game."

Without another word, the heartbreaker approached Evie and Carlos, who were slowly walking towards Mal and Ben.

"They're good. They're great! They're amazing! They're, uh . . . " the cookie must've started working on Ben, because he was trailing off every couple of sentences, "I mean, they're chewy and, and you know, they—is that walnuts?"

Mal nodded. Ben continued smiling. "I love walnuts. I mean, uh, you know, the . . . the chocolate . . . The . . . the chocolate . . . The chocolate chips are . . . " Ben zoned out for a moment as the trio of Carlos, Evie, and Quinn approached the duo, "I'm sorry. Um . . . uh, they're . . . they're warm and soft. And they're sweet . . . " Ben looked into the purple-haired girl's green eyes. "Mal, have you always had those little golden flecks in your eyes?"

Quinn had come to the conclusion that Auradon kids really were stupid. Because if they weren't, Ben would have been suspicious of the fact that the rest of the VK's were crowding around Ben.

"How you feeling, bro?" Jay asked, grabbing Ben by the back of the shoulders. Ben didn't seem to care for his view of Mal was better.

"I feel . . . I feel . . . I feel like . . . " Ben raised his voice, "Like singing your name. Mal, Mal!"

Mal put a hand over Ben's mouth, preventing him from saying anything else. The rest of the group smirked, knowing that Ben was under the spell. Now time for step two.

• • •

"This is a nail-biter, folks. There's 47 seconds left on the clock. We're all tied up. The Sherwood falcons, two. The fighting knights, two. What a game between Auradon's fiercest rivals. The teams get into their huddles and take up positions along the kill zone. Akiho! The dragoneers have been laying down a withering hail of fire."

Evie, Mal, Quinn, Lonnie, and Alison all stood in the stands, watching the tourney game. Quinn had to admit, it was nice having Lonnie and Alison as company. It was also nice that they weren't snobs like Audrey was.

Tourney must've been a big deal in Auradon. Everyone was wearing blue and gold (Auradon Prep's colors), and a ton of people were there, cheering for the team. There even was an announcer with a golden microphone and everything. And even Alison had worn a dress for the event (that was, after much persuasion from Evie and Quinn).

The game was all tied. Carlos was on the bench. Quinn watched as Jay talked to the coach, and then watched as the team huddled. They all broke apart, and it shocked Quinn that Carlos was on the field.

"He's bringing that hothead Jay in from the Isle of the Lost and that little guy Carlos can barely hold a shield," Carlos on the field clearly shocked the announcer, too, "When they break from their huddles, this is gonna be a big moment here. And the tipoff is ready. Here we go. Long pass goes to Jay. Jay dishes off to prince Ben. Nice little block by Carlos. He does a little dancing jig in his opponent's face. And now Jay gets the ball back. Here comes Jay! Jay, hurdling maneuver at mid-field."

Somehow, the ball couldn't get into the other team's net. "Oh, what a save by Philip the Falcons' goalkeeper!"

"23 seconds left. You could cut the tension with a sword. The long ball is played into Jay. Jay, great jump, great leap. And a great move by Jay. Big block from Chad. Jay dishes off to Prince Ben. And then Carlos with a big block, goes down. Jay through the kill zone, picks up Carlos. Oh, he's being hammered by dragon fire. Still, going on. Jay, hurdling maneuver at mid-field. He's in the clear. The ball goes back to Jay."

Jay dodged fires through the kill zone. Everyone watched as Jay threw the ball to Carlos, who shot the ball up with his sheild, yelling at Ben to get it.

Ben got the ball. "He passes to prince Ben," everyone cheered as Ben scored into the oponet's net, with barely any seconds to spare, "He scores! Prince Ben has won it! What an unselfish play by Jay! What a team! Incredible! And it's the new guys, Jay and Carlos, who set up the prince for the win here."

For the first time, Quinn was very enthusiastic about sports. Quinn hugged Alison and they cheered for the team. Percy's eyes scanned the crowd, and met Quinn's green ones. She gave him a small wave and sent him a smile. Percy smiled in return at the gesture.

"What a victory! An absolutely wonderful end to one of the best games ever. Here they come, folks," the announcer yelled through the mic as the team made their way towards the cheerleaders, "The winners of the first tourn—"

The mic was taken from the announcer mid-sentence. "Excuse me. Excuse me. Can I have your attention, please? There's something I'd like to say," the crowd went dead silent as Ben had the mic in the middle of the field, "Give me an 'M!'"

"M!" the crowd repeated. The cheerleaders did some moves. Quinn immediatly knew what Ben was about to say after the next letter was recited.

"Give me an 'A!'"

"A!"

"Give me an 'L!'"

"L!"

"What does that spell?"

"Mal!"

"Come on, I can't hear you!"

"MAL!" Evie and Quinn shouted as they turned to their purple-haired best friend, who looked really annoyed.

"I love you, Mal! Did I mention that?" Ben said, as the entire crowd awed. Audrey ran off the field, clearly disappointed about the fact that her boyfriend was in love with another girl. "Give me a beat!"

The band began to play an upbeat beat, causing the crowd to dance.

"Oh, my God! Cookie!" Evie said, referring to the love potion.

"What was in that cookie?" Mal asked.

"Beats me," Quinn said, shrugging.

(wow omg they sing verse 1 of did i mention slay)

The tourney team and cheerleaders started to break out into a well-coregraphed dance as Ben continued singing. How they knew the dance beats Quinn.

(yay more singing)

The entire spelled out ridiculous with their bodies like Ben did.

(so much singing oml)

Ben took off his jersey and threw it to the crowd. Well, specifically to Mal, who caught it in midair. She unbunched it, and read the number on the back.

("i write songs abt douchebags who cheat on me—")

Everyone watched as Ben was thrown into the crowd. Everyone watched as Ben crowd surfed over to where Mal, Evie, Quinn, Lonnie, and Alison were.

(last verse ygs are doing great rn)

Everyone cheered and clapped at the finish of the song. Ben than procedeed to kiss Mal, but she quickly backed away, so he just pulled her into a close side hug instead. "I love you, Mal! Did I mention that?" he said through the mic. The crowd gushed more.

Out of nowhere, the microphone was snatched again. Quinn saw Audrey with the golden mic in one arm and Chad in the other. The half-redhead automatically knew that this was going to crush Evie.

"Chad's my boyfriend now!" Audrey said, attempting to make Ben jealous, which wasn't working, "And I'm going to the coronation with him. So I don't need your pity date." Audrey kissed Chad, and Ben snatched the microphone back.

"Mal! Will you go to the coronation with me?" Ben asked.

"Yes!" Mal responded, not like she really had a choice.

"She said yes!" the crowd erupted into cheers again.

Jay made his way to the bleachers as the tourney crowd gathered. "Let's go, Ben. The whole team's waiting for you," Jay said.

"Yeah," Ben said, following Jay over to the team.

"Bye," Mal gave a small wave to the prince, who smiled in response.

Evie looked crushed, like Quinn expected. Quinn would hear her friend endlessly rant about how cute and funny Chad was, only to find out that he liked another girl and only used Evie to do his homework.

Mal caught on too. "I feel really sorry for Audrey," she said, Quinn nodding along.

"You do?" Evie questioned.

"Yeah," the purple-haired girl insisted, "I feel like if she were talented like you, and she knew how to sew and knew beauty tips, that she wouldn't need a prince to make her feel better about herself."

Evie slightly chuckled, "I guess I am kind of talented."

Quinn hummed. "Not 'kind of,'" she said, "100%. And you don't even need your magic mirror to calculate that."

"Thanks M, and you too Q," Evie said, smiling.

"And there he is. Jay, the most valuable player. How do you like that?" the announcer said, finally getting his mic back.

The girls cheered as Jay was carried by the team, holding a golden cup in his hand and cheering. Quinn thought back to what Jay had said earlier. Maybe, Auradon wasn't as bad as the VK's thought it was.

• • •

Quinn sat in music class, nervously tapping her foot against the carpet-covered flooring. She had never performed original music of hers back at the Isle. The girl was too nervous to sing to anybody. Only to her friend Scarlet, or in random bars, restaurants, or just in random places on the Isle of the Lost.

Alison didn't seem to have a care in the world. She sat in her seat, listening to other people's songs while letting her guitar lean against her foot. Quinn admired that in her. Alison was chill and not as girly and giddy as the rest of the Auradon girls. She didn't care about Audrey's backhanded compliments about her outfits. Alison didn't care what anyone thought. Quinn was going to miss her after the VK's took over the world.

Every pair except for Quinn, Alison, and Percy had gone. Percy was going solo, due to the amount of kids in the class. Quinn had recalled him telling her about how Mrs. A. was pushing the performance date later because Percy wasn't good with music. That's probably what he was asking Quinn for a couple days ago.

"Thank you, Charles and Casey," Mrs. A. said, as the class lightly applauded the duo. Mrs. A. pulled out the paper she had been reading off of, "And our last duo is Alison and Quinn."

The class lightly applauded again, as Alison stood up, grinning. Quinn stayed back for a moment, before Alison nudged her head towards the front of the class. She reluctantly followed.

Every pair of eyes was on the duo. Alison and Quinn had agreed that Quinn would play the guitar instead of Alison, for fidgeting reasons. Which was another thing Quinn liked about Alison.

At that point the duo was supposed to say some sort of intro, but neither of them spoke up, so Quinn started strumming Alison's electric guitar (which was blue. Shocking).

Alison:
All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for the daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere

Quinn:
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow

Alison:
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad

Quinn:
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had

Both:
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very, very
Mad world, mad world

Alison:
Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy birthday, happy birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen

Quinn:
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello, teacher! Tell me, what's my lesson?
Look right through me, look right through me

Both:
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell youI find it hard to take
When people run in circles it's a very, very
Mad world
Mad world
Mad world
Mad world.

(pls ignore the cringe and awkward song lyric break that's going on rn)

Quinn was terrified. Imagine Auradon kids enjoying a taste of the Isle of the Lost. Quinn couldn't. She expected Mrs. A to fail both of them and for her fellow classmates to say nothing.

But they didn't do that. Quinn and Alison not only recieved A's on their project, but earned a standing ovation from Mrs. A and their fellow classmates. Alison pulled Quinn into a tight hug, as they shared smiles of satisfaction.

Quinn had always loved music. But she knew at that moment that three things were making her want to stay in Auradon more. Her love for music and it's unlimited opportunities; Alison and her friendship,

And the smile Percy sent to her.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

percy ends up being an asshole, im sorry—

love tom sm oml ✋

also i was too lazy to actually write the songs as dialogue so ignore the awkward lyric breaks 😀

thanks for bearing with me. :)
until next time.

~crrashingwavves