LISTENING AS JANE COMPLAINED ABOUT HER NOSE, Arietta never understood Jane's addiction with being perfect. She was a very pretty girl, in Arietta's opinion, and had a great personality, yet she never thought she was good enough. Arietta never had the heart to tell her that the real problem was her won insecurities and not her hair or her nose.

But as Arietta lay on her back next to Mal, she could not even feign concern, too wrapped up in her won emotions. Ever since yesterday, Arietta had been too distracted to be bothered with anything other than Carlos.

She was in a state of shock after he had stolen her first kiss. She didn't know what to do or say, so instead she freaked out and before she could control herself, turned into water.

It was a defense mechanism that mermaids used to use in ancient times to escape when they were on land. At the time, humans weren't as welcoming to merfolk. Arietta had only done it a few times before when she was younger and got scared but, it was a horrible feeling.

The worst part was that when you do wake up, you are in the ocean — making Arietta only feel even more frightened.

She felt so guilty afterward that she couldn't even try to go to Carlos later that day and explain herself. She was beyond embarrassed.

"Mom said, "If a boy can't see the beauty within," then he's not worth it." Can you believe it?" Jane exclaimed for what felt like the eleventh time, "What world does she live in?"

"Auradon," Arietta miserably said, cursing her tail. Mal sent Ariella a smirk, for her witty reply. She was liking the mermaid more and more every day.

"Mal, Ari, do you like?" Evie called out, raising the leather dress up to her shoulders so they could see the dress on the bluette.

"Yeah. It's cute," Arietta smiled at the stylish dress.

"It brings out your eyes," Mal boredly added, knowing what Evie likes to hear.

Evie giggled, looking at her work, "I know."

Arietta decided that she had already spent too much time wallowing in her self-pity. Flipping her body over so she was laying on her stomach. She began including herself in the conversation.

"I'll never get a boyfriend," Jane cried, plopping herself down on the other bed.

"Boyfriends are overrated," Mal looked up from her journal.

Evie smirked at Mal, "And how would you know Mal? You've never had one."

"It's 'cause I don't need one, E," Mal gave her friend an annoyed look, before turning back to her sketchbook, "They're a waste of time."

Evie jumped up from her seat, running to the desk, "I forgot to do Chad's homework! Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no," she began pulling out the books and pencils.

Arietta looked at Evie, confused, "Why are you doing his homework, E?"

Mal smirked, "And that is exactly what I mean. Evie is doing Chad's homework so they can go out."

Arietta frowned at her blue-haired friend nervously rushing around to do Chad's homework in time. It seemed like all the Isle kids were brainwashed by their parents. Arietta hoped that her family never did the same to her.

A knock on the door, brought the princess's attention to Lonnie, "Hey, guys! I'm Lonnie. My mom's Mulan?" Mal and Evie both did not seem to know who she was, "No? Anyways, I love what you've done with Jane's hair. And I know you hate us, and, well, you're evil. But do you think you could do mine?"

Mal arched her eyebrows at the Chinese girl's request, "Why would I do that for you?"

Lonnie smirked, pulling out a bag of gold dollars, "I'll pay you 50 dollars."

Evie jumped out of her seat, quickly snatching the coins out of Lonnie's hand, "Good answer. I need to buy more material. Let's see, I'm thinking, we lose the bangs, maybe some layers and some highlights."

"Yeah, yeah," Lonnie ignored Evie, turning to look at Mal instead who was drawing in her book, "I want it cool. Like Mal's."

Mal looked up, and Arietta swore she could see a light blush on her cheeks, "Really?"

"The split ends, too?" Evie sassily asked, before spinning on her heels, obviously offended by Lonnie's comment. Arietta began thinking about how talented Evie was with fashion, and she was suddenly struck with a plan.

While Mal went to spell Lonnie's hair, Arietta ran up to Evie. She knew this would be a great way to introduce the villains into Auradon society and was certain Ben would support it, "E! I need your help with something."

Evie's face lit up as she turned to Arietta, "What do you need?"

Arietta beamed at the blue-haired girl before she lowly told her, "I would love it if you designed my dress for the coronation."

Evie shocked Arietta and herself, by pulling the mermaid in for a huge hug as she squealed in joy, "I would love to. I already have a design in mind, and you are going to love it."

Arietta was about to respond, but Lonnie cut her off, "My hair!"

Evie and Arietta both walked behind her to look in the mirror. Evie frowned, placing her hand on Lonnie's shoulder's as she nodded her head, "I know. I know. It looks like a mop on your head. You know what? Let's cut it off, layer it..."

Lonnie shook her head, swatting Evie away, as she went to touch her knew brown locks, "No, no, no, no, no, no! I love it."

Evie's face dropped as she asked, "You do?"

Arietta giggled at the look of disgust on Evie's face as she moved away from Lonnie once again.

Lonnie looked into the mirror for a few seconds longer, "It's just," looking at the rip in Arietta's green sundress, Lonnie ripped her own skirt, "Now I'm cool."

Arietta raised her eyebrows as se=he nodded along for Lonnie's sake. Mal, on the other hand, joked, "Like ice."

Jane ran up to the mirror before mimicking the same rip on her dress, "What did I just do? Mom's gonna kill me!"

·.· ❀ ·.·

Later that week, Lonnie had stopped by Arietta's room for a late-night snack. The hardly hung out anymore due to Arietta spending most of her time with the VKs. Arietta gladly accepted the offer, since the young mermaid was always hungry.

As they walked down the hallway, Lonnie animatedly told Arietta about her sword fighting lessons with her mom. Arietta learned that the young warrior in training was gifted like her father in regard to her fighting skills.

"I wish I knew how to sword fight," Arietta enviously said, giving her friend a playful nudge, "You should so try out for fencing team."

Lonnie nodded her head with a shy smile, "I don't know about that. The boys would probably shun me."

Arietta rolled her eyes, knowing that she was talking about the current captain of the fencing team, Chad Charming. Whenever someone had a problem, it always pointed to the blonde prince.

Arietta frowned at her friend while Lonnie just shook off her frown with a bright smile, "We are here," she motioned at the entrance to the kitchen as she pushed the door open.

Arietta walked in first, followed by Lonnie. Arietta caused as she watched the four occupants posed in what appeared to be a nonchalant manner, smiling at the girls who had walked in.

"Arietta," Carlos's voice broke the silence in the room, as he climbed off the counters to stand closer to the girl. Noticing a faint pink on her cheek, Carlos felt the pride swell in his chest that he caused her blush, "What are you doing in here?"

"Same as you," Arietta smiled at the group looking into the bowl of cookie dough.

All the VKs nervously smiled, hoping that she didn't know what they were up to. Evie let out a nervous chuckle while Mal carefully asked, "And that would be..."

"A midnight snack," Arietta said as if it was obvious. Lonnie nodded along with her while Jay, Carlos, Mal, and Evie let out a sigh in relief.

Mal smiled as she continued to stir the bowl, "Yep. A snack," the purple pixie gave the mermaid a genuinely friendly smile as she continued, "I heard that you, your family, and your boyfriend get to stand upfront during the coronation.

Arietta sent Carlos a quick glance before nodding at Mal, "Yeah. Belle and my mom have been friends ever since they met at my dad's coronation. Plus I will be appointed royal representative afterward."

"Do you have a date?" Evie gushed at the princess.

Arietta shook her head, "no" blushing a scarlet red, "I think I ruined my chances."

"I'm sorry, Arietta," Lonnie gushed at Mal, interrupting their conversation, "Ya know, I have been looking all over for you, Mal. Ya know, all the girls want you to do their hair."

Arietta noticed Dude sitting on the countertop where Carlos once stood. She was happy to see Carlos and Dude getting along so well.

Arietta's attention went back to the girls when she heard Evie mention something about cookies being in the bowl. She immediately licked her lips as she dipped her pointer finger into the dough, "Yummy!"

All every one, except for Lonnie, rushed to stop her. Arietta raised a single arched brow at their protests, "What? I'm not going to double-dip."

Evie looked at Mal with a panicked expression on her face before smiling at Arietta, "Feel...anything?"

"Yeah," Mal shrugged, "Think it might be missing anything?"

Carlos shared a look with Jay, who quickly pushed the white-haired boy in front of the brunette mermaid. Carlos looked back at his friend who sent him a wink before Carlos grabbed Arietta's hand in his own, intertwining their fingers together. Carlos gently rubbed circles on her soft skin as he said, "Do you feel different?"

Arietta blushed looking at their two hands, intertwined together. As she watched their hands, she regretted her decision of ever avoiding Carlos. Letting out a small laugh she smiled at the boy in front of her, "I feel fine," she turned to Lonnie, "It could use some chips though."

"Chips?" Jay repeated, almost offended by the suggestion.

Lonnie ran to grab some chocolate chips from the fridge, "Chocolate chips. Just the most important food group. Wait, didn't your mom make you guys chocolate cookies?" She questioned the others as she sprinkled a few of the chocolate morsels into the dough.

The VKs didn't seem to be following so Arietta elaborated, "Like, when you're feeling sad and they're fresh from the oven with a big glass of milk, and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective," Arietta thinks of her mom, whom she missed, "Why are you all looking at me like that?" Arietta's light blue eyes looked up from the cookie dough to see all the villains looking at her in awe. Like she just told the best fairy tale in all the land.

Mal shrugged, keeping her hard exterior, "It's just different where we're from."

Arietta looked at Carlos to see that he had a sad expression on his face, allowing his grip on her hand to tighten. Arietta frowned, rubbing his shoulder in comfort, trying to let him know she was there.

"Yeah, we know," Lonnie smiled before jokingly saying, "We just thought even villains loved their kids."

Everyone was silent as they all just looked down. Lonnie and Arietta looked at each other in a state of shock, not knowing that their lives were that rough. Arietta's mother was more loving than most princesses in Auradon, so Melody and she always struggled to think that someone would not love their child. Arietta's entire childhood was filled with lullabies and swimming with her family and games in the castle.

"Oh," Lonnie placed her hands on Mal's, "How awful."

Arietta wished that Ben had made the suggestion sooner. Maybe the VKs wouldn't have suffered if they had let them out before.

Mal quickly leaned over to take Lonnie's tear before dropping it in the cookie dough and pushing Lonnie out, "Yeah, well, big bummer, but we have to get these into the oven so thank you so much for coming by!"

Jay did the same with Arietta, pulling her out of Carlos's grip and escorting her out of the kitchen. Lonnie and Arietta both watched as Mal slammed the door in their faces.