Rotten to the Core

D1- Part Twelve 💙

'Oh, hi, Evelyn.' said Nick, his voice raspy. 'What brings you here?'

'You mean, to the bleachers?'

'The bleachers?' he looked around. 'Oh yeah, the bleachers.'

I raised a brow suspiciously. 'Did you hear that voice a few seconds ago?'

'The - the what?'

'The voice. It sounded like pleading... and begging.'

'What? I wasn't - well, maybe it was just your imagination.' said Nick, shrugging. 'I heard nothing except your beautiful voice ringing through my ears.'

'Nicholas?'

'Hm?'

'Can you be honest with me? Please?'

'I - what?' he gulped. 'Well, I don't really get what you mean... I - I am being honest-'

'Really?' I asked.

He nodded, avoiding eye contact. 'Really.'

'If you say so.' I said, my eyes narrowed.

'So... um... have any plans for tonight, kitten?'

I was about to say "no", but then I remembered that Mal wanted to plan for the capture of the wand. 'I'm sorry, Nicholas, but unfortunately, I do.'

'Oh, okay.' he replied, looking disappointed. 'That's fine, totally cool. Maybe next time, I guess.'

'Yeah...' I muttered. 'Next time...'

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'Okay, we all know what this looks like.' Mal said, jabbing her finger at the hand-drawn map. 'So it'll be up on the dais under the Beast's spell jar, and we'll be coming in from here.' she traced a line on the parchment to illustrate it. 'Evie and I will be in the very front. You two,' she gestured to Jay and Carlos, 'will be up on the balcony.'

'Okay.' the rest of us replied in sync.

Mal nodded and continued. 'Carlos,  you'll find our limo, so we can bring down the barrier, and get back on the Isle with the wand.'

'Got it.' said Carlos.

'Evie?'

'Hm?'

'Once we're in the limo, you will use this,' she handed me a perfume bottle with what looked like sleeping draught to me, 'to knock out the driver. Just two sprays and he'll be out like a light.'

'Okay.' I replied.

'And I'll drive.' said Jay.

Mal gave him an approving nod and both of us left the room.

We headed back to our dorm.

I saw Mal's open spellbook. 'M?'

'Yeah?'

'You want to break Ben's love spell?' I held up the spellbook.

Mal snatched the book from me and looked away. 'Oh, I... yeah. You know, for after. I don't - 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, Ben still being in love with me just seems a little extra... cruel.'

There was an awkward pause. I decided to break it. 'What about Nick?'

'What about him?'

'I mean, you're breaking Ben's love spell. What about Nicholas?'

'Oh, that's what you meant.' she shrugged. 'Well, I guess it depends on you. Your mother won't stop you. You know how she is, and the guy's a prince.'

'Oh.' I said. 'It's just so hard, you know, since we're already used to this place.'

'Trust me, E, I know how you feel.' said Mal sincerely, looking into my eyes. 'But we should do what's for the best.'

'Is this for the best?' I challenged.

'E, please don't start with me now.'

'M, we're not even getting a say in this plan, it's all "Our parents want us to do this", and "Our parents want us to do that". Be honest with me, Mal, is this what you really want?'

She was silent for a moment. 'What I want,' she finally spat out bitterly. 'is my mother to finally be proud of me, of what I can do. What I want is to prove to my mother that I am capable of much more than she thinks.' she punched the nearest pillow to her.

I sighed as she vented her feelings on the pillow.

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'Oh, that was so lovely!' exclaimed Ben's mother.

'You think so?' Nick grinned. 'I personally think my dancing was on point.'

'Shut up, Florence.' said Ben. 'We all know I'm the best dancer in the family.'

'Are you underestimating my dancing skills?' asked Beast playfully, showing off his "dancing skills".

'Stop it, Adam,' said Belle, laughing. 'you're going to break your spine.'

'Oh, I just remembered,' said Ben, as they were going to take a family picture. 'I just got a new girlfriend.'

'Oh, really?' smiled Beast.

'Mhmm.' hummed Ben in response.

Belle gave an approving smile. 'Well, I never wanted to say anything, but I always thought that Audrey was a little self-absorbed. A fake smile, kind of a kiss-up.'

'Do we know her?' asked Beast.

'Well, sort of.' said Ben. 'Oh, and Nick's got himself a girlfriend too.'

'Oh, yeah.' said Nick. 'I was meaning to tell you myself, but Florian had to stick his butt into my plans.'

'Okay,' said the photographer. 'on the count of three. One, two...'

'Mal!' Ben called her over.

'And three!'

'HUH?!?!' Beast and Belle exclaimed at the same time the shutter was heard.

'Mal, I wanna introduce you to my parents.'

Mal looked uncomfortable. 'Ben, this is a bad idea-'

'You know, from the Isle?'

'Mhmm...' hummed Belle.

'My girlfriend.' finished Ben, putting his hand around Mal's shoulders.

'Um... hi.' said Mal, smiling uncomfortably.

'Hi.' said Belle, obviously sharing Mal's discomfort.

'I was thinking,' said Ben, 'maybe she could join us for lunch?'

Beast looked unsettled about Ben's new girlfriend. 'Oh, um...'

'Oh, o-of course.' said Belle, giving her husband a look. 'Any friend of Ben's-'

'Girlfriend.' Nick interjected.

'Oh, yes, Nicholas. Any girlfriend of Ben's is a... friend of ours.'

'She's actually your future daughter-in-law.' said Nicholas. Ben glared at him. 'What? Just sayin'. Of course, assuming you stay together.' Ben glared harder. 'Which I'm sure you will.'

'Oh, um... I actually came with my friends.' said Mal.

'Well, invite them over. Because... the more the merrier!' said Belle, laughing edgily.

'Yeah. I'll go grab them.'