Heartsong 《Malvie》

Chapter One: Hidden

Evie was walking down a corridor at Auradon Prep when she overheard what sounded like Ben's voice. What's going on? Why is he being so loud? She wondered to herself, making the decision to check and see what was happening. As she crept closer, she heard the unmistakable voice of her best friend Mal. "Ben, I don't know how long I can keep this up," she said. "You don't have a choice. You have no idea of the damage it would cause to both of our public images if we broke up," Ben responded. "Ben, this is not who I am. I'm not one of the other girls who were raised here in Auradon their whole lives. I can't just become like one of them overnight," she said. Evie then heard something that sounded like a thud, and she quickly hid herself when she heard footsteps approaching. She could see Ben, who looked to be supporting a barely conscious Mal. She thought that Mal's eyes met hers briefly, but just as quickly as she thought it happened, they were past her. The main thing that made Evie believe that Mal really had met her eyes was what she thought she saw in Mal's eyes. She looked like she was silently pleading for Evie to help her.

"What's up with you, Evie? You look like you've seen a ghost," Doug said later that day. "It's nothing," she said, even though she knew that it wasn't nothing. "If you say so," Doug said, hugging her tightly. "You know what I think would be good for you?" He asked her. "What?" She asked. "Spending some time with Mal," he said. "No. She doesn't want to spend time with me anymore, remember?" Evie asked him. "Still, it couldn't hurt you to ask her to spend time with you," Doug said. "I'm not going to do that. If she doesn't want to hang out with me and my friends anymore, then I respect her wishes," Evie replied. "Aren't you a little worried about her? She hasn't acted like herself since Cotillion," Doug asked. "Of course I'm worried about her," Evie replied, especially now that I know why she's not acting like herself, she finished in her head.

Over the course of the coming days, Evie began spending more time by herself, naturally worrying her friends Carlos and Jay even more than they were already worried. One day, Carlos went to talk to her and try to find out why she was becoming antisocial. "Hey Carlos. Come in," she said, standing aside to let Carlos in. "Evie, we're worried about you. You're spending less and less time with us, and it's not normal for you," he said. "I know. I'm just worried about Mal, maybe more than anyone else," Evie said. "Yeah, I understand that. You're her best friend, I get it," Carlos said. "It's more than that, but I don't want to say anything more about it yet," Evie said. Suddenly, just as Carlos was about to say something, Mal came into the room, slamming the door behind her. Evie noticed that she was breathing heavily, and she looked like she'd been crying for a while. "E, we need to talk. Now. Privately," she said.

Evie told Carlos to go tell the others that she was talking to Mal, who wanted the conversation to be private, then turned to her purple-haired best friend. "Evie, I have a problem, and I don't know what to do about it," she said. "Let me guess: Ben's forcing you to be a typical Auradon princess, and he won't let you break up with him because it would seriously damage both of your public images?" Evie asked. "How did you -" Mal began. "Let's not worry about that right now. I don't really know what to tell you, M. I really wish I did. The only thing I can think of is try telling his parents about it," Evie replied. "I think you and I both know how that'll end," Mal said. "Didn't think about that. Okay, new plan," Evie said. "Wait. What if I told him that I can't stay with him anymore because it's not good for me?" Mal suggested. "You haven't brought that up to him when you've tried to break up with him yet?" Evie asked, and Mal shook her head. "There's a bit of a problem with any of the ideas that we come up with," she said. "What's that, M?" Evie asked. "Most of the time, he's the same Ben that I fell in love with, but I don't feel - how do I phrase it? - I don't feel comfortable around him like I used to. I feel like we're drifting apart because his inner beast breaks out from time to time, and I don't know when it'll happen. To make it even worse, he doesn't even remember anything that happens when his beast takes over," Mal said. "By his 'inner beast', do you mean -" "Like how his father used to be a beast? Yeah, sort of, except that his appearance doesn't change," Mal said, looking like any semblance of control she had over her emotions was about to break.

"Come here, M. Come here," Evie said, pulling her best friend into a warm embrace. Mal hugged her back and cried into the shoulder of Evie's jacket for a while, then she put her forehead up against Evie's. What happened next surprised Evie. Mal leaned in and kissed Evie pretty deeply, then pulled away, blushing bright red. "I shouldn't have done that," she said, moving to leave the room. "M, don't go. I... I actually enjoyed it," Evie said. Mal looked at her. "But it was wrong. You're with Doug, and I'm with... with Ben," Mal said, her voice laced with fear when she said Ben's name. "Mal, you need to end it with Ben. You're obviously scared of him," Evie said seriously. "I don't know... I don't want to hurt him when he doesn't even know what he's doing to me," she said. "M, listen to me, I don't care. I heard what happened between you and Ben earlier, and I saw what you looked like afterwards. You need to just end it with him. I don't care how you do it, but it needs to be done," Evie said sternly. "Fine. I'll go do it now, actually," Mal replied, promptly leaving the room.

The next morning, Mal joined Evie for breakfast and told her that she had broken up with Ben, and Evie revealed that she had broken up with Doug the previous night when she realized that she didn't feel the same way about him anymore. Mal found herself wanting to kiss Evie a second time, and everything about her best friend took her breath away. Evie found herself feeling the same way about Mal, but she didn't know how to tell Mal about her feelings.