Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Eloise couldn't stop replaying what Ben had said in her mind — your eyes are the exact same as King Eugene's. She continued to paint the view from the balcony they were on but couldn't concentrate to her best ability as the sentence replayed like a broken record. Did she really match his eyes?
After a while, Eloise made her way back to the room with Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay sitting with each other. "What's cooking, good lookin'," Jay said when she entered the room, Eloise smirking as she sat down beside him. "I love you. . ." She said before Jay smiled brightly at him — their friendship was perfect. "I love you, too, El," Jay responded.
She noticed his top, patting it slightly in congratulations. Jay noticed and gave her a one-sided smile, "I'm too good." Suddenly, a knock could be heard as Mal placed the spellbook down to answer it.
Eloise noticed the dog that was laid beside Carlos — Ben wasn't lying. As Mal opened the door, Eloise scuttled to hide behind Jay once noticing Ben was standing behind it, Jay took it as an option to hide the blonde girl even more as he sat upright. "Hey, Mal. . ." Ben said before glancing his eyes over the room; looking for Eloise, "I didn't see you guys today. I was just wondering if you had any questions or anything that you needed."
"Not that I know of," Mal said as she looked around the room, at all of them. Eloise ducked down and hid behind the bed, she didn't want to face Ben anymore that day — that comment he made weirded her out too much. Brown eyes are brown eyes, right? "Okay. All right. Well, if you need anything, just—" He was abruptly cut off by Mal, "—Oh, wait! Um, is it true that we all get to go to your coronation?"
Eloise furrowed her brows, why was Mal so bothered about a coronation? Oh, wait. The wand. "Yeah, the whole school goes," Responded Ben.
"Wow. That is beyondexciting. Do you think that it's a possibility that the five of us could stand in the front row next to the Fairy Godmother, just so we could soak up all that goodness," Mal said, she had blown Eloise's cover about not being there as she revealed herself from beside the bed, Ben smiling slightly when she did.
"I wish I could. Up front, it's just me, my folks, and my girlfriend," Mal turned to Eloise. What was she thinking? Eloise stood awkwardly beside Jay as he placed his arm on her shoulder. "And your girlfriend?" Mal confirmed his words.
"Yeah. I'm sorry," Ben said.
"Okay, thanks, bye," Mal replied.
Upon closing the door, Mal turned around and faced Eloise with an all-knowing smile, the 'I have a plan' smile that Eloise didn't like so much. "I think it's time that Bennyboo got himself a new girlfriend, and, you, Eloise are the perfect candidate," Mal said before Evie clapped her hands together in agreement, Eloise looked up at Jay with wide eyes almost in an attempt to get him to stop their ideas.
"Do I get a say in this?" Eloise asked but all of them shook their heads. Great.
A little while later, they were all within the kitchen — cooking the love cookies. Cookies laced with a love spell. Eloise felt an ache within her chest, she felt as if this wasn't the right thing to be doing. Especially, using Eloise as the main trap.
"It says that we still need one tear, and I never cry," Mal said as she pointed toward the book, Eloise sat on the counter beside Carlos. "Let's just chop up some onions," Carlos suggested as he pulled an onion from a basket. "No! It says that we need one year of human sadness, and this love potion gets the best reviews, so we have to follow it exactly," Mal exclaimed before explaining the reason.
"A tear's a tear. . ." Jay cursed out all of Mal's detests. "Not true, Jay. There are many tears: tears of happiness, tears of shock, tears of sadness, tears of anger," Eloise explained, within books, she read she had learned all these emotions and reactions to them.
"Yeah, they both have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex test," Evie explained to them, creating more of a visual effect on the difference between tears.
Suddenly, Lonnie burst into the room as she looked for Mal. "Midnight snack, huh? Whatcha guys making?" Lonnie asked when noticing the bowl of cookie mixture, dipping her finger into it before eating the batter — the five of them detesting as she did so. "What? I'm not gonna double dip," Lonnie replied to their shouts.
"Feel anything?" Evie asked. "Yeah, like maybe it might be missing something?" Mal added on as she referred to the missing human tear of sadness and then Jay's failed attempt at flirting with her, "Could use some chips."
"And those are?" Mal asked. Not one of them knew what 'chips' were. "Chocolate chips. Just the most important food group. Wait, didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies? Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big old glass of milk and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and. . . Why are you all looking at me like that?" Then she realized.
Lonnie watched as their faces turned into expressions of sadness and confusion. Their parents didn't care for them like that. They were good to steal from children and stores, good to take money from shops that need it, good for destroying items of belongings. But, not good enough to be loved.
"It's just different where we're from," Mal told Lonnie, mixing in the chocolate chips.
"Yeah, I know. I just, you know, I thought even villains love their kids," No. Lonnie soon looked down in sorrow and guilt for bringing up the idea of parental admiration. "Oh. How awful," Then a tear fell — Mal perked up and grabbed the tear from her cheek, dripping it into the mixture.
"Yeah, well, big bummer, but we have to get these into the oven. So, thank you so much for coming by, really, really have a great night," Mal pushed Lonnie from the room.
"I do not have a good feeling about this," Eloise explained as she leaned her head on Carlos' shoulder and stroked Dude, the dog. She didn't like this idea at all.
