Secret Love

Chapter 4

WARNING: One part of this chapter flirts with maturity.

Mal was sitting in Lady Tremaine's classroom all by herself. She was still processing what has happened yesterday. She looks at the dragon-shaped rock in her hand as she thinks about the kiss that she planted on Carlos' lips, not to mention her admission that she needed what he thought she needed in her life.

The sound of the door opening caused her to hide the rock in her bag. She turns her head and sees Evie walking towards her.

"Hey, E," greeted Mal.

"Hey, M," greeted Evie. "What's going on? You look like as if your mother just yelled at you."

"I just... I got a lot on my mind right now," said Mal, which wasn't a total lie.

"Care to tell me where you were last night?" asked Evie. "You were supposed to meet up with me and Jay to throw eggs at the Madam Mim's house."

Mal mentally slaps herself. She remembered agreeing to meet with Evie and Jay, but she was busy pranking Uma with Carlos.

"Were you with Carlos?" asked Evie.

Mal's eyes widened with shock.

"Ha!" Evie exclaimed. "You two have been hanging out a lot lately. Every time I see you with him, you smile. You do know we're not supposed to smile, right?"

"I wasn't smiling," denied Mal.

"Uh-huh," said Evie suspiciously.

"He just made me some paint grenades, that's all," said Mal.

"Sure, fine. Keep secrets from me, if you want. I don't care," said Evie sarcastically.

As Evie sits down on her seat in the back row, Mal begins to wonder again about Carlos and the meaning of what happened last night.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ROTTEN TO THE CORE ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

After school, Mal was on her way to Hell Hall to talk to Carlos. Along the way, she sees two pirates from Harriet Hook's crew ganging up on one little kid.

One pirate grabbed the kid by the shirt and lifts him off the ground.

Normally, Mal would ignore these kinds of shenanigans unless she can find a way to mess with it for her own amusement. However, something in her yelled at her to stop them.

"Hey, cut it out!" She shouted.

The two pirates turned around and see Mal heading their way.

"Let him go," she ordered.

"Why?" asked one pirate. "He stole from us."

"He's just a poor little boy," said Mal. "Let him go now. I'm not asking a third time."

Given Mal's reputations and who her mother is, the pirates release the boy and leave. Mal looks at the boy and, for some reason, smiles at him.

"It's okay. You're safe now," she said. "Go on. Run along."

"Thank you," said the boy.

As the boy runs away, Mal suddenly realizes what she did. She just saved a little boy from harm, which is something a hero would do, and she was nice to him. What is happening to her?

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ ROTTEN TO THE CORE ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Mal arrives at Hell Hall and meets Carlos in his mother's dressing room. He was currently doing chemistry homework, mixing chemicals with extreme care.

"Hey," Mal greeted.

"Hey," greeted Carlos, looking away from his experiment.

"So, uh, last night was, um, weird," said Mal.

"You mean the part where you kissed me and forced me to spend the night at your house, yeah, it was," said Carlos.

Mal chuckles, embarrassed at herself.

"If I recall correctly, you ran away while I was still sleeping," said Mal.

"Hey, it was getting a little too weird for me," said Carlos. "Plus, I'm not one who actually wants to be late for school."

Mal lightly smacks Carlos upside the head, grinning while she does.

"So, where does this take us?" asked Carlos. "What you told me, what you did, clearly I got through to you."

"And I hate and lo... adore you for that," said Mal, catching herself about the say the L word.

"The choice is yours," said Carlos.

"But what about you?" asked Mal. "Do you really want this? Do you really want us to happen? And don't tell me, if I want to. I want to know what you want."

"You really want me to be honest with you?" asked Carlos.

"For once, yeah," said Mal.

"I do," said Carlos. "Mal, you're a unique freak of nature and I want to be with you. I just didn't want to say anything in case you didn't want me."

"Hey, I was the one who kissed you first," reminded Mal. "I think that says something."

"I thought your mother taught you that love is weakness," said Carlos.

"I don't care what mom says," said Mal. "Carlos, being with you makes me happy, and I don't want that feeling to go away. I may be betraying everything I believe in, but, believe or not, I don't care. Us is what I want."

"Then I hope you don't hate me for this," said Carlos.

"What?" asked Mal.

Carlos quickly holds Mal's hand and dips her like they're ballroom dancing. He then plants a kiss on her lips. Mal, surprisingly, didn't fight back. She puts her hand behind his head and pulls him closer, increasing the intensity of the kiss.

Has Mal finally found love?

It's official. The ship has sailed. But will it last?

Leave a comment and let me know what you think. I'd really appreciate it.