I'm A Big Bad Tiger

In Mal and Evie's Dorm

Me, Mal, Evie and Jane are in Mal and Evie's dorm. Jane is talking about boyfriends, Mal's learning spells in her spell book off by heart, Evie's sewing, and I'm drawing again. This time, I'm drawing a picture of me, papa, and mama. I make mama look beautiful because I know she is. Sasha was always described as beautiful. I've seen pictures of her. She was beautiful. I'm so lucky to be her daughter. Maybe that's how Auradon kids see it. But I'm different. I'm a bad bad tiger. It is said that Islers don't deserve anything. Why not? If we don't deserve anything, then why are we here? What's our purpose? Everyone has one, so what's mine? I'm in a team, a gang. We do everything together. I can't live alone. I have to have my friends, but what good of justice will it bring to the world? Papa doesn't love me, mama's dead, I'm adopted. Who are my true parents?

I snap out of my day dreaming no look up at Jane.

"Mom said if a boy can't see the beauty within, then he's not worth it. Can you believe it? What world does she live in?" Jane whines.

"Auradon." Mal answers.

"It was a rhetorical question." I tell her.

"Mal, do you like?" Evie holds up something. It's a dark blue fabric.

"Yeah. It's cute. It brings out your eyes." Mal smiles. I go back to drawing.

"I know. Bengal, what about you?" Evie looks at me.

"It's hotter than the red flower." I say to her. Nobody responds. "Where my dad grew up, fire was called the red flower."

"Aw, thanks." Evie goes back to sewing.

"I'll never get a boyfriend." Jane says.

"Boyfriends are overrated." I smirk at Mal.

"And how would you know, Mal? You've never had one." Evie looks up from her sewing at the same time as me when I look up from my drawing.

"It's 'cause I don't need one, E. They're a waste of time." Mal tells her.

"None of us have had boyfriends or girlfriends. Nobody dates on the Isle." I look at Jane. "Boys are stinky, stupid, and they play too rough."

"Just like you." Mal says. I am a boy in a girls body. For once, Science was wrong. I want to be a boy. People won't have to look at me weirdly when I fight, when I swear, when I feel what a boy feels in a situation. Science is always wrong, but for me, it was an accident. If I wasn't an accident, I wouldn't have my papa, my friends, my clothes, my guitar, my enemies, my passion for music and art. Boys can be overrated, but so can us girls. Especially me.

Evie starts to panic and that gets me out of my deep conversation with my thoughts.

"I forgot to do Chad's homework! Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no." Evie gets up. I start to draw again, working on my hair. It's like a lions mane. A really curly, greasy, puffy mane. It's like a massive balloon attached to the back of my head.

"And that is exactly what I mean." Mal chuckles. A girl walks in.

"Hey, guys! I'm Lonnie. My mom's Mulan? 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?" She asks.

"Why would I do that for you?" Mal ignores her questions.

"I'll pay you fifty dollars." That's a lot. That's more than we get. To be precise, me and my friends are broke.

Evie stands up. "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. I want it cool. Like Mal's." I look up. Lonnie is looking at Mal's purple hair.

"Really? The split ends, too?" Evie scoffs. Mal isn't on board with her until Evie holds up the bag of money.

Mal groans and grabs her spell book. "Okay." She finds a spell. "Beware, forswear, replace the old with cool hair." Lonnie's hair grows. She looks in the mirror and we all gasp.

"I know. I know. It looks like a mop on your head." Evie makes me laugh. "You know what? Let's cut it off, layer it-"

Lonnie interrupts Evie. "No, no, no, no, no, no! I love it."

"You do?" Evie questions.

"It's just." Lonnie rips a bit of her skirt. "Now I'm cool."

"Like ice." Mal smirks. Me, Mal and Jane join the others.

Jane rips her skirt. "What did I just do? Mom's gonna kill me!" We all chuckle. I sit down and I pull out my guitar.

"Play us a song." Lonnie smiles.

"Oh, Sorry. I'm not much of a play-on-demand person." I shake my head.

"Please!" The others pout, make puppy dog eyes and beg like there's no tomorrow.

"Fine." I start to play my favourite song A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. The melody is sweet, the beats are beautiful, it keeps me at peace. I will take a bullet for anyone, whether that being papa, Mal, Jay, Evie, or even Carlos. I wish I could go back in time and stop the disease that killed mama. I would make sure younger me caught the disease before she did. Papa wouldn't be so depressed. Maybe he wouldn't be abusive. Maybe he would be happy. Maybe he would have a full heart of love. Papa has never loved anyone, that hasn't been mama. Not even me. I don't know why he ever adopted me. Maybe he wanted to achieve her dreams of having a baby. Mama had Polycystic Ovary Syndrome which meant she couldn't produce any children. Before she was diagnosed, she had a baby. A son. My brother. His name was going to be Samuel. He died before he could feel the air on his skin, before he could cry, before he could open his eyes and see the world he could've been a part of. He died because mama was assaulted when she was eight months pregnant. Some teenagers kicked her in the stomach until Sam died.

After the song, everyone claps. Someone knocks on the door so I answer it. It's Jay.

"Coach wants us on the field. You need to see if you have made the cheer team." Jay smirks. He sees Lonnie. They smile at each other. I know what he thinks. I know his smile. He thinks she's cute in a ten year old way. Would he had thought she was cute if she had her normal hairstyle? With the pixie cut and bangs? Jay's only shown interest in Audrey. Us Islers may be a lot of things, but pretty isn't one of them. We're just normal. Villain normal. So villain normal that we get looks from the students at Auradon Prep. They stare at us as if we are aliens. Aliens from another planet. Another planet called the Isle of the Lost that sits in between Jupiter and Saturn. It's a small black planet that inhabits evil aliens. Us.

"Let's go." I tell him. We walk out of the room.

"Good luck!" Evie and Mal shout to us. As me and Jay are walking, someone bumps into me and breaks my guitar. It's squished, beaten, ruined.

"I'm so sorry." I look at the person. It's Time.

"It's fine, Time." I tell him while starring at my guitar. It was the only thing I had that came from the Isle. That was made there.

"Shakira, let's go." Jay grabs my wrist and he pulls me to the field. "Are you ok?"

"My guitar." I say.

"Bengal?"

"My guitar." I repeat. "It's gone, ruined, broken, like my heart."

"You'll be fine." Jay moves my Afro away from my face. His beautiful brown eyes meet mine.

"I hope." I smile. Audrey grabs my arm and pulls me away. Jay walks over to the coach.