Love is a Losing Game

LIALG - Chapter 5

Every night in Auradon was another dream, another memory of a time long ago. Some of them left me smiling throughout the day, and some violently woke me from my slumber with half-wrecked sobs. By the end of September, Uma had given up on magically cleaning the scorch marks above my bed from half-asleep fireballs of anger or agony. She never asked what woke me so fiercely. There was some kind of understanding between most villain kids like that. But she was able to provide me with some sappy hugs and sarcasm-laced sentiments, which was more than I could ever ask from her.

Most of my waking hours were, unfortunately, spent grappling with a little thing called responsibility. Who knew that attending class and actually completing the homework for it would take up so much time? Dragon Hall classes had been a breeze; Auradon University was effectively kicking my ass. I had been spending my entire afternoons swamped with work, and I didn't have a lot of free time. It was a learning curve, for sure, but I was starting to get the hang of it. Little by little I would gain a few minutes of free time as I learned how to manage my schoolwork.

Sadly, many of my friends' schedules were packed with various extracurricular activities. Carlos and Jay were in tourney, an Auradon-exclusive sport that the school was absolutely obsessed with. The whole team was training hard for some event called Homecoming. Evie, the co-captain of the cheerleading squad, was also expected to practice excessively in preparation for this day. On top of that, I learned that she had quite a knack for making clothing, something that didn't come as a surprise at all given her interest in fashion as a child. She shared with me her dream of opening up her own business someday, and I didn't doubt her ability to make that happen; it was only a matter of time as far as I was concerned. Even Uma and Harry had wedged themselves right into the student body, quickly taking up a sport called fencing, which I had gathered was some type of sword fighting for wimps. It turns out Gil was the team captain for that, and it wasn't long before the 'Sea Three' were back at it, just like old times. And then there was me. I wasn't a part of some lame after-school program or working myself to death in a team sport. Most of the students in Auradon Prep ignored me or avoided me, and I was fine with that. I had six amazing friends, and Doug, Lonnie, Jane, and even Audrey were beginning to warm up to me. That was enough for now. Maybe even too much.

"Je...touche! Je.....touche! Je-"

"I swear to evil, Uma, if you stick a tentacle into my ear one more time I will chop it up and serve it to the good people of Auradon," I growled.

Being out of the barrier allowed Uma's magic to absolutely flourish, and it didn't take her long to realize that she, like her mother, held the power of transformation. Her soul animal being an octopus, it wasn't out of the ordinary for a tentacle or two to assist her in her everyday activities – as long as teachers weren't paying attention, that is. The student body was either too afraid of her or liked her too much to do anything about it. "You're no fun, Mal," Uma grumbled, falling back onto her bed with a dramatic sigh.

"Yeah, well, neither is homework, but I have to deal with it anyway," I grumbled, forcefully closing my textbook with a frustrated sigh and rubbing my head.

"I don't know what takes you so damn long anyway; you have such easy classes," Uma claimed.

I scoffed angrily "Yeah, like what?"

"Gym, art, life skills; it's not like you have to do homework for those, right?" she wondered.

"Try again," I suggested, grabbing my sketchbook from my bed and tossing it over to her.

It landed unceremoniously on her stomach, and she stared at it momentarily before picking it up.

I sat on the edge of my windowsill, forehead pressed against the cool glass to clear my thoughts.