Malvie

Malvie - Part 2, Chapter 8

"I'm moving," Mal said to Jane casually the same afternoon.

"You're what?" Jane replied.

"Moving back to my old room."

"You made up with Evie?"

"Yes, and made out."

"I didn't need to know that. Want me to help you pack up your stuff?"

"I don't think that'll be necessary. But you could help Lonnie." Jane's face instantly turned red, blushing at the name.

"Are you okay?" Mal asked her, noticing the change in her expression.

"No. I mean yes. I mean... I don't know." Jane sat down on her bed in a huff.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mal asked her, sitting down next to the panicked girl.

"Can I trust you with a secret?"

"I suppose."

"I didn't drink the potion."

"What potion?"

"The anti-homo potion. I put it in my mouth and spit it out in the toilet once the guards left. I wasn't about to let them change me."

"And now you're getting feelings..." Jane nodded.

"Do you... like Lonnie?" Mal asked her, piecing everything together. Jane sighed in frustration.

"I don't know. I don't know what's going on with me. Ever since Carlos got with Jay, I've been... feeling something. I don't know what it is. I don't really understand my emotions sometimes. I try to ignore them."

"Same. And it's okay to not always understand how you feel. I didn't understand my feelings for Evie for months. Everyone else seemed normal and I was the weird one." She placed and hand on Jane's shoulder. "You're not alone in this. You're far from alone."

"But Lonnie drank the potion," Jane informed her. "What's the point of feeling something if it just makes your life miserable?"

"One of the many unanswered questions I have for this world. You know, the way Evie and I broke the spell of the 'potion' was because of our kiss."

"True love's kiss works every time, I know. Fairy Godmother is my mother."

"So, if Lonnie finds her true love, the spell will be broken."

"And what are the odds that I'm her true love? Like, one in a million."

"You won't know until you try."

"She likes Jay. They went to Cotillion together and she was heartbroken when she found out about him dating Carlos. I don't think she's over him." All of a sudden, there was a knock on the girls' door.

"Mal?" Ben asked, peeping his head into the room. "Can I talk to you?" Mal turned to Jane who nodded.

"I'll be back shortly," Mal told her, standing up from the bed and following the king outside. She made sure to keep her distance from him though, recalling what Evie had noticed about his behavior.

"I talked to Uma," he said to her as they walked towards his office. "I'm not granting Thomas's request."

"What?" Mal exclaimed, stopping dead in her tracks. "Ben, you have to."