The Descendants Of Evil

Blow This Popsicle Stand

CHAPTER 19

(Jay POV)

I walk to the girls' room so I could talk to Val. I knock on the door and Evie answers.

"Hey, Jay. What's up?" Evie asks.

"Have you seen Val?" I ask her.

"Not since this morning. Have you tried the gardens?" Evie answers as she walks out of the room and closes the door behind her.

"No, I haven't. Thanks, E!" I say quickly before I take off to the gardens. I really hope that she is there because I really need to talk to her. What she said this morning has really been on my mind. Her and Mal both have been acting differently here lately. I feel as if I should finally tell her how I feel because I'm hoping that she will go to the cotillion with me. I reach the gardens and start looking for green hair but stop when I remember how I noticed that her hair is now blonde this morning at practice. I then spot her sitting on a bench with her knees pulled to her chest. She's still in the practice uniform from earlier. "Val?" I sit beside her which causes her to look up at me and the first thing I notice is that her eyes are green. She takes a deep breath and her eyes return to their normal color.

"Hey, Jay," Val says as she sits normally.

"I just wanted to say sorry for earlier. I also wanted to see if you were okay because you seemed pretty mad when you left. I mean especially after what you said," I explain.

"I meant what I said, Jay. You are so different from when we first got here. You argued with Coach to get me on the tourney field for that game but earlier as soon as Chad brought out the rule book you shut down," Val explains.

"We've all changed. Some more than others," I say as I point to her hair.

"I may have changed my hair but I did not change who I am as a person. Changing my hair is part of me taking care of my friends, especially my sister," Val says as she touches her hair.

"We've all done what we had to do to fit in. Even yourself," I tell her.

(Val POV)

"But we are changing who we are to fit in. We are not staying true to ourselves. I at least thought you would be the one to understand that," I argue and I feel my eyes turn green while I start to shake.

"Val! Val breathe," Jay says as he grabs my shoulders. I take a deep breath and I feel my eyes return to their original color. Jay and I stare at each other for a moment before Jay puts a piece of my hair that had fallen behind my ear.

"Jay, it has been so hard for me!" I say as I jump up knowing that he didn't realize what he did. I just know he doesn't have the same feelings for me especially after what he said earlier.

"Yes! Some things are hard!" Jay says as he also stands.

"No! Jay, you don't understand. I like you," I explain and I see him freeze. "And I mean really like you. I can't just keep pretending that everything is okay when it's not. Especially when I know that you don't like me that way." He doesn't say anything so I go to walk away.

"Val, wait," Jay says as he grabs my arm making me stop. "Why have you been keeping this from me? I thought we agreed to tell each other everything. This isn't the Isle of the Lost anymore, Val." I knew he didn't like me. I knew I should never have said anything.

"Yeah. Believe me, I know that!" I tell him.

"Then why are you telling me this now? I..." Jay starts but I cut him off.

"Because I'm not one of those pretty pink princesses, Jay. I'm not one of those that you always flirt with. I'm never going to be someone that you like that way. I've become a big fake trying to be them so you would notice me," I answer before continuing. "I'm a big fake, okay? I'm fake. This is fake." I point at myself before touching my hair. "It's not like you noticed it before today anyway." I then start to walk off again seeing as he didn't try to talk.

"Val," Jay says trying to stop me again.

"No. No. Jay, I'm done," I say before running back to the dorm, leaving Jay behind. No one is in the room when I arrive so I start packing a bag. I then see my leather outfit from the Isle and put it on. Mal then comes bursting through the door.

"I don't belong here," Mal says crying.

"Okay. Okay," I say as I wrap her in a hug. "Me either. What happened?"

"Ben found the spell book and we had a fight," Mal explains quickly as she packs a bag. "What about you?"

"I had a fight with Jay and told him how I feel," I explain. Mal nods before changing into her Isle outfit. "Let's go home." She nods before stabbing holes into a small box.

"Okay," Mal says as I walk over and grab Mom out of her cage. I then put her in the box. "Let's blow this popsicle stand." Mal covers the box before we grab our bags. Mal leaves Evie a note with Ben's ring while I go slide a not for Jay under his door along with the bracelet he gave me. Mal and I then meet up at her bike. We get to the water's edge and can see the Isle in the distance before Mal stops. "You ready?"

"Yeah," I answer as I hand her the spell book.

"Noble steed, proud and fair, you shall take us anywhere. Okay. Whew. Please work," Mal says before we take off and drives us across the water. We then hit the barrier which allows us right through. Mal drives through the people making them dodge out of the way. Mal stops when she sees a poster of her and Ben. She then rips it down and crumbles it up. We then continue to the old hang out spot where Mal hides the bike under the stairs.

"Mal," I say as I toss her a rock. She smiles before throwing it at the Danger Flying Rocks sign. The sign swings back which opens the door and we go up the stairs.