Choosing Love

Chapter Four

Mal quickly made her way down the hall to her meeting with Natalie. She wasn't exactly looking forward to it but she had been the one to cut their meeting short the other day. It was only fair that she rescheduled.

Gods, it was hard to believe that it'd only been a few days since Uma, Hadie, Harry and Gil arrived in Auradon. It was honestly like a dream.

Okay so maybe Uma needed to lay off Evie a bit especially since Daniel was still in the medical coma...and Harry seemed a bit too determined to get Jay to skip R.O.A.R practice to spar with him....and honestly Gil seemed more clingy than Carlos had been when they'd first arrived in Auradon. The only one who seemed to be adjusting without issue had, surprisingly, been Hadie.

He'd been fine adjusting to classes and had already made friends with Melody and Alexandria Charming, Chad Charming's youngest sister. It wasn't that odd though, back on the Isle his best friends were Dizzy Tremaine and Celia Facilier. Her baby brother was certainly popular with the ladies...and she and Uma had whacked Harry over the head when he had pointed that out.

Maybe it's the fact that he's half Auradon, Mal thought as she made her way to the room she was going to meet Natalie in. After all, mom told him stories about Auradon since the day he was born. Plus, with how Uma and I worked to keep his innocence intact, he's more Auradon than Isle. But he's no prissy prince.

"Hello Mal," Natalie said and Mal blinked, having not realized that the blonde was in the room already. The other woman was thin, and wore a muted pink sundress that seemed to almost blend into the walls. Mal felt Natalie's eyes go up and down her body, as if taking stock in her outfit.

"Hey Natalie," Mal nodded, feeling no shame in what she was wearing. It was her usual outfit of leather pants, purple boots and a purple shirt under her leather jacket. "I'm sorry for being late, there was a bit of an issue with my bathroom door."

"Clearly," Natalie said and Mal could feel her eyes on the one blue smudge she couldn't remove, that normally would have been hidden by her hair since it was right by her ear but of course was on full display. Of course the day she woke up late and had a meeting would have been the day Uma decided to rig a smoke bomb to launch the moment Evie went into the bathroom.

"...I'm going to kill you."

"Oh come on Mali, don't be like that," Uma said as Mal glared at Uma, her face covered in teal smoke as she stood in the open doorway to the shared bathroom.

"You've been here three days! How in dad's name have you been able to make a smoke bomb in that short amount of time?"

Uma shrugged. "Harry and I were bored, and then those Emir and Akiho blokes showed us around some more. So in exchange we taught them how to make smoke bombs."

Mal froze. "You. Did. What?!"

"Taught Emir and Akiho how to make smoke bombs."

"Oh Gods," Mal sighed and rolled her eyes. "I told you back when I brought Ben to the Isle before his coronation that Emir and Akiho were like Harry and Jay. Why in the world would you give them another way to be like them?"

"Because they asked," Uma shrugged again and Mal sighed.

"You'd better be thankful I'm on my way to a meeting otherwise I'd be wiping the floor with you in sparring Uma!"

"Is that anyway to speak to your captain?"

"When I'm co-captain? Yes. Yes it is! Now I just need to pray that this stuff'll come off with just water!"