Watch and Learn

Chapter 5

Before the Blue Fairy could waive her wand to show the next bit, Queen Belle raised her hand.

"Forgive my interruption Blue Fairy, but I believe we said at the end of the previous clip that we'd watch one more and then stop for a bite," she said. "Now, I'm not sure about the rest of you but I certainly could go for a break."

Ben looked over at Mal and the others, wondering what they would choose. It was clear that they wanted this over with as quickly as possible but then, Ben didn't blame them in the slightest. This was their past being aired out throughout the kingdom.

"Mal, come on," he heard Carlos hiss. "When's the last time we've had a break?"

"Carlos is right Mal," Evie muttered. "Thanks to that fiasco of a conference call, we didn't have a chance to eat before the parents showed up. I'm starving!"

"Nothing you're not used to, E," Mal muttered back, her eyes scanning the room as if looking for any potential threats. "But you're right. Sides, if we have to run it might be better to have our strength up."

"Why am I not surprised that it's that argument that got you to agree to a break?" Jay shook his head, almost like an exacerbated older brother. Mal ignored him and quickly locked eyes with Ben, her head only moving half an inch but it was clearly a nod.

"Very well," the Blue Fairy said, and Ben realized that she had been looking over at Mal as well. "We can stop for around an hour."

With a wave of her wand, a nearby table was suddenly covered in more food than the Isle four had ever seen. Their classmates formed a nice and orderly line, chatting away about what they had seen.

"So, I guess we should get in line," Mal said, as the four of them had hung back.

"Maybe it'll be better if we wait a little more," Evie said, trying to avoid looking at the decadent food and having her stomach growl audibly with hunger. "With everything that's been revealed, the tensions from Family Day are probably still very strong."

Mal looked over at the boys, who nodded in agreement. Mal couldn't help but be relieved—there was no way she wanted to join the line. Little did she know that two of her friends had noticed that they weren't in line.

"Ben," Lonnie whispered as the crown prince joined her in line. Ben never believed for using his position to further himself and so had avoided Audrey's invitation to join her near the front of the line. In fact, his father and mother were even further back than he was—he was in the middle of the line, making sure to not cut any younger viewers who might have been trying to get to the food.

"I see," Ben nodded, looking over at his girlfriend and her friends. He could understand why they were avoiding the lines.

"What should we do?" Lonnie asked. "I could talk to my parents, see if they could grab some plates. I feel bad making them sit by themselves."

"The last thing those four would want would be our pity," Ben told her.

"What pity?" Lonnie said with a smirk that could rival Mal's. "You would do the same for me right?"

"Of course!"

"Hey, are you guys going to sit by Mal?" Rachel Fitzherbert chimed in, causing the two of them to freeze. "I love her hair, with how purple it is! Why aren't they going to get food? Do you think we should grab plates for them?"

"Breathe Rach," her brother Evan said with a chuckle.

"That was the plan, but I didn't know you knew them," Ben told Rachel, who rolled her eyes.

"Mal's been helping me in History and Evie's been helping boost my science score," Rachel told him. "Not to mention the two have helped keep an eye out on Rose, Rowyn, and Robin."