Insanely Sane

1: 06

After tourney practice, the boys went to Mal and Evie's room, meeting up with all the girls.

"Yo-ho-ho!" Jay cried as he entered.

"Hey!" Carlos and Edward added.

"Did your plan work with Jane? Are you going over to see the wand?"

Mal glared at him. "Do you think that I would be going through every single spell in this book if I hadn't completely struck out?"

Jay winced slightly. "Oh, someone's in a bad mood."

Kiara sighed. "A major bad mood. If her mom isn't impressed or pleased, well-"

Mal nodded. "My mom's counting on me! I can't let her down!" She hit the back of Carlos' head and glared at Kiara.

Jay looked between us. "We can do this... if we stick together."

Mal smiled. "And we won't go back until we do. Because we're rotten..."

They all placed their hands in the middle. "To the core."

Kiara pulled her hand away and crossed her arms as she stared out the window, wishing to see her father again.

After a moment, Evie said, "Oh, yeah. I found out that Fairy Godmother blesses Ben with the wand at coronation and we all get to go." Everyone turned to her. "I have nothing to wear, of course." There was a knock on the door. "What?"

Mal stopped her. "Hold that thought."

Mal opened it to reveal Ben. He smiled. "Hey, Mal. I didn't see you guys today. I was just wondering if you had any questions or anything... That... you needed..."

Mal glanced back at her friends and they shook their heads. "Not that I know of."

Ben nodded. "Okay. All right. Well, uh, if you need anything, just, uh..."

He started to leave and Mal stopped him. "Oh, wait! Um, is it true that we all get to go to your coronation?"

"Yeah, the whole school goes."

Mal smirked. "Wow. That is beyond exciting. Do you think that it's a possibility that the five of us could stand in the front row next to the Fairy Godmother, just so we could soak up all that goodness?"

Ben offered her a small smile. "I wish you could. Up front it's just me, my folks, and my girlfriend."

"And your girlfriend?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"Okay. Thanks, bye." She started closing the door in Ben's face.

"Oh, but, no, there's plenty of..." Ben was cut off.

Mal closed the door in his face. "I think it's time that Bennyboo got himself a new girlfriend. And I need a love spell." Carlos tossed her the spellbook.

Catherine frowned. "Mal, spelling hair is one thing. But a love spell?"

"If your father could see you now. Who are you allying yourself with this time, Cat?"

"Me, myself and I. And you guys."

Edward looked between them before focusing on Mal. "A cookie might be your best option."

Mal smirked. "Cookie it is."

That evening, they made their way to the kitchen to create a love spell cookie.

Mal opened the book and they started preparing the cookie batter. Some time later, Mal said, "All right. It says that we still need one tear, and I never cry."

Kiara raised a brow. "Uh-huh, you never cry."

Mal shot her a look. "Shut up."

Carlos shrugged. "Let's just chop up some onions."

Mal shook her head. "No. It says that we need one tear of human sadness. And this love potion gets the best review, so we have to follow it exactly. If I can get Kia to-"

Kiara narrowed her eyes. "No. You're not using me missing my father to create your lying spell."

Jay frowned, clearly confused. "A tear's a tear."

Evie turned to him. "That's not true, Jay. They both have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear."

"Listen to you," Mal said proudly.

Jay nodded. "Yeah, I knew that."

"Did not," Carlos and Edward argued.

"Yeah, I did."

Kiara and Catherine separated them with disapproving looks.

Lonnie appeared and smiled widely. "There you are, Mal. I was looking for you. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair! Midnight snack, huh? What are you guys making?"

"Nothing special," Mal answered. "Just cookies." Lonnie grabbed some batter on her finger and Mal freaked out. "Oh, no, no!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Carlos cried.

Lonnie seemed surprised at their reactions. "What? I'm not gonna double dip."

"Feel anything?" Evie and Kiara asked nervously.

Mal nodded. "Yeah, like it might be missing something?"

"Hey, there," Jay said, trying to flirt with her, but struck out.

"It could use some chips," Lonnie decided.

"Chips?" Jay questioned.

"And those are..." Mal and Catherine began.

"Chocolate chips," Lonnie interrupted. "Just the most important food group. Wait, didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies? Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big old glass of milk, and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and..." They VKs all stared at her, wishing they could have had that. Even Kiara with her father, had never had that. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"It's just different where we're from," Mal admitted.

Lonnie nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know. I just, you know, I thought... even villains love their kids. Oh... how awful."

Kiara met her eyes and blinked, trying to keep in the tears. "My dad does love me. I just wish my friends' parents loved their kids too."

Edward glanced at Kiara with a sad smile and nodded.

Mal wiped a tear from Lonnie's cheek and slipped it into the batter. "Yeah, well, big bummer, but we have to get these into the oven, so thank you so much for coming by. Really, really, have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow. Evil dreams."

"Good night," Lonnie said, waving to them.

Mal smiled. "See you tomorrow. Okay, boys, cookie sheet. Evie, oven."

Evie nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Mal and Kiara placed the cookies in the oven and waited for them to finish.

---

The next day, a couple girls noticed the VKs, especially one in particular. "Look, it's Mal."

"Hi, Mal!" the second girl cried. "Love my new hair, Mal!"

Jay glanced at Mal. "Are you feeling kind of weird about this? I mean, it's not so bad here, you know."

Mal frowned. "Are you insane? Love live evil! You're mean! You're awful! You're bad news!" She snapped in Jay's face. "Snap out of it!"

Jay smirked. "Thanks, Mal. I needed that."

While Jay went to flirt with several girls, Kiara and Catherine watched as Audrey spoke with Ben.