happy ever after ☆ mevie

cotillion day

Evie -

I wake up early on Monday to make a new cotillion gown for Mal. Originally, I had to design one that followed the traditional Auradonian lady of the court dress design, with blue and yellow and lots of lace, but now I could design anything. If I worked fast, I could get it finished before my 11am Chemistry class.

Still in my pajamas, I sit at my sewing desk in our dorm with a plate of apple slices and peanut butter and start sketching. I immediately pull out my purple colored pencils, and start my design. I sketch for about an hour, and end up with a final design of a sleeveless, black and purple top with glitter, and a poofy purple skirt with lime green accents. She'll also have matching gloves. I check my phone; still just 7am. I get dressed and head out into town to buy materials. The intricately designed courtyard of Auradon Square, the main shopping center, is pretty much empty since it's so early. But Cinderella's Fabrics, my go-to sewing supplies store, has just opened. I have the store hours memorized: 7am-5pm weekdays, 9am-4pm weekends.

The bell above the door dings as I walk in. Cinderella, wearing a blue blouse with light-wash jeans and her signature headband, is standing behind the counter. I greet her with a wave and a smile, and head right to the fabric section. There's lots of shades of purple to choose from, but one particular shade of electric purple, in the very corner of the store, stands out. That. That is Mal's color. I pull out the roll of fabric, choose another roll of lime green fabric, and head to the 'Sequins & Glitter' section to pick up some black glitter fabric. Finally, I head to the register.

"Hi, could I get 10 yards of the purple, 2 yards of green, and 3 yards of the black, please?" I ask Cinderella.

As she cuts my fabric for me, she asks "What are you making this time? I thought all of the cotillion gowns were finished."

"Oh, it's a, um... late order. I need to get it finished by this evening," I say, improvising. Sure, I talk to Cinderella a lot when I come here, but I don't really want Chad to somehow hear through his mom that I'm with Mal. She finishes cutting the fabrics and folding them, and I hand her $40. I put the fabric in my red heart tote and sprint back to the dorms. Auradon Prep is only about a mile from Auradon Square.

I rush into the dorm room, where Mal is still asleep. I quickly draft the dress on paper, and then cut out the pieces. This must be the fastest I've ever made a dress. I sew the main components of the dress together, resulting in a plain, silk, purple gown. I get a handful of tulle from my sewing chest and quickly sew it into an underlayer that will make the skirt extra poofy. I sew the tulle into the bottom of the dress, and start working on the accents. I start with the black glitter parts; the center of the bodice and a layer of the skirt. Then, Mal's alarm rings and I briskly throw the dress underneath my desk. I check my phone again; 10am. Mal slowly sits up and yawns.

"Morning, M," I say, walking to her bed. She takes my hand and smiles at me.

"Morning, E." She yawns again and gets out of bed. She notices how messy my sewing desk is; it's usually super tidy. "Early morning sewing, huh?"

"Yeah, just finishing a dress for cotillion. When does your history class start?" I ask, changing the topic before she asks more questions.

"Um, 11am. Same time as Chem," Mal says, tiredly. She goes to her dresser on her side of the room and takes out an outfit. I go to my vanity and apply makeup for class.

"I'm gonna go get breakfast from the cafeteria, wanna come?" Mal asks.

"I already ate," I say, smiling. "See you at lunch?" Mal nods and leaves. I immediately run back to my sewing desk and add the green layers onto the skirt, as well as a little on the bodice. I take out my bejeweler and add some rhinestones to the waistline. I lay out the dress on my bed and survey my work. It's perfect; grunge and edgy but also beautiful and delicate. Just like my M. I set it out on Mal's bed with a note that says 'For M, From E' and quickly head out to class.

I arrive at Mr. Deley's chemistry room, and find a new seat in front. My usual spot next to Doug is still empty, but I don't want to sit next to him today. I sit next to Sage, Rapunzel's daughter.

"Hey, Evie! I love my dress," she says as I take my seat. "I can't wait to see Mal's dress. I bet it'll look great with Ben's suit." I sigh and nod, feeling a sting of anger in my chest. I want people to stop just thinking of Mal as Ben's girlfriend. She's her own person, and she's my true love. But of course I don't tell Sage that, I'm not up for it.

"I'm glad you like your dress," I tell her as I take out my chemistry notebook. I open to my notes from Friday, and smile. I had no idea on Friday how much things would change this past weekend.

Mal -

After my History of Fairies class, I head back to the dorms to meet up with Evie. She's not there when I get there, but a gorgeous purple and green dress is lying on my bed. I audibly gasp. It's perfect. I immediately try it on and it fits perfectly. She must have used my measurements from the other dress. I look at myself in the mirror and tear up. This is me. Evie loves me. The real me.

As I look at the beautiful dress in the mirror, the door opens and Evie comes in. She gasps when she sees me.

"Oh my gosh, it fits you perfectly," she walks up behind me and nearly crushes me in a hug. "Oh, M, I love you."

"I love you, E," I say. She leans on my shoulder and we both look in the mirror. "Just to think that I could still be on the Isle," I start. "Away from you." I shiver at the thought. We turn towards each other, our faces nearly touching. She closes her eyes and her eyelashes tickle my cheek.

"But you're not," she says. "You're here. With me." I smile, and my heart feels so full. So complete.

"How did you manage to make this so quickly this morning?" I ask after a few moments.

"Ma-agic!" Evie says, stepping away from me and putting her bag down. I look at myself in the mirror again and smile.

I change out of the dress and we go to the cafeteria to get lunch. Evie is incredibly excited when she finds out they're serving mashed potatos; her favorite. We get our food and go outside to sit on the grass field out front. After we finish eating, we lie next to each other on the grass.

"This is so amazing," Evie says, with an almost childlike look of wonder on her face. "I still just can't believe I couldn't see it before."

I turn and face her. "Same here."

The bell rings and we separate to go to our classes; Evie to Magic History, and me to Geometry. After the bell rings again, we head to our dorm room to get ready. The halls are busy with students excitedly getting ready for the cotillion. People congratulate me as I walk to our dorm, and I just awkwardly smile back; they still don't know that I'm not with Ben anymore. Evie's already in our dorm when I get there, with her deep blue dress on. She's pinning her hair into an intricate updo.

"Hey, M, can you help me with this?" she asks as I come in. I walk over. "Can you fix this updo for me? It's harder than I expected to do on my own."

"Of course," I say, taking some bobby pins from her. I bite my lip as I carefully pin her blue hair into a bun and then wrap her braid around it. Finally, I spray it with some hair gel. She picks up her hand mirror (not the magic one, just a normal one) and smiles.

"Thanks, M," she says.

"Anything for you!" I say, heading back to my bed. I change into my dress while Evie does her makeup, and then she does my makeup for me. I curl my still freshly purple hair into simple beach curls. Once the clock strikes 4pm, we start heading to the beach for cotillion.