One Kiss: A Descendants AU Tale

9. Tension

Dizzy and Celia were settled into twin size beds that were pushed together to one side of Evie's room. The older teen had to move her worktables, fabric rolls, and racks to Mal's empty room right next door to accommodate them. It's been a full year now since Evie and Mal were first placed in that single dormitory together, a whole year since they came to Auradon Prep with bad intentions. After a few months, Mal had opted to use her new status as King Ben's girlfriend to arrange for her to have her own room. But she never would have done so for herself. Evie 4 Hearts exploded beyond their expectations and their shared room became so crowded that Mal felt Evie was the one who needed a whole room to herself and her designs.

Despite Princess Audrey's protests when she returned from her retreat, Evie was permitted to keep her room and preserve Mal's as well. With the new VKs needing rooms, Audrey made another campaign to take away Mal's room. Fairy Godmother was inclined to agree, but Evie stood firm. It may have been selfish, Evie openly admitted in her rants to Jay and Carlos, but reassigning Mal's room felt like they were giving up on her coming back. Fairy Godmother even tried to tell Evie that the likelihood of her returning was slim at best.
It wasn't until Jane intervened that Fairy Godmother finally relented. Frowning, she said she would give Mal until midterms to come back before the room is deemed forfeit.

Snapping the hair ties in place, she bounced off the bed to examine her work. After a luxary bath, Dizzy's hair was now in neat braids and she wore the softest pajama set she had ever worn before, complete with matching fuzzy socks.

"I can't believe fuzzy socks are a thing!" Dizzy squealed, laying back on Evie's fluffy blankets to kick her feet up in the air in glee.

"Yeah, back home, if your socks were fuzzy, something was growing in them," Celia murmured from where she hung halfway off her new bed.

Nodding, Dizzy's face scrunched up at a similar memory of her own.

"Did you like that hot chocolate, Celia?" Evie asked as she stacked up the dirty cups from their little welcome slumber bash on the serving platter.

"It was so good!"

Evie chuckled and motioned to the girl's mouth, "I thought so. Looks like you're saving some for later."

Celia sat up and immediately proceeded to drag her tongue around her lips making sure she got every bit of the liquid chocolate and melted marshmallows.

"When do classes start, Evie?" Dizzy asked with excitement.

"The day after tomorrow, but don't worry. I have all the books and supplies you need right over here by the door for you."

"Trust me, I'm not worried," Celia said with a sassy attitude that reminded Evie of Mal. "So you gonna be queen now or what?"

The question was so abrupt yet spoken in the most casual tone, Evie stumbled over her words. "W-What?"

"You and King Ben are gonna get married now, right?" Celia spoke slowly as if she was talking to a child... "Don't act so surprised. Isn't that what happens in all the stories? You break a spell with true love's kiss and then you marry and live happily ever after. Or whatever."

"It is... a lot more complicated than that. I'm not going to be queen. Ben loves Mal," Evie explained to no avail. Celia just looked at her like she was crazy and stupid. But then again, Celia looks at nearly everyone like that. She gets it from her sister, Evie thought unkindly. Meanwhile, Dizzy looked away, turning pink, and began biting her nails. "Oh, Dizzy! Don't do that. How about I take you to get your nails done when I get back? You'll break that bad habit in no time. You're going to love pedicures."

"When you get back? Where are you going?"

"Oops. Oh. Uh. Pretend you didn't hear that."

Celia sat up straighter, mischief gleaming in her dark eyes. "Now this sounds interesting. Where are we going?"