Not A Princess (Sequel to Princess Of The Underworld)

04| Keychains

The VK's and I made our way through the halls, I had my nose tucked into my etiquette and manners book, tuning out Jay and Carlos' conversation on who they were taking to Cotillion.

I only looked up when Doug appeared in front of me.

"Oh, Hey Doug." The Dwarf's son smiled at me before looking over at Mal, holding out a dirty piece of paper towards her.

"It came in the mail, for you." Mal looked at the paper warily, taking it into her hands and looking down at it.

"Thanks, Doug." Evie told the boy, he nodded before walking off.

Mal's green eyes followed him, only opening the letter up when he was out of sight. On the inside of the paper were smeared words that seemed to be typed up, then almost like someone had spilt water all over it. My eyes then trailed down to where something was handwritten in blue ink, Thanks for the turf.

We all looked up at Mal, who had a stone cold look on her face. I then looked back at the paper, squinting to read what was originally typed on the page.

"Oh, snap." I mumbled to myself though the others must have heard me.

"What?" Carlos asked, Dude at his feet.

"Look," I pointed to the top of the paper where the title was smeared, "It's a menu, for Ursula's Fish and Chips."

Mal then balled the paper up, crunching it between her fists as she stared forwards, her eyes their electric green.

"It has to be Uma, who else would it be?" Evie scowled at the mention of Mal's ex-girlfriend's name, though Mal didn't seem to be fazed.

Carlos looked over, his eyes large, "Does this mean she has your territory?"

Mal didn't respond, only stormed off, throwing the paper down as she made her way away from the school.

Evie stepped forward to go after her, but froze as someone called out.

"Evie! Evie! Oh, and Hadey! Great! I need to talk to you." Jane ran up towards us with a clipboard and Lonnie not far behind.

The blue-haired girl turned to face the Auradon kids, putting on a smile, "I have an opening at three, whoever wants it."

Jane opened her mouth, but Lonnie beat her to it, "Me!"

Evie nodded, "Great." She turned to Jane, "I'll get you in tomorrow. Excuse me." Evie then raced in the direction Mal had gone.

"Hey, uh, hey, Jane." Carlos spoke up and I glanced over at Jay, everyone knew that Carlos wanted to ask Jane to Cotillion, was he actually gonna do it?

Carlos looked at her for a few seconds before shaking it off, "I uh, I was wondering what, um, what you thought of the carrot cake last night?" I let out a sigh of disappointment, Carlos just needed to rip it off like a leech.

Jane smiled awkwardly, "I had the pumpkin pie."

Carlos nodded, realizing what he had just asked, "Oh."

After a moment or two of awkward silence, I nudged Jay. He looked at me, confused for a second before I cocked my head towards Carlos and he got the idea.

The taller boy then swung his arm around Carlos' shoulders, "Hey look at that thing, over there." He nodded at the girls as he lead the other boy off.

   I looked over at Jane, holding my book against my chest, "So you wanted to talk?"

  The cheerleader nodded at me, looking down at her clipboard, "You still need to decide what you want the Cotillion gifts to be. I have a few ideas, pencil toppers, cups, ornaments, keychains, that's my personal favorite-"

I sucked in a breath, could there ever be a moment when I didn't have to talk about Cotillion and all this royal stuff? I felt my eyes go blue.

I then cut Jane off,  desperate to stop talking about cotillion, "I love the keychain idea."

  She smiled, "Keychains it is."

Lonnie spoke up as Jane wrote something down on her clipboard, "You and Ben are so cute, Hadey! I can't wait for you two to get married!"

  I nodded, but stopped once I realized what she said, "Wait. Married?"

  Jane nodded, like it was no big deal,
"Yeah, totally! You and Ben are the power couple of Auradon! You have like, true love! You guys are bound to be married!"

  I had never really thought if marriage before. No one ever talked about it on the Isle, and Ben and I were already fine the way we were, why change?

  "Hi, Ben!" The two girls said, causing me to turn around and come face to face with my boyfriend.

Ben smiled at the two girls, before looking down at me, "Hey. You okay?" I quickly nodded, taking a gulp of air.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Totally fine, I just missed you." Ben smiled down at me, moving a strand of blue hair behind my ear.

"I missed you too." As he leaned in to kiss me, Jane tapped his shoulder causing him to turn and look at her.

"Sorry, just a cotillion question." She then dragged him over a few feet, showing him something on her iPad.

I switched my balance from foot to foot, as I waited.

"Hey, I'll see you later." Ben called over his shoulder, I guess he was busy with king things, as usual.

I nodded at him, "Okay." Lonnie then linked my arm with hers, chatting on about the ROAR team.

"Why don't you just join the team Lonnie?" I asked the girl, causing her to stop walking, "They're down a member since Ben had to quit the team."

I thought back to the day Ben told me he left the team, no one could blame him, he already had so much on his tray with being king and all.

The long haired girl looked at me with wide eyes, "Really?"

I nodded, some strands of my hair flying out of the milkmaid braid, "I've seen you practicing, L. You're amazing with a sword."

She then nodded, a smile appearing on her face, "You're right, my mother singlehandedly saved China, I could totally make the team."

I sent my friend a smile, "Yes you can. Girls can do anything boys can do."

She then looked over at me, "You should join the team too!"

My eyes widened, sure it sounded appealing, I would be able to fight which I had been craving recently. But then again, I already had a lot of meetings, fittings, and studying. I also wasn't sure if the press might think I was slipping back into my villainous ways through fighting.

I scoffed playfully, nudging her shoulder a little, "It would be fun, but maybe next year. I've got a lot going on, not to mention Ben would probably be a nervous wreck." We both chuckled at that, "But I think you should make a grand entrance at practice today."

And for the rest of the walk to class we talked about how she would show how good of a fighter she really was.