Princess of Hearts

Sisters

Doug and I sat at one of the lunch tables. Both of us were working on school work. "Thanks for tutoring me," I said. "It really means a lot."

"No problem," Doug replied. "It's always a pleasure to help other people out with their education."

Doug continued to talk to me about math and numbers; math never was my forte. I looked behind him as I spotted Evie. She put her finger over her lips, telling me to be quiet. She slowly pulled a chemistry test from behind her back and placed it in front of Doug's face. "For the first time, it's like I'm more than just a pretty face," Evie told Doug.

"A shocker, huh?" Doug said.

"You were pretty good in there," Evie said, sitting down at the table next to Doug.

"So were you," Doug replied. The two of them began giggling.

They'd make a cute couple. I said to myself.

"I bet I can get an A on the next test without the mirror."

"Yeah, well, maybe we can get together, and we'll hang out," Doug said. "You know, when Heather, here, isn't being distracted and begins focusing on her quadratic equations."

I gave him a little scoff (a silly one) as I continued working on my homework. "Yeah," Evie began. "L-Let's hang out."

Did she just stutter? I asked myself. Wow, she really must like this guy.

"There you guys are!" Mal said, coming over to the table. "I have been looking for you guys literally everywhere!"

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Ben just asked out on...the date."

"Nice," Doug whispered.

"We can handle this," Evie said. "Bye," she told Doug.

"Bye." I began to pack up my stuff as well. "W-Wait! You're not done yet."

"O-Oh I'll get it done," I told him. "But Mal getting ready for a date is more important!"

"Girls," Doug mumbled as he rolled his eyes with a smile.

I soon caught up with Mal and Evie. "You're looking a little pale," Evie said to Mal.

"Yeah, of course," Mal replied.

"I can fix that with some gloss and some blush."

"No!" Mal retorted.

"Mal," I began. "Can I..."

"No, no, no."

However, throughout all of Mal's complaining. Evie and I were able to put makeup on her and do her hair nicely. Evie focused on the makeup since her mom had hammered it into Evie's mind that she needed it, and I handled the hair since my mother owns a salon on the Isle of the Lost.

"Okay," Mal began as Evie put blush on her. "Easy on the blush. I don't want to scare him away. Not that I could."

"Please," Evie began. "My mom taught me how to apply blush before I could talk. Always use upward strokes."

"And easy on the hair," Mal said as I used the curling iron on her hair.

"Don't worry," I replied. "It's only going to be a light curl. Nothing crazy."

"My mom was never big on makeup or hair tips," Mal said as Evie applied lip gloss. "I never had a sister."

"Well, now you have two," I said.

"We're going to need all the family we can get if we don't pull this off," Evie said. "My mother's not a barrel of laughs when she doesn't get her way. Just ask Snow White."

"Are you afraid of her?"

"Sometimes," Evie replied. "Are you afraid of your mom?"

"I just want her to be proud of me. She gets so angry with me when I disappoint her. And she-yeah, she's my mom, so I know she loves me...in her own way," Mal said. She then decided to change the subject away from her. "Heather, what about you?"

It was then my body basically went into a state of shock. I turned the curling iron off and sat on my own bed. "Heather," Evie began. "Are you okay?"

I didn't say anything. I didn't want to tell them how I felt about the topic. However, Mal realized quickly what was going through my mind. "You're not just scared of her," she began. "You're terrified of her."

I wanted to say something, but I couldn't get the words to come out. I sort of felt like crying, so I just nodded.

"Heather-" Evie began.

"Moving on," I said, grabbing Mal and walking to the mirror.

"Wow."

"We know," I replied.

"I look..."

"Say it," Evie said.

"Not hideous," Mal said with a smile.

"Not even close," Evie said as the three of us hugged each other.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. It was obviously Ben. Mal went to open the door. "For the first time, I understand the difference between pretty beautiful," Ben said. I chuckled; Ben was just so dorky and sweet. "I hope you like bikes."

Mal grabbed the helmet and looked at Evie and me before leaving. Evie ran up to the door and closed it softly. "You think she's going to be okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," Evie said. "More importantly, are you going to be okay?"

"Excuse me," I replied.

"Come on, I saw the way your face dropped when Mal asked you if you were afraid of your mom. You even nodded when she said that you were terrified of her."

"Yeah. So?" I said, plopping onto my bed.

"You want to talk about it?" Evie asked. "From what I've heard, these Auradon kids talk about their feelings."

Evie sat next to me on my bed. "I-I mean, I've always been afraid of my mother. She just intimidates me. Like Mal's mom, she gets mad whenever I disappoint her. I even believe it's off with my head sometimes. She has taken curling irons to my skin and left them against it for awhile. I was always alone to face my mother." I was basically crying by then. "Evie, I've wanted to get off that island since the day I was born. Ever since I was a kid, I've had nightmares about my mom. They still continue even though we're here in Auradon. I-I don't want to go back."

Evie pulled me into a hug. "Everything's going to be okay," she told me. "Just remember, Mal, the boys, and I are all here for you. You will never be alone."

"Thanks Evie," I said, letting go of her embrace. "You know, you and Mal really are the big sisters I never had."

Evie giggled. "Hey, Lonnie said that her mom made her chocolate chip cookies whenever she was sad, right?" I nod my head as I remembered Lonnie mentioning that when we made Ben's cookies. "You wanna go make some chocolate chip cookies? You know, just without the love potion part?"

I laughed and nodded my head. Evie took my hand was we walked together to the kitchen. "Thanks Evie. Talking about it really helped." The girls were more than just my friends; they were my sisters.