Hakuna Matata

The Spell

I'm walking through school with Mal and Jay. My hand is in Jay's safe grasp.

"Look, it's Mal. Hi, Mal! Love my hair, Mal!" Some girls call to Mal. We stop at Mal's locker.

Jay leans against the locker and he lets go of my hand. "Are you feeling kind of weird about this? I mean, It's not so bad here, you know."

"Are you insane? Long live evil! You're mean! You're awful! You're bad news! Snap out of it!" Mal snaps his fingers in his face.

"Thanks, Mal. I needed that." Jay wraps an arm around my waist as we laugh. He looks at the girls then at me. "I promise I won't cheat on you."

"I trust you." I peck his lips before walking over to Ben and Audrey. "Hey, guys."

"Do you think they actually paid for those?" Audrey looks at the girls. I look at Jay.

"Oh, hello. The name's Jay. You all going to the tourney game tonight?" He asks the girls.

"Yeah." The girls giggle.

"Keep a lookout for number eight, all right? Scoring the winning goal." Jay winks at me.

"Okay." The girls look at me. I look back at Audrey and Ben.

She did it to Jane's hair, too, and Fairy Godmother's not happy about it." Audrey shakes her head.

Ben shrugs. "What's the harm?" He asks.

"It's gateway magic! Sure, it starts with the hair. Next thing you know It's the lips and the legs and the clothes and then everybody looks good and then...where will I be?" Audrey places a hand on her chest.

"Listen, Audrey-" Ben looks down.

"I will see you at the game after my dress-fitting for the coronation, okay?" Audrey smiles.

Ben smiles back. "Okay."

"Bye, Bennyboo." Audrey air pecks his cheek.

"Bye." Ben says. He turns to me. "I'm sorry for what I said yesterday. I didn't mean it."

"It's fine." I hug him. He hesitates. "Waiting for utani?"

"Yep." Ben hugs me back.

"Not today." I step away from the hug.

"Still best friends?" Ben asks hopefully.

"Forever." I smile. "And I'm dating Jay."

"Since when?" He asks.

"Since last night." I blush at the memory.

Mal shuts her cooker and impersonates Audrey. "Hey, Bennyboo!"

Ben turns around. "Hey." We walk up to her.

Mal holds up the bag of cookies. "I just made a batch of cookies. Double chocolate chip, do you want one?"

"Oh, I, uh, I've got a big game. I don't eat before a big game. But thank you so, so much. Thank you. Next time. Next time." Ben turns to walk away.

"No, yeah. I completely understand. Be careful of treats offered by kids of villains." Mal seems really down at that.

"No, no, no." Ben shakes his head.

"No, I'm sure every kid in Auradon knows that." Mal looks at me with Ben. I nod.

"No, that's not it. No, no, no, I...I really do-" Ben gets cut off by Mal.

"No, I get it. You're cautious. That's smart. Oh, well, more for me, I guess." Mal takes a cookie.