Evil Hearts - A Listen To Your Heart Book

Stories

Mal bit her nails in anticipation, watching as the judges slowly but surely made their way around. Her name was coming up soon. The three judges wouldn't say a thing. They'd look at the piece, jot down some notes and give each other a nod. The nonverbal communication was even more unnerving than if they had just spoke aloud.

She looked at her piece. It had come out better than she expected. Thought to be fair she didn't have high expectations for her piece. It was a portrait of her and her friends, half good, half bad. All done in spray paint. To ease her nerves, Mal looked around at the other entries.

She caught Tessa's gaze and glared as Tessa smirked. She gestured to her piece. Mal grit her teeth in anger. That should've been her piece.

Someone clearing their throat snapped Mal out of her thoughts. She looked at the three judges who looked impatiently at her.

Mal gulped and explained her piece. "I call it, 'The Isle of the Lost'. It represents me and my four friends. It shows that we're part Auradon and part Isle. Coming to Auradon we are no longer lost." Mal had rehearsed and rehearsed her lines. She was shaking. She'd never been so nervous before in her life.

The three judges nodded silently and wrote on their clipboards. As they walked away, Mal could've sworn she saw Mrs. Wellington wink at her. And it didn't go unnoticed by Tessa. Mal looked over to see her glaring.

Sasha and Vega ran up to her and hugged her.

"What's this for?" Mal laughed.

"We're just so proud of you!" Vega screamed. "Your piece is by far the best one!"

"Woah. This is sick!" Sachi said, friends in tow.

"Yeah, when Sasha said you were talented, she wasn't kidding." Ion stared in awe.

Mal blushed at the compliments she was receiving. But then she looked around the room and frowned. "But is it good enough to win?"

Sachi frowned. "Why are you so obsessed with winning? I mean winning is nice, but aren't you taking it a little to far?"

Mal sighed. "Maybe. But I want to accomplish something. On my own. Because of my talent and skill."

"What do you mean?" Higgins said.

"Before I came to Auradon I was 'Maleficent's daughter'" Mal explained. "People made allowances for me because my mom instilled fear in their hearts. Then when I came to Auradon I was a VK so expectations weren't very high."

"And then you started dating Ben," Sasha said, understanding.

"Exactly," Mal agreed. "Then I was some lady in waiting. People treated me differently because I was dating him. And maybe I didn't notice it at first. But now I do."

"What changed?" Vega asked.

Mal shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I realized I was being talked about as someone's this or someone's that. Here, for the first time, I'm just Mal. And I really like that. And I intend to keep it that way."
***********
Carlos was ecstatic that he was reunited with Dude. The weeks away from the fur ball were practically unbearable . But as soon as he saw him, Dude jumped onto Carlos.

"The palace guards must have fed you too much, boy," Carlos chuckled. "You seem a lot heavier than I remember."

They collapsed onto his bed in a heap as Dude happily licked his face. Carlos laughed as Dude slobbered all over him. In his fit of laughter, Carlos didn't notice a visibly upset Jay walk in.

Jay plopped onto his bed and groaned, earning the attention of Carlos. "Oh you're back."

"Yeah," Jay sighed.

"What's wrong? How'd it go with Audrey?"

"Well I hope you had your fun because your little joke ruined Audrey's life," Jay snapped.

Carlos was taken aback. "Are you- are you mad at me?"

"Of course I'm mad at you!" Jay said, sitting up. "Audrey's ankle is in really bad shape. Because if your stupid prank, Audrey can't cheer."

"For how long?"

"Doc said probably never again."

Carlos frowned. "Oh my god. It's all my fault."

"Yep."

"I need to apologize!"

Jay rolled his eyes and got up off his bed. "I wouldn't suggest that right now."

"Why?"

"Because Audrey is not exactly in the best mood right now. And she'd likely kill you."

Now it was Carlos's turn to roll his eyes. "I can't just sit here and do nothing. She deserves a proper apology."

"Well give her time to cool off," Jay said, prepping to shower. He hasn't had time since they arrived. "Besides, don't you have homework or something?"

Carlos snapped his head to his desk and saw the pile of summer assignments he had to do. Jay chuckled and hopped into the bathroom.

"I forgot about that," Carlos sighed. "Guess that apology will just have to wait."

"Good call!!" Jay yelled from the bathroom.

Carlos heard the shower turn on. He quickly packed his books into his bag and decided it'd be better to study in the library. It would be practically empty due to it being summer.
***********
Jane aggressively tapped her pen against her textbook. She was trying to do her reading. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't focus. She was too upset.

Now she knew that Evie must've known something and kept it from her. How else would she have gotten that fabric? 

Jane groaned and got up for a quick stretch. She had been trying to study for hours. At first she was doing great, but the more she got into her thoughts, the angrier she got.

She heard the soft creak if the front door of the library. She expected to be alone since it was summer vacation and hardly anybody studied, besides her. Well besides her and whoever this stranger was.

It was bringing to get dark out and Jane noticed. She quickly hid behind her chair and grabbed the first thing she could to clutch as a weapon. She picked up her pen.

Great, she thought. This is such great protection.

She heard footsteps. They began walking in her direction. Jane could feel her heart pounding as she heard the footsteps get closer and closer. Suddenly her heart stopped. The footsteps had stopped. But from her position she saw two sneakers from below the table.

Mustering up all her courage she jumped out of her hiding place and screaming, chucked the pen at the other person.

"Ow!" She heard a familiar voice yell.

Jane stared with wide eyes at her victim. Carlos.

"Oh my gosh, Carlos! I'm so sorry!" Jane apologized.

Carlos chuckled. "It's okay. I probably deserved it."

Jane frowned. "Why would you say that?"

"It's a long story. So now that you're back, why didn't you greet us with your mom?"

"It's a long story."