Call Me A Freak

Lie To Me

We all met up the next evening to finalize our Coronation plans. I had some sketches I'd made laid across the table, along with a map of the castle, where the Coronation would be taking place.

"Okay, we all know what this looks like," I said, pointing to the wand. "So, it'll be up on the dais, underneath the Beast's spell jar. We'll be coming in from here. I will be in the very front. You all will be up in the balcony."

Carlos reached over, getting a look at the floor plans.

"Carlos?" I asked.

"Okay, so I'll find our limo and we can break the barrier. And, uh, get back on the island with the wand," he explained.

"Perfect. Evie?"

"Yeah?" She turned, watching me pull a glass out of my bag.

"You will use this to take out the driver." I handed the bottle to her, pointing to the compression area. "Two sprays and he'll be out like a light."

"Okay," she whispered.

Everyone was silent. With nothing else to explain, Carlos and Jay stepped away from the table. Evie sighed, stuffing the glass into her bag and moving to leave. And I began to shuffle through my spellbook for what I could only hope to be the last time.

The script at the top of the page was so windy and intricate I could barely read it. But Evie could tell what it said the moment she stepped away from the table.

"M, you want to break Ben's love spell?" she asked, startled.

I lifted a shoulder, halfheartedly. "Yeah. You know, for after."

I could hear the boys shift in their beds behind us.

"I don't..." Evie started, but I knew what she meant.

"I've just been thinking, you know, when the villains finally do invade Auradon and begin to loot, and kick everyone out of their castles, and murder their leaders, and destroy all that is good and beautiful... Ben still being in love with me seemed a little extra... cruel." My lips sneered around the last word.

Evie didn't argue with me, like I thought she would. She was all for true love and she seemed convinced that what Ben and I had was real... but at the same time, Evie knew how awful things were going to turn out for him. Why leave Ben a confused, heartbroken mess on top of that?

I shut my book and stormed out. I wasn't mad at them. But I felt angry nonetheless.

Why did the universe decide to show me so much goodness in the world, before having me fill out my life's purpose to destroy it? Why couldn't I stay happily on the island, where I could laugh at my mother's destruction of Auradon, never to have gotten to know Ben or lost confidence in the work of evil?

I marched myself straight to the kitchen, getting started on the antidote.

This recipe would supposedly create a cupcake. As I waltzed around, grabbing all the ingredients called for, Jay silently strode in.

I jumped, when I turned around and saw him standing above my mixing bowl, reading the spellbook.

"Jay," I murmured, bringing the last two things I needed to the table with me. "What are you doing?"

"Helping," he responded and before I could ask what that meant, he reached for the first thing the directions listed and started pouring it into the bowl.

I was a bit too shocked to do anything, simply staring at him. He began adding more mixing them in together as he went.

"Listen, I don't mind doing this by myself, but I think you should know that I've never baked a single thing in my life. So, if you want this to look like something edible, you should probably help."

A small smile tugged at my cheeks and I joined him in his work. We were silent for most of the evening, working simultaneously.

"Mal," he said, breaking the silence, "Can you do me a favor?"

I blinked, caught off guard. "What is it?"

"Lie to me," he replied. "I need you to lie to me and tell me that being a villain makes you happy."

I opened my mouth, but my throat closed up. I wanted to insist that that wasn't a lie, but it was like my whole body was fighting against me.

"I-I don't..." I stuttered.

His face dropped all it's tension and worry. He looked me up and down like he was assessing the damage.

"Mal, this whole plan comes down to you. The rest of us... we're not going to stop you. Our families are counting on us too. And we will follow you no matter what your decision. But I think that you should take a look at your whole life on the island and the few days that we've been here and really think about what makes you happy. And don't tell me that it's listening to your mother, because we all saw you after that call yesterday. She shouldn't factor into your decision at all."

My eyes stung as he spoke. Because it was Jay...

Jay who looted, and destroyed, and taunted with me. Who was always up for the mischief I had set myself to.

But also, it was the Jay who complimented my artwork as I plastered it all over the Isle. The Jay who wasn't pissed when I was late to meeting up with them and who searched the island for me when I wasn't present.

It was my Jay.

One tear slipped down my face. "Jay... they'll never accept us."

"We won't know that for sure until tomorrow, for parent's day. And Friday, for the Coronation. The whole kingdom will practically be there."

The tear reached my chin and dropped into the bowl, completing our mixture, but I wasn't completely paying attention. "I'm so scared of her, Jay."

"Maleficent?" he asked. Another tear started to slide down my cheek, but he was quick to reach up and wipe it off. "Mal, why don't you worry about what you want right now. Maybe Maleficent will try again. And if that happens, we'll do our best to stop her. But for right now, she can't get to you and I think you should really consider a life without her."

He picked up the bowl and mixed in my tear, completing the spell.

"I'll put this in the oven," he mumbled, walking past me as I continued to cry. I didn't have a way to stop it.

"Jay," I gasped out through a sob. "I don't know what to do."

In a minute, he was in front of me, pulling me in for a hug. "You don't have to know right now. You have two days. But I'm not going to tell you. And neither is Evie or Carlos. We know we'll be the happiest wherever you are... So, we'll follow you."