Jolly to the Core

White Elephants

It was their first Christmas in Auradon and holiday cheer was in the air. With decorations hung from the ceiling and Christmas trees in every common space, through the VKs eyes, Auradon had a crazy obsession.

Hanging out in the girl's dorm, Jay was lounging at the desk, carefully trying not to mess with any of Evie's unorganized sewing materials. Evie sent a glare his way from her bed anytime he knocked over one of the spools of thread.

On the other side of the room, sat Carlos at the foot of Mal's bed, busy on his computer while Mal rested on her pillow, furiously shading in a dragon.

Carlos looked up from his computer to the rest of his friends. "Hey, guys?"

Mal nodded her head, not bothering to remove her eyes. Jay did for a split second, but Evie was nowhere near listening.

"Did you hear about the hot chocolate night on Sunday? Anybody know what that is?" Carlos asked, attempting to conversate. Mal looked up and shook her head.

Jay shrugged. "Dunno, Maybe It's like hot... chocolate?"

Mal glanced at Evie before getting up to swipe her phone out of her hands. She looked at the screen and chuckled.

"Mal!"

"InstaRoyal? Really, E?" Mal said handing the blue-haired girl her phone back.

"Yeah. And hot chocolate is literally what Jay said. It's heated up, liquid chocolate with toppings. Doug told me about it" Evie said returning to her phone.

"The band geek, huh?" Jay questioned, a smirk growing on his face. "If I could get a dime for how many times she's said Doug told me, I'd be in a mound of coins by now"

"Right?" Mal laughed as Evie looked up and rolled her eyes, her cheeks reddening by the second.

"Oh, shush!" She said putting her phone down and sticking her tongue out at Jay. "If I had a penny for every time Jay flirted with Lonnie, I'd be a trillionaire"

Jay glared at her, Evie returning his earlier smirk. There was a knock at the door, when Mal shushed them and got up. They all quickly grabbed a random book, stuffing their faces in them.

Mal opened the door, a beaming smile on her face.

"Ben!" She said as Jay threw down his book and returned to the video game in his phone. Carlos did the same, Evie following after.

"Hey, Mal—and guys" he said giving a wave to the others in the room. They waved back, smiles equal to Mal's on their faces. Mal gestured for him to come inside and he did so. "I just wanted to see if you wanted to participate in a holiday activity. In the past it was me, Audrey, Lonnie, Chad, Doug and Jane. But you know, I'd hate for you guys to miss out"

Evie looked up hearing her close friend's name and smiled, Carlos and Jay noticing and stifling laughs. She threw a piece of leather their way, her eyes slits.

Mal disregarded her friends, nodding her head. "Sounds interesting. So... it'd just be us and not Chad or Audrey? 'Cause Jay is pretty close to making him suffer anytime he sees him and Audrey and I are... well not the best of friends to say the least"

"Yeah, totally. I'd say the same for myself" he chuckled. "So it's just a white elephant gift exchange. Bring a—"

Interrupting his conversation, his phone rang and he put a finger up. "Great. Another pop-up council meeting! I'll see you guys later. But it's tonight. Sorry for the short notice!"

With his phone to his ear, Ben was already out of the door and straight down the hallway. Mal looked out from the doorway and smiled.

Coming back inside, she closed the door. "White elephant gift exchange"