𝙼 𝙰 𝚈 𝙱 𝙴
stave i 🥀 chapter 4

( third person narration )

𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙣,
𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙙
𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝,
𝘽𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙄 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙜𝙤

As soon as Quinn woke up that morning and read from her schedule that one of her first classes was "Remedial Goodness 101," she automatically knew that today was going to be a tedious one. Which she was right.

"If someone hands you a crying baby," Fairy Godmother—the teacher of this class—told Mal, Evie, Carlos, Jay, and Quinn, a little too enthusiastically, "do you, A, curse it? B, lock it in a tower? C, give it a bottle? Or D, carve out its heart?"

Yep, definitely tedious.

So tedious, in fact, that Quinn barely dressed up that day. Back on the Isle, she would've usually put some sort of effort into what she wore. She took after her mother and happily wore skirts and a tiara. But today, thanks to "Remedial Goodness 101," Quinn just threw on an old t-shirt and some red leather pants. Barely any jewelry was worn, but she rocked her usual bold lip. Quinn did braid half her hair up, to look a little bit nice, but no tiaras and dresses, for today, for today was going to be a long one.

"What was the second one?" Evie asked.

Very long.

"Oh, okay. Anyone else?" Fairy Godmother frowned as she scanned the room for her next victim, "Mal?"

Mal looked up from her detailed drawing of Fairy Godmother's wand. Quinn would've given her a standing ovation for her subtleness. If Auradon wasn't blinded by goodness, they would've figured out that the VK's had some sort of unusual obsession with the magic wand that could literally free their parents/the worst villains of the entire world.

"C, give it a bottle," Mal answered, twirling a strand of hair.

"Correct," Fairy Godmother said, "Again."

Quinn let out a low whistle as Carlos complimented Mal in agreement, "You are on fire, girl!"

Quinn didn't understand how Mal was so good at answering goodness questions. She had to listen to Mal rant for hours on end about how she, Carlos, Jay, and Evie had to be badder, eviler, nastier, cast better curses, and a lot of other junk that Quinn ignored in the spirit of being evil. So how was Mal so good at being so good?

"Just pick the one that doesn't sound like any fun."

That's how.

"Oh," Carlos said, now, understanding the information.

"That makes so much sense," Evie said, also understanding.

Quinn snickered as Mal mocked the duo.

A girl with a black bob, clipboard, and a pale blue dress, no older than the other teenagers, walked into the room. Quinn smirked as she heard a slight squeal from the young girl. Being feared must've also satisfied Mal, for her eyes stayed glued to the frightened girl.

She was followed by a brunette male, who caught Quinn's eye. He looked like the average Auradon kid; fair skin, blue and gold letterman jacket. She concluded that he wasn't bad-looking, but definitely wasn't her type.

"Oh. Hello, dear one," Fairy Godmother said as the girl and boy approached her.

"Hi," the girl continued to intently stare at the VK's, "You need to sign off on early dismissal for the coronation."

The brunette also stared at the VK's, but one in particular. It seemed as though the girl with the blazing-red-blonde hair seemed to perk his interest. So much so that his eyes stayed on her, which trickled a small smile on his face.

"Everyone here remembers my daughter, Jane?"

Mal nudged Evie, who looked over to Quinn. The redhead nodded back, knowing what the purple-haired girl meant.

"Mom no!" Jane whisper-yelled but her mother ignored her.

"It's okay. Jane, this is everyone," Fairy Godmother said, forcefully turning Jane around to face everyone, "And her friend Percy, Peter Pan's son."

Jay snorted as he saw Quinn's expression turn into a frown. Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay knew about "the incident ivolving the blue-eyed pirate." Percy waved to the group as Jane's horrified expression stayed plastered onto her porcelain skin.

"Hi. That's okay, don't mind us," Jane said shyly, "As you were."

Mal and Quinn watched as Jane practically dragged Percy out of the classroom. The brunette's eyes however, stayed on Quinn's. As soon as the duo left, Quinn rolled her eyes. This Percy kid is definitely going to be a problem.

Fairy Godmother cleared her throat. "Let's continue," she said, still too much enthusiasm, "You find a vial of poison. Do you, A, put it in the king's wine? B, paint it on an apple?" Evie raised her hand, chuckling at one of the options. "Or C, turn it over to the proper authorities?"

Everyone except for Mal eagerly raised their hand. Carlos and Jay started fighting over who was to answer the question, but Jay was able to hold Carlos' arm down. A victorious smile etched up on his face when Fairy Godmother called on him.

"Jay."

"C. You turn it over to the proper authorities," Jay answered confidently as he let Carlos' arm go.

"I was gonna say that," Carlos whined.

"But I said it first," Jay cooed, "Come here!"

He grabbed Carlos and noggied him. The two fought on the desks. Fairy Godmother frowned. Mal rolled her eyes. Evie checked her reflection in the mirror, while Quinn smirked, knowing that Jay and Carlos wrestling each other was coming.

"Boys," Fairy Godmother said, tapping the chalkboard in an attempt to calm the teenagers down. Like that's gonna work, Quinn thought. But the woman's tone changed, "Boys!" She said, making Quinn slightly jump at the fairy's newfound voice. She calmed down as Jay and Carlos stopped fighting. "I am gonna encourage you to use that energy on the tourney field."

Carlos shook his head. "Oh, no. That's okay," he said, "Whatever that is, we'll . . . we'll pass."

• • •

Quinn Hearts walked through the "halls (halls, which were literally outside)" of Auradon prep, books in hand and partially getting lost. It had only been their first day and no map was given to Quinn, so she had to rely on her memory to get her around school.

Sadly, she only had two classes with Alison that day, meaning that there would be no one to help her get around the giant school. Jay and Carlos were at the tourney field, whatever tourney was, and Mal and Evie were nowhere to be found.

Nothing screamed, "I'm a new kid who has no clue where the music classroom is" more than a wide-eyed teenage student with many papers in hand and no friends around.

Suddenly, all those charts, homework, worksheets, class schedules, and books went flying as the heartbreaker's body clashed into something. She looked up to find the kid from Remedial Goodness class.

"Sorry," Percy muttered and started to help Quinn pick up her stuff.

"It's fine," she muttered back, even though she was quite ticked off.

The two scrambled to pick up her stuff. Papers were quickly snatched, but Percy happened to stumble across what seemed to be a sheet of music. The brunette picked up the slightly crumpled paper, and read the lyrics. They were well-written and definitely conveyed some sort of love song.

"Where have you been? / Where did you go? / Those summer nights seem long ago," he read to himself; but the paper was quickly snatched away by the half-redhead.

"Thanks for the help," Quinn snapped, walking over to her locker.

It wasn't long before Mal and Evie finished their classes, and joined Quinn at their lockers. Ben, Audrey, and Chad came outside also. Chad and Audrey gave the VK's a direct stare, and had apparently started talking about the VK's, and they failed at being discreet about it. The teens were actually quite loud.

"Those kids are trouble," Chad said, directly staring at the VK's.

Quinn had the pleasure of meeting Chad Charming during his poor attempt at flirting with her. But Chad was stupid, dumb, and had quite a big mouth. If you had asked Quinn. If you were gonna talk bad about somebody, you should at least be quieter about it.

"Bye Mal," Evie said with a frown as she shut her locker.

Mal's attention stayed on Ben, Audrey, and Chad as she mumbled her goodbyes. Evie and Quinn walked away from the previous scene, not really feeling like hearing people talk trash about them.

Evie had chemistry, which was perfect, considering that Quinn had music and the two classrooms were, allegedly, nearby each other. If she got lost, at least she wouldn't be alone.

"So, Percy Pan—" Evie carried out, beaming.

"Is annoying me to death," Quinn finished with a huff.

The blue-haired girl frowned, "How come?"

"I don't know," Quinn stated, "It's just something about him, it's just, annoying. But I can't put my finger on it. Just his overall personality is stupid."

"But what about his face?" Evie asked, still smiling, "Isn't he cute?"

Shoulders shrugged, "He's alright-looking, I guess."

The chemistry lab and music room were, in fact, next to each other. Both doors were dark brown like the other classroom doors. One rectangular window stood just at the right edge of both of the doors. Both rooms seemed identical on the outside, but were completely different from each other on the inside.

"Well," Quinn started, "Here's my stop. See you and Mal after class."

Evie smiled a goodbye and entered the chemistry lab without saying another word. Quinn, however, was more reluctant. Sure, she loved music. Quinn had managed to find a six-string back on the Isle, and wrote songs off of the four strings that weren't broken.

But the songs she wrote were quite dark. Quinn assumed that this music class would teach her about singing to birds outside your bedroom window. Songs about what the world was really like didn't exactly fit that kind of vibe. But here goes nothing.

The students were all already sitting down. An older woman with long, silky red hair stood at the front, in front of a chalkboard. She frowned immediatly upon seeing Quinn. Of course, I'm late, Quinn thought to herself, also frowning.

"Ms. Hearts," the woman said, "Could you care to inform the class why you're late on this fine morning?" Her voice was soft, gentle, making stern words that should have been as rough as sandpaper feel like silk.

"Um, I got lost," Quinn lied. She was good at acting, "This place is so big."

The red-haired woman seemed to buy the act because she smiled. It was a kind, genuine smile. Not like the smirk or scowel that Quinn had usually seen from her teachers back on the Isle of the Lost.

"That's okay, dear," she said calmly, "Have a seat next to Alison. I'm Mrs. A."

Calm voice, red hair, music teacher, name starts with A. Deffietly princess Ariel. Quinn nodded and sat at the empty chair next to Alison as Mrs. A continued talking to the class.

"For the next assignment, you will be working in pairs," she continued, "You and your partner will be writing a song to perform in front of the class. Genre and lyrics don't matter, just let your creativity run through your body and soul. Let it lift your spirits!"

Boring, Quinn thought as the bell rang, indicating that music, and Mrs. A's disgustingly hopeful attitude was over.

Alison and Quinn ended up working together. Shocker. Quinn decided that she and Alison work on the project in Mal and Evie's dorm, where Jane was already there. Mal had told Quinn and the others about her "plan with Jane," which seemed like it had been a total flop.

Mal was doodling in her sketchbook, Evie was sewing, Quinn and Alison were fiddiling with an acoustic guitar and noting lyrics on a pad of paper, and Jane was complaining about her mother.

"Mom said, 'If a boy can't see the beauty within, then he's not worth it,'" Jane directly quoted from her mother, "Can you believe it? What world does she live in?" Quinn laid down on the edge of the bed, letting her blonde/red locks pour down.

"Auradon," Mal muttered, still doodling.

Alison perked her head up. "Maybe we should write about Auradon!" she said.

Quinn snorted at the idea, "If you want the song to be about sunshine and rainbows, then yes."

"No," Alison said, "Like about the real world. We can make the song like super spooky and stuff."

The half-redhead sat up, "I'm listening."

"Okay, listen to this," the blonde said, looking down at the notepad, "All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces."

Quinn's eyes lit up. "That's actually not bad at all," she picked up the guitar and struck a couple of chords. Alison swiftly nodded in agreement and Quinn jotted the chords down on the paper.

"Mal, Quinn, do you like?" Evie asked from the desk as she held up a dark leather dress.

"Yeah. It's cute," Mal complimented, "It brings out your eyes."

"Can you make me one," Quinn asked, going back into her previous lying down position, "But can you make it in red?" Quinn smiled when Evie agreed.

"I'll never get a boyfriend," Jane complained, plopping down on Evie's bed.

"Boyfriends," Mal said, rolling out each sylablle "are overrated."

"And how would you know, Mal?" Evie challenged, "You've never had one."

"It's 'cause I don't need one, E," the purple-haired girl reasoned, "They're a waste of time."

Evie glanced over to an upsie-down Quinn. "Q, back me up on this," she insisted.

"She's right," Quinn said, "Boyfriends are a waste of time, energy, and space. Boys are dumb, stupid, and depend on girls to do the hard work for them."

Evie gasped, and randomly stood up. "I forgot to do Chad's homework! Oh, no!" she said, grabbing a large backpack, making Quinn frown, "Oh, no, no, no."

"There's my point," Quinn said.

A girl with short black hair randomly entered the room. She didn't announce herself with a knock or anything, she just walked in. The girl wore clothes with pink flowers on them that had appeared to be cherry blossoms.

Auradon girls deffietly dressed nice. If you compared the girl to Alison, drastic differences would be noted. While the girl wore a nice blouse and a skirt (standard Auradon girl attire), Alison sported pale blue cotton twill pants and a white sweater. Clean sneakers were also on, and Quinn swore that Audrey would've strangled Alison if she saw her in tennis shoes.

"Hey, guys! I'm Lonnie," Lonnie frowned when no one said anything, "My mom's Mulan?"

Okay, and?

"No? Anyways, I love what you've done with Jane's hair," Lonnie said, turning to Mal, "and I know you hate us, and, well, you're evil. But do you think you could do mine?"

"Why would I do that for you?" Mal said, now glancing up from her sketchbook.

"I'll pay you 50 dollars," Lonnie said, holding up a turquoise coin purse that jingled when she held it up.

Evie snatched the bag. "Good answer. I need to buy more material," she said, eyeing the girl's bob, "Let's see, I'm thinking, we lose the bangs, maybe some layers and some highlights—"

"Yeah, yeah. I want it cool," she insisted, glancing at Mal's purple locks, "Like Mal's."

"Would you like that hairstyle with or without the split ends?" Quinn joked, grinning and earning a glare from Mal. "What? I'm just saying."

Mal groaned, and snatched her spellbook. She leaned against the bed post and flipped to a page. Pointing her finger on the spell, she read, "Okay . . . 'Beware, forswear, replace the old with cool hair.'"

Mal's fingers swished in a couple of directions as Lonnie's head followed. When the girl lifted her head up, her previous dark hair was now chesnut brown. It's short cut was now long and curly. Lonnie went over to the mirror and glanced at her hair in shock.

Evie took Lonnie's shock in the wrong direction, however. "I know. I know. It looks like a mop on your head," she said, "You know what? Let's cut it off, layer it-"

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Lonnie shook her head, smiling at her reflection, "I love it."

"You do?" Evie questioned.

"It's just . . . " Lonnie took a small section of her turquoise skirt and tore a small slit in it, "Now I'm cool."

"Like ice," Mal smiled.

Jane slightly smiled, walking up to the mirror and following Lonnie's same motions. But her face changed after she ripped the fabric. A look of horror was stuck now. "What did I just do? Mom's gonna kill me!"

The other girls just chuckled at Jane. Evie turned to Alison now.

"You're next," the blue-haired girl insisted.

Alison frowned, "No no no. No makeovers on me."

"Oh come on!" Evie insisted, "It will only be for tomorrow."

The blonde rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "Fine. But absolutely no heels."

• • •

"Yo-ho-ho!"

Everyone looked up to find Jay in a tourney jersey. Evie was still doing Chad's homework with her mirror, Carlos was on his computer, Mal was hurriedly searching her mother's spellbook, and Quinn was plucking at Alison's six-string.

"Hey!" Carlos said.

"You're playing tourney?" Quinn asked, muttering, "That's dumb."

Jay frowned, but let the comment slide off as he turned to Mal, who was still frantically searching her mother's spellbook.

"Did your plan work with Jane?" he asked, "Are you going over to see the wand?"

"Do you think that I would be going through every single spell in this book if I hadn't completely struck out?" Mal snapped, looking up at the thief.

"Someone's in a bad mood," Carlos muttered.

"My mom's counting on me!" Mal insisted, flicking the back of Carlos' head, "I can't let her down!"

Carlos quietly winced as Jay had some sudden surge of energy. "We can do this," he said suddenly, making Quinn pay attention now more than ever, "If we stick together."

"Did he just say the w-word?" Quinn whispered to Carlos, who shrugged in response.

"And we won't go back until we do," the purple-haired girl added, "Because we're rotten . . . "

"To the core."

"Oh, yeah. I found out that Fairy Godmother blesses Ben with the wand at coronation and we all get to go. I have nothing to wear, of course," the group gave Evie a look, wondering why she hadn't said anything earlier. Evie clearly noticed the look from her friends, "What?"

"You didn't care to bring this up earlier?" Quinn asked.

There was a knock on the door. Mal got up, her eyes staying on Evie. "Hold that thought," she said, answering the door. Maybe Lonnie finally learned to knock, Quinn thought to herself, remembering Lonnie's sudden burst into Evie and Mal's dorm room.

The door revealed Ben, in a suit, however. He smiled immediately upon seeing Mal. "Hey, Mal," he greeted. Quinn visibly rolled her eyes. Ben cleared his throat, remembering that the other VK's existed. "I didn't see you guys today. I was just wondering If you had any questions or anything . . . that . . . you needed."

"You came all the way here to ask that?" Quinn asked.

Mal ignored Quinn's comment and gave her friends a quick look before shaking her head herself. "Not that I know of," she said.

"Okay. All right. Well, uh," Ben started to walk away, "If you need anything, just, uh—"

Mal remembered what Evie had said about Fairy Godmother's wand being present at coronation and stopped Ben from walking away. "Oh, wait!" Ben stopped walking, "Um, is it true that we all get to go to your coronation?"

"Yeah, the whole school goes," Ben said.

"Wow. That is beyond exciting," Mal said with a fake smile, "Do you think that It's a possibility that the five of us could stand in the front row next to the Fairy Godmother, just so we could soak up all that goodness?"

The prince frowned. "I wish you could," he said, "Up front It's just me, my folks, and my girlfriend."

Mal's head seemed to perk up at the word "girlfriend," because the next thing she said was, "And your girlfriend?"

"Yeah," Ben said, folding his hands, "I'm sorry."

"Okay. Thanks, bye," Mal said, closing the door in his face.

Ben said something else, but the door closing muffled his voice out. Mal spun around to face her friends, smiling. Quinn smirked, catching on to Mal's plan.

"I think It's time that Bennyboo got himself a new girlfriend," Mal said.

Quinn sighed in relief, "Good, 'cause Audrey is the worst."

"I need a love spell," the purple-haired girl finished.

Carlos tossed Maleficent's spellbook over to Mal, who caught the leather book in midair. Mal giggled. Maybe Maleficent's spellbook did hold all the answers after all, Quinn thought, smirking to herself.

• • •

The five met in the kitchen after curfew to make the love spell in the form of chocolate chip cookies. Mal and Evie were the ones doing the actual baking at the moment. Quinn, Carlos, and Jay sat on the metal kitchen island with a dog in between. Quinn had asked Carlos about the dog (who she learned was named Dude), and he said that he apparently got over his fear of dogs.

That definitely caught Quinn off guard

Quinn had occasionally eyed Dude, who was sitting on a towel in a metal bowl as a makeshift bed.

"All right. It says that we still need one tear," Mal read, "and I never cry."

"Let's just chop up some onions," Carlos suggested, holdin up an onion that was nearby.

"No. It Says that we need one tear of human sadness," she insisted, "And this love potion gets the best so we have to follow it exactly."

"Okay then," Jay shrugged, looking at Quinn, "Let's just talk about Harry then."

Quinn frowned, flicking Jay. "I never cried over him," she insisted.

"A tear's a tear," Jay interjected, moving the attention back to the original topic.

"That's not true, Jay," Evie said, moving the open bag of flour closer to Mal, "They both have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear."

Quinn lowly whistled as Mal sprinkled flour into the cookie mixture. "Listen to you," Mal complimented.

"Yeah, I knew that," Jay said.

"Did not."

"Yeah, right."

"Yeah I did," Jay shot back.

"Okay, whatever," Quinn said, prompting her friend to turn back to their task at hand, "None of us cry, so where are we supposed to get a tear of saddness from."

"There you are, Mal!" Lonnie bursted into the room, unannounced again. Quinn concluded that randomly entering rooms was Lonnie's thing. Mal threw a random dish cloth at her open spellbook as she turned to Lonnie, with a smile plastered to her face.

"I was looking for you. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair!" Lonnie noticed the cookie bowl, "Midnight snack, huh? What you guys making?"

The purple-haired girl looked at Evie, looking for an excuse. "Nothing special," she lied, "Just cookies."

Lonnie suddenly dipped her finger into the cookie mixture/love potion. The VK's immediately threw their arms up, trying to stop her from eating the love potion.

"Oh, no, no!"

"Wait, wait, wait!"

"What?" the girl asked, "I'm not gonna double dip."

"Feel anything?" Evie asked.

"Like, I don't know, maybe it's missing something?" Quinn asked.

Jay hopped off the island. "Hey, there," he said, flirtatiously, making Quinn roll her eyes.

Lonnie just slightly cringed and turned back to Mal and Evie, who were both still in front of the cookie mix. "It could use some chips," she said, walking over to the fridge.

The females sighed in relief, knowing that the love potion had no effect on the girl. Jay, however, was still confused by the term "chips."

"Chips?" Jay asked.

"And those are . . . "

"Chocolate chips," Lonnie said, next to the refrigerator door, "Just the most important food group."

The VK's frowned in confusion as Lonnie placed a small glass bowl filled with chocolate chips. Lonnie frowned at the teenagers as she sprinkled the chocolate chips into the cookie mix. "Wait, didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" Quinn asked, raising an eyebrow. Mal, Evie, Carlos, Jay, and Quinn learned about sweets on the limo drive. Treats were a rare thing on the Isle and were only used for potions, not for kids.

"Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big old glass of milk, and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and..." Lonnie trailed off, noticing the VK's disappointed looks. They had never had parents that truly loved them, didn't they. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"That's not really . . ." Quinn trailed off, "an Isle thing."

"Yeah, I know. I just, you know, I thought . . . even villains love their kids," Quinn frowned as Lonnie's face dropped. She held Mal's hand in a comforting way, "Oh . . . How awful."

Mal slowly looked up to find a single tear streaming down Lonnie's eyes. She glanced at her for a second before brushing the tear off and dropping it into the mixture in one swift motion.

"Yeah, well, big bummer, but we have to get these into the oven, so thank you so much for coming by," Mal said, pushing Lonnie out the door. Lonnie touched where the tear fell, questioning Mal's gesture.

"Really, really have a great night," Quinn said, also pushing Lonnie out the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Mal said, waving, "Evil dreams."

"Good night," Lonnie said, exiting the kitchen.

Mal's fake smile quickly sank into a serious one. She clapped her hands. "See you tomorrow. Okay, boys, cookie sheet. Evie, oven," Mal ordered.

"Yes ma'm," Evie said.

Quinn sighed in satisfaction, "And I get to do nothing."

"Quinn, you're washing dishes."

Quinn frowned, "You've got to be kidding me."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

longgg chapter :D

little note for copywright reasons, lyrics above don't belong to me. the first set is from "Old Money" by Lana Del Rey and the second set is from "Mad World" by Tears for Fears.

look i just had to make a lana reference. i just HAD to. because nfr ate and ocean blvd is my personality atm so ✋

thanks for bearing with me. :)
until next time.

~crrashingwavves