22

The next day, things were back to normal for Ben and Margot, who had decided to no longer let Audrey come between their friendship (with Oliver's heavy prodding).

The two of them were talking by the lockers with Oliver when they noticed Mal waving them over, with the VKs behind her.

"Hey!" Mal greeted, her eyes locked on Ben for some strange reason.

"Hey." Ben replied, smiling lightly.

"I just made a batch of cookies. Double chocolate chip, do you want one?" Mal offered.

"Ooh, I want one!" Margot replied, eyes sparkling at the sight of the delicious-looking cookie.

"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 answered awkwardly.

"No, yeah. I completely understand. 'Be careful of treats offered by kids of villains.'" Mal said in a 'duh' tone. Margot pouted slightly as she realized she wasn't getting the cookie.

"No, no, no!" Ben denied, hurriedly taking a bite of the cookie. "See that? Hey, totally trust you."

"Can I have a bite?" Margot asked hopefully. Ben calmly handed the curly-haired girl the cookie while her friends watched in horror as she took a bite without hesitation, turning to Oliver. "Want some, Oliver?"

Oliver's eyes were narrowed as he examined Mal's face and the way Margot's eyes suddenly dilated while looking at him, her cheeks flushing. Then, he heard Ben start to babble something about Mal. "I'm good, Margot. I'm more of a snickerdoodle type of guy."

The look he gave Mal made it clear that wasn't his reason, and she gulped nervously as her friends hurried Ben and Margot away before they could ruin the plan. "Something was in that cookie." Oliver stated calmly as a smirk crossed his face. He leaned into the purple-haired girl, who tried to look tough but took a step back anyways. "I'm really interested to find out what. Let's hope you made it entertaining at least."

Mal stayed still for some moments trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened, before forcing her feet to take her to the stands.

"What took you so long?" Evie wondered.

"Just lost in thought." Mal didn't look at her best friend as she spoke, instead deflecting the question to Margot, who was staring off into space with a dopey smile. "What's up with her?"

"Staring at Oliver." Mal's lips turned downwards slightly before she chastised herself. No way was she going to be upset her potion was working.

"She's cute when she's in love."

Evie stared at her somewhat disapprovingly. "She already was." Evie had tried to convince Mal to find a different way to get the wand, but Mal's mind couldn't be changed once it had been made. Even if it meant she had to use her friend's crush.

When it came time to the game though, Margot's eyes were only on Ben, which Evie noted with great satisfaction. True love always wins.

The game was a real nailbiter, and all three girls cheered wildly when Jay and Carlos made their way onto the field. The announcer made the game no less stressful. "He passes to prince Ben. He scores! Prince Ben has won it! What an unselfish play by Jay! What a team! Incredible! And it's the new guys, Jay and Carlos, who set up the prince for the win here. What a victory! An absolutely wonderful end to one of the best games ever. Here they come, folks. The winners of the first tourn..."

Ben suddenly grabbed the mic from the announcer. "Excuse me. Excuse me. Can I have your attention, please? There's something I'd like to say. Give me an 'M'!"

The cheerleaders and students in the crowd all echoed him. "M!"

"Give me an 'A'!"

"A!"

"Give me an 'L'!"

"L!"

Margot realized at the same moment Audrey did, and immediately her eyes snapped to her ex-friend who looked absolutely distraught. When Audrey ran away, Margot pushed her way through the stands onto the field to run after her, finding her on the way to the locker room.

"Audrey!" Margot called.

"What? Come to rub it in my face even more?! I bet you knew this whole time!" Audrey yelled, her eyes watery.

"Of course I didn't. I came to check if you're ok."

"Do I look ok?!" Audrey screamed. "Of course I'm not ok, you backstabber! You knew this whole time! You were just waiting for me to fail!" Audrey reached her arm back to slap her again, but this time, Margot caught her arm, her eyes dead serious.

"Audrey. Do not hit me." Her voice was low and soft like honey, but her grip was unmoving. "I had no idea about any of this. You know I never would've come between your relationship with Ben. I considered you my friend, and I care about you, so I wanted to check on you." The fact that Margot's eyes showed nothing but sympathy and pity made Audrey want to scream. "I'm sorry, Audrey. I really do feel sorry for you, but I won't put up with being hit by you. I hope you find a better way to cope, genuinely."

Margot then released Audrey's wrist and walked away calmly, returning to her seat, where it looked like Ben was trying to kiss Mal. The sight almost hurt, but Margot felt a wave of acceptance come over her as her eyes found Oliver. This was how it was meant to be. Her with Oliver, maybe, and Ben with Mal. She could never fall in love with a prince anyways.

When the crowds had dispersed some, Margot picked her way through the bleachers to Oliver, who looked like he'd been expecting her.

"Oliver, hi, um, I just wanted..." Margot trailed off, blushing wildly. "I wanted to ask you something."

Oliver just smirked, looking at something over her shoulder before looking back at her. "You know, I was thinking the two of us should go on a date."

Margot lit up, grinning with full dimples. "Really?"

"Yeah." Oliver felt a pang of guilt at the hopeful expression on her face, knowing he was lying, but if his plan worked, everything would go back to the way it should be.

As he grabbed Margot's hand and pulled her along, he made full eye contact with Mal, raising an eyebrow at her challengingly and thoroughly enjoying the annoyed expression on her face.

This would either be a disaster or a miracle.