28

There was only one day left until the coronation now. At lunchtime, for once, Margot didn't go to the shelter, deciding her friends needed her more as she joined them at the picnic benches.

"Hey, guys. How is everyone?" Ben tried, but his smile didn't spread to anyone else. "Yeah? Hey, listen. Forget about it. All right? It was nothing. Forget about it. Let it go. Tomorrow, after the coronation, I promise everything will be okay. I have to go. I'll see you guys later."

Margot managed to force a smile his way, which he took gratefully, but it faded within a second.

"Listen, Evie, I wanna talk about yesterday. I just..." Doug started nervously.

"Doug!" Chad called.

"It's my fault, Doug. I'm sorry." Evie said, her eyes genuine and lost.

"No, it's mine..."

"Doug! What?" Chad demanded.

"I'm sorry..." Doug trailed off as he returned to the other table.

Looking over, Margot made eye contact with Roze, who smiled apologetically, mouthing "I'm sorry." The curly-haired girl nodded understandingly, it was a tough position to be in since Audrey controlled the school. Margot was just glad the blonde still thought of her as a good person, despite the scene from the day before.

"How long does she think that's gonna last? Mal is just the bad girl infatuation." Audrey snarked, still unaware that Mal and Ben weren't even actually together.

"Yeah. I mean, he's never gonna make a villain a queen." Jane added, much to Margot's disappointment. From Oliver's expression, he was just as unimpressed by his sister's behaviour as the rest of them.

"Beware, forswear, undo Jane's hair." Mal said under her breath, her eyes teary. Glancing at Oliver, Margot had almost expected anger, but he seemed to think this was justified. Margot was inclined to agree, though it may have been harsher than the way she would have dealt with it.

"Ew!" Chad yelled as the other girls laughed at Jane's return to her bob cut.

"There's a lot more where that came from." Mal growled at the group, many of whom had had their hair done by her as well.

"Excuse me, who do you think you are?" Audrey rolled her eyes, glaring at the girl.

"Audrey, for once, please just stop being bitch." Oliver told her, sending her a disgusted expression.

"Excuse you?!"

The four main VKs walked away, not wanting to deal with her drama anymore while Margot and Oliver stayed behind to deal with the group.

"You know, all of you have such potential to be really good people. I've actually liked you all at some point." Margot said in her soft voice, her eyes hard enough to cut diamonds. "It's a shame you're letting your personalities become so ugly now. It's a waste."

Many of the girls seemed to have a hint of remorse in their expressions then, mostly Roze and Jane, but Audrey only got madder.

"Says the one who pretended to be my friend and helped Mal steal my boyfriend!"

"You know just as well as everyone else here that that's not true. I hope for your sake, Audrey, that you stop being so angry at the world soon. You'll be less miserable then."

Then, Margot had had enough. Instead of staying in this toxic environment, she took her borrowed bike and returned to the shelter, quietly playing with Estel, while Roger and Anita watched her worriedly. She said scarcely a word to them the whole time they were there, and when Estel became too tired and fell asleep, she pulled homework out of her backpack and started writing. Completing math homework seemed useless, but going back to school and having to see Ben in the library or the others in the halls seemed much worse. Even reading the book Belle had most recently recommended her made her heart clench uncomfortably. She was well aware she had probably lost her dear mentor the day before by speaking up so rudely to the king, but she couldn't bring herself to regret her words. It would've been a dishonour to Ben to stay quiet.

Eventually, as the sun started to set, Anita urged the girl to return to school before it became dark, and Margot was forced to accept. Luckily, Margot didn't run into anyone until she arrived at her room, shutting the door behind her with a sigh.

"That much drama, huh?" Kalea said, gesturing to her bedside table. "I grabbed you some dinner just in case. Crick may have taken a bite of the mashed potatoes though, I hope you don't mind."

"You got me dinner?" Margot wondered, her hands suddenly shaking from exhaustion.

"'Course, roomie. I figured you'd avoid the crowds, and I wasn't gonna let you starve. I actually do like you, you know?" Kalea grinned lazily, going back to brushing Crick's blue fur.

"Thank you." Margot murmured as she took a bite out of the juicy steak that seemed to fill every piece of her that was empty in that moment.

"Everyone knows Audrey's being a bitch, you know? Just all the royals are scared of her cuz her family's powerful. They're forgetting that a whole lot of that power was lost when Ben dumped her since she's not the future queen anymore." Kalea told her, stealing a piece of broccoli. "Sorry, drama makes me hungry."

Margot laughed to herself. "Please, go ahead. You know, Auradon's type of mean is really different from the Isle's type of mean."

"No shit."

"I mean, I almost prefer the Isle. At least, there, everyone's honest about their dishonesty. Here, people pretend they're perfect and don't seem to take accountability for anything." Margot commented quietly.

"That, my friend, is the difference between the poor and the rich. The rich need their reputations to stay rich, the poor have nothing to lose. Now, I'm not poor, but I sure as hell ain't rich. I've got enough to lose, but not anything worth much to other people, so I get to be in the golden zone of doing what I want without worrying about reputation, but I still have to be just nice enough to no piss off the Audreys of the world too badly. I get the best of both worlds: Freedom, and good character." Kalea explained, relaxing against her bedframe.

"That's a nice way of looking at your life. I was obviously dirt poor before, but now, I don't really know what I am." Margot wondered aloud.

"Well, aren't you lucky? You get to start from scratch, and make yourself whatever you wanna be. My advice would be to ignore the labels, and just be someone you're proud of." Kalea replied, yawning in the middle of her sentence.

"That'd be pretty nice." Margot murmured. That would be wonderful.