Part 1| Chapter 7: Baked With Love

"Mom said, 'If a boy can't see the beauty within, then he's not worth it.' Can you believe it? What world does she live in?" Jane complained when she came to Mal, y/n, and Evie's dorm.

Evie was busy sewing a dress, a passion of hers since birth, Mal was doodling as always, and y/n was listening to Jane with fervor while braiding her hair.

"Auradon," Mal joked.

"Mal, do you like?" Evie asked, displaying her newly stitched gown.

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

"I know," Evie smiled.

"I'll never get a boyfriend," Jane groaned just as y/n finished with her hair.

"Oh, come on, you don't know that," she said.

"Yes, I do." Jane groaned. "I wonder how it'll be like when everyone gets boyfriends, and I'll be left all alone."

Mal scoffed. "Boyfriends are overrated."

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

"Unless you count that fling with Harry back on the Isle," y/n reminded her sister.

Mal looked at y/n with storms in her eyes. "That doesn't count at all. And it's 'cause I don't need one, E. They're a waste of time."

"So you say," y/n said.

"So, you don't believe that?" Mal asked her.

"Well, uhh, of course I do, but you know-"

"You know what?" Mal pressed.

"Anyways, Jane," y/n said, ignoring Mal, "Do you wanna hang out later? I've finished all my homework."

"That sounds fun!" Jane said excitedly.

"I forgot to do Chad's homework!" Evie exclaimed, suddenly remembering. "Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no."

"And that is exactly what I mean," Mal stated.

"Hey, guys!" a girl with short black hair greeted upon entering the room. "I'm Lonnie. My mom's Mulan? No? Anyways, y/n, I love what you've done with Jane's hair. And I know you hate us, and, well, you're evil. But do you think you could do mine?" Lonnie asked y/n.

If she was being honest with herself, it did pinch her a bit when Lonnie used the word 'evil'. But, of course, she was, so why should she be offended?

"Well, of course," y/n said. "But I'm not very well-equipped with my ring. Mal, on the other hand, would be able to do a much better job," y/n said, flashing Mal a bright, innocent smile.

Lonnie looked at Mal hopefully. "Could you do it?"

"Why would I do that for you?" Mal asked.

"I'll pay you 50 dollars," Lonnie offered, holding up a small bag of cash.

"Good answer," Evie said, already snatching the money sachet. "I need to buy more material. Let's see, I'm thinking, we lose the bangs, maybe some layers and some highlights," she suggested.

"Yeah, yeah. I want it cool. Like Mal's," Lonnie said.

"Really? The split ends, too?" Evie asked.

"Or y/n's," Lonnie added.

Mal scoffed. "Then you're gonna need her to cut your hair and please, that never ends well."

"At least I cut my hair," y/n snapped back. "Those split ends aren't doing you a real big favor, are they?"

Mal grumbled and was about to say something back, when Evie glared at her while shaking the bag.

Mal grumbled again before grabbing her spellbook and getting off the bed. "Okay... 'Beware, forswear, replace the old with cool hair.'" Mal chanted before performing a swishing motion with her finger.

A second later, green particles started to swirl around Lonnie's hair as it grew longer and curler. When she stood in the mirror, she couldn't help but smile.

"I know. I know. It looks like a mop on your head," Evie said. "You know what? Let's cut it off, layer it..."

"No, no, no, no, no, no! I love it," Lonnie said.

"You do?" Evie asked in disbelief.

"It suits you," y/n complimented.

"It's just..." Unexpectedly, Lonnie tore the fabric on the side of her skirt, creating a slit. "Now I'm cool," she said happily.

"Like ice," Mal said.

"What is going on?" y/n muttered under her breath.

Suddenly, Jane walked up to the mirror and did the same thing with her dress.

"Oh!" y/n exclaimed, but it was already too late.

Right after she did, Jane regretted her decision tremendously. "What did I just do? Mom's gonna kill me!" she exclaimed.

***

Mal and y/n were on their own beds, Mal looking through her spell book and y/n shuffling through the polaroids her and Jane took together earlier that day. Evie was at her desk and Carlos leaned against the end of Mal's bed while sitting on the floor with his laptop. The room was mostly silent until Jay walked in, showing off his new jersey as he did so.

"Yo-ho-ho!" he whooped.

"Hey!" Mal said with a smile while everyone else clapped for him.

"Did your plan work with Jane? Are you going over to see the wand?" he asked y/n, who was still looking at the pictures.

"Huh, what?" she said, quickly stuffing them in her bag. "Oh, ummm-"

"Do you think that I would be going through every single spell in this book if we hadn't completely struck out?" Mal answered for her heatedly.

"Basically, no," y/n said.

"Oh, someone's in a bad mood," Carlos chuckled.

"My mom's counting on me! I can't let her down!" Mal told him before flicking the back of his head. "We can't let her down, y/n!"

"We can do this..." Jay started suddenly, "If we stick together."

"And we won't go back until we do. Because we're rotten..." Mal said.

"To the core," Evie, Jay, and Carlos finished.

'To the core,' y/n mouthed along with them.

"Oh, yeah. I found out that Fairy Godmother blesses Ben with the wand at coronation and we all get to go," Evie informed them. "I have nothing to wear, of course. What?" she asked when she noticed them staring at her.

"Oh, my god," y/n whispered, a smile tugging at her lips.

Suddenly, a knock at the door sounded. "Hold that thought," y/n told Evie before getting up to answer it.

To her surprise, she saw Prince Ben standing on the other side. It took everything in her not to gasp and walk away.

"Hey, y/n," he said, smiling. "I didn't see the others today. I was just wondering if you guys had any questions or anything... That... you needed..." he trailed off.

"Not that I know of," she replied while looking back at the group.

"Okay. All right. Well, uh, if you need anything, just, uh..." he fumbled.

"Oh, wait!" Mal said, quickly running up to the door. "Um, is it true that we all get to go to your coronation?"

"Yeah, the whole school goes."

Mal's face lit up at his words. "Wow. That is beyond exciting." Then, she nudged y/n.

"Oh! Umm... 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?" y/n asked him.

Unfortunately, Ben sighed guiltily. "I wish you could. Up front it's just me, my folks, and my girlfriend."

"Oh, okay," y/n said, disappointed but careful not to show it. "Thanks anyways."

"Wait. And your girlfriend?" Mal repeated.

"Yeah. I'm sorry," he said earnestly.

"Okay. Thanks, bye," Mal said quickly before closing the door.

Mal and y/n turned back to the group, Mal with a smile on her face. "I think it's time that Bennyboo got himself a new girlfriend. And I need a love spell."

Carlos tossed her the spellbook, and she instantly began flipping through the pages.

"Weren't you just saying how boyfriends are a 'waste of time'?" y/n quoted to her sister.

"Oh, they are," she agreed.

"Then why are you planning on making the prince fall in love with you?"

At her words, Mal laughed. "Don't be stupid. I'm not dating any of these goody-two-shoes princes—even I wouldn't be able to lie my way through that relationship. But you, y/n, you would be perfect."

"Me?" y/n asked incredulously. "Why me?"

"Because you've got an immaculate poker face," Mal replied. "And we all know how good you are at lying."

"I couldn't possibly-"

"Do this, and you could be in mother's good books forever."

Upon hearing that, y/n froze for a moment to reconsider. "Fine," she said eventually. After all, what's the worst that could happen?

***

Later that night, the five VKs went to the kitchen to bake the magic "love cookies" which, when given to Ben, would make him fall for y/n. But, if it didn't work... well, the book didn't really mention what would happen then.

"All right. It says that we still need one tear, and I never cry," Mal said once the batter was mixed.

"Let's just chop up some onions," Carlos proposed.

"No. It says that we need one tear of human sadness. And this love potion gets the best reviews so we have to follow it exactly," Mal said.

"How can it get reviews if it's a book?" y/n asked.

"Mom wrote in it," Mal replied.

"Mom made this before?" y/n asked. "Well, I know she didn't use it on Dad, so I guess she was more like you than I thought."

Mal smiled. "I bet Mom had a few fun flings. Like me."

"Ugh." Y/n made a disgusted face. "Anyways, the tear."

"A tear's a tear," Jay stated with a shrug.

"That's not true, Jay. They both have antibodies and enzymes, but an emotional tear has more protein-based hormones than a reflex tear," Evie replied.

"Listen to you," Mal said to Evie.

"Yeah, I knew that," Jay said.

"Did not," Carlos snickered.

"Yeah, I did," he replied defensively.

"There you are, Mal!" Lonnie exclaimed, suddenly entering the kitchen. Y/n quickly covered the spellbook before she could see it. "I was looking for you. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair! Midnight snack, huh? What you guys making?" she asked.

Mal shrugged. Nothing special. Just cookies. Oh, no, no!" she exclaimed when Lonnie dipped her finger in and licked the batter.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Carlos shouted.

"What? I'm not gonna double dip," Lonnie told them.

"It's not spelled yet," y/n whispered in Mal's ear. However, the other VKs didn't realize that.

"Feel anything?" Evie asked her.

"Yeah, like maybe it might be missing something?" Mal added to make Evie's question sound inconspicuous.

Jay saw this as an opportunity to shoot his shot. "Hey, there," he said while leaning against a wall.

Lonnie just stared at him weirdly before saying, "It could use some chips."

Everyone sighed in relief while y/n muttered, "Told you so."

"Chips?" Jay whispered to himself.

"And those are..." Mal asked.

"Chocolate chips. Just the most important food group," Lonnie told them while grabbing a bowl of chocolate chips from the fridge and adding a handful in the batter.

"Wait, didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies?" she asked them. "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... why are you all looking at me like that?"

Evie and Carlos looked at her with sad eyes, remembering how their own mothers treated them. To them, if their moms did that, it would mean that someone had kidnapped and spelled them. Jay, of course, couldn't answer her question, because he had never known his mother.

Meanwhile, y/n and Mal looked at each other, knowing that their mother wouldn't have even something as nice as that in their wildest dreams. And of course, being the least favourite and just a disposable soldier for her mother, y/n felt the weight of Lonnie's words heavier than her sister did.

"It's just different where we're from," Mal replied heavily.

"Yeah, I know. I just, you know, I thought... Even villains love their kids," Lonnie said.

Y/n shut her eyes, willing herself not to cry, not to remember all the hateful things her mother told her, the nasty insults she'd throw. She forced herself to forget the dangerous tasks she'd been sent on, only to receive disappointment for a small misstep. She forced herself to forget the truth about her and her mother's relationship, just for a little while.

"Oh... How awful," Lonnie said sadly as a tear escaped from her eye.

Mal looked at her sadly, which is when she saw their chance. Before Lonnie could notice, Mal wiped the tear off her face and added it to the cookie mixture. "Yeah, well, big bummer, but we have to get these into the oven, so thank you so much for coming by. Really, really have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow. Evil dreams," she said while shooing Lonnie out of the kitchen.

"Good night," Lonnie said to the five of them.

"See you tomorrow," y/n said before she left.

The moment she was gone, y/n regained her posture, letting go of the emotions she was just feeling and putting on her poker face.

"Okay, boys, cookie sheet. Evie, oven," Mal instructed.

"Yes, ma'am," Evie replied.

"And y/n..."

Y/n let out a small breath. "I'm on it."

Swishing her fingers around her ring, y/n concentrated all her energy on her magic until the familiar blue particles appeared. She guided them towards the batter and let them drop, where they mixed and left a few blue sprinkles along with the chocolate chips.

"Now Ben will fall in love with only me when he eats one," she said. "If everything goes right."

"They have to," Mal said from beside her. "Because if they don't, who knows what could happen?"

Really, who knows? Even if they do or don't work, who knows what could possibly happen next?