I was on the bleachers next to Evie and Mal, Evie had invited me to sit with them, as we watched Auradon Prep go against our rival school, who's name I didn't know. Or well, rather didn't bother remembering. There were 47 seconds left and we were tied. There was so much yelling and clapping, and the band was being a band and the cheerleaders cheering. A typical scene you'd see during a game. 

I saw that the coach had put in Jay and Carlos, and so we cheered as we had been informed that Jay was a natural at Tourney. Ben told me Carlos was improving thanks to their lessons, so even more 'yay's' all around for both boys from me.

They keep addressing Ben as prince Ben during this and it's honestly really amusing. It's so weird that we all find enjoyment out of guys hurting one another and passing a ball around. It makes no sense, but I guess it's also thrilling because you can't exactly predict who's going to win.

Time was running out and... The other team's goalie saved the ball. No points to either team. 23 seconds left and everyone was on edge waiting to see who would win. Woah Jay is really killing it out there. Carlos too of course. Both boys are doing amazing. 

Woah, will you look at that, Ben scored the winning goal! Well, it was really more of a team effort, although Jay seemed to be carrying the team on his shoulders.

We all cheered as Auradon Prep won tonight's game. The speaker guy, I'm not well informed in what sports lingo to use, was congratulating the team when Ben took the microphone away from him. 

What's going on?

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Can I have your attention please!" Ben spoke into the microphone and everyone settled down.

"There's something I'd like to say..." He looked around at everyone before speaking into the mic again.

"Give me an M!"
"M"
"Give me an A"
"A"
"Give me an L"
"L"

Mal? Why is he spelling Mal's name?

"What does that spell?"
"MAL"

I look around, does no one else think this is very out of character for my dear brother? This is not like Ben. What is happening?

"I love you mal. Did I mention that?"

He what now!? He loves mal? Where on earth did this come from? Just last night he told me he liked guys! Yes, he could be bi but he seemed so sure? 

I looked down and saw Audrey leave, she looks heartbroken, I should go after her. Fuck, this means Ben didn't break up with her. I was going to go down after Audrey when Evie held me back. "This is exciting, isn't it?" She asked. I smiled and nodded. I can't say no, Mal is right next to us. Plus, the way she was holding my hand made me forget why I was leaving.

"Give me a beat!" He yelled and the bang began playing. Okay, what? Was this planned out ahead of time?

"Oh my god, what was in that cookie?" Is what I think Mal said to Evie but I can't really hear a thing as the crowd got even louder. 

[play song here]

[continue reading after the song has ended]

"Mal, will you go to the coronation with me?" Ben asked Mal.

 "Yes!"

I'm sorry but nothing about this seems normal. I love my brother and would support him no matter what, but this is all out of character. The Ben I know would never sing a love song to anyone, he always said they were too cheesy and sappy. Not even Audrey could force him to serenade her.

I looked over at Evie, Audrey had just kissed Chad in front of her. Oh god, I will hurt Chad if I have too.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked her. "Why do you ask?" She turned to look at me. "Well, Audrey and Chad just kissed in front of you.." She smiled, she didn't seem hurt.

"Yeah, I could care less, which is why I made sure I did his homework with the wrong answers." We looked at each and laughed. "That's my girl," I said as I high fived her. 

We were clearing the bleachers when I pulled Evie aside.

"Hey, can I talk to you real quick?" I asked. "Of course, let me just tell Mal I'll catch up with her later." Evie went over to Mal, and after a few seconds, she came back. "What's up?" She asked. I looked around and realized there were still so many people left.

"Maybe somewhere more private? Let's go to my dorm, yeah?" I hoped she didn't find that weird. "Of course, let's go," She linked our arms and we set off to my dorm. 

Once we arrived, I brought her inside and shut the door. No one can hear us here. I can't talk to Ben about this because it's about him and he'll just shrug it off.

"So what's up?" She asked again.

"Can I trust you? You cannot tell anyone else what I'm about to tell you. Promise?" I asked sitting down on my bed. "Of course, my lips are sealed." She took a seat next to me and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Look, I'm sorry but what Ben did at the game was weird. It was out of character and it made no sense." I maybe shouldn't have said it so harshly, Mal is her best friend after all. She quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Okay look, I know Ben better than anyone else. He's my brother, my twin, I've spent my whole life next to him so of course, I know when he's acting weird. And what he did out there screams weird. One, he doesn't like love songs. He thinks they're cheesy and repetitive. Two-" "love makes you do crazy things." She cut in.

"That's the thing! He told me he already liked someone else. He said the moment he laid his eyes on them he felt something-" "He could've been talking about Mal." She cut in once more.

"But he said it was a guy!" I yelled. I covered my mouth as I realized what I had said. No, no, no, no, no. I told Evie Ben's secret. Oh god, I'm such a horrible sister, Oh god, please just strike me with lightning. Do it, you cowards.

"Are you saying he's gay?" Evie asked standing up.

 "Look, I promised I wouldn't say anything but yes. I get he could like girls too, but he came to me looking very confident with the fact that he was gay. It just makes so sense... You should've heard the way he spoke about Car-" I cut myself off before I said the name. Oh god, I'm such a fucking mess.

"Carlos? As in my Carlos? Carlos De Vil?" Evie asked turning around quickly. "Please, please, please don't tell Mal or Carlos! I shouldn't have said anything but it just made no sense and I thought I could talk to you without revealing anything." I hid my face in my pillow. God, I'm such a screwup.

"No! I promise I won't tell anyone anything! My lips are sealed! I get why you'd be concerned,  you're his sister. Of course, you'd know when somethings up. Look, I'll leave so you can rest because you're obviously really stressed out right now." She came to sit next to me again and I felt her stroke my hair. Oh look, I have butterflies in my stomach.

"Don't stress yourself over this, you're a good sister and I promise I won't say anything to Mal. Get some rest, and I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" She reassured me and woah, her voice was doing wonders to calm me down.

"Yeah okay, thank you, Evie. For listening and all, I'll see you tomorrow." I said sitting back up. She smiled and hugged me.

 "Hasta mañana," She said, till tomorrow in Spanish, as she headed out. I laid there on my bed till I began to drift off to sleep.

The next day, I felt better but I made sure to avoid my brother. I couldn't face him yet, I mean his coronation was approaching and I told Evie he told me he was gay, I wasn't ready for that talk.

I was so stressed and tired last night that I forgot to study for the chemistry test we had today. I just tried my best and tried to remember everything that I saw on previous assignments. We were halfway through class when Evie began to search through her bag. I looked over at her and she seemed worried.

"Looking for something?" Mr. Delay asked her. He pulled out her mirror from his pocket, um what? "Thank you Chad, it's gratifying to see someone still respects the honor code." Oh, that Chad is getting a piece of my mind for sure. My foot will go somewhere the sun don't shine.

"It will be my recommendation that you are expelled." He smirked. He smirked?! 

"That's an invasion of privacy!" I stood up abruptly. Evie and Doug were quick to look at me, as were a few others. "And a judgment of character. Evie was just getting a pencil, you don't need to be such an ass!" "Act-" I looked over at Evie and she got quiet.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Delay gave me a look. Man was he ugly.

"You heard me! You've had it out for Evie since day one and I won't stand for this. Chad didn't turn that in because he respects the stupid honor code. He wanted it for himself but since he's too ugly to use it, he turned it in to make Evie look bad. It is in poor taste that you let your misogynistic and anti-villain views get in the way of your teaching. You accuse Evie of cheating because you don't think she's smart enough. You would accuse all of us of cheating for looking in our bags for a simple pencil, just to hide the fact that if we fail this test, it's your fault for being a horrible teacher!" He was angry now.

"Hand in your test and go see the headmistress!" He yelled. "No, better yet, I'll take my test with me and Evie's mirror. Fairy Godmother can grade it herself and I'll make sure this goes back to Evie, it's rightful owner. I'm sorry but I do not trust you'd give it back. Or should I make a call to my father, you know, the king. Oh, and please leave Evie alone once I leave the room. She has a test to ace." I extended my hand out and he glared at me as he handed me the mirror. I have never talked to a teacher like this and never have I used my parent's status to get something. It felt almost fun.

I looked over at Evie and winked before grabbing my bag and test before heading out. I placed Evie's mirror carefully in my bag and walked over to Fairy Godmothers office.

I explained to her what happened and she gladly graded my test herself. I told her exactly what happened and explained how we can't let people like Mr. Delay off the hook, we need to call him out and stand up for ourselves. It's what history taught us after all.

I was outside sitting on one of the picnic tables when someone came up from behind me. Whoever it was placed a paper over my head, it was a graded chemistry test. Oh, and it was Evie's, and it had a B+!

"For the first time, it's like I'm more than just a pretty face." She was so proud of herself, and I was proud of her too. "A shocker huh?" I laughed as she sat next to me. "You were pretty great in there, but I wasn't worth getting in trouble for." She looked down at her graded test and she looked so happy. So cute.

"Oh trust me, it was worth it." She laughed and looked at me. "I bet I can get an A on the next test without the mirror." She smiled confidently. "I bet you can, hey that reminds me. I have something that belongs to you." I grabbed my bag and took out her mirror.

"And hey, maybe you can help me study for the next test. I got a C, maybe we can get together and we'll hang out," Woah, no blushing huh? Love this. Evie took back her mirror and nodded.

"Yeah let's get together." Oh no, the blushing came back. Please don't notice it, please don't notice it.

"I have been looking for you literally everywhere!" I heard Mal's voice from behind us. "What's wrong?" Evie asked.

"Ben asked me on a... date." I looked at Evie and we shared a look. I completely forgot about the whole Mal and Ben thing.  Shit.

"We can handle this, bye." She got up and winked at me.

"Bye," I went back to my sketch as she and Mal walked away. I was drawing my mother's crown, wish it were mine if I'm being honest. I couldn't help but replay Evie's words in my head as I continued to draw.

'Yeah, let's get together.'

[Word Count: 2250]
[Edited: June 3rd, 2020]