That tourney game and the huge scene Ben caused after their victory just to ask Mal out on a date left Auradon Prep in a lively mood — except for Audrey, of course. Meredith was never one to slack off on school work, but because the recent events were just so exciting and exhausting all at the same time, she found herself doing nothing in her room that weekend.

She was wearing her usual oversized hoodie and pair of denim shorts ensemble whenever she got lazy to come up with a decent outfit. She was lying on her back, her bright red hair dangling off the edge of her four-poster bed. It was quiet with Jane not around; she was out helping Fairy Godmother with errands.

A jumble of random and pointless thoughts like 'is water wet?' occupied her mind early in the morning. Three sharp knocks on the door brought her out of her daze and she groaned out loud.

"What?" she called out, not bothering to ask politely.

"It's me, Mer."

"It's open."

Ben stepped into Meredith's dorm room. He was clad in a blue shirt and a pair of white pants, casually holding his Auradon Prep varsity jacket in his right hand and a picnic basket in the other.

"What are you doing?" he asked, coming over to sit on her bed.

"Nothing."

"Great, then you can help me prepare for my date with Mal," he beamed.

"I'm busy."

"You just said you were doing nothing."

"I'm busy doing nothing."

Ben chuckled and pulled on her arm repeatedly.

"Come on, help me out here!" he urged. "I've been waiting for this day and I want it to be perfect. I have no idea yet what Mal wants and I don't want to mess this up."

Meredith looked at his face carefully.

"When did you start liking her?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know, probably after those cookies. But I think I've always been interested in Mal, you know? She keeps me on my toes and I just find myself wanting to talk to her and check up on her the most out of the other guys from the Isle. I just... can't explain it. I'm crazy about her."

Ben practically talked with heart eyes that Meredith couldn't say no. He had never spoken that way about Audrey nor had he ever asked for Meredith's help to plan something for her. While it still bothered her that then didn't have a proper breakup, maybe it was for the best that he ended things with her the moment he could.

"You really like her, don't you?" Meredith asked, sitting up.

Ben nodded excitedly, almost like he was a kid getting the correct answer to a teacher's question.

"I do!"

Meredith sighed and gave in.

"Fine. What do you want me to do?"

"I'm taking her to the Enchanted Lake to have a romantic picnic, so I need your help to make a really good meal and some snacks."

"Why do I feel like I'll be doing all the cooking?"

An hour and a half later, Meredith was being forced by Ben to go up to Mal's room to check if she was ready for the date. He wanted to pick her up at the perfect time to impress her. And so, even after Meredith had helped him out with making all the sandwiches, packing the fruits and drinks, and organizing the picnic basket (thankfully, there was no heavy cooking involved and Ben actually did a lot of the work), she was still being ordered to do yet another task, even when she explained that she wasn't very close to Mal or Evie just yet and felt like she would be intruding on them.

Nevertheless, Meredith found herself outside their dorm and knocking on it a few times. She heard a bit of shuffling inside, and then Evie opened the door. Her face visibly relaxed when she realized it was just Meredith.

"Oh, hi Meredith. For a moment, I thought Ben was early," she said. "Anyway, I was just about to ask you to go here."

"Oh, really?" Meredith said in shock. "What for?"

"For your dress, of course! I started working on it immediately because you're already around the same size as Mal. I just need to double check the measurements and show you the sketches," she said excitedly.

Meredith was pleasantly surprised at how genuine she was with her offer to make her a dress for the coronation, and she didn't complain one bit.

Evie eventually stepped aside for her to enter the room. Inside, Mal was sitting on the edge of her bed, dressed in a short purple dress, leather jacket, and a purple and green scarf around her neck.

"I literally just finished putting on Mal's makeup for her date with Ben," Evie explained with a giddy smile. "You like?"

Meredith looked at Mal, whose fair skin was accented with light pink and blush tones. It suited her perfectly, and for a second, Meredith could only see a normal girl about to go in a date and not a kid of a villain.

"It looks really great on you," she complimented sincerely as she sat down on one of the chairs. "Ben's really been waiting for this day, you know."

Evie giggled excitedly for Mal, who could only nod with a tight-lipped smile. It actually looked like she was nervous, which Meredith had never seen her look before. She was always so cool and composed around other people.

Evie told Mal that she was finally done and guided her to the full-length mirror. Meredith discretely texted Ben, who was eagerly waiting by the hall, that Mal was just about finished with getting ready.

"I look..." Mal began.

"Say it," said Evie.

"Not... hideous."

Evie smiled fondly and said, "Not even close."

Three knocks caught their attention. Mal made her way to answer the door, where Ben was, of course, standing behind. He had arrived perfectly on time.

Ben was holding two helmets under each arm. He stared at Mal for a moment, a smile slowly making its way to his face.

"For the first time, I understand the difference between pretty and beautiful," he said. Mal let out a small laugh, and Evie and Meredith couldn't help but exchange glances at that interaction, too. Then, he gestured to the helmets he was carrying.

"I hope you like bikes," he said.

And then, they were off to their date. Meredith sent Ben an encouraging thumbs up from where she sat, and he grinned back in response. Evie fussed over her best friend a bit more, but eventually, Mal and Ben were out the door and on their way to a very well-planned date.

Evie started taking Meredith's measurements almost immediately after the other two left. She made her stand in front of the full-length mirror, bringing a tape measure, a little notebook, and a pen around with her to take down some notes and details. They were in a comfortable silence for a while, and then, Evie decided to break it.

"Are you friends with Chad?"

Meredith stiffened up, recalling that time she argued with the boy when she found out he was using Evie to do his homework.

"Kind of," Meredith answered. "Our parents have known each other for a while."

There was a pause as Evie wrote down a few numbers on her notebook.

"I'm sorry about what he did, by the way — at the tourney game," Meredith said awkwardly. She knew he was still leading Evie on at that time, so it must have been a shock to her that he started dating Audrey all of a sudden. "I don't know if this helps, but I've already talked to him once about the those kinds of things... but he never listens."

Evie smiled gratefully.

"It's fine," she brushed it off. "I kind of have my eye on someone else, now."

Meredith wanted to ask who she was referring to. Admittedly, talking to Evie felt like talking to a friend she had known for way longer than just a few weeks, and some part of her wanted to hear Evie's stories and gossip. She didn't get the chance to ask, though, because someone walked into the room without so much as a knock.

"Hey, Evie. Did Mal already go —"

It was Carlos. He stopped talking when he saw that Meredith was inside the room, which he wasn't expecting at all. Meredith's arms were raised up to her sides as Evie measured her waist. She saw Carlos from the mirror and sent a small smile.

"Um, hi," she said.

"Hi," Carlos said slowly.

"I offered to make her dress for Ben's coronation," Evie explained before Carlos could ask. "I was thinking either a forest green or teal color. What do you think?"

"Teal," Carlos said before casually sitting on Mal's bed. "It's more unique."

"I know, right?" Evie grinned, moving on to measure the length of the dress. "Plus, it'll bring out your hair and eyes even more. Also, you're a bit on the shorter side, so I'm going make the waistline area a little bit higher and the gown exactly floor-length so that it'll elongate your body."

Meredith blinked a few times, not knowing how to respond. She wasn't the best in the fashion department and usually just chose simple, comfortable clothes enough to make her look presentable. Evie made it sound so much more complicated and interesting than she thought.

"Mal's on her date already?" Carlos then asked, which was the reason he went to their room in the first place.

"Yep, she just left. I can't wait for her to tell me everything that happens."

"Me too. I wonder if dates are different if the guy is under a —" Carlos nearly said 'love potion', but he caught himself before he did and Evie's pointed glare stopped him as well. Meredith looked away from the mirror to glance at Carlos questioningly.

"Under a what?" she asked.

"Under a lot of pressure," Carlos said with a fake laugh. Evie pretended not to notice as she finished measuring Meredith and returned her belongings to her desk. "You know, with Ben about to be king and all."

"Oh," said Meredith knowingly, moving back to the chair she previously sat in. "Well, I don't think so. Ben seems to really like Mal. I'm kinda surprised, but better her than Audrey any day."

Evie and Carlos looked at one another, both probably thinking the same things. First, that it made them guilty that Meredith really thought Ben liked Mal genuinely when it was all just thanks to a love potion, and second, that she actually preferred Mal over Audrey.

"You'd rather let Ben date Mal?" Carlos asked incredulously.

"That's shocking," Evie added with interest, plopping down next to Carlos. The two of them sat facing Meredith, who suddenly felt like they were interrogating her.

"Isn't Audrey your friend?"

"Friend?" Meredith scoffed. "I can't stand her. Ben could've broken up with her in a better way, but you have no idea how relieved I am that they're not together anymore."

She almost forgot she was talking to people from the Isle of the Lost with how comfortably she said those words out loud.

"Don't tell them that," she added hurriedly, and Carlos and Evie didn't hide how amused they were with her. She was quickly proving to be one of the more tolerable people from Auradon.

"How are you so close to Ben?" Evie wondered.

"We've been friends since we were kids, too."

"Like Chad?"

"I wouldn't say they're on the same level," Meredith explained. "Ben's practically a brother to me while Chad's... well, he gets on my nerves a lot and it's much more stressful to be around him."

"Wait, so, you really think Ben and Mal would be a good pair?" Carlos asked. Meredith shrugged.

"Why not?" she replied, surprising even herself. It was only a few weeks ago that she would have said no right away, never wanting a villain's kid to go near her or her friends. "To be honest, it was a bit... sudden. But, now that I think about it, they always seemed to get along, and Ben never talked about Audrey the way he did with Mal earlier. I don't know much about her, but it seems that Ben really likes her. He worked really hard for this date, you know."

Here Meredith was, honestly expressing her thoughts to people she was only just starting to open up to, and yet all Evie and Carlos feel was guilt because the girl before them had no clue that Ben was only being influenced by a love potion.

♚ ♚ ♚

Auradon Prep's Family Day was fast approaching. As usual, Ben assigned Meredith to be part of the committee in charge of handling it — specifically, the overall project head. He always seemed to do that, knowing she would never say no to a challenge. Like her mother, she was adventurous when it came to things like that. It wasn't always a good thing, though, because she would sometimes agree to things she didn't have much time for.

There were only a few days until the long-awaited event. Meredith was out in the school garden surrounded by hedges with the rest of the Family Day committee, bustling around the venue.

"Meredith, mom said the buffet table would be better over there," Jane, who happened to be the logistics head, was saying as she pointed to another side of the garden.

"But the servers won't have much space there and they'll be under the sun the whole time," Meredith mumbled, but Jane could only smile sheepishly. "Alright, we can move it there. Just make sure to reserve a tent."

"Meredith." This time, Lonnie approached her. "Queen Belle is asking about the opening performance — the one Ben's leading. She wants to know where they'll be doing it."

"Uh..." Meredith glanced down at her clipboard full of notes and reminders. "At the center pavilion."

"Meredith," Ally, the daughter of Alice, walked over to Meredith next. "Audrey told us to put the banner by the trees where the tables are, but that's not what it says on the list you gave us."

She suppressed a sigh.

"Follow the list," Meredith told her, but Audrey cut her off from where she was standing a few meters away.

"As the creatives head, I think the the banner would look pretty if we put it up on the trees."

"As the overall committee head, I say we can't put the banner by the trees — it'll be unstable," Meredith said with gritted teeth. "Put it up where it's really supposed to be, Audrey: at the center gazebo, where everyone can actually see it when they first enter."

A visible frown made its way onto Audrey's face. She soon realized she was losing the argument, so she turned back to face her team with a dramatic flip of her hair.

Eventually, the rest of the group around Meredith dispersed to do their thing. Audrey had also always been part of the committee, too. She usually wasn't as unbearable as she was on a regular basis, but because she had recently broken up with Ben, Meredith assumed she was intentionally being more fussy. Meredith resisted the urge to walk over to where Audrey was with the rest of the creatives team and physically fight her right then and there.

The first bell rang, signaling the end of their lunch break. Once the second bell would ring five minutes after that, classes would resume. Most of the committee members had class, so they began packing up and leaving their posts.

"We'll finish hanging up the decorations after class, Meredith!" Ally called out. She, Audrey, and the others began walking away, already in a rush to leave.

"Mom's asking me for help again," said Jane, also already backtracking. "I'll see you later at the dorm!"

"I have to meet up with some classmates for a History of Woodsmen and Pirates project," Lonnie said next, sounding apologetic. "I can stay a bit if —"

"It's fine," Meredith reassured. "I'll just finish up here. I don't have class, anyway."

"Are you sure?" Lonnie asked. Meredith nodded. "I'll come back later, okay?"

Meredith sent Lonnie a sincere smile before sighing to herself. She was grateful for the rest of the committee, but they had quite literally dropped everything they were doing before heading to class. Only some of them packed up their things, but most — especially the creatives team — left their materials and decorations practically everywhere.

"I guess I'll be cleaning that up, won't I?" Meredith asked Dude. The mutt, who had been patiently waiting for her that afternoon by not leaving the garden the entire time she was there, could only stare up at her with his tongue out and his tail wagging.

She walked over to where the massive sky blue banner that read FAMILY DAY! with Goodness doesn't get any better underneath in a fancy royal blue font was. Only one end of it was tied up, so the rest of it was dangling onto the floor with its strings scattered about.

Dude had followed after the redhead and stared up at her. Meredith was guessing that he wanted to help based on his eager fidgeting, but there was obviously no way that a dog could help her out there.

Meredith began gathering the strings. She planned on rolling the banner up a bit to the side so that it wouldn't block the pathway, but her plans were cut short when Dude started barking excitedly.

"Dude, what's wro — whoa!"

Dude had suddenly burst into a run. Unfortunately, he was standing in the middle of the strings, and it caught onto his paws on his way. The banner, which wasn't hung up properly even on one end, was pulled off and fell on top of Meredith. She soon found herself in a heap on the floor, covered by the tarpaulin and a bundle of strings.

"Hey, Dude — oh, what did you do?" Meredith heard a male voice ask. She struggled to get out of her mess when she heard footsteps approaching. Then, the banner was finally lifted off of her.

"Oh, hi." Meredith looked up to find Carlos. "Um, sorry about that... I think Dude got excited back there."

"It's okay," she said, slightly embarrassed for him finding her in that predicament. Carlos helped untangle the strings to free her, and she was soon able to stand up and dust herself off.

"Thanks," she told him with a small smile. He sent one back before looking around.

"What were you doing here?"

"It's Auradon Prep's Family Day in a few days."

"Family Day?"

"You know, where all our parents go to school to eat and talk?" Carlos could only look at her confusion, so she tried to elaborate even more. "Uh, we have simple games like croquet and have small performances and stuff?"

"Oh. We don't really have those back in the Isle." Not wanting it to get awkward, Carlos then said, "Are you in charge of it?"

"Yeah, unfortunately," Meredith said with a roll of her eyes. Carlos chuckled under his breath.

"What's so bad about it?"

"Ben knows I don't have it in me to say no to stuff like this," she explained with a huff. "So, I'm stuck as committee head, and the creatives team wasn't being very cooperative with me today."

"What did they do?"

"Well, for starters, Audrey's the head of that department. She doesn't like listening to me and didn't want to put the banner up where it should really be."

Carlos eyed the now crumpled banner on the floor.

"Is it supposed to be up there?" he asked, pointing at the gazebo behind Meredith.

"Yep. Thankfully, they were already putting up here, but class —"

The second bell finally rang, signaling that lunch time was officially over and that classes were starting for most students.

"— starts now?" Carlos finished in amusement. Meredith nodded, an amused smile also on her face. "Don't you have class?"

"No, I have free period. You?"

"Me too. I went out to look for Dude since I had free time, and..." he trailed off since they both knew what happened when Dude spotted Carlos.

"He must really like you," Meredith commented with a laugh, looking down at the dog standing next to them.

"Yeah, I never knew I'd like dogs, either, but here I am," Carlos said, kneeling down to pat Dude. He eyed the banner on the floor again before looking up at Meredith. "Do you need to put that back up?"

"The banner?" she asked. "Oh, it's fine. The creatives team can do it later."

"Um, I can help right now," Carlos offered, straightening up.

"You don't have to —"

"It's okay. I kind of feel bad for what happened," he said sheepishly.

"If you're sure..." Meredith said unsurely, but Carlos was already walking away to grab the ladder. He leaned the ladder onto the post, grabbed the banner, and climbed up with ease.

"Be careful," Meredith called out, not expecting him to go up that fast. Most people would have asked someone to hold the ladder for them to keep it stable.

Carlos didn't seem to mind as he tied up the ends of the banner in a relaxed manner.

"I climbed walls and jumped off of buildings back in the Isle. This is nothing," he laughed when he faced Meredith to see her looking worried. As if to prove a point, he jumped off of the ladder, causing her to flinch back in surprise.

"Oh. Right," she said. "But still."

Carlos moved the ladder to the other side and finished putting up the banner in record time.

"Thanks," Meredith said, staring up at the big words that spelled out FAMILY DAY! "You'll be going to the Family Day, right?"

"I don't know. My friends and I never really went to stuff like that," Carlos shrugged.

"You should go," Meredith insisted. "It'll be fun. There'll be lots of food and drinks, too — oh, and a chocolate fountain."

"Chocolate fountain?" Carlos perked up, resembling an excited puppy for a brief moment. Meredith stopped herself from giggling at that. "What's that?"

"It's literally a mini fountain full of melted chocolate."

"Whoa."

"So, you'll go, right?" Meredith said expectantly. "With Mal, Evie, and Jay, of course," she added.

Carlos wasn't sure what his friends would think about going to a Family Day of all things. They didn't necessarily have the best relationships with their parents, who undoubtedly wouldn't even be attending the event since they wouldn't be allowed in Auradon in the first place. But Meredith was personally asking if he would go, and the idea of a chocolate fountain was too tempting to not accept, so he nodded with a hopeful smile.

"Yeah, I guess we'll be there."