CHAPTER 7

After curfew, the villain kids snuck down to the kitchen to make cookies which is the love spell.

"All right. It says that we still need one tear, and I never cry," Mal says as she reads from the spell book. Ellie is standing beside her with Evie on the other side while the boys sat on the other counter.

"Let's just chop up some onions," Carlos says as if it would solve everything.

"No. It says that we need one tear of human sadness," Ellie tells him while Mal nods in agreement.

"And this love potion gets the best reviews, so we have to follow it exactly," Mal says really wanting this to work.

"A tear's a tear," Jay retorts.

"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 explains causing Ellie to look at her impressed.

"Listen to you," Ellie says causing Evie to smile.

"Yeah, I knew that," Jay says as if he didn't mess up.

"Did not," Carlos argues.

"Yeah, I did," Jay says quickly.

"There you are, Mal!" Lonnie says as she rushes into the room causing Ellie to quickly cover the book with a towel. "I was looking for you. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair? Midnight snack, huh? What you guys making?"

"Nothing special. Just cookies," Ellie answers her with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Oh, no, no!" They all say as Lonnie dips a finger into the dough.

"What? I'm not gonna double dip," Lonnie says as she eats the dough.

"Feel anything?" Evie asks her.

"Yeah, like maybe it might be missing something?" Mal adds.

"Hey, there," Jay says charmingly as he stands in front of Lonnie.

"It could use some chips," Lonnie answers as she walks away from Jay causing Ellie to lightly giggle at Jay's defeated look. Jay sends Ellie a glare before sitting on the counter again.

"And those are?" Ellie asks relieved that nothing happened to Lonnie.

"Chocolate chips. Just the most important food group," Lonnie answers as she walks over to them with a bowl that has small pieces of chocolate in it. "Wait, didn't your moms ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies?" Lonnie adds some to the dough but they all look at her in shock from what she is saying. "Like, when you're feeling sad, and they're fresh from the oven, with a big ol' glass of milk, and she just makes you laugh and puts everything into perspective and..." The shock quickly turns into looks of sadness. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"It's just different where we're from," Ellie tells Lonnie as she rubs her arm while looking down.

"Yeah, I know. I just, you know, I thought... Even villains love their kids," Lonnie says causing them all to look down sadly. "Oh... How awful." Lonnie grabs Ellie's hand before a tear starts to roll down her face.

"Yeah, well, big bummer," Mal says as she swipes the tear into the cookie dough. "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." Mal pushes Lonnie out the door as Ellie mixes the dough.

"Okay, boys, cookie sheet," Ellie says. "Evie, oven." They get the cookies baked before going to bed.

The next day Mal and Ellie follow Ben and Audrey onto the balcony where the lockers are.

"Look, it's Mal and Ellie. Hi, Ellie! Love my hair, Mal!" The girls below the balcony call as they see the villain girls above them. Jay then walks up to Mal and Ellie, who are at their lockers.

"Are you feeling kind of weird about this? I mean, It's not so bad here, you know," Jay says with a dreamy smile.

"Are you insane? Long live evil! You're mean! You're awful! You're bad news! Snap out of it!" Mal says before snapping in his face.

"Thanks, Mal. I needed that," Jay says before walking over to the balcony. Ellie starts going through her locker while she listens to Ben and Audrey.

"Do you think they actually paid for those?" Audrey asks Ben.

"Oh, hello. The name's Jay. You all going to the tourney game tonight?" Jay asks the girls below him causing them to squeal excitedly. "Keep a lookout for number eight, all right? Scoring the winning goal."

"She did it to Jane's hair, too, and Fairy Godmother's not happy about it," Audrey explains causing Ellie to roll her eyes.

"What's the harm?" Ben asks her.

"It's gateway magic! Sure, it starts with the hair. Next thing you know it's the lips and the legs and the clothes and then everybody looks good and then... where will I be?" Audrey explains causing Ellie to once again roll her eyes. Audrey is such a drama queen.

"Listen, Audrey..." Ben tries.

"I will see you at the game after my dress-fitting for the coronation, okay?" Audrey says or more like orders. "Bye, Bennyboo." Audrey gives Ben an air kiss before she walks away. Mal nudges Ellie before handing her a cookie.

"Hey, Bennyboo!" Ellie says sarcastically, trying not to cringe, as she closes her locker before facing him.

"Hiya," Ben says with a smile as he walks over to her.

"I just made a batch of cookies. Double chocolate chip, do you want one?" Ellie asks him with a smile as she holds up the bagged 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 says before trying to walk away.

"No, yeah. I completely understand," Ellie says causing him to stop. "Be careful of treats offered by kids of villains."

"No, no, no," Ben tries.

"No, I'm sure every kid in Auradon knows that," Ellie says.

"No, that's not it. No, no, no, I...I really do..." Ben tries to fix the conversation.

"No, I get it. You're cautious. That's smart," Ellie says with a smile before taking the cookie out of the bag. "Oh, well, more for me, I guess."

"No, no. Hey..." Ben says as Ellie goes to take a bite of the cookie but he takes it away from her and takes a bite. "See that? Totally trust you. Totally." Ellie smiles before glancing at the other VK's, who start making their way over.

"How are they?" Ellie asks.

"They're good. They're great! They're amazing! They're, uh... I mean, they're chewy and, and you know, they... is that walnuts?" Ben says with a few chuckles and Ellie nods. "I love walnuts. I mean, uh, you know, the...The chocolate... The... the chocolate... The chocolate chips are... I'm sorry. Um... Uh, they're... They're warm and soft. And they're sweet... Ellie, have you always had those little golden flecks in your eyes?" Ben goes to take another bite but Ellie takes the cookie back before putting it back in the bag and handing it to Mal.

"How you feeling, bro?" Jay asks Ben as he grabs his shoulders.

"I feel... I feel... I feel like... Like singing your name. Ellie! Ellie!" Ben says before he tries to start singing but Ellie quickly covers his mouth. Jay then quickly drags him off to the game as Ellie and Mal share shocked looks.

"What was in that cookie? Is it going to wear off? Is there a spell to reverse it?" Ellie asks as she panics about Ben being stuck that way.

"El, chill. There's a anti-Love Spell," Mal tells as she shows her the page in her book before they make their way to the game.