3rd person pov

McKenna stood in front of the mirror in her lavish Auradon Prep dorm room, trying to suppress the tightening in her chest. The gown Evie had designed for her clung to her figure perfectly, of course, but it was the corset—tight and merciless—that made it hard to breathe. She could barely move, let alone take a full breath, as she stared at her reflection, her hands smoothing over the fine fabric.

“Oh! Okay, Evie, I cannot breathe,” she gasped, shooting her best friend a desperate look.

Evie, unbothered and completely at ease, flicked her hair over her shoulder and gave McKenna a teasing grin. “Well, you can breathe after Cotillion.”

McKenna groaned softly. *Cotillion.* The word echoed ominously in her mind. It wasn't just the Cotillion that weighed on her, but the endless stream of responsibilities that followed. “Well, I sincerely doubt that,” she muttered, half-joking, half-serious. “I have at least 20 more events directly behind it, and I can't even remember what a single one of them is.”

Evie laughed softly, her eyes twinkling. “Impeccable.”

McKenna managed a tight smile. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the compliments or even the excitement surrounding the Cotillion. It was just that none of this felt entirely real. “Evie?” she asked, hesitating, her mind wandering back to memories she had long buried beneath the glamour of Auradon.

Evie hummed in response, busy arranging jewelry on the bed.

“Do you ever think about what we’d be doing if we were back on the Isle right now?”

Evie paused, her perfectly manicured hands stilling for just a moment. She turned to McKenna, an amused smile tugging at her lips. “That’s funny.”

McKenna raised an eyebrow but before she could respond, the TV flickered to life. The news channel displayed a familiar scene—a royal banquet, the kingdom’s beloved couple seated at the head of the table. King Ben and McKenna. *Of course,* McKenna thought dryly. *Who else?*

Evie grinned. “Ah! Look who’s on TV.”

The reporter’s voice droned on, narrating the royal couple's latest appearance. “As the royal couple continues their tour of the kingdom, they dined with Aladdin and Jasmine. Six months ago, no one thought King Ben and his girlfriend, the former long-lost princess who was raised on the Isle, would last.”

McKenna rolled her eyes. “Yeah, no kidding,” she muttered under her breath, arms crossed tightly over her chest.

The reporter continued, “McKenna must be counting the days until the Royal Cotillion... when she will officially become a Lady of the Court and be given back her official title of Princess of Auroria.”

McKenna’s stomach twisted at the mention of her title. “Read it fast at lightning speed. Remember everything I need,” she muttered under her breath, invoking a spell she had relied on more and more lately.

Evie’s sharp eyes caught the subtle motion of McKenna’s lips. “I know McKenna’s secret to fitting in,” she teased lightly, “and Ben wouldn’t like it one bit. Haven’t you guys had enough secrets between the two of you already?”

McKenna froze. *Secrets.* The word hit her like a wave, memories flooding back—memories of who she had been before Auradon, before Ben, before the Cotillion and the endless expectations. She looked at Evie, her voice quieter now, almost pleading. “Evie, you remember what I was like before I started using my spell book. I mean, I was a complete disaster.”

Evie’s smile softened, though her eyes remained firm. “Well, personally, as your best friend, I strongly believe that this spell book—” She paused, picking it up from the nightstand.

McKenna instinctively reached out to stop her, but Evie was too quick.

“It belongs in the museum,” Evie continued, her tone final. “Along with my mirror.”

McKenna pouted, her lower lip jutting out in defiance. Evie raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Don’t give me the face. Put the pout away. Mm-hmm. You know I’m right.”

McKenna sighed, the weight of Evie’s words settling heavily in her chest. She wanted to argue, to insist that the spell book had helped her, but deep down, she knew Evie wasn’t wrong. “You don’t ever miss running wild and just breaking all the rules?” McKenna asked, her voice carrying a hint of desperation.

Evie snorted. “Like stealing and lying and fighting?”

McKenna’s eyes brightened. “Yeah!”

Evie shook her head, laughing. “No!”

McKenna blinked, confused. “What?”

Evie’s expression softened, and she took a step closer to McKenna, placing a hand on her arm. “Why would we? M, come here.” She guided McKenna to the window, the sprawling view of Auradon spread out before them, glittering and golden under the late afternoon sun. “Look at where we are. We’re in Auradon! And we’re Auradon girls now. See, this is the land of opportunity. We can be whatever we want to be here. So, please, let’s just leave the past in the past, okay?”

McKenna’s gaze followed Evie’s out the window. Auradon was beautiful—so different from the dark and gritty streets of the Isle. But sometimes, in the stillness of the night, she found herself missing the chaos, the unpredictability, the freedom.

Evie, sensing her hesitation, added with a grin, “Besides, I mean, look at the shoes. Look at them.”

McKenna glanced down at her feet, the high heels gleaming under the light. “Mm. Severe,” she muttered, the word drawing a small laugh from both of them.

Maybe Evie was right. Maybe it was time to embrace the new life they had in Auradon. But as McKenna turned back to the mirror, a small voice in the back of her mind whispered that the past was never quite as far behind as she wanted it to be.