CHAPTER 8

(Val POV)

Later that night we all sneak into the kitchen to make the love spell which is ironically food. I'm reading from the spell book while Mal and Evie make the cookies.

"All right. It says that we still need one tear, and I never cry," I explain.

"Let's just chop up some onions," Carlos says as he grabs an onion.

"No. It says that we need one tear of human sadness," I state.

"And this love potion gets the best reviews, so we have to follow it exactly," Mal explains.

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

"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.

"Listen to you," I compliment Evie with a smile on my face.

"Yeah, I knew that," Jay says.

"Did not," Carlos says as he lightly hits Jay's arm.

"Yeah, I did," Jay argues. Lonnie then enters the kitchen and I throw a towel over the spell book.

"There you are, Mal and Val! I was looking for you both. You know, all the girls want you to do their hair!" Lonnie explains as she walks over. "Midnight snack, huh? What you are guys making?"

"Nothing special. Just cookies," Mal answers her. Lonnie then dips her finger into the bowl before eating the dough.

"Oh, no, no! Wait, wait, wait!" Mal, Evie and I call out to her as she does it.

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

"Feel anything?" Evie asks her.

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

"Hey, there," Jay flirts which earns an eye roll from me and a confused look from Lonnie.

"It could use some chips," Lonnie says before walking over to the refrigerator.

"Chips?" I ask.

"And those are..." Mal adds.

"Chocolate chips. Just the most important food group," Lonnie says as she puts some into the dough before eating some. "Wait, didn't your moms' ever make you guys, like, chocolate chip cookies? 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..." All of our faces turn sad and fall. None of our parents never really cared about us. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"It's just different where we're from," I answer her sadly.

"Yeah, I know. I just, you know, I thought... Even villains love their kids. Oh... How awful," Lonnie says as she holds my hands in comfort. A tear then rolls down her cheek. Mal notices it and wipes it onto her finger before dropping it into the bowl.

"Yeah, well, big bummer, but we have to get these into the oven, so thank you so much for coming by," Mal explains.

"Really, really have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow. Evil dreams," I tell Lonnie as I lightly shove her towards the door.

"Good night. See you tomorrow," Lonnie says before leaving.

"Okay, boys, cookie sheet," I order with a snap of my fingers.

"Evie, oven," Mal orders as she stirs the dough. We finish the cookies before heading to bed.

The next morning Mal and I walk out to where the lockers are that way she could wait on Ben. The others weren't far behind us. Mal goes to her locker while I go to the balcony. I see all of the girls that I changed their hair for this morning.

"Look, it's Val," A girl calls and I wave.

"Hi, Val!" Another calls out.

"Love my hair, Val!" One more calls and I smirk.

"Are you feeling kind of weird about this? I mean, it's not so bad here, you know," I hear Jay ask Mal. I can't help but agree with him about it not being so bad here.

"Are you insane? Long live evil! You're mean! You're awful! You're bad news! Snap out of it!" Mal says to him. She is also right. We sadly would never really belong here.

"Thanks, Mal. I needed that," Jay says before walking over to the balcony.

"Oh, hello," A girl says.

"The name's Jay. You all going to the tourney game tonight?" Jay flirts and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah," Another girl answers.

"Keep a lookout for number eight, all right? Scoring the winning goal," Jay continues to flirt which makes me shake my head and walk over to my locker. Audrey leaves Ben and Mal takes it as the perfect opportunity to sneak up on Ben.

"Hey, Bennyboo!" Mal says.

"Hey," Ben turns to her with a smile.

"I just made a batch of cookies. Double chocolate chip, do you want one?" Mal asks him.

"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 answers.

"No, yeah. I completely understand. 'Be careful of treats offered by kids of villains.'" Mal states.

"No, no, no," Ben tries.

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

"No, that's not it. No, no, no, I...I really do..." Ben tries again.

"No, I get it. You're cautious. That's smart. Oh, well, more for me, I guess," Mal says as she takes the cookie out of the bag and goes to eat it but Ben grabs it.

"No, no. Hey... see that? Totally trust you. Totally," Ben says as he takes a bite.

"How are they?" Mal 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 all giggly. Mal 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... Mal, have you always had those little golden flecks in your eyes?" Carlos, Evie, Jay, and I had joined them.

"How you feeling, bro?" Jay asks Ben.

"I feel... I feel... I feel like... Like singing your name. Mal, Mal," Ben starts to sing but Mal covers his mouth with her hand. Jay and I share a look before we drag Ben away for the tourney game.

"This is a nail-biter, folks. There are 47 seconds left on the clock. We're all tied up. The Sherwood Falcons, two. The fighting knights, two. What a game between Auradon's fiercest rivals," The announcer explains.

"Get 'em, Chad," Jay tells Chad.

"Thanks, Jay," Chad says before running onto the field.

"The teams get into their huddles and take up positions along the kill zone," The announcer says.

"Akiho!" Coach calls out.

"The Dragoneers have been laying down a withering hail of fire," The announcer continues.

"You're up," Coach tells Jay.

"And now a substitution..." The announcer starts.

"Coach, how about my friends here?" Jay asks as he makes Carlos and I stand up.

"Oh, no," Carlos says as he sits back down.

"Not so sure about him," Coach says as he looks at Carlos.

"Coach, he's been practicing," Jay states.

"Jay..." Carlos tries.

"And you said yourself a team is made up of a bunch of parts," Jay says.

"Jay, I'm not that good," Carlos states.

"Well, he's kind of like my brain," Jay explains as he pulls Carlos back up. "And she's my right hand." Jay puts his arms around both of us.

"Lemer! Aziz! Come here!" Coach calls. "You heard him. Get out there!"

"Don't worry, bro. I got your back," Jay tells Carlos.

"How about my front?" Carlos asks making me laugh.

"Pfft. Get out there," Jay says as he lightly shoves us forward.

"He's bringing that hothead Jay in from the Isle of the Lost, the villain girl who thinks she can hang with the guys, and that little guy, Carlos who can barely hold a shield," The announcer explains as we reach the huddle.

"Break!" We call out.

"When they break from their huddles, this is gonna be a big moment here. And the tipoff is ready. Here we go," The announcer says as the ball is thrown into the air. "Long pass goes to Jay." Jay gets the ball and dishes. "Jay dishes off to Val who dishes to Prince Ben. Nice little block by Carlos. He does a little dancing jig in his opponent's face." Ben dishes the ball. "And now Jay gets the ball back. Here comes Jay and Val! Jay, hurdling maneuver at mid-field. Val doing flips." I get the ball and pass it to Jay. "Jay makes a nice pass to Prince Ben through the kill zone. Big block by Chad! Prince Ben moves over wide, gives it back to Jay. He's in the clear! Shot! Oh, what a save by Philip the Falcons' goalkeeper!"

"Come on!" I say as we head back to the other side.

"23 seconds left. You could cut the tension with a sword. The long ball is played into Jay. Jay, great jump, great leap. And a great move by Jay. Jay passes to Val who gets help from a big block from Chad. Val dishes off to Prince Ben. And then Carlos with a big block goes down. Jay through the kill zone picks up Carlos. Oh, he's being hammered by dragon fire. Still, going on. Jay, hurdling maneuver at mid-field. He's in the clear. Val flips through the kill zone. The ball goes back to Val," The announcer explains.

"Hey, Jay!" I call to him. "Carlos up!" I pass the ball at Carlos and he uses his shield to make it go up.

"Go up, Jay!" Carlos calls as he ducks to the ground.

"Jay gets the ball from a weird move by Val and Carlos. He passes to Prince Ben. He scores! Prince Ben has won it! What an unselfish play by Jay!" The announcer explains. Jay and I hug and as we are hugging we get pulled into a hug by Carlos and Ben. "What a team! Incredible! And it's the new kids, Jay, Val and Carlos, who set up the prince for the win here." Jay and I break apart and I can't help but blush. Thankfully no one could see because of the helmet. "What a victory! An absolutely wonderful end to one of the best games ever. Here they come, folks. The winners of the first tourn..."

"Excuse me. Excuse me. Can I have your attention, please?" Ben says as he gets the microphone from the announcer. "There's something I'd like to say." He climbs on top of one of the shooters. "Give me an "M"!" He makes an M with his arms.

" 'M!'" The crowd cheers and makes an M.

"Give me an 'A'!" He makes an A.

"'A'!" The crowd follows.

"Give me an 'L'!" He makes an L.

"'L!'" The crowd once again follows.

"What does that spell?" He asks.

"Mal!" The crowd responds.

"Come on, I can't hear you!" Ben says.

"Mal!" The crowd cheers louder.

"I love you, Mal! Did I mention that? Give me a beat! Whoo!" Ben calls out.

"Uno, dos, tres, quatro!" Doug calls out as the band starts playing.

"Oh, my God! Cookie!" I tell Jay.

"What was in that cookie?" Jay asks.

"Did I mention that I'm in love with you?

And did I mention there's nothing I can do?

And did I happen to say I dream of you every day

Well, let me shout it out loud

If that's okay, hey, hey

Hey!

If that's okay

Hey!" Ben sings and starts dancing. The tourney team and the cheerleaders were already dancing. Carlos then joins Ben in on dancing.

"I met this girl that rocked my world like It's never been rocked

Now I'm living just for her and I won't ever stop

I never thought that it could happen to a guy like me" Ben sings. I bring the mic holder up beside Ben as he dances then Jay and I join in on the dancing.

"But now look at what you've done, you got me down on my knees" Ben sings as we all drop to our knees.

"Because my love for you is ridiculous

I never knew

Who knew?

That it could be like this

My love for you is ridiculous

Ridiculous

My love" Ben continues. I notice that Jay keeps glancing at me. I know I'm actually smiling the whole time. I get down on my knee and hold the mic holder while Ben puts the mic in it.

"is R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S

R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S" Ben spells out the letters with his arms as he sings. He grabs the mic holder and I join back in with the dancing.

"It's...

Ridiculous

Just...

Ridiculous

And I would give my kingdom for just one kiss

Well, did I mention I'm in love with you?

And did I mention there's nothing I can do?

And did I happen to say I dream of you every day

Well, let me shout it out loud If that's okay

Yeah, If that's okay

Hey!" All of the tourney team ends up doing a synchronized dance.

"I gotta know which way to go, come on, give me a sign

You gotta show me that you're only ever gonna be mine

Don't wanna go another minute livin' without you

'Cause If your heart just isn't in it, I don't know what I'd do

Because my love for you is ridiculous

Ridiculous

I never knew

Who knew?

That it could be like this

My love for you is ridiculous

My love

is R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S

  R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S 

It's... Ridiculous

Just... Ridiculous

And I would give my kingdom for just one kiss

Come on, now! Ho!

Oh, yeah ho!

Yow!

All right

Hey!

All right" Ben takes off his jersey and throws it to Mal.

"Hey!

Because my love for you is ridiculous

I never knew

Who knew?

That it could be like this

My love for you is ridiculous

Ridiculous" Ben rides on the horse mascot before he is thrown into the crowd by the boy cheerleaders. The crowd catches him.

"My love is R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S

  R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S 

It's...Ridiculous

Just... Ridiculous" Ben crowd surfs all the over to Mal.

"And I would give my kingdom

for just one kiss

Come on, now!" Ben finishes then goes to kiss Mal but she holds up the jersey in between them. "I love you, Mal! Did I mention that?" Ben pulls Mal into a hug.

"Chad's my boyfriend now!" Audrey says as she steals the microphone from Ben. "And I'm going to the coronation with him. So I don't need your pity date." Audrey then kisses Chad.

"Mal! Will you go to the coronation with me?" Ben asks as he steals the microphone back.

"Yes!" Mal yells into the microphone.

"She said yes!" Ben cheers and Audrey storms off.

"Let's go, Ben," I tell him as Jay and I run into the bleachers.

"The whole team's waiting for you," Jay adds holding the trophy.

"Yeah," Ben says before turning and leaving.

"Bye," Mal says. Jay and I follow after Ben.

"Whoo! What a victory. What a day for the Auradon knights, finally winning back the trophy after so many years," The announcer says as we leave the bleachers. "And there he is. Jay, the most valuable player." The team picks up Jay while he holds up the trophy. I can't help but smile at how happy he is.