Chapter Fourteen

A/N: I do not own anything (with the exceptions of my OCs which as always are available to play with in your own stories!).

So it seems lockdown has only lead to more writing time for me which means I got this chapter out faster than I had previously thought. Not necessarily a bad thing, I mean it means I'm not bored off my head every minute of every day.

Seriously you guys, and I'm speaking to my American readers for this, STAY INSIDE IF POSSIBLE! The more we practice social distancing, the better the curve will be and we won't overload our medical system. I know it's not fun-trust me, even my introverted ass is begging to talk to someone who's not my roommate or my cat. But, and this is coming from a purely selfish place, I want to go to Disney next year. If Corona's still around, that ain't happening.

Okay, now that the doom and gloom stuff is out of the way, let's move on to some more fun stuff.

Guys, this will be the last chapter for "Bridging the Gap" and I'll be getting the first chapter of the Watching D2 story up ASAP. Like I said, not much around here but writing time. Plus I discovered a new Broadway soundtrack (Heathers) that really gets me in the mood. Granted it's one song but *shrugs* it's a start.

Ooh, god I'm rambling.

AmethystDragon14: Oh I'm so glad you liked it! Kitty's such a fun character to write because of the fact that she reminds me of me at 14. Well without an older brother. And a twin. And a younger sister. And I'm not a princess.

Guest: Oh, okay-I can totally make Aziz the eldest sibling, and see if I can squeeze in a younger sister there too. Plus I love the idea of Tiana having a daughter!

SailorMartin3: Depending on where I start the next story, Dude may in fact talk! Now I'm imagining Belle's reaction to a talking dog and it's making me chuckle a little. Lonnie was a given for D2 considering her subplot of getting on the Swords and Shields team (plus she goes to the Isle) and Kitty was also a yes for me considering Chad made an ass of himself keeping Lonnie off the team.

Kaybugg1: I'm so glad you like the chapter and I can't wait to read your story!

SilverDragonflymoon: Oh, thank you!

Guest: I guess I do need to write a chapter in either Persephone or Hades' POV at some point.

lilyflower101: The most annoying thing about D2 is they never tell us how much Evie makes with her business. We just know it's a lot.

Descendants4: No apologies necessary! Homework comes first, even if I may have put mine til the last second a time or twenty. As for Chad, I mean the man wanted a cape lined with fake fur for Cotillion-I see him spending a lot on a tux.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter and hope to see you all at the next story!

The months seemed to fly by as Mal continued her princess prep. Every day seemed to bring more and more duties her way and Mal honestly felt like she was at her breaking point.

Each of her handlers would tell her something different and turn Mal's head. The only thing that even remotely helped was Kitty's princess book. But even that was confusing at times—not to mention one of her handlers had dismissed it as being too 'outdated'.

What I wouldn't give to be back on the Isle right now, Mal sighed as she finished up the mountain of homework she had set to the side. Her teachers, at least, were very understanding about the whole thing. She still had to attend classes but they gave her an extension on her homework.

Plus Fairy Godmother was allowing her to retake tests Mal might have done poorly on due to everything else that was going on. If it hadn't been for the fact that most of the teachers and Fairy Godmother were at the viewing, Mal might have thought it was because she was Ben's girlfriend.

Thankfully, she had been able to take one of the things off her plate—through some research at the library, she had found a recipe for a truth potion that looked like a gummy candy. Mal quickly emailed the recipe to herself which is where she found herself in the kitchen.

"The more things change, the more things stay the same," Mal chuckled as she stirred the potion for Carlos. The only thing really missing was her friends by her side, the way they had been when Mal made the cookie for Ben. Mal wasn't too upset though—she expected the solitude. What she didn't expect, however, was for Ben to slip into the kitchen as well.

Ben brushed the hair out of his eyes and stared fondly at his girlfriend, who didn't seem to notice she was no longer alone. It was clear that Mal had made a mess in the kitchen, with flour coating her blonde hair, making it seem even lighter than it had been. Most princes or kings might have been disappointed or repulsed by their partner not being perfect at something. Ben, however, didn't mind in the slightest.

"What are the odds I'd find you here?" Ben asked, a fond smile on his lips as he looked at his girlfriend. Mal, however, jumped upon hearing his voice and flipped her phone over so he couldn't see the screen.

"Ben!" Mal exclaimed, quickly putting a smile on her lips. The last thing she wanted Ben to know what that she was using magic. Granted this was something Carlos had asked for but still. Magic was magic, and the people of Auradon had retired it.

Now, if it had been for a reason like 'magic had ruined the lives of half of the royals in Auradon' then Mal could understand it. It didn't mean she'd like it but she could understand the reasoning behind it. Never mind the fact that it was magic that bettered the lives of the other half of the royals of Auradon.

After all, if Naveen had never been turned into a frog he would have never met Tiana. If Cinderella's Fairy Godmother hadn't appeared, Cinderella would have never met Kit. If Aladdin hadn't rubbed the Genie's lamp, there's no way he'd be married to Jasmine—mainly because Jasmine would still believe he was dead but semantics.

"What are you doing here?" Mal asked, thankful a bit calmer than she was before.

"I could ask you the same question," Ben asked as he walked over and gave Mal a brief peck on the cheek, the counter separating them. "Busy baking?"

"Umm…yes!" Mal said, reaching for a cook book to act as a prop. Thankfully the kitchen staff happened to have one lying around. "You caught me. I was working on a surprise for you but I guess it's ruined now."

"You didn't have to do anything for me," Ben told her, amazed that she would do that. Ben couldn't believe how easily Mal had been adjusting to the royal life. Granted there were some stumbles but if Ben hadn't known Mal, he would have assumed she had been raised as a royal all her life.

"You've been working so hard Ben," Mal said, walking around the counter to wrap her arms around him. It was true; the few times Mal had had a chance to see Ben, he always seemed exhausted. Almost more exhausted than how Mal felt most of the time, if that was possible. "You deserve a moment to relax. Eat something that's not poorly made council sandwiches."

Ben sighed, and wrapped his arms around her in return. "That would be nice, and the sandwiches aren't too bad. But I'm booked until tomorrow, and even that's uncertain since there could be an unforeseen emergency."

"How about a picnic? I could make all your favorite foods," Mal suggested as the idea came to her, even though she was kicking herself as the words left her mouth. Cotillion was right around the corner, as Jane's ever growing check list showed. If Mal was the murdering type, she would kill Audrey for leaving her with this mess. The last thing Mal needed was to deal with a picnic.

"You don't need to do that," Ben said but Mal shook her head.

"I insist," she told him before a smirk formed on her face. "You need to relax Bennyboo."

Ben couldn't help but chuckle at the ridiculous nickname. "I thought that was behind me."

"Nah, I'll dust it off for special occasions," Mal told him, brushing a bit of flour from Ben's jacket that had transferred itself when Ben leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Go on, you're probably late for something aren't you?"

Ben chuckled but then looked at his watch, his eyes growing wide as he looked at the time. "You're right, I am so late! I'm so sorry Mal!"

"Go!" Mal urged with a chuckle as Ben ran out of the kitchen, the streak of flour still evident on his jacket. Shaking her head, Mal flipped over her phone once more to see the rest of the recipe. How was she going to handle this picnic with Ben? She could barely eat curry without spilling it all over her self, as her outfit from Agrabah proved.

Shaking her head, Mal got herself out of her thoughts and continued to work on the gummy. It would be nice to be able to tell people what she really thought but that might end up with her gaining a one way ticket back to the Isle.

That wouldn't be too bad, come to think about it, Mal thought as she continued to stir the gummy mixture. No more rules, no more committees, no more dang Cotillions. I mean, it's a freaking dance. Didn't these guys just go through a major event six months ago with Ben's coronation?

Mal shook her head to get out of her thoughts and poured the gummy into the mould before setting it in the fridge, leaving a post it reading Do not touch.

"I mean, it's not like anyone else here would touch it but it's better to be safe," Mal muttered as she gathered ups her stuff. Reaching for her phone, Mal paused as she realized something. Something very important.

"What in the world are Ben's favorite foods?" Mal wondered, looking around the empty kitchen. Despite the fact that they did talk to each other, there was still so much that Mal didn't know about Ben. Grabbing her phone, Mal quickly scrolled through her contacts; looking for anyone who would be able to help her.

Evie was swamped with dresses she needed to finish for everyone going to Cotillion so she was out. The last thing Mal wanted to do was add more work for her best friend, especially as her business was getting off the ground.

Jane would definitely know but she was up to her ears with Cotillion prep. While she was glued to her phone, Mal couldn't help but think that it would take a fair amount of time to get an answer from the other half-fairy—and time wasn't exactly something Mal had right then.

"Lonnie!" Mal gasped, realizing that Mulan's daughter had been friends with Ben as well. Sending a rapid fire text, Mal sighed in relief as she pressed send. Setting down her phone, Mal went to go check on the gummy. Poking at it, she shook her head upon seeing that it hadn't quite set yet.

The pinging of her phone indicating a text had come through caught her attention and Mal rushed to her phone. Grabbing it, she was relieved to see a response from Lonnie—however the actual text was not as comforting as Mal thought it would be.

"His favorite foods are all the foods Mrs. Potts made for his parents?" Mal groaned, resting her palm on her forehead. "I barely know how to boil water on my own. How the heck am I supposed to make beef ragu or cheese soufflé?"

Well you can make potions. That's just like cooking, Mal's inner voice reminded her. Plus you've got time.

Thursday's tomorrow!

Ah. Shit.

"It's okay," Mal muttered, trying to stem the panic racing through her veins. Why did she agree to this? There was no way she could make one of these items, never mind all of them! If she texted her friends, maybe…

Mal shook her head and took a breath. No, it wouldn't be fair to rope them into this. Jay was busy with Swords and Shields, and Carlos was helping him. Evie was up to her eyeballs with dress orders for Cotillion.

Taking a breath, Mal ran a hand through her hair to try to calm down as she mentally went through her list of friends but kept coming up with road blocks. Kitty was still busy with school work, Lucy had her own friend group, Akiho was helping his mom with her pregnancy plus he was also on the Swords and Shields team along with Emir.

Here's a crazy idea, Mal thought, embracing a rare moment of sanity from constant panic. Why don't I just tell Ben that there's no way I can make all his favorite foods in a day and we reschedule?

Do you think Audrey would reschedule?

Well no, random thought that I don't know where you came from. But she probably would have a team of servants make it for her and she would just take the credit. She would also have this date planned for a month.

"Wait, there's an idea," Mal thought, diving for her bag. She had been carrying her mother's spell book around over the past few months as she had been using more and more magic to get through her duties as Ben's girlfriend. It was incredibly draining and Mal couldn't help but feel more stressed with the worry that someone would find out.

She could handle people talking negatively about her but she couldn't handle the idea of people thinking Ben was a bad King because she was a fraud.

"There has to be something here," Mal muttered as she ruffled through the pages of her mother's spell book. To her disappointment, there were no cooking spells anywhere in the book. Groaning in frustration, Mal leaned against the counter.

Turning the pages in the book again, Mal shook her head as she saw all the spells her mom had come up with. How had she come up with all of these evil spells but there was nothing that could actually help her at that moment?

"Then again, Ms. Love is Weakness would never dream of coming up with spells to help romance," Mal muttered as she dropped her head into her hands. "Maybe I'm trying too hard. Maybe I should just stop trying?"

Except for the fact Ben would be disappointed, Mal thought with an inward sigh. With everything else Ben had going on, the last thing she wanted was to be any more added stress. Going back to check on the gummy, Mal didn't notice one of her handlers walk into the kitchen.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Hello Natalie," Mal said, not bothering to turn around.

"You've got a press interview in fifteen minutes," the brunette said, pulling Mal away from the fridge and closing the door. "You need to change and do something with your hair."

"What's wrong with my hair?" Mal asked, looking at a strand of her blonde locks. Natalie ignored her and directed Mal toward the door.

"We have a white dress planned out with matching shoes. Leonard might be able to do something really quickly with your hair and makeup but he won't be happy having to do another rush job."

And you wonder why I've been hiding from you, Mal thought as the older woman proceeded to direct her toward another room where a smaller man sat.

"Another rush job Natalie?" The man sighed as Mal was directed into the chair.

"Sorry about this Leonard," Natalie told him as she pulled a dress from a nearby rack. "I had to search the entire school this time before I found her."

Mal couldn't help but smirk in amusement as she heard Natalie's words. She would have known exactly where Mal was if she had asked Carlos, since he was the only one who knew about the gummy.

"I swear, you enjoy making my job difficult," Natalie told Mal, having noticed the smirk.

"Keep your head straight," Leonard told Mal before Mal could make a smart remark. Mal sighed and sat back in the chair. If she ruined anything, it would only increase the amount of time she would be stuck with them.

"That's good enough for government work," Leonard sighed and Mal looked up to see her hair pulled back to the side of her head in a bun. Honestly it wasn't bad but it…it wasn't her.

Her makeup was also lighter than what she was used to, with pink lipstick being the only thing that stood out. Honestly there was so much highlighter around her eyes, Mal thought she had fallen face first into an ice cream cone.

"Quickly!" Natalie urged and Mal slipped on the dress that honestly looked like it belonged more in Arendelle than it did on her, with what looked like sprinkles all over it. Before Mal could react, Natalie had gotten the dress on her and was in the process of putting on a pair of lace gloves onto Mal's hands.

"The purse!" Leonard exclaimed, brushing a lock of his black hair out of his eyes. "Can't forget the bag."

"Right," Natalie nodded and handed Mal a clutch before directing her out the door. "The press won't wait for too much longer and we have so much more to do."

Mal felt herself get led to the press conference but she couldn't help but wonder what her life would be like if she had stayed evil. Maybe she and her friends would be ruling the school, wreaking everything with their villainy.

She could picture it—the four of them giving Auradon a taste of the evil that they had locked on the Isle.

Don't get her wrong, she wouldn't trade her life with Ben for anything but being evil…it was so much more freeing than being good. Didn't anyone cut loose around here and break the rules for the heck of it?

I mean, a lot of the people in the Learning to be Royal club got their start by breaking the rules. I'm pretty sure stealing stuff is against the rules.

Before Mal could respond to her inner thought, the flash of cameras brought her out of her thoughts and Mal could see that she was right in front of the statue of King Beast. Almost as if it was designed to prevent her from sneaking off.

"Mal!"

"Mal!"

"Mal!"

The constant shouting of her name drew Mal's attention every which way and she wished they would take a breath so she could pick a question to answer.

"Mal, please over here! Mal!"

"Only three days until the Royal Cotillion!"

"Ever think a girl like you would be Lady of the Court?"

Mal inwardly smirked, longing to give them the obvious answer to their question. Of course she never thought she would be a lady of the court—she hadn't even known there was a way off the Isle until six months ago.

"How does it feel to be the most envied girl in Auradon?"

"Do you like being blonde?"

Of course not! I miss the purple—but if it keeps your attention off of the fact that I'm a Villain's kid and more on Ben's policies, I'll keep it.

"Is your mother still a lizard?"

Mal was startled by the question and made to respond but thankfully she didn't have to. Ben scooted through the crowd and went to stand next to Mal. Mal had to inwardly chuckle as she saw the apple in his hands—at least he was remembering to eat something. There were days where Carlos and Jay had to drag him out of his office because he had skipped one too many meals.

"Okay, all right. Excuse me," Ben said as he wrapped his arm around Mal's waist. "Uh we will let you know if and when that particular situation changes."

"Did you ever think you'd be with a Villain Kid?"

Mal inwardly winced at the question but to her surprise, Ben only gave a small chuckle before leaning toward the microphone.

"We're done here," Ben said but that only caused the reporters to start clamoring once more.

"Just one more question!"

Thankfully more help arrived in the form of Fairy Godmother who quickly stepped in front of both Ben and Mal.

"Watch Fairy Godmother handle this," Ben whispered in Mal's ear.

"Okay, shush shush. This is still a school so if you're here you're either skipping or you're trespassing," Fairy Godmother said.

"Just one more quick question!"

"Fairy Godmother!"

With an ease that Mal didn't expect from the easy going woman who always seemed like she wanted to please everyone, Fairy Godmother shut down the questions with a quick 'shh' here and a 'shh' there. Finally the reporters were discouraged and walked off.

"Thank you guys," Ben said as the reporters slunk off.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," Mal added, mentally giving her thanks to Ben and Fairy Godmother rather than the reporters who made her go through that.

"Mal. Ben," Fairy Godmother said before walking off.

"Fairy Godmother," Mal and Ben said at the same time before facing each other. Mal let out a sigh of relief. It was finally over—how Fairy Godmother allowed the jackals onto school property was beyond her. If Persephone was there she'd have a field day.

Maybe Mal should borrow Rapunzel's frying pan for the next time someone wanted her to have an interview.

"Don't pay any attention to them," Ben told her and Mal couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about that. It was easy for him to say; he'd been raised his whole life on how to deal with the press.

"Well, that's a lot easier said that done, right?" Mal asked, giving a little laugh at the end to hide her true feelings of frustration and exhaustion.

"I know, I know," Ben said as he looked off in thought. When he looked back at Mal, Ben said, "you know maybe we should do something. I know we have the picnic tomorrow but we should go somewhere. Get away."

"Yeah," Mal nodded, relieved Ben was on the same wave length as her. It would certainly be a lot less stressful if she could date her boyfriend without reporters popping up everywhere.

"You know, what do…" Ben started to ask but then trailed off as he looked at his watch. Mal didn't even have to ask what was so important—it seemed Ben was always in a meeting these days. "I have a council meeting. I'm so late!"

"That's okay," Mal said even though all she wanted to do was ask how many freaking meetings did his council need to have. This was the second one that day!

"We'll, we'll do it sometime," Ben promised but before he could get out another word, Evie appeared by Mal's side. Mal suspected Natalie had something to do with it.

"If we don't do a fitting for your gown right this minute, you'll be dancing in your bathrobe, okay?" Evie told her before looking over at Ben. "Hi."

Turning back to Mal, Evie said "Let's go. Let's go."

"Bye Ben," Mal said. She could barely hear Ben's response over the gaggle of reporters swarming him but Mal didn't mind that as it wasn't her that had to deal with them. After all, Ben wanted her to pay them no mind.

As they made their way back to their room, Mal had to wonder how she was expected to walk in heals every day. She had only had these shoes for fifteen minutes but her feet felt like they were on fire. Plopping on her bed was the best feeling in the world. Of course it could only last five seconds before Evie was pulling her up.

"Get into this!" Evie said, handing Mal a blue and gold gown that, honestly, was not Mal's favorites of Evie's designs. Mal knew the kingdom's colors were blue and gold but couldn't they have slipped a little bit of Mal in there?

Maybe something a bit more above the knee? Or a different color? Heck even a splash of purple along the hem would have been nice. At least that way Mal wouldn't feel like she was disappearing.

Then again, I know absolutely nothing about fashion. Mal thought as she got out of Natalie's dress and slipped on Evie's. Walking onto the stage type thing that was in the middle of the room, Mal was startled when Evie forced her shoulders back.

"Oh!" Mal gasped, a rare feat based on how tight the dress was. Mal wasn't exactly a big girl but this dress was almost cutting off her circulation. "Okay Evie I can not breathe!"

"Well, you can breathe after Cotillion," Evie told her.

"Well I sincerely doubt that. I have at least twenty more events directly behind it and I can't even remember what a single one of them is," Mal said, letting a bit more off her chest than she meant to. But this was Evie, her best friend. If Mal couldn't vent to Evie, who could she?

"Impeccable," Evie said, fluffing the gown and obviously not listening to Mal. Mal blinked in surprise and tamped down the feeling of rage as once again she was ignored. Looking straight ahead, she caught sight of her leather jacket.

Oh how she missed it! It was like a bit of home—but princesses didn't wear leather. Natalie had said that if she caught Mal wearing it again, it would end up in the dumpster.

"Evie?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever think about what we'd be doing if we were back on the Isle right now?" Mal asked, finally catching Evie's attention as she looked up at her best friend. But instead of an actual response, Evie just laughed.

"That's funny," Evie told her before getting distracted by the television. Mal couldn't exactly blame Evie for that since she was trying to support Mal but the last thing Mal wanted to see was herself on the television. It just made it apparent that she was playing a role.

Mal really wished she could reach out to a member of the Learning to be Royal club, but it had been so long since she had spoken to any of them that she was worried they would wonder why she was speaking now.

That didn't mean the other club members didn't try to check in on Mal from time to time. Akiho and Emir were constantly texting her, making sure she took time off to relax. Kitty and Lucy stopped by every Saturday to help clean their dorm while Rachel had basically taken over laundry duties for Mal.

Mal didn't know if they were doing this on the orders of their parents or if they were doing it because they were her friends but either way Mal was appreciative of it. They were people who knew what it was like for people trying to learn how to fit in with the royal court.

"No one thought King Ben and his girlfriend from the wrong side of the bridge would last," the television broke through Mal's thoughts and brought her back to reality.

"Yeah, no kidding," Mal muttered, thinking of the numerous articles that had been written about all her mistakes. Thankfully, since she started using her spell book more often, the articles had died down.

"Mal must be counting the days until the Royal Cotillion when she will officially become a lady of the court," the report finished up and Mal gasped as she realized there was another duty she needed to do. Natalie would not be thrilled if she found out that Mal hadn't done the thousandth reading this week.

Forgetting Evie was in the room, Mal reached over and grabbed both the book and her spell book. Flipping through the spell book, Mal paused as she reached the necessary page. "Read it fast at lightning speed. Remember everything I need."

Also, need to remember this spell when it comes to homework, Mal thought as she cast the spell on the book and began to speed read through the necessary things.

"I know Mal's secret to fitting in and Ben would not like it one bit," Evie said, leaning over the end of Mal's bed. "Haven't you guys had enough secrets between the two of you?"

"Evie, you remember what I was like before," Mal said. "I mean I was a complete disaster."

"Well, personally, as your best friend I strongly believe that this spell book," Evie said, tugging the book out of Mal's hands. "It belongs in the museum along with my mirror. Don't give me the face, put the pout away. You know I'm right."

Mal couldn't help but stare at her best friend in shock. It wasn't that Mal wanted to hang on to the past but there was no way she could make it through without her spell book. If she didn't use the book, then something was going to fall through the cracks.

She couldn't afford for her school work to suffer otherwise her teachers might think she wasn't up for the royal life. But she couldn't allow her royal duties to slide either—they would just end up on Ben's plate and that wasn't fair to him.

"You don't ever miss running wild and just breaking all the rules?" Mal asked, looking over at Evie.

"Like stealing and lying and fighting?"

"Yeah!" Mal exclaimed, happy her friend was finally getting it.

"No!"

"What?" Mal asked, stunned. Then again maybe she shouldn't have been. Out of all of them, Evie was the most like an Auradon girl—which was fair as her mother had raised her to be a princess.

"Why would we?" Evie asked, bringing Mal back to the conversation. "M, come here. Look at where we are, we're in Auradon!"

Mal stood next to her best friend and watched as the image of her on the television bit into a strawberry. Honestly, while strawberries were wonderful, she was getting sick of them. Mal had started giving the cartons to Fairy Godmother for the school to use as there was no way she could eat through hundreds of cartons before the berries went bad.

Mal was also tempted to ask Ben about sending some of the cartons to the Isle but with all the work he had going on, Mal didn't want to bother him.

"See, this is the land of opportunity. We can be whatever we want here," Evie said, not realizing that Mal wasn't listening. "So please, let's just leave the past in the past okay?"

Evie reached over and grabbed one of the shoes she was designing for Mal's outfit. They were yet another blue and gold monstrosity that Mal honestly couldn't understand the appeal of. How was she expected to walk with a heel that thin?

"Besides, I mean, look at the shoes! Look at them!" Evie said with a gush.

"Mmm, severe," Mal said, not really agreeing but knowing that speaking up against fashion would be futile. She went through the rest of the fitting before scurrying back to the kitchen to finish up the gummy. After that, she was going to text Lonnie and see if she needed any more Swords and Shields help.

There was so much pressure going around that Mal thought she was going to explode. She needed a way to get a release so she didn't snap at someone. Snapping at her friends would be bad, snapping at Ben or Fairy Godmother would be worse. The last thing she needed was to snap at a reporter—that would be the talk of the news cycle for about two weeks or so.

Sending off a quick text to Lonnie, Mal let out a sigh of relief when she closed the kitchen doors and saw that no one was there. However there was a note that wasn't there previously.

Mal,

Thought you might want to be alone for a bit so the kitchen staff will be coming in around an hour from now. Get your frustrations out now—there are no cameras in the kitchen. We checked.

Steven

PS: Any more of those cookies?

Mal let out a chuckle as she read the note and made a note of her own to make the whole kitchen staff some more cookies. Honestly, she just followed the love potion spell without the tear of human sadness. It worked just like a regular recipe.

Hey, she may not know how to boil water but she can follow a recipe.

Rushing over to the fridge, Mal was happy to see that the gummy had completely set. Setting it in a small bag, Mal put it in her clutch and then closed the fridge. Sighing as she mentally checked that off her list, Mal wondered when she would be able to meet up with Carlos to give him this gummy.

No one said being the king's girlfriend would involve all this work! For not the first time in her life since she came to Auradon, Mal cursed her mother's want for revenge.

Then again, at least Audrey wasn't the girlfriend of the king. She may have started turning over a new leaf but Mal wasn't going to lie. The thought of Audrey in Mal's spot made Mal shiver with disgust and terror.

Standing up straight, Mal went to the door of the kitchen. The only way she was going to find the time to give the gummy to Carlos would be if she made it. She was going to do it right now.

"There you are!"

Or maybe she'd do it after whatever inane activity Natalie wanted her to do.