Descendants Junior Novel (6 page)

“Hey, who told you that?” asked Ben, lifting the little dog.

“My mother,” said Carlos.

“Cruella?” asked Ben.

“She’s a dog expert. A ‘dog yellerer,’” said Carlos.

Ben’s face broke into a smile.

“Why are you holding him? He’s gonna attack you!” said Carlos.

“Carlos, you’ve never actually met a dog, have you?” said Ben.

“Of course not,” said Carlos.

“Dude, meet Carlos. Carlos, this is Dude. He’s the campus mutt,” said Ben.

“He doesn’t look like a rabid pack animal,” said Carlos, stepping down from the tree. “Geez, it’s kind of like looking into a mirror.” Carlos spoke to Dude.
“I bet you’re used to being kicked around, right?” Carlos scratched Dude’s head and smiled.

Ben smiled, too, and passed Dude over to Carlos.

“You’re a good boy,” said Carlos, laughing and rubbing Dude’s belly.

Ben’s smile faded. “I guess you guys have it pretty rough on the island,” he said.

“Yeah,” said Carlos. “Let’s just say we don’t get a lot of belly rubs.”

Ben unconsciously patted Carlos on the shoulder. “Good boy,” he said. He caught himself. “I mean, you’re a good runner. You’re fast.”

Carlos smiled. “Thank you.”

“Yeah,” said Ben. “Listen, I’m gonna give you guys some space. You guys get to know each other and just come find me when you’re done, okay?” Ben started to
walk away, back toward the tourney field.

“Okay,” said Carlos.

“See you later,” said Ben.

“See you out there,” said Carlos.

Once Ben had disappeared down the trail, Carlos sat down on a log with Dude on his lap. He scratched the dog’s side. Dude licked him playfully on the nose.

“Oh!” said Carlos, glad he’d made a new friend. “Thank you!”

Chad led Evie under the bleachers and they stood facing each other.

“Is everybody at home as pretty as you?” Chad asked her, shouldering a huge tan backpack.

Evie looked down at her shoes and blushed. “I like to think I’m the fairest of them all.” She batted her eyelashes and laughed. “How many rooms in your castle?”

Chad smiled. “Too many to count.”

Evie leaned in to kiss Chad. He leaned in, too, but he stopped abruptly.

Evie smooched air.

“You
really
nailed that chemistry problem today!” he said. “You’re going to have all the nerds in love with you.” He laughed.

“I’m not that smart!” said Evie.

“Oh, come on,” said Chad.

“No, really! I’m not. But I’m really good at sewing and cooking and cleaning. You know, like your mother, Cinderella. Without the ratty dress,” she said. She took the
mirror out of her purse. “See this? If I ask it where something is, it tells me.”

“Are you kidding me?” asked Chad, snatching it from her hand. He spoke into the mirror with a hardened, demanding voice. “Where’s my cell phone?” he barked.

“It won’t work for you, silly.” Evie laughed.

“No biggie,” said Chad, handing it back to her and resuming his charming act. “My dad will just get me a new one.”

“Prince Charming,” said Evie dreamily.

“Yeah,” said Chad, smiling.

“And Cinderella,” said Evie.

“Yeah,” said Chad.

“Fairy Godmother.” She took Chad’s hands in hers. “Hey, I heard her wand is in some boring museum. Do they always leave it there?” She looked deeply into his eyes
and leaned forward as if she were about to kiss him.

He started to lean in again but stopped once more. “I’d really like to talk, but”—he turned away dramatically—“I’m just swamped!” he said.
“Unless…” He turned back to face her.

“Unless?” asked Evie with a smile.

“If you could knock all my homework out along with yours, then maybe we could get together sometime and…hang.” His eyebrows jumped. He took off his backpack and handed it to
her.

“Okay,” she said breathily, taking it.

“Thanks, babe,” he said, winking at her. He walked off.

“Bye,” said Evie dreamily, waving.

Suddenly, Doug’s face appeared between the seats of the bleachers.

“I couldn’t help but overhear—”

“Are you
stalking me
?” Evie said.

“Technically…yes,” said Doug. “I, too, have a fascination with Fairy Godmother’s wand.” He climbed down from the bleachers and stood in front of Evie.
“Which is another reason I look forward to the coronation. Perhaps we could sit next to each other and discuss its attributes.” His voice cracked.

“Are you saying they use it in the coronation?” asked Evie, resting a finger on Doug’s chest right below his green bow tie.

“Yes,” said Doug. Then he added, “And asking you out.”

Evie laughed in his face flirtatiously and walked away, ignoring his request for a date.

Doug, enchanted, watched as Evie strutted back to the dorms.

I
T’S TIME TO GIVE THIS PLAID PREPPY SCHOOL A SERIOUS BAD-GIRL MAKEOVER.

In Mal and Evie’s dorm room, Jane and Mal spoke as Evie sewed on her machine.

The sun shone into the room and fell across Mal’s sketchbook. She was lying on her bed, shading in a drawing of Beast as Jane stood clutching the bedpost.

“Mom said, ‘
If a boy can’t see the beauty within, then he’s not worth it
,’” Jane mimicked in a singsong voice. “Can you believe it? What world
does she live in?” She stomped angrily across the room.

Mal snickered. “Auradon?” she muttered.

Evie held up the dress she’d been sewing. “Mal? Do you like?”

Mal looked up. “Yeah. It’s cute. It brings out your eyes,” she said.

“I know,” said Evie, smiling. She started to sew again.

“I’ll never get a boyfriend,” Jane said. She flopped down on Evie’s bed.

“
Boyfriends
are overrated,” Mal said.

“And how would you know, Mal?” said Evie. “You’ve never had one.”

“It’s ’cause I don’t need one,
E
,” said Mal. “They’re a waste of time.”

Evie gasped. “I forgot to do Chad’s homework!” she said. She stood up. “Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no!” She grabbed Chad’s backpack and sat again at her sewing
desk.

Mal said, “And that is
exactly
what I mean.”

There was a knock on the door and a girl stepped into the room. She wore a pink floral shirt with a pink sash and a short teal skirt. She sported a short bob hairstyle with bangs. “Hey,
guys! I’m Lonnie!” the girl said brightly. She eyed Mal and Evie. “My mom’s Mulan…?”

They gave her blank stares. Evie took a binder out of Chad’s backpack.

“No? Anyways!” said Lonnie. “I
love
what you’ve done with Jane’s hair. And I know you hate us. And, well, you’re evil.…But do you think you
could do mine?” She touched her bob.

Mal scoffed. “Why would I do that for you?” she asked.

“I’ll pay you fifty dollars,” said Lonnie, holding out a silk bag of money.

“Good answer,” said Evie, taking the bag and standing. “I need to buy more material.” She squinted at Lonnie. “Let’s see. I’m thinking we lose the
bangs…maybe some layers…and some highlights!”

“Um…no, no. I want it cool,” said Lonnie. “Like Mal’s!”

Mal looked at Lonnie with her jaw dropped.

Evie laughed. “Really?” she said. “The split ends, too?”

Mal rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated breath. She put down her pencil, got up, and opened her spell book. “Okay…” she said, flipping through it. She smiled at Lonnie.
“Beware, forswear, replace the old with cool hair,”
she said. With a few swipes of Mal’s finger, Lonnie’s bob transformed into long, soft brown locks.

Lonnie checked herself out in the mirror and frowned.

“I know, I know,” said Evie, going over to her. “It looks like a mop on your head. Let’s cut it off, layer it—”

“No, no, no, no, no!” said Lonnie. “I love it.” She smiled.

“You do,” said Evie.

“It’s just…” She ripped her skirt up the side. “Now I’m cool,” she said.

“Like ice,” said Mal, flashing her a smile.

And with that, a little friendship was born.

Jane looked between the two and ripped her skirt up the side, too. She instantly gasped. “What did I just do?” Jane said. “Mom’s gonna kill me!”

Jay and Coach Jenkins were seated on the bleachers, looking at the rule book.

“I could really use a tough guy like you,” said Coach Jenkins. He looked very official in a yellow tourney hat, a blue vest, and a pale yellow T-shirt. There was a jersey slung over
his shoulder. “The team’s a bunch of princes, if you know what I mean,” he added.

“You’re telling me,” said Jay, closing the rule book. “It’s all
‘After you, old chum. Oh, pardon me, did I bump you?’
”

Coach chuckled.

“Where I come from, it’s
‘Prepare to die, sucker!’
” Jay threw down the rule book and stood up. “As my father says, the only way to win is to make
sure everyone else loses! You rip—”

“Jay,” Coach said. He stood up. “Jay! Jay, Jay, Jay. Let me explain a ‘team.’” He guided Jay to sit back down on the bleachers with him. “It’s
like a family,” Coach said.

“You do
not
want to be at my house at dinnertime,” said Jay.

Coach nodded. “Okay, okay,” he said. “You know how a body has a lot of different parts? Legs, elbows, ears. But they all need each other. Well, that’s what a team
is—different players who work
together
to win. Make any sense?”

Jay looked thoughtful. “Can I be the fist?” He made a fist.

Coach laughed. He took the jersey off his shoulder and held it out to Jay.

It was blue and had Jay’s name and the number eight on it in gold.

With a smile, Jay took it and put it on over his leather vest. He thanked Coach Jenkins and took off down the field and back to the dorms. He threw open the door to Mal and Evie’s room,
whooping and showing off his jersey. Carlos whistled from where he sat with Dude on the floor, looking at something on his laptop. Evie was bending over a mountain of homework and copying two sets
of answers from her magic mirror. Mal leafed through the spell book on her bed, searching for answers.

“Did your plan work with Jane?” Jay asked Mal. “Are you going over to see the wand?”

“Do you think that I would be going through every single spell in this book if I hadn’t completely struck out?” said Mal.

Her friends exchanged looks.

“Someone is in a bad mood,” said Carlos.

“My mom’s counting on me,” said Mal, flicking Carlos’s head. “I can’t let her down!”

“We can do this!” said Jay.

His three friends stared at him.

“If we stick together,” said Jay.

“And we won’t go back until we do,” said Mal. “’Cause we’re rotten…”

“To the core,” they all said in unison.

“Oh, yeah,” said Evie nonchalantly. “I found out that Fairy Godmother blesses Ben with the wand at coronation and we all get to go.”

Mal’s eyes widened.

“I have nothing to wear, of course,” said Evie.

Mal looked at her incredulously.

There was a knock at the door.

“What?” asked Evie.

“Hold that thought,” Mal told Evie. She got up and opened the door.

Ben stood in the hall, smiling. “Hey, Mal!” he said. “I didn’t see you guys today. I was just wondering if you had any questions or anything…that you
needed?”

“Not that I can think of.…” Mal looked at her friends, then back at Ben.

“Okay! All right! Well, if you need anything…” he said, starting off down the hall.

“Oh! Wait!” said Mal.

Ben paused.

“Um, is it true that we all get to go to your coronation?” asked Mal.

Ben smiled. “Yeah, the whole school goes.”

“Wow. That is beyond exciting,” said Mal. “Do you think it is at all a possibility that the four of us could stand in the front row next to the Fairy Godmother just so we
could…soak up all that goodness?”

Ben looked like he was about to say yes, but his face fell. “I wish you could. Up in front it’s just me, my folks, and my girlfriend.”

“And your girlfriend,” said Mal, nodding slowly.

“Yeah,” said Ben. “I’m sorry.”

“Okay, thanks, bye,” said Mal, shutting the door in his face. She turned to her friends and smiled mischievously. “I think it’s time that Bennyboo got himself a new
girlfriend. And I need a love spell.” She clapped and Carlos tossed her the spell book.