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Evie is different from other girls.
She's known this since she was young, since her mother has practically pounded into her head that being pretty is a must and a rich prince is the ideal. Her mother tells her about how girls without princes are useless.
"They've got nothing going for them," she says. "But you, my little Evie, look how beautiful you are!"
Her mother fixes her hair up nice, teaches her how to do her makeup and how to bat her eyelashes just right. She scolds her when Evie attempts to run and play in the mud, tells her how useless and silly books are when Evie asks her to read a bedtime story.
But Evie is not the girl her mother expects her to be. A part of her has known this since she was very small, when it's easy to put away. Something to keep in the back of her mind, something to worry about later, something that doesn't really make sense to her.
"You'll have your happily ever after Evie," her mother reminds her. "I promise you will. Villains don't get happily ever afters... but you will."
Evie knows it's no use telling her mother she doesn't know how right she is. She'll never have the happily ever after she truly wants. She knows that when she meets Mal.
Mal is brave, outspoken, and does her best to live up to her mother's expectations. For the longest time, Evie thinks what she feels for her is simply admiration. She takes notice of how pretty Mal is without even having to try, how she's always pulling nasty schemes to keep her mother happy.
She's close with everyone in their tight group. Jay is like the big brother she's never had, Carlos is always there to listen to her when she needs it. They're good friends and Evie couldn't ask for more. Mal, however, is different.
"When you find the right prince, you will know," her mother constantly reminds her. "He will make your heart flutter, he will give you butterflies in your stomach. And he will shower you in riches and gold. You'll have what I lost. And you'll share with mommy when that happens, won't you?"
"I will," Evie always agrees.
In the back of her mind, a thought lingers every time, something along the lines of Mal gives me butterflies and being around Mal makes my heart flutter and what's wrong with me?
Attending Auradon prep is scary and exciting all at the same time. Evie has never been away from her mother and she doesn't know if she likes it or not.
It's when brown eyed Chad Charming comes into her life that she wishes her mother was there to see it. Evie knows she would love Chad, and so she does her best to impress him. She remembers what her mother has always told her, about how looks are the most important in the eyes of a man. She puts on her prettiest smiles, wears her cutest outfits, and makes sure to flip her hair when she's sure Chad is looking at her during class for good measure.
She's used to flirting with boys she knows she doesn't really like. It's become routine for her now, and it's an easy way to keep her mind off how her pulse quickens when Mal touches her on the wrist or how when she dreams at night, it's not about Chad Charming or any other attractive boy her mother would love more than she ever could.
Boys like her too. She's a pretty face and that's all that matters. So when Chad practically blows her off and makes it clear he's only using her to his advantage, she is confused and hurt but tries to look on the bright side of the situation. Evie tells herself she needs to try harder and Chad will like her.
She gets so caught up in her attempts to make Chad fall for her she hardly notices how interested Prince Ben seems to be in Mal. She's never had to deal with a boy liking Mal, she's never had to deal with Mal liking a boy. It's silly, but it's never even crossed her mind until Mal comes up with the idea to put a love spell on Ben.
Later that night, when she's sure everyone else is asleep aside from Mal, Evie sneaks into her bed.
"Do you really think the love spell plan will work?" she asks.
"Of course it will," Mal says without a trace of worry in her voice, and Evie gets that strange feeling in her stomach she always puts off as jealousy when Mal does or says something that makes her stomach feel like it's doing flip flops. "Soon enough Benny-boo will be eating out the palm of my hands."
Evie shifts uncomfortably. "Maybe not," she says. "What if his love for Audrey is too strong? What they have is true love, isn't it?"
"Please!" Mal laughs so loudly Evie has to shush her before she can continue. "What they have is pathetic, not true love."
"Do you believe in true love?"
Mal hesitates before saying firmly, "No."
"Why not?"
"Why do you care?"
Evie shrugs and climbs back out of Mal's bed, not wanting to continue the conversation any longer. The feeling she calls jealousy has turned into something else and she doesn't know how to explain it.
Once the love spell has been put on Ben, Evie is particularly anxious about it.
She waits in the stands with Mal to see what happens and the show that begins to unfold is worse than anything she could have imagined. It's easy to put on a good act, to cheer with everyone else and pretend to be happy for Mal as Ben sings and dances and basically proclaims his spell filled love for her.
Now the feeling in her stomach has turned into something unmistakable. She's angry someone else is getting to pull a stunt like this for Mal and she never will, because girls are supposed to like boys, Evie is supposed to like princes, not the purple haired girl standing next to her. She's almost grateful when Chad dumps her for Audrey, it's an excuse to focus her anger on.
That's when she starts to try and focus on Doug. He's not a rich prince like Chad but she's okay with that for the time being. He's quiet, he's kind, he's sweet. He's everything that Mal is not and it keeps Evie distracted for the most part.
She reminds herself it's just a spell, it's not real, Mal doesn't like him because it's the only way to keep herself going. She keeps reminding herself that until it's not true anymore.
It hurts to help Mal primp for a date with Ben, but Evie pushes through it. She knows she would do anything for Mal, even if it means helping goody two shoes Ben as well. A part of her can't help but think how Ben doesn't know Mal like she does. He's never had to live in the Isles of the Lost, never had to watch Mal cry over her mother and be there to comfort her. He hasn't seen Mal at her worst, doesn't know how Mal really is. Evie does. She knows Mal. She's been there for her.
And yet Ben is the one coming to take her out on a date.
"I look... not hideous," Mal says in amazement after Evie is finished fixing her makeup and hair.
"Not even close," Evie agrees, and she means it. She means every word.
The entire time Mal is gone, Evie thinks how it should be her, not him.
"I wish I could be as brave as you are."
Evie is sitting on Mal's bed again, a few nights after the coronation ceremony. Things are mostly okay. More okay than they were before, at least. She, Mal, Jay, and Carlos have all sworn to be good and everyone at school has been doing their best to show they're sorry for the way they treated them.
"What do you mean?" Mal leans forward and scribbles another answer down on her homework.
"You were just really brave the other day, that's all," Evie says. She peeks at Mal's paper and grins.
"Don't know, don't care?" she reads aloud. "Pretty sure that's not the right answer."
"No cheating!" Mal jokes, smacking her on the arm playfully.
Evie grows quiet after that. She really does mean it, wishes she could be just as brave as Mal. Mal stood up to her mother and made sure she put herself first. She let her mother know what she wanted and she didn't let her take it away from her. Evie has never done that. She's always pretended to be someone else, always done what her mom wants her to do and never what she wants.
"Hey, you okay?" Mal waves a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Evie?"
When Evie doesn't bother saying anything, Mal says, "You were really brave that day too."
"I'm not as brave as I could be," Evie mutters. She reaches forward without thinking and grabs Mal's hand. "Not as much as you."
"Shut up," Mal rolls her eyes. The circles she's rubbing into the palm Evie is using to hold her hand make her words sound less harsh than they are. "You can be as brave as you want to be."
Evie thinks about that. She thinks of her mother and how disappointed she would be in her if she knew who her daughter really was. She thinks of Jay and how he's now one of the best players on the school team because he worked for it. She thinks of Carlos and how he was able to get over his fear of dogs. She thinks of Mal, of all the times Mal has told her she's more than just a pretty face, how smart she is, how much she matters. She thinks of how absolutely in love she is with Mal, and that's when she snaps.
She leans forward and kisses Mal right on the lips. Her heart is racing and her stomach is in overdrive with those flip flop feelings, and her mind is too hazy to remind herself she shouldn't be doing this. It's only when Mal starts kissing her back that she pulls away.
"I'm sorry," she whispers.
Mal is silent and Evie feels like slapping herself. She's ruined everything, she's made her best friend hate her in a matter of seconds all because she thought she could be brave too.
She tries to say she's sorry again but before she can Mal has moved closer and is now the one who's kissing her. Hard. Against her better judgement Evie wastes no time in bringing the kiss further this time, she's never felt so close to Mal before and even though she knows it's wrong she can't help but think it's the closest thing to right.
When they pull away Evie asks before she can stop herself, "Am I a better kisser than Ben?"
Mal stares at her in surprise. Then, she throws her head back and laughs.
"It's not funny," Evie insists.
Once she's calmed down, Mal finally says, "I haven't kissed Ben."
"But you kissed me."
"Yeah," Mal agrees. "I did. And you kissed me."
"What does this mean?" Evie asks. She's confused and her lips are still burning where Mal kissed her.
"It means I kissed you, and you kissed me."
Frustrated with her answer, Evie stands to leave. She feels like Mal isn't taking this as seriously as she is and that's the last thing she needs, for this problem she's had to deal with for so long to just be treated as some kind of joke.
Mal reaches out to grab her arm before she can go. "Wait," she says. "I don't know, okay? I don't know what it means either."
Evie lets out a sigh and sits back down on the edge of her bed. She feels like she should say something but doesn't know what.
"I like you," she says finally.
"I like you too," Mal tells her.
"I like you more than a sisterly best friend would," Evie insists, quieter this time. She's already started pouring out her feelings, they've been held inside her for so long and there's no way she can stop herself now. "I like you the way I'm supposed to like Doug. I like you the way you like Ben."
"Didn't you hear me say I like you too, E?" Mal reminds her.
Evie turns to look at her and search her face for any tricks. She knows if Mal is just messing around with her she wouldn't be able to stand it.
"What about Ben?" she asks.
"We're not together, if that's what you mean," Mal shrugs.
"You know what I mean! Are you going to get together?"
"Not now," Mal says simply.
Evie's heart practically soars at the sound of that. She's still confused, she knows she's still got a lot more to talk about with Mal and a lot to figure out. But this is the closest she's gotten to having what she truly wants and she's never felt better.
Mom was right, she thinks. Villains don't get happily ever afters. But I will.