๐พneaking about was almost too familiar for Chad as he was sneaking away from the school and far to the field, scoping the area momentarily; the prince's eyes landed on a familiar blue villain, looking a little too eager, striding toward him with a beaming grin tugging on her lips. Chad barely nodded before slipping away toward the bleachers, with Evie trailing not too far behind, like a little puppy, following the prince willingly.
Chad spun around and waited for Evie as she approached him, and once they were hidden away from any onlooker, the prince held his hand out for the villain. Evie accepted his hand and allowed him to lead her toward the middle of the bleachers, where no one could spot Chad with anyone other than Rilynn. Unknown to the golden-haired princess, she was unaware of her boyfriend holding hands with the daughter of the Evil Queen, leading her to somewhere quiet and secluded.
The prince reached the middle of the bleach and turned to face Evie, activating his charm.
"Is everybody at home as pretty as you?"
As light as a feather, Evie giggles softly as she avoids creasing her face with wrinkles. "I like to think I'm the fairest of them all," said the evil princess with her silky smooth voice. Evie eyed Chad up and down, confident she had the prince wrapped around her pretty little finger. "Does your little girlfriend know you're out here?" taunted Evie, inspecting Chad's expression though he remained unfazed. "Out here . . . with another girl--a villain?"
However, Chad merely shook his head, smiling at the evil princess without a worry in the world. "Nah. Rilynn and I aren't that serious anyway," shrugged Chad. "Besides, she's sort of gullible."
Evie barely listened to a single thing Chad was saying, too entranced with his face and the fact he was a literal prince. The idea of Chad dating Rilynn slipped her mind; she didn't care that Chad had a girlfriend. All Evie wanted was the throne. So, Evie presented herself to appeal to the liking of Chad, flashing a pretty smile and batting her eyes delicately.
"How many rooms in your castle?" wondered Evie dreamily.
"Oh! Too many to count," grinned Chad, noting how Evie was beginning to lean forward with her lips puckered for a kiss. Still, the reminder of Rilynn as his girlfriend refrained him from being physical with Evie, so he stopped Evie before anything could start. "You really nailed that chemistry problem today."
Evie opened her eyes and stared at Chad, displeased with Chad's stalling. She blinked at the prince, loosening her lips to a pout, nearly glaring at the boy for evading the kiss. Evie hadn't come out of her way to meet up with Chad to chat; the evil princess wanted the prince to fall in love with her and the skills she possessed, but Chad could barely catch her ideas.
"You're gonna have all the nerds fall in love with you," joked Chad.
"I'm not that smart," denied Evie rather quickly. However, Chad didn't look as nearly convinced. "No, really, I'm not. But I'm--I'm really good at sewing and cooking and cleaning." trailed Evie with a flirty smile, boasting her capabilities of being a good future wife. "You know, like your mother, Cinderella--without the ratty dress."
However, Chad continued to be unconvinced by Evie's attempt to downplay her academic skills; he wasn't too stoked about being with someone remotely intelligent, which was strange, considering Rilynn is more brilliant than anyone he knows. Chad used to joke about Rilynn and being a goody-two-shoes, but that was all before they got together.
Evie knew this; her mother did tell her men don't care about a woman's brain but what her face looks like. Any prince would want to marry Evie if she could cook and clean. She's the perfect wife-to-be.
Wanting to prove him wrong, Evie opened her purse and revealed her Magic Mirror, presenting it to Chad. "See this? If I ask it where something is, it tells me."
Awestruck, Chad's jaw dropped. "Are you kidding me?"
"No," smiled Evie.
The son of Cinderella steals the mirror from her hands, asking it his question. "Where's my cell phone?" interrogated Chad, pressing the face of the mirror to his ear like a phone.
His uncertainty about how the Magic Mirror works was adorable in Evie's eyes; she giggled under her breath.
"It won't work for you, silly."
"No biggie," shrugged Chad, handing the Magic Mirror back to Evie. "My dad will just give me a new one."
Evie was caught in a spell. "Prince Charming," sighed Evie dreamily. Chad merely admired the captivating villain, nodding mindlessly. "And Cinderella. Fairy Godmother."
Getting closer and closer, the villain and prince gazed into one another's eyes, and then Evie remembered something important from the back of her mind.
"Hey, I heard her wand is in some boring museum. Do they always leave it there?"
Their lips grew closer for impact, an awaiting kiss Evie had been waiting for, but Chad avoided it. He pulled away as Evie puckered her lips for another moment, thinking this was the perfect opportunity for her kiss, but it was snatched away. At this point, Evie was starting to wonder if Chad brought her back here for one in the first place.
"I'd really like to talk, but--" sighed Chad in frustration. "I'm just so swamped." But then he looked at Evie with hope in his eyes. "Unless . . ."
Evie's eyes widen with a shiny glint in her eyes. "Unless?"
Chad slipped his bag from his shoulders. "If you could knock all my homework along with yours, then maybe we could get together sometime . . . hang."
"Okay," breathed Evie, dumbstruck.
"Thanks, babe," winked Chad.
Then, the prince turned away and left the evil princess behind. Unknown to them, Doug had witnessed the ordeal, and he was not pleased to find his best friend's boyfriend with another girl. Never mind her being the girl he was mildly attracted to.
โผโผโผ
Rilynn hadn't bothered to search for Chad when she left class, wanting to spend the afternoon in her own company to focus on her assignments. After classes ended, the golden-haired princess wound up in the courtyard near a garden of flowers, and the sunlight warmed her skin. Rilynn's planner sat on the left of the table. Her homework was scattered around her, pink pen scribbling speedily across the paper; after some time of doing her homework, Rilynn felt her thoughts drift away from her assignments to the idea of her baking. A project that never fully transcended, but Rilynn merely daydreamed of the concept of her own bakery someday in her life.
The princess was writing a few groceries into a list for baking ideas, which would be passed to her friends. Rilynn hasn't made too many commissions on her baking, only from the school, but the princess rarely charges her friends. Her passion for baking goodies would never die down; it was something Rilynn had been doing for as long as she could remember, and she didn't mind baking at random times of the hour. While Rilynn wrote down a few ideas, the princess couldn't decide where to start; the strawberry shortcake sounded too delicious to pass, but Rilynn also wanted to bake and decorate an extravagant buttercream cake.
Fresh strawberries--preferably diced. Sugar. Baking powder (or soda if there's no powder). Salt. Butter. Milk or cream (preferably both). Eggs.
"Alone at last," called a voice from behind.
Rilynn felt her body jump with fright, surprised by the sudden voice that yanked her from her peaceful thoughts. The princess had been so focused on her work that she hadn't picked up on the footsteps approaching her; Rilynn grew red in the face, embarrassed that the voice managed to scare her so easily. But when Rilynn twisted her back and found a smirking Jay strolling toward her, cocky and full of confidence. It was practically radiating from the villain boy.
The bad boy persona was new to Rilynn; while Auradon is filled with attractive guys, Rilynn has never met a student like Jay. Auradon boys are modest and poised, always following the rules and getting on the teacher's good side. However, when Rilynn met Jay, she couldn't deny it was intriguing to talk to Jay. It was luring. Jay radiates fun; the villain boy brings out a strange feeling Rilynn doesn't feel with her Auradon friends--of course, Mal, Evie, and Carlos are no different.
If she could get any more embarrassed, Rilynn was finding it difficult to ignore the heat rising against her cheeks at the mere presence of Jay, and the butterflies in her belly were beginning to flutter with stupid butterflies. Guilt battled with the giddiness Rilynn was feeling, and she struggled to push the butterflies away. Nevertheless, Rilynn smiled warmly and waved shyly at Jay, laughing nervously while she managed to hold Jay's intense gaze. The princess watched as he approached her until he stood beside her, smiling with that sly smirk and flirty eyes. Wow, Rilynn was nervous.
"Tired of your boyfriend already?" Jay constantly pokes fun at Rilynn's relationship with Chad, and though she never minds, the princess knows she should defend him in his honor. Jay took the bench next to Rilynn, not bothering to ask. He leaned forward and stuck his nose into her business. "What's all this?"
"Oh, uh . . ."
Rilynn wished she had packed all her mess, but she wasn't expecting guests, not that the princess would've rejected Jay's company. Rilynn wouldn't have left all of her stuff all over the place.
In curiosity, Jay picked up the notebook near Rilynn when he noticed the notes scribbled neatly on the page, so he began to snoop in her business. Maybe it was the fact that Jay's a villain, not caring about boundaries and whatnot, so Rilynn didn't say anything when the villain snatched her notebook. But while Jay continued to scan the pages filled with Rilynn's notes, the princess watched him almost closely, wanting to know what he'd think.
It sounded dumb; Rilynn knew, but they barely knew each other, so he wouldn't hold back the brutal honesty.
Baking is everything to Rilynn, and for some odd reason, she wanted to know what Jay thought about it; there was no reason Rilynn should care whether or not Jay supported her future business, but Rilynn needed as much feedback as possible. She can't just rely on her best friends. They'd just agree to anything she suggests.
"You cook?" wondered Jay, raising his eyes from the pages to Rilynn, then back to the long list of baking ideas (he noticed the adorable title names here and there). Doodles decorated each page as if Rilynn had this for years. "What is this stuff?"
Rilynn gently took the notebook from Jay to show him different pages with other names written inside, times, and ingredients marking each page. Occasionally, Jay would notice a few To-Do Lists, but they weren't as big as Rilynn's list for ingredients and design ideas.
"I bake, actually," corrected the golden-haired princess, flipping the pages with a dreamy smile. "I, uh, I like baking here and there, and this is just where I write all my ideas with ingredients underneath them."
Rilynn forced her eyes to stay on the papers. Admittedly, Rilynn was feeling a little embarrassed that she had invested so much of her free time in baking, and while she's a royal, Rilynn could practically sense the jokes Jay must have up his sleeve. It's a no-brainer that many Auradon students don't enjoy the idea of working, especially the princes and princesses; the royals have servants to do all their work and live off of their parents' Royal status. Rilynn would be devastated if Jay mocked her love for baking.
"It's nothing important," dismissed Rilynn.
As Rilynn went to shut the book, Jay frowned and stopped her.
"And that?"
Rilynn eyed the several titles with her name written in between them, scribbled up and down a separate page with doodles around them. They were framed and decorated with little drawings crafted by Rilynn to inspire some new ideas; they were random and a little odd-looking, but a few looked good together. A cupcake was drawn the most, which became Rilynn's favorite representation for her business, but it was a matter of placement. The princess was sure she wrote these during her classes whenever she'd doze off from the lessons, jotting down anything that sprung to her mind.
"It doesn't look like nothing to me," said Jay. He didn't sound like he was teasing as Rilynn had assumed; unlike most people, she told about her passion for baking, Jay didn't mock the idea in her face. "What name were you deciding?"
With pink cheeks, Rilynn eyed her notebook closely. "Oh, um . . ." the princess cleared her throat nervously, lifting her gaze shortly to Jay and then back to the book. "They're kind of dumb."
Jay scoffed. "I doubt it," he nods his head at the notebook. "Come on. I'll tell you if it's good or not."
All the nerves disappeared at Jay's mere smile when they met each other's eyes. That's all it took for Rilynn to match his energy, grateful that someone other than Ben and her family wanted to hear about her bakery. Shifting in her seat, Rilynn laid the book on the table for both of them to read.
"Okay . . ." started Rilynn, noticing Jay was closer than before. "Well, I didn't know what to incorporate into the idea, but I wanna make it sound cute and that I sell yummy food." Rilynn was excited and giddy. Once she started talking about something so passionately, there was no stopping her. "I came up with Yummy Goodies, but it doesn't sound as good as it did in my head when I came up with it."
Jay cocked a brow, then pointed at another one. "Baking With Rilynn?" he read, looking at Rilynn with slight humor glittering in his eyes. "Sounds like something you'd name a TV show."
Rilynn pouted, pulling her book toward her. "I was ten when I came up with that," defended the princess. "I used to bake with my mom since I was a little girl, and she brought up the idea of a TV show." Rilynn smiled at the memory as it happened a day ago--she was hiding in the kitchen all day with flour and frosting, painting her deep purple apron, and Rapunzel was beside her, showing her different recipes for their family. "Mom was teaching me how to bake a tarte framboise."
"A tarte--what?"
"It's a raspberry tarte," clarified Rilynn. However, when she looked at Jay, he remained puzzled. "It's a pie . . . it's basically open and has fresh raspberries and some kind of filling for the middle."
Jay furrowed his brows. "Oh. What's a pie?"
"You've never had pie?"
"It's not like we had any of that lying around on the Isle," shrugged Jay, frowning at the thought. "I've seen some in the trash, but usually, the trash diggers grab them first."
Rilynn stared at Jay, guilty for how she boasted about her childhood to the thief, who didn't grow up with the luxury she had--throwing the fact that Rilynn had loving parents, a mother who worked tirelessly to reach her daughter the skills of a baker; a father who is willing to do anything to protect his family; and two sisters who support Rilynn in anything she does. Rilynn didn't mean to say something that would upset Jay.
"I'm sorry," frowned Rilynn, barely meeting Jay's eyes as he continued to stare at the table, avoiding the princess' gaze. For some reason, the thief felt like he was missing so much in his life, and being in Auradon, Jay was getting a taste of what being a team is about. "I didn't mean to upset you."
Jay blinked out of his thoughts and remembered Rilynn was sitting next to him, frowning apologetically; he furrowed his brows to mask the sorrow that cast over his eyes like a stormy night, and Jay didn't like feeling vulnerable. It was icky and made him feel weak. With all these emotions, he was suddenly conflicted for someone raised on the Isle, who grew up on an island where emotions were viewed as a sign of weakness. Jay doesn't do well with dealing with his feelings.
"And what about this one?" asked Jay, avoiding the conversation. Instead, Jay pointed at another name.
She knew he was deflecting from the topic, but Rilynn didn't press further; the princess pursed her lips as a sign not to speak on the matter but instead turned her attention back to the book in front of her. Rilynn mustered a smile as if they hadn't talked about Jay's painful childhood on the Isle, trying to ease the conversation to something more settling.
"Rilynn's Bakery," read Rilynn, genuinely merry about the name. "It's not fancy, but it was the best I could come up with. I don't know. I thought having my name in the business would be a staple to what I do."
"Can I?" wondered Jay, pointing at the fluffy pen on the princess' planner. Rilynn blushed at the awkward pen but nodded. Jay took the pen without judgment, scribbling something underneath Rilynn's Bakery--it was sloppy and like chicken scratch. "What if you did Rilynn's Royal Bakery?"
Rilynn's Royal Bakery . . . it has a nice ring to it.
The princess ran her eyes over the name several times, repeating the title in her head and imagining a sign and the curly font glowing like neon lights. Rilynn can see it now--a sign designed like a cupcake with a small crown, and underneath that would be Rilynn's Royal Bakery in purple neon lights. Her bakery would be small and cozy, earthy and vibrant; plants and flowers would liven the sitting area, and a second neon sign would be surrounded by fake green grass; her bakery would be set up just in the corner of the room, displaying all of the tasty pastries and different kinds of pop cakes aligned the showcase.
Rilynn stared at the chicken scratch handwriting with a shimmer in her eyes; the princess smiled at the name.
"I love it," cheered Rilynn, lifting her gaze to Jay. "It sounds perfect. Thank you."
A heaviness circled in Jay's chest, and a weird fluttering feeling in his belly. He rolled his shoulders back; never had he felt this kind of sensation before, so Jay didn't know how to cope with the uncomfortable motion. Jay couldn't resist smiling back at Rilynn, who looked radiant with excitement over a name.
"When do you plan on taking your business to the big leagues?"
Rilynn merely shrugged. "I'm not sure," the princess ran her finger over the writing before closing her notebook. "I've done a few commissions for school, but I don't do as much as I want to." Rilynn rubbed her hands together, looking a little tense. "It's not exactly popular around here."
"What do you mean?"
"Achieving your own . . . business . . . isn't really seen as something cool, I suppose," chuckled Rilynn breathlessly, slouching forward. "Here, many kids don't believe in making their mark; that's not what most people think when they only
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