65The golden sun has risen upon the magical world of Ever After. Birds chirped as small fairies whizzed through the air. Flowers bloomed as the morning dew sparkled like tiny diamonds.
It was a glorious morning for the students of Ever After High. Well, most students...for there were some students who sneered at glorious mornings.
One student in particular was Wicca West, daughter of the Wicked Witch of the West. Wicca's mother was the most feared and most powerful witch in all of Oz. As a villain proud of her evil legacy, Wicca detests all things bright and cheery. So, every sunny morning she greets the dawn with a sour disposition.
"Another nauseating morning." Wicca said to herself, looking out her window. She closed the window and covered the sunshine with her black curtains.
"Nauseating? You mean wonderful!" That upbeat voice came from Wicca's roommate Coral Witch, daughter of the infamous Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid. "Back home, I would never get to see this beautiful sunshine outside my own window!" Coral said as she fed her pet, a baby kraken named Reef.
"Coral, we're villains, remember?" Wicca reminded her roommate. "Beautiful sunshine is not what we admire! What this morning needs is a perfectly dreadful thunderstorm! With just the right spell, thunder and lightening will be everywhere! And so much rainfall it will cause a flash flood!" She raised her hand, green magic sparked from her fingertips.
"But you cast the same spell last week and shut down the bookball game!" Coral reminded the witch.
Wicca sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I know." She didn't want to cast the same spell she did last week. Otherwise, Headmaster Grimm will get suspicious and bust Wicca. She went to her closet and put on her favorite black cape and matching witch hat. "Come my evil colleague, we have darkness to spread."
"Fine." Coral sighed. She wasn't into the whole 'evil' thing as much as Wicca, but Coral was able to find a silver lining to her destiny. Once she becomes the next Sea Witch and inherit her mother's great power, she's going to use her magic to help sea creatures.
Once the two villains left their dorm room, everyone gasped. They stepped aside and kept to themselves. Wicca was delighted by their fearful reactions. It was a sign that her evil reputation preceded her splendidly.
Coral received the same response as Wicca. Their General Villany teacher, Mr. Badwolf assigned Wicca to be Coral's evil mentor. Wicca always taught Coral to keep a cold exterior when it came to goody goods. Otherwise, they'll walk all over you.
When Coral spotted a group of girls, she smiled and almost waved until Wicca gave her a nudge. Coral dropped her hand and glared at the girls, causing them to scatter like cockroaches.
"We don't need to make friends with the riff raff." Wicca whispered to Coral. "We've got enough friends already."
Coral sighed.
The girls entered the castleteria. They received the same reaction from students as they did in the hallway. Wicca and Coral certainty knew how to darken a room.
It was then Wicca and Coral spotted one of their best friends, Raven Queen, daughter of the most powerful, most evil villain of them all...the Evil Queen.
But Raven was everything but evil. She was the kind hearted leader of the Rebel movement, an achievement that Coral and Wicca admired. If Raven can change her fate, then so can they.
The villains watched Raven walk to a table of chit-chatting girls. Once they saw Raven, they let out a group scream and ran away. Raven sighed as she took a seat.
Wicca and Coral felt their hearts go out to their friend. Raven never heeded the call of evil, so she didn't deserve that kind of treatment.
"Hey, Raven! How's our sista from another mista?" Wicca said in an uncharacteristically friendly tone. She took out a tupperware. "I made strawberry muffins!"
To Wicca's delight, Raven's frown became a smile. "Thanks, Wicca." She gladly took a muffin. "How'd I get so lucky with you guys?"
"Because we know better." Wicca said, taking a muffin. "We KNOW you're awesome just the way you are, Raven."
"True dat." Coral took a bite out of Wicca's muffin. "Whoa! These are fintastic!"
"I'll say! They're way better than the ones Hagatha makes!" Raven said, her mouth full.
"Exactly. I'm sick of eating that barf they call food." Wicca said. "So, I've been taking cooking lessons from Ginger. It's not as hard as I thought it was. It's like potion making, but with food." Wicca spotted Duchess Swan looking for a place to sit. But it seemed that to every table she went to, the people sitting there brushed her off.
Duchess was ready to sit alone until Wicca called out to her. "Hey, Duchess! Over here!"
Perking up, the daughter of the Swan Princess almost danced her way to the table. "Hey, guys."
Raven and Coral were surprised to say the least. They thought Wicca hated Duchess for being a prissy ballerina princess. But for some odd reason, they were getting along and sharing strawberry muffins. They even started gossiping together!
"So, did you hear that Briar Beauty got into it with Justine Dancer?!" Duchess said beneath her breath.
"No way! Tell me more!" said Wicca.
"Well, apparently, Justine was sleep dancing again. Only this time she somehow snuck into Briar's dorm and stole her new dancing shoes! And Snoring Beauty just lost it when she woke up!" Duchess rolled her eyes.
"Oh my cauldron! Are you serious?!"
"I'm seriously serious!"
"Hey, guys!" A sweet, musical voice reached the girls' ears. The looked over and groaned with disdain.
"Oh, no..." Wicca and Duchess grumbled.
Walking toward them was Apple White, daughter of Snow White and future queen of Ever After. Wicca couldn't stand Apple. Her cheerful kindness, flawless white skin, enchanting blue eyes and her hair was so golden blonde it practically lit up the room Wicca just darkened.
It was enough to make the wicked witch sick to her stomach.
Duchess despised Apple. Not only did Apple have the best Happily Ever After, she had almost everyone at school wrapped around her perfect finger.
"Hey, Apple! What's up?" asked Raven. She noticed Apple was carrying an armful of flyers.
"Oh, not much...just my birthday!" Apple chirped. She handed each of the girls a flyer. "You're all invited to my birthday party this weekend!"
"Wow! No one ever invites me to these things!" Coral said.
"Oh, you are going to love it, Coral! The whole school spellebrates with cake baking contest! Then we're going to have a huge party in the grimmnasium!"
"That's wicked!" said Raven. "We will be there!"
Duchess and Wicca looked at each other. After exchanging a nod, Wicca got on her phone and started texting.
"Oh, Apple!" Duchess put a hand on her heart. "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me! Thank you so much!"
Apple smiled her always perfect smile. "My pleasure! There's always room for one more at my parties!" And the Royal skipped along on her merry way.
Once breakfast was over, it was time for classes. Wicca, Coral, Raven, and Duchess all had their first class together; General Villany.
As the four speed-walked to class, Raven saw her chance to talk with Wicca. "What was that all about?"
"What?" Wicca responded
"Why are you and Duchess getting along so well? If memory serves right, I thought you two hated each other!"
Wicca got close to Raven and whispered so no one would hear. "Look, we both know Duchess is going to take your place as the next Evil Queen and a lot of students here are giving up their evil destines. So, if Duchess wants to be a villain, I'm not going to stop her. So, it's okay to make her part of my inner circle."
"Really?"
Wicca nodded. "Yeah, and Duchess isn't as bad a friend as you think she is. She's actually pretty cool. We make each other laugh and we always have each other's backs."
"Huh. This school never seizes to amaze." said Raven.
"Guys! Come on!" Duchess said. "Mr. Badwolf will have us for lunch if we're late!"
"Coming!" Wicca grabbed Raven by the arm and the friends hurried down the staircase to the cauldron room for General Villainy.
