Chapter 9 of the Fangirls, book two rewrite!!!!!!!!!:D:D

 

 

 

Chapter 9

“So, what do we do now?” Gabrielle wondered. They had just got back to their dimension and were discussing what they saw. It seemed that whole world of bad guys was acting up and they didn’t know what to do or think anymore.

“I don’t know anymore,” Kaylee sighed. But Christmas was on its way and they all agreed that they should be both cheerful and alert. Plus, Mal’s baby bump was coming in and the girls were all obsessing over that. Even Thaddeus got excited. Soon the school was going to go on a break for Christmas, but before that could happen, the Christmas talent show would happen. All of the fangirls decided that they should do something that involved all of their talents. Lexi, the ballet dancer, would choreograph a dance for them. Breanna, the songwriter, would write a song for them to sing. Kaylee, the artist, would design a backdrop. Bridgett, the singer, would help out with the singing. And Gabrielle, the fashion designer, would come up with the outfits. They had asked Thaddeus if he wanted to join them, but he had declined and said he was doing something already. The girls thought that was a little weird, but didn’t question it. The day of the show arrived and the fangirls did their act. Breanna had written a song about friendship at Christmas and they sang and danced. When they finished, besides the fangirl’s parents, no one cheered louder than Thaddeus. A couple of acts later, Thaddeus got up on the stage and Lexi, who was now sitting in the front row, heard a familiar tune start. It was Gentleman by Will Jay. Thaddeus, as it turned out, had a remarkable singing voice. And she couldn’t help feeling some butterflies in her stomach. And she wasn’t sure, but she thought that Thaddeus’s eyes hadn’t left her direction the whole time he sang. Only that was silly. He hadn’t had a crush on her since she moved away, right?

Soon, Christmas was over (the fangirls and Thaddeus had made Mal and Ben some onesies,) and Lexi’s sixteenth birthday had passed. Back in October, Thaddeus had turned seventeen and the other fangirl’s birthdays were coming up soon. But Thaddeus had started to notice something about Lexi. She started wearing makeup a lot more often more than she used to, which was not often. Only when she felt fancy. And she looked thinner and it didn’t look healthy and Thaddeus and the fangirls were worried about her. Mal kept on having more and more nightmares about the same thing: Mad Maddy capturing Ben and Mal going into labor. After all of this, Mal and Ben tried to track down Mad Maddy but, she was nowhere to be found.

When Mal was six months pregnant, she was sitting on the couch with her feet tucked up, reading a text from the royal guard saying they still hadn’t seen Mad Maddy anywhere. She frowned. Just as she was sending a text back to do one final sweep, when Ben walked through the door. “Come on,” he said holding out his hand to Mal.

“Where are we going?” Mal asked as she took his hand. Ben smiled.

“On a walk. Let’s go.”

Mal and Ben decided to take a walk on the little dirt that faced the back of the royal palace. As they walked along, feeling the pleasant sunlight on their faces, Mal put one hand on her stomach. “Ow,” she whispered. Ben turned to her in concern.

“Are you alright?” he queried. Mal nodded.

“Yeah, I think I just need to sit down for a minute.” She replied. Ben motioned to the bench across from where they were sitting and they strode over and sat down. Ben wrapped one arm around Mal’s shoulders and kissed her forehead. Everything that was happy and perfect. Until it wasn’t. The clouds had turned a very deep grey and they heard an evil cackle. Mal gasped. She didn’t want to turn around because she knew what was about to happen but she did anyway. Sure enough, Ben was screaming as he got sucked up into the sky. Mal panicked as she hastily got up from the bench and turned her head up.

“Mad Maddy! I know it’s you up there!”. Mad Maddy giggled in delight.

“Finally! You go the dreams I’ve been sending!”

Mal scowled.

“Your dreams?” she shouted. Mad Maddy cackled for good measure.

“Yep!” Then suddenly, her voice turned cold. “You took everything from us when you sealed off those catacombs! Now I take away your hopes and dreams of being happy!”

Mal groaned with pain from a contraction that she tried to ignore, but failed.

“You won’t get away with this!”

Mad Maddy scoffed.

“Oh, yeah? Look down!”

Mal really didn’t want to look down, but she did anyway. The ground was soaked in fluid and she fell down. Then the voice disappeared and the sky was sunny and blue once again. Mal grumbled and started to panic as she pulled out her phone and called Evie.

“Hello?” Evie’s voice said from the other end. Mal tried to take some deep breaths to try and deal with the contractions.

“I need help!” she cried and then she explained what happened.

“Are you okay? Where are you?” she enquired.

“Behind the castle on the dirt path! Would you also get Jay and bring the girls and Thaddeus too?”

“Yes! I’ll be right there!” she said and hung up the phone. Mal took some more deep breaths and awaited and help some of the people she trusted most.

The fangirls and Thaddeus were walking out of their last class of the day, chatting and laughing about how they ruled basketball that day, when they all got a text from the group chat. Evie had texted them and said that Mal needed help.

“Oh, boy.” Breanna said and they all ran outside, created a portal and made it to Auradon. When they got there, they had of course planned to go where Evie told them to go, when they heard someone screaming. Thinking that it might be Mal, they ran to where they had heard it. When they got there, there was no one. They were a deep dark forest with all sorts of trees all around. Then sky turned grey and they tried to get out but something was holding them in. Something or someone who was invisible. On an impulse of fear, Lexi turned to Thaddeus and held out her hand.

“Th-Thaddeus can you hold this?” she asked softly. Thaddeus raised his eyebrows, very surprised at this request even though, he was just as frightened as she was.

“That’s your hand,” he replied.

“Your point?” Lexi cried. Thaddeus nodded reluctantly.

“Okay. . .” and he took her hand. As soon as he did, however, he was no longer scared. In fact, he felt a rush of excitement. This was the first he had ever held hands with a girl. And it wasn’t just any girl either. It was the girl of his dreams. Lexi all of the sudden gasped. “What is it?” Thaddeus asked, just as he saw what she saw: four dark figures walking toward them.

“What is that?” Bridgett questioned fearfully.

“What?” Gabrielle wondered because she hadn’t seen the figures because she was too busy looking at the dark sky. Lexi pointed to the figures.

“That’s what!” she said, then using her free hand to brush her bangs out of her eyes. Thaddeus squeezed her hand.

“It’ll be okay.” Thaddeus mollified. Lexi smiled in spite of herself as the butterflies that had filled her stomach on the night of the Winter talent show showed up again. As the figures came closer, Lexi actually recognized them based on how the book described them. It was Ginny Gothel, Anthony Tremaine, and the Gaston twins. And for some reason, Zevon, the son Yzma was there too. “Wait, guys, I feel like I know them. Who are they?” Thaddeus questioned hurriedly. Breanna’s eyes widened.

“Um, those would be Mad Maddy’s wharf rats. Run!”

Everybody started dashing away from the danger that faced them. Lexi and Thaddeus were still holding hands when they started running at that suited them both just fine. Lexi couldn’t stop looking back to see if they could still see them and she accidently tripped over an old fallen branch of an oak tree and twisted her right ankle.

“Ow!” she cried as she fell to the ground. Thaddeus gasped as he took her hand again and helped her up.

“Are you okay?” he enquired.

“Yeah, I’m fine!”

But as she tried to run again, she couldn’t even put a little weight on her right foot and she had to limp along.

“What happened?” Thaddeus asked, a note of concern in his gentle voice.

“I twisted my ankle and I can’t step on it!”

Without a word, Thaddeus bent down and swept Lexi into his arms like a knight shining armor would when rescuing a princess. Lexi let out a surprised squeak, but she wrapped her right arm around Thaddeus's shoulders, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Only, she wasn't so sure it was from the running.

“You’re okay, just hold on tight,” Thaddeus said, his voice bringing Lexi back to reality as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze before dropping it. When they caught up to Breanna, she instantly noticed Thaddeus giving Lexi a piggyback ride.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I just twisted my ankle, I’m okay,” Lexi explicated. When Lexi was looking back to see if the wharf rats were still chasing them, Breanna gave Thaddeus a smile and two thumbs up and Thaddeus rolled his eyes. When they were sure the bad guys weren’t chasing them anymore, they sat down to rest, breathing heavily. Thaddeus set Lexi down gently against a tree and took a seat next to her.

“Are you sure you’re, okay?” he queried. Lexi laughed and shoved Thaddeus in the shoulder.

“Yes, I probably just need to get my ankle X-rayed when we get home.” She explained. All of the sudden, all of the bad guys came out of the trees of the dark forest land. The fangirls and Thaddeus all jumped and Thaddeus knelt closer to Lexi so he could protect her and make a quick getaway if they had to.

“You’re coming with us,” Ginny Gothel hissed menacingly. “We’re taking you to our boss.”

“Oh, really? Who’s that?” Breanna smirked.

“Mad Maddy, of course. She’s been behind this the whole time,” one of the Gaston’s laughed. Anthony Tremaine looked at like he thought the Gaston was stupid, which, he was.

“Shut up!” he shouted, his voice still sounding rich and melodic. Thaddeus quickly got Lexi on his back and they all began to run again. This time, the fangirls and Thaddeus did lose Mad Maddy’s pack of baddies and saw Evie and Jay waiting for them.

“Where have you been?” Jay exclaimed.

“We were being chased by Mad Maddy’s wharf rats and laundry detergent.” Kaylee explained. Evie and Jay gave them confused glances.

“Laundry detergent?” Evie wondered. Gabrielle snorted.

“Zevon, son of Yzma, duh!” she said, as though this was obvious.

“Him?” Jay said sounding surprised. Bridgett nodded.

“Yeah. Mad Maddy’s been the villain this whole time.”

“Okay, we gotta go!” Evie said as they began to speed walk to behind Mal and Ben’s palace and found Mal actually standing upright. “Are you alright?” Evie inquired. Mal nodded. “Mad Maddy’s been the-

“Villain, I know. She put me under a spell to make me think I was in labor and she has Ben! We have to go!” And there they were, going a on a rescue mission like they did all of those years ago. They were a little bit different. Now they had Thaddeus on their side, all well and good. Off to find Ben, wherever he may be.