Soli Deo gloria

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Descendants.

When Jay bumped into him in the school hall, Ben almost fell over. Dude was beelining straight for the fencing gym and almost ran him over. Was he nearsighted or something?

"Sorry," Jay said lazily over his shoulder, hiding a smirk as he entered the gym.

Ben cocked his head, thinking that was really weird—Jay mellowed out just like the other VKs—they were friends, weren't they? But then, still, son of Jafar—expecting a genuine "Excuse me, sorry, man" was asking for a lot. Ben straightened, then felt something in his hand. He unfolded a tiny note in his palm that hadn't been there before. In scraggly handwriting was written "Meet us in the library at 9 tonight, sharp. Tell no one. Come alone."

Ben's head swiveled violently to look toward the fencing gym's swinging doors. "Sneaky," Ben said. At least that was some explanation for that rough bump in the hall.

Ben heard voices murmuring before he reached the corner of the library. He wore his regular clothes, except he also wore the blue hat Evie had made him when they went to the Isle to rescue Mal. He felt more sneaky and cool in it.

Peeking around a heavily-loaded bookshelf, he caught a snapshot of the scene before him before they became aware of his presence. It was a strange mix that his brain couldn't quite believe. The VKs, Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos, sat around a table, speaking in equally conspiratorial tones to Lonnie, Doug, Chad, Audrey, and Jane. And, for whatever reason, the Good Kids relished in the whispers and secrets they engaged in just as much as the VKs.

"What are you guys planning?" Ben whispered to himself.

"Why don't you come find out for yourself?" Ben started when he found Carlos by his side. Carlos smiled and grabbed his arm and, bringing him to the table, said, "Look who I found."

"Ah, so you got my message," Jay said cheerfully, as if he had no idea if it'd found its correct recipient.

"There's no way I couldn't have," Ben said. Carlos stood him in front of a chair next to Mal and gave him a push on the shoulder, sitting him down. Ben turned to his girlfriend and said, "What's going on? This is our usual study group, though I'm getting the feeling that we're not studying anything tonight."

"What gives you that impression?" Audrey said from across the table. Chad, not liking the idea of her talking to Ben period, squeezed her hand protectively. It seemed to say, 'My girlfriend, Your Highness.' He failed to notice the particular fact that Ben didn't care, but whatever.

"There are no books on the table. Also we have no upcoming school projects except for exams, and we already crammed for those," Ben said. At the mention of exams, a simultaneous groan rose from all corners of the table.

"My head hurts; it can't possibly hold one more piece of knowledge. I have you to thank for that." Doug looked admirably at Evie.

"I'm a good tutor. I couldn't let you go in exams unprepared," Evie said sweetly.

"Final exams! They're our final exams! I can't believe it!" Jane gushed.

"After this, no more horrible homework," Chad said, relieved.

"As long as you don't fail them and get held back a year," Mal said innocently, leaving off the end of her sentence, which was, "Which seems likely."

Chad and Audrey threw daggers at Mal and, sensing a bit of growing hostility, Ben cleared his throat and said, "So, obviously we're not doing study group. So, why the top-secret meeting?"

Everyone sat up, secretive smiles passing across the table. All knew except Ben. It was fun to allow one more member into this secret committee. "As you know, Ben, we're the senior class graduating from Auradon Prep this year," Evie said, hands clasped on the table. "And we have been informed by Jane that it is a tradition for the senior class to pull off a senior prank before graduation."

"By 'a senior prank', we mean the biggest, baddest, most elaborate senior prank the school has ever seen!" Jane said. "My mom hates them."

"Wait, if we do a senior prank, will your mom totally hate me and glare at me every time I have dinner at your house?" Carlos said, turning to Jane. He sounded kinda worried.

Jane waved a hand. "Don't worry. It's a part of school tradition, and Mom loves school tradition."

"The only thing is, we can't get caught," Audrey said hurriedly. "I won't let my perfect record of not going to detention be spoiled right before graduation."

"Believe me, we won't let it. Because we're not going to get caught," Mal said. She smirked, with a little devilish sparkle in her eyes. "You know why?"

"Why?" Doug wondered.

"Because this is the year the senior prank is going to get pulled off with the help of the VKs, and if there's one thing we learned on the Isle, it's how to never get caught," Evie informed them.

"The senior prank . . . I remember those. They'd get featured on the school newspaper and announcements but otherwise I'd never hear of them," Ben said.

"Of course not. Pranks are troublesome and not 'good'. My mom tries to cover them up the best she can," Jane said. "But this is our senior year! We're going to make it the most memorable senior prank in the history of Auradon Prep!" A wild look glowed in her eyes that made Jay look at Carlos with a raised eyebrow, as if 'Dude, is your girlfriend going a little on the Isle side?'

"That's the spirit!" Mal said gleefully.

"Who would've thought a goody-two-shoes prep school actually had senior pranks," Jay said, leaning back in his chair. "I was thinking more of a participation award for all the graduates." He grinned and faux-defended himself when Lonnie teasingly knocked him on the arm.

"Well, I'll help you brainstorm ideas, but I don't know how much time I'll have to help you pull it off." When Ben earned reproachful looks from everyone around the table, he went on the defensive. "Hey, friendly reminder that I'm also King of Auradon! I've got the kingdom to run and a media storm to navigate, besides examinations."

"Come on, Ben. It's our last year. This may be the last few weeks we all get to spend together before we go our separate ways. It's our last hurrah," Evie said, pouting just a little, to make him hesitate.

"I can barely find the time to do my schoolwork, never mind be a full-on senior—"

"Oh, we're very lucky that our king isn't a high school dropout. Really, we should be grateful," Mal teased him, pouting as she hung onto his arm and spoke in a fake-grateful voice.

Ben leaned his forehead against hers and looking into her eye, sighed. "Fine. I'll do what I can."

Cheers arouse from around the table—one of the strict librarians, a little old lady with big glasses and a thick book in hand, whispered fiercely from the front desk, "SSSSSSHHHHH!" They proceeded to cheer at a whispering-volume. Ben said, just above a whisper, "I can't promise anything, but I'll try not to let you all down."

"That's my boyfriend," Mal said, clutching his arm and leaning her beaming face against his shoulder.

"Shall we proceed with the meeting?" Carlos said.

Evie nodded. "Let the first meeting of the Senior Class Prank Committee commence!"

"Ohh, I feel so evil and troublemaking. Is this what it's like to be a VK?" Audrey said, smiling.

All the VKs stared at her, deadpan. A harmless prank? Uh, that was nothing. Still, Mal said flatly, "Yeah, sure."

"All right, everyone," Evie said, settling into a natural leadership role that no one fought her on, "let's brainstorm. Whatever prank we come up with we will lead the senior class with on the day of graduation." She twirled a blue sparkly pen with a fluffy eraser over her pretty blue notebook covered in curlicues. "So, any ideas?"

"Well, I was thinking," Audrey said, sitting up straight and flinging some hair behind her shoulder, "that we could program the microphone used for school announcements to make whoever's speaking into it say the most embarrassing things! Like, the school announcer could speak into it, and instead of announcing graduation, they would say something like 'I wear hair extensions and get split ends!'" Audrey smirked.

The VKs stared at her and wondered if she got dropped on her head as a baby.

"That's the best evilest prank you can think of?" Evie said in disbelief.

Audrey just then registered all the unimpressed faces staring at her and scoffed. "Well, I'm not from the Isle. Evil plans don't come naturally to me, which is a good thing, considering we're on Auradon."

"I am not writing that idea down," Evie said, annoyed; all traces of her smile had disappeared from her face.

"We could all, um, dress up as the villains for the day, and scare my mom!" Jane blurted.

"Or we could dress up as Fairy Godmother and scare your mom," Chad taunted.

Jane burned a little. Carlos put an arm around her and said, "That's not a bad idea, Jane."

"Well, do you have any better ideas, de Vil?" Chad said, putting an arm around Audrey.

"Sure. We could set loose all the dogs in the kingdom in the school," Carlos said comfortably. "The idea is to do something funny that will shock Fairy Godmother, right? What's better fun than to see her face when she sees a hundred dogs all over the school?"

"That would require a lot of dogs," Doug pointed out.

"And a lot of cleaning up after them," Evie couldn't help but point out, a little grossed-out.

"We could all arrive late to graduation, by, like five minutes. Ooh, would that scare her!" Audrey said.

Again, all the VKs, and even the other kids, were terribly underwhelmed by Audrey's genius.

"What? We're not trying to be evil! We're a good school—our senior prank shouldn't be that scary, or evil," Audrey said defensively.

Mal whispered to Evie, "Remind me why we even let her hang out with us at all."

"Because we feel sorry for Chad and Ben's all 'Let's give everyone a second chance' and stuff," Evie whispered back.

"Remind me to never hang out with her again after this," Mal said.

"Totally."

The BFFs sat back in their chairs like their murmured conversation hadn't happened.

Mal, catching a sudden inspiration to wind up Debby-Downer Audrey, said, "Here's an idea for a prank. I steal my spellbook out of the museum. I boil up a magic potion in a huge black cauldron and dip in a bunch of beautiful ruddy red apples, enough for the whole school. With these magic apples, all the VKs take over the entire school, the entire student body eating apples and converting to the evil side. How's that for a prank?"

Chad clung to Audrey, who stared with a gaping mouth at Mal. Even Jane, Lonnie, and Doug eyed the VKs with unnerved expressions.

Jay shrugged—not a bad idea. Carlos looked at Mal as if he couldn't tell if she was serious or joking.

Evie enjoyed the confusion for a moment before saying, "Or we could just put apples down the band instruments. Then, when the band's due to play at commencement, they can't, causing great confusion and a lot of amusement. I, for one, would love to see that prank play out."

"Or, or we could sneak in at night after practice and make the whole tourney field purple. How about that?" Jay suggested.

Carlos cocked his head. "I like that. But I also like the dog one."

"Why don't we do something simple, like fill the halls with so many balloons you can't walk through them?" Ben wondered.

Mal twitched his chin. "Oh, Ben. So good, so pure. Truly, living on the wild side here."

"We could kidnap Fairy Godmother," Lonnie said out of the blue.

This time everyone stared at her with astonishment.

"I was just thinking—we could wear the fencing outfits—you can't tell who's who—and we can just bring her to the gym or somewhere—or, like, a surprise party—everybody stop staring at me!"

"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but we need this prank to be legal," Evie said.

"Um, we're not doing that to my mom," Jane said, mortified.

"Sorry. Don't know how I thought of that." Lonnie sat back in her chair, but accepted the high-five a proud Jay offered her.

"We need to think of one big thing; all these are fine, except the whole turning the school evil and kidnapping Fairy Godmother, of course," Evie said, waving a hand at Mal, who rolled her eyes, but allowed that as a fair statement. "We need something big."

"Audrey had the idea of everyone being late; what if the entire graduating class just didn't show up for graduation?" Somehow this harebrained idea of Chad's wasn't immediately shot down by everyone else. Instead, the idea floated about, marking discussion between pairs of students. Chad looked like he just woke up; "Hey, I'm kidding!"

"No, no, it's not a bad idea, Chad," Evie said; so lost in planning thought was she that she didn't even comprehend the words she spoke to a guy she could barely tolerate. She turned back again to Doug—their voices passed the conversation between them back and forth, bouncing words off each other. The others' conversations fell silent as they awaited the final verdict. Evie and Doug were their best planners. Whatever they came up with would blow anything else in the arena out of the water. So when Evie and Doug split and Evie straightened her back and cleared her throat, everyone leaned forward in anticipation.

"We've decided that since this is the senior class prank, that all the ideas of the Senior Class Prank Committee will be used. Except the whole evil school and kidnapping ideas." Evie ignored Mal slapping her knee, "Darn!" "What's bigger than one senior prank? Several senior pranks. We'll make this the most unforgettable senior class Auradon Prep has ever seen! To do that, we are going to pull them all off."

"Wait, all of them?" Ben said in disbelief.

"I believe that's what she meant when she said 'all'," Mal said.

"With everyone in charge of their own suggestion, we should be able to pull it off," Doug said confidently.

"So, dogs?" Carlos said excitedly.

"And a purple tourney field? Cool!" Jay said just as excitedly.

"A bunch of Fairy Godmothers?" Chad said uncertainly, realizing just what kind of a position he'd unwittingly put himself into.

"A bunch of evil villains?" Jane's voice contained awe; she could already see the costume designs, the accessories, the fittings! Oh, the hours she and Evie would pore over them!

"I'll take care of the apples, my specialty," Evie said secretively, "and, Audrey," she said, turning to the frowning girl, "you are in charge of changing the microphone and leading the graduation class. We're all going to be late, so no stragglers, no deserters, no tardies, no exceptions. You're in charge."

Audrey put a hand over her heart. "I'm in charge?" She realized her words and cleared her throat, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Of course. Naturally."

"Hey, looks like you're stuck blowing up a school's worth of balloons," Mal said, looking amusedly at Ben.

"I know. I'm glad I'm king. I'll just give out some orders and it'll get done in time by someone else. Carlos," Ben pointed a finger at him, "we'll have to get a map of the school. I don't want my balloon halls mixed with your dog filled halls."

"We'll figure it out," Carlos assured him. He was too excited for minute details. He had too much excitement and adrenaline in his bloodstream.

"Everyone ready to pull this off?" Evie said, smiling. She saw the smiles growing on everyone else's faces and knew their answer. The troops were inspired; the plan was laid out. Now to come were the days of preparation, and the day of execution.

The day of graduation arrived and Fairy Godmother felt a strange combination of pride and relief. Pride, because her daughter Jane was graduating today! Pride also for the four original VKs who were graduating without any 'serious' incident (notwithstanding Maleficent's appearance or Uma's love spell on the king—Fairy Godmother's thoughts leaned more towards school fires or school dropouts). It was a success story—and relief. Life with VKs in the school would be easier resting on the fact of those first four being gone. Relief also that somehow, the senior class had forgotten the senior prank this year. Tradition it may be, but Fairy Godmother always looked on it with some displeasure and no amusement, as some did. (She rolled her eyes when King Adam and Queen Belle reminisced over pranks of years past.) Really, what a successful school year!

She thought she heard wrong when she heard these announcements being called throughout the campus: "The school mascot has officially been changed from a horse and knight to a funny-looking hamster resembling the one owned by Chad Charming. Also, school gossip says that a certain member of our distinguished staff wears a wig instead of her natural hair. Who could it be?"

Fairy Godmother instinctively puffed up her own hair and strode to a door leading towards the teacher's lounge. She opened the door to gasp in surprise at an avalanche of green and purple balloons falling all over her. She walked her way through, saying, "Oh, those seniors!"

She managed to wander her way into the teacher's lounge. She found Mr. Deley lounging by the coffeemaker, slouching as he languidly stirred his coffee.

"Those balloons—in the halls—it's the senior prank—this late in the year?" she managed to gasp.

"They probably thought it brilliant since you can't put them in detention anymore." Mr. Deley rolled his eyes as he sipped his coffee.

Fairy Godmother left after talking with more teachers and popped several balloons before she opened a door into another hallway. She gasped when she found several dogs of different varieties, sizes, and breeds all looking inquisitively up at her. She screamed and they barreled after her, knocking the door behind her back so a flood of dogs streamed after her, yipping and skipping and enjoying themselves immensely.

Fairy Godmother hid behind a corner while dogs raced past her. She caught her breath and tried in vain to put some neatness back into her appearance.

"Fairy Godmother! Fairy Godmother!" A small girlish voice pulled her from her fright. Dizzy Tremaine ran around a corner and Fairy Godmother stepped forward. "Yes, child, what is it?" she asked, still gasping.

Dizzy pointed a hand towards the tourney stadium. "Come look!"

"Oh, what is it now?" Fairy Godmother bemoaned as she ran after the quick legs of youth.

Dizzy pointed still further and Fairy Godmother's eyes bugged out of her head. They stood at a railing overlooking the now completely dark purple tourney field. Well, dark purple except for the white lines detailing the field. And the chairs and stage set up for the graduation ceremony.

"This is too much, this is too much for the busiest day of the year!" Fairy Godmother said, turning away in some horror. She turned to Dizzy suddenly and said, "Not another prank! Not another one all day!"

Dizzy nodded blindly just to calm the poor woman down.

And poor Fairy Godmother truly thought it was all over. She met with her staff, hosted the royal parents and esteemed guests in their particular assigned seats on the purple tourney field, and was all smiles and giggles in her formal graduation gown until one of her assistants tiptoed up to her and whispered something in her ear. She couldn't help the screech that earned her the attention of every person within earshot. "Missing? They're all missing?!"

"Fairy Godmother, what happened?" King Adam said, stepping forward.

"Who's missing?" Queen Belle said, her hand on her husband's arm.

"The—um—no, go back to your mingling and talking—I'll be right back—I just saw Jane this morning!"

"Jane? Was she with Carlos and Mal and Ben and all their friends?" Queen Belle wondered.

"I don't know. I wish I knew!" Fairy Godmother sped out of the row, leaving more questions than answers buzzing in the air.

Several minutes of nothing caused restlessness in the ranks of parents and siblings and relatives. Queen Leah huffed and said to her daughter Aurora, "Where is Audrey? I want to see my grandbaby graduate!"

Finally, long after commencement was to, well, commence, marched up Fairy Godmother. Filing behind the stage, lost in the bleachers and stands, congregated the graduating class. What a sight they were! Eyes bugged and gasps echoed in the stadium. And yet what mischievous smirks of amusement and fun those graduates wore as they walked to their seats in front of their parents. All the girls either wore an outfit making them a twin of an indignant Fairy Godmother, or the horrifying frocks of a terrifying mother villain. Their appearances contrasted with their faces. Ben's smile didn't match his pirate's outfit; Mal looked too prim and pert in a Fairy Godmother outfit, and Evie's impression of Maleficent was so good it was scary.

Fairy Godmother stood at the podium and nodded to the marching band. She expected them to play the school's theme song. Instead, all she got was silence. She turned to find the members of the band breathing so hard into their tubas and trumpets their faces were as red as apples. Those with drums noticed that their regular drumsticks were traded out for spoons with apples tied to them. They stared at them in dumbfounded disbelief.

Fairy Godmother kept her cool as the band disemboweled apples from the nooks and crannies of their instruments. Several titters grew and died and grew once again in the ranks of the graduating class while this happened. Fairy Godmother threw them a stern warning look, which put a stop to that.

Finally, the bank played the song without further mishap. At its end, Fairy Godmother cleared her throat and, speaking into the microphone in a flat voice, said, "Welcome, esteemed family and students and staff, to our graduating class ceremonies. It has been an . . . interesting last year here at Auradon Prep. We congratulate our graduates on a job well done, both on their classwork and on their pranks of today." She good-naturedly led the crowd's applause, but shared a certain stern face with Jane that spoke silent volumes between mother and daughter. Jane stood up and peeled off her heavy Cruella de Vil coat and wig to reveal her graduation gown. The game up, the rest sighed and peeled off their unattractive garbs to reveal their earned graduation robes. Fairy Godmother gave them an affirmative nod as the last peals of applause died away, and happily finished the rest of her glowing commencement speech. Evie, as head of the entire class, spoke as valedictorian, and all, all, all received their diplomas.

The Senior Class Prank Committee gathered after the usual festivities of getting pictures taken with friends and diplomas, throwing their hats, and being scolded by their parents and/or Fairy Godmother. Arms over shoulders, Evie beamed from the center of their semicircle. "Congratulations you guys—we did it! I'm proud of us!"

"That was almost harder than exams," Carlos said breathlessly, making them laugh.

"Who cares if we have to redye the field and clean up the balloons for punishment? That was the most epic prank-fest ever!" Jay declared.

"We have to clean up after the dogs, too. Don't forget that," Mal said, making everyone groan.

"I just wanted to say how proud I am of everyone. For working hard at school and graduating, but especially for pulling together despite our differences to pull off the most memorable senior prank-fest in the history of Auradon Prep," Ben said sincerely.

"We're the first VKs on Auradon and you're the first king to bring the two peoples together. We're kinda used to making history," Mal bragged.

"Well," Ben said, putting his hand in the middle of their semicircle, "here's to making lots more!"

Everyone stacked a hand on top of his. He threw them up with, "Go graduating class of Auradon Prep!" This was the victory cry echoed by every graduate that day.

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