Not a Cinderella story but close

Chapter 30/ Ball 2.0

POV Fenix

   Me and East get out of the car. East turns back noticing her sister isn't getting out. Then we get a text from Iris saying "This is the night she found out Tanner was cheating on her. We are going to the park to cheer her up." I watch them drive away. "Looks like it's just us then" I say to East. "Yeah I guess so. I just hope that she is alright," East says looking concerned. "She's in good hands. Iris knows what to do. And we ( I turn her shoulder) have a party to get to" I say. 

Then we both walk in. Two curved staircases in the entree with a small table with flowers in it are in front of us. We take a right and enter the living room. The living room is huge. It has marble floors and a big wrap around couch is in the far right corner with a long coffee table full of red solo cups and chips. Ten tables set up in the middle with chairs and flowers (lilies) as centerpieces They all have blue table cloths. Most impressive is the chandelier hanging from the high ceiling. Everyone is standing around talking with solo cups in their hands or dancing to the DJ in the close right corner in front of us. I can't believe someone's living room is the size of a ball room. 

Gary spots us and walks up to us, red solo cup in hand. "Hey where's Iris and North?" Gary asks, looking around and taking a sip from his cup. "North wasn't feeling so well so Iris drove her home" East says. "Oh bummer, well enjoy it," Gary says and then walks away to talk to other people. "You heard the man let's do it" I say to East. We walk over to the coffee table in the corner and get two bottles of water. We drink and talk. "Hey, do you want to dance?" East asks me after a while. "Sure" I say, taking her hand as we walk towards the DJ. We start to dance. 

"Hey isn't that Lace and Bow over there?" I ask, seeing them talking. "Yeah I think so, let's go say hi, maybe they will tell us about what we saw at lunch today" East says wiggling her eyebrows. We walk towards Lace and Bow. "Hey guys" East says. "Oh hey East" Lace says, turning to face us. "Are you guys dating?" I ask. "Wow right to the punch" East says looking at me. "Yes why?" Lace asks, crossing her arms. "No reason we just saw you guys holding hands at lunch and were curious" East says giving me a weird look. I give her one back. "We're exclusive," Bow says, taking Lace's hand. "Good for you" I say with a smile and a little jealousy. 

"Well, we will see you guys later I need to take a break from all of this dancing" East says. She drags me to a seat at one of the tables and puts down her phone. "She's hiding something," East says whispering. "Is that why you gave me that weird look?" I ask. "Yes" East says looking back at Lace and then looking at me. "Wait who's hiding something? Lace?" I ask. "Yes" She replies. "How do you know?" I ask. "The way that she crossed her arms when you asked if she was dating Bow" East says. "So?" I ask. "Let's find out what it is," East says. "East what do you expect us to do just walk up to her and be like "What are you hiding Lace?" I say. "Why not?" East asks. 

"Because then she won't tell us and all we'll get is excuses. If we're going to find out what she's doing then we have to follow her tonight and see who she talks to and stuff" I say. "Fenix that's genius!" East says looking impressed. "I know," I reply. We'll need more cover though, there's only forty-five people here. If we're going to tail her then we need to be in a crowd" East says lifting her phone off of the table. As I look at her phone screen I notice a group chat of over eighty people. You're not thinking of what I think you're thinking are you?" I ask worried. "If you're thinking that I'm inviting all the lgbtq kids from the towns closest to us then yes. That's exactly what I'm doing" East says typing on her phone screen. 

"You sure you know what you're doing?" I ask. "And done they should be pulling up soon" East says shutting off her phone and holding it out to me. "Hey can you put this in your pant pocket? I forgot to bring anything to put it in and I don't want anyone getting any ideas" East asks. "Yeah sure, but if you don't trust them then why did you invite them?" I ask. "People aren't always what they seem, like Lace" she replies looking down at her shoes. "Okay then, I just have one question out of all of this," I say. "What's that?" East says. "How did you get all of their numbers and stuff?" I ask. "The people at our school now came from those towns originally so I asked around and got them" East says casually. 

There's lights shining through the windows and a knock on the door. Gary goes to open it. He looks surprised as twenty people enter his house. East walks up to him. "Hey I hope you don't mind, since this is an lgbtq safe space I thought that we should invite other lgbtq people '' East says. Gary smiles. "Yeah of course, it's a big house, the more the merrier'' He says. I walk up to her. "Wow that was impressive" I say looking at her. "Now you know why I was the lead in the play last year" She says turning to look at me. It's true she was. "Now we wait'' She says as we walk back to the table. We both take a seat and wait twenty minutes. Fifty more people have showed up, now is the perfect time to follow Lace. 

"You ready?" East asks me. "Let's do this," I reply with. We get up and try to find Lace. It's harder in this crowd, but after ten minutes we find her making out with Liam. "Hey give me my phone!" East has to yell to me over the music. I give it to her and she takes a picture and then hands it back to me. I put it in my pocket. We both disappeared back into the crowd before Lace or Liam could notice us. We take a left into the entree and are finally able to hear each other again. "Did you get it?" I ask looking at her expectantly. "Why are you looking at me, you are the one that has my phone" East says pointing to my pant pockets. "Oh right" I say, pulling out her phone from my pocket. 

She unlocks it. There it is clear as day, Lace and Liam kissing, hard. "We have to show Bow," East says. "But they'll be crushed," I say. "Fenix we have to" East says looking me in the eye. "I know," I say with a sad expression. We both go back into the living room and look for Bow. The first thing we notice is that the music has changed to a slow song, so we can hear ourselves think again. I spot Bow sitting on the couch talking to Rece near the snack/coffee table. Two bottles of water in their hands. 

When I point them out too East we make our way over there. Before we interrupt I hear "I just love her so much you know. She's been such a big help after Unes suicide I don't know what'd I do without her" Bow says with a loving look in their eye. I give East a pleading look and I see tears in her eyes. Then they turn icy. I know that look. We HAVE to tell Bow the truth.