The Urban Princesses: Cinderella

Chapter 11

Ella's POV

Most people in my position would think the night ended horribly, just because Mockingjay had a bad ending for Everthornes, it doesn't mean the entire book was a fail. Not at all.

I was so busy daydreaming, I didn't realize that we had stopped.

"Thank you so much!" I waved goodbye to the driver and darted inside and upstairs. I couldn't rid the smile that was plastered onto my face, the buzz of his lips lingering in my taste.

I changed into sweatpants and a t shirt just as my stepmom pulled in, followed by Anya and Delia's limo. Perfect timing.

I waltzed downstairs and pretended to be scrubbing the kitchen table. The door blasted open and I jumped.

"-Then this mystery girl shows up and Carmen dances with her the ENTIRE night!" Anya complained.

"What do you mean by mystery girl?" My stepmom asked. I pretended not to be interested and suppressed a smile as I scrubbed.

"Nobody knew who she was, but it didn't stop all of the boys from ogling at her,"

They came into the kitchen.

"Ella, we had the most amazing time. I danced with Tim Snyder. It was so much fun, too bad you had to miss it," Delia gloated.

I smiled at her. "I'm glad you had an amazing time," I couldn't be mad at them after I just kissed Carmen. Not even my evil stepsisters could break my mood.

Delia grimaced.

"Guests should be arriving soon, Ella, please go change into something more.... decent."

***

I stepped into the gym and my heart started pounding when I saw Carmen, but he looked pretty deflated.

I went over to August. "What's Carmen's problem?" I asked.

He lowered his voice. "Well to start off, at prom last night, he danced with this girl and then she just left him, he didn't even know her name. Then when he got home, his mom's heart stopped. She is in grave condition." I felt so bad for him. Maybe I should've told him before I left.

I considered telling August that it was me at prom last night, but remembered all of his failed secret attempts. Gym class was a blur and soon I was off to English.

Mrs. Chase seemed exhausted, she kept dozing off in the middle of Pride and Prejudice.

The bell rang and she drank a big swig of coffee. "Alright, I hope we all enjoyed prom, but unfortunately," she yawned. "We have to come back and learn something,"

The entire class, I felt Carmen's eyes on me. I tried not to look back at him, but eventually our gazes met. Carmen's blue eyes seemed to be peeling every secret I have ever had out of me. I had to look away.

Class ended and Jack came up to me in the hall.

"Mia said you were coming! Was it those twitches?!" His face was red and his nostrils were flared.

I pulled him into a corner. "I'm going to tell you something you can't tell anyone ever," I took a deep breath. "I went to prom last night, I was the one who danced with Carmen,"

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Stop lying,"

"I'm not lying," I whispered.

His face went pale. "Mother chickpeas! That was you?!"

I nodded.

"Dude, you're the talk of the school! Everyone wants to know who mystery girl is! I heard Carmen is starting a search for you! He has your shoe. Why haven't you told him?"

The answer to that question had been bothering me ever since his fingers started to push up my mask. "Because I'm worried he won't like me if he knows who I really am."

***

Carmen's POV

This was the third staple I have impaled myself with. I grumbled as I picked it out of my skin.

"Seriously? Is it really that important?" Jeremy asked as he taped a flyer to the girls' bathroom door.

"Yes, it really is," I stared down at the flyer I had made. I'm sure every girl would come and claim the shoe, but I didn't want some random girl, I wanted her. I just hoped she would come, there was a reason she didn't tell me her name, and I was worried to find out why. Was she some sort of criminal who snuck in? A disturbing thought hit me, what if she was my cousin, Eliza? I almost threw up but shook the thought from my head, her voice didn't sound like that. That voice, I had heard it before, the name was on the tip of my tongue, but it always seemed to escape me.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder and turned around. Imogen King batted her faux eyelashes at me, her dark hair pushed over her shoulder.

"I saw your shoe ad, it's mine. I left it at prom,"

I rolled my eyes. "Nice try, but the girl I was with had blond hair,"

She wasn't expecting that. "Well everybody dyes their hair for prom,"

"Sorry, you don't have her voice," I stapled another flyer to Mrs. Chase's bulletin board.

"I disguised it to make our romance more mysterious,"

"Imogen, go away."

She grumbled and stomped off, being sure to slap me with her hair as she spun.

"Girls," I grumbled.

Jeremy scoffed. "You're driving them away? Carm, Imogen is one of the hottest girls in the grade, you could've pretended it was your mystery girl,"

"Jer, nobody can be my mystery girl except my mystery girl. Something about her is just...."

"Mysterious?" He chuckled.

I scoffed and flicked the staple at him, continuing to pin up flyers.

Then I muttered something under my breath that he couldn't hear. "Yes,"

"Carm, you should be with your mom,"

My heart ached just thinking of her. "I promised her that she could meet this girl, the doctor said he would call if she got worse." The heavy weight of my phone in my pocket added weight to my heart. It could buzz at any moment, and the only person I wanted it to buzz for was the mystery girl.

****

That chapter was really short and uneventful but the next one will be longer and SUPER eventful, promise.

Thanks for understanding!

-RavenclawMaven1198