Twisted Cinderella

"Shit....Shit! I'm about to crash. I'm about to crash!"

"Sucks to be you then, huh?" L'Oreal asked with a smug smile as she glanced over at her best friend. Sean tried to mask his smile with a frown, but failed. He hated that L'Oreal was beating him at his own video game, but he was just having too much fun.

"Daaaayuuuum! "

"Hah! I win!"

"Hell no, man. You cheated. Ain't no way in hell I lost three time in a row to you."

"Nuh-uh. I didn't cheat," said L'Oreal as she stood up from her spot on Sean's bedroom floor, "You're just mad because...I won, I won, I shot the bee bee gun and you lost, you lost, you ate the apple sauce. Hah!" He threw a pillow at her.

"Shut up! Acting like a little kid. You need to grow up." She threw the pillow back at Sean and said:

"Who's the one acting like a kid, Sean? You're getting all mad because this chick just kicked your butt in 'Need for speed'"

"I ain't mad. Besides, I only lost because you cheated."

"Forget that. I won fair and square from all my great gaming skills," She boasted as she plopped down on his bed.

"Skills?" He pulled himself up on the bed next to L'Oreal, "What skills? Don't forget just who taught you all those so-called "skills". I....am the gaming master."

"And so the student has surpassed the teacher,"L'Oreal said with laughter. Sean laughed too.

"Hey, best four out of six?" Asks Sean

"Nah. I'm already late for Percy's party."

".....Oh"

"Yeah, so, I'd better go." L'Oreal pulled herself up and off the messy full sized bed. Sean watched in silence as she placed her feet in her shoes and gathered the rest of her things. He followed her to his door, but before she could open it he grabbed her arm.

"Hey, why don't you just skip the party and crash here for tonight? I can take you home in the morning."

L'Oreal turned towards Sean, but the expression on her face was the same one he'd regrettably grown so use to seeing, a fake. That look she gave when she didn't want him to worry. That mask she'd use to try and hide her own fear and anxiety. But Sean knew better. He'd known L'Oreal since she was in the third grade and it hurt him to know that she was just that afraid of going home. He wanted to help her; had tried many times to help, but she insists that she would be okay in the end. L'Oreal smiled.

"Thank you, Sean. Really, I'll be okay. Besides, whether I go back tonight or wait until the morning, it'll all end the same."

"Fuck that, L'Oreal. That dude needs his ass kicked."

"See, if that were to happen because of me, then that would make me no better a person than him. I graduate in two more months and then this will all just seem like a horrible nightmare. I think I'm strong enough to hold out until then. I mean, come on! Give me a little more credit than that," She said, trying to lighten the mood, but Sean didn't find it funny in the least.

Though he wanted to kill Percy, he knew that L'Oreal would never agree to harm another person. Even if that person was a cold hearted dick like Percy. He finally released her arm.

"Whatever. At least let me walk you home. It's already late."

"Nah, I'm okay. It's not gonna take that long to get back. I'll call you when I make it?"

"......Yeah"

"Okay. Bye, Sean," She said. Standing on the tips of her toes, L'Oreal leaned in and kissed his cheek."