Not Another Cinderella Story

Chapter 16 - Happily Never After

~ The stepsister cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. ~

Was it actually going to work? Cindy thought to herself. Were they going to be able to pull it off successfully?

If you asked any normal person, they might've said that they had absolutely no chance, but Peyton was desperate and Cindy was hopeful.

The festival was in one week, and Cindy was in no way prepared.

Peyton wanted her to perform the song that she did at the dance, but she was doubtful. She would be one of the only contestants performing an original song, and she didn't want that decisions to backfire.

She'd practiced it enough times with Peyton and Fanny that she was almost getting tired of the tune.

But it would all be worth it in the end. In one week, she could finally be with Peyton without worrying about Evelyn finding out. She would finally be able to be with a guy who liked her because of who she was (and not to mention one who had an incredible voice).

All she had to do was sing her song onstage and the people would recognize it immediately. Brian was in charge of damage control. He would release the video of Evelyn threatening Peyton that revealed her true nature and that Cindy was the real Mystery Girl.

There was absolutely no way that they could fail.

"Cinders!"

Well, until then, Cindy was still a slave to her step-family.

"Coming!" She yelled back.

When she got to the top of the stairs, Ana and Drew were standing at the top with smug smiles on their faces.

"What do you need?"

Drew grinned. "We need you to water the plants out front."

"Yeah." Ana smiled as well.

Cindy gave them suspicious looks. "But it rained just last night."

"We need to be careful, you never know when the next drought may come by." Drew said.

"The weather for the next few days is supposed to be rainstorm after rainstorm. I'd only be drowning the poor plants." Cindy reasoned.

"Just go water them!" Ana screeched.

"Okay, okay." Cindy muttered, making her way outside.

When she closed the door, she found a note taped on the outside. Curious, she ripped it off and read the contents.

Dear Cindy,

Come meet me tonight at my house at midnight, I have some good news to share with you about the festival. I'll leave the backdoor open, just come straight up to my room.

Sincerely, Peyton

Cindy smiled to herself. Of course Peyton would be the type of guy to leave her a handwritten note instead of a quick text message.

She folded the note and hid it in her pocket, certain that if Tracy or her daughters caught her, she'd surely be punished. They didn't know that Peyton and she had been meeting in secret. They still thought that Evelyn was victorious.

Oh, they didn't know how wrong they were.

Cindy grinned like a madwoman and headed to the side of the house to get a hose. Maybe tonight would be fun.

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Peyton was doing something big without letting Duncan know, which was kind of a first ever since coming back to school.