One Shoe In San Fransokyo (A BH6 Cinderella story) (entered in #Wattys2015)

Chapter 10: third person perspective

(A/N: yes, for this chapter I am breaking my pattern. You shall understand why as the story progresses.)

Felicity got back with just enough time to find a place to hide her mask and one remaining shoe, and then get into bed and pull the covers up over herself to hide her dress. With a jolt she realised that she was still wearing makeup, and her hair still showed signs of being done up. As she heard the sound of footsteps entering the house she only saw only one option. Anything would be better than whatever punishment she might face if Lady Tramurn discovered the "mystery girl".

The clop of high-heels and the chattering of two girls echoed down the hall, as Araminta and Delilah bickered amongst themselves about whom had received the most attention from Hiro.
"My dress was prettier, he definitely liked me better," Delilah argued smugly.
"Don't be a fool!" Araminta snapped. "He obviously liked me better because I am older than you, and therefore more intelligent!"
"Only slightly older!" Delilah pouted.

Lady Tramurn walked behind them, with all the poise and composure of someone who had much experience with childish arguments. In fact, Hiro hadn't shown either sister much attention. He had been polite, yes, and he had talked to both of them, yes, but he had looked at them as if they were children who had just told him that their favourite colour of the alphabet was seven. Thinking about the mystery girl, combined with the bickering of her daughters, gave Lady Tramurn a headache, so, without a word, she went straight to bed, and was not seen again until the next morning.

Araminta and Delilah, however, decided to "visit" Felicity's room first to "say hi".
"Oh look Delilah, Felicity's crying!" Delilah snickered. (In reality, Felicity simply pulled the covers over her head, shook a bit and made a few sounds to make the girls think that she was crying.) "Should we wake her up to tell her everything she missed out on?"
"Save it," Araminta told her, before raising her voice slightly. "I want to wait to see the look on her face when we tell her how HIRO KISSED BOTH OF US!"
Delilah cackled. "Oh sister, you are a genius!" she said.
"More than you realise," Araminta muttered under her breath. "Come now, we must take fate into our own hands."
And so, Araminta ushered her sister into their room, and they spent most of the rest of the night talking in hushed whispers.

Since Felicity had come to San Fransokyo, she had grown accustomed to waking up early to start doing the daily chores, and when she stepped out of her bedroom the next morning, she heard nothing but snoring - a sure sign of Lady Tramurn getting her "beauty sleep". It was the perfect opportunity for Felicity to change out of her evening wear.

"Mother, Delilah and I would like to go out today," Araminta announced later that afternoon.
Lady Tramurn looked up from the book she was reading and raised an eyebrow. "How come? Don't you have enough entertainment here?"
Araminta had been expecting this reply and had rehearsed the answer. "Oh don't worry mother, we love it here, truly! Delilah and I simply want to go out so we can woo Hiro Hamada once more! And when one of us scores his hand, it will be beneficial to all three of us!" Delilah, upon her sister's demand, had nodded when necessary and had not said a word.
Throughout this speech, Lady Tramurn had sat with a meditative look upon her face. "Very well then," Lady Tramurn said once Araminta had finished. "Go. Find him." But make sure you come back with greater success than you did last night!"

Fortunately for Lady Tramurn, Felicity had been upstairs during the whole conversation. As Lady Tramurn thought about Felicity, she decided to head upstairs to see the state of her bedroom - if it was messy, it would give Lady Tramurn a reason to angrily lecture her.
The fact that Felicity was in the bathroom did not deterr her from Felicity's room - Lady Tramurn preferred it to be surprise inspection anyway - the surprise being that Felicity didn't realise she was getting one.
As Lady Tramurn searched every nook and cranny for any sign of dust or litter, she came across something she wasn't expecting whatsoever -  One purple, high-heeled shoe with sparkles on it. Lady Tramurn made a mental note to "discuss" it with Felicity, but for the time being, she put it into an oversized pocket.

Meanwhile, the two sisters were happily entering the heart of San Fransokyo. However, instead of going to the Lucky Cat Cafe as promised, they headed to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.
"Are you sure it'll be here?" asked Delilah, who was struggling to keep up with her sister's confident strides.
"After doing much studying and research, I have learnt that this is where Hiro keeps his valuables," replied Araminta, not directly answering the question. Ever since the girls had become obsessed with Hiro Hamada, (over a month ago), Araminta had studied the movements of the boy genius whenever possible. Her plan was to find the shoe that the mystery girl had dropped, and then bring it to Hiro, pretending that was the shoe that didn't fall off. Araminta wasn't a hundred percent certain about the whereabouts of the shoe; the two other possible places were Hiro's bedroom, and a big mansion that Hiro and some other people would visit occasionally - both places were off-limits.

The sisters reached the entrance to the student laboratories and were confronted with a keypad.
"The door won't open!" cried Delilah, who was pushing, pulling and shoving the door in every direction.
"Of course it won't open!" Araminta snapped, annoyed by the sudden hinderance in her plan. "Obviously you need a code to open the door! It will probably be something simple, like four zeros." Araminta tapped in the code and was denied by a harsh buzzing sound. Delilah tried a code and triggered the same response. Upon the third attempt, the screen went red and showed some text declaring that security was on its way. Luckily, not many students were around to notice. After a few minutes, a young man with glasses and freckles came hurrying up to them.
"Um, excuse me ladies, but um, y-you're not allowed inside unless you are a s-student!" he stammered. Clearly he didn't have much experience with the whole security business. Perfect.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise! I don't want to cause any trouble!" Araminta simpered, turning on the charm. "It's just, my dear sister and I lost some personal items of ours at the masquerade ball last night, and Hiro said that any lost items he found would be brought here!" Araminta sighed dramatically. "I suppose we'll just have to live without them."

The lie worked, and hastily entered in the code before they had a chance to start crying.
"Araminta, what if Hiro's room is locked as well?" Delilah asked uncertainly once they were inside and out of earshot. But it seemed that luck was on their side once more. The girls came across a door that was slightly ajar, after a teacher had went into the room to grade an assessment, and had swung the door behind them without remembering to listen for the click. The door had a plaque on it which read:

Hiro Hamada
Junior
Field of expertise: Robotics

"Araminta! I don't see any shoes!" Delilah whined.
"Be quiet! We don't want people to hear us! There must be something here that could help us!"
"Ooh! Sister, I found something!"
What Delilah had found was a flask containing a fizzy liquid that swirled in colours of blue, pink and purple. It frothed slightly.
"Hmm, looks like some sort of potion!" said Araminta, inspections the liquid curiously. "Maybe it could help us in our mission! Come on, drink up!"
And so, stupidly, they both took a big gulp of the drink. The liquid burned their throat, and felt so hot that it was cold. As the drink seeped down into their stomach, the two girls began to grow, while their skin turned ghastly shades of purple.
"Let's go find Felicity and give her a scare!" Delilah roared, unperturbed by the side effects. They ran out of the building, not noticing the fact that every step they took became heavier, or that students, seemingly become smaller by the second, ran screaming away from them. Together, the girls laughed a great, booming laugh.