The Princess Pages: A Girl Like Cinderella

Song Forty Five

SOMEONE FINDS OUT

When Thursday Morning rolled in--February 19, 2015, no less--the hallways were crowded as usual,teeming with students emitting boisterous chatter and rowdy laughter.

Beverly was absent that day--Thank God--but it did tickle Lucy's curiosity as to what had happened to her stepsister. She was highly irritating, but that didn't mean she deserved harm.

Damn this marshmallow heart of hers.

Thirty minutes before her first class, Lucy Heartwood stood in front of her locker, engrossed in her list of likely spots for her bike to be hidden in, she barely noticed the malicious snickers and dirty looks a group of guys and some girls were sending her direction.

She glanced to her left. Silence. She craned to her right. Same silence.

Shit. This was bad. More jerk-wads were in on it now. Why was she always the butt of everyone's idiotic jokes?

Choosing to focus on the task at hand, the long-haired teenager pulled her hood up her head and adjusted her thick glasses before consulting her list again.

Gym. Definitely big enough to store a bike. Closets. There were about a dozen in the entire campus. She can run. It'd be too suspicious to stash a bicycle inside a restroom--

SLAM! went Lucy's locker, a girl's palm on top of it. She yelped in shock.

Bluebell eyes lowered to the palm, drifting up to an arm, then finally, the pissed-off face of a purple-haired girl with amber eyes, black asymmetrical top, distressed jeans and brown wedges.

"Jackie?"

She planted her hands on her hips,her eyes narrowing into slits. "You have some explaining to do, Lucy.I overheard a conversation between Dan and Ronda at the Diner the other day, and it had something to do with the ball five days ago. Dan kept denying something about you, and Ronda even said--"

Lucy quickly pressed a hand to Jackie's mouth. Fudge. Fudge. Fudge. She was going to give Lucy a heart attack.

"Jacqueline," Lucy hissed. "Please, not in front of other people."

She swatted her hand away and cried: "I knew it! I knew it! That's why you've been acting so strange for the past few days! You seemed on edge.Why didn't you guys tell me anything about it? Oh God, and after all this time, too! We're supposed to be friends, Lucy! We're not supposed to keep secrets from each other!"

Lucy's face went pale. She looked at Jackie pleadingly. "Please, Key. Don't get mad--"

"Oh, whatever. Forget it," she said. "What' important is that you tell me what you did during the ball. In a nutshell. Now."

"Shh!" Lucy shushed. "Somebody might hear you. And can we talk about it later? We have class in twenty minutes."

"Don't worry about it. All the teachers have an urgent meeting today. I checked," she said.

Of course. Jacqueline was the only student who bothers to check faculty rooms on occasion.

Amber eyes gazed into blue ones. "You really have to tell me everything now, before the suspense kills me."

Lucy bit her bottom lip nervously.

"Okay, okay. But this isn't the best place to talk about it,"she replied, glancing at all the teens roaming around the locker area.

They marched towards a far ladies' room and made sure they were the only ones there before locking the door.

"Promise me you won't utter a word to another soul," the brunette in a white shirt, blue hoodie, and baggy pants implored her friend.