The Princess Pages: A Girl Like Cinderella

Song Sixty Three

TWO CELEBRITIES IN SHERLOCK MODE/ONE LEAP CLOSER TO THE TRUTH

March 7, 2015.

It was a busy Saturday afternoon for Lucy Heartwood due to the sudden army of classmates charging into Lance's Diner in a way that reminded her of a human tsunami.

Perhaps they were just famished. But a part of the brunette sensed that her fellow schoolmates had bombarded the humble restaurant so abruptly because of her rising popularity.

The weather outside was threatening rain again, with gray clouds pooling together against a dark blue canvas. It seemed that the fifty or so students would be stranded in the diner for a while.

Lucy maintained her quiet and professional facade as she wrote down orders, served tables, and greeted new customers. She felt occasional tweaks of annoyance whenever she caught a booth of guys ogling her or sweeping their eyes up and down her body.

It didn't make sense. At least for her. She wore her long black hair in a high ponytail, the pair of thick-rimmed glasses unfailingly covering her blue orbs, and she was clad in her daily waitress uniform of a yellow polo and plain jeans and sneakers.

Whatever. She elected to ignore the perverts and focus on her job.

But it proved impossible to stay relaxed when a tall male with spiky ginger hair and matching shirt dogged her every step in the spacious diner.

When Lucy's thread was about to snap, she whirled around, tray of cold drinks in hand, and her blue eyes narrowed into angry slits at the lewd creep who'd been staring at her for an hour.

"Get lost, Henderson," she said through gritted teeth.

"Come on, babe, one date is all I ask," Luther persisted, leaning against the long counter where a line of uninterested teenagers noisily conversed among one another.

"When hell freezes over," the mad waitress hissed coldly.

The football captain sighed arrogantly, wearing this self-important smile on his stupid face.

"You're still pissed about what happened at the party? No sense wallowing in the past, Heartwood. It's unattractive in a woman to be clingy. You're still a total babe, too. Wouldn't want to waste a face and killer bod like yours waiting tables your whole life."

All of Lucy's blood rushed to her face as she clenched her jaw, suppressing an ear-piercing scream while her trembling hands expertly slid three tall cups of malts along the counter, the beverages caught and well-received by their designated recipient. She was so infuriated she could feel her fingers aching to punch Luther in the face.

"Call me babe again and I'll maim you," the waitress warned before escorting a new batch of young customers to a vacant table.

The ginger moved his mouth to speak but Lucy beat him to it. "And let's make one thing very crystal clear, Henderson." She uttered his name like a profanity. "Nothing happened at the party. Although the moronic rumors you spread insisted otherwise."

Luther sat on a bar stool and leaned his elbows behind him as he flashed a smirk at the girl.

"You should have been grateful to me. You came out as a wild and sexy chick after that shindig. If I hadn't spiced up the story, you would have come out as a prudish virgin."

Lucy slammed the empty tray on the hard counter. A new fire blazed in her blue eyes, and she felt everyone in the diner gawking at their little scene.

The bespectacled brunette banged a fist against her silver tray as she leaned dangerously close to Luther's lustful grin. The impact of the tray had stung, but she didn't dare show her pain.