The Princess Pages: A Girl Like Cinderella

Song Seventy Five

LOOKING FOR LUCY

Still on that Thursday Afternoon:

If one person knew where Lucy was, it would be Jacqueline Jones.

Trent Morgan, still in his white v-neck and gray pants, rapped his fist on the wooden door of the Jones Residence, the weather turning crisp and the cold air creeping onto his skin.

"Jackie! Please open up! I need to ask you something!" the tall blond implored while knocking.

In one swift motion, the wooden panel was pulled open by a purple-haired girl in plaid pajamas.

"What the hell! I was taking a nap! Who--YOU? What are YOU doing here?" she snapped, then before the famous model could even respond, she slammed the brown door on his face.

He relentlessly pounded on the door, harder this time. "Jackie! I need to know where Lucy is! She wasn't at the mansion and her brother wouldn't tell me anything!" he shouted.

The amber-eyed teen swung open the door again, and she glared at the blond musician.

"Have I misheard you? Did you call me Jackie?" She jabbed a finger at his chest. "You better fix your attitude, Morgan. Jackie is what my friends call me. To others, I'm Jacqueline. And to you, you jerk, I am Miss Jones. Address me as anything else and I'll kick you in the shin."

"Miss Jones," the tall blond mended, sounding desperate. "Where's Lucy?"

She scoffed, leaning against her door-frame and narrowing her eyes at him. "And why in dear God's name did you think I would tell you? You hurt my friend."

A frown grazed Trent's mouth. "Aren't you a writer? You're being biased right now, Miss Jones."

Jackie pushed herself off the door-frame and shot him a lethal glare. "Oh, no. Don't even cross that line, Morgan. Ethics and professionalism are out of the question where you're concerned. Lucy told me how you rejected her a few days ago. And I hate you for it."

"That's why I'm trying to set things right. Please. Where is she right now? I need to talk to her."

After a long and pensive pause, Jackie gave him Carter's address.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away and half an hour earlier:

In the Jackson house, Carter Jackson sat comfortably on one end of a red, L-shaped couch, surrounded by a nest of white square pillows, a small can of cheese sticks in one hand.

A pillow was laid on his lap,and resting her head there was Lucy Heartwood, at ease with her long legs stretched across the other half of the L-shaped couch, a pint of ice cream perched atop her flat stomach.

About six feet away from them, the large flat screen TV played High School Musical 3:Senior Year. It would get them psyched for tomorrow's event, and also, they chose that particular film because they had watched H.S.M 2 the last time they had a movie marathon.

"You're just like Gabriella," Carter remarked, his teeth crunching on a cheese stick.

Lucy peered up at him with dense blue eyes. "How so?"

"She's smart, nice, talented, and besides intent on Stanford, she's also running away."

The bespectacled girl paused from eating her dessert. She dropped her plastic spoon into her tub of cookie dough ice cream, then darted a scowl at her sandy-haired best friend.

"I'm not running away from anything," she muttered, an edge to her voice.

"Then what do you call what you're doing?"

"Preparing for the future," Lucy answered rather defiantly, then she picked up her spoon.

Carter snorted, facing the flat screen. "You're certain everything's in place?" he asked her.

"Of course I'm sure," the long-haired girl snapped. Then she rambled on: "College entrance exams start in Early May. The online results come out two weeks after. I'll be okay whichever one I get accepted in. And as for my part-time job, I've sifted through the want ads, and I managed to reserve a few slots located near both of my choices. If Vance agrees, he and I will move into an apartment not too far from his new school and mine. I'll make sure everything will work out in the end. It just has to--"

"LU!" Carter cupped Lucy's face and she quickly sat up, pounding her chest and coughing out some bits of cookie dough she almost choked on. "Breathe," the brown-eyed teen advised her.

She obliged, controlling her breaths until her chest was stably rising and falling.

Carter spread his arms out, and she leaned into him, curling into a sobbing mess on his shirt.

"Let it all out, Lu," he murmured, his words soothing the bespectacled brunette. 

"It hurts, Cart," Lucy cried, her tears spilling down Sponge-bob's smiling face.

The brown-haired teenager patted her hair. "You're gonna be alright."

And she proved it herself last night, when, after driving away from the ball accompanied by her two friends, Lucy had tearfully asked Carter to park in front of the police station.

Jackie assumed that her traumatized friend was going to sue Brooks and Henderson for their crime; but to her transient outrage, Jacqueline watched, slightly impressed, as Lucy told the policemen everything.

Normally, anyone in her position would have let the law charge them for attempted rape,which was synonymous to Two-years' imprisonment.

But Lucy had instead filed for T.R.Os against Nicholas Brooks and Luther Henderson, the temporary restraining orders refraining both males from being at least 100ft away from her.

The long-haired brunette was able to wade through the legal process more smoothly when Jackie had shown a piece of solid evidence: The memory card she'd gotten from Nick's phone before she crushed the device to smithereens. They further explained that Lucy had been sporting a wig, but even without explanation, Lucy was recognizable in the captured video.

How ironic.

Fast forward to the present.

Lucy's pale face was streaked with drying tears, but the way her back sagged against Carter's chest showed that the black-haired girl was growing less miserable.

"I love this scene," she commented while lifting a spoonful of ice cream to her mouth.

"Because it reminds you of someone?" Carter annoyingly said, as he gazed at the TV, where the Can I Have This Dance scene just started.

"Shut up and eat your cheese sticks."

DING DONG.

Lucy craned her neck and looked at her best friend's brown eyes.

"Someone has to get that," he stated.

"That someone's not gonna be me," Lucy retorted, eating more ice cream.

"You're closer to the door," Carter pointed out.

"I don't know. I'm having a beautiful reunion with this couch." Her eyes glimmered with humor.

DING DONG.

"Lu, seriously."

"Seriously, Cart."

"I don't care if you fall on your side.I will stand up," Carter warned sternly.

"Fine! Fine, I'll get it. Gees." Lucy rose and walked to the brown door.

The minute she pulled open the wooden panel, her heart froze.

"You?"