If I Were Perfect

The Glass Slipper

A/N- Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've been busy writing up a sequel for my book Minerva on paper.

For the first time in a while, the smile on my face put itself there. Cindy turns out to be a lot like me, awkward and nerdy, but she makes it look cute. I just make it look... Well, awkward and nerdy.
All of recess, her and I sit in the library, talking and giggling, sharing book opinions, wondering about Alicia and Brad and Mallory, about what makes them the popular ones.
For the first time in a while, I'm disappointed when the bell rings throughout the school, sending us back to class. But Cindy sits next to me in class, and she's just as smart as me, perhaps smarter.
For the first time in a while, class seems to rush by. Alicia's dirty looks seem to bounce right off me as Cindy and I share smiles and notes, scrawling across scraps of paper when the teacher isn't looking.
For the first time in a while, I'm happy.
I should know better.
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"-yeah, I'm not so sure about Shakespeare."
"I dunno, he's alright- Oh, but what about Eoin Colfer?"
"Who?"
"He wrote Artemis Fowl. It. Was. Amazing. I'm up to book... Three now." Cindy tells me, slipping her school bag onto her back, and glancing around the corridor before closing her locker quickly.
"What are you two turds doing?" A menacing voice says from behind us. I stiffen and turn slowly.
Mallory.
I put on my smile with an effort.
"We were just leaving, Mallory." I say, pushing my glasses up off of the tip of my nose. Mallory stands in front of me, blocking my view of Cindy.
"I don't think you're going anywhere, four eyes." She says with a sickly sweet smile with hidden venom behind it. I bite my cheek to stop myself from cowering in fear.
"Get a life, Mal." Says Cindy with a sigh, and I freeze. That's not how you deal with the populars.
Mallory is clearly thinking something along the same lines.
"Ex-cuse me?" Mallory says, lip curled back in disgust. She pulls back her fist, and I scream.
"Run!" The word is ripped from my mouth without my consent. Cindy hesitates for a split second, then heeds my advice.
The thump of my heart and our feet is the only sound that I can hear. Distantly, I realise that the other populars are chasing us too, but I don't know where they came from. Maybe they were there watching the whole time. I concentrate on the thumping of our shoes on the tiles, by then that small bit of order in my world dissolves.
Cindy falls.
Off comes her shoe, but she ignores it. The silence I was in before is shattered, and the laughter and taunts erupt in my ears. But we continue running.
"Hey, Cindy!"
"Cinderelllllaaaaa!?"
"Lose your shoe, princess?" The taunts follow us out of the school hallways, even when it's only us left.