Unleashing Cinderella

Chapter One - Drake

You know that guy in every single movie, the one who is the captain of pretty much every sports team on campus, usually has a sexy as hell lady hanging off of his arm, treats the not so pretty girls like shit,  and throws parties almost every single night of the week? That's me, Drake Johnson; I'm that guy, except I don't do parties, and I treat all women as if they were sexy as hell. We're not all shallow assholes who go for the so called "pretty" girls. You know the type: Usually cheerleaders or some other form of a mean girl, who wear way too much makeup and just want to be able to say they slept with the team captain. Ever since I got to college two years ago, and even before that, I've only ever had eyes for one girl, but she chooses to be invisible from the rest of the world, including me. 

Sierra Everett and I went to school together from about fifth grade on, after her family moved into town shortly after we'd finished fourth grade. I became fast friends with her brother, Dylan. He's two years older than us, but one of the coolest guys I've ever met besides my own brother, Tristan. We lost our parents when I was 12 and he was 17, and Tristan almost quit school because of it, but instead he graduated early in order to get a decent job to support us. If that's not love, I don't know what is. Back to the topic of Sierra, though; I tried to get through to her on a personal level, and we've somewhat become best friends over the years, but she's not really the talkative type. She's opened up to me a little more as we've gotten older, she has her family, and she has a few girl friends that she trusts to talk to, but that's it. A few of the guys have tried to get her to go to their parties or invited her out to get a meal, but Sierra won't budge. It's almost like she thinks she's not good enough to be seen with them, like she's too "plain Jane" for them. I don't know how, but I'm going to break through to her and make her realize that she's just as special as all the Barbie wannabes we go to school with. And one day I might even make her realize that she's actually way more special than any of those bitches.

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"Yo, DJ!" Eric yells over the crowded courtyard as he runs in my direction. Landon and Sam aren't too far behind, which can only mean one thing: Eric and Landon are throwing a huge party and want me to make an appearance. I need to shut this down quick.

"Whatever you're planning, E, count me out," I tell him. "You know how I feel about parties."

"Sam doesn't like them either, but he agreed to come," Landon says with a smirk.

"Only because you threatened to burn my 10 page English paper that I spent almost an entire week writing," Sam replies.

"Seriously, you two?" I say with a shake of my head. "Partying is not important enough for you to go threatening to destroy someone's school work. Are you ever going to grow up?"

"Eventually," Eric tells me. "We've got two more years of this college shit. We can be adults when we're out of here."

"You're not going to make it out of here if you keep throwing parties and flunking your classes," I reply.

"Let's just go, E," Landon says. "DJ isn't going to come to any parties. We've tried breaking him for the last two years. He's too much of a goody two shoes to finally cave."

"He's a model student," Sam corrects Landon. "Something you two don't have any idea about. You could learn a lot from Drake."

"Whatever, man," Eric replies. "Let's go see if the girls want to come to the party. Maybe they can finally convince Sierra to loosen up."

My blood starts boiling at that last comment, but before I can say anything, Sam opens his mouth. "Leave Sierra alone," he says sternly. "She's not the partying type and if you two don't stop trying to force her to go to your stupid parties, I will have to hurt you."

"Chill out, Sam," Landon tells him. "We'll leave her alone, damn. You act like she's your girlfriend instead of Cassidy."

"Sierra is like a sister to me," Sam corrects him. "So forgive me if I get a little overprotective of her. Drake, help me out here."

"Sierra is an introvert," I tell them. "She has a very small inner circle, which Sam and I just happen to be a part of. She doesn't like big crowds, which is why you will never see her at a party. End of story."

"Fine. We'll leave Sierra alone," Eric replies. "Let's go Landon. We've obviously hit a nerve with these two. We'll see you later, Sam. Take care, DJ." The two of them walk away, leaving me and Sam behind.

"I know we're still rather young, but sometimes I feel like there is no hope for those two clowns," Sam says to me. "It makes me question why we're even friends with them."

"Because the term opposites attract doesn't just apply to romantic relationships," I tell him. "You know as well as I do that behind those rough exteriors, Eric and Landon do have big hearts. I just wish they'd show that side of themselves more than they do."

Sam just shrugs his shoulders. "Since you're not going to the party, would you like to hang out with me and Cass tonight? We're meeting up with a group of friends to go bowling."

"I appreciate the invite, Sam, but I'm going to take a hard pass on that," I reply. "I promised Dylan I'd bring Sierra home. He doesn't like it when she walks."

"Maybe next time, then," Sam says. "Tell Sierra that Cass and I say hello. Have a great weekend, Drake. I'll see you on Monday?"

"At 8am sharp," I remind him. "Enjoy your little bowling party."

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I find Sierra reading on a bench in the middle of the quad, which, on days when I offer to drive her home, is where we usually meet. I approach her slowly, trying not to disrupt her, but she must sense that I'm there because she looks up from her book to greet me. "Are you ready to head home?" I ask. She places her bookmark on the page she was reading and nods as she closes her book. I offer to carry her bag for her, something I do every time we hang out, and something she usually refuses, but today she allows me to help her. In the car, I try to make conversation, but it winds up being one sided, so we just drive back to her place in silence. I grab her bag out of the back seat and walk her to the front door. She gives me a decent smile as she takes her bag back. "Thank you, Drake," she says. "I'll see you on Monday?" "Of course you will," I smile. "If you want to hang out before that, however, you can call or text me anytime. Don't forget that." She gives me another nod before heading inside the house. I sigh as I make my way back to my car and head to my own house; I WILL get Sierra to come out of her shell eventually.