It was a quiet and sunny afternoon on April 20th, and Ella was out shopping for new clothes at the Columbia Mall. She didn't know if she would be able to go to prom that year, but she wanted to get a dress for it, regardless. Being a junior at Liberty High School, she didn't figure it'd be that big of a deal if she couldn't, as she could wear the dress next year. She had no boyfriend, but her group of friends already knew that they would be going, and invited Ella to join them. The only catch, however, was that each girl was going to have to pay for their own ticket. Ella would not have considered herself financially unstable, but she did not always get money when she wanted it.
As she walked around Macy's, Ella had gathered a cart of some new clothes for the coming months and decided to go and look for dresses she could wear at prom. Since she was on a budget, she figured that the dress should cost no more than one hundred dollars, accounting for what she already had in her cart. She quickly found a dress that she fell in love with. It had a black top, and the bottom had a floral pattern in shades of green, blue and red. After taking it off of the rack, she rushed into the fitting room to try it on. A smile fell upon her face when she looked in the mirror, as it not only fit her perfectly in every way - almost as if the dress was made just for her. The only thing was, she hadn't looked at the price tag yet, and was scared that it would've been too expensive for her, and that she would have to seek out a different dress. Taking a deep breath, Ella looked at the price tag, letting out a huge sigh of relief. The dress only cost $89, which was well within the range that she wanted to spend. Happy with her choice, she took it off and put her regular clothes back on.Once Ella had gotten home from the mall, she called out for her mom. "Mom! Where are you?" she asked.
"I'm upstairs, sweetie," her mom replied.
"Alright! I want to come and show you the dress that I picked out for prom while I was out," Ella replied as she climbed the stairs, heading into her parent's room, only after putting her other bags in her own room.
Her mother was sitting on the bed when Ella walked into the room. "How much did the dress cost?" she asked as Ella set the dress bag on the bed.
"Surprisingly, it was less than ninety dollars," she said with a smile.
"That's great!" her mother replied. "Now, why don't you put it on, so I can see how you look?"
She nodded, taking off the bag, revealing the dress.
"I think it'll look lovely on you," her mother said.
"Thanks," Ella said with a small giggle, going into the bathroom to slip the dress on. When she came out, she walked over to her mother. "Well, how do I look?" she asked.
"You look beautiful," Ella's mother said with a smile. "Now, how much do you have left from what we gave you?"
"Um, I think about 20. Why do you ask?" Ella responded.
"Well, how much are the prom tickets this year?" her mother asked in response.
At that moment, a frown crossed Ella's face, realizing the mistake she had made. She forgot to take the price of the prom ticket into consideration while she was shopping. "They're 55 dollars," she said with a sigh. "Meaning I'm 35 short."
"Well," her mother said, "your grades have been very good this quarter so far, and your father and I decided that we should give you a bit extra as a reward. So, I'll give you 55 more so you can get the ticket."
"Thank you mom!" Ella said with a huge smile as she engulfed her mother in a hug.
"It's not a problem, sweetheart," her mother replied. "You know we say that hard work always pays off."The tickets for prom went on sale at school the following week, so on that Monday, Ella happily went over to the table where they were being sold, her money in hand.
"What's your name?" Mr. Davis asked her.
"My full name is Cinderella Griffin," she told him.
He nodded, finding her name on a list. "Cinderella Griffin, ah, here we go. How many tickets will you be buying?"
"Just one for myself," she said, handing over the cash.
He nodded, taking the cash from her. "Cool. Let me put down your ticket number for the records."
Ella nodded, waiting very patiently.
Finally, Mr. Davis handed over the ticket. "Alright, here you go. Make sure you fill this out, and that you have your I.D. the night of the dance."
"Will do," she said with a nod, heading down to have lunch.Finally, the day of prom came around, and Ella was busy getting ready. Maya was going to be driving all five of them to prom so they were meeting at her house at 5:00, that way there was time for some pictures and a light dinner before they headed out.
"Almost done," Ella's mom said as she worked on her hair and makeup. "You are going to look so pretty tonight."
"Thanks mom," she said with a smile.
"Alright, and we're done," her mom said, finishing up pinning Ella's hair. "How does it look?"
Ella took a good look at herself in the mirror, her dress on, makeup done, and hair up. "It looks amazing," she smiled. "I'm sure everyone will like it."
Her mother nodded, looking at her watch. "Well, it's already 4:30. We should get ready to leave soon."Later that night, Ella and the four of her friends were at prom, all having a good time. Maya was currently sitting at a table with Emily, chatting while they ate some food. Maria and Lucy, on the other hand, had both gone on the floor and were having fun dancing with each other.
Ella sighed as she looked around. She wanted to find a guy to dance with, but she was too nervous to go and ask on of them.
However, she didn't have to ask, as a kid from her grade that she knew well, Alex, walked over to her. "I didn't know you were coming, Ella," he said.
She smiled, looking at Alex. "Well, here I am."
He nodded. "Indeed, you are. Say, I heard that the slow dance was coming up soon. I was wondering if you would like to dance with me."
Ella's heart fluttered at his question, and she immediately started to nod. "Yeah! I would love to!"
Alex smiled. "Great," he said, just as Perfect, the slow dace song, came on. He gently grabbed Ella's hand, taking her to the dance floor.
Ella was speechless as she danced with Alex. She always had a crush on him, but she had never been brave enough to ask him out on a date.
After the song was over, she sat down at a table with Alex, and was currently talking to him about different things, when Maya came over.
"Hey, Ella," she said, a bit of urgency in her voice. "I hate to tell you this, but we need to get ready to head out."
"Why's that?" Ella asked.
"Maria said she isn't feeling too good, so we figured we should get her home before anything happens."
"Alright," Ella said with a nod. "I'll be out in a minute."
Maya nodded, going to find her other friends.
"Sorry this had to be cut so short," Ella told Alex.
"Hey, it's not a problem," he said with a smile. "I really enjoyed talking with you.
Ella only nodded before leaving, completely forgetting her phone on the table.On Sunday morning, Ella looked around frantically for her phone, not being able to find it anywhere. "I think I left it at prom," she said with a sigh.
"I think someone must've grabbed it," her mother said. "Either you'll get it back on Monday, or else someone might stop by the house and drop it off to you today."
Ella sighed and nodded. "I know, but I can't help but-"
She was cut off as someone rang the doorbell.
Ella quickly looked at her mom. "You get the door. I'll be down in a minute."
Her mother nodded, going to greet whoever was at the door while Ella stayed in her room, changing into clothes for the day.
When Ella finally came downstairs, she was a bit shocked to see Alex standing in the kitchen, talking to her mother.
"Hm? Oh, hey Ella," Alex said, turning to face her. "You left your phone at prom last night, so I figured I'd bring it to you."
"Thanks," Ella said as a small blush crept over her face. Though Alex had long been her classmate, it had been years since he'd been to her house.
"Not a problem," he said with a nod. "Oh, there's one other thing I wanted," he said, putting his hands in his pockets, something that Ella knew he did when nervous. "I was, um, wondering if you wanted to hang out. I really enjoyed dancing with you last night. I was going to ask you about it, but you left before you left."
Ella then looked at her mother, who nodded, before turning her attention back to Alex. "Yeah, I, uh, don't see why not. I don't have any plans for the rest of the day."
Her mother nodded in agreement. "That's right. Try to be home before ten, okay?"
Ella nodded as she headed out with Alex. Sure enough, their first date, which was really going to lunch and then hanging at his house, went off without a hitch. Needless to say, they went to prom together in their senior year, and even ended up at college together studying the same major. Their life through the rest of high school and college was pretty happy.
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Various One-Shots and Stories
FanfictionThis is basically a collection of my short stories and one-shots I've done. They can really cover any kind of game or anime, or even book series, or might just be completely fictional! If it doesn't have anything in parentheses, then it's just a sho...