I'm Not Cinderella - I'm Chloe

Chapter 7

s e v e n

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Where am I?

Confusion flooded through me as I quickly realized I was in the living room of my house. I don't remember coming back home.

Turning around, I headed for the stairs to go up to my room.

"Chloe!" Whipping around, I came face to face with my father. Surprise and joy filled me as I stared at my life-long best friend. My face lit up and I ran to him, throwing my arms around him.

"Daddy! What are you doing here? How is this possible?" I exclaimed. Excitement bubbled over as questions poured out of my mouth- but then my heart dropped when I saw the stern look on his face. "Dad, what's wrong?"

"Your mother was right, Chloe. I thought that you would become perfect, like Audrey, but you're not. You don't do anything right. I always did love Audrey the most, you know." Tears brimmed in my eyes as I clung to my father.

"What? Daddy, no..."

Dad just chuckled humorously. "You're just a big disappointment!"

"NO!"

"Chloe, wake up!"

"I'm sorry!" I screamed, flinging my eyes open and sitting up. Tyler sat next to me, worry evident in his eyes. The tears began flowing as he pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry, Chloe. I'm so sorry," Tyler whispered as he rocked me back and forth. I didn't even think about the embarrassment I would feel later. I mean, here I was, being held by my best guy friend and totally breaking down. I cried for a few minutes more, before sniffling and pulling back to look around.

"Where are we?" I asked. Tyler didn't answer as he continued rocking me slowly, his eyes shut and brows furrowed. I tapped his shoulder which caused him to jump a little. "Tyler, are you okay?"

His eyes clouded over for a minute, but then he chuckled, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?" I gave him a deadpan look, so he sighed. "Nothing, I'm just worried about you. Now, what was your question?"

"Where are we?"

Tyler glanced around. "The park. I spent an hour and a half just roaming the town trying to find you. I finally found you passed out in between these bushes." I peeked around the bushes and noticed that I was indeed in the park.

A sharp pain shot through my head, causing me to gasp in discomfort. Tyler turned to me in alarm. "Are you okay?"

I nodded, rubbing the back of my head. "Yeah, I think I just slept on a stick."

Tyler chuckled, massaging the back of my head for me. I leaned back into his embrace as the pain began slipping away.

"You know, you worried us all half to death. Everyone wanted to look for you, but I offered to do it myself. I said to give you some space and I'd bring you home when you were ready. After an hour and a half, they all began calling me nonstop to ask if you were okay. If I hadn't found you when I did I'm pretty sure everyone at the house plus the SWAT team would be out looking for you."

"Oh man, how mad is Anna?" I questioned with caution, knowing the answer wouldn't be good. Tyler sent me a sympathetic smile.

"She said that if you weren't in the emotional state you were when you ran off, she probably would have taken away the laptop and books they've bought you." I gasped.

"Even my John Greens?"

"Especially the John Greens, she said," Tyler answered with a bit of a chuckle.