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ღ Finding Cinderella- 15 ღ

-Kylie-

Okay, I admit I was kind of lost.

That didn't mean I was physically lost or anything. My head had only ventured in to Neverland again, and an overwhelming barrage of random thoughts was whirling inside of it. I'd almost got a detention back in the English class because of Tr istan's constant dissing towards me, almost collided with the janitor while roun ding a corner, almost entered the boy's lavatory, and now, in addition to all th ese embarrassing moments, I was almost slipping.

What did I mean by that?

Well, let's turn back the clock for a few seconds ago.

I'd slipped on the wet floor, and before I knew it, I'd found myself flying thro ugh the air. Lucky for me, I managed to regain my balance before hitting the whi te tiles.

Phew, that was close.

Even so, some students must've seen my performance, since they were all shooting glances at me, and trying not to crack up. Goodness, I was much clumsier than L acey when it came to actions...

With a flustered face, I continued on my way to my locker and tried not to bang my head on the metal door.

5... 24... 13... 15... 3...

Wait, what was the combination again?

Shaking my head, I rotated the lock once more and thought for a couple of second s before finally remembering the combination. Then I pulled the door open, expos ing random junk that began to tumble down as I shoved my books inside, and caugh t a glimpse of the scary clown pictures I'd pasted on the back of my door.

I'd intended for them to be some kind of protection, mainly from the jerk who li ked to snitch my stuff and play sick jokes. It was too bad for him that he had a coulrophobia.

In other words, the prince got the phobia for clowns.

That devil... I wondered if telling everyone about that little secret of his wou ld finally prevent him from causing me problems.

My lips formed a lazy half smile as I slammed the locker shut, and out of my per ipherals, I noticed a pair of brown eyes staring at me. When I turned around, th ere was Julianne, complete with raised brow and crossed arms.

"Did I just see you slipping on the floor a minute ago?" she asked.

I couldn't think of any excuse to that. Except, moronically, "Jules, I didn't sl ip, I was simply practicing a new interpretative dance move. Did you like it?" W hen she didn't say a word, I sighed and added, "Yeah, me neither."

We began to walk towards the cafeteria.

"You know, I've been trying not to say this to you ever since this morning, but I totally can't help myself right now," Julianne said hesitantly, "and I'm sorry if this offends you, but... what happened to your hair? It's all frozen up like a pine tree."

I raised my eyebrows. "Yeah, isn't it cool? Every time I attempt to look into a mirror, it reads 'viewer discretion is advised'."

She bit her lip and nodded, trying not to laugh. "Right."

"You know whose fault is this."

Soon we'd grabbed our trays and were coasting along with the long line. Julianne was chatting with a girl behind her - probably a member of their Club - so I wa s stuck in the middle of the line with nothing to entertain me while I waited. I glanced around, trying to find inspiration, but when I saw Tristan and his crow d in the designated "popular" seats, I snapped my head away from them.

Forget inspiration - having to look at the devil felt more like depression.

In front of me was a strange guy with a black wool cap on his head. He began to drum his fingers on his tray, as if matching the movements to music. When I snuc k a glance at his side, I noticed a pair of white cords dangling in front of his neck and leading into his ears. Hmm, I wondered why he seemed so...

"Hey!" a voice from the crowd called.

Unexpectedly, Julianne gasped, "Oh, my God! My crush is coming here!"

And there she went freaking out, fingers shaking vehemently, when a guy with cur ly ginger hair came into view. He went to the guy, who was in front of me, and w hen he caught us staring at him, he grinned.

"Hey, you're that girl back in the ball, right?" he asked.

At that moment, the guy with the cap turned to us and pulled out his ear buds.

I nearly screamed.

Eek! Who the heck had been planning this scenario? Life probably loved me so muc h that it had ensured I'd be given the chance to further embarrass myself in pub lic!

I didn't want to believe Erik was right in front of me. I tried to convince myse lf he was only the product of my crazy thoughts, but when he said, "Oh, hey, you girls," and tactfully not mentioning about my bird nest of a hair, I wished I c ould just die in place and let time forget about me.

Keep calm. Don't act like you're meeting Santa Claus or anything. He's just Erik , there's nothing to worry about.

"Y-yeah," Julianne stuttered, and I just realized she was talking to the carrot-top guy.

"Great to see you around here," he chirped. If I would look closely, I think he was kind of cute, what with his soft blue eyes and laid-back smile.

"Hey! Who's holding the line?" someone from the back yelled.

Carrot-top guy raised his hands and backed away from us. "Dude, grab me some tar ts. I'll pay you later," he said to Erik.

"Fine." Erik stepped to the side and cocked his head towards me. "You go first, Kylie."

"Okay, thanks," I mumbled, sounding like I was munching a tissue.

An old woman, Linda, was staring at me; her wrinkly eyes half-shut and her dry l ips nothing more than a thin line. She always looked that bored, I was positive she hated her job as a lunch lady.

After clearing my throat, I spoke to her: "Can I have a tuna sandwich, please?"

Linda grabbed one from a silver tray and handed it to me. "Anything else?" she a sked hoarsely.

"Uh... and a Coke," I added, "Yeah, I think that's all."

"Why, Miss Harris, what's the matter?" asked Linda. "You usually order almost ev erything on the menu. You on a diet?"

 

"I don't feel like it," I said aloud. Oh, boy. Did she seriously have to go and say that? Great, now Erik might be thinking that I'd been such a greedy pig.

I tried to keep myself composed as I reached for my wallet. Then a hand stopped me, and when I looked up, I saw Erik shaking his head.

"Here, I'll pay for this for you," he said.

"Huh? No way!" I replied, gesturing for him to stop. "Why would you pay for me?"

"Well, it's because I want to."

"But-"

"Kylie, I insist."

"Erik-"

Before I knew it, he'd already pushed a roll of money towards the cashier and wa s telling me, "Oops, too late. I paid for it already."

Why on Earth was he doing this?

Linda glanced at me warily before punching the numbers. When I realized my mouth had been open for quite some time, I snapped it shut, trying to neutralize my f ace after that shocking favor of Erik's.

It might have been only a small act of kindness, but it had been enough to make my day a little less crappy.

"I think I owe you for this," I told him after we exited the line.

"You don't have to worry about that," Erik assured me. He had only bought himsel f a burger and a bottle of water.

"Are you sure you're not going to sue me for this in the future?" I asked, chuck ling timidly.

"Stop worrying too much, Ky, really. Free food tastes much better, right? So jus t chill out and enjoy the treat." He patted me on the shoulder, giving me shudde rs all over.

"Uh, so thanks again...?" I mumbled.

"Just expect there to be a lot more in the future."

"What do you mean by that?"

Before Erik could answer, Julianne and the other guy came to us.

"Oh, I almost forgot-" Erik put his arm over the guy's shoulders "-meet my pal, Peter Parker."

I almost blurted out 'Please don't tell me you're Spiderman' if I hadn't bitten my tongue just in time.

As though reading my expression, Peter laughed. "Yeah, I was named after a Marve l Hero. Blame my parents for being such huge comic book fans. Mind you, I had fr iends at middle school named James Bond and Moe Lester. Harsh for boys. Anyway, just call me Pete."

"Okay, it's good to meet you, um, Pete. Name's Kylie," I said and motioned to Ju lianne. "And I reckon you already know my friend's name?"

"Yeah, we actually met at the ball." He grinned. "Right, Julianne?"

Blushing, Julianne went catatonic on the spot.

 

I tapped her shoulder. "Uh... sorry about my friend here. Sometimes, she goes be yond the line between proper fandom and severe obsession when she encounters som eone in particular."

Pete just shrugged, apparently oblivious about Julianne's obsession over him, an d turned to Erik. "Well, dude, I didn't know you're friends with these chicks."

"Kylie and I have known each other since we're freshmen." Erik beamed at me, and I squirmed. "And I think we clicked as friends because of-what-Minecraft?" He l aughed.

I nodded meekly. Wow, I couldn't believe he still remembered that! Back in the o ld times, we two had been talking non-stop about the game until our teachers had to scold us for that.

Oh, those good ol' memories.

"That's cool. Hey, I have an idea," said Pete before looking at us. "Why don't y ou girls join us and meet our other friends? We're eating outside." He jabbed hi s thumb toward the cafeteria door on the right.

"Uh... um." I gulped. Should we, or should we not? I could feel my stomach doing flips.

"Come on. It's really okay for us guys," Erik said.

I opened my mouth to say, but a hand touched my shoulder, making me yelp in surp rise.

"Sorry, fellas." It was Tristan, and his face was showing nothing but seriousnes s. "But I think they're staying here with us."

The smile on Erik's face gradually disappeared and was replaced by a straight, t ight line.

"Hartford," he said.

"Taylor."

Pete started to take steps backwards, looking at Tristan with wide eyes. Was he intimidated because of him?

I sensed dread as I shifted my eyes between the boys.

Erik glanced back at me, and he grinned. "Well, if you girls don't want to, then okay. That's a downer, but I guess we can't press it anymore. Maybe next time, though?"

Without even thinking, I nodded almost immediately.

"Awesome. Looking forward to that. Bye now!" After a brief wave, Erik and Pete h ad disappeared into the mass of students roaming around.

"Whoa, so what was that about?" Julianne exclaimed, somehow recovering from her fossilized state.

I shot a glare at Tristan before walking past him.

"Hey, I didn't do anything wrong!" he said, catching up after me. "I was just sa ving you."

"Saving from what?" I bit back.

"I know you don't want to come with them, but you weren't speaking back there. S o I came to answer them for you."

"Well, I don't remember calling 911 for a superhero to come and rescue me," I sa id sarcastically. But to be honest, he was right. I hadn't wanted to come with t hem, because, hello? A whole hour with Erik? That would possibly be the death of me.

He crossed his arms and smiled haughtily. "Superheroes don't need any agency to save a damsel in distress. Most of them just work on their own accord."

I set my tray on the table and snorted. "Great, now tell that to your girls, bec ause I'm not buying that. I'm not a damsel in distress, Tristan, and will never be one."

"Ooh, right, I forgot." He nodded. "You're actually the badass-"

"Say a wrong word and you're dead."

"-princess."

I blinked, my heart pounding. Shut up, you little mass of cardiovascular muscles !

"What do you take me for, an idiot?" I scoffed. "Listen, if you're done pissing me off, then scram, you evil creature. Shoo!"

"You know I never get tired pissing you off, Kyles." Smirking, he stuffed his ha nds into his pockets and took steps back. "Nice hair, by the way."

"This is the fault of your reckless driving!"

"Later!"

I slumped in the seat and sighed. My lunch was starting to go rot on the tray be cause of those appalling encounters.

"Julianne, you okay?" I asked after a while.

Looking into space, she was still as solid as ice that I had to snap my fingers in front of her vision.

"My brain neurons are slowly processing everything that has happened," she said remotely. Uh-oh, she was speaking in a Sheldon Cooper language once again. Prepa re the tissue, please. "And I keep inquiring myself whether I should be jumping for joy after enduring that moment with the guy I am infatuated with, or stabbin g myself for being so horrendously eccentric."

"My thoughts, exactly."

She put a hand under her chin and sighed. "Ah, love. You are, sometimes, aesthet ically pleasant to the heart, yet most of the time, miserably treacherous, I mus t say."

I raised an eyebrow, unwrapping with my sandwich. "Since when did you become lik e this?"

"Ever since I spilled that fruit punch on his tux that unexpectedly lead him on asking me for a dance."

That was when, for a brief moment, the smile on my face was swept away, and the words she'd just spoken made the memory of my Fate dance flash through my mind a gain.

Then a couple loud claps erupted from the middle of the cafeteria, and everyone else shifted their attention towards the source. Julianne muttered something und er her breath before standing up to see what was going on.

"Kylie, you gotta see this now," she hissed at me. "I think Tristan has somethin g to announce."

Him again?

I headed over to the crowd and craned my neck so I could see well. Tristan and h is ridiculously tall friends had gathered in the center in all their glory, mana ging to grab the attention of every student without breaking a sweat. Kids aroun d us were whispering wildly, visibly intrigued by their presence. I just shook m y head, because the last person in the world to care about them would be me. But due to a sudden, peculiar sensation that had hit me, I stayed standing there an d waited for one of them to speak up.

"Hey, can you hear me over there?" Grey's voice called to the crowd at the back. "How about the kids on the other side, am I clear? Yeah? Okay, so listen up, fo lks!" He paused, waiting for everyone to grow silent, then continued: "We're pro bably holding up your lunch time, guys, but our friend Tristan here has somethin g important to announce. Anyway, this wouldn't be long, so just sit tight, and I 'll let Tristan do the talking."

Tristan stepped out from behind Grey, and I was sure what came next wouldn't be good.

"Let's just cut to the chase," Tristan announced, his hands resting in his pocke ts. "Almost the entire school population attended the Valentine Ball last week, so a lot of you guys witnessed the opening dance, am I right?"

Several affirmations followed.

"But there was one thing about the opening dance that's been bugging me lately - well, maybe not just me, since I'm sure some of you have been bugged by it, too - and I wanted to know, who was the girl who took over Lacey Harris' role as Qu een for that event? Do any of you know anything about that?"

Almost immediately, the place began to buzz as everyone started discussing the t opic, though the only feedback I could see were shrugs and shaking heads. Swallo wing my fears, I slowly began to move backwards, one step at a time.

Julianne turned to me and whispered, "Wow. That issue has taken the campus by st orm since Friday last week."

"No one, right?" Tristan said, his voice getting stronger. "It's very strange th at nobody knows the answer... or at least, we think no one knows the answer. Per haps there have been some people around here secretive enough to keep this under wraps. But then again, I won't pressure them into coming forward, since I have an idea of my own, and all of your help will be very much needed to make this ef fective..."

Great, just great. Why was my life so good at becoming dangerous?

"I, together with my team here, will propose a challenge to the entire student b ody of Broadway Heights. The rules are pretty simple: search for the girl, bring her to me, and-"

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

The clamor was cut off in a snap, and every one of us spun around to see a tall girl standing in the back, her arms crossed over her chest. As she began to step forward, the mob parting around her. The loud clacking sound of her heels on th e tiles was enough to wake the Underworld.

Her typical calm image was now twisted in annoyance, and she seemed almost like an angry bull, her cheeks flushed and her eyes flashing with intensity. I snuck a quick glance at Tristan, noticing that his pale face was displaying the most p etrified expression I'd seen in a long time. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then snapped it shut and gulped audibly.

"Tristan, please tell me I heard you wrong," she said, the sweetness of her voic e fringing with bitterness.

Holy crap on a cracker.

Here came Fiona Ryder from the dark side, back in action again.

Only this time, she was more sinister than ever.