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[THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REVISED]

ღ Finding Cinderella-6 ღ

-Kylie-

I really couldn't understand myself. I mean, I'd sworn to death that I'd never f eel the same way I had back in the ninth grade, but why did I still get shivers down my spine whenever I thought his name?

Frustrated, I rapidly snapped the scissors and accidentally divided the supposed ly heart-shaped cardboard cutout in half. Uh-oh.

"Harris, seriously, what on Earth are you doing?" Marie Crandall, the President of the literary club, gasped from the back. "This is your fifth time cutting the hearts in a wrong way. Look, I really appreciate that you're trying to help us, but please don't play around, ruining those things. We spent long hours just to make them."

I turned to her and brushed my head coyly. "Sorry," I said with an apologetic sm ile. "I won't screw up this time, I promise."

Sighing, Marie pushed her glasses up her nose and walked back to her table.

I mentally slapped myself as I turned to my work. Actually, I was never been par t of this club, or any other school clubs, but since I had nothing much to do ar ound, I'd decided to tag along with Julianne and the other club members.

I'd been cutting these colored papers for hours just to distract myself from tho ughts of Erik's face, but I realized no matter what I did, I still couldn't get him out of my mind.

Just fantastic.

"Kylie, let's go grab some snacks. I'm getting hungry," Julianne said as she wen t to my side.

I stood up from my Indian seat and tapped my pants. "Sure thing. My throat feels like sandpaper now."

"We're going out for a while, people! We'll be back," she said before we left th e room.

On the way to the cafeteria, we noticed the hallways were jam-packed with studen ts roaming around, carrying streamers, boxes, balloons, stage props, and any oth er equipment. Most of the classes had been on hold for the day since-aside for t he preparations-everyone's minds were focused on the Valentine ball, and not on the lessons.

"What have you been up to, Kylie?" Julianne asked as we went to the line in the cafeteria.

I grabbed a sandwich from a tray, asking, "What do you mean?"

She took some mango tarts, a pineapple pie, some chicken nuggets, two packs of O reos, and a tuna sandwich; and ordered a bottle of Coke to the lady behind the c ounter, before shrugging. "You seem to be spaced out since the last two days."

As she said it, there came the flashbacks again. All of my mental training on "H ow to Forget the Guy Who Rejected You" had suddenly disappeared the moment I'd s een Erik in that alley.

"Oh, Jules." I groaned. "If only you know..."

"Then why won't you just tell me?"

"All right." I sighed before muttering, "Days ago, I ran into Erik somewhere in the city, like, literally ran into him."

She raised her eyebrows. "Ooh, interesting. You finally met him once again. Well , imagine after all these years..." She laughed as she studied my horrified reac tion. "So how were you guys? Did you two talk after?"

I shook my head. "I was just glad I was able to run away from him. I did not wan t to have a conversation with him, not at that time yet. God, I nearly collapsed on that spot."

Her grin widened. "Oh, my gosh. So you're, like, so into him again, aren't you?" She poked my side as she made teasing sounds.

And I couldn't help but be flustered. "No! Shut up, Julianne."

Crap. Was I honestly freaking out over Erik again? No way!I'd been right on the verge of success, having almost forgotten everything, but why had he come back? Some part of me was desperately wishing I hadn't bumped into him in the first pl ace.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, trying to erase his face from my mind .

We'd finally reached the cashier and paid for our snacks. I looked at Julianne's tray and rolled my eyes. I wouldn't be surprised if one day she bought all the goods in the menu. After all, she was quite well known for buying nearly the ent ire cafeteria without even thinking about the price.

We started to eat our snacks all the way back, and then I said, "Hey, why don't we check out what Lacey's doing right now?"

"Won't we be a distraction to their practice?"

"We're just gonna take a quick peek. Come on. I think she's in the dance studio. "

As soon as we arrived in the room, I poked my head through the half-open door. T he room was huge and a bit dim, and the warm atmosphere was mixed with the scent of sweat and perfume, making my nose itch. There was Lacey on a chair near the wide mirrors. I gave a wave, and she flicked her eyes on me, motioning us to com e in.

"Hey, so how's it going?" I asked as soon as we went to her side.

Lacey had her long dark-blond hair pulled up in a bun, and I could see the sweat s rolling down her neck and face like raindrops. "It's going well. Just a few st eps to master and we're done," she said with a lazy smile.

I grabbed a towel from her bag, and put it under her shirt on her back. "Your sh irt's too wet already. You have to change as soon as you get home, okay? Otherwi se you'll catch another cold." I noticed that her skin felt warmer compared to b efore.

"All right, thanks."

"Where are the others, Lace?" Julianne asked as she looked around. "Why are you alone here?"

"The others went out to grab some bites. I stayed here to get rest. I feel kinda dizzy." Lacey rubbed her temples. I offered her my food, but she just shook her head. "No, I'm cool."

"Gee, how did you guys survive here?" Julianne fanned herself and walked around. "Why didn't you open the air cooler? It's still February, but it already feels like summer in here."

"I think the appliance's broken." Lacey shrugged. "It's okay, though. Seems a bi t chilly here sometimes."

"Oh, so by the way, how's your partner?" Julianne wiggled her eyebrows. So typic al of her asking about boys and the likes. "Is he a hottie or a nottie?"

Lacey flashed me a look, seemingly giving me a secret message, before turning to her and saying, "Hmm, in a scale of ten, I think he's eleven."

The redhead laughed. "So you think he's much hotter than Clark?"

Blushing, Lacey answered, "Of course, not. He's fifteen, for me."

I merely looked at them with a frown.

"What's the name of your dance partner, anyway?"

"Can't tell. As I said, the King and Queen are should be a secret to everybody. You girls will just find it out if you watch the dance, because that'll be the o nly time our identities are finally exposed." Lacey turned to me with a thin smi le. "I wish you'll change your mind and attend instead, Ky. You're gonna miss so mething major."

I shrugged. "I don't care. I'll just find it out soon from the others."

The noise from the outside distracted us, and we figured out that Lacey's compan ions were returning to the studio. Lacey bid us goodbye as we left, but before J ulianne and I could completely walk away, my heart skipped a beat as my eyes fel l on Erik.

***

"Oh, speaking of the Valentine Ball," Mom said as she took the last of the casse role. "Kylie, didn't Tristan ask you to go with him the other day?"

The spoon of meatloaf stopped halfway to my mouth. Oh no, if Tristan had told he r everything from two days ago...

Lacey stared at me, mouth hang open. "Really, sis?"

"W-what? No, he absolutely did not," I stammered, quickly shaking my head. "Why would he even ask me out? Face it, Mom, Tristan would never do that."

Lies. Well, okay, maybe just half lies, since he hadn't asked me so much as forc ed me into the ball, but still...

Mom shrugged, munched, and said, "I just thought I heard something about it. It made sense, you two being so close and all."

I tried not to gag while chomping the meatloaf. When would she see that weren't that close after all? She'd always thought of us as being five-year-old best fri ends, playing in a sandbox or something, but there was no way Tristan and I coul d even stay in the same room without ending up at each other's throats.

"Anyway, Kylie, your Aunt Jacqueline called," Mom said, which caught my attentio n. "It's about your college."

Aunt Jacque was her older sister, who lived with Granny somewhere in London, and she was the coolest aunt I'd ever known in the world. Hearing about her made me feel excited.

"So what did she say about it?"

Mom smiled. "She's been thinking of helping you to enter Imperial College this y ear, since she knows you really want to take up medicine."

"Wow," Lacey breathed.

"Whoa, wait, Imperial College?" I asked disbelievingly. "Seriously, no way. Isn' t that one of the most prestigious colleges in the world? God, that'd be a dream come true!" I nearly did a happy dance in front of the dining table.

"Yes way, honey. She even said that she's going to support your financial matter s." She raised a finger. "Provided that you pull up your GPAs, though. Especiall y your math."

My smile froze, then slowly it faded away. Before I could stop it, a groan alrea dy escaped from my lips. Of course, there was always a condition.

Lacey made a fist-pump in the air, giving me a look of assurance. "You can do it , Kylie."

Well, it seemed like I needed a miracle for me to do that.

***

Even though I didn't want to go to school on the night of the ball, I still had to, just for the sake of my sister. I had helped her carry her dress and other i mportant stuffs to school, and honestly, I wanted to see her perform later; mayb e cheer her on. Still I'd chosen to steer clear from the people and stick in thi s dressing room for almost an hour, not up to face anyone else I might find (a.k .a. Erik or Tristan).

Speaking of Tristan, I wonder what had happened to him after I'd turned him away . He'd certainly looked like Spartacus at my front door Valentine's Day evening, and to be frank, I'd had no idea the chase through the city would have had such an effect on him.

Gee, that guy could be so weird sometimes, and I guess that night had been no ex ception. He'd just been speaking nonsense, giving me such weird answers, like hi s response when I'd pressed him about never liking someone for real-the words ha d slipped right off my tongue actually, and I'd thought he would laugh his ass o ff about it... but instead, in that serious voice of his, he'd just replied with ...

"But what if I have?"

Pfft! Who was I kidding? Like I was actually going to believe that! I just hoped that hadn't meant he was messing with another girl again or something.

A knock distracted me from my trance. Clark entered the room, eyes scanning arou nd. I hated to admit it, but he looked pretty good in his tux, with his brown ha ir all gelled into place.

As soon as he noticed me, he sucked in his breath and said, "Kylie. Hi. Uh-where 's Lacey?"

"She's in the other room." I jerked my head to the left and glowered. "Why?"

He began to sweat in bullets. "Ah-well, I just wanna check her if... if you know , she's okay and all. I just want to make sure."

I crossed my arms. "She's okay, Clark. Now go back to your friends, they might g et bored waiting for you."

"Nah, they're fine. Why aren't you dressed yet? The program's gonna start an hou r," he said, managing to sound calm and casual this time.

"I'm going home after Lacey's done with her preparations. I never have plans to attend, just so you know."

He wrinkled his nose. "Wow, Kylie, you don't have to be that indifferent-"

I heard muffled noises from the other side of the room-and it sounded like they' re calling Lacey's name in distress. Clark must've heard it, too, since he snapp ed his head and dashed to the place. I followed, and when he pushed the thick cu rtain open at the entrance, my eyes grew wider.

Lacey was lying unconscious in the blonde girl's arms. Another girl on the side, a brunette wearing a blue cocktail dress, was fanning my sister with a magazine .

"Jesus Christ! What happened?" Clark shouted as he made his way to Lacey.

I ran to the other side, my heart pounding so hard in my chest. "Lacey? Lacey?" I quickly checked her. She had no scratches or whatever physical injuries-thank God-, but as I touched her, I realized that she was burning hot.

"We-we don't know!" the blonde girl cried. "She was about to get her dress when she fainted!"

"Are you ready, girls?" a voice called from the door, and there entered a guy wi th curly auburn hair. He was also wearing a black tux, and on his back were litt le-what were those, fake wings? Seeing the turmoil, he took a step back in surpr ise. "What the actual-"

I squeezed Lacey's clammy hands as I turned to them. "She fainted because of a h igh fever," I said, catching my breath. "We need to get her to the clinic."

So that was why she seemed so strangely quiet and tired these past few days. Lac ey had been working so hard for this that she hadn't even checked her condition! Why had she been keeping that she was feeling sick all along? Had she thought o f missing this chance of being the Queen if she would back out herself?

"I'll carry her," Clark said. The girls moved away as he began carrying her in h is hands in a bridal manner.

"Ugh, darn it," the guy who just entered whined. He expressed the words in a hig h-pitched tone, so I assumed he wasn't that manly, after all. "What about the da nce? We only have fifty-minutes left!"

Clark whirled on him with a glare. "Lacey's health is much more important than t he dance, Steven. Find a replacement."

"That's what I'm thinking, Young!" Steven shot back with a glare as well.

Seething, Clark walked out of the room with Lacey still lying in his arms. I was about to rush after him, but a hand caught my shoulder.

"You! You're Kylie Harris, right?" Steven demanded; his wide brown eyes were dan cing frantically. I could feel the tension from his grip.

"Y-yeah," I stammered.

"Do you know how to waltz?"

"Of course, n-"

He snapped his fingers. "Perfect!"

"What!"

He jabbed his thumb at me, nodding at the girls who were petrified in the corner . "Len, Krystelle. Get her. Now!"

I was so screwed.