ღ Finding Cinderella- 8 ღ

-Kylie-

Oh.

My.

God.

You just have to breathe deeply, I told myself for the millionth time, just like Mom does in her yoga lessons. Just breathe... deeply...

I could feel my intestines doing knots, but then it was understandable. How could I be calm when I was forced to waltz in front of hundreds of people?

Not to mention I'd been paired with Erik!

Okay, so maybe it hadn't been me, exactly. Lacey had been his original partner, but with the whole fainting incident, things had totally swerved off track. In my head, I begged my whole life to Steven that I wasn't going to dance and he said okay and I went home to play Bioshock and that was the end of the story.

Sadly, things never worked out the way they did inside my brain.

So here I was, dancing before Erik, taking small steps in time with his and trying to break eye contact even though I couldn't do it.

I really couldn't.

I'd been rendered completely awestruck at how handsome he looked in his white tuxedo, and with his hair fixed, his thick lashes, and his pearly whites flashing as he smiled, he certainly looked like a King.

Some part of me wished for the dance to last longer, but the rest of me wished for time to speed up and end this event already. All I wanted was to run and hide because nobody, especially not him, could know this was me.

Even though it had been totally against my will, I had agreed with the student council to do this just as long as nothing got out about the big switch. This was just too humiliating. Besides, I knew how rumors could fly around this school. That's why I had forced those girls back in the dressing room to let me wear a mask and a wig, and thankfully, they gave in.

After I had begged on my knees.

Now my face was starting to itch, and I couldn't let go of Erik's hand to scratch it. Great. Not only did the makeup make my face smell like Play-Doh, but it induced an allergic reaction, too.

"Hey, are you okay?" Erik whispered, startling me as I danced. Oh no. He had to have seen my face scrunching up from the itch!

I quickly shook my head.

"Don't be nervous," he replied with a light chuckle. "Just follow my lead, and everything will go smoothly."

Oh, wasn't he a gentleman? Erik's chivalry had always been one of my favorite traits.

As the song played on, we circled around the room a few times, making my brain spin. I tried my best to follow his lead, but the routine was starting to get tricky, and I found myself growing more and more confused. Finally, when Erik stepped to the right in a complicated move, I anxiously followed, only to tread on his foot in the process.

Erik hissed under his breath, and I panicked.

"I'm so sorry!" My words tumbled out rapidly. "I didn't mean to do it, I swear! I'm just a complete klutz at dancing, and—"

"Whoa, whoa. Wait a second," he interrupted, eyes widening. "This may sound weird to you, but your voice and that kind of reaction are very familiar to me..."

Then, after another heavy pause, his eyes went even wider, and he muttered, "Kylie?"

I nearly had a heart attack.

Shit, he actually recognized me, what am I going to do, what am I supposed to say—

Erik narrowed his eyes at me, giving me a once-over, and I gulped.

"Yeah, I can see it now!" he finally exclaimed as if he won the lottery. "You really are Kylie. If it weren't for your voice, I couldn't even tell this is you. You looked so different! But wait," he added, his brows knitting, "why are you wearing a wig and a mask?"

Crap.

This was so not happening. My secret was out, and it hadn't even lasted the night!

"Erik," I hissed, my voice desperate. "Please, please don't tell anybody about this. I don't want the whole school to know this is me. I'll do anything you want. Just plea—"

Erik laughed, and as we moved across the dance floor, I stopped talking just to stare at him.

"It's fine, Kylie," he said. "I get it. I'm not one to tattle, relax. Your little secret safe with me."

Then he winked. I could feel my cheeks heating up as I processed how adorable he'd looked while doing it.

"Really?" I sputtered. "Do you swear it? Cross your heart, hope to die?"

He nodded. "Promise. Cross my heart, hope to die."

Grinning, I couldn't help but picture myself running around after the event, dancing in the road like a total wacko. Hallelujah, I'd been saved!

Now Erik really was the nicest person in the universe. Take that, Tristan!

"But Kylie," Erik noted, "don't you hate dressing like this? This is the first time I've seen you wearing a gown, I think."

"Ugh. Don't even talk about it. This dress is embarrassing," I muttered, shaking my head. "Whatever. You can laugh all you want, I guess. It'll be worse for me if I act humiliated, so I've been trying to seem confident in the dress so I don't look self-conscious. Besides, I'm doing this for my sister's sake, not to mention the well-being of our Valentine Ball."

Erik laughed again. "Is that so? It's okay, though. Just hold your head up, Kylie. You do want everyone to see how pretty you look tonight, don't you?"

What?

Did he just call me... what?

"P-pretty? No way! Y-you have to be kidding," I stuttered, sounding like a startled chicken.

"I'm telling the truth, Kylie. You look gorgeous."

Yikes!

I had no idea what to say in return so I simply removed my gaze from him, heart exploding all the while. I was glad my mask was there to hide the redness of my cheeks somehow. Inside my white gloves, my palms were sweaty as if all the water inside me were being pumped out.

I couldn't believe it. All my first-time experiences had occurred this very night. My first dance, my first compliment from a boy, my first time being close to a guy that wasn't Tristan...

And all of them were because of Erik.

My eyes scanned the area as I followed Erik's footsteps. Whoa. Many people were gathered around us, all gossiping, apparently. Once again the discomfort started to get to me, what with all these students acting like I was a billboard or something.

Then, as Erik lifted up his arm for me to spin under, my gaze fell on a conspicuous person in the crowd. He was staring at me intensely, too, as if I were a—

Holy Shih Tzu.

Face turning pale, I snapped my head to the other side. I'd just seen something—or rather someone—whose identity hadn't registered until now, someone whose gaze could be imprinting itself into my brain cells for good.

The person staring had been Tristan.

I'd seen him. He'd seen me. From the look on his face, I gathered he was secretly plotting something, just like all the antagonists did in the movies.

But worst of all, he might have recognized me!

"Everyone, please give a round of applause for the King and Queen's beautiful performance!" the emcee applauded over the microphone.

Ha, thank goodness, it's over!

I could've jumped for joy and shouted hooray. The emcee must've heard my prayers and finally ended the dance!

The gym erupted with claps and cheers, and Erik released me from his grip. Before long, he was bowing courteously to the crowd, and it took me a couple of seconds to understand what was going on. When I finally put it together, I grabbed the skirt of my dress, bent my knees ever so slightly, and bowed my head, hoping I was doing the right thing.

The clapping started to fade out as the host read from the program that it was time for the Fate Dance. While everyone began to talk amongst themselves, Erik and I made our way to a dim corner, where we could—hopefully—not be bothered.

"So, uh, good luck?" he said.

"For what?" I asked breathlessly. I was still so shaken by Tristan's presence that my heart refused to stop pounding.

"For the Fate Dance. I see we don't have matching strings," Erik replied, pointing at the red ribbon laced around my wrist. "Mine's gray, so I guess I don't have a chance to dance with you again."

"Oh," I murmured, noticing his string with the words "The Mask" stitched into it. "What's this all about, anyway?"

"All participants who have the Fate strings, come to the center please!" the host called through the noisy crowd. The voice was saccharine, and I recognized it belonged to Steven.

"That's our cue." Erik smiled at me. "I hope you have a good partner, Kylie." With that, he proceeded to the center, joining the other chosen ones.

"Make sure you both have the same color and pattern!" another host announced, female this time. "We'll give you five minutes to search, and when the time's up, all of you should be paired!"

For a solid minute, I only stood there, wondering whether I should participate. I held up my wrist to study my Fate string and its heart designs before I sighed and decided to call it a night.

I would have more fun spending my time in a cozy bed rather than in a humid gym with all these drunken, sweaty kids. I didn't care if my partner would end up alone during the dance. He could just do bogey all by himself or whatever. Moreover, I had two major concerns. First was my sick sister. Second, Tristan, who I needed to avoid before he could actually locate me this time.

I craned my neck to look for the exit door and perked up momentarily when I spotted it...

...on the other side of the gym. Fantastic.

Groaning, I hitched up my dress and edged around the room, distancing myself from the crowd as much as possible. Luckily I'd picked to wear my sneakers under the ball gown. I'd refused to wear Lacey's stilettos because they had made me feel like a monkey limping across the sidewalk. Yeah, my entire getup looked ridiculous, but my sneakers provided so much comfort and no one had noticed them anyway so I was in the clear.

While people were pushing past each other in a frenzy, I focused on the exit as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world. And it really was since I was desperate to go home and take a pee. Seriously, no joke—if I spent another hour in this horrible place, I didn't want to think about the horrible things that would happen to me and my bladder.

But with thousands of steps to take and hundreds of kids to push away, I'd be out in no time at all! Yay!

Not. This could take hours.

I felt like I was walking through the Amazon rainforest. For the love of Peter, Paul, and Mary—why couldn't they just clear the way already? I needed a clean toilet!

Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I jumped. Oh, come on! My bladder was about to explode!

Utterly pissed, I spun around, ready to shoot daggers at the culprit, but my body went tense as I saw who it was.

"Uh, excuse me?" he said, eyes locked on mine.

Bloody hell...

Somebody. Please. Shoot me now.