I ran into my room and sat down, sobbing. A few minutes later, after I had calmed down a bit, I heard a knock on my door.

"Juliet? Are you in there? Juliet?" I heard Prince Adam call from the door.

"Go away! I want to be alone!" I said.

"Adam," I heard Princess Taylor say in a gentle voice, "Just leave her alone for now, let her calm down before you talk to her,"

There was a silence and he agreed. I heard their footsteps fade away. I sighed and laid back down on my bed. I heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall and stopped in front of my door. I sat up quickly and looked at the door. Jessica barged in, without knocking and smirked at me.

"Congratulations, you made a fool out of yourself," Jessica said.

I didn't say anything. She sat on the bed right next to me.

"You know how they said that you looked like Queen Julie? Well, you don't because you look hid-,"

Prince Adam was standing right outside my door, looking at Jessica and then to me.

"Be- because, ummm, you couldn't be a princess because if, if you were you would have your own castle and, umm, not here," she stammered.

"Jessica, could you please leave Juliet's room?" Prince Adam said, sternly.

She left with her head down and right before she left, she glared at me and stomped away.

"Are you feeling better?" he said, while closing the door and sat down next to me.

I nodded quietly and then cleared my throat.

"Yes, I'm fine. You may leave now," I said, looking at the wall.

He chuckled, "You think you can make me leave that easily?"

"When we were younger, yes, but now I'm not sure," I said looking at him.

He looked back with his beautiful, blue eyes. I looked away and cleared my throat again.

"Apparently, I cannot attend the ball this evening," I said.

He tilted his head, "Who said that?"

"Jessica told me that your mother did,"

"And you believed her?"

"For the first time, yes, I do, because I broke the rules,"

He shook his head, "It's against the rules to not have a maid attend a ball, ever, so that means you are coming no matter what. I'll see you this evening,"

He left and then awhile later, my grandmother came with a beautiful dress.

"Here's your dress, from your mother," she said, while admiring the dress, "She left it for you"

The dress was beautiful. It was a light pastel color of pink with laces and shiny beads. My grandmother pulled me off the bed and pushed me into the bathroom demanding me that I should get prepared. I took a shower and wrapped myself in a towel. My grandmother did my make up and hair. She made nice, soft curls and put it on one side of my head.

She took a step back, away from me and smiled, "You look beautiful, Prince Adam would drool for you and want to marry you, not that selfish little Jessica,"

I shook my head, "Grandmother, you know we can't marry, I'm not a princess. Besides, he escorting Jessica and Princess Taylor is going to be there too. That's who he's going to marry, not me."

This time my grandmother shook her head, "Don't count on it, you never know,"

I rolled my eyes and she helped me put on my dress. To my surprise, it fit perfectly on me. It fell right above the top of my heels. My grandmother had tears in her eyes.

"You just look just like your mother with that dress on,"

I smiled and hugged her. I heard a knock on the door and a Knight say that the ball is in five minutes.

"They ball will first be held in the garden and then in the ballroom," he left and went on to another maids room.

My grandmother got ready with her dress, it was a nice white, floor length dress. We were about to leave but then she said forgot something. She told to close my eyes. I closed them and she put something on my head. I opened up my eyes and looked back at my reflection. It was a small tiara that sparkled in every angle. I smiled.

"It's complete," my grandmother smiled, "Let's go"

                                                                ------------------------------------------------

We were the last ones to arrive. We stood at the back of the line and I could see perfectly what everyone was wearing. Everyone looked beautiful in their gowns. Almost everyone had a small tiara, but not quite the same as mine. We all wore different colors of dresses. I saw that Jessica was in the front, looking around at everyone else too. She spotted me and glared, but she looked away when the Prince opened the door behind her and smiled. Princess Taylor was right behind Jessica with her mother, Queen Tessa. The Knight announced Prince Adam and Jessica and I heard an applause from the audience. Princess Taylor went, along with the other maids. I was next after about five maids. I could see Prince Adam talking to Princess Taylor, and glancing every now and then to look at the maids coming in. I frowned. What if he doesn't look at me. I sigh.

"Don't worry Juliet, you'll do fine. Just smile your beautiful smile and everything will be alright," my grandmother reassured me.

It was our turn. I smile and nod to the Knight.

"Maiden Juliet and Theresa," the Knight calls out.

I hear someone gasp and the room gets quiet. Slow music starts to play. Prince Adam looks over while we walk down the steps. He smiles at me and I do the same to him, but not the smile my grandmother expected from me.

She sighs and says, "I told you that he would drool,"

That quick comment makes me laugh.

She smiles, "There we go, that's the one I was looking for,"

Once we found a place to sit, the King and the Queen welcomed us and then Prince Adam and Princess Taylor start to slow dance. I looked at the beautiful scenery. Vines covered the walls and all kinds of flowers were everywhere. I looked behind me and a fountain with benches were there with a little pathway in between the trees. I get up and go to the pathway and walked in it to look at the scenery more. I hear a rustle at the end of the path. I freeze. I hear it again and then I quickly walk back. When I got back, I see Adam and Jessica dancing. I sit back down next to my grandmother, who gave disgusted looks towards Jessica. I chuckled. Their dance ends and the Prince looks around for someone to dance with. He looks at me and smiles. He comes over and bows.

"May I have this dance with you, Juliet?"

I stand back up and curtsy, "I will be honored to," I say, smiling.

He takes my hand and guides me to the dance floor. We start dancing, his hands on my hips and mine on his shoulders. He looks gorgeous tonight, he always does but this time it's different.

"You look very beautiful tonight," he says quietly for only me to hear.

I blush and look down at our feet. "Thank you, you look handsome yourself,"

The King and the Queen started to dance beside us and I had to switch off with a different maid. I walked over to my seat, smiling. My grandmother smiles and giggles. I just rolled my eyes and enjoyed the Prince and the maids dancing. The dancing ended and the King and Queen decided to stay outside instead of going into the ballroom. Everyone chatted while I went to sit by the fountain, remembering the time when Adam and I played in the water and getting in trouble for it. I laugh to myself.

"What are you laughing about?" I hear a voice behind me.

"Nothing, just thinking," I say and turn around to see Adam smiling at me. We sit down next to the fountain, no one can see us because the trees were blocking the view from the patio.

"Sorry about the short dance,"

"It's okay, I understand, you can't just dance with me for ten minutes. The other maids would get mad,"

He chuckles, "True."

We looked at the water from the fountain. I looked at him and he leaned in closer to me. I see something move from the pathway with trees.

"I think someone's calling for you," I say quickly.

He leans back and looks upset. He nods at me and goes back to the party, without saying anything. I sighed. Close one. I put my face in my hands. I'm exhausted. I hear movement from somewhere again. I get up and decide to investigate. I walked down the pathway carefully, trying to fool whoever was there that I wasn't. I get to the end and I find nothing. I turn around and someone grabs me. I try to get free and scream but he or she covered my mouth.

"Don't try to fight or you'll get hurt," a man says.

I don't listen to him so I bite his hand with all my might. He let's go quickly and then puts it back over my mouth. But it was too late, I screamed already.

"Juliet!" I hear Adam yell.

Adam and four Knights were with him.

"Let her go and no one gets harmed!" Prince Adam shouts.

The man laughs, "Never, and it's too late now,"

I hear a helicopter come closer and closer, the wind making everything move wildly. The man laughs again. Adam runs towards me, trying to save me, but it's too late. A ladder comes down from above, the man holds me tightly, making sure I won't fall. We jerk up too fast and my small tiara falls off. I scream and the last thing I see and hear is Adam picking up the crown, and him yelling.

"I'll come and find you Juliet! No matter what!"