The Reluctant Cinderella

Once her grounding was over the first thing Dawn did was grab a certain shoe and, after a quick debate with herself, marched right over to Jason’s house. At seven in the morning. She knocked and waited. She knocked again… and waited again. It was after the third time knocking did she decide to check the driveway. It was void of any cars. Everyone’s gone? she thought. At this time? That was strange, but maybe they had something family related to attend to. Shrugging, she turned and headed back to her own house. She’ll try again later.

When she left her house no one else was up but upon entering she heard movement from the living room. Crap, I knew I should have entered from the back door. She mentally kicked herself before quietly closing the front door and tip-toeing to the stairs. Her right foot had just landed on the first step when someone said her name. Quickly she turned, hiding the shoe behind her back. “Good morning dad,” she said with a smile.

“You’re up early. Where were you?” he asked with arms crossed.

“Oh, just sitting on the porch swing enjoying the morning sunshine. ‘Cause you know, summer is almost over.” She hoped he believed her little white lie. She didn’t want anyone to know she had gone over to Jason’s house. No one in the family had forgotten what he had done at the summer ball. Not a good word could be heard about him in the Santiago house.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. You’re going to be a senior this year.” He took a few steps over and she resisted the urge to retreat. “Before you know it, you’ll be working and going to college and wishing that you were still in high school.”

Dawn nodded. “You’re probably right dad.” Now go back to the living room.

“Okay… just wanted you to know.” He smiled and nodded before turning away.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, she too turned and started up the stairs as quickly as she could. Once in her room she shut the door and began going over what she was going to say to Jason. That is if she ever managed to find him. He always managed to just pop out of nowhere when she was least expecting it. Now it was her turn.

With her thoughts buzzing in her head Dawn paced the room going over every scenario she could imagine. Though only one kept on reoccurring - Jason getting mad, calling her “deceitful” and never wanting to be her friend again. She couldn’t bear losing his friendship. Yes, he could be cocky most of the time but it was nice to have someone with new topics and fresh ideas to talk with. The same people have been living in her city her whole life. This one confession could ruin everything.

She glanced at her digital clock and saw that only thirty minutes have passed. Maybe if I take a nap my mind will clear. The instant her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.

Knock! Knock! Knock! “Dawn, wake up!” The voice belonged to her mother.

“Ugh,” was Dawn’s reply as she rolled to her side.

“Son las doce media dias. You need to get out of bed,” her mother said from the other side of her door.

Dawn sat up immediately. “It’s noon?!” A quick look at the clock answered her question. The thought that she may have missed Jason coming home went through her mind. If her mother was up then so was everyone else. With Sky being so protective now there was no way she would be able to sneak away unnoticed.

She stood, straightened her clothes then hastily put her hair into a ponytail. Her door opened and entered Sky. “I see that you’re finally up,” he stated as he walked in. “So, what do you want to do today?”
“What do you mean?” she asked as she headed to the bathroom. Her make-up needed to be touched up a little.

“You’re grounding is over,” he said before sitting on her bed.

“I know,” she replied.

“So I was planning on spending the day with you.”

She poked her head out of the door and looked at him, suspicion in her eyes. “Why?”

He stood. “I saw you leave the house this morning and go over to Jason’s.” He spat out the name with a hint of disgust. “What did you want with him?”

She marched right over to him, glaring the whole time. “It’s none of your business, Sky.” On the inside she was worried. Had he seen the shoe she was carrying? Did he guess that she went to the summer balls?

“It is my business,” he said with authority. “As you’re older brother-”

“Don’t give me that older brother excuse,” she said, cutting him off. “Look, I like that you are trying to catch up but being overprotective is just as bad as you ignoring me. Give me my space.”

“I’m just looking out for you.”

Her face softened. “I appreciate that… but don’t you think that I need to live my own life? Make my own mistakes? How else am I suppose to learn?” He didn’t respond but when he lowered his head she knew that he understood. “I can take care of myself,” she continued. “But not all the time. So, if it ever comes to a point that I can’t handle Jason by myself, then I give you full permission to beat him up.” At that they both started cracking up.

She finally calmed down and walked to her door. “Now,” Dawn started, “do you really want to spend the whole day with you’re little sister?”

Sky walked over. “Not really. I kind of want to hang with my friends.”

“And by ‘friends’ you mean Rachel, right?”

He blushed a bit. “Yeah, she’s been wanting to do something today but I was more preoccupied with watching over you.”

“Uh, Sky, you do know that it’s you’re one year anniversary?”

With eyes widened in shock he muttered, “Crap! I forgot. Wait, how did you know?”

Of course you did, she thought. She rolled her eyes. “Why are you still standing there? Go out and make some plans!”

“Right!” He was gone in a flash, leaving Dawn to shake her head with a grin.

With her older brother out of the way she now could concentrate on finding Jason and coming clean. Hopefully he was at home and had time to talk. After checking her make-up and clothes one more time she grabbed the shoe, this time putting it in a plastic grocery bag, and headed down stairs. A quick check on the first floor she found both her parents in the living room going over some bills. Her siblings were nowhere in sight.

In no time at all she was once again standing in front of the Williams’ front door. This time she only needed to knock once before Jason opened it. “Hey,” he said with a big smile.

“Jason I need to talk to you,” she said in a hurry.

Her tone took him by surprise and his smile faded. “Okay,” he said while closing the door. “Is something wrong?”

This was it. The moment she was waiting for. She couldn’t back down now. “Rememberattheballswhenyouweredancing-”

“Woah, slow down.”

She took a deep breath. “Remember at the balls when you took Rose as a date but then danced with a stranger?”

“Yeah, then your sister freaked on the last night and started yelling. You probably heard it all night when she got home.”

“And the next day,” she mumbled. “Well, you see… that stranger… well, she was… me.” Dawn couldn’t even look at him as she finished her sentence.

“You’re kidding, right? Is this some sort of joke?”

She looked into his caramel eyes. “No! I wish that it was though.” She reached into the plastic bag and pulled out the black ballet flat caked in mud. “Does this look familiar? I believe that you have the other one.”

He just stared at her with disbelief. It couldn’t have been her. He would have known! But he was starting to remember the feeling he got when dancing with that stranger. The familiarity between them. The way it was so easy just to talk to her. Was it really Dawn the whole time? He didn’t say anything to her; instead he went back into his house, leaving her on the doorstep.

As the door shut Dawn turned and slowly headed back to her house. He was mad and she didn’t expect anything less. Of course he would be mad! She deliberately deceived him and waited too long to tell him the truth. Their friendship was over.

She only got halfway to her house when she heard Jason call her name. She stopped but didn’t turn to him. His running footsteps came nearer until they finally stopped. Still, she didn’t turn around.

“Dawn, why did you leave?” he asked.

“Because I knew that you would be mad,” she answered. “And I don’t blame you one bit. I’m fine if you don’t want to be friends anymore.”

“Are you really fine with not being friends? Because I’m not.”

This caused her to turn and look at him with confusion. “But… I don’t understand?” It was then that she noticed he had her other shoe. Like the other, it too was caked in mud.

“I want to continue being friends with you.” He paused. “Actually, I want to be more than friends.” Then he did something that took her by surprise.

He kissed her.