Like a Fairytale

“Eleanor Brynne Kinsley, have you lost your damn mind?!” Sammy asked over the phone. I cringed a little; Sam never really got mad at me.

“Sam, c’mon, I need you!” I begged.

“Why can’t Kelsey-bear do it?” He grumbled.

“Because the Stripper hates Kelsey!” I was pacing again in my room, a week after I planned my scheme. In order for this to work, I needed Sam’s help but he just would. Not. Cooperate.

“And what makes you think she would like me any more than Kels?” He sighed.

“’Cause you’re male. She doesn’t care that you’re gay, you still have a penis.” I sat on my bed, absent-mindedly rubbing a green stripe on my comforter.

He laughed. “Thanks for that, El. Okay, what is it you need me to do?”

“Okay, so penis is the magic word. Got it,” I laughed. “Anyway, I need you to get the Stripper somewhere, anywhere, Halloween night.”

“Why?” He inquired.

“So I can go to the dance.”

“Oh Lord,” He chuckled. “Since when do you dance?”

“Since it will help me nab a gorgeous boy,” I grinned.

“Ooh, who? I need details, girl!” By the way, yes, Sammy is always curious as to who Kels and I like. He calls it “girl-talk.”

I giggled myself and explained the whole thing to him.



The weeks before the dance flew by, my plan taking shape and form as the days passed. Soon, I had it all down, all perfect.

Sammy told Tanya that he heard the governor was going to the strip joint where she worked at eleven thirty, and that he was going to pay the big bucks if she would work overtime for him. (She already had to work Halloween night.) That gave me until about midnight to find Justin and reel him in.

Everyone knew Justin was dressing up as Prince Charming (a costume I thought suited him quite well) and so I went cliché as well - Cinderella. It was the obvious thing to do, and the obvious is usually the last thing guessed, so Becca and the Barbies couldn’t figure me out. It was relatively foolproof.

“Ella, you look amazing,” Kelsey said earnestly, popping on her fake white fangs she got at the arcade. She was dressed as a vampire, and it looked amazing - she was truly frightening, in a way I knew guys would find sexy. I had a feeling Kels was going to be biting some necks tonight.

“We look like polar opposites!” I giggled. “I’m a princess in all white, and you’re a gothic vampire.”

She laughed. “I know right!” Then she started singing one of our favorite songs loudly - Dance in the Dark by Lady Gaga. Sammy and I sang along as Sammy drove.

The night was warm and wicked, small children dressed as ghouls and ghosties lurking in front of every doorbell, desperate for candy. The moon hung bright and full, and all the stars were twinkling at their brightest. A breeze tickling under your chin and played with your hair, strong enough to make you afraid it was a monster doing it - or a secret admirer. Romance was in the air just as much as fear, setting a perfect scene for Thousand Oaks High School Haunted Halloween Masquerade. Something big was going to happen tonight, I could feel it in my bones.

The decorations were fantastic. The dance was held in the gym, but you couldn’t tell; the bleachers had somehow been removed, and red, purple, black, green, and orange fairy lights hung everywhere, casting a spooky glow across the room. The air-conditioner was on full blast, so the dance floor was the only place where you could feel the heat. Teachers dressed as monsters roamed around, hoping to scare some unexpected couple dressed in costumes and masks. So, basically, it was amazing.

I quickly found Justin over by the punch, trying to not be noticed. It felt a little strange to be the one smiling at him for a change, but I was wildly excited to actually get to talk to him - without a blood-thirsty Rebecca hunting me down.

“Wow,” Justin said softly, looking at me from perfectly curled hair to surprisingly comfortable glass slippers. “You look beautiful, whoever you are.”

I grinned. “Why thank you. You don’t look too bad yourself.” It was true, too. With his white dress shirt untucked, his black suit jacket unbuttoned, skinny jeans, and black and silver mask, he was wearing the kind of outfit that would get him raped by fans if he wore anywhere but here. Hell, it may just get him raped by me. (Okay, okay, I wouldn’t rape Justin Bieber… much.)

“So, Cinderella, I’m guessing?” He asked. When I nodded, he smiled slowly, the grin of a boy who’s about to say a great line to a girl he thinks is hot. “Are you in need of a charming prince?”

“Well,” I replied, leaning close to him. “That depends on the prince. Why, are you in need of a princess?”

“Only if she’s you,” He answered back, eyes smoldering into mine. “Want to dance?”

And so we did, the whole school’s eyes on us, Justin Bieber and his unknown princess. We didn’t care though; we were just lost in the music and each other.

After several songs, Justin whispered, “Come outside with me. Its too crowded in here.”

I took his hand and walked with him out to a few benches. Once we sat, he went to pull off my mask, but I stopped him. I didn’t want to explain the whole Rebecca situation right then.

“Mysterious, eh?” He asked, before whispering in my ear, “I like it.”

I grinned. “Let’s unveil the mystery, shall we? Tell me all about you.”

He smiled softly, staring out into space for a moment before speaking. “I’m not really that interesting. I don’t have very many stories to tell.”

“Everyone has a story,” I said with a soft smile of my own. “Even if they don’t know it.”

“You sure you aren’t going to run and tell this to the whole school, are you?” He teased.

I laughed. “Cinderella would never do such a thing.”

“Okay then,” He chuckled. “So, my life story, huh?”

“Works for me,” I replied, leaning back against the wall of the gym behind us. I could feel the thumping of the music.

“Well, I was born in this little town in Ontario. You know where that is, right?” Once I nodded, he continued, telling me all about his rise to fame, his ex-girlfriend, Caitlin, how hard it was on him to break up with her, but how he realized later that she wasn’t “the one,” and how lonely he was now.

“Tell me about your parents.” I hoped they were good, loving people. I needed to know people like that existed. I needed to be reassured on that fact.

“My parents were always fighting, and when I was two they got divorced. I hate thinking about it. I mean, I never got why people got divorced. Why can’t you just marry the person you’ll love forever and not have to deal with it?”

I frowned sympathetically, but took his hand again. “Sometimes you get tricked or fooled into it. Sometimes, the person looks wonderful, but really, they’re scum who will harm what family you have left.”

“I sense a story there,” Justin noted. “What’s going on behind that?”

I sighed. “My… my mom died when I was little, and six months later, Dad got remarried, because she tricked him into thinking she was a good wife, a good mother - a good person. It was all just a little game or something though, because when Dad isn‘t around, she’s just… she’s terrible.”

“I’m sorry,” He said quietly. “Maybe divorce wouldn’t be such a bad thing for your situation, then. But don’t you wish that you could just find someone who really is just the one for you? Like true love? Like a fairytale?”

I nodded. “Sometimes, Mr. Right is hard to find. Or Mrs. Right, in your case.”

Just like that, the conversation was light again - amazing. “Sometimes, Prince Charming is right in front of you though,” Justin teased. “And really thinking about kissing his Cinderella.”

“Maybe this Prince Charming guy should stop thinking and just do it,” I replied smoothly, heart racing.

He took my face in his hands, leaning in close as his peppermint-scented breath fanned my face. Slowly, we both closed our eyes, and just as his lips almost touched mine… my phone rang. God damn it.

“Sorry,” I said quickly to Justin before checking it. Sammy’s name flashed across my screen. “Crap. Gotta take this.” I flipped open the phone and immediately said into it, “This better be important.”

“Um, El? Where the hell are you? Its midnight! Tanya will be home any second!” Sam cried through the phone.

I gasped. “Oh my god, I totally lost track of time. I am dead. I am so dead,” I clapped a hand to my forehead. “Meet me at your car in five minutes, okay?” I hung up before he could answer, my bones feeling like lead at the bad timing.

“What’s going on?” Justin asked as I gathered my stuff. (I had pulled my iPod out of my purse earlier to show him my musical taste.) “Where are you going?”

“Its past my curfew,” I groaned. “My step-mom is going to kill me!”

“Can’t you-” He started, but I cut him off.

“No, I’m sorry. Thank you so much for tonight though. It was really special.” That didn’t even begin to describe it, but it was the only thing I could manage in my rush.

He pulled off his mask. “Please, just stay.” His hand was on my wrist, warm and rough.

“I’m sorry, I can’t,” I said sadly, desperately. “Goodbye!” I ran towards the parking lot, thoroughly depressed that this Cinderella’s midnight had to come so early. But of course, (because my life isn‘t cliché enough) one of the glass slippers had gotten stuck in the grass. “Fuck,” I mumbled, pulling on it. It wouldn’t budge. There was only one thing to do: ditch it.

“Who are you?!” Justin yelled from behind me.

I bit my lip, but just kept moving until I got to Sam’s car. As soon as I was in, I slammed the door and screeched, “Floor it!”

By some wonderful miracle, we beat Tanya home, but only by a few minutes. Once I was home though, I realized in my haste that I had dropped my iPod when I had tried to free the slipper. I figured I’d find them the next day or something. Worse comes to worse, I’d have to beat some asses to get them back.

So, since Lady Luck pretty much hates me, come Monday morning, I found out that I was dead wrong.