Chapter 1

Cinderella

Cinderella (or "Cece" as she liked to be called) looked out her bedroom window- although it wasn't really a window, it was more of a hole in the wall- and stared at the young boy near the Edgar Family Stables. He was taking bales of hay off the back of a large carriage. His name was William Fish, he was seventeen and looked about twenty, with his gruffy looking face and all. If it weren't for the stubble on his face, William would have been quite handsome. But Cece looked beyond the forrest growing on William's face and saw the sweet boy/man he was. Cece and William had known each other since they were one. They used to be childhood Besties until Cece's mother, Millicent Edgar, had decided that William and his father, William Sr., were unfit to be friends of any family member of the Edgar household. This killed Cece and her father, George Edgar, for the had lost their bestfriends ever. Of course, they didn't actually die... at least, Cece didn't. Shortly after Millicent (Cece, Amelia's, and Amber's mother) announced their "banishment" from the Fish's house and vice versa, George died of a broken heart... or maybe it was the fact that a board fell on his head? Either way, Millicent couldn't do all of the stable work and such herself, not could she send her three daughters, twins Amelia and Amber, and little Cinderella. Thus, Millicent told William Sr. that he could work for the Edgar family. William and William Sr. were thrilled. So, for twelve years, William Sr. worked for the Edgar women in exchange for money. Eventually, William Sr. got ill and handed the title of "Stable Cleaner, Woodchopper, Horse Brusher, etc...", along to William and William Sr.'s once-long-lost twenty-one-year-old son, Barney.

Cece had developed a crush on William over the years. Perhaps it was the way he whistled a Sailor-Mouth song while gathering the eggs from the chickens, or the way he spit on the ground every time onw of the flies that clung onto one of the old horses flew into his mouth. Cece loved everything he did. Unfortunately, she could neither talk to William nor Barney, her mother forbid it. But even if she could, what would she say? "Hello, I've been watching you ever since I was five and I admire every way you move your body... let's date."? "I know you smell like horse manure and grass, but could you just kiss me under the full moon while it's raining?" Cece wasn't sure if William was the romantic type, but she knew most guys weren't, so she didn't think anymore of it. Instead, she started fantasizing about how she'd ask him and to a dinner of BigMacs and a Coke while they watched young and hot knights-to-be joust. She thought that'd be an amazing first-date, but she was sure that William would get jealous of the thin, fit, muscular, and sweaty knights walk around shirtless to cool off before the next competition.

Cece sighed. Oh how she longed for a romance. All of her friends had kissed a boy at a young age, and some had children even younger. Even her good friend, Hermia, was living it up with a new lover every week. Cece always thought of Hermia as a princess. Which made sense, since Hermia WAS a princess. THE princess to be exact. The princess of Royalind, and if you think "Royalind" was a weird name for a kingdom, the kingdom next over was even more ridiculous! "." This kingdom was run by the crazy king Alejandro and his queen, Maggie. Cece's mother always said, "I am so glad not to be in such a kingdom where the king gives everyone -and I mean EVERYONE- money. I mean, who does he think he is? The tax payers are basically paying for the king to blow it on upon the Non-working and moochers!"

"I quite think it's a lovely idea, mother..." Cece said as she sewed a little puppydog image onto her big quilt.

"Oh, you're a child Cinderella, a child! What do you know?" Cece's mother snapped. Amelia and Amber snickered.

"I am seventeen mother... I am old enough to have children of my own," Cece said with a big sigh.

"What is this talk about children?" Millicent gasped.

"I am just saying... I think I deserved to be treated like an adult. I mean, Amber and Amelia are only two years older than I and they get treated like adults!" Cece said putting down her thread-work.

"That is because..." Millicent started.

"MOTHER!" Amelia and Amber interrupted.

"Ughh, nevermind..." Cece said picking up her sewing again. I'm more of an adult than they realize! I just have to prove it to them somehow... "Mother?"

"Yes, dear?" Millicent asked, not bothering to look up from the Sunday paper.

"What would I have to do to prove I am a adult?"

"Cinderella..." Millicent sighed. "I thought we had dropped the subject?"

Cece looked over at her sisters, who were over to the other side of the wall, peeking out the window at someone. They kept giggling and kissing the glass, leaving lipstick marks on it.

"We have... I just wanted to know," Cece said getting up and sitting on the floor with her legs crossed.

Millicent looked down at Cece's legs and saw two great gashes on both of her knees. There were grass stains on her dress and dry grass in her long blonde hair. "Well... honey, first off, you could get the spinach out of your teeth..."