Author's Note: Its a little twist on Cinderella, but slightly different from the actual story. Hope you enjoy! I will be continuing my other story, so don't worry!
Not mine.
The beginning is a little confusing, but it's two people, whoever you want them to be. It could be mother and daughter, Grandfather and son (haha, Princess Bride reference), friends, sisters, whatever. It made me laugh, so I put it in.
Onceupon a time, in a far away land…
Far away?
Okay, it wasn't so far, just Trenton New Jersey. May I continue the story?
Fine. Sheesh.
As I was saying, once upon a…
You already said that.
Sigh.
ANYWAY in Trenton New Jersey (which apparently isn't very far at all) was …
That's all I'm saying.
May I continue?
Silence.
Was a beautiful woman named Stephanie, who was currently waiting for the laundry to be done. She looked back down at her book, sighed, then shut it.
"Stephanie? Are you out here?" Her mother called.
"Yeah mom."
"Good, could you bring in the laundry?"
"Sure, mom."
She unclipped the laundry from the wire and entered the house. Her mother and sister Valerie were working on the supper before her father arrived home.
"Good. Now you can fold it and put it away. Valerie and I have dinner almost ready so we don't have another debacle like last week." She said with a slight laugh. "Don't forget to lay out your dress for the ball tomorrow. Hopefully Prince Joseph will choose one of you two."
"I'd rather gouge my eye out…" Stephanie muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!" She called up the stairs.
Soon, the day of the ball was upon them. Valerie was running around the house in a frenzy, trying to find the perfect dress while Stephanie sat in her room.
"Rex, why do I have to go? I don't even know if I want a husband."
Rex twitched his whiskers and blinked twice, which meant, 'why go? Just fake being sick.'
"Great idea!"
When Stephanie's mother later found her in bed, she pretended to be sick.
"Oh, dear, well, I guess I should stay home too."
"NO! Mom, go and have a great time. You should be there for dad and Val."
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Okay, but if you feel better, you better be at that ball. I want as much of a chance with Prince Joseph as Mrs. Krizolli's daughters down the street."
Stephanie nodded, and when her mother left the room, she winked at Rex (who may or may not have winked back).
When the house was quiet, Stephanie crept down the stairs to fulfill her man quota with a pint of Ben and Jerry's.
"Whoa, white girl, what are you doing here?"
Stephanie stumbled back at the sound of the voice. When she looked up, there were three women. The one that had spoken was big and black, wearing white spandex that didn't look like it was going to hold for very long. The one next to her was an old woman, wearing a blue wool coat and pink hair. The last one was in the back, looking bored, filing her nails.
"What do you mean? What are you doing here?"
"Getting you to the ball. Granny here messed up. We would have been here sooner, but she thought you were already on your way."
"I don't want to go to the ball."
"You got to. The man of your dreams is waiting for you. You don't go now, you may never meet him."
"Maybe I don't want to."
"White girl, please, you want to meet this man."
"Yeah, he's got a pip of a package." Granny piped in. Lula and the other woman nodded vigorously.
"I don't know…"
"We have Versace…"
"Well… I guess one night wouldn't hurt."
The all high fived.
The dress was beautiful. It was a royal blue to make her eyes sparkle. She wore minimal make-up, even if the fairies tried to make her wear more. And the Jimmy Choo shoes to top it all.
"All right, your chariot awaits!"
"I thought it was a Lamborghini?" Granny asked.
"It is, you knucklehead, but its still how she's getting there. Come on, white girl." She handed her the keys. "Oh, remember, be outta there by eleven. We gotta get this back to the dealer. Something about bein' overcharged."
Stephanie nodded and drove off.
"I didn't think she'd go for it." The other woman said.
"Shut up, Connie. Let's roll."
When Stephanie arrived at the ball, she was whisked away for the next dance with the prince.
They made small talk while they danced the floor. Everyone thought that they would make a great couple. Word was flying that the prince had chosen the next princess. Suddenly, Stephanie felt a tingle rushing up her spine. When she looked up, there stood the most handsome man she had ever seen. Dark brown eyes, dark hair and dark complexion and when he caught her eye, she couldn't look away.
As soon as it started, he was gone.
"Man of mystery." Stephanie whispered.
When the dance ended, the prince asked for another. But before she could answer, the clock struck eleven.
"Oh, dear, I can't I have to go."
"What? Why?"
"I…I just do!" She called over her shoulder. Everyone gasped. They couldn't believe that she was leaving the prince alone on the dance floor.
She was running so fast that she almost didn't hear her heel snapping.
"Oh, no, my heel!" She crouched to pick up the broken Jimmy Choo.
"Can I help?" A voice behind her asked. When Stephanie turned, she saw it was the man from earlier. Tingles were running wild up her spine.
"My shoe." She sobbed.
He took it from her. "I can fix it." He said.
"I have to go. Just send it to me!" She ran and left the mystery man standing there, stunned.
Weeks after the ball, Prince Joseph did everything he could to win Stephanie's heart. But what he didn't know that she had already given her heart away.
Five moths later, and still no word from her mysterious love, Prince Joseph asked her to marry him.
"I…I…" She stuttered, completely stopping when she felt the familiar tingle. "I'm sorry."
Running out the front door to meet her man, she stopped when she saw him leaning against a sleek, black car.
"I have been looking everywhere for you." He said. He came closer, fixed shoe in hand and bent down in front of her. He placed the shoe perfectly on her foot, and then kissed her calf. "Perfect," he whispered.
2008
"Carlos, have you found it?" Stephanie asked. She waddled out to the family room, as best a woman can waddle at seven months pregnant. She sat down on the chair closest to her.
"Found it," he said as he came back into the room. He smiled up at her as he put the shoe in its rightful place. "It was exactly where I threw it last night." He added with a wolf grin.
"My prince charming." She kissed him with all the love in her heart.
Moral of the story?
1Not every prince charming is a prince and even then they have flaws you need to love.
2 You never know when you're going to meet him and fall in love, but hopefully you're not too stubborn to miss out.
