Anything italicized is someone's thought or they are singing

BOLDED + ITALICIZED = FLASHBACK/MEMORY

*=lyrics have been changed to fit the story

Chapter 1

Once upon a time, in the land of Hollywood, California, there lived a young girl with the name of Ella Monroe. She was a beautiful young girl with medium length brown hair. Her eyes were hazel blue and her skin was pretty pale, but not to the point where she needed sunlight. She always wore a red dress with black boots as she ran around the farm she lived on with her two loving parents, and all the animals there. And for her 8th birthday, her mother and father baught her a gold heart shaped locket, that she would wear it all around town.

But one day, when she was 9 years old, her mother passed away from a deadly disease, which made the house completely gloomy and sad. But little Ella was going to brighten it up, for she made her mother a promise before she died, to always have courage, and to be kind. And that's exactly what she did.

As the years went on, Ella was now 19 and her father re-married a young woman with short ginger hair and ice blue eyes that held a certain cold nature to them. She always wore black and red clothing (mainly skirts and shirts that showed way too much cleavage). Her name was Mallory Mitchell, who had hifinated her name to Mitchell-Monroe once she re-married Ella's father. She even had two lovely daughters. Well, lovely is a strong word.

One had medium length brown hair with purple eyes that had gold flecks in them, and the other had shoulder length ginger hair and dead grass green eyes. Their names were Melody and Ariana. They did NOT treat Ella the way a sister should have been treated. They made her do their laundry at times, and do the cooking and cleaning. But throughout the mean nature her sisters had, Ella held her promise to her mother. "Have courage, and be kind" is what she always repeated to herself to get through the day.

Then, tragedy struck again when her father passed on as well, leaving Ella with her wicked step-family. And thus, begins our story.

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The sun shined bright up in the sky as it hung above LA. A dog barked with a knock on the door, making one of the human people get up from the couch and open the door, only for the man to smile.

"Can I help you, Morgan?" He asked.

"Mark, baby! How's the YouTube life!?" The girl known as Morgan said as she did the kiss on both cheeks thing and walking in as she took off her leather jacket to reveal the latest dress she designed.

"It's like, 9:40am, what are you doing here?" The man now known as Mark asked. "And fine! The YouTube life is going good!"

"Good!" Morgan said before setting her jacket on a chair near by and walked to the living room. Mark just rolled his eyes before following suit.

"I came to ask what you were going to wear to my annual Masquerade Ball." She asked as she sat down in one of the chairs.

"Girl, that's not for another 3 days!" Mark exclaimed. "And I'm not even sure I want to go! I have a channel to...!"

"Mark...you post your videos during the day, and my party is at night. So you'll be able to show up!" Morgan began.

"I don't know."

Morgan looked at Mark for a short while before standing up and walking to a potted plant to sniff the flower. "Mark, tell me how we met."

"We met on the street. You were heading to work at your fashion studio, and I was heading to Game Stop for a new game." Mark answered with annoyance, for he knew what she was up to.

"And we've been friends ever since." Morgan stated as she looked back at Mark, with a smirk. "It won't be a party without you there."

"I won't have a date."

"You don't need one." Morgan said as she grabbed her jacket from the chair she threw it on. "You just need to mingle." She winked at him before making her keys jingle in her hands as she took them out of her jacket pocket. "So, I'll see you there?"

"I guess you will." Mark answered.

"Cheer up, Mark!" Morgan stated as she stood by the front door. "I have a feeling you might find the girl of your dreams there this year." And with that said, she left.

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Ella woke up to the sound of her iPad (the only piece of technology that her step-family didn't take away from her) go off with alerts. She took it from the spot she kept it for the night and was about to check them when she saw what time it was.

"Oh, no...9:50!? I'm late!" She threw her iPad on her bed and quickly got dressed in her black, brown, and white dress (it looked like the animated Cinderella's dress before she became the princess), before putting on some eye-liner and some lip gloss, and ran down the stairs from the attic, to the living area.

She ran into the kitchen, and sighed in defeat when she noticed her step-family sitting at the table talking. Mallory had noticed her step-daughter standing the door way, before Ella walked to the stove to start cooking breakfast...or brunch at this point.

"Smart idea...brunch. I love it!" Melody exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Ariana agreed.

"Girls, I think it's just because Ella over-selpt. Is that right, dearie?" Mallory asked.

"Yes, m'lady." Ella answered with a shy sound to her voice.

"Either way, this is a good idea. We haven't had brunch in a while, so I'll let this time slide. But I expect to see you in the kitchen when I wake up in the morning tomorrow."

"Yes, m'lady." Ella stated as she set the toast in the center of the table.

XXXXXXXXXX

The day was half done, and Ella was just about done with the cleaning for the day, when Mallory walked into the living room.

"Dearie, I need you to go to the shop to get 3 dresses for my daughters and I, for that fashion designer Morgan Keller's Masquerade Ball." She said.

"Okay, m'lady." Ella said as she finished up cleaning. And once Mallory left the room, Ella ran up to her room, grabbed her purse, throwing her iPad into it, and left. She hadn't been out of the house in years. So you would think that she would be extremely excited.

Ella walked down the streets of LA, with a smile on her face, when she bumped into someone who was in a hurry. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Ella stated, before realizing who the person was. "Morgan?!"

Morgan looked up and smiled with excitement. "Ella! OMG!" Morgan yelled as she hugged her old best friend. "OMG! I haven't seen you since graduation!"

"Same with you! I heard you're a fashion designer now...and that you are having another Masquerade Ball." Ella exclaimed.

"Well, I wouldn't have made it this far if it wasn't for your encouragement, Ellie." Morgan stated.

"It was my pleasure. After all, you are my best friend." Ella stated back, which made them hug each other again.

"Oh, Ella...I am so sorry you are forced to live with a step-family like that."

"I'm fine, Morgan." Ella answered as she pulled away from their second hug.

"I don't know why you haven't even left that house yet. You're 20 years old, you should be aloud to go do what you want!"

"I promised my father before he left to keep it in the family."

"You also promised me you'd be at my Masquerade Ball years ago! And you never show up!" Morgan exclaimed. This was why Ella liked this girl, she didn't hold grudges, but she just reminded you about promises you made to her. She was a cool, down-to-earth girl that Ella was lucky to still be friends with.

"Mallory wouldn't let me!" Ella yelled. "Speaking of which, I have to go get my step-mother and her daughters dresses for your annual Autumn ball."

"You know what..." Morgan began as she pulled out her cell phone and began to text someone God knows who. "...there. Now, I can come with you. We haven't gone shopping in a long time."

"But, you're studio!"

"Alex, she's my assistant, can handle it! I trained her well. Come on." Morgan said as she walked away with Ella by her side.

XXXXXXXXXX

"How about this one!?" Morgan stated showing a purple dress with a black shirt underneath some purple lace, and strap sleeves that looked like they'd be off the shoulders.

"Oh, my; God! Morgan! It's like you know my step-sisters!" Ella stated as she ran up to it and looked it over. "Oh, Melody is going to love this dress."

"There's a red one just like it." Morgan mentioned.

"Melody and Ariana are technically twins. And they seem to like wearing the same kind of things in different colors. That should work!" Ella yelled in response.

"Perfect!" Morgan grabbed both and was about to buy them, when Ella checked the sizes. "What now?""

"Surprisingly, Melody and Ariana are different sizes." Ella answered with a smile. "They're good."

Morgan smiled as they walked up to the cashier and baught the dresses. Well, Ella baught them herself with the money she was given before she left the house.

"Oh, fudge." Ella stated.

"What is it, Ellie?" Morgan asked.

"I forgot to get my step-mother a dress." Ella replied before going to the racks again. Morgan grabbed the bags with the dresses in them before walking after Ella.

Right as Ella spun around, she saw the perfect dress for her step-mother. It was a red dress, with a black floor length skirt with red lace over it, and sleeves that had some fabric coming off the ends of it. It was perfect!

"That's the one." Ella said before checking the size and nodding with approval. She took it to the cashier and paid for it before heading out with Morgan following beside her, as she bumped into someone walking in.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Ella yelled before she kept going.

Mark looked at her and grinned slightly before walking into the store.

~END OF CHAPTER~

Hey everyone! How did you like the first chapter of my Cinderella inspired story? I don't really like the Cinderella fairytale that much, but I've been getting a bunch of ideas for stories based off of that fairytale. So I guess I like it more than I thought.

Anyway, thank you guys so much for reading. If you liked it, hit that fave button, and as always, I'll see you, in the next chapter. Ba-bye!

~Brittany Bauer