A/N: lol found this on my computer after it recovered from it's crash and I was going through the files from when I wrote this like 3 years ago so I decided to post it for the heck of it (along with a couple other of my stories). I didn't even edit it - which is probably not a good idea but I wanted to post it like I was going to back then.

As much as he didn't care for the guy, he couldn't help but feel bad for him as well. Every time he saw Austin in the halls, the blonde was looking depressed - his Cinderella's identity obviously still unknown to him.

That, plus the fact that he and Sam had had a deal, and because he knew she too was hurting, made Carter decide to be a good best friend and go behind her back. After school that day he pulled a tab off one of the thousands of flyers littering the hallway walls.

After hiding it in his backpack, he headed towards an oblivious Sam. As soon as she dropped him off, he grabbed a bag of chips from the cupboard and went up to his room.

Pulling out the little yellow strip, Carter took a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to do. Dialing Austin's number, he got referred straight to voicemail.

"Uh, uhm, hey-hi Austin, I, uh, got your number off one of your flyers. Erm-well, I know who Cinderella is, if you're interested, I mean of course you are, otherwise you wouldn't – you know what? Never mind. How about you just call me back, uhm yeah: (818) – 796 – 1021, so, call me back. Bye."

After sitting on his bed for about 10 minutes, Carter decided he best start his homework. He, finally, got a call back at 9 o'clock.

"Hello?"

"Uhm, hi, you called earlier about Cinderella? Sorry, I was at football practice."

"Oh! Austin! Hi."

"Yeah, hey so you know who she is?"

"Yup."

"Great, but are you sure? I mean, how did you find out? "

"I'm her best friend."

"…Then why are you telling me? She obviously doesn't want me to know who she is."

"Yeah, she has some stupid reason for that, but I figured you'd both be better off if I just told you so you guys could get together and live happily ever after."

"Right… So who is it?"

Carter took a deep breath and wondered not for the first time if he was doing the right thing, "Sam Montgomery."

"Erm, sorry, who?"

"You know….Diner Girl, " Carter reluctantly used the popular nickname.

"Oh, what about her?"

"Her real name is Sam Montgomery."

"Good for her…?"

What did she see in this guy?

"She's Cinderella."

"You're kidding, right? Look, man, I get it, your friend has a crush on me, you were just trying to help out but honestly, man - I'm not falling for it."

Now Carter was getting annoyed, was it really that unbelievable? Sam was amazing.

"Give me one good reason why she can't be. She's blonde, same size, and you've seen her before so she could have been semi-familiar. If you ask her she'd say she lost her blue flip-phone at the ball, her dad died and she's got two stepsisters and a cruel step mom.

Just try to prove me wrong; go up to her and look into her eyes and see if they were the ones you were so enthralled with before - oh yeah, she told me about that. "

When no response came, Carter sighed for what felt like the thousandth time and hung up the phone. How could he have gone behind Sam's back like that? Now the two would never get together.

Carter made up a random excuse to walk to school the next day, unable to face the carefree Sam. He was flabbergasted to see, as he walked up the front lawn, Sam and Austin walking towards him – together. Austin's arm was around her shoulder and both were smiling from ear to ear.

As they approached, Carter could only splutter and spit out, "H-How?"

"Thanks again for the tip, man."