Chapter One

On this particular day the sun was shining brightly. It was a few weeks from Prince Andrew's birthday and the series of balls that were going to take place to celebrate it. It was morning and the stepfamily were in the dining room having just finished breakfast. The sisters were chatting amiably about the first of the two balls in two weeks time. Cinderella was clearing the table at the time.

"Mother, when is the invitation going to come?" Elizabeth moaned

"Elizabeth, it will get here when it gets here, you've got to be patient" Maria said.

"But mother, I want it to get here now" moaned Catherine. Maria sighed.

"I can't wait until the ball, I'm going to look so beautiful that the prince will not be able to resist me" said Lillian.

"Yes but once he sees me he will quickly forget about you" Josephine said.

"Ha, you, you are no more beautiful than I" Lillian sayid.

"Neither of your beauties are a match for mine" Catherine said.

"But what is more important, beauty or brains? If it is brains then mine far outweigh all of yours" Elizabeth said.

"You are no smarter than I am, in fact you're the dumbest of the four of us" Lillian said.

"Take it back" Elizabeth screamsed at her.

"No" Lillian screamed back.

"Take it back" Elizabeth repeated through clenched teeth.

"No" Lillian screamed louder. And so the inevitable happened, a fight broke out between the four sisters.

"Girls, girls, stop it, this is no way for a lady to behave. Be glad we don't have guests. Imagine what they would think if they saw you like this" Maria said.

"She started it" Josephine said while pointing at Lillian. Lillian glared at Josephine.

"I don't care who started it, I'll finish it" Maria said, "now go to your rooms". The girls stomped off sulkily to their rooms.

Now the girls were not ugly, they were just plain. They all had brown hair like their mother but each of them had different colour eyes. Elizabeth's were green, Catherine's were blue, Lillian's were hazel and Josephine's were brown. Maria also had brown eyes. Cinderella on the other hand had dark green eyes like emeralds with dark red hair like the red in a sunset. It was also thick and bushy. It was currently tucked away in a bandanna that's tied around the back of her head. Cinderella approached Maria.

"Excuse me ma'am, can I ask you something?" she asked.

"You were wondering if you could go to the ball as well" Maria said.

"No not at all ma'am. You know tomorrow is my day off, well I'm going into town and I was wondering if you wanted me to pick up the fabrics that I'm going to need to make your daughters outfits for the ball coming up" she said. Maria thought about it for a moment.

"That's a good idea" Maria said.

"Also, it means I've got longer to make the dresses so I can do a better job of them" Cinderella continued.

"Yes Cinderella, I would like you to go into town and get the material" Maria said.

"Oh and Cinderella" she said.

"Yes ma'am" Cinderella said.

"Don't ask them what colour they want, otherwise they'll all be wearing pink" Maria said. Cinderella nods and leaves. When she had gone Maria stood up.

"Maybe the trauma of her father's death made her forget, how much I want to tell her the truth" she said to herself. Cinderella spent the rest of the day organising the sister's dresses. That night she went to bed wondering why the mistress thought she would want to go to the balls, she's a peasant and so a ball is no place for her.