A few hours later, Sienna awoke to the sound of yelling. It wasn't scared or threatening, just angry. For the millionth time, she forced herself out of bed, changed into a flowered sundress with a pink jacket and brown combat boots, and went down the stairs.

"Straight, Larissa, I said straight!" Linda screeched.

Lori didn't take yelling from anyone. "Shut up, Mom! I'm trying!"

Sienna made her way down the stairs. They were in the living room. Linda was on the couch, playing a portable radio of old-style waltz music while Lori danced with a sack of potatoes, her hair up in curlers and her face smudged with makeup.

"What the hell?"

Both their heads snapped back to look at her.

"Oh, there you are, Sienna!" Linda got up and handed her the radio. "Since you're the classy one, teach Larissa how to waltz!"

Sienna didn't move. For a few seconds, they just stared at each other. Lori held her sack of potatoes, Linda extending the radio to Sienna, and Sienna looking lost and confused.

Again, she asked, "What the hell?"

"Didn't you hear?" Lori said. "There's a huge party tonight! The prince is holding a ball to find a girlfriend! Isn't it wonderful? The invitation said every single, available maiden is welcome to come and have one dance with the prince! I'm going to snag me a prince!"

Sienna just stared at her. Her mouth opened, but no words came out. For a second, she felt like she had something, but it died on her lips. Nothing could be said.

"You look sick," Linda observed.

"No," Sienna shook her head. "I'm just very, very confused."

"Sienna, PCP causes hallucinations!" Linda said. "You need to be careful when they hand you brownies at parties! I thought you learned that from Paige's experiments, if not Lori's."

Sienna was about to say I don't do drugs when she realized who she was talking to. Her stepmother was awake, but she wasn't in the right mind. She never was these days. Sighing, Sienna nodded and walked into the kitchen. Her eyes were where she had left them, next to the empty pie pan and the toaster.

"I'm heading over to my grandma's," Sienna called.

"WAIT!" Lori ran into the kitchen, still holding the sack. "Aren't you going to help me?"

"You're a smart girl, Lori," I said. "You don't need to learn to waltz to charm a prince. I think. Just use whatever lines you use on guys at parties and he'll fall all over you…most likely."

Lori's cheeks sucked in. "I don't want to be trashy!" she snapped. "I want to be lady-like! I want to be like you! So help me!"

Sienna froze. Something told her to believe anything else, but she saw the truth in Lori's eyes. Hurt but not defeated, she shook her head. "I can't," she said. "I have to check on Paige. Early yesterday morning, I took her over to my grandma's to take some of the stress off. I was going to go make sure she wasn't driving Gram up the wall."

Lori's face paled. "You took Paige away?"

A sinking feeling started in the pit of Sienna's stomach. "I found her in the kitchen," she said quietly. "There was a knife in her hand. She was trying to…hurt herself."

Lori's eyes grew wide. The potatoes fell to the floor. Something like alarm flickered in Lori's eyes. Stepping away from Sienna, she began to shake her head back and forth.

"Did you call anyone?" she demanded.

Sienna shook her head and said, "No, I didn't."

"Good!" Lori kicked the potatoes. "We're fine! Paige's smart! She doesn't need anybody's help! She'll get out of this shithole!"

She left the kitchen. A tiny bit of pity went out to her from Sienna. Maybe there was really something between Paige and Lori she had always missed. They used the same swear words, but that was Paige idolizing Lori. This…the reverse effect…it was something else entirely.

Maybe Lori had gone down the same path as Paige, only to find there wasn't a Sienna waiting for her at the end of it to grab her hand before she got too deep.

Shaking away the thought, Sienna grabbed her jacket and snuck out the garage door. Getting in her car, she let her eyes stray on the front window before backing out.

Inside, Lori was hard at work. Now Linda was towering textbooks on her head and clapping her hands to a beat. Lori wobbled and the books fell. As they did, Sienna saw a tear.

Paige, her mind commanded.

Sienna put the car into drive.

When Sienna walked into Gram's house, Paige was sitting at the dining room table. She was cleaned up, in clean clothes, patched up and bandaged, and intently studying the bible.

I must be dreaming, she thought.

Walking in as quietly as she could, she put her keys on the coffee table and, careful not to disturb Paige, made her way into the kitchen through the side hallway doors.

Gram, as was her normal routine, was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of bitter-smelling tea and a slice of pie from the shop Sienna worked at. Outside, the humming birds were getting a kick out of her bird feeder. Gram watched them intently, her eyes glassy and still, as if she felt despair and this was the only way she could grieve.

Sitting down next to her, Sienna put her hand over Gram's.

"How are you two doing?" she asked.

Gram didn't even look in her direction. "I didn't think you'd be over quite so soon," she said. "It's a good thing you didn't cause a ruckus. I just got that girl to open the damn thing."

"Hey, she's never had any experience with God," I said. "To her, it seems foolish and weak…in her eyes, it's for those who are full of themselves or are too weak to take care of themselves."

Gram laughed. "Believe it or not, I think she fits into both those categories. Maybe that's why she gave it a shot."

"Gram, you're mean," she scolded. "The least you could have done was giving her my old kid bible. That one at least has pictures."

Sighing, Gram shook her head. Pulling free of Sienna's hand, she sipped her tea. They sat in silence, watching what looked suspiciously like mating between the two humming birds. When Sienna couldn't take anymore, she got up.

"I'm going to head back," she said.

Gram finally looked up. "Are you heading to that party?"

It took Sienna a few seconds to realize what on Earth Gram was talking about. When she did, her cheeks went pink and the tips of her ears went red.

"Gram!" she gasped. "I'm not interested in meeting some snobby, spoiled, bratty prince…"

"Then don't," Gram said coolly. "If I were you, I'd be trying to score one of the suckers who came there looking for a rejected girl. Would it kill you to have a little fun?"

Sienna remembered what Linda had said earlier.

"Do I look like I'm on PCP?"

"Honey, in that ratty old jacket, I wasn't sure if you were sleeping in a landfill with a case of Samuel Adams." For a moment she looked thoughtful, and then reconsidered her wording. "Actually, you do live in a landfill surrounded by cases of Samuel Adams, so…I guess what I'm saying is…are you a liquor, wine, or beer kind of girl?"

Sienna just stared at her grandmother with her mouth wide open in shock and her eyes larger than ever before.

"Unbelievable," she muttered.

From behind them, a small cackle echoed down the hallway. Sienna spun around to find Paige's black ringlets poking out from the doorway to the living room. There were a few more muffled giggles, followed by the dam breaking and a loud thump as Paige hit the floor laughing.

"Paige!" She yelled. "It's not funny!"

"Hell yes it is!" Paige hollered back.

Sienna stood up and tore off the jacket. "Fine, is any of Mom's old stuff around?" she asked.

Gram's eyes misted over. "Yes, I keep them in her closet. Do you want me to go or…?"

"I've got it," Sienna snapped. Walking up the stairs, she found her mother's room and searched through the rack. Everything in here was from her mother's good days. A few dresses, a winter coat, some t-shirts, a sweater, and three jackets. Pulling out a solid black one, she slipped it on over her sundress. Turning around, she faced Gram and Paige. "Is this better?"

"Classy," Paige mimicked Sienna's voice.

"You know, in the back, there's a dress you might want," Gram offered.

Sienna didn't want anything other than the jacket, but something in Gram's eyes drew her back to the closet. Pushing the other clothes aside, she found a single navy-blue dress in the back. It was strapless, tight around the chest area, and then, slowly filled out around the waist and down. It was plain but elegant.

"I don't remember this," she whispered, taking it off the hanger. The fabric was soft and comfortable, a little stretchy at the hips but the top maintained its shape. "What did she wear it for?"

"Back when your parents were a couple, a real thing around our town, he decided to take her to Paris. Didn't tell a soul he was taking her, just did, and surprised her with the Eiffel Tower. They were so tired, but there they were, busy street in Paris, and he bent down in front of her." Gram laughed to herself. "Your mother told me she was in sweats and a t-shirt. Yet, he offered her a ring like it was a normal thing to do. She took it, and that night, they went to dinner. This was the dress she wore to that dinner."

Paige walked over and let her fingers brush over the fabric. "A dress from Paris," she said. "Does that mean some French lady will come after you for wearing her design at any given time?"

"Hush, baby," Gram bopped Paige gently on the head. "You're ruining my freaking story." She looked into Sienna's eyes, both pleading and offering at the same time. "She said it was her Cinderella night. Maybe it's got a little Paris magic left in it."

Sienna looked at Paige. Paige looked back at Sienna. At the same time, they both said, "Bullshit."

Gram groaned. "Oh, for crying out loud, Paige, I'm trying to get her to go to the freaking ball and find herself a damn boyfriend! Could you be a little more helpful?"

"I'll do her makeup!" Paige offered.

Sienna's eyes widened. "No way in hell. I've seen what you do with eye shadow. I have no desire to look like a scared-shit raccoon, thanks."

Paige's eyes lit up. "So you're going?"

Sienna backtracked. "I didn't say that."

"Oh yes you did!" Gram cheered. "Get out of your clothes and into that dress! Right now! I'm going to go find some makeup. Paige, make sure she doesn't escape! I'll be right back!"

Gram ran out of the room before Sienna could stop her. There was the sound of running and then an old lady sprinting across the house to her bathroom. Drawers slammed open and the sound of rifling echoed through the house.

"Damn I like your grandma," Paige said.

Sienna couldn't help but notice the little shimmer of admiration in her eyes. In defeat, she held the dress up. It was maybe a little long, but it was her size. No other excuses came to mind.

"So do you think I wear a bra with this?" she asked aloud.

"Not if you're trying to attract a man."

Sienna sighed and threw her jacket onto the bed. "Right. Wrong question to the wrong person. Forgot." Stripping her clothes off and sliding the dress on, she moaned internally as she heard the sound of Gram's footsteps racing back up the steps. "Let's get this damn thing over with already."

Is this beginning to look familiar to anyone? :)