I think I know why I'm having so many issues writing this story. I'm basically writing blind. Usually I have a pretty thorough outline written or even whole scenes finished for my stories when I start posting them, but this one was spur of the moment and so there isn't much that is planned out. I mean, I know how I want it to end but getting there is a different story. ;)

Hope you all are enjoying this story even though it feels a bit messy at times. Thanks for the continued patience and kind reviews.

The Crown

Cindy considered herself to be a person who was prepared for anything. Always on her toes. Sharp as a tack.

Things between her and her mother started to get weird the moment Cindy agreed to wear the hand-me-down prom dress. Her mother seemed nicer, more affectionate somehow. It was weird. It wasn't as if they were always at war with each other, but it always felt like there was a small but firm barrier between them. Sasha Vortex wasn't known to be very motherly, and Cindy Vortex wasn't known to ask for motherly affection...even if that was something she wanted.

If she included her fake but somehow wonderful relationship with Jimmy and a couple new friendships thrown in there, life was sunshine and roses.

But she was a suspicious person by nature. Something had to give. Naturally, she figured it would be her own family that did the giving first.

Cindy was sitting on her bed, working on homework, when her mother walked in.

"I'm just letting you know that I'm going to bed, sweetie. Goodnight. Don't stay up too late." Her mother gave her a soft kiss on the temple before turning to leave the room.

Cindy narrowed her eyes and sat up fully. "Mom?"

Sasha turned around. "Yes?"

"What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Her mother asked, confused.

"I mean - what the hell? Is someone in the family dying? You and dad aren't splitting up, are you?"

"What in the world are you talking about? And watch your language," her mother snapped in return. Ah, Cindy thought that sounded much more familiar.

"It's just...things are weird around here lately." She struggled to find the right words to say without sounding insulting. "Is everything okay?"

"Of course," Sasha replied, softening visibly. "Why did you think something was wrong?"

"You're being really nice," Cindy said abruptly. "You haven't yelled at me to do chores in like, three days. That's a record."

To her surprise, her mother just laughed and sat down on the bed next to her. "So maybe I am a little hard on you sometimes."

Cindy just shrugged in response. She was used to it. "I'm just proud of you," Sasha admitted.

"Why?"

"I know you're smart. I know you're dedicated, responsible. But I never thought you would run for prom queen and step outside of your comfort zone. You seem happy."

She could feel herself smiling without meaning to. Her mother patted her on the hand and left the room, shutting the door behind her quietly.

That was nice and all, but Cindy certainly didn't feel like she deserved praise for trying to win the most ridiculous title of all time. Maybe her mother was projecting. She was also a little afraid. Dread started to creep in a little.

What if she lost? Would her mother still be proud of her then?

-0-0-0-0-0-

"I think I hate her."

Libby and Brittany shared an uneasy glance as their friend shifted on her stool at the Candy Bar in a way that said that she was angry - so angry that she could barely contain the physiological response that went along with it. It didn't help that Grace was also there, sitting with Logan and looking smug, like she'd already won prom queen.

Cindy stabbed her spoon into her sundae over and over again mindlessly, not even bothering to actually eat any of it. "Are you going to eat that or just torture it?" Libby asked, trying to dispel some of the tension. The blonde didn't reply.

Libby sighed and lowered her voice. "Grace is going to catch on fire if you keep glaring at her like that."

"She's evil! There's no other way to describe what she's doing," Cindy replied vehemently.

"And what exactly is she doing?" Brittany asked slowly.

"She's dating my ex-boyfriend and flirting with my current one every second she gets," Cindy said, and chose to ignore the words fake boyfriend that Libby spoke under a cough. "What did I do to her?"

"I think you're putting her popularity at risk by running against her. I don't think she can stand the thought of losing."

Knowing that made her want to win more. That was saying a lot, because she already wanted to win badly.

Cindy glanced over at the redhead again and accidentally made direct eye contact with her. Grace raised an elegant eyebrow and smiled before looking away, like she was offering up a challenge.

She didn't like that look. It was like Grace had read her mind and knew all of her secrets. And Cindy had a lot of them.

-0-0-0-0-0-

With less than two weeks until prom, Cindy was feeling pretty confident. She just needed to keep her cool and she would secure the crown.

That was her hope, anyway.

She felt a little sadness at the thought of it all being over. What would happen? Would her and Angelina go back to being strangers? Would Carter still ask for help with the advice column? Would her and Jimmy go back to being sometimes friends, sometimes enemies...and nothing more?

She did her best to block those questions from her mind. She was enjoying the life she lived at the moment.

They were at lunch when she caught Jimmy looking at her thoughtfully. "Maybe now is time for the true test."

"Test?"

He pointed his fork towards a table across the room - the table she used to sit at with Libby and Brittany, to be exact. Jennifer and a few of her friends still sat there.

Cindy's eyes widened. "Oh no."

"Oh yes," Jimmy replied. "Time to make amends."

"That's asking too much of me."

"You scared?"

Everyone else at the table stopped to look at the couple, curious to see how the situation would play out. Cindy fell for his challenge easily, narrowing her eyes and getting up from the table.

"Cindy…" Libby started uneasily, but the determined girl was already too far away to hear. She turned and glared at the boy genius. "Really, Jimmy? You think that this will end well?"

Jimmy shrugged but a smile lingered on his face. "You'd be surprised at what she can do."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Cindy's bravado slowly started to slip away as she neared the table where Jennifer sat. As she got closer and it became clear to the group of girls that she was intending to sit down at their table, they fell silent and stared at her with mild shock and curiosity.

The blonde faltered for a moment but managed to smile sitting down as gracefully as she could cross from Jennifer. "Do you need something?" the girl asked.

Cindy figured this interaction could go one of two ways. She could play it casual, pretend like everything was fine, and things would probably blow up in her face. Or she could apologize, which would wasn't something she liked doing. This route also had a chance of backfiring, but it felt right to do.

"I owe you an apology," she said, feeling surprised that she actually meant it. "I was rude to you for no reason. Sorry about that."

Jennifer looked surprised for a moment but then immediately, a suspicious look formed on her face. "You're just trying to get me to vote for you, aren't you?"

Yep, this was blowing up in her face already.

"No," Cindy said quickly. Then, much to her dismay, the word vomit started happening. "I already know you probably won't vote for me. That's fine, I probably wouldn't vote for me either. Just do me a favor and don't vote for Grace Walker."

Silence reigned for a few moments before the group of girls started laughing.

"You don't need to worry about that," Jennifer said with a smile. "If there's anyone who I dislike more than you, it's Grace."

"Good to know our feelings are the same on that particular subject."

"So you really just came over here to apologize?"

Something like that, Cindy thought. "I'm trying to be a better person."

Jennifer nodded. "Not bad for your what seemed to be your first apology...ever."

Cindy bit her tongue so a sarcastic comment wouldn't pass through her lips. She faked a small laugh instead. "Sometimes I wonder why I was nominated for prom queen in the first place," she said, half-serious and half-kidding. The other girl eyed her with a strange look. "What?"

"You don't know why?"

"What, like you do?"

Jennifer stabbed at her salad for a few seconds. "Grace nominated you on purpose. She's in my gym class, and she was bragging about it the next day in the locker room. I think I heard her say something about an easy-win."

"You're shitting me."

"Trust me, I wouldn't lie. I also wouldn't protect that snake. She knew I liked Martin Garetski during freshman year and she still asked him to homecoming. Stole him right from under my nose."

Cindy already knew that Jennifer could hold a grudge, but she didn't know just how long those grudges lasted. Apparently a long time. "She thought that by nominating me, she could easily win prom queen?" She could feel a deep hatred burning inside of her at the thought.

"I thought you knew and were just rubbing in Grace's face that you didn't care," Jennifer added. "It's been fun to watch."

Beyond that anger, she felt a little sad knowing that even Grace knew that she was so thoroughly disliked by the student body that there was no way she would win the title of prom queen. Talk about a blow to the self-esteem.

She got up from the table and was ready to stomp off, but she realized she should probably play dumb. Showing her anger would only cause less people to vote for her, right? She couldn't exactly tell Grace off in the middle of the cafeteria. She stopped and turned back to Jennifer. "We're good, right?"

Jennifer shrugged. "Sure. But for the record, I'm voting for Hannah. She's much less dramatic."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Cindy practice some of her best calming methods, and when she got back to her table where everyone in their group was eagerly awaiting her arrival, she just shrugged off their questions.

"It went fine," she told them. "She's not mad."

She didn't divulge what she'd learned about Grace. She needed time to think about what Jennifer had shared. She didn't even know if it was true or not, but it seemed to be like something the little witch would do.

She knew she could trust Libby and Brittany, but the bell rang and they all went to class, meaning she would have to fill them in later. When school ended, the only person readily available to her was Carter since she already promised to help him with the paper. So she told him the whole story, which only managed to rile her up even more than before.

Carter pushed on her shoulders not-so-gently so that she sat down at one of the computer chairs. Retelling the story had her ready to hunt Grace down and teach her a lesson. "We need to figure this out. What are you going to do?"

"I could push her down a flight of stairs."

"I don't think you'd have any chance of winning after that," Carter said rationally.

Cindy crossed her arms and sighed. "I'm fucked."

"This doesn't change anything. People that were planning on voting for you will still do so. You finding out that Grace nominated you doesn't make people like you any less. Trust me when I say it's a struggle that's entirely internal. I guess I should be asking - what should you not do going forward?"

She ignored his question and focused on the first part of his little speech. "That may be true but this whole situation just keeps getting worse. What's next? Everyone finds out that Jimmy and I aren't really dating and that I don't really want to be nice to them?"

Carter looked frustrated. "What does Jimmy think about all this?"

"I haven't told him."

He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "You are shaving years off my life, Cindy. Let's really go over this, what are you going to refrain from doing?"

"Confronting Grace publicly?"

"How about confronting Grace at all? It'll ruin things for you. Just lay low, keep doing what you're doing, and win that crown," he said knowingly. "And the second that cheap, flimsy piece of children's jewelry is nestled on top of that blonde head of yours, you punch Grace straight in her perfect nose."

He smiled evilly and she found herself returning it. That sounded like an okay plan. "You think I should tell Jimmy?"

Carter sat down heavily in his desk chair and rolled closer to his computer, focusing on the screen. "I just think he deserves to know. He is your boyfriend."

"Fake boyfriend."

"Sure, sure. You love him anyway."

His words made her pause long enough that he looked back at her curiously. "You do, don't you?" She refused to answer, just rolling her eyes. But she knew she was slightly blushing and that was giving her away. He just laughed and shook his head.

"When you know, you know. Just ask Liam. He…" he trailed off.

"What?" Cindy asked.

"The webcam on this computer is on," he said suspiciously. Cindy didn't know much about computer besides the basic things like how to use the internet or how to use it to do her homework - anything beyond that bored her.

"So?"

Carter clicked a few things and shrugged. "Could be nothing. Could be that you turned it on when you in a murderous rage a few minutes ago. Your hands tend to fly around in a ridiculous fashion."

"Very funny," she replied sarcastically. "Are we done here? I need to find the girls and talk about this some more."

"Fine, but we have to actually work on the column tomorrow. And I'm coming with you."

-0-0-0-0-0-

Jimmy felt a little bad for forcing Cindy to talk to Jennifer, but he was glad to know that it had gone well. Maybe that would increase her chances of winning even more.

He was also a little uneasy about their most recent interaction up in her room. He hadn't meant for her to find out that he liked Grace. He wasn't so sure he liked Grace anymore; she'd sort of proved that she wasn't as nice or genuine as she seemed.

In all honesty, Jimmy knew why he didn't think about Grace as much anymore. It was Cindy. This fake-dating thing had made him realize that Grace wasn't ever going to be the right one for him. He could fully admit now that he'd developed real feelings for the blonde, he just didn't know what to do about it.

He'd probably ruined things by letting her believe that he still liked Grace. Half of him couldn't wait until prom was over and things could go back to normal, the other half of him dreaded it. He didn't want to go back to how life was before he started fake-dating Cindy. He wanted to continue dating her but in a non-fake way.

He groaned. Love was making him dumb.

He found himself knocking on Cindy's door and knew it was a little late in the evening, especially on a school day, but it was too late for that now.

Cindy herself answered, a confused expression on her face but she smiled when she saw him. "What are you doing here?"

"Can we talk?" He asked, feeling a little nervous. She eyed him suspiciously but led him upstairs to her room. She gestured for him to be quiet. Her parents must be asleep.

He sat on her bed and she perched herself next to him. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Last night, when we talked about Grace -"

She waved her hand around dismissively. "I'm over it, okay? You can't help who you like."

Wasn't that the truth, Jimmy thought. "Well, that's good and all, but I should've explained some things to you. I used to like Grace but I don't have feelings for her anymore."

Cindy paused. "You don't?"

Maybe he was imagining things, but he thought she sounded hopeful, if just barely. "Nope. I don't want you to think you have to worry about her getting in between us…"

"...in between our fake relationship," she said, and his stomach dropped. So maybe his feelings aren't reciprocated after all.

"Yeah," he said, looking down at this hands.

"Jimmy."

The sound of her voice made him look up at her, and she looked happy. She leaned in and kissed him softly but it still felt powerful. Like she was trying to tell him something. When she pulled back - much too soon for his liking - she was still smiling.

"After prom is over, if you still feel the same way, let me know. Then we can talk."

He could agree to that. He went home a little while later, feeling more content than before. Nothing solid had happened between them, but he could feel the promise of something more to come. He knew she was completely unaffected by things like he'd previously thought, and he was hopeful.

Unable to sleep, he opened his laptop once he was in his room. He saw he had an email from someone he didn't recognize, and that there was a video attached to it.

The first thing he noticed was that the email had a long sending list, including his friends, Cindy, and most of their classmates. Some people he didn't even recognize. When he opened the video he could tell it was from a basic webcam, and the thumbnail was just Carter, and he was barely in the shot since he was standing a little off to the side. Dread filled his body slowly. This couldn't be good.

He pressed play but had the urge to watch it with his eyes covered. There wasn't much to see, though. Cindy was barely in the frame; it was mostly Carter. All he had to do was listen.

Carter's voice was first. "We need to figure this out..."

Jimmy watched the video in its entirety more times than he could count. He didn't know what to do, how to react. Cindy had admitted on the video that their relationship was fake, and when Carter insisted that she loved him, she hadn't denied it. She hadn't agreed with him either, but the her hesitance to answer made his heart beat fast.

Despite that, this video was not good, and the consequences weren't going to be pretty.

-0-0-0-0-

The bad news? This cliffhanger. The good news? I've already started writing the next chapter!

Throw out some ideas of what you want to see next or what you think will happen. I love hearing predictions. Most of you get it spot on!

Please review!