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Valentines or Palentines: Day 10 (setting) ballroom

This is based on Cinderella. Warning for a scattering of curse words, and mentions of discrimination of working-class citizens. 4,403 words. I hope you all enjoyed The Grand LaRusso Ball.

The ball. That was all that anyone could talk about. The ball was being held for the princess of the kingdom of Encino. Not that I was jealous of her. Who wants to have a humongous ball thrown every time they celebrate an accomplishment that normal people wouldn't even think twice about.

"Look at this dress that just went on the market, Moon," Yamin said, holding up her phone for Moon to see the dress in question. "Don't you think it would look amazing on me?"

"Definitely," Moon agreed, noticing that I was watching them but not saying anything about it. She was definitely one of the nicer of my tormentors.

My boss's daughter however wasn't as kind. "You don't think that you are going to be able to work hard enough to afford a dress like this, do you?" Yasmin asked, smiling nastily at me. "You wouldn't be able to afford this dress even if you worked a hundred years."

"That's not nice, Yas."

"She knows I right though, Moon."

I did know that she was right. I also knew that I would be able to make the dress for less money than they were planning on paying for it. It had been one of my own designs. If someone had bought the pattern off me and called it their own that was neither here nor there in my mind.

"I don't have to worry about buying a dress for the ball," I told them, smirking as I pictured the beauty of the dress that I was going to make myself.

"That's right," Yasmin said, smirking nastily at me. "You know why? Because my parents are going to have work for you that night."

"What?" I asked, glaring at the blond angrily. She had a lot of nerve to even assume that her parents would have work for me that night.

"You heard me."

I took a calming breath and then another. The last thing my family would need was for me to fly off the handle and lose another job. It was bad enough that I had lost the last three. But this one seemed to be going well and to lose it too would mean what everyone was saying about me being a hothead was true.

I picked up the basket of laundry that was in front of me. The task I had been starting when Yasmin and Moon had started talking about the dress that I had made. I was about to leave the room when Yasmin continued her attack.

"What you're not going to answer your betters when they speak to you?" she asked, a smug smile crossing her face.

She's not worth it, I thought to myself over and over as I walked towards the door.

"Perhaps you've gone deaf. Being poor and working for a living does tend to do that to a person, doesn't it, Moon?"

"I don't know," Moon answered. "Maybe you should lay off, Yas. She does look like she's going to explode on you."

It was bad when Moon could tell that I was going to explode. Then again Moon was more aware of things than Yasmin was.

"Are you kidding me, Moon? You're going to take this freakshow's side over mine?"

I took another deep breath and continued on my way as I heard the two friends fighting. I couldn't help the smug smile that crossed my face. This hadn't been the first time that the duo had gotten into a fight over Moon's protecting someone. It probably wouldn't be the last time either.

I made my way to Yasmin's family's laundry room which was way bigger than my own. It had double the amount of washers and dryers as mine. Which was the thing I was pleased for. It meant that doing the laundry wouldn't take as long as usual.

As I separated the whites and colors from each into their own separate washing machines my mind carried me away. Since King Daniel had announced the ball I'd been dreaming of dancing in the huge ballroom of the castle. I'd seen it once and knew what it looked like. My dress, in my dreams that is, was always big and poofy sleeved. One of those fancy dresses that the rich girls wished they could afford but I didn't have to worry about affording them because I could easily make one of my own.

In my daydream, I danced with everyone I could dance with. I danced with Prince Anthony which was awkwardly hard because he's shorter than I am. I danced with both of my exes. Robby and Miguel. They were dating each other now but they always seemed to be happy to allow me to dance with the other when I asked in my daydream. But my favorite part of the daydream was when princess Samantha would ask me to dance. I wouldn't have to ask her to dance. She would come up to me and ask.

"What are you doing?" asked a scandalized voice from behind me.

"It's not what it looks like," I said, opening my eyes and turning to find Yasmin's mother standing behind me watching me twirl around the room with her daughter's dress.

"It's not?" Yasmin sneered at me. "Then you aren't twirling around the laundry room like an idiot with my dress?"

I could feel my face heat up with embarrassment as she said this. It wasn't my fault that I easily got lost in my daydreams and sometimes found myself dancing with the clothes. She didn't have to sound the way she did and I was certain that each and every one of us in the room realized that.

"Mom, she's ruining my new Versace," Yasmin whined, pointing towards me and the dress.

"Get back to work," Yasmin's mom said, giving me a look of annoyance that I knew was reserved for the household workers. I had seen her use on many of the others during my time here. "Any damage to the dress will be coming out of your salary for this week."

"Yes, ma'am," I said, trying to keep the anger out of my voice and knowing I was failing miserably at it.

"Keep up that attitude and you won't have a job anymore, do you hear me?"

"Yes, ma'am." This time I tamped down on the anger and annoyance that both daughter and mother brought out in me.

I waited until they left to put the dress into the dryer bag that was used for dry cleaning without actually having to go to a shop. Thank God for the invention of things like this. I didn't want to put any more effort into doing work for these people than I had to. Not after them acting like bitches to me.

As I went back up to continue cleaning Yasmin's room I started to think about the dress I was planning on making for the ball. I could practically picture it in my mind. The flowing gown in silver with a tight-fitting bodice. I would forgo the puffy sleeves of my daydreams and go with something more streamlined. Or perhaps even go for something off the shoulder. A sash would have been a cheesy addition but what was life without a little cheese factor as Miguel used to mention to me all the time.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't realized how fast I was actually going through the day's chore list. Soon I found myself folding the last of the laundry and on my way to put it away for those who had no idea what a hard day's work felt like.

"Done already, are we?" asked Yasmin's mother standing in the doorway as I put away the last piece of clothes in her daughter's room. "Have completed everything that I put on your list?"

I nodded.

"Shall we go see?"

I sighed and followed her around dutifully as a good servant would. I hated the word servant more than anything but more and more as days went by working this job that is exactly the word I found to fit my situation.

"Okay," she said, turning on her heel and moving to the door to go finish whatever she had been doing when she noticed I had finished my work. "You may leave then. I expect to see you here bright and early tomorrow."

"Yes, ma'am," I said, wishing I could just flip her the bird and walk out never to return. But when your family needed money you had to take whatever job you could find.

"So the ball…." Robby said, looking at me and Miguel at the same time.

"What about the ball?" I asked, sketching out the design for the dress that I had thought up earlier that day.

"Are you going?"

"Sure," I said sarcastically. "Me and my invisible date will just roll up to the grand ball on our motorcycles in our gowns of silver and gold. What do you think?"

"I think you should go," Miguel said, smiling at Robby and winking.

"What do the two of you know that I don't?"

"Well it's not just a Grand Ball to celebrate Princess Samantha," Robby said, holding up an invitation to the ball. "Go ahead read this."

I took the invitation from him. The glinting gold of the lettering felt cold and heavy in my hands. I read the usual invite bullshit. The wheres, whens, and whys of it all. Then my eyes traveled under those things to find the one thing that I never expected to find. The princess was looking for someone to share her life with. A significant other. All the eligible bachelors and bachelorettes of the kingdom would be there so that the princess could choose the person she would eventually end up with for the rest of her life.

"Sam's not going to choose me," I said, shaking my head and handing back the invitation to Robby. "Don't you remember that we're supposed to be enemies or something like that?"

"Maybe you could flip the script as Sensei Lawerence once said?" Miguel said, shrugging as he looked at the sketch in my notebook. "Because I think that you in that dress would make even Sam LaRusso change her mind about you."

"What dress?" Robby asked, leaning over Miguel's shoulder and looking from the sketch to me and back to the sketch. He nodded appreciatively. "I think Miggy's right. You in this dress will turn all the heads at the ball."

"That would be great if most of my money didn't have to go to taking care of my mom, brother, and the house," I said, looking at the sketchbook with its numerous drawings of dresses. I'd sold off enough designs to know that these were the real deal. Bigtime designers had their eyes on me and my work. Some had even reached out and offered me jobs that was how good my work was. But I turned them all down because I needed to stay close to home to take care of my mother and brother.

"Then perhaps we can help you make your dress?" Miguel said, pointing between himself and Robby. "We can pitch in and help you buy the materials you need for it."

"How am I going to repay you then?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How many times have you helped Miguel and me out over the years?" Robby asked, looking at me with the most serious expression I'd ever seen on his face.

"A lot," I said, folding my arms over my chest.

"Consider this us repaying you for helping us out," Miguel said, looking at the design once more. "My Yaya probably has a lot of these materials that you need at home. I can ask her if she would be willing to lend us a hand. The rest can be bought from one of the many craft stores that she goes to. We'll get you to that ball in perfect condition, Cinderella."

"Cinderella?" I chuckled, looking between the two of them. "What does that make you two my fairy godmothers?"

"Fairy godfathers, thank you very much," Miguel said, chuckling as we started to discuss finding the materials for my dress.

Days went by quickly. Every day I would go to school in the morning and in the afternoon I would go to work. But when evening came it was time for Miguel, Robby, and me to work on my dress. Everything was going fine until the day of the Grand Ball when my world and my dress came crashing down around me.

I had brought my dress with me so that I could change into it on the way to the ball. Miguel and Robby agreed to pick me up from work and drive me there. Which meant that I had to bring my handmade dress to work with me. Normally bringing something to change into after work wouldn't have been such a huge problem. But I could tell that Yamin was interested in what I was carrying as soon as I walked into the house.

Hindsight being what it is I kind of wish that I had left the dress with Robby or Miguel. That way it would have stayed safe and unharmed. But no I wanted to see if I had anything to embellish the dress with at home.

"What's in the bag?" Yasmin asked, eyeing it as I worked away cleaning the living room which was as per usual a gigantic mess.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I asked, ignoring her question and the gigantic stink eye that was thrown my way for not answering it.

"If you don't tell me what's in the bag I'm going to tell Mom that you stole some of her fine silver," Yasmin said, smirking and I could tell that she had already put some of said fine silver in my purse.

I sighed in resignation and walked over to the dress bag. "It's my dress for the Grand Ball tonight," I said, opening it a bit. I could see as soon as the bag was open enough to look into it that she was both jealous and impressed.

"Is that a Versace?"

"No. It's a Nichols."

"You made your own dress?"

I nodded. "Like it's that hard?"

"I'll buy it off you."

"It's not for sale."

"Can you really afford to say that?"

"It's not for sale."

"Whatever, loser!" She flipped me off and stormed away with a scowl on her face.

I hoped and prayed that that would be the end of the thing. I hoped and prayed that nothing more would come from it. But when I had finished my day and went to pick up my dress bag I found that it was open. Not just open but that the dress within was torn to shreds. All my hard work over the past few weeks had been thrown down the drain.

"You!" Mrs. Yasmin's mom said, glaring daggers at me. "Where are they?"

"Where are what?" I asked, looking at her incredulously. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

"The fine silver that used to be in that cabinet over there." She pointed to a cabinet that I never had any reason to touch or even go near. "My daughter Yasmin said she saw you snooping around over there and I went over to check everything out. Make sure it was alright. All of the silver is gone. What did you do with it?"

"Nothing," I said, glaring past her to her daughter who was trying to hide the growing smile on her face. "Why don't you ask your daughter?"

"Why would my Yasmin hide the fine silver?"

"Because she's a petty bitch," I said, shrugging and trying to stifle a smile at the shocked looks on both mother and daughter's faces.

"Let me see your bag," Yasmin's mom said, holding her hand out demandingly. "If you have nothing to hide you wouldn't object to me searching your stuff."

"Fine," I said, handing over my purse and the container of my ruined dress. "But once you find out that I did nothing I want recompense for my dress that Yasmin ruined because I wouldn't sell it to her."

"You are in no position to make demands of anyone, young woman," The older blond held up a salad fork that had been plucked from the remains of my dress. "Unless your dress decided it wanted a lovely salad for lunch I think this proves my daughter right. You can leave now and I don't think we'll be needing your service here anymore."

"Bitches!" I muttered as I gathered my stuff after dumping their precious silver out of my garment bag. "I don't need your stupid job anyway."

I stormed from the house in anger barely keeping the tears of rage from rolling down my cheeks as I made my exit. Perhaps I could always try and get a job at the palace. I was still going to ball after all. Why not appeal to the better nature of kind King Daniel and his family?

It then hit me like a ton of bricks. I had nothing to wear to the dance now. My gown was in sheds in my bag. I knew it would take a while to make a new one. Did I even have enough time to make a new one?

"What seems to be the problem?" Miguel's Yaya asked, seeing how upset that I was.

"Yasmin destroyed the dress," I said, opening my bag for Mrs. Diaz, Miguel, and Robby to see. "She wanted to buy it from me but I told her no and she did this. Not only did she do this but she also got me fired from my job by telling her mother I was trying to steal the fine china. What would I want their stupid china for?"

Yaya Diaz looked into the bag and tutted for a bit. She then began to remove the ruined dress slowly and look over it appraisingly. "This dress isn't ruined," she said, looking at me. "It just needs a little TLC."

"Yaya Diaz, it took weeks to make that dress," I said, looking at the clock. "The Grand Ball is in a couple of hours."

"It only took weeks to make the dress because of your work and going to school," the older woman replied, taking me by shoulders and leading me into a room full of materials and sewing equipment. "Plus you also had to buy most of the materials." She pointed around us. "Consider this your store and we'll start on making the dress as good as new. Or even better if you want."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. You deserve something nice to happen for you today."

"Thank you, Yaya Diaz."

It hadn't taken very long indeed until I had all the materials for the dress an idea on how to make it even better than it had originally been. I sat down and was soon hard at work with Miguel's grandmother by my side helping me. Soon the dress was starting to take shape.

The silver of the fabric glinted with glittery light. The fabric from the original had been destroyed but the new one was much nicer. It was silk that was so smooth it felt light as a feather. I ended up changing my mind and going with the off-the-shoulder option. Yaya Diaz suggested a nice gauzy shawl that would work well to show off the work of our craft. To finish it off I added a nice silver corded sash.

"Wow!" Miguel said, watching as I slipped the dress off the dummy. "That looks even better than the first one."

"Thanks!"

"Come on, you guys," Robby said, putting his head into the room. "We're going to be late." He then noticed the dress that I was holding. "Wow! That' looks even better than the first one."

"That's what I said," Miguel said proudly. He then turned to me with a huge smile. "See! I told you so!"

The whole ride to the LaRusso palace I had butterflies in my stomach. Not about Sam or the choosing. Or at least that was what I kept telling myself. I was nervous about everyone else seeing the new dress that I had made. What if they judged me too harshly for having a handmade dress and not buying something off the rack like all the other girls and guys probably did? What if they judged the dress and much like Yasmin had wanted to destroy my reputation if I didn't sell to them.?

"You'll be fine, Tory," Miguel said as Robby parked his car nearby. "Everything is going to be fine, you'll see."

"I wish I had your optimism, Miguel," I said, feeling like the dress had just shrunk a hundred times over. "The whole kingdom has probably heard what happened at Yasmin's house…."

"She doesn't control you or your life," Robby pointed out helpfully. "Just remember that and nothing else should bother you."

I nodded as both boys helped me out of the car. I laced my arm through Miguel's as Robby took Miguel's hand. This was it. We were going to the Grand Ball for better or worse.

"Anyone catching your eye, honey?" King Daniel asked, watching me stare out over the crowd of boys and girls who were slowly trickling into the grand ballroom.

"No," I said, shoulder sagging in defeat. "Perhaps this wasn't the best idea? Maybe we could do this a different way?"

"Sam, this was your idea," my younger brother Anthony said, rolling his eyes. "Like some sort of fairytale or something."

I rolled my eyes turning my attention back to the doorway where Miguel and Robby were entering with a gorgeous girl. She didn't look like anyone I'd ever seen before. Perhaps she was a new person to the kingdom. I watched as she and the boys chatted with Eli who goes by the name Hawk and his girlfriend Moon. Whoever this girl was both Hawk and Moon seemed to know her.

"I'm interested in knowing more about her," I said, pointing towards the girl talking with my exes and my friends.

"You know Moon," my dad said, the sound of laughter clear in his voice.

"Not Moon, Dad. I know Moon and Eli are together. I was talking about the girl who's talking with her. The one who entered with Robby and Miguel."

He looked over at the girl I was pointing at. "She does look somewhat familiar, doesn't she?" he asked, watching me closely.

"She does, doesn't she?"

He nodded.

"How do I play this, dad?"

"Why don't you go down there and ask her to dance? That's the whole part of a grand ball to dance, right?"

"Dad, you're the best!" I hugged him quickly and then raced over to musicians and asked them to play a slow song.

Miguel, Robby, and I were just about to join the dance floor when the music went from energetic to a slow song. I watched as people started to pair off with each other. Everyone seemed to be finding it easy to find a partner. Everyone but me. The whole thing with Yasmin's mom and the silver must have spread faster than I thought. No one even bothered looking at me as they paired off with loved ones or friends. Even that spoiled bitch Yasmin had someone to dance with. Demetri Alexopoulos. A boy she'd vowed never to have anything to do with in her entire life if what Hawk said was to be believed. I guess things changed very quickly when you looked like Yasmin did and got whatever or whoever you wanted.

The sounds of sudden gasping caught my attention as all eyes were now on me. I looked down at myself thinking that someone had spilled something on me to find my dress was perfectly unharmed. That wasn't what was making people all around the ballroom gasp at me like they were.

"Excuse me?" a soft voice asked from behind me, making me jump a bit and turn on my heel.

I was about to tell whoever it was off when I realized who had spoken. Standing behind me in all her finery was Princess Samantha. She was stunning in her sparkling blue gown that brought out her crystal blue eyes perfectly. She put all the other ladies in the Grand ballroom to shame. Even me and my handmade dress.

"Princess Samantha," I said, bowing low as I had been taught to do when in the presence of royalty.

"Sam," she corrected, smiling and holding out her hand. "The girl I want to dance with gets the honor of calling me, Sam. That is if you want to." She chuckled nervously.

"I would love to dance with you, Sam," I said, smiling and taking her hand as she led out onto the dance floor.

The world seemed to disappear as we danced. Nothing existed except for the blue and silver of the ballroom. Nothing existed save for us.

"I'm Tory, by the way," I said, looking into her eyes.

"I know who you are, Tory. But maybe I don't know the real you."

"And maybe I don't know the real you either."

"Would you like to change that?"

"Of course."

We spent the rest of the evening dancing with each other and talking. Getting to know each other better. And it came as no surprise the next day when Princess Sam had asked me to go out with her that weekend.

It was also not a very big surprise to anyone when I was asked to become the royal dressmaker for the royal family. Everyone who was everyone had seen the dress that I had made and adored it. Even Yasmin had come to her senses, more than like being helped there by Demetri, and apologized to me for what had happened the last day I worked for her family.

The world slowly and surely started to look like there was a glimmering ray of hope surrounding all the dread there was in it. I'm not going to say that we all lived happily ever after. That would be kind of ridiculous but we did live as happily as we could.

The end.

I hope you all enjoyed The Grand LaRusso Ball as much as I enjoyed writing it.