Cinderella
Once upon a time....this is how the story doesn't start. This is not a traditional fairy tale. In fact, this fairy tale is so twisted it's actually, gasp, realistic! Almost. Anyway, this is the story of Cinderella, set in modern day.
"ANN!!! Where are my black heels??" 16 year old, barefooted Ella Winters screamed at her stepmother, Ann.
" They're in the living room. But did you empty the dishwasher like I asked?" asked Ann, who was in the kitchen mopping the floor.
"Are you crazy? I can't empty that dreadful machine in this dress. Get Mary to do it, she likes that kind of stuff." Ella said, appearing in the doorway of the kitchen with one-black heel on.
"But I asked you to do it, Ella. Mary did it for you last time, when you were going out with Michael" Ann said tiredly, but not unkindly.
" You always make me do all the work around here!! I hate being the maid around here. And why do you hate me? You have always liked Mary better and I am so sick of it!!", Ella screeched, her face turning red from rage.
" Ella, chill out, mom asked you to empty the dishwasher, not clean the whole house with a toothbrush." Ann's 18 year old daughter Mary said, with impatience in her voice.
"Chill out, Ella," Ella mimicked Mary's voice," if you think that it isn't that big of a deal, why don't you do it? Michael's going to be here any minute, and I'm still not ready, thanks to Mom and you."
"Ella, You are not going to go anywhere tonight if you don't empty the dishwasher. And Ella, please don't speak that way to Mary and I like that." Ann said in a semi-stern voice.
"This is so unfair! You're so mean to me! Mary, get a life, and you won't always be stuck emptying that... awful... thing." Ella said hatefully, gesturing towards the dishwasher.
Outside, a horn honked twice. Ella glanced towards the clock. She ran into the living room to find her other heel, but you could hear her muttering unkind, inappropriate things about Ann and Mary.
The horn honked again. Ella threw open the door and ran outside to the car, never giving the house a second glance.
Her stepmother sighed. She quietly said,
" I've tried everything with that girl, but she is so horrible , towards me and you. I am close to giving up on her. She'll never like me. Oh well. Mary, dear, don't do the dishwasher, I'll do it when I finish mopping the floor."
"Mom, I'll do it, you do enough work as it is! And Lord knows that she doesn't do anything to help, so I'll do it, since she probably will refuse to do it, as she usually does.", Mary said angrily, with a hint of sadness in her voice.
Later that night...
Ella comes stomping through the door crying hysterically.
" Ella! What happened? Did Michael do something? Why are you crying?" Ann rushed to her stepdaughters aid, because the minute Ella had came through the door, she had fallen to the newly scrubbed floor.
" Michael...told....me....that he thought I was a...spoiled princess... and ...a....snob!" Ella wailed, tears streaming down her usually perfectly made-up face.
"Why would he say that?", mock surprise coming to Mary's face, as she smirked at Ella's "traumatic" event.
Ella glared at Mary, and continued," We at that new French restaurant that had just opened and I ordered the lobster, which was just a tiny bit expensive, so Michael looks at me and asks, if I had to have the lobster. So I say yeah of course, so he says-"
Mary tuned out as Ella continued to cry and talk about her night. It was always about Ella, she thought, as she glanced over at Ann listening patiently and murmuring soothing words to calm the wrought-up Ella
Why can't my mom be that concerned about me? I am her flesh and blood, Ella is just her step-daughter, and a horrible mean, nasty one at that! Ann got so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Ann talking to her,
"Mary?"
"What?" Mary said, snapping back into reality.
"I'm going to make some hot cocoa for Ella, do you want some?" Ann asked her daughter, while glancing over to make sure Ella had calmed down.
"No, I think I'm just going to go to bed, I'm pretty tired." Mary said, faking a yawn.
"Okay then, goodnight Mary", Ann whispered softly, heading towards the kitchen.
Mary trudged up the stairs into her small, but spacious room. It was very neat, compared to Ella's huge pigsty-ish room, which had clothes strewn all over the floor.
I hope tomorrow will be better, Mary thought, as she drifted off to sleep.
The next morning...
" ANN! Do you know where my pink sundress is?", Ella shouted from her room.
" It's in here, I just finished ironing it." Ann yelled back.
Ella appeared in the doorway of the sunlit kitchen in her pajamas, looking grumpy, as she usually did in the morning.
Ella didn't say a word as she scuffled over to the coffee pot and poured herself some coffee. She took one big gulp, and half of it was gone.
Wordlessly, she took the sundress from her Ann's outstretched arms and started up the stairs.
Mary sat down at the table and ate her Frosted Flakes. She was already dressed in a plain denim skirt and a white short sleeved top.
" I'm going to work, I'll be back by three." Mary said pleasantly, for unlike Ella, she was a morning person.
" Okay dear, have fun", Ann said distractedly, for Ann was wondering if Ella was better.
Mary started up her car, a blue Jeep, drove to the towne center in fifteen minutes, and went to her work, Starbucks.
" Hey Mary! How's it goin'? her friend and co-worker, Jolene, asked.
" Okay, but to tell you the truth, I've been better.", Mary replied, getting her apron on and checking herself in.
"Maybe this will cheer you up. We got a new employee, since Diana left. He should be here in a half hour, and boss thought you could show him the ropes." Jolene yelled over the whirring of the blender.
" How is Miss P. doing this morning?" Mary asked with a grimace, the grimace she usually had on her face when she referred to her boss.
"Well, do want to hear about the coffee-bean throwing tantrum she had this morning at five? Or, do you want to hear about the sugar-packet counting at six?" Jolene asked, grinning.
Mary laughed.
"So, what time are you out of here?" Mary questioned, hoping that Jolene would be here to keep her company.
Jolene checked her watch.
"Five minutes ago." Jolene said happily, while taking off her coffee stained apron and heading towards the door.
" Call me later and tell me about the new guy, okay?" Jolene added as she opened the door and ran straight into a customer.
Mary laughed as Jolene apolgized profusely to the little old lady, who was a regular customer here.
" Hi Mrs. Smithson, do you want the regular-" Mary was bombarded with customers after Mrs. Smithson, and rushed around.
After awhile the crowd thinned out and Mary wondered where the new guy was. She checked her watch, he was supposed to be here five minutes ago! The door opened again, and the sunlight made it impossible to see anything except an outlined shadow of a person.
Mary said in her happy-sounding voice,
" Hi, welcome to Starbucks!"
The person stepped into the room and Mary found herself looking at one of the most cutest guys she had ever seen.
" Hi, I'm Jeremy, I'm the guy Miss P. hired to work here. Sorry I'm late, I got off the wrong exit." Jeremy said apologetically.
"It's okay, I don't think Miss P. noticed, or she would've been out here already, firing you on the spot." Mary said with a smile, gazing into his green eyes.
"Is she okay? When I met her for my job interview, she seemed sort of, wired." Jeremy said, putting on the apron Mary had handed him.
" Well, what do you expect? This is a coffee-house, the people here tend to get a little crazy. Sometimes, if Miss P is really wired, she throws tantrums. I heard today she was launching coffee beans at a customer who wanted a special order." Mary said softly," And she also counts the sugar packets. Yeah, she's a pretty crazy lady, some people think that she has," Mary leans towards Jeremy and whispers in a conspiratorial voice," psychological problems."
Jeremy smiles and shakes his head, like he can't believe it.
" And so this is where we mix and blend the lattes and frappachinos." Mary said in a loud voice, she had seen Miss P. come out of her office, so she had quickly changed the subject.
Jeremy looked confused, then sees Miss P and understands.
" Jeremy. Are you getting the hang of this? I hope Mary here has been explaining all of this to you okay." Miss P, a heavyset woman in her late 50s, says curtly.
" Yes, Ma'am, Mary is doing a great job of explaining, but this job sounds like a lot of work. But I can do it." Jeremy says in his polite, cordial voice.
" Well, it's nice to see you adjusting to this, keep up the good work!" Miss P said in one of her rare, happy sounding voices.
Mary looks at Jeremy in astonishment, Miss P never gives out compliments. Jeremy just shrugs, and Mary starts explaining again.
Later that day...
Mary is gabbing on the phone to Jolene, when Ella enters.
" Ella, what are you doing in my room?" Mary asks, "Can I call you back Jolene?"
" Well??" Mary asks again, impatient.
" I was at Starbucks today, and you weren't there, but this really hot guy was." Ella said snidely," I didn't know that you knew any hot guys. I thought that it was just you and that," Ella wrinkles her nose," Jolene girl. How come you never told me about Jeremy?"
" How'd you know his name?" Mary asked, sad, because she liked Jeremy and thought that Ella was going to steal him away from her.
Not that he was hers to have been stolen from.
" I asked him. I didn't ask for his number, because I thought-"
Ella drifted off.
" You thought what?" Mary said angrily, " that I would give you his number? Why don't I just ask him out for you?"
" Mary, you didn't have to get so mad, I was just asking..." Ella said, actually sounding sort of hurt," but if you're going to be so miffed about it then I can get it from him myself."
To be continued....
R&R please
Once upon a time....this is how the story doesn't start. This is not a traditional fairy tale. In fact, this fairy tale is so twisted it's actually, gasp, realistic! Almost. Anyway, this is the story of Cinderella, set in modern day.
"ANN!!! Where are my black heels??" 16 year old, barefooted Ella Winters screamed at her stepmother, Ann.
" They're in the living room. But did you empty the dishwasher like I asked?" asked Ann, who was in the kitchen mopping the floor.
"Are you crazy? I can't empty that dreadful machine in this dress. Get Mary to do it, she likes that kind of stuff." Ella said, appearing in the doorway of the kitchen with one-black heel on.
"But I asked you to do it, Ella. Mary did it for you last time, when you were going out with Michael" Ann said tiredly, but not unkindly.
" You always make me do all the work around here!! I hate being the maid around here. And why do you hate me? You have always liked Mary better and I am so sick of it!!", Ella screeched, her face turning red from rage.
" Ella, chill out, mom asked you to empty the dishwasher, not clean the whole house with a toothbrush." Ann's 18 year old daughter Mary said, with impatience in her voice.
"Chill out, Ella," Ella mimicked Mary's voice," if you think that it isn't that big of a deal, why don't you do it? Michael's going to be here any minute, and I'm still not ready, thanks to Mom and you."
"Ella, You are not going to go anywhere tonight if you don't empty the dishwasher. And Ella, please don't speak that way to Mary and I like that." Ann said in a semi-stern voice.
"This is so unfair! You're so mean to me! Mary, get a life, and you won't always be stuck emptying that... awful... thing." Ella said hatefully, gesturing towards the dishwasher.
Outside, a horn honked twice. Ella glanced towards the clock. She ran into the living room to find her other heel, but you could hear her muttering unkind, inappropriate things about Ann and Mary.
The horn honked again. Ella threw open the door and ran outside to the car, never giving the house a second glance.
Her stepmother sighed. She quietly said,
" I've tried everything with that girl, but she is so horrible , towards me and you. I am close to giving up on her. She'll never like me. Oh well. Mary, dear, don't do the dishwasher, I'll do it when I finish mopping the floor."
"Mom, I'll do it, you do enough work as it is! And Lord knows that she doesn't do anything to help, so I'll do it, since she probably will refuse to do it, as she usually does.", Mary said angrily, with a hint of sadness in her voice.
Later that night...
Ella comes stomping through the door crying hysterically.
" Ella! What happened? Did Michael do something? Why are you crying?" Ann rushed to her stepdaughters aid, because the minute Ella had came through the door, she had fallen to the newly scrubbed floor.
" Michael...told....me....that he thought I was a...spoiled princess... and ...a....snob!" Ella wailed, tears streaming down her usually perfectly made-up face.
"Why would he say that?", mock surprise coming to Mary's face, as she smirked at Ella's "traumatic" event.
Ella glared at Mary, and continued," We at that new French restaurant that had just opened and I ordered the lobster, which was just a tiny bit expensive, so Michael looks at me and asks, if I had to have the lobster. So I say yeah of course, so he says-"
Mary tuned out as Ella continued to cry and talk about her night. It was always about Ella, she thought, as she glanced over at Ann listening patiently and murmuring soothing words to calm the wrought-up Ella
Why can't my mom be that concerned about me? I am her flesh and blood, Ella is just her step-daughter, and a horrible mean, nasty one at that! Ann got so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice Ann talking to her,
"Mary?"
"What?" Mary said, snapping back into reality.
"I'm going to make some hot cocoa for Ella, do you want some?" Ann asked her daughter, while glancing over to make sure Ella had calmed down.
"No, I think I'm just going to go to bed, I'm pretty tired." Mary said, faking a yawn.
"Okay then, goodnight Mary", Ann whispered softly, heading towards the kitchen.
Mary trudged up the stairs into her small, but spacious room. It was very neat, compared to Ella's huge pigsty-ish room, which had clothes strewn all over the floor.
I hope tomorrow will be better, Mary thought, as she drifted off to sleep.
The next morning...
" ANN! Do you know where my pink sundress is?", Ella shouted from her room.
" It's in here, I just finished ironing it." Ann yelled back.
Ella appeared in the doorway of the sunlit kitchen in her pajamas, looking grumpy, as she usually did in the morning.
Ella didn't say a word as she scuffled over to the coffee pot and poured herself some coffee. She took one big gulp, and half of it was gone.
Wordlessly, she took the sundress from her Ann's outstretched arms and started up the stairs.
Mary sat down at the table and ate her Frosted Flakes. She was already dressed in a plain denim skirt and a white short sleeved top.
" I'm going to work, I'll be back by three." Mary said pleasantly, for unlike Ella, she was a morning person.
" Okay dear, have fun", Ann said distractedly, for Ann was wondering if Ella was better.
Mary started up her car, a blue Jeep, drove to the towne center in fifteen minutes, and went to her work, Starbucks.
" Hey Mary! How's it goin'? her friend and co-worker, Jolene, asked.
" Okay, but to tell you the truth, I've been better.", Mary replied, getting her apron on and checking herself in.
"Maybe this will cheer you up. We got a new employee, since Diana left. He should be here in a half hour, and boss thought you could show him the ropes." Jolene yelled over the whirring of the blender.
" How is Miss P. doing this morning?" Mary asked with a grimace, the grimace she usually had on her face when she referred to her boss.
"Well, do want to hear about the coffee-bean throwing tantrum she had this morning at five? Or, do you want to hear about the sugar-packet counting at six?" Jolene asked, grinning.
Mary laughed.
"So, what time are you out of here?" Mary questioned, hoping that Jolene would be here to keep her company.
Jolene checked her watch.
"Five minutes ago." Jolene said happily, while taking off her coffee stained apron and heading towards the door.
" Call me later and tell me about the new guy, okay?" Jolene added as she opened the door and ran straight into a customer.
Mary laughed as Jolene apolgized profusely to the little old lady, who was a regular customer here.
" Hi Mrs. Smithson, do you want the regular-" Mary was bombarded with customers after Mrs. Smithson, and rushed around.
After awhile the crowd thinned out and Mary wondered where the new guy was. She checked her watch, he was supposed to be here five minutes ago! The door opened again, and the sunlight made it impossible to see anything except an outlined shadow of a person.
Mary said in her happy-sounding voice,
" Hi, welcome to Starbucks!"
The person stepped into the room and Mary found herself looking at one of the most cutest guys she had ever seen.
" Hi, I'm Jeremy, I'm the guy Miss P. hired to work here. Sorry I'm late, I got off the wrong exit." Jeremy said apologetically.
"It's okay, I don't think Miss P. noticed, or she would've been out here already, firing you on the spot." Mary said with a smile, gazing into his green eyes.
"Is she okay? When I met her for my job interview, she seemed sort of, wired." Jeremy said, putting on the apron Mary had handed him.
" Well, what do you expect? This is a coffee-house, the people here tend to get a little crazy. Sometimes, if Miss P is really wired, she throws tantrums. I heard today she was launching coffee beans at a customer who wanted a special order." Mary said softly," And she also counts the sugar packets. Yeah, she's a pretty crazy lady, some people think that she has," Mary leans towards Jeremy and whispers in a conspiratorial voice," psychological problems."
Jeremy smiles and shakes his head, like he can't believe it.
" And so this is where we mix and blend the lattes and frappachinos." Mary said in a loud voice, she had seen Miss P. come out of her office, so she had quickly changed the subject.
Jeremy looked confused, then sees Miss P and understands.
" Jeremy. Are you getting the hang of this? I hope Mary here has been explaining all of this to you okay." Miss P, a heavyset woman in her late 50s, says curtly.
" Yes, Ma'am, Mary is doing a great job of explaining, but this job sounds like a lot of work. But I can do it." Jeremy says in his polite, cordial voice.
" Well, it's nice to see you adjusting to this, keep up the good work!" Miss P said in one of her rare, happy sounding voices.
Mary looks at Jeremy in astonishment, Miss P never gives out compliments. Jeremy just shrugs, and Mary starts explaining again.
Later that day...
Mary is gabbing on the phone to Jolene, when Ella enters.
" Ella, what are you doing in my room?" Mary asks, "Can I call you back Jolene?"
" Well??" Mary asks again, impatient.
" I was at Starbucks today, and you weren't there, but this really hot guy was." Ella said snidely," I didn't know that you knew any hot guys. I thought that it was just you and that," Ella wrinkles her nose," Jolene girl. How come you never told me about Jeremy?"
" How'd you know his name?" Mary asked, sad, because she liked Jeremy and thought that Ella was going to steal him away from her.
Not that he was hers to have been stolen from.
" I asked him. I didn't ask for his number, because I thought-"
Ella drifted off.
" You thought what?" Mary said angrily, " that I would give you his number? Why don't I just ask him out for you?"
" Mary, you didn't have to get so mad, I was just asking..." Ella said, actually sounding sort of hurt," but if you're going to be so miffed about it then I can get it from him myself."
To be continued....
R&R please
