************sigh. thursdays are horrible. poo. and today is thursday. for me, anywho. ITS MY HALF BIRTHDAY!! hooway. im so happy. anyway. the ella enchanted movie comes out in... like...... a month and 5 days. im going to see it but i dont think they should call it ella enchanted since i think they changed the plot. anywho. so um my neck hurts. lets get this over with, shall we? read.**********

Despite my horribly disgusting dress, I danced with three men before nine o' clock. I was very tired then, and sat down against the far wall to rest. Gracie, who was sitting a few seats over, had not danced with a single gentleman. I secretly laughed inside and moved to sit by her.

"Haven't danced with anyone, have you, Gracie?" I said, attempting friendliness.

"No," she said sourly, her arms folded across her chest.

At that moment, the vast doors to the ballroom opened, and trumpets sounded throughout the room. A squire called for silence and begun his announcement.

"Their majesties, King Charmont and Queen Ella," he called out. Everyone bowed or curtsied as the king and queen, who looked very kindly, swept across the room to their son and hugged him, with their children, Charles and Summer. Following the royal family was a couple, holding hands and looking delighted at the crowd.

The squire looked nervously around, obviously wondering whether or not he should introduce the couple, as they apparantly were friends with the king and queen. Finally, the squire made up his mind and said in a loud voice, "Lord William and Lady Areida."

The moment William and Areida reached Sam, the music started up again and the dancing resumed. I straightened in my chair a little and looked for someone to dance with. I didn't have to look long, for Sampson came to me at once and insisted I meet his parents.

"Oh, I don't think--" I said. I was going to say that I didn't want to meed them, but Sampson cut me off.

"They'll LOVE you, Zoi!" he said, leading me to where Charmont, Ella, Charles, Summer, Areida, and William were standing. Ella had a kind face and was smiling sweetly at me as I approached, which didn't make her seem all that bad. Charmont was laughing, which didn't make him seem all that bad, either.

"And who's this?" asked Ella, who was the only one facing me when I curtsied.

"This is my new friend Zoi," said Sam. "I met her at the market a few days ago."

Summer came up behind her mother and looked me up and down. "Your dress is hideous," she said plainly.

"Summer!" exclaimed Ella, hitting her daughter on the shoulder lightly. "You shouldn't say such things! Apologize to this young lady."

"Sorry," said Summer, who was about Gracie's age. Maybe even younger, such as ten years old.

"I know it's hideous," I whispered to her. "It's my cousin's, but I traded her since it's her first ball."

Summer giggled. "How nice of you, Zoi," she whispered back.

I turned to Charmont, Charles, Areida, and William and curtsied. "Good evening," I said. "I'm Zoi."

"So we heard," said Charles, who must have been my age. He had a bad attitude, though. "I'm Charles," he replied, remembering his manners without his father hitting him. "Nice to meet you."

Charmont bowed and introduced himself as well. When I looked at the other two and prepared to curtsy to them, they just stared at me with their mouths open.

"Good evening," I said to them, and curtsied anyway. "How do you do?"

Areida mouthed something and gave a shadow of a curtsy, but William did nothing but stand and stare. "You look just like her," he whispered.

"Pardon?" I said, rising from my curtsy. "Like who, Lord William?"

Charmont, Ella, Sampson, Charles, and Summer all gathered around William and looked straight at me. It was the most ackward situation I had ever been in.

"You're right, Will," said Ella. "She DOES. Except the hair. The hair doesn't look like her."

Sam must have sensed my uncomfortableness, because he seized my arm and announced that I had saved him a dance all night. When we were out on the dance floor, I let out a breath of relief.

"THANK you!" I exclaimed to Sam. "I hate it when people do that!"

"Do people do that to you often?" asked Sam quietly, still staring at me.

"Oh, not often. They just say I look familiar. Like your aunt and uncle. They come up to me in the street and said I was someone... I can't remember." I sighed.

"Well, we have a good reason to stare at you and say you look familiar," Said Sam. When I gave him an inquiring look, he replied, "You see, when I was very little, maybe just one year old, Areida and Will, who are close friends of my parents, had a baby girl. She got kidnaped about a month or two later by a man. The guards caught the man, but he no longer had the baby girl. He said he would never tell where she was, and so they executed him for kidnaping and many other things that he had done." Sam sighed and pulled me a little closer in the slow dance. "You look so much like Areida, and your name is almost the same as her daughter's, that we have good reason to stare at you. Her daughter's name was Cloi."

"Oh," I said quietly, taking it all in slowly. "So you think that I am Areida's daughter because I look alike and my name sounds the same?"

Sam nodded.

"So what if our names sound the same?" I said, offended for some reason. "It wouldn't make a difference if the kidnaper had named Areida's child MILDRED!" I exclaimed, thinking of the first name that had come to mind. "I'm sure there are plenty of other Zoi's in the kingdom who have the same color eyes as Areida!"

"Oh, please don't be mad!" said Sampson sweetly. "I don't want you to be mad at me." He pulled me even closer. "I don't want you to be mad at me at all. Ever."

I calmed down. Somehow I had lost all my anger. I had no idea why, though I suspected it to be because Sam had pulled me closer. But that couldn't be it! I didn't even LIKE him, let alone consider him a beaux....

Did I?

********

tee hee. :D now you know... now you know... or at least: now you suspect... now you suspect.... haha i hope you enjoyed that chappie as much as i did. i had a really bad day and this cheered me up somewhat.

sigh.

please review. i would feel oh-so-much better to hear your criticism and/or praises!

have a great day.