A/N: I, again, over-lapped a little so it's a refresher for those who haven't read this series in a little while. Well, that's partly my fault because I've been exquistely lazy and it took awhile for me to update, but it's here now right? Chapter 3 is UP! YAY! throws about confetti Thank you for reviewing: LindyLou78, Vanessa-Black and Zabini, DivineLight, and lovinglife. Please, please review. I love to hear from people. Thanks all you little people out there that enjoy this! And I'll PROMISE to try not to be so lazy! Promise! crosses fingers hee hee! Just kidding. Claer

I sipped down the rest of my tea, and just as I put the cup down, a chair scraped down in front of me. I expected to see Adrian (and that reminded me: Where did that boy disappear off to?) but instead I was greeted by…

CHARMING?! What did he want? I thought he was having a great time with Cinderella. If he was looking for more flirting, I wasn't about to give it to him because: A) I despise him. B) He's a player. C) Cinderella would kill me.

He smiled at me. "Hello Alice. How are you?" I shuddered inwardly.

"Fine," I said, keeping my voice monotone.

"So," he began. I hated how he drawled out his words. I wanted to bash his head in. I find that I want to bash a LOT of people's head in, you know? I'm not sure why I have this violent gene in me, because honestly, I am meek and quiet most the time (unless of course I am greeted by Adrian, but in that situation I simply come off as being terribly rude). I guess I have a dark side.

"There's to be a welcoming ball for your family tonight, and I was wondering if you'd like me to be your escort." It wasn't even a QUESTION.

And if you were wondering: escort date. I was totally NOT going with Charming. I mean seriously, it's like a snowball in Hell. Why would he ask me anyway? It doesn't make sense, I thought to myself. Wasn't he just flirting with Cindy, like, two seconds ago? Does he have ADD? … No. I thought firmly. He's just a player, that's what. Trying to make her jealous—I near choked. I realized then and there; he was using me to make Cindy jealous! How COULD he? As if she's not smitten with him already. I decided I would not let him use me like that. Never. Plus, it's entirely possible that I hate Cinderella for being pompous and idiotic, but HELLO, she's my step-sister. It'd be mean. See? I'm not completely evil.

And also, I have this thing against Charming. I don't go for blonde guys.

"Oh, how nice of you to ask!" I said cheerily. I could see Cindy ready to rip out my throat and stomp on it. "But I'm afraid I just couldn't do that to my darling sister Cindy. I mean, you two would look PERFECT together, and I just couldn't bear to see her with anyone less than perfect with her. You two will be the ideal couple there." I could see Cindy beaming at me in a relieved manner. Yeah, it was a little bit lame, but if I wanted to have a nice life I needed to do this.

"Oh she is so right!" Camilla exclaimed. I didn't know SHE was listening. Good thing I didn't insult anybody. "You two ARE perfect together! Oh you two must go together!" Okay this was another one of those commands-disguised-as-an-option things. I wondered if everybody at Court was this weird.

She turned to Hilda and started babbling excitedly, "Oh it'd be so dear to have our children all paired together, you know? Cinderella and Charming, Belle and Henry, and Alice and Adrian!"

I choked. "ADRIAN?!" Maybe I should have gone with Charming after all.

Camilla regarded me with surprise. "Well yes dear, you and Adrian look splendid together." I thought about this. Did we really look that good together? He was tall (6 foot) and toned but still wiry, with dark features and a wild-streak.

Me? I'm only 5' 3" and am petite. I've got this incredibly boring straight light brown hair and worst of all—boring blue eyes. I mean, there's people like Cindy here, who has gorgeous sparkling blue eyes and Belle has almost like a cerulean color, but me? I have boring grayish blue ones. They're like a stormy sea. A rather boring stormy sea.

So we're supposed to be a great couple. Yeah, right. Liar, I thought.

It was settled then—I was paired with Adrian for the Ball.

As if my life didn't suck enough.

I heard a knock on my door. That's supposed to be the maid. "Come in, please," I said.

And sure enough, in stepped my maid and servant, Cecelia. She had fiery red hair that formed loose curls, and a freckled face. But she was very pretty. Prettier than me. I may SEEM like the kind of person to not care if I'm pretty or not, but when you live with two unnaturally gorgeous beauties… well you get a little depressed. I've never gotten a boy calling for me before, never kissed anybody, nor even had a chance to flirt. It's not like I actually wanted to do these things you see, but it annoyed me how the option simply wasn't available. It's depressing.

"Hello milady," she swept into an impossibly low curtsey, "I am Cecelia, your servant and maid."

"Hi Cecelia," I smiled. She looked stunned. Maybe nobody ever smiled at her before? I continued, "You don't need to curtsey by the way, or to be so formal."

"Uh o-okay," she stuttered. She looked rather shaken. "I'm here to prepare you for the ball."

I groaned, "That's, like, five hours away! Can we wait?"

Cecelia grinned, "If you want, but no more than two hours of stalling."

"Thank you!" I flopped down on the couch relieved. (Did I mention that there was a couch in there? It's like, another house practically.) "I so do not want to go to this ball you know."

"Why not?" Cecelia asked taking a seat next to me.

"Well my mom and the queen decided to pair me up with only my worst enemy as an escort."

"Who's that?"

"Glad you asked," I said, "It's Adrian, her middle son." I wrinkled my nose.

Cecelia stared at me for a moment, and then started laughing. "What? What'd I do?" I asked.

As she collected herself, she started to talk, "It's funny that you say that, because I never thought I'd head ANYBODY say that."

"Why?!" I asked bewildered. Someone would WANT to be paired with that supercilious, conceited, egotistical prat? It occurred to me then that I have far too many adjectives for someone I supposedly didn't care about.

"Well because he is only one of THE hottest guys in the castle," she stated simply.

I frowned as I thought. Okay, yeah, that made sense; he WAS awfully hot but he was so big-headed! I blinked and looked at her. "What do you see in him?"

Cecelia sighed, "Adrian has SUCH a toned body—abs like you wouldn't believe—and that hair is hot, his smirk is sexy—" this surprised me because I hated that smirk "—and he's got a wild-streak. Girls like the hotties who don't go by the rules. I mean, if I were you, I would be drooling thinking about going with him. What have you got against him anyway?"

"Well, it started when we were six. He was rude to me and I punched him in the stomach. And you know what? Adrian still is an arrogant jerk."

Cecelia rolled her eyes, "Alright, whatever. But I'm getting you ready for the ball NOW."

I gasped in horror. "Why?! It's been, like, twenty minutes!"

"Because you're going with the prince, and I want you to make his knees buckle. C'mon, you're taking a bath NOW." There was no arguing with her. Cecelia was rather stubborn for a servant.

I tagged down Adrian (who was busily flirting with some girls and receiving death glares from their escorts) in about ten minutes, which was pretty good, considering the crowd I had to push through.

I tapped him on the shoulder. Adrian turned and the girls were ushered away by their escorts. I saw him blush a little. I had no idea why. "Hey Adrian."

"Alice! I, um, didn't quite recognize you…" he trailed off as his amber eyes wandered along my figure. It was my turn to blush. I didn't think I looked that incredibly amazing, but I suppose Adrian thought I did.

"Adrian, my face is up here," I said and Adrian blushed again slightly as he focused his gaze back on my face. "So… I guess you think I look good."

"You look okay."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh please Adrian. That's a lie and you know it."

Adrian raised his eyebrows, "Do I?"

"Yes, you do."

Adrian smirked, "Okay, so you look appealing to say the least, but you can't deny that you liked the fact that I was checking you out."

Damn. "Shut it Adrian."

A/N: Chapter 4 should be up shortly. Review pleeeeeeeease! I know, I sound so pathetic. But that's ooookay. Love you people. Claer