I do not own Digimon, darling. If I did, I wouldn't be writing a disclaimer, no?

Glass Slipper by liahime

Three Slippers of Velvet:

This is all your fault, Nonaka." Ayashi glared at Rika as they walked down the hall to the detention room. "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be out on a date with-" She smiled to herself. "Ryo."

Rika snorted. "Yeah. Keep telling yourself that, Fujiwara."

"It's not like a little kid like you could go and even have the tiniest chance with Ryo. You're just jealous of me. Ryo, like you? Let's not fool ourselves, darling."

Rika glared at Ayashi. "Look. There is no chance of me getting close to that creep, Fujiwara. He's a stuck up, arrogant, lazy, perverted guy with hair."

"He is so not perverted. I should know. I'm the president of his fan club." Ayashi looked down her nose- as much as possible- at the taller girl.

Rika raised an eyebrow.

"OOH, YOU INSOLENT LITTLE-" Ayashi steamed, stomping her foot down hard. "I AM GOING TO SUE YOU FOR THIS, AND YOU AND YOUR MOM WILL LIVE OUT IN THE STREET, NONAKA!" She slammed her foot hard into the tiled floor, so hard that the heel of her shoe broke off.

"NOW LOOK WHAT YOU'VE MADE ME DO!" Ayashi shrieked. She pulled out her cellphone and started to dial in a number, still screaming. "YOU RUINED MY RUMIKO MODEL SHOE! IT COST MORE THAN YOUR MOM WILL MAKE IN HER LIFETIME!"

Rika looked at the shoe with her mother's signature engraved into the side. "I doubt it."

"I AM SO GOING TO SUE YOU-"

Suddenly the door to the detention room swung open. The famous Zakisoba monotone droned out. "Late, thirty minutes added." He pointed to the desks. "You can start scraping the gum off those."

They were disgusting at the nicest possible way to put it. Gum encrusted, candy stuck in the gum, and spit marks were washed all over the thing. It wasn't pleasant. Zakisoba pointed to the floor. "That's going to be washed as well. Once you are done, come see me." He handed them both a plastic knife and walked to his desk. "I'll be watching. No talking."

"NOT SO FAST, KENJI!"

Mr. Zakisoba shot up from his chair. The door banged open, and in walked the school's most feared teacher- the drama teacher. With her flamingo-pink hair and her huge, extremely loud mouth that could project her voice across a football field, she was the school's winner of Strangest Teacher of The Year (and the next, and the year after that too). Yumi Sarawatari.

"KENJI. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING TO THESE POOR GIRLS?" Her voice rose an octave. Mr. Zakisoba Kenji flinched.

"They're in my- my detention, Sarawatari-san."

"KENJI, I DO BELIEVE THAT THESE POOR , INNOCENT GIRLS CAN NOT BE FORCED TO THIS CRUEL, INHUMANE WORK! THINK ABOUT WHAT THE HEADMASTER WOULD SAY!"

He seemed to shrink in his chair. "They were fight-"

"BUT I'M SURE YOU'LL FORGIVE THEM, WON'T YOU, KENJI!"

"Of course not."

"WHAT?"

"No." He crossed his arms. "They need to realize the seriousness of their-" Quickly, the drama teacher had him by the nose, twisting just enough to make it hurt.

"Now Kenji," she hissed. "We don't want to stunt their growth in the arts, do we, Kenji?" She smiled at him. "So I'll just take them from your hands and leave." He managed a tiny squeak. "Yes?"

He nodded frantically, with the nose on his hand.

"Thank you, Kenji. I knew you would understand." She stood up and dragged two stunned "poor innocent girls" out the hall and to the drama room.

Once they'd been dragged there, Yumi Sarawatari looked at her new drama stars. "Now girls. You will be in a very important part. As Cinderella, the beautiful young girl. Rika, I decided that you'll be a perfect Cinderella, so I signed you up, and guess what? You passed auditions perfectly."

"WHAT?"

"SHE CAN'T BE THE STAR!"

"I don't even WANT to be in this stupid play!"

"SHE CAN'T BE THE STAR!"

"I hate drama! I hate acting! Hate dresses!"

"SHE CAN'T BE THE STAR!"

"I WON'T DO IT!"

"SHE CAN'T BE THE- oh. Well, since she won't do it, I'll do it FOR her!"

The teacher looked down at them. "Shut up."

She got down and stared at them, much like how she stared at Mr. Zakisoba. "You are doing this lovely play, and you will love it, understand? You have all signed the contract, and you can't back out now. Or you can go back and scrape gum. With a toothbrush. Your choice. Are you in or out?"

Ayashi squeaked. "In."

Rika gulped. "In."

The door burst open, and Takato, Kazu, Henry, and Kenta came in, leading a bunch of hyper kids, singing.

"Are you in or out?

Double-crossers or devout?

Put your faith in me

Pretty soon you'll see

I'm the prince of generosity

Are you foe or friend?

Here's the path I recommend

You want a ride to fame-"

They came to an almost screeching halt. Henry looked amazed. "Rika! What are you doing in drama?"

Rika mumbled something.

The doors slammed open for the third time that afternoon. A boy rushed into the room and slammed the door shut again, wedging a ruler in between the handles. He looked up and grinned. "I can't help it, I'm too loved." He laughed. "Sorry I'm late."

Ayashi blushed. "Ryo!"

Ryo looked a bit worried. "Ayashi."

"OH MY GOSH! I am the president of your fan club!"

"Ah, Ayashi..."

"Will you go out with me? Please?"

"Er..."

"OH MY GOSH! RYO AKIYAMA IS-" Someone's hand slapped her, ruining the perfect foundation and who knows what on her face. Small plastic eyelashes fluttered towards the floor.

"Shut. Up. Ayashi." Rika glared at her. Ryo watched, amused.

The drama teacher also pretended it didn't happen. Cheerfully, she just handed out scripts and assigned people to their roles and future chairs.

Rika slumped in one of the plastic folding chairs, scowling at her script. She had been trying to avoid the drama room and "conveniently forget" the play- forever. If the drama teacher hadn't done this...

After Drama Practice...

"Hey Wildcat."

"Mmph."

"Are you jealous?"

This completely threw Rika off. She continued walking out the door. Jealous? Of who?

"You are, aren't you."

She turned around. "Jealous? Of what?"

"Rika, you know you're jealous of Ayashi. If you want to be the president of my fan club, treat me well, and just tell me, OK?"

"WHAT!"

Ryo laughed. "Never mind. Forget I even mentioned it."

Rika scowled at him. "You should." He scowled back, nearly matching her, except for his crossed eyes.

Rika laughed. It was a laugh that was seemingly squashed down and pulled down, but it slowly crept up her throat, making her eyes smile first, and then spill out of her mouth. She couldn't help it. Her entire body told her not to, but she laughed. Ryo took advantage of the moment and grabbed her school bag.

"Hey!" Rika tried to snatch the bag back.

He lightly jumped aside. "C'mon pumpkin. Once."

"Akiyama!"

They ran through the streets, chasing each other. A photographer stopped walking down the quiet street and smiled at them, grabbing her camera. She snapped two instant photos and ran over to them.

"Here. You two are such a cute couple! It's free of course. I specialize in couple-shots. Call me if you want a shoot!" Then she bounded away.

Rika and Ryo were left in mid-run, holding a photo. The photographer had done a good job. They were caught in eternal sunlight, running after each other. Someone might actually call it cute.

But of course, not Rika. She punched Ryo in the arm. "My bag."

He laughed. "No." Still holding the pictures, Rika's bag, and his own, they walked down the street together.

"This your house?"

"Yeah."

He bowed, and with a flourish he presented Rika her bag. "My princess, Cinderella."

She grabbed the bag from his hands.

"Ah, the princess is such an icy queen to serve."

"Akiyama do you-"

"Call me Ryo, OK, Rika?"

"No, Akiyama."

Ryo was apparently not listening, just looking at one of the trees.

"Akiyama."

"This isn't funny."

"Augh."

"RYO."

He looked up. "Hm?"

"Fine. I'll call you.." she paused and sighed. "Ryo."

He grinned triumphantly. "See you tomorrow, Wildcat!"

As he walked away, with one bag, one picture, Rika smiled a tiny bit. "Bye...Ryo."

REVIEWS

krista- ok... Thank you for not killing me.. Thanks for waiting such a long time!

Eve- yay! your comment made me want to write more... so I wrote this chapter! (Finally!)

nipa girl- I'll try to write more.. And a lot faster too...

Evil Queen- thanks for the suggestions! I'm using some in the next chapter.. thanks for the cookie!

Dbzgtfan2004- no, this isn't a rika-takato story. No offense, but I don't like that couple.

Ao-Senshi- Sorry... I'll try to fix my mistakes after this! Thank you! Really! I'll be more careful and proofread more now.

RikaTabithaStar- Thanks for suggestions

Cold Hearted Ice Queen- I'll update ASAP!

GTKari-123- sure! You can be one of the evil stepsisters!

Luzr-Gurl13- Updating! Very soon!

Ok, thank you to everyone everyone everyone who read this story. I know it's been FOREVER since I updated, but I finally have a computer that works. Thank you all for reading! I'll try not to make as many mistakes, Ao-Senshi... I'll try to work hard.. This chapter was created from hunger and frozen hands, so it's a bit random.. Oh well. The next one will be better!

liahime