Chapter 2: So this is Love

"Cindy Tremaine!" cried the teacher. She was a round old lady with a kind face, short white hair, and wore a blue dress with long sleeves and a big red ribbon.

"Here," responded Cindy, who wasn't wearing rags this time, but her school uniform looked worn and faded. She twirled a strand of her hair, and looked irritably at the teacher.

The teacher frowned with a hint of sadness, and continued roll-call. Unlike Classroom 1930, this one was nearly full, but with the same design, such as plaster walls, rows of neat desks placed horizontally across, three large windows to the right, a blackboard, a small teacher's desk, and bookshelves in the far back. Everyone was silent, except for two boys who whispered among themselves. One was skinny and wore a red cap, while the other was plump and wore a green cap, while their faces reminded Cindy of mice. She smiled at them when they looked at her, and then looked back at the board where the teacher was pointing to certain formulas with an ivory-colored wand she carried.

"Today we are going to learn how to transform one object into another, which is not as easy as it seems. Since it breaks the natural laws of nature, one can only perform such a spell for a limited amount of time. Can anyone tell me why that is?"

A girl with green skin and two black horns protruding out from her dark curly hair raised her hand immediately.

"Because if you change the object's nature permanently, it will cause serious damage to the balance of nature and to the caster," she answered.

"Thank you, Maleficent," the teacher said bowing her head in approval. "The balance of nature must be maintained for any spell that you cast, or harm will be done to you and the environment. Now, I will give you a simple demonstration."

After putting down her wand, the teacher leaned down behind her desk, and picked up a small pumpkin. Next, she rolled up her sleeves, picked up the wand again, and twirled it over the pumpkin saying, "Bippidy…Boppidy…Boo!"

In an instant, the pumpkin was transformed by the white sparkles that came out of the teacher's wand into a large porcelain bowl. Almost everyone in the classroom was enchanted, except for Maleficent who scuffed haughtily, and Cindy, who starred out the window next to her seat. Afterwards, the teacher produced dozens of pumpkins on everyone's desks, and told them to try to do the same thing she did. Most of the class struggled, including Cindy, who was nearly on the verge of breaking her wand, which was a plain stick she found when she was raking the leaves back home. The teacher noticed this, and walked over to her.

"Would you like some assistance, Miss Cindy?" the teacher asked.

"I don't need your help, Mrs. Fairy," Cindy replied, sighing heavily out of frustration. "I've got this completely under control."

The teacher, Mrs. Fairy, looked concerned. "Are you concentrating on the thing you wish to turn the pumpkin into?"

"What?"

"In order to change the pumpkin into the thing you wish it to be, you have to concentrate on the image of the thing you wish to turn the pumpkin into. Otherwise, the pumpkin will still be a pumpkin."

"I knew that," Maleficent bragged, and added to her point by turning the pumpkin into a cauldron after reciting the words with a hint of annoyance to it.

"Well some of us aren't magically talented like you are!" Cindy snapped, and stormed out of the classroom.

"Jack, Gus, will you bring her back once she has calmed herself down?" Mrs. Fairy said, looking at the two boys whom Cindy smiled at earlier.

"Yes, ma'am!" they both said, and left to find Cindy.

They found her in the kitchen pantry crying with a large floppy-eared dog lying next to her. He was a stray that she had found in the park while walking her stepmother's cat, and decided to bring him here instead of to her own home, knowing that her stepmother would not approve. The chef didn't mind, as long as the dog didn't eat any of the food within the pantry. Because of his brown fur, Cindy called him Bruno. Jack and Gus approached Cindy, and tried to comfort her.

"There's no need to cry, Cindy," Jack said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "It's not like Mrs. Fairy expected you to get it on the first try."

"I know," Cindy replied, wiping away her tears. "But that's not what's bothering me."

"Then what is it? You can tell us," Gus said, kneeling down next to Cindy.

"It's my stepmother!" Cindy snapped, causing both Jack and Gus to lean back. "I asked her if I could go to Ariel's slumber party last week, and she said I could, but then she made me do her and her daughters' laundry! It's like she didn't want me to go, but was too polite to say it!"

Jack scratched his chin while Cindy resumed crying, and then he asked, "Have you talked to Mrs. Willow about any of this?"

Cindy shook her head. "I don't think her advice will be of any help! This is my problem!"

"But that's why you should talk to her," Jack said, patting Cindy's back.

"Yeah," Gus agreed. "At least it's better than directly confronting your stepmother."

The thought of direct confrontation made Cindy twitch in fear, since previous times ended up with her having more chores to do, or worse, getting smacked in the face. When she remembered that, her tears instantly dried up, a method she had developed in order to make herself seem stronger to those around her. Though the boys didn't notice this, they tried to cheer her up by telling her funny stories of their many failed prank attempts. She laughed, and was able to come with them back to Classroom 1950 with a calmer appearance.

Later, when she was doing cleaning duties in the lunch-room, she noticed Ariel sitting by herself, looking upset. Out of concern, though she didn't like Ariel that much, Cindy swept her way towards Ariel's table, singing a melody she picked up from listening to the glee club after school. This caught Ariel's attention, but when she saw that it was Cindy, she looked disappointed.

"What's wrong? Aren't you happy that I'm finally paying attention to you?" Cindy asked sarcastically.

Ariel didn't react.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you remember Snow, the new girl?"

Cindy remembered her vaguely from the time she yelled at Ariel for being in her way while she was moping. "Yeah, I think so. What about her?"

"She hasn't been here all week, and I'm worried that something might've happened to her."

"Like what?"

"Well, she told me that her stepmother was pretty mean, and she sometimes talked to herself at night, as if there was someone close-by."

"Sounds like a nut-job to me."

"I know, and that's what worries me."

"Don't think about it too much. Maybe she'll be back tomorrow." Then Cindy left Ariel, and continued sweeping the floors. Because of the relief that cleaning provided when she wasn't thinking about her own stepmother, she became so mesmerized that she accidently bumped into someone. She backed away with her head down and said, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you!"

"It's okay."

She looked up, and found herself staring at a young boy with short dark brown hair smoothed back with gel, with dark eyes, and a noble face despite wearing the same uniform as everyone else. While he dusted himself off, Cindy just stood there. She had spoken to boys before with casual indifference, but for this one in particular she found a hard time finding the right words to say.

"I said it was okay!" he said, noticing her staring at him. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no, n-nothing's wrong," Cindy stuttered.

"Well, that's a relief." He sighed. "I've just returned home after four years, and everyone's freaking out by how different I look, including my uncle."

"I see."

Just then, the bell rang, so Cindy had to leave him before asking his name. When she got to her locker, she was confronted by two girls standing on either side of her. One had red ringlets and a pudgy nose, while the other had black ringlets with a green ribbon tied in her hair.

"I heard you weren't doing so well in Magic Class today," the red-haired one said smugly.

"Maleficent said you ran out crying, is this true?" asked the dark-haired one.

"Ana, Trissy, I don't have the time to talk to you right now," Cindy stated with a cold tone. "I need to get to Choir right now."

But as she turned away from them after closing her locker, they followed her.

"There's no point in ignoring us, after all, all three of us attend the same class," said Ana, the red-haired one.

"Yeah, and we're your stepsisters, so stop treating us like we're strangers or something," replied Trissy, the dark-haired one.

Cindy walked on. "I would treat you like stepsisters if you didn't treat me like your personal maid at home!"

After classes, she went to where the glee club met, but saw the boy from the lunch-room walking towards her. Instinctively, she ducked behind a hallway corner, and watched him walk past her. She sighed with relief, but noticed that her heart was still beating rapidly. This continued as she was walking home, though she didn't want to.

I must be sick, Cindy thought as she aired the rugs. But after she cleaned the gutters, raked the leaves, and washed the bed-sheets, her heartbeat went back to normal. She walked into the kitchen, exhausted, and was found her stepmother, Ms. Tremaine, standing there in a red dress while petting her cat, which was a large black ball of fluff with a mean grin on its face.

"Did you clean the gutters?" she asked sharply.

"Yes," Cindy replied.

"Wash the bed-sheets?"

"Yes."

"Air the rugs?"

"Yes."

"Rake the leaves?"

"Yes, twice now."

"And, did you bathe Lucifer?"

Cindy glared at the black cat in her stepmother's arms. "No, I haven't done that yet."

"Will you do it before you turn in for the night?"

"Yes, I will do that, stepmother."

"Good, you may have the leftovers when we're finished with dinner."

Seeing that her stepmother wasn't going anywhere, Cindy left the kitchen. She went up to her room, and pulled out a plastic bag full of snacks she bought at the grocery store with her own money. After munching on some chips, she took out her school books and did some homework before her stepmother called her back down to cook dinner since she was the only one in the house who could. While all of this was going on, Cindy's thoughts constantly kept going back to the boy she met that day. Her heart pounded repeatedly, and felt her face grow warm. Her stepmother noticed this when Cindy served a plate of spinach and cheese-filled lasagna with a bowl of Brussels sprouts.

"Is something wrong, Cindy? I hope you're not getting sick." Ms. Tremaine's frown grew bigger.

"No, stepmother, I'm not," Cindy said, looking away.

"Good, because if you were getting sick, I would have to hire a maid to do all the chores for you and you know we can't afford that, right?"

"I think she's in love, mother," Trissy said with a teasing smile. "Her face is red, and she seems more distracted than usual."

"So who is the lucky guy, or sucker to be more precise?" Ana asked, then she and Trissy broke out laughing.

"Shut up!" Cindy snapped. "I'm not in love with anyone, and you know it!"

Then as she ran back upstairs with her hands to her face, Ms. Tremaine called after her, "Cinderella, I will not have you talk to my daughters in that manner! You'll not only have to bathe Lucifer and clean up when we're done with dinner, but you will also have to start cleaning the attic! Is that clear?!"

Cindy pretended not to hear Ms. Tremaine, and slammed the door behind her. Despite the tears flowing down her face, her heart was still pounding, and the image of that boy was still her mind despite her attempts to forget him. In agony, she fell on her bed.

So this is love at first sight, Cindy thought wearily. I thought this kind of thing only happened in fairytales, cuz it sucks in real life!

Then an idea came to her, and she quickly pulled out her cellphone. She speed-dialed a number she used many times for situations like this, and heard the phone ring on the other end. After a few seconds, she heard a sweet voice on the other end.

"Hello, Cindy. What's up?"

"Hey, Rose, I have a problem," Cindy replied with a sigh of relief.

End of Chapter 2