Cinderella

Chapter Nine: The Dance

A/N: OMG! I am nearly done this fic! That is so sad! I love writing this story, it is so fun! Now it will end in TWO CHAPTERS!  Boohoo. But, I have a new fic out, Juliet is who? Check it out! It's fabulous!  I would also like to comment that I got eight reviews last chapter, which is a record for me! Yay me! But you guys made it possible. But, enough of my blather, onto Chapter Nine: The Dance.

I climbed into the passenger seat of Gabriella's car with butterflies in my stomach. What was I doing?! This suddenly feels like a really bad idea. I mean, sneaking off to a dance for a guy? Who was I, Sharpay?

"Gabriella," I groaned, "Don't let me do this. Take me back home, or preferably to the asylum."

"Tay," Gabriella answered firmly, "You don't need to go to an asylum. Everything will turn out OK. Chad won't find out who you are. You want to do this. You can do this. You will do this."

I heaved a sigh. "Thanks for the pep talk, Gabi."

Gabriella smiled. "No problem. What are friends for? I mean, other than toting each other around in our cars. Which," she frowned, "I seem to be doing a lot lately."

I laughed. "Gabi, Chad would recognize my car, you know that. You have to drive me, you have no choice! Otherwise," I heaved a dramatic sigh, "Otherwise, the plan would be ruined!"

"Oh, my gosh," Gabriella gaped, "You're starting to act like Sharpay; before we tamed her."

I smiled, remembering how dramatic Sharpay used to be. "Yeah, so what? I have my dramatic moments. And Sharpay's our friend now, we shouldn't be talking about her like that."

"You're right. My bad. So," Gabriella started to drill me, "What is your name?"

"Um, Taylor?" I replied, not quite getting it.

"No," Gabriella sighed, "Your new name."

"OH!" I exclaimed. "April."

"Why are you at the dance, and why doesn't Chad know you?"

"I just transferred from Minneapolis, and I take all AP courses."

"Favourite colour?"

"Red."

"Age?"

"Sixteen, in grade 11."

"Interests?"

"Dancing, swimming, and school."

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

I looked at Gabriella. "Um, no. That was a stupid question."

She shrugged. "Oh, well, just checking that you know your stuff."

We chatted all the way to school. I could tell that both of us were trying to keep our minds off of the task at hand.

We pulled into the school parking lot, and got out of the car. 8:30. Perfect. I could see that a lot of cars were already there, and some were parked on the street already. I tugged on my mask, and motioned for Gabriella to follow me.

"Hey, Taylor," Gabriella questioned me, "Um, what will you do with your voice? You can't speak normally."

I held up my hands. "Don't worry, I got it all worked out." I cleared my throat, and raised my voice to sound like Gabriella's. "Hello, my name's April. What's yours?"

Gabriella looked impressed. "Not bad. How did you get it so good?"

I grinned. "I used you as my model."

Gabriella pretended to look hurt. "My voice is not high."

"Yes, it is." I said impatiently. "Geez, have you ever heard yourself?"

Gabriella pouted, and then grinned. "Fine. Maybe it's a little high."

I rolled my eyes. Would she never admit that her voice was high? "Whatever you say. Now, let's go in. I'm dying to see what the decorations committee did with the gym."

Gabriella and I hurried as fast as we could to the school, which was not very fast, as we were wearing high heels. We stepped into the school, and laughed. There were arrows pointing in the direction of the gym saying, "Dance that way!" or "Party over there!" It was probably the stupidest thing I have ever seen. I mean, come on, 'Party over there?' No, just, no.

"Come one, Gabi," I giggled. "The party's over here."

I dragged her along the hallway, eager to get to the gym.

"Hey," Gabriella protested, "Slow down. My heels are too high."

"It's not my fault that you want to be higher, is it now?" I replied, grudgingly slowing down a fraction.

Gabriella and I stopped in front of the doors to the gym.

"You ready?" Gabriella asked, squeezing my hand.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I responded, taking my hand from hers and patting my hair.

I looked at Gabriella, smiled, and walked into the gym. My mouth dropped open. The gym looked amazing! I could not believe what I was seeing! The gym was decorated with white snowflakes hanging from the roof. I don't know how the people got them up there. (A/N: I know, I know, it doesn't snow in New Mexico. But, hey, they can get in the spirit of things, too, can't they?) They had dimmed the lights so everything seemed to be in a sort of fog. The walls were draped with some sort of shimmery material, and the refreshment tables were covered with gauze. I took a quick intake of breath. The decoration committee had really used their budget well.

"Wow," Gabriella murmured next to me, "This is awesome."

"Yeah," I agreed, "Wow."

Gabriella was the first one to snap out of her reverie. "OK, let's go find Troy. Now, where is he?" Gabriella scanned the dance floor. I looked around the refreshment tables and –BINGO! - there he was! Figures. He and Chad were already pigging out.

"Hey, look, there he is." I pointed. "Over there, by that refreshment table-no, that one- yeah, see him?"

"Yes, April," She said, using my fake name to avoid suspicion. "I can see my boyfriend."

"Well, then, what are you waiting for? Come on," I said, dragging her along for the second time this evening. As we neared the boys, I slowed down and tugged at my mask again. I didn't want any part of my face to be seen.

"Hey, Troy," Gabriella greeted him casually. "Hey, Chad."

"Hey, Gabi," Troy said, greeting her with a kiss.

"Hi, Gabi, who's your friend?" Chad asked, getting straight to the point.

"Oh, um, I'm April," I said, remembering in the nick of time to use my fake voice.

"Oh," Chad looked confused. "For a second, I thought you looked like someone I know. Her name's Taylor, do you know her?"

I saw Gabriella cast me a worried glance, but I answered. "Oh, um, she's in some of my classes. I take all AP courses, you see,"

"Oh, you go to this school? I haven't seen you around." Chad was asking me questions I had already planned! Man, I am good!

"I just transferred here from Minneapolis, and I take all AP courses, like I said. By the way, what's your name?" I said, pretending to be clueless.

"Chad, sorry, I didn't know you were new, usually everyone knows my name." I giggled.

"Ah, I see that you're modest."

Chad blushed. "Sorry, but it's true! They do know my name!"

I laughed again. "So, why does everyone know your name?"

"I'm on the basketball team. You must not have seen me at all, or you would have remembered the hair," he said, pointing to his head. It's then that I took a moment to look at his costume. He was wearing a Phantom of the Opera mask, with a classic suit, and there was a red rose with a black ribbon tied around it in his jacket pocket. (A/N: I don't know how many of you have seen Phantom of the Opera, but after every performance, the Phantom leaves Christine a red rose with a black ribbon tied around the stem. Just so you don't get confused.)

"Yeah, I probably would have remembered your hair." I agreed. "Nice costume. I love the Phantom of the Opera."

"Really? You should see my mom. She has a picture of the guy that plays him in our refrigerator. How creepy is that?" Chad commented. I laughed. Of course, I already knew about his mom's obsession, but April wouldn't.

"Pretty creepy. But why in your refrigerator?" I asked, pretending to be confused.

"I don't know, it's one of her crazy diet ideas!" He answered, throwing up his hands.

"Hey, hey, Chad!" Troy interrupted. "Let me talk to April! I haven't said a word to her yet!"

I laughed. "Man, I am just so popular today!"

"Yeah," Troy agreed. "Everyone wants to get a piece of you. Anyways, where did you say you were from?"

The conversation pretty much continued in that matter, me talking to Chad and Troy or Gabriella dropping in a comment every now and then. All in all, my plan was going perfectly. There was still a slight problem, though. I hadn't asked him if he had a girlfriend. On the bright side, I hadn't seen Tonya yet.

Never mind, cross out that last sentence.

Tonya spotted Chad and I, and headed straight over to us. I gulped. What would Chad do?

"Hey, babe," Tonya purred. "How's my boyfriend?"

"Well," Chad started off, "First off, I'm not your boyfriend, and you're not my girlfriend. Secondly, I'm doing terrible, now that you're here." My eyes widened. Ouch, that was a bit harsh.

"Oh, Chaddy-waddy, you don't mean that! I even broke up with Blake to be with you!" Tonya exclaimed.

"Well, you made a mistake, because I don't like you! Get away!" Chad looked really annoyed.

"Why? Is she," Tonya looked spitefully at me, "Your new girlfriend?"

Chad looked at me, and then an idea struck him. "Why, yes. Yes, she is." He casually put his arm around me.

My mouth dropped, but I managed to close it. Why was Chad pretending that I-or rather, April- was his girlfriend?

Tonya looked at me with disgust. "Ew. Why would you like her? No," she held up her hand, "Don't answer that. You're only trying to make me jealous, I get it. Whatever, you'll come around eventually." She finished, casting me a final, superior glance, and stalked off.

Chad's arm immediately went back to his side. I sighed inwardly. His arm had felt so good around my shoulders. "Sorry 'bout that," He mumbled, blushing a bright shade of red. "I had to get her to leave, and that was the only way."

I giggled, not minding at all. "Oh, it's not a problem. Just a question though, who was that? A jealous ex?"

Chad looked up, relieved that I wasn't mad or disgusted. "Well, I guess you could say that, but we never really dated. She just flirted with me. I didn't know that she had a boyfriend, though. Between you and me, I think she might be psycho," he whispered to me in pretend confidentiality.

I laughed appreciatively. "Sounds scary. So I take it that you don't have a girlfriend, otherwise she wouldn't have come on to you." I held my breath. What would he say?

Chad looked downcast. "Well, no, I don't have a girlfriend. But I do like someone."

I looked up eagerly. "Oh, who is it?"

Chad's eyes widened. "Um, I can't tell you. Since you take all AP courses, you probably know her."

I laughed. "Ah-ha! So it's girl! Interesting." Chad rolled his eyes while I pondered this for a second. I tried to think of all the not ugly girls in at least one AP class. Well, there was me, Gabriella, Betsy, Hannah, and… I winced. There were also Laurie and Jade, who were a guys dream. They were popular, and were quite curvaceous, and took exactly two AP courses. Drat, it must be one of them.

"Hello, Earth to April, are you there?" Chad asked, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Oh," I said, startled. "I was just thinking about who you might like. I think I might have an idea, but I don't want to ruin it for when you ask her out and you guys start dating."

Chad looked confused. "What make you think that she likes me?"

I rolled my eyes. "What girl wouldn't? I mean," I joked, "Now that Troy's taken and all."

Chad grinned, and looked over to where Troy and Gabriella were dancing. His grin faded. "Yeah, but I'm too stupid for her. She thinks I'm just some stupid basketball guy."

"Did she tell you that?" I asked. Ouch, this girl had to be harsh!

"Well, not in so many words, but you can tell."

I rolled my eyes. "Never jump to conclusions with a girl. Never."

Chad nodded, and then looked at me. "Hey, do you want to dance?"

I thought about this. It was a fast song, which meant that we didn't have to slow dance, and 'Ain't no other Man' was my favourite song.

"Fine." I relented.

We danced, and it was just as good as when we danced at the after party. I noticed Gabriella and Troy dancing nearby, just in case.

That's how Chad and I spent the evening, just talking and occasionally dancing together. I was sad when 10:20 came around. The dance would end in five minutes! Chad and I sat down, and the DJ started talking to us.

"Hey, y'all, it's been fabulous DJing for all of y'all." Everyone cheered. "Now, at the end of the night, y'all gotta take your masks off. It's tradition, people, don't fight it!"

Everyone started taking off their masks. I looked for Gabriella in a panic. Where was she? I saw her coming towards me, and felt a wave of relief.

"Hey, April, aren't you going to take your mask off?" Chad asked.

"No," I said flatly.

"Why not? Come on, you have to!" Chad said, and reached for my mask.

"No!" I yelled, but it was too late. Chad had already lifted my mask off my face.

"Taylor?" He asked in astonishment. I covered my face with my hands, and ran out the door, with Gabriella right behind me. As we ran to her car, I started to cry.

What was I going to do now?

A/N: Ooh, I know, cliffy! I've found that I get more reviews when I do a cliffhanger, so that's why! I am so proud of this chapter, it's so long. Anyways, review, as always. Don't you want to know what happens?

Tootles!

TheFabMax