Cinderella was feeling strangely happy. Almost like she was walking on air.
"What happened to her?" Tanya whispered to Jilly.
Jilly shrugged "I don't know. She's just… I don't know."
Cinderella picked up an apple and started eating it. What was wrong with her? she had never felt so jittery in all her life! She felt like laughing and singing, and spinning, and any other silly thing a girl would do. She needed something to distract her thoughts.
"Tanya, Jilly." She said "Let's go to town. Jonny, stay here. Crawl into your hole in the tree so no one finds you."
The three nodded, then the two girls followed Cinderella through the trees while Jonny crawled into the tree.
The girls peeked out from their hiding places and looked around. Almost all the food carts were gone. But the baker still had some smoked ham hanging outside his shop.
Cinderella was about to make a move when three figured caught her eye.
It was an older lady with two girls following behind her. All of them were dressed in flowing gowns and covered in jewelry. Their chins were held high as they walked through the street.
Cinderella's face clouded as she watched them walk by.
"What's wrong?" Jilly whispered.
Cinderella shook her head. She felt an involuntary shiver go up her spine.
Lady Guinevere thought she saw something move. But when she looked, there was nothing there.
"Mother!" Lizzie ran up behind her "Mother! Have you heard what the people are saying?"
"No. What?"
"They're talking about this girl that call Cinderella." Lulu said "They say she's been around for about fourteen years! No one knows where she came from. You don't suppose it's…"
Lady Guinevere silenced her daughter "Yes I do. That girl cost me a lot of money when she ran away."
"The cops are looking for her." Lizzie volunteered "They're offering a reward."
The older woman smiled "Well. We'll just have to see who gets it."
When Cinderella and the girls reached their camp, she collapsed onto the ground.
"Who was that woman?" Jilly asked.
"My stepmother." Cinderella answered "She tried to give me to the place that I took y'all from. But I ran."
"Oh." Tanya and Jilly looked at each other sadly. The only thing they could do was leave Cinderella to her thoughts.
The next morning, Tanya came tearing into the camp sight "Cinderella! Cinderella!"
"What?" Cinderella stood up from where she was building a fire.
"The King and Queen are throwing a ball!" Tanya answered "All sorts of royalty will be there. It's for their son to find a bride."
"I'm not following." Cinderella said confused "Why is this important?"
"If royals are going to be there, think of the food!"
Cinderella nodded "Ah-ha. Now I get it. We go to the ball and take the food."
Tanya nodded "Yeah! Can you imagine the food!"
"But how will we get in?"
"You'll dress up like a guest."
"Um, Tanya." Cinderella motioned to her dress "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly dressed for the occasion."
"Well, we can secretly borrow a dress." Jilly suggested.
"Secretly borrow?" Cinderella raised her eyebrows in amusement.
Tanya nodded "Yeah! We can make you look like a princess!"
"But I'm filthy!"
"We'll steal some soap and you can wash in the river."
"I can't dance."
"You don't have to!"
"People will recognize me."
"Not if you look like a princess."
"And besides." Jilly added "Think of the food!"
Jonny nodded emphatically "Yeah! Food!"
Cinderella laughed "Alright. I give in. I'll go."
"Well, we better hurry up and go secretly borrow that dress." Tanya said "The ball's tonight!"
"I'll get the soap!" Jilly volunteered.
"I'll get the dress!" Tanya said "Cinderella. You stay here and we'll be back."
Cinderella nodded reluctantly "Be careful."
"We will!" the two girls called as they disappeared through the trees.
Thirty minutes later, Jilly came back with the soap "I'm going to go help Tanya." Then she tossed Cinderella a hairbrush "You'll need this!"
Cinderella looked at the brush then reached up and touched her hair. She cringed "Yeah my hair is pretty bad."
An hour later, Cinderella was sitting on a log running the brush through her waist length hair. She was still wearing her torn dress since she didn't have anything else.
Jonny was watching her brush her hair "You're pretty."
Cinderella chuckled "Thank you, Jonny." She pushed her hair behind her shoulder and dropped the brush onto the ground. It felt weird not having three layers of dust on your skin.
Jilly and Tanya came into the clearing, toting a large box and a bag.
"What on earth is that?" Cinderella asked.
Jilly looked up at her and grinned "You look beautiful!"
Tanya gasped "You're hair's golden! I thought it was dirty blond."
Cinderella laughed "It was dirty blond." She pointed to the box and bag "What is that?"
"The box is the dress." Jilly answered "We didn't want it to get dirty on our way into the woods."
"And the bag is accessories!" Tanya sang.
"Accessories?" Cinderella raised an eyebrow "Why accessories?"
"Because, everyone's going to have accessories!" Jilly answered "Now, take this box and go put on the dress!"
Cinderella chuckled as she obeyed. Just let the kids have their fun.
When she opened the box she gasped. The dress was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen! It was light pink. The skirt was full with a layer of light pink tulle. The belt looked like a braided vine with flowers and butterflies connected to it. The bodice was the same color as the skirt and starting on the right side was a swirly vine design that went to till about three inches below the neckline, there were two small butterflies on the vines. The collar of the shirt had a braded vine with a pink flower in the middle. The sleeves were straight and went to the elbow, where they ended with a ruffle. The whole thing was covered in sparkles.
When she'd put the dress on and walked back to there the kids were waiting, they gasped.
"You look like a princess!" Tanya squealed "And you don't even have on a tiara yet!"
"First we have to fix your hair." Jilly instructed Cinderella to sit down on a log that they had thrown a blanket over "I washed my hands, so I won't get your hair dirty."
Cinderella's hair had curled as it dried, now she had small ringlets around her face.
Jilly pulled some of the hair on the sides back and pulled a butterfly barrette out of the bag, which she used to hold the hair where she placed it. Then she made sure the ringlets were still in place.
"Now, for the tiara."
"Tiara?" Cinderella shook her head "I don't need a tiara."
Tanya pulled a golden crown out of the bag "But we already secretly barrowed it!"
Cinderella sighed as the tiara was placed on her head.
Jonny clapped his hands "Pretty!"
Jilly pulled a pair of shoes out of the bag.
"Oh no!" Cinderella leapt to her feet "I haven't worn shoes in fourteen years and I'm not starting now!"
Jilly shrugged then dropped the shoes back into the bag "Well. You're ready!"
"How am I going to get food?" Cinderella asked.
Tanya raised her hand "I'm going to slip in under your skirt! Just walk over to the buffet table and I'll slip under the table and slip food into a bag! And when I'm done, I'll send you a signal and we'll leave."
Cinderella nodded "Good plan. Let's go!"