Sam's POV

Should I go to the masquerade ball? What if he finds me? What if he doesn't?

Just as I was deep in my thoughts, Melanie came by and sat beside me. She was sipping on a blueberry bang smoothie.

"Sam," Melanie called. "Are you okay? You seem troubled."

"You've been asking me the same question since we walked in to Groovy Smoothie's," I stated, annoyed by her constant questioning. "How many times do you want me to tell you that I'm fine?"

Melanie looked down, seeming upset. I felt kind of guilty for doing that. I didn't mean to hurt her feelings, but I guess it's something that I'm good at doing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that, I..."

"It's okay," she smiled. "I shouldn't have been probing when I already know that you were having a bad day."

Sometimes, it's great having a 'mirror pal'. Whenever you're feeling down, looking at the smile that seemed to fit so nicely on your twin makes you wanna own that smile too. It's like a live preview of what you would look like when you smile. It makes you want to smile too, and that's what I did.

Seeing the smile on my face, Melanie decided not to ask anymore. We sat at the table and drank our smoothies till the last drop is safe in our tummies. All was quiet, until Terence came and asked if we wanted some food on a stick.

It was strange how Terrence preferred selling food on a stick to placing them on a plate. I once tried fried chicken on a stick. It didn't taste any different from what it tastes like on a plate. Okay, fine. Maybe I did eat it too fast. But that doesn't mean that I can't taste the difference. All I can say is that Mama knows her meat, and I know that Terrence has a weird way of selling food.

"For the last time, NO!" I snapped at Terrence.

"Okay, okay," Terrence walked away. "Geez..."

Later that night, before we went to bed, I decided to have a little talk with Melanie. Since Carls left for the castle, only Melanie was left for me to talk to. Well, I wouldn't be talking to my mom after she yelled at me in the afternoon and told me to get a job.

"Mel," I motioned for her to sit beside me. "Can we have a talk?"

"Sure," she smiled.

I sighed. "I made a deal with Freddie yesterday."

"The one about giving him a second chance with your relationship, right?" Melanie asked. "I heard about it from Carlerella."

"Oh," I said. "I guess that'll save me from the explainations then."

"So," she probed. "What did you want to talk about?"

I sighed again. "The thing about the deal between Freddie and me... I don't know if I should go to the ball tomorrow night..."

Melanie placed her hand over her mouth which was shaped like an 'O' and did that dramatic 'Oh-no' look that always killed me. "What do you mean? I thought you agreed to it and..."

"Mel," I tried to snap her out of that panicky tone she had. "I did agree to let him have a second chance. But I'm just not sure about it."

She looked at me, then down at her laps. "It's about those stuff that happened between Freddie and me, isn't it? Oh, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have made him do all those nasty things. If those things never happened, you would not be having such thoughts anymore. It's all my fault."

"No, no," I felt guilty making Melanie feel bad about it. "It's not your fault. It's me. I just felt insecure being around Freddie, since the damage had already been done."

Melanie placed her hands on mine. "My dear little sister, you have to understand that Freddie didn't have a choice when he did those things to you. It wasn't his fault. I was the one who forced him to do it. You should have seen his face when you walked away with Pete that day. He looked so hurt, fragile, misunderstood..."

"I understand, Mel," I assured her. "But I just don't know if I should really let him have another chance. I don't have that faith in him anymore. What if we break up again after we get together?"

"Sam," Melanie took my hand in hers. "You should know better that Freddie is not such a person. He is a man of his word. If he would break up with you, he would have a reason for it."

I looked into her eyes, trying to let the words sink in, but it just didn't work. "I don't know. What if..."

"And another thing," she interrupted me. "If you never try, you will never know." With that, she left my bedroom, leaving me sitting on my bed, thinking about our entire conversation.

Freddie's POV

The night of the masquerade ball has finally come! I'm sure I'll be able to find Sam, I'm just sure of it. She's petite, blonde, likes to stand out from the crowd and she is the most beautiful... Wait, how am I going to find her in this mass of people? There are thousands of people here, all wearing masks! And about two-thirds of them are blonde, half of them with a petite body. How would I know which one is the one I've been looking for?

I looked at the bell-tower. It said eight-thirty. I still got time.

"Freddie!" my father's voice was loud and clear as though he had an amplifier or something. "Come here and meet the princesses of Bushwell!"

I turned around to face my father. "I'm sorry, father. But I'm looking for someone. I'll be back later!"

I could tell from my father's face that he wasn't very happy. The ladies that was supposed to be introduced to me don't seem pleased either. But I've got to find the girl of my dreams. The one that would hit me straight in the gut if I told her she was pretty or slap me across the face if I told her she was the only one for me. She was the one that I would often dream of holding, the girl that opened my eyes to a new world.

But how? How am I supposed to find her in this crowd? Sigh. This is going to be a long night.

A/N: This is the official second-last chapter to the story. I'll be writing the last chapter real soon, but I can't guarantee anything. There's a huge competition coming up and I may be working on it for weeks. But still, I will be updating the last chapter very soon.

I would like to say Thank you to whenitrains7 for volunteering to continue with 'iGet Starstruck'. Offers are officially closed, unless if whenitrains7 decides to drop out of this... Hmm... Anyways, thanks to all who voted. If you would like to read more on 'iGet Starstruck', you can go to whenitrains7's profile and read new chapters soon.

Till then, be on the look-out for the last chapter of 'iAm the Stepsister'. It will be one of the most epic chapters yet! I promise!