Liv was sitting on a cushiony pink stool in front of her vanity mirror that was surrounded by bright lights. Everything was pink, but often times, she threw black lace over it to make it feel more like her own space. The room adjoining to hers belonged to her brother. The problem with having a thinner wall between their two rooms was that Luke could constantly hear what Liv was saying on the phone to her friends.

"Yeah," she laughed loudly, "Okay great! And I'll grab the black dress from you when I get there. It has to be before I make my grand entrance," she paused as the person on the other line spoke, "No! I have to walk in from the top of the staircase. It has to be perfect."

Moments later, she hung up the phone. That's when Luke walked into her side of the suite.

"I hate to rudely interrupt," Luke said, "but why don't you just wear whatever dress you want to the ball?"

"I have to follow what dad says," Liv complained, "If I don't, I'll end up in the basement kitchen with Cinderella."

Luke shrugged, "Well I don't know about that... I kinda think Caroline is nice, sorta."

Liv glared at him and started to roll her eyes, making a repulsed sound with her mouth.

"She's our stepsister," Luke argued, "We could at least be nicer to her-."

"Never," Liv spat, "Caroline was always trying to be better than me when we were kids. Now that she bends to our every whim, I'm not giving that up. She's finally put in the place where she belongs."

"Fine," Luke said, backing up from his twin sister, "All I'm saying is if you stop worrying about dad judging you all the time, you could actually enjoy life in this house."

"You know what?" Liv said, "I'll tell dad I want to be called Liv, wear black, smoke pot, and go out to parties when you tell dad that you want to be called Luke and you're gay."

Luke stared at the floor, his face starting to turn red after Liv said it so loudly.

"Fine..." he muttered, "but I'm not happy about it."

Liv groaned and rolled her eyes, "A fantasy life where everything goes your way is exactly that; a fantasy."

Luke knew this speech far too well. It was practically the bedtime story that put him and his sister to sleep every night. Falling for a fantasy love was unrealistic. A perfect love doesn't exist and trusting people are for naïve people who don't understand what it means to be a mature adult. That was the sad reality they lived in.

Meanwhile, Caroline walked into her bedroom at least two stories higher and plopped on the bed, completely exhausted with red feet and hands. Elena and Bonnie were sitting on the bed with wide eyes.

"Wow," Elena gasped, "You weren't kidding, they really do work you hard."

"I'm exhausted," Caroline said into her pillow.

"So I guess you're not up to going to the ball?" Bonnie asked.

"I told you," Caroline sighed, "Joshua said no, which means I'm not going and if he finds out I'm there, he'll skin me alive."

"Who said he's going to see you?" Bonnie said, "He wouldn't recognize you if you had a mask."

Elena pulled out a mask from behind her back and Bonnie got up off the bed, opening the closet to reveal the beautiful dress Caroline saw in the window of the shop they passed in the mall. Caroline sat up and gasped, touching her hands to her cheeks.

"You did this for me?" she asked.

"Of course we did!" Elena cheered, "Now hurry up and get dressed or we'll be late, and not in the cute way either."

Caroline jumped off the bed and touched the dress with her own two hands, "You guys... I thought I would be spending my night writing my journal about what the ball would have been like... now I get to go... thank you!"

Elena and Bonnie quickly helped Caroline into the dress and pinned her hair up above her head. She quickly threw on some makeup from her drawer and covered her face using her mask. They waited at the staircase until they heard the sound of the mansion door closing. Step-by-step, they made it down the stairs and tried to sneak out the back way.

When they reached the door, Liv turned the lights on and had her hand on her hip.

"I thought you try something sneaky," she spat.

Caroline looked around, "Where's Joshua?"

"Out," she said, "It's just you and me now Cinderella," Liv started to walk circles around Caroline as Elena held Bonnie back, "Did you really think you were going to go to the ball and steal what's rightfully mine?"

"I wasn't going to steal-."

"Shut up," she hissed, then looked at her in the dress up and down, "The dress is cute, I'll admit... but I think you have a little tear right there-." She ran her sharp finger nail down the side of the dress, causing a rip in the skirt. Caroline gasped. Bonnie started to charge forward, but Elena was holding her by her arms.

"Oops," Liv whispered, "I hope that didn't stop you from going..."

She grinned and threw her mask over her face, walking out of the house and shutting the door behind her. Caroline didn't move as she turned to the side and saw how the fabric now looked noticeably torn.

"Care-."

"Don't," Caroline hushed Elena, "I knew I was stupid to believe that things could change."

Moments later, Caroline bit on her lower up, trying not to let it quiver above her upper lip. She made the decision to simply run down the stairs and go to her basement kitchen where she could cry about losing a chance to have her night off. She felt the throbbing of her feet in those shoes and threw them to the other side of the room. In the kitchen by herself with a torn dress is where she felt like she belonged. She didn't belong with the popular high society people at the Salvatore's party. It wasn't where she belonged.

Bonnie and Elena could hear Caroline's cries from the top of the staircase. They looked at each other with their arms crossed.

"Time to call Jo?" Elena asked.

Bonnie nodded in agreement, "Time to call Jo."