"Go! Go!" Bonnie shouted as the limo stopped in front of Caroline's house.
"Get the limo out of sight!" Caroline called, stumbling out of the limo with her shoes in her hands. She ran into the house and immediately started to take off her dress, not caring that she wasn't inside her room or in the kitchen.
Caroline ran down the stairs in her slip and bustier, finding the shorts and t-shirt in the bottom kitchen drawer. She shoved her blue dress in there and struggled to get the bustier off before slipping her t-shirt over her head. She threw both the bustier and slip into the drawer and pushed it closed, then she splashed more water in her face to get all of the makeup off as fast as she could. There was so much to think about, but she had to put those thoughts aside in order to make it look like she stayed home all night.
"i know he liked me the most," Liv whined as she got out of her father's car wearing the same modest dress she walked out of the house in.
"Yes, I'm sure he did, Olivia," Joshua said, rolling his eyes as he watched his daughter parade into the house.
"Really? Because he seemed to really like that girl he was dancing with," Luke said.
"Shut up, Lucas," Liv spat, "He obviously pitied her or something. He totally thought my dream of our future was perfect."
Luke exchanged a look with his father before they entered into the house.
"Cinderella!" Liv shouted only to be startled by Caroline who was standing by the door as usual, "Oh. There you are. What's that you're carrying?"
"Hot chocolate," Caroline said with a smile.
"Great! I love hot chocolate," Luke cheered as he picked up a mug. Liv took one as well.
Joshua walked up to Caroline and examined her face. Caroline grew tense when he moved his hand toward her face and wiped off some of the hot chocolate powder off her face. He scoffed and muttered, "Messy girl."
"How was the ball?" Caroline asked after a sigh of relief, setting the tray down, "Did you get to dance with Stefan, Liv?"
Luke put his face in his hands as Liv sat tall on the sofa, sipping her hot chocolate with her pinkies out. "I danced about an hour with him," she lied.
"An hour?" Luke asked.
"Of course," Liv said, giving her brother a fake smile, "We all did..."
Luke nodded, "Yeah... sure you did..."
"Who was there?" Caroline asked.
"Anyone who's anyone was there," Luke said excitedly, "Except for some girl and her two friends. I'm not sure if she goes to our school because no one really recognized her."
"Oh really?" Caroline asked, "and did any of them dance with Stefan?"
"Oh sure," Luke said, "All the girls got to."
"Do you think..." Caroline hesitated before asking, "Do you think he liked her?"
Liv suddenly let out a loud laugh as everyone in the room stared at her. She recovered and took a long sigh, "I highly doubt it... so what did you do, Cinderella? Sleep by the fire place?"
Caroline shrugged off that comment and sat on a small chair in front of the coffee table, "I was actually doing my chores."
"Finally," Joshua muttered.
"I was dreaming what the ball was like," Caroline added.
"Please," Liv scoffed, "You simply can't imagine."
"Well..." Caroline said, "I imagined red velvet carpets, a dance floor with an orchestra and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling that softly fills the whole room with light and the walls are all mostly made of glass so you can see the woods outside and the lights in the trees."
Liv raised an eyebrow at her, "That sounds more like a memory than imagination."
"Come on, Liv," Luke said, "We all know she has a crazy imagination."
Caroline nodded, "Yeah... I just imagined that I walked into the ballroom down the stairs, completely nervous that I was going to screw up or something only to be met with a handsome stranger who would ask me to dance."
"Barf," Liv groaned.
"No, no," Luke argued, "Go on, Caroline."
Caroline hesitated, looking to Liv and Joshua, who were staring at her with judgmental eyes. Luke noticed this and started to stand up. He held out his hand to her, bowing his head.
"So like this?" he asked.
She nodded and continued, "and when we'd dance," she took his hand and bowed, going into hold and moving all around the floor, "it'd feel like we're floating; gliding across the floor."
Luke laughed and dipped Caroline, then spun her around and picked her up. "You look lovely this evening, Miss Forbes," he joked, mimicking the Salvatore brothers.
Caroline stepped back and bowed to him again, "Why thank you Mr. Salvatore."
Joshua laughed and sat back in his chair. "Lucas, I think you play Stefan better than Stefan does."
"Ugh!" Liv groaned, "Would you please stop acting like idiots, hanging on her every word? It's disgusting."
"Come on, Oliv-."
"Don't be stupid, Lucas!" Liv shouted.
Joshua and Lucas looked at each other as she said that, because all Liv was looking at was Caroline. The two of them got up and left the room while the two girls stayed there, staring at each other in the awkward and uncomfortable moment.
"I don't know who you think you are," Liv said, getting up and walking in circles around Caroline, "but I am not so easily mesmerized by your good girl act. Everything you 'imagined' doesn't make sense in the real world. Wake up, princess. This is not your world. It's mine. You work for me. It's time you knew your place. Your mother didn't and look how that turned out for her. She filled your head full of useless dreams and now she's dead."
Caroline frowned at her, wanting to use every ounce of force she had in her hand to slap her in the face, but Liv knew she wanted to do that and was proud that no matter how angry she made the servant girl, Caroline could never hit Liv.
She turned away and left, walking up the flights of steps to her room in the attic. Once the door was closed, she fell on the bed and started to cry. She looked at a picture of Liz Forbes that rested forever on her nightstand. Liz was smiling in the picture while wearing her police officer's uniform. Caroline picked up the picture and held it in her hands as the tears started to cloud her vision.
"Mom... I know you said to be good," Caroline sobbed, "but I don't know how much longer I can pretend like what they're doing isn't bothering me... every day it just gets worse... tonight... I danced with a really cute guy who's name is Stefan. I didn't think much of him until now... he made me see that I deserve better than what I have now."
She could have sworn she saw her mother's smile grow more in the picture. That's when she started to wipe her tears away.
"She shouldn't have said that about your mother," Luke said, opening the door, "I hope you don't mind me barging in."
"No, not at all," Caroline said, turning around to face him, "Thanks... Did you just-."
"Yeah," Luke said quietly, looking down at his feet.
Caroline sighed and held out her hand to him, "You're the nicest one to me here. I think I can trust you."
"You wanna trust me with a secret as big as you being Cinderella?" Luke asked, taking her hand and sitting down next to her.
"Oh no!" Caroline groaned, "Is that what people are saying?"
"Yeah, people took pictures of you guys. It's all over instagram."
"Oh no!" Caroline whined, throwing her head into her pillows, "Now I'll have to hear it outside of school too."
"Not if we keep this a secret between us," Luke promised.
Caroline sat up and frowned, "You'd really keep my secret?"
"Of course!" Luke said, "Besides, you're not as bad as Liv says you are and someone needs to prove it to her."
"Wow," Caroline said in shock, "We have a secret."
"And one secret deserves another," he continued, "All of my friends know, but it's nice to have someone in this house know that I'm gay."
Caroline gasped and smiled, "You are? That's great!"
"I know!" Luke said, "It feels so good now that you know."
"Now we have two secrets," Caroline said excitedly, "I guess that makes us-."
"Friends?" Luke asked.
"Siblings," Caroline said, wrapping her arm around Luke's shoulder, "May we both find exactly what we're looking for. Happy lives outside of this living hell."
"Here here!" Luke cheered, kissing his sister's forehead.