It was just after school when Liv decided she had to rush home as fast as she could. She took the smaller limo so it could make those turns easily. When she got the front of her house, she quickly slammed the door shut and didn't bother with it after that. She ran into her house, avoiding her father's call, and rushed up the two flights of stairs. It took a minute of her just standing there in front of Caroline's room, contemplating if she could get away with this. The image of Stefan body over hers got rid of the regrets and she pushed the door open.

"Now, if I were a diamond necklace, where would I hide myself?" she whispered.

There was a little box on a nightstand that looked like something disgusting that Caroline would keep for sentimental reasons. It sat right next to her mother's picture. Liv rolled her eyes and took the box, finding the necklace perfectly folded inside of it. She pulled it out and saw the sparkle of the diamonds. Each shimmer screamed victory inside of her head.

Liv suddenly heard the sound of footsteps walking up the stairs, so she stuffed the necklace in her pocket and put the box back where it was. She stepped outside of the room and rested her arm on the wall next to the door. Caroline came walking up the stairs with Bonnie and Elena behind her.

"You're late," Liv said sassily.

"I'm off the clock until dinner," Caroline corrected.

Liv scoffed, "You're not getting paid. Therefore, no clock to get on or off. Now get to my laundry. It's starting to pile up."

Caroline raised her eyebrows. "Fine."

"Good."

She took off down the stairs, feeling the necklace in her pocket. Caroline shook her head as she entered the bedroom. Bonnie looked back at her briefly, but shrugged and followed Elena and Caroline inside.

"Alright," Caroline said excitedly, putting her bag on the bed, "I have TONS of makeup leftover from the two balls. That plus Bonnie's outfit she has picked out should do wonders for you."

"O-Okay…." Elena said shyly.

Caroline saw the hesitation in her eyes and put her hands on Elena's shoulders. "And if you get nervous, just think about Damon," she suggested, "Think about how happy he's going to be when he knows it's you. His eyes. His smile."

"And she knows this because she did the same exact thing with Stefan," Bonnie said, sitting on the bed.

Caroline glared at Bonnie and shook her head. "Are you going to be helpful?" Caroline teased, "If so, why don't you get us a snack or something."

"Oooh," Bonnie chuckled, "Now I'M Cinderella."

Caroline and Elena laughed.

"Whatever," Bonnie said, "I'll go. Cool if I take the servants stairs to the kitchen?"

"I was about to suggest that," Caroline said, widening her eyes, "Best if you don't walk down the hallway past Liv's bedroom."

Bonnie agreed with that completely and left the room, heading down the second flight of stairs behind the old door that would lead her straight down to the kitchen.

From the driveway, a car was pulling up in the circle paved with brick that had an extravagant fountain in the center surrounded by nicely trimmed hedges. When the car stopped, Damon pulled the keys out of the ignition. Stefan stepped out of the passenger seat and cringed from the sunlight. The two brothers walked towards the front door and Damon was the one to ring the doorbell. There was silence at first, and then a yell from a man, which caused both brothers to jump. The door was answered right after that.

Joshua Parker stood in the doorway with a pleasant smile on his face.

"Why Damon and Stefan Salvatore," Joshua said happily, "What do we owe the pleasure?"

"Hey Mr. Parker, nice to see you again," Damon replied, "We're actually looking for someone."

"I think I know exactly who you're looking for," Joshua said excitedly.

"You do?" Stefan asked.

"Of course," he answered, "Please, come in. Have a seat in the living room."

Damon was the first to enter the house followed by Stefan, who started to feel his own heart racing faster. Joshua sat them down on the couch while he himself sat on a chair in front of them, creating small talk about the ball, which was all very uncomfortable for the brothers. He would just ask ask awkward questions about the rumors people spread about them. Liv started to walk down the stairs to demand her father do something to make Caroline stay in her room all day, but she gasped and hid behind the corner when she heard whose voices were speaking in the living room. She bit her lip and grinned, knowing this was her one and only chance, but she had to take care of something first. Winning isn't fun unless you share it with everyone, after all.

In Caroline's bedroom, Elena was sitting on a chair in front of Caroline's crappy vanity table, playing with all kinds of ways her hair can be styled while laughing with each other. When Caroline let go of Elena's hair, she stood up straight and looked at the open door, thinking it was Bonnie coming back with the food, but instead, she saw Liv standing there, dangling her necklace in her fingers.

"Liv… what are you doing with that?"

"Oh this?" Liv said sweetly, looking at the shimmering diamonds, "I just thought I'd have something pretty to show our guests downstairs… they're absolutely dying to find the girl who fits the glass slipper."

Both Caroline and Elena quietly gasped.

"I wonder how Stefan's going to react when he finds out I'M Cinderella."

"You wouldn't dare," Caroline threatened, standing close to Liv.

"No YOU wouldn't dare!" Liv hissed, getting in Caroline's face, "Get over yourself, Caroline. You are NOTHING. You put on the pretty blue dress but you'll never have Stefan Salvatore when he finds out just how washed up you really are… a servant girl at age 17. In fact… you should be grateful to me. I'm saving you from embarrassing yourself in front of everyone in Los Angeles. You should be on your knees thanking me you filthy little bitch… and if you still won't listen to me… then I guess I have no other choice but to make you listen."

Liv grinned and quickly ran out of the door, pulling out a key from her pocket.

"Liv! No!" Caroline screamed, but it was too late. Liv drove the key into the lock and locked the door so she couldn't open it. Caroline tugged, pulled, and shook the door knob as much as she could, but it wasn't working, "You bitch! How could you!?"

Liv back up from the door, watching it shake and rattle. She grinned and knew her work was done.

"I'm sorry!" Caroline shouted from behind the door, "I'm sorry you can't be who you truly are without your father breathing down your neck… I'm sorry for whatever I did to make you feel this way about me… I'm just sorry…"

Liv stepped back. "There's no time for apologies. It's too late for that." She dropped the keys into her other pocket and started walking back down the stairs with a triumphant grin. Victory was just within her reach.

From the basement kitchen, Bonnie had finished making her plate of cheese, crackers, and a few slices of ham, turkey, and pepperoni. She figured it might have been a tad fancy, but she was really proud of herself either way. She had a plan to make a detour to Luke's room to show him how goddamn classy her snack plate looks, so she took the main stairs instead of the back way. When she got to the first floor, she immediately heard the voices of Joshua, Damon, and Stefan. It caused her to gasp and hide herself in the staircase.

"Why Damon and Stefan," Liv said delightfully as she entered into the room, "to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Actually, Liv," Stefan said, standing up, "I was wondering if you could help me find someone."

"Of course I can help," Liv answered.

Bonnie's eyes widened, which turned into an angry frown. She quickly looked around and started to tip-toe from the stairway, across the dining room, and up the main staircase, making sure she wasn't seen by anyone. Then she started to run up the stairs to get Caroline and Elena before Liv would do something stupid.

When she reached the top of the staircase, she placed her hand on the door knob, but it wouldn't budge. Caroline and Elena heard the sound of the door shaking and quickly sprung up.

"Hello?" Caroline called.

"Caroline?" Bonnie asked, "Elena? Are you guys in there?"

"Liv locked us in," Elena shouted.

"That bitch!" Bonnie cried, "Should I kick the door down?"

"No!" Caroline said, "Get Luke."

She agreed and ran down the stairs, running to the second floor where the hallways were much nicer with a giant window on the other side, which let in a lot of sunlight. Bonnie was confused as to how Liv's skin didn't burn in the light every time she emerged from her coffin of a bedroom. She shook her head. The time to be witty isn't now, Bonnie, she told herself. She found one of the doors and hoped this was it, knocking on it several times.

"Who is it?" a boy's voice responded.

"It's Bonnie!"

There was a pause before Luke opened the door. "Hey. What's up?"

"A lot," Bonnie said, "Stefan and Damon are downstairs and Liv locked Caroline and Elena in her room upstairs. She's gonna tell Stefan it was her and he might just believe her if she's convincing enough."

Luke's eyes started to get filled with anger. Bonnie swore she started to see the smoke coming out of his ears.

"I swear, that bitch will do anything to be selfish, won't she?" he muttered as he pushed past Bonnie and headed down the stairs.

When he got to the first floor, he saw Liv and Stefan sitting next to each other on the couch, laughing and facing each other. Luke shook his head and walked into the living room, his face practically red with anger.

"Where is it?" Luke demanded.

Liv looked at Luke, confused, "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb, you're way too evil for that," he hissed, "Where's the key to Caroline's bedroom?"

Liv's eyes went wide as Stefan and Damon looked at her. She immediately started chuckling, hitting her own knee to cover it up. "Brother… I have absolutely no idea as to what you are referring to…"

"Hey…" Damon said quietly, "Caroline… she's friends with Elena, isn't she? They walk around with a third friend. We've seen them at school."

"Uhhh no you haven't," Liv spat at Damon, "They're nobodies. No one has seen them."

"Enough," Luke said, grabbing onto Liv's hand, "Give me the goddamn key."

"Lucas!" Joshua said, standing up and overpowering him, "Let go of your sister's arm and go back up stairs."

"My name is Luke!" he shouted back, still holding on to Liv's arm, "And she is NOT my sister. The girl trapped upstairs in her room is my sister… and I'm gonna free her."

Luke dug into Liv's loose pocket and pulled out the key to Caroline's room. She let go of her hand and started running up the stairs to the third floor. When he reached the door, he put the key into the old door knob and shook it a little bit before turning it and opening the door. Caroline emerged from it and sighed with relief, hugging Luke tightly.

"You are literally the best," she breathed.

"We can talk about that later," Luke said, "Right now you need to go. Both of you!"

Downstairs, Damon and Stefan were watching Liv and Joshua recover from the little spat they had with Luke. Joshua had exited the room, leaving Liv standing there with a coy smile on her face.

"So…" she said, "Where were we? You said you wanted to ask me something."

"Oh, right," Stefan said, "At the ball, the girl I was dancing with said I would find her if she had this necklace from a woman named Jo Saltzman."

"Really?" Liv said sweetly, digging her hand into her pocket and holding the necklace in her grasp, "It's funny you should mention that-."

"Stefan no!" a girl's voice called from the staircase.

All eyes were immediately on the steps where two girls stood. One of them was a blonde, the other was a brunette. Their hair wasn't done in any special way, in fact, they looked as ordinary as ever. However, just the sight of the blonde girl alone made Stefan stand up from the couch. Caroline was breathing heavily after all of that running down the stairs. She had to admit, she was nervous in the moment, but if she didn't say something, she would be at Liv's mercy forever.

"She's not the girl you're looking for… I am."

Liv frowned and wedged herself in between Stefan and his view of Caroline. "Uhh no she's not. She's literally just a dumb servant girl in our house. She's not even important."

"Give it up, Liv," Luke shouted as he walked down the stairs, "Stefan, it's true. Caroline was the girl at the ball. And Damon… Elena's the girl you're looking for."

Damon stood up and looked at Luke as he got out of the way, then looked at Elena, who shyly shrugged and tried to put a smile on her face. He suddenly started to get weak at the knees as he saw her full face in all her glory.

"I was hoping it'd be you…" he admitted.

Elena smiled and started to walk down the last few steps, past Stefan and Caroline, who were still staring at each other. Breathlessly, Damon ran up to her, spun her around, and kissed her several times, causing her to giggle with excitement.

Everyone watched this happy moment except for Stefan and Caroline. Caroline let out a tiny gasp of nervousness when Stefan took the first step closer to the bottom of the staircase. The first thing he noticed was how scared she looked. Her stunning green eyes were filled with fear, but the fact that they were stunning at all made him even more nervous and excited. Even the tips of her fingers were trembling.

"Just like those ignorant popular guys," he said quietly, "not caring if they're in anybody's way.

"It's not your fault," she sighed, "It's those girls who mindlessly chase around those pompous snobs."

"I've seen you around before... what do people call you?"

She chuckled softly, "That you don't wanna know..."

"Then what's your name?" he said, taking another step towards her.

"Caroline..." she breathed, "Caroline Forbes."

"Caroline Forbes," Stefan repeated, smiling a little bit, "I like it."

She shrugged, "It grows on you, I guess."

This time, she was the one who took a few steps down to him, meeting him at the bottom of the stairs. He held his hand out for her and she smiled softly, taking it in hers. He wanted to be smooth and act like he was the smooth prince charming, but he was far too happy that he was definitely holding the hand of the most perfect girl he'd ever met.

"It is you…" he said.

Caroline's smile widened and their hands moved so their fingers were interlacing. He leaned down towards her to kiss her, but it was interrupted by the shrieking sound of Liv who was standing not too far from them, red with anger, green with jealousy, and embarrassingly bursting into tears.

"SHUT UP!" Damon, Elena, Bonnie, and Luke all shouted at her.

Stefan and Caroline laughed for a quick second, then he placed his hand on Caroline's cheek, looking at her beautiful face for a minute before kissing her.