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ღ Finding Cinderella-15 ღ

-Tristan-

"Ex-girlfriend alert, death ahead," Clark warned me, barely above a whisper.

I nudged him in the side, making him hiss in pain. His words were only causing me more apprehension, so if he knew what was good for him, he'd stay as silent as possible.

I shot an alarmed look at the other guys, noticing their faces had gone slack. But their expressions were nothing compared to mine. I'd gone so frozen that I couldn't even tell if I was breathing or not.

Finally, I took a sharp breath and hissed to my friends, "Abort mission, now!"

They nodded, and Grey was the first one to step forward. Waving his hands in the air, he yelled, "Sorry for the inconvenience, folks, but there's been a little, uh, misunderstanding. Let's stop here—"

"—and forget everything we just said," Justin finished for him. "Have a good lunch, and thank you!"

As luck would have it, everyone returned to their seats without too much trouble. Murmurs of complaint rippled through the crowd, but I didn't have time to address them further, much less apologize.

Especially when Fiona was charging toward me like a voracious leopard.

"Explain yourself, Tristan," Fiona demanded as she stood mightily in front of me. My friends started backing away, step by step. "What's this 'challenge' I'm hearing about?"

"It's nothi—"

"Don't you dare say it's nothing!" she shrieked, dropping all pretenses of sanity in an instant.

Her yelling was gaining much attention from the crowd, so I grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the cafeteria.

"Tristan, let me go! Let me go!" she complained as she tried to break free, though my grip on her arm was too firm. "Nobody does this to me, not my best friends, not my ex-boyfriends, and not even my parents, so if you—"

We stopped in an empty hallway. I turned to face her, demanding, "You'd better stop whining this instant, Fiona."

"What the fu—fine! Okay! Whatever." Fiona took a deep breath and began to rub her temples. "Tristan, why don't we just go back to my question? Seriously, this... this drama is giving me a huge headache already."

"Ah, so you hate the drama?" Laughing without humor, I placed my hand on the wall and offered her a half shrug. "Actually, Fiona, there wouldn't be any drama if you just quit starting it."

She crossed her arms. "What's the deal with this mystery girl, huh? Are you in love with her or what?"

My jaw went rigid. "Why would you care? It's supposed to be none of your business."

"Because I'm your ex-girlfriend."

So dumb. She was really dumb. For real.

"Classic, Fiona, that's a classic. What kind of logic do you have?" I shook my head and continued: "Can't you understand anything, or are you just playing dumb? You're my former girlfriend, meaning you're my ex, and Fiona, our time has ex-pired. I no longer owe you an answer."

Vanity was radiating from her in waves, and with her head held high, she declared, "Just because you broke up with me doesn't mean I broke up with you."

"Oh, give me a fat break. The fuck does that even mean?"

"That I still love you, that's what it means!"

I rolled my eyes. "Now that's exactly why I broke up with you. You're so obsessed that you keep throwing that word around. You don't love me, Fiona. You just think that you do. Do you even know what it means?"

She scoffed. "You say that as if you know what it means, you playboy."

"Look, just face the fact that we're not getting back together." I sighed. She was just like my other exes. "Move on already. Jesus."

She held up a hand. "You don't need to repeat that. I've heard that line a thousand times before."

"Because that's it! That's what I wanted you to do. Go find another guy because I'm done. You know what? I should never have dated you."

"Please. You enjoyed making out with me at Marc Krueger's party last year. Remember in the laundry room? You even said that I was the hottest girl that night."

Fuck. Did she really have to bring that up? What's with women and their tendency to bring out the little insignificant details from ancient times? "I was drunk. I didn't know what I was saying. So that didn't count," I said.

She rolled her eyes, crooning, "Excuses, excuses."

I raised a finger to her face. "Remember this, Fiona. Don't you dare mess with my plans again."

She slapped my hand away. "Plans? Like making the entire school look for the Queen of the Ball just for you? Are you really that desperate?" She released scornful laughter and said, "Pitiful. But I can help you with your silly pursuit because you're just that special."

My eyes widened in surprise. Fiona Ryder, one of the main sources of all campus gossip, didn't know who the masked girl was? Impossible.

"Speechless already? I must've surprised you. You're welcome, babe. It'll be my pleasure to assist you. Once I find her, however..." She paused as a small, sly smile crept onto her face.

I swallowed and reined in most of my surprise. "What are you going to do to her?"

"Oh, why would you care to know? It's supposed to be none of your business," she mimicked me.

I opened my mouth to argue, but instead took a deep breath to put out the flames rising in my chest. Finally, I was calm enough to say, "Yeah, like you're gonna be the first one of us to find her. Good luck with that."

"Trying to test me?" Fiona said with a smirk. "You have no idea what I can do, Tristan."

"Keep boasting. No one gives a shit about what you can do, anyway. You're my tenth ex-girlfriend; you're not that special."

At that, she took a step back, her mouth dropping and her cheeks turning red. "Take that back, Hartford."

"Words cannot be taken back once they're spoken, Ryder."

"You're despicable!"

I faked a smile. "I'll take that as a compliment."

She balled her fists. "Go ahead. Laugh all you want now because you won't be laughing when I make my move. I'll destroy you, Hartford. You have been warned."

With a cold glare, she turned and left. The clicking of her heels echoed throughout the hall. Alone at last, I pressed the bridge of my nose, feeling somewhat light-headed. The plan that the team had formulated four hours ago would have been flowing smoothly if only Fiona hadn't shown up.

I didn't know what I was supposed to do next. After hearing her threat, I couldn't continue with the plan, since having the entire student body search for the girl—Cinderella, as my friends had decided to call her—would be an easy way for Fiona to scout her out.

That pain-in-the-ass certainly knew how to play the part. The longer she stayed a thorn in my side, the more difficulties she created for me, and my regret for formerly dating her was growing every second.

Fiona Ryder had been gorgeous, witty, and confident. Very confident, in fact, that she had started our relationship by putting her tongue in my mouth one spring day in junior year and declaring, "You're mine now." I didn't understand how that had happened, but she had been so great, so charming, until I discovered her real character.

After realizing I hadn't liked her anymore, I'd nicely dealt with her, telling her I was no longer interested. Now that I was downright rude to her, she still wouldn't go away.

Damn it. Does this mean the search is over?

ღ

"So, how was your talk with the wicked witch of Connecticut?" Grey asked.

My friends and I were at our usual hangout spot by the stairs at the school entrance. Luckily, it was our vacation period, so it gave me more time to relax and think.

"Stupid. Aggravating. Like almost always," I said. "She spouted off threats like doing something to the girl once she knew her name. I don't think it would be a good idea now to have everyone in school involved in the search. You know Fiona. She has connections with everybody."

"Say what?" Clark piped up. Why did he look so relieved?

"Sooo this means the plan's over?" Justin asked.

"Aw, that's too bad," Ryo said as his face fell. "I was looking forward to that."

"Over? C'mon, boys, we can't say it's over unless we quit," said Grey, resting his elbow on the wolf head statue, frequently referred to as "Cub" by the student body, at the top of the newel post.

"Yeah! It's just like playing video games," Ryo said, like the geek he always was. "If the first game plan isn't working, we'll just switch to another one."

Will gave him a pat on the back and said, "I was about to make a joke, but you have a point there. Attaboy, Ryo, you're a genius."

"I'm Asian," was the dude's response, and the rest of us rolled our eyes.

Then Grey looked at me, saying, "Just stay cool, T. No need to be stressed out by the Queen Bitch."

Clark nodded. "Yup. And I've got a secret weapon to get rid of her."

"Oh my God, dude! Are you going to shoot her?" Ryo exclaimed.

"Dude, no. It doesn't involve any illegal activities. Trust me, it'll work." Clark rubbed his hands together like a scheming mad scientist. When he noticed all of us were staring at him, he added, "Sorry. Can't spill."

Grey shrugged. "Whatever. Just keep your eyes locked on the prize, T, and you'll get your girl in no time." He patted the statue. "That's what Cub here says."

My girl, huh...

A wide grin spread across my face. My friends might have come up with ridiculous ideas, but at least they were trying to help me. I felt dumb for sounding like a quitter earlier. Grey was right. I couldn't let myself be intimidated by Fiona. She wouldn't be able to twist me around her fingers.

A girl from a distance caught my attention. She was struggling with books and papers in her hands, probably trying to take a last-minute review of her calculus lessons.

When she caught me gazing at her, she tripped over herself.

I cracked up and shouted, "Way to go, Kyles! Can you do that again?"

She stuck her tongue out and dashed away. A smirk sneaked to my lips as my eyes followed her.

I was going to make sure that no one blocked my way in the search for Cinderella. This wasn't a "game over," after all.

This was merely the start of the chase.

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