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ღ Finding Cinderella-16 ღ

-Tristan-

The rest of the week went on smoothly, although there was a part of me that remained quite uneasy. Fiona had been watching my every move, and it seemed that luck hadn't been on my side these days. Social media wasn't of any help to me. I tried asking for the Queen's real identity on the campus group page, but no one really provided serious answers. Many girls claimed that they had been her, but my gut always told me otherwise.

"Here's the final one." Grey tossed a picture at my desk. "She's from my Economics class."

I gathered all the photos that the guys had collected from each female participant of the Fate dance and scrutinized them one by one.

First picture: a blonde with freckles across her face. Nah, Cinderella had dark hair.

Second picture: a ginger... nope.

Third picture: a pretty brunette. Ronnie Sullivan.

"Flip the photos," Grey suggested, leaning closer to my side. "We made them write the name of their Fate strings for you to be able to recognize them easily."

I flipped over Ronnie's photo. On the back was written: The Mask. I put it aside.

As I kept on turning each photograph, I felt as if I was sinking into the deepest part of the ocean, dissatisfaction drowning me in huge waves.

Seventh picture: a dark-haired one, The Hourglass.

Eighth picture: a short-haired, The Sunrise.

Ninth picture: a brunette, The Harp.

Tenth picture: a blonde, Monique Mayfield, The Turquoise.

Eleventh picture—

My fingers froze.

This last girl had long, curly black hair that was very familiar to me. Small, oval-shaped face... small nose... huge eyes... I covered her eyes with my finger like a mask. Her features were similar.

Was she the one?

I gulped.

"T, have you found her?" asked Grey.

Some doubt still lingered in my mind. I motioned for him to wait. Then I held my breath as I flipped the photo.

The Mirror.

Sighing, I threw the photo back into the pile. Justin picked it up.

"Hey, this one's cute," he said.

"But she's not her," I muttered. "None of them was Cinderella."

My friends fell into silence. We had come up with five plans, but they didn't seem to work out when we put them into action. There might as well have been 'epic fail' signs plastered on our foreheads.

"Don't worry, T!" Ryo chirped; his enthusiasm still undiminished. "We still have plan F!"

I snorted a laugh. "Yeah, though I'm starting to think we can eat the whole alphabet cake and still can't shit out another 'perfect' plan."

"That mystery girl of yours is like the eighth wonder of the world, T-man," Grey remarked. "I mean, does she even go here? She might come from that all-girls school, for all we know."

"Of course. Why would the student council choose a Queen who..." I trailed off as a memory came to me in a flash. I snapped my fingers. "Hold on. Speaking of the council, Steven said that there were twelve female participants, and"—I pointed at the photos—"we only have eleven pictures of them. Where's the twelfth?"

They looked at each other and shrugged.

"Holy crap! She really doesn't go here!" Ryo exclaimed.

"No, that's impossible," I said. "She's here, I know. Probably she's just—"

"—trying to get away from you," Clark murmured after his long silence.

I stood up from my seat. "I have to talk to Steven."

Moments later, I found myself standing in front of the student council office. The door was ajar, so I let myself in. I was half expecting to see Steven twirling the chair to face me just in time. Instead of him, though, I found the council's adviser, Miss Ritchie, sitting at the front desk. She seemed to be lost in her bubble. Her fingers were fluttering, her eyes were closed, and she was mouthing some words in a... sensual way.

Crap. I thought it was just a rumor, but it turned out that the student council adviser really did write erotic novels. The level of discomfort I got from this was equivalent to walking in on my parents kissing.

I faked a cough.

She opened her eyes and closed her laptop immediately. Then she tapped her almost-white hair and straightened her violet blouse before she looked at me.

"Oh, Mr. Hartford," she greeted. Her voice was shrill. "What brings you here?"

I looked around the room. "Is Steven Davis around? Or any student from the council? I'd like to talk to them."

"The council is unavailable at the moment, as they're out for a conference at Columbus High," she answered, opening her laptop again.

"When will they be back?" I asked.

"Friday afternoon."

"Damn, that's three days away," I said out loud.

Miss Ritchie flashed me a warning look. "No blaspheming in this office, Mr. Hartford."

"Right. Got it, ma'am," I said. "Sorry if I distracted you from, uh, your hobby."

Closing the door behind me, I let out a defeated sigh. Only Steven had the key to unlock the mystery girl's identity, but dang it, I had bad timing!

I shoved my hands in my pockets and began to walk back to the room where my friends were. When I was about to turn a corner, a girl bumped into my chest.

"Ow, crap," she cursed, brushing her nose. She looked up, and the usual scowl appeared on her face. "You again."

"Kyles."

"Bummer."

"Same sentiments," I said grimly. "Both you and I have terrible luck."

"What do you mean? Are you still looking for that girl? The Ball was history. Give it up already," she sneered.

"You know me, Kyles. I won't stop until I get what I want."

She took a step back. "Why did it have to be her? There were probably many girls better than her at the Ball. Why are you so... obsessed?"

I took a step forward. "Because she caught my interest without even trying." I smiled and put my hands on her shoulders. "Why do you oppose me every time I talk about her, Kylie? Are you jealous?"

As we locked eyes, a strange feeling of familiarity suddenly coursed through me, making my heart pound faster. The face of the masked girl flashed before my eyes, and I reeled away from Kylie, blinking rapidly. She was still giving me a hard, bored look.

"Please take your meds already. You're acting really crazy," she deadpanned. She walked past me and turned back. "Oh, as for your question. You know the answer, right? 'Why would I be?'"

With that, she was off.

I shook my head, rubbing my temples.

My eyes were probably tricking me. I needed a break.

ღ

The next day came in a flash, and I was hoping for a fine one. However, when Fiona showed up at my table during lunch, I knew shit was about to go down.

She dropped two things on the table: a white half-face masquerade mask and a curly black wig.

"As the president of the drama club, it's my responsibility to ensure that all the props in our storage room are complete and in good condition. And look what I just found," she said with her arms crossed and chin lifted. "Check it out, hon."

No way.

Reluctantly, I grasped the silky wig. A huge lump began to form in my throat. The image of Cinderella dancing, her hair swaying to her waist, bounced back and forth in my mind. My attention then shifted to the mask, and I felt even worse. I had paid a lot of attention to her that night, and I had memorized every detail of her outfit. And I could confirm this was the mask she'd worn.

"Who... who owns these?" I said.

"No one in particular," Fiona spoke in an I-couldn't-care-less way. "Everyone in the club uses them for plays."

I let out an oath.

"I told you not to underestimate me, babe. How lovely it is to see you suffer." Fiona made her best Evil Queen laugh. "Thank me later, T. Good luck finding your imaginary girl."

As she left, Will turned to me. "Uh, she could be acting, right? I mean, she's the drama club president."

"No, she was telling the truth," I said, looking at the items again. I was sure my face had turned into a dark shade of crimson. "A wig, seriously? Oh, fuck. It was all a trick?"

"Just let go of her," Clark murmured. There was something strange about the way he talked. Like Kylie, he sounded as if he were trying to oppose me.

"I think she's bald, that must be why she wore a wig," Ryo said with a firm nod. I wanted to punch his lights out for that comment.

"Enough with the jokes," I said, hitting my face with my palm. "I don't understand why she had to disguise herself."

"Well," Grey began, resting his elbow on the back of the chair in a comfortable pose, "that's another thing you have to find out if you like her that much."

"Ding! A hidden quest has been unlocked," Ryo said, imitating a video game NPC.

"She might be a brunette, then. Or a redhead. Or a blonde..." Justin enumerated.

"Or a green-haired like an angry hipster girl on Tumblr," Ryo supplied. Goddammit.

A feeling of dread wafted over me. What should I do now? There was no way that my friends and I could call every female on campus, line them up, and examine them one by one like in the movies.

"Hey, I'm starting to get this weird hunch," Grey said. "What if we know this girl already? And we just haven't been paying attention to her?"

I stared at him, astonished. I had never thought of Grey as a man with a functioning brain, but then again, a lot of my assumptions today had already been proven incorrect.

"Oh shit, that's actually solid," Will hollered.

With my mind stuck on Cinderella, I stared off into space.

Her name... I need to know her name...

Before long, Kylie obstructed my view. She stood in the distance, staring at the wig and mask on the table, a look of horror on her face.

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