Me: Ok so I'm so sorry for never updating...i have to admit that i get lazy..alot..but here it is...

(someone knocks on the door)

Me: Coming! (opens door)

William: hi!

Me: oh hi...people..this is William (gestures to him) ..i forgot he was coming over, but yeah, he's here to help me with the skittles problem. Thanks for coming William..and you brought food :)

William: kk, so where are they?

Me: They're over there at the computer.

William: Your not coming?

Me: Nahh, i think i should stay back here.

William: ok...well..the trick when it comes to pets is feeding them the most expensive food...therefore they'll appreciate you more...i brought some of the food from the buffet the other day.. (moves closer to skittles with food)

Skittles: Grrrrr!

Me: i don't think you should...

William: don't worry...i had a ton of pets before, i know how to handle this( hands skittles the food)

Skittles: GRRRRRRRRR! :(

Me: yeah..i think i should get a head start(runs away)

Skittles: (barks and is ready to jump william)

Me: run William, run!

William: I'm running! (drops food and run)

Disclaimer: Nope..i don't own the actual Cinderella story or movie

Note: if some words are italicized without an i thought at the beginning or the end...it still is what Serenity is thinking in her head.

Chapter 5: Caught

I felt like the world spun, literally as I had my back to the side of the set of lockers. Brenda probably saw me (because I'm pretty sure she did), but just in case she didn't I had dove to the side of a set of lockers. Now I stood there taking as many breaths as I can trying to slow down the musical beat of my heart and to try to calm myself down. The fact that I was stupid and careless enough to forget that Brenda goes to the same school as me irritated me. How could I have been so naïve? Suddenly, I was furious at myself. I banged the side of my fist against the locker.

Lost in my little world of being angry at myself, I took notice that I forgot that I was wasting my lunchtime. I also noticed that Brenda didn't come after me like I thought she would have. That put my mind to ease for a while.

To be sure Brenda wasn't anywhere nearby; I poked my head out from the side of the lockers and checked the direction I saw Brenda coming from to see if there was any signs of her there and then checked the other direction too. What a relief, I thought. I walked casually toward the lunchroom listening to the beautiful sound of my stomach rumbling. I could smell the fresh scent of apple pie coming from the lunchroom. Yumm!

Apparently, there was no pie for lunch. Such a sad thought. There was unfortunately, dried out corn, watery milk, and mushy fried chicken. Nothing good there. As I passed by a trashcan, I carelessly dumped the tray with food into it. I walked around the lunchroom with my arms around myself.

"Seren, over here," a voice shouted over the loud lunchroom. I looked at the direction of the voice and saw Abigail waving with both hands, trying to get my attention. "Over here Seren!" I brightened up. I stopped holding myself and jogged, but slightly slow (so I don't look too desperate) over to her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't really save you a seat, but I guess you can take Brandon's seat since he's not here today," Abigail said and gestured to the empty seat across from her. I mouthed thanks to her and walked over to the empty seat, taking it.

"So, you've probably noticed the nasty food here, huh?" the guy sitting to the left if me asked, waving his sandwich at the spot on the table in front of me where my lunch should have been… if I haven't thrown it away. I examined him. He was an average guy with glasses and neatly cut hair and an average built body. His eyes are a natural hazel color.

"Who couldn't have noticed?" I responded.

"Hey, hey! I don't know where you guys came from, but I know one thing. You guys have no taste at all! I would've asked for seconds. This food is great! You know that children-" a geeky looking guy sitting at the end of the table says gobbling down his food but was cut off by a girl that seemed to wear just too much make up sitting next to Abigail.

"Alright, alright, we all understand, right? You don't have to go on and on with a speech over the school's tasty lunch," she says sarcastically. We all laughed.

With all the fun, I had almost forgotten how hungry I was. I put my arms around my stomach as it growls loudly. I felt embarrassed for having that moment.

"Here take it," Abigail said holding out a something wrapped in aluminum foil at me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's my lunch, a sandwich."

"Oh, no thanks, I don't want it. It's your lunch anyways, so you shouldn't give it to me," I said, pushing the sandwich away from me, yet my stomach still growled really loud. Abigail laughed.

"By the looks of it, I mean the sound of it, you will need this more than me," Abigail said.

"You don't have to, really. I don't need it," I told her, shaking my head and waving my hands, emphasizing I really didn't need it.

"Don't worry about me, you should care for yourself more," she said urging the sandwich at me, "and besides, I already had lunch. I bought two lunches today to school, one for me and the other one for the bully you saw. Thanks to you, I have two lunches. You can have this in appreciation for stopping that bully. Thanks!"

She was so kind I didn't know what to say. I still felt like it was wrong to take her lunch for my selfish hungry ways. But the aroma of the sandwich was unbelievably mouthwatering this particular day, so hunger won, and I took the sandwich with happiness and thanked her. I'm glad to have her as a friend, even if we just met. It's glad to know there are people out there who are willing to befriend you, even though you know nothing about them and they know nothing about you, they rely on their guts and will of kindness. I smiled at her showing how much she made me happy.

The bell rang, signaling lunch was over. It was sad to think it was over since lunch was so much fun. My next class had to be prep, which unfortunately was gym. I hated gym with all my guts, because I was bad at anything dealing with sports.

In the locker room, I saw the girls changing into their shorts, unembarrassed that their changing in front of each other. They talked like everything was normal. I felt jealous for not being as uncomfortable as me when it comes to changing in front of people even though we're the same gender. I hugged on my shorts and went into one of the shower to change instead.

There was laughter and chit chat while a little arguing came along and soon I was almost done changing. The light turned off as I attempted to tie the string on my shorts. It startled me and I stumbled in the shower. This was not fun at all. I started shivering of fright from the darkness and the fact that I felt no one's present in the locker room. I got out the shower and felt the walls for any light switch that would stop the darkness from suffocating me. The wall changed from rough to smooth and that gave me the thought that this may be the door that leads out. Almost immediately, I felt the door handle and gave it a pull. It didn't work, so I pushed it instead. That didn't work either. After a couple of seconds of pulling and pushing, I realized the door was locked from the outside. This darkness seemed to hurt me somehow, making me feel more fear. I banged my fist hard and screamed for someone to hear me, but it was useless with the noise going on the other side of the door. That still didn't stop me though. I kept banging until my fist hurt and my hand grew numb, and possibly red, but I couldn't see that.

I started pacing back and forth, trying to find a solution, but everything came back to being scared of the dark and feeling useless. My foot slipped on something wet and I fell with a groan. Somehow, my ankle twisted and there was immediate pain. Attempting to stand was useless. Thoughts just filled my head instead. Somehow, this reminds me of yesterday, being locked in my room with an injured leg. Such similar situations! But this is worse, since I'm stuck in the dark. I rubbed my ankle, easing away the pain.

Something clicked and the bright light shown into the room, blinding me. I raised my hand out blocking the light from my eyes. I smiled. Finally, someone came.

"Is anyone in there?" an unfamiliar voice said.

"Over here!" my voice weak.

She switched on the light and for the first time, I noticed I was sitting in the middle of the locker room and there at the door was the gym teacher.

"Oh my God! Are you ok? Your eyes are red and…" she said. When did I cry? I don't remember that.

"Just let me help you up," the coach said. Her voice was soothing and kind. That was nice of her.

We walked out of the locker room, and I saw that there was no one in the gym. I started to limp and the coach noticed almost right away. She led me out of the gym towards the office.

"Why are we going to the office?" I asked, "I don't want to go to the office." It would be all over for me if my stepmother found out about me going to school. My hard work would be gone.

"Relax," the coach said, her voice soothing and sweet, "we are heading to the nurse's office, it apparently is around the corner from the main office." I let out a long sigh. The coach looked at me as if I did something weird.

"I was just trying to hold in the pain," I explained to her.

People around me walking in the hall noticed me and started staring. I knew why. It was because I was with the coach, an adult in the school.

"I'm fine," I said releasing her grip from my arm.

"Ohh, ok," she said seeming to understand my thoughts immediately. We continued to the nurse's office.

The nurse's office was fairly big, spacious. There were a lot of posters on the wall about eating right and posters of body parts and how to take care of your body, as expected a nurse's office would have. The nurse was plump and short. In a way, she resembles the room, big, spacious. Way to go nurse for expressing the thought of being healthy. She looked at me through her glasses from her desk.

"She seems to have something wrong with her ankle," the coach explained.

"Mhmm," the nurse said, "I noticed."

"I'll leave her here with you," the coach said. She leaves the room and goes to who knows where. Probably the gym.

"Sit," the nurse said in a demanding voice eyeing at the chair in front of her desk.

I sat in the chair as comfortably as I could.

"Take off the shoe of the foot that hurts," she said, with the demanding voice again. I hated that since she is a nurse, she is suppose to be doing this to make it less labor for me. Lazy. It is not like I have a choice, though because I don't want to get in trouble. So, I took off my shoe and watched her press her fingers areas around my ankle, watching at any expressions I make with my face. I bit my lip the whole time with the same expression, so I don't know if she got any good result from watching my face. She typed things in her laptop after every time she touched my ankle. I didn't notice the laptop there before.

"I think you may have sprang your ankle, but let's send you to the hospital to make sure," she said confirming the results. She reached for the old fashioned phone on her desk.

"I'm fine, don't worry," I told her.

"Ok," she said without a second thought. She shrugged her shoulder. That's all she said. There was no "you sure?" or "you ok with that?". She just simply said "Ok". I dislike her, but I don't blame her. I didn't know what to do next, so I just pushed the chair out and got up, ready to leave.

"You should get an ice bag from the fridge while you're at it so that it might help with your ankle. It's in the fridge," the nurse said with somewhat concern. The way she said it surprised me so much. It's was as if she actually cared. It reminded me of when my mom was still around. She always told me to find the good in people because everyone is not a bad person…they just might be on the outside, but on the inside there is always a spark of something good. She used to always say that, and I use to be annoyed at it because of how much she said it but now, I miss it a lot.

"Thanks," I said. I walked to the fridge in the corner of the room and opened the freezer part of it, grabbing a bag of ice. I walked to the door and began to walk out.

"Stay here. It will be better for your ankle, you'll be excused, don't worry," the nurse said. So, she isn't a really bad person.

And that's what I did. I stayed there for nearly the whole day waiting and watching the clock with the ice bag on my ankle. It was so boring in here.

Right before the bell would ring, I told the nurse that I would leave. I had to get home before anyone else did so I didn't risk the chance of being caught. It was already pretty later than I intended to leave, so I had to rush, limping or not. I ended limping pretty quickly, and was kind of good at limping too. I limped to my locker and just grabbed my stuff.

I watched the clock click and the seconds seemed to pass by faster as I rushed to get out of the school. Before I got through the door, I heard someone call my name.

"Serenity!"

I made a quick turn around and was surprised to see that it was Abigail. A smile spread across my face the same time a smile spread across her face.

"You weren't going to wait for me?" she said, her mood changing lightning speed. It made me feel happy she said that. I didn't think that we were even close enough as friends for me to walk home with me. Did she even think of me as a friend? It would be nice though for her to think such kind thoughts. We just met each other today, anyways.

"Of course I would wait for you, what do you think? That I'm just going to ditch you?" I replied to her question. Her smile returned.

"Let's go!" she said excitedly. I shook my head finally coming back to reality.

"I'm sorry, I can't," my smile turning into a frown. I wanted so much to be her friend, but if I wanted to see her more, then I cannot mess up and get caught. I hope she still is my friend after this.

"It has nothing to do with our friendship," I said wondering if the word friendship was the correct term to use between me and her, "I'll tell you one day." I added a smile just to make sure she can believe and looked into her strange green colored eyes. Weird how I never noticed that odd green in her eyes.

She nodded and smiled understandingly.

"Hold on," she said and then reached into her book bag for something. She pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen, placing the paper on her knee and scribbling something on it with her pen. She gave it to me. It had numbers and dashes on it. Her cell phone number.

"Just in case," she said and smiled.

"Thanks," I said. Just in case what? What did she mean by just in case?

"Bye!" she said running off, waving her hands.

"Bye!" I said back to her. I'm so happy! I thought holding the piece of paper in my hands watching her run away. What am I still doing here? I should go.

I finally got out the school and made it onto the sidewalk. I looked both ways before crossing the street. There were a couple of honks here and there when I tried to cross the street because I took a while limping. Some people are just impatient.

As I was about to turn and walk into the yard of the house, I saw someone from the corner of my eye just for a split second before it happened. That person crashed into me and we both fell hard as a rock on the sidewalk.

"Crap," I said with a shaky voice ready for the pain in my leg to come, and it did. There was no way to describe it, but I didn't want to be weak anymore, so I sucked it up and got up.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"No it was my fault," the guy said and I looked at him for the first time. He had already got up and dusted himself up, "I'm sorry." He was around my age, I think, and I thought he was kind of cute. I nodded at him, accepting his apology.

"It's kk," I said putting on a smile for him to believe me. Then I walked towards the house like nothing happened.

"Wait," he said looking back and forth from me and the house, "you live there?"

"Yupp," I said.

"Oh, I live right there," he said pointing to the house right next to my house. The yard and both the houses were separated by a white picket fence.

"That's cool," I said simply, "guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah, I'll see you around too." He smiled an odd but cute smile. He was nice. Lucky he's my neighbor. Talking to him made me totally forget about my injured leg.

I walked to the door and was about to turn the knob when I thought of something; I forgot about house keys. I remembered locking the door, but forgot about keys. Even though I knew this fact, I knew I should at least try the door knob. I put my hands on the door knob and turned. There was a click as the door knob turned with ease. I was surprised and thought, maybe I forgot about locking the door. I shrugged it off like it was nothing and went through the door. Oh how wrong I was to shrug it off like that.

When I got inside and placed the tote bag down, I felt a presence of people in the room. As I looked up from placing my tote bag down, I saw her, or should I say them. There they were sitting on the couch looking at me, my stepmom and Brenda. My step mom had her hands crossed and an angry look on her face.

"Sit," she said demandingly. I watched the evil smirk come across Brenda's face and knew what had happened and what was about to happen. Stupid, stupid me!