Two

The next two weeks went by pretty quickly. Everyday June and I counted down the days until the audition and imagined how hot the actor who played Ace, the male lead, would be.

We were planning our outfits in June's room the night before the audition when all our plans came crashing down.

"I'm sorry darling but you won't be able to audition." June's mom announced, as she entered the room.

"What?!" June and I exclaimed.

"We have to go to your great uncle's funeral, June. And May, I'm really sorry about this but family comes first." June's mom looked at me.

I could tell she wasn't sorry at all. Once, a long time ago, June's parents and mine were best friends. Our moms had even gotten pregnant at the same time. I was born in the last few minutes of the 31st of May while June was born in the first few minutes of the 1st of June. Hence, our names.

However, something happened when June and I started high school. Something changed. The week long sleepovers became less frequent. Slowly but surely, June's mom changed from Aunt Summer to June's mom.

"Oh no, it's ok. I understand, June. It was a stupid idea anyway." I mumbled, trying my best not to let my feelings show.

I was so disappointed and hurt that all our planning and excitement had gone to waste.

"What? No! May you're still going! You have to go!" June exclaimed, her face a mixture of disbelief and hope.

"I can't, June. This was supposed to be our thing. I can't go alone: that would suck."

"Oh shut up! Trust me, we'll work this out." She replied.

And well, we did. The next morning, I woke up as early as I could (it hurt because I was definitely NOT a morning person) and wore the outfit June and I had agreed on.

Sapphire Royale was the character I would be auditioning for. She was a strong, modern girl who wouldn't let any man get in the way of her dreams. Until, of course, she met the man of her dreams.

To match Sapphire's badass slash sweet attitude, I was wearing a pair of blue jeans, my favorite Vans, a flowery black and white top and a black leather jacket. I took one last, long look at myself before taking a deep breath and leaving my room.

"Oh don't worry. You'll be amazing." My mom said as soon as I left my room.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. "Mom you scared me!" I nearly screamed.

She just laughed. An evil laugh that reminded me somehow of June. I felt a sudden wave of panic but I suppressed it.

You're going to be ok, I told myself.

I didn't have any breakfast because the last thing I needed was to throw it all up on my favourite author. Yes,  Andrea Romes herself would be holding the auditions. Accompanied, of course, by the director and producers.

Great, no pressure I thought to myself.

We climbed into the car and soon my mom and I were on our way to Westpoint Mall, where the auditions were being held.

"You're so lucky that they decided to come this side. No one ever comes to Chatler's Peak." My mom commented.

She was right. No one ever came to our little town. The only time we had a celebrity visit was when Shawn Mendes came for his world tour concert. And he had only stayed a day.

"Mom, its not like I'm going to get it." I said for the gazillionth time that week.

"Of course you will! You know this book inside out! You even know the page number when that Prince proposes to the girl!"

"Mom, Ace is not a Prince, he's the president's son and "the girl" is Sapphire. She's like the richest person alive." I explained for the bazillionth time that morning.

"I still don't understand this dumb book of yours. Why is she the rich one if this is a Cinderella story?"

I gasped, nearly suffering a heart attack. I was filled with horror at her sheer disrespect and ignorance. A Cinderella story?!

"Mom! You did NOT just call The Wrong Cinderella a Cinderella story!" I exclaimed, nearly bursting with rage and disbelief.

She just rolled her eyes. "But the word Cinderella is included in the name."

I took a deep breath to calm my heart. It took all my self control not to slap her with all my TWC knowledge. I had to remind myself that she wasn't a hater. She just didn't know.

"Mom, The Wrong Cinderella is one of the best books of our time. It is a fairytale that has broken every single rule that is associated with the genre. The well-known tale of the orphaned servant is retold in modern times where balls are house parties and princes are famous jocks. The biggest plot twist, however is when prince Charming falls for the wrong Cinderella. In this timeless, genius story, Cinderella isn't a servant but a rich, uberfemale who won't let a boy get in her way." I told her, doing my best to sum it all up in a way she would understand but that would still make the book sound as awesome as it is.

At this point my mom was blinking vacantly at the road with the most confused expression on her face.

"I'll just watch the movie when it comes out." My mom shrugged, stopping the car.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you will."

"Ok, well, good luck sweety." My mom turned to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks mom." I smiled, grateful for her company.

"You have to go. Goodbye. I love you."

"Love you too!" I mumbled as I climbed out of the car.

I looked up at the big building and sighed before entering. I could tell where the auditions where being held almost immediately. From the main entrance, I could see a long line stretching from the movie theaters to the food court.

I stood behind the last person in the line and prayed that the auditions wouldn't take that long.

Unfortunately, five hours later, I was still at the back of the barely moving line. The most exciting thing that had happened was that I was given a nametag with my name, surname and applicant number on it. I was number 306.

"Urgh, this sucks." The person in front of me muttered.

It was a boy. In the five hours I had been standing there, I hadn't seen his face. Mostly because I was reading on my phone. Now that I didn't want my battery to die on me, I decided to do something I never ever attempted to do without June: socialize.

I lightly tapped the shoulder of the boy in front of me. He was slightly taller than me. Which wasn't really significant because I was pretty tall myself. When he turned to face me, my eyes nearly popped out of my skull.

"Oh hey." The boy greeted, giving me a warm smile.

"Hi." I whispered back.

He blinked his big, blue eyes at me expectantly.

I quickly scrambled my thoughts together. "Hey, may you please tell me what the time is? My phone died."

I was lying of course but I couldn't come up with anything else.

He dug into his jean pocket and took out his cellphone. I know it's weird but as he tapped onto the screen, I noticed how nice his hands were. All the boys at my high school had ugly, calloused hands. Those were football player's and carpenter's hands but his were so smooth and...perfect.

I resented him right away. He looked like he had never worked a day in his life whereas I had to get a job just to buy myself a laptop for school. I was probably the only teenager in Chatler's Peak who bought her first cellphone with her own money in eleventh grade. My family wasn't poor, per se but we weren't rich either. My mom could only afford the bare necessities and luxuries such as his perfectly manicured hands were only possible through hard work.

"It's three minutes past four." He answered, giving me a smile.

I smiled back but didn't bother continuing with the conversation. He was gorgeous alright with his raven hair, turquoise eyes and pearly white teeth but he wasn't my type. He was too...nice. Not that I had a type: I had been single since the day I was born.

As he turned back, a short, plump lady strutted towards the middle of the food court. Her tiny heels made clicking noises and her curly red hair bounced with every step. I watched as she approached an empty table and ungracefully stood on top of one of the chairs. Talking into a megaphone that I hadn't noticed before then, she said, "Good Afternoon everyone! Unfortunately there are way too many of you to audition today and so we've decided that we will select a few more applicants to audition today and the rest will have to come back tomorrow."

I sighed along with everyone else. The lady blatantly ignored us and whisked out a sheet of paper from the inside of her jacket.

"And the lucky applicants are as follows: number 108," at this point, I heard loud squeals and a pretty blonde went running towards the woman.

"Number 69." This time, there was a loud burst of cheers from somewhere in the front. I strained my head to see. Eventually I noticed a cute boy with auburn hair.

"Number 557." I didn't see who that was and I was honestly too tired to care.

Somewhere deep down in my heart, I longed to hear my name because if the ones called out nailed their auditions then I would have no chance the next day.

"Number 305."

My jaw dropped.

305. I was 306. I was even more surprised when the boy in front of me walked towards the lady.

I sighed. I took out my phone and was about to text my mom when I heard a group of girls yelling. Looking up, I realised that there were only three people standing next to the lady, even though she had called out four.

"I don't care if she went to the bathroom," the lady was saying, "if she's not here, I'll pick another number."

A few furious-looking girls were arguing, saying something about how their friend would be right back.

"I make the decisions, girls. Since 557 is not here, I'll pick someone else. Number 306." The lady roared into her megaphone.

I blinked twice, unable to believe my ears.

"Number 306? Are you there or not?!"

Somehow my legs started moving on their own and I called out clearly despite my unbeating heart. "I'm here!"

The lady looked at me and smiled smugly at the group of angry girls. I quickly approached the small group, noticing how the boy with the blue eyes stared at me the whole time.

"The rest of you can go home now. We will see you tomorrow. As for you four, follow me."

I gulped and did as I was told.