Football Stars Don't Date Cinderella, Part 9
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8
Wednesday night
Where was the Jaguar taking me?
We’d left town over twenty minutes ago; instead of taking me to someone’s house or a field or woods, the Jaguar was manoeuvring down some winding roads I’d never been down before.
Tonight, I was wearing a purple tunic with embroidered silver flowers around the V-neckline, wrists and hem, the black trousers and the pumps. It was a little more formal than the wrap top, but hopefully it would be OK for tonight.
Just then, the Jaguar turned a corner, and I gasped at the sight of the moon casting silver light over the sea. Nearby was a car park and again, the Jaguar found a space and came to a stop.
I got out, looking around me. In the distance, I heard laughter and music, so I headed in that direction, walking carefully on the stone-studded little path between the cliffs.
The path widened onto a beach. Dark shapes were clustered around bonfires, and others were walking around and talking amongst themselves.
“Welcome to Larisa’s Bonfires on the Beach.” I jumped as a man in a blue uniform started speaking to me. “If you attempt to mess with the bonfires or cause anyone harm with them, you’ll be escorted from the party. Have a lovely time!”
“Cindy!” Someone was waving at me. “Hi! Over here!”
It was Ethan. He’d recognised me – but that shouldn’t be possible. Had the spell in the necklace gone wrong?
Now he was standing beside me. “What do you think of this scene, huh? Larisa’s certainly inventive!”
She was. She’d also arranged for tables of food – I could see at least two chocolate fountains – and at least five people had blankets around their shoulders.
Ethan frowned. “Are you OK?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a little bit cold.”
“Hold on a second; I’ll be right back.”
Ethan moved towards what looked like a chair with piles of coats on it, leaving me to wonder what was happening. How was he able to recognise me again? I hadn’t told him my name, just my…
Just my middle name.
I felt very, very cold. Lucinda wasn’t my first name, but it was part of my real name. What had I done?
Ethan came back, holding out a silver velvet blanket. He placed it carefully around my shoulders, like a little cape.
Just then, there was a flash of light. We both turned to see Brendan pointing a camera at us. “Perfect shot!” he said with a playful grin.
Ethan lunged at him and Brendan scurried away, kicking up sand in his wake.
“Sorry about him,” Ethan said with an apologetic smile. “Want to go grab some food?”
“Love some.”
We found some fancy crisps, some little slices of pizza, pies and some sweet things, then sat next to a bonfire. This one didn’t have anyone around it, but there were a few blankets placed around it, waiting for someone to sit down.
“Ever made a s’more before?” asked Ethan.
“No. How do you do that?”
“I’ll show you.” He skewered a marshmallow on a little spit and held it close to the flames. “Toast a marshmallow until it starts to melt, then put it on a cookie. Then you put a little piece of chocolate on top of the marshmallow, then another cookie on top of that.”
My mouth watered at the thought of it. “I’ve got to try that!”
Someone walked past the bonfire.
“Hi, Claire!” Ethan called after her, but she ignored him. He sighed heavily. “She used to be nice; I don’t know what happened there. Here, try this one.”
The s’more looked too tempting to resist. I bit into it and almost melted. “That’s delicious!”
“I know. Brendan and I make these all the time at home; we always have them when I come home after a game.”
“When’s the next one?” I asked, mouth still full of cookie and marshmallow.
“Two weeks. I’m kind of nervous. I mean, I’m always a bit nervous before a game, but this one’s different.”
I frowned. “How come?”
Ethan took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the flames in front of us. “There are scouts coming to this one.”
I sat upright, almost tipping my plate over. “You mean they might recruit you to play professionally?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’d like that, but I don’t want to get my hopes up. I always used to fantasise about playing football as a career, but I never thought that I might get the chance. In fact, I don’t even know if I have a chance.”
I touched his arm gently. “Is that what you want? To play football as an adult?”
He was silent; the firelight danced in his eyes and over his face. Then he said: “Yes. I do want that. And I’ll play my hardest, win or lose.”
Movement over his shoulder caught my eye; Claire was standing beside Larisa, talking to her quietly, but Larisa wasn’t paying attention. She was watching Ethan and me, a strange expression on her face.
She looked…sad.
“What about you?” Ethan asked me. “You said you designed that top on Monday; did you make this one too?”
He gestured towards my tunic.
“Yes, I did.”
“Do you want to do that for real? Be a designer?”
I nodded firmly. “Yes. I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get there, but I know I will in the end.”
“I’m guessing you have to leave before midnight tonight as well?”
“Yes. Sorry, those are the rules. I didn’t make them.”
I was breaking Claudia’s rules just by being here.
“Will you come to my next game? We could go for a milkshake afterwards.”
I couldn’t. Craig wouldn’t want me to go to any football game, even if he wasn’t playing – and Claudia wouldn’t let me go anyway.
“I don’t know if I’ll be allowed to go. My guardians are very strict – but if they say yes, I would love that.”
Claudia wouldn’t say yes. I felt guilty at getting Ethan’s hopes up – especially since he was talking to Cindy and not me.
A horrifying thought hit me: Was I leading him on? I didn’t want to do that at all! I didn’t want to do anything that would hurt or upset him.
Oh, what was I going to do?
Music started playing close by and was immediately drowned out by a chorus of cheers. Everyone who was sitting down quickly scrambled to their feet and before long, the entire party was making its way towards another part of the beach.
“Come on.” Ethan got up and held out a hand to me. “Will you dance with me?”
I let him help me up, leaving the silver blanket on the sand. Together, we followed the crowd to where the music was playing.
“I’m not a good dancer,” I whispered.
“That’s OK,” was his reply. “Neither am I.”
We couldn’t help ourselves. We both began to sway to the beat of the tune. He twirled me under his arm, then asked: “May I put my hands on your waist?”
“OK.”
He did. I placed mine on his shoulders as the sea breeze blew my hair around.
This was wonderful. Just like last time, there was magic in the air.
“When I was little, I used to pretend there were mermaids living in the sea around Topaz Coast,” I said. “I used to draw them and make their tails as pretty as I could.”
“What makes you think there aren’t? Don’t tell my cousin I said that. He’d want to try and find one.”
I didn’t want to look away from his face as the song ended. “Is your cousin here?”
“No, but he will be. He’s coming to live with us, and things are not going to be dull with him around. He’s hot-headed, stubborn and loves a challenge.”
“There you are, Cindy!” It was Flora. “Ethan, I need to chat to Cindy for a moment.”
“I’ll go get some hot chocolates. Don’t go anywhere.” With that, he was heading towards one of the tables.
I turned to Flora, gripping her hands excitedly. “Monday was amazing!”
“I know! And judging from the social media about it, everyone was happy. Hey,” Flora said, leaning in a bit closer, “I just learned something really interesting.”
That was intriguing. Flora never repeated gossip. “What is it?”
“Larisa wasn’t supposed to be the host tonight. Claire de Winter was.”
That was interesting. The de Winters had a massive house with grounds that would be perfect for a party, and from what I’d heard, they were always looking for ways to boost their standing.
“She was nominated and everything, but apparently she didn’t want to host so her dad went to the committee and said it was out of the question, so they went for the next best choice. But isn’t that weird? Nobody turns down the opportunity to host an event like this.”
“Here!” Ethan gave us both cups brimming over with hot liquid. “I wasn’t sure what flavours you’d like, so I got hazelnut. Hope that’s…”
“Oh no.”
My necklace had started to grow warm.
“Cindy?” Ethan put a hand on my shoulder. “What’s…”
“I have to go. I have to leave now. Ethan, I’m really sorry. See you on Friday!”
I rushed away, hot chocolate spilling and burning my fingers. There was a bin nearby; I ran up to it and dropped the cup inside. I had to get back to the Jaguar now; it would take longer to reach campus this time.
***
I carried the pumpkin into the main building and shoved it into Jocelyn’s hands before going to the Ladies to get changed. “Sorry, I’ll see you later!”
My clothes were there, exactly as I’d left them. I carefully took the tunic off, then the trousers and kicked off the pumps, then got dressed into my ordinary clothes again, tying my hair up just like that time and putting my necklace into the…
The necklace. It wasn’t around my neck.
“No. No, no, no, no.” I couldn’t have lost it.
I looked around frantically, but it wasn’t on the floor. I burst out of the Ladies, but there was no glimmer of blue on the floor outside either.
“Mina?” Jocelyn asked. “Whatever’s the matter?”
“I…I can’t find…”
“There you are.” Claudia strode up to us. “Let’s go.”
She took me by the arm and pulled me away, out of the building and towards the car. “Why they had to make that girl the host, I have no idea. Now I’ve got an even longer drive to collect Craig, and there’s going to be traffic on the road tonight.”
I wouldn’t cry in front of her. I wouldn’t. It took all my effort not to burst into tears on the way home.
How could I have lost my mother’s necklace? That was all I had left of her.
Soon, we reached home. Claudia left me in the kitchen with the words: “Soup is on the cooker, and there’s some bread in the cupboard. Enjoy.”
I ate the soup and bread slowly, each mouthful feeling like gravel in my mouth. When I had finished, I dragged myself upstairs and mechanically got ready for bed.
Only when I heard Claudia’s car disappear into the distance did I let myself cry.
“I’m sorry, Mum,” I sobbed. “I’m so sorry.”