Three

I was always a weird kid. In kindergarten, I didn't really like talking to anyone. In fact, my mom says that I hardly ever spoke.

I would always stare quietly at my surroundings, never bothering to comment on anything or anyone. The only time I seemed happy was when I was reading. I loved reading: it was the one thing I looked forward to every day. The beautiful tales of princesses and wizards turned my extremely boring life into a life of adventure, laughter and glass slippers.

My book obsession only grew as I grew older and eventually I felt more like myself when I had a heavy paperback in my hands. I became known as the weird book girl and it didn't bother me because they were all missing out on the best thing ever invented.

I loved my books alright but I had never, ever thought that my passion for them would result in me auditioning for the biggest book-turned-movie of the century.

I was walking through the mall behind the short, plump lady who had introduced herself as Ms Green. My heart was beating faster than it had ever beaten in its life and I hadn't even auditioned yet. I prayed that I wouldn't pass out in front of my favourite author.

I felt someone poke my arm. I turned, ready to bite off that person's head. Unfortunately, it was Mr Perfect himself and I couldn't exactly bite off his head without encountering a gazillion lawsuits.

"You nervous?" He asked, his blue eyes sparkling.

I was. Extremely nervous in fact, but I would not show it. My pride wouldn't let me.

"I'm ok." I lied.

He seemed to believe me. We were approaching the movie theatre by now, where the auditions would take place.

I sucked in a breath and let the oxygen spread throughout my body. I banished all the negative thoughts out of my mind and forced my heart to calm down. I was terrified but I wouldn't let anyone else see it.

Fake it till you make it, I remembered June's words of advice.

We entered a small, badly lit waiting room displaying a few chairs and opening up to a hallway which lead to what I assumed was the auditioning venue.

"Ok, you may all stay here and I'll call you in one by one to audition. Why don't you come first, young lady?" Ms Green said to the girl beside me.

They went through the hallway, leaving me with Mr Perfect and the cute auburn-haired boy.

"Well this is insane." The boy said.

I nodded. "Yep. I can't feel my hands."

"I thought you weren't nervous." Mr Perfect commented, giving me a smirk.

"Of course I am but I wouldn't admit that to the enemy now would I?" I replied, the words falling out before I could stop them.

The cute boy laughed at Mr Perfect's shocked expression.

"Man, what did you do to piss her off?" He asked, slapping Mr Perfect on the shoulder.

"All I did was tell her the time." Mr Perfect replied, sounding defensive.

"You two are hilarious. I'm Jason by the way." He said.

"I'm May." I introduced myself, ignoring Mr Perfect's stare.

"And I'm Jet. May. That's a pretty name." Mr Perfect - Jet - said, smiling at me.

I nodded. "Yeah. Cool."

Jason found this even more hilarious. "Jet, are you sure you didn't do something to piss her off? She sounds really pissed right now."

"I don't know. You tell me, May. What did I do to make you so pissed at me?" Jet asked, folding his arms and leaning against the wall.

I chewed the inside of my cheek. "What makes you think I'm pissed?"

"Well you referred to me as 'the enemy'."

"This is an audition! Everyone is the enemy." I explained.

Ms Green came running out before he could reply.

"Ok, well that was a disaster. You. Come." She said, pointing at Jet.

He gave me one last look before following her down the hallway.

"You like him don't you?" Jason said, breaking the silence.

My eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"Jet. You like him. I can tell."

I laughed. "Oh, no. Trust me, I don't. I just met him and let's just say I don't think I could ever like him. Not in that way anyway."

In hindsight, it never occurred to me just what I was doing. I was actually talking to a cute boy without stuttering or breaking something. I was the queen of klutz and well, talking to hot boys wasn't my speciality.

"Why not?" Jason asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Well, what about me then?"

I felt my heart skip a beat. I immediately stomped out the tiny flame of hope that had sprouted in my heart. He couldn't be asking if I liked him

right?

"Excuse me?" I blurted.

He smiled. I mentally sighed, he was probably joking. Why would someone like Jason even care to know about my existence? I mean I knew I was pretty enough and I sometimes caught the eye of (unwanted) males but none of them were as handsome as him. Not by a long shot.

I studied his slouching frame out of the corner of my eye. A trick June and I had developed when checking hot guys out in public.

Jason was tall - about a head taller than Jet - and his reddish brown hair was a mess of curls on top of his head. He had tanned skin and nice, not-too-big-not-too-skinny arms.

Not

bad, I thought to myself. Not

bad

at

all

"Do you think you could ever like me? In that way." Jason continued, lazily approaching me.

I shrugged and leaned against the wall beside me, adopting his laid-back persona. Inside, I was freaking out but there was no way I would show it.

He was kidding.

It was all a joke.

And I would rather play along than believe him and end up looking like an idiot.

As he got closer, I tried to make out the colour of his eyes but it was too dark to register anything except a dark brown.

He cocked an eyebrow expectantly and I realised that I hadn't replied to his question.

"Uhm, I don't know. I can't tell." I replied, tearing my gaze from his.

I heard him chuckle and my heart forgot how to beat. I suddenly wished June was there. She usually enjoyed flirting. I didn't usually because the boys who were willing to flirt with me were idiots.

Now that a boy who looked like he actually showered was getting dangerously close with each step, I had no idea what to do.

Run! My brain decided.

I was about to run for it but then, his words stopped me.

"Well I can tell that I'll end up liking you very much." He said.

I rolled my eyes, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach and the sudden clenching of my heart. What a shitty pickup line.

Turns out he was an idiot after all. This injected me with enough confidence to look him directly in the eye. "How do you know that?"

He took one more step. Our bodies were less than an inch apart. I couldn't escape even if I wanted to.

He smiled widely, showing two rows of perfect white teeth. I noticed the tiny dimple on his left cheek and despite myself, I heard my heart beat loudly in my ears.

Turns out cute boys were my weakness.

"Because, you're funny. And beautiful." He answered, his grin slowly fading into a tiny smile.

I blinked rapidly, trying to wake up from the dream but it wouldn't work because despite the sheer impossibility of the situation, I wasn't dreaming.

"You're so beautiful," his voice dropped to a whisper, his brown eyes locked onto mine.

"Uhm, thank you." I smiled awkwardly.

This was nothing like the books. I lacked the confidence to lean in and kiss him and I wasn't willing to melt at his words either - I wanted

to (really badly, I might add) but I wasn't willing to.

He was cute and all but I barely knew him and Jet's audition could end any time soon.

He lightly touched my cheek, his warm gaze following his fingers on my face. My heart went into overdrive. His fingers trailed down my cheek, slowly approaching my lips. It wasn't until I looked at him that I finally let myself soak in the moment.

He wasn't breathing.

And the pure amazement frozen into his features took my own breath away. He was so beautiful and from up close, I could almost count the sprinkling of freckles on his nose.

I traced each of his distinct, warm features as he did mine. This was the moment they talked about in books. The magical moment you share with another, studying them, appreciating them, memorising

them.

Just as I relaxed under his touch, his eyes went wide and he hurriedly stepped back. I took in a deep breath, half confused, half annoyed. I let him get under my skin and I wasn't sure how. He hadn't even kissed me and my hormones were all over the place!

Get a

grip! I scolded myself

I glanced at Jason and surprisingly, he seemed about as embarrassed as I felt. He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head awkwardly, avoiding my gaze completely.

"Crap. I'm really sorry. I don't know what that was - I wasn't thinking." He muttered, casting me a tiny glance before looking away.

Before I could reply, Ms Green walked in, her face shining. I felt my heart slow down and the butterflies slowly disappear.

What just happened?

"Now it's your turn. Follow me." Ms Green said, staring directly at me.

I looked back at Jason but his gaze was trained onto his sneakers. I couldn't tell what he was thinking because his floppy hair was hiding his face.

I hurriedly followed Ms Green down the hallway until we reached an open door. She let me walk into the bright room first.

All thoughts of Jason and our strange encounter flew out of my head as I realized that this was it.

It was a medium-sized room: lit up in every corner with stage lights. In the front of the room was an open space with a red "X" taped to the floor. At the end of the room was a long table, seating four very bored-looking people.

One of them I recognised immediately as Andrea Romes. She had short black hair and was wearing her signature hot pink glasses. I nearly freaked out as soon as I saw her. My fangirl dreams were coming true: I was about to meet my favourite author!

"Please introduce yourself and tell us what role you're auditioning for." Ms Green said, standing beside the table.

"Hello, everyone. My name is May Holden and I'm turning eighteen in a few months. I'm a huge Romes fan and The Wrong Cinderella is my favourite book ever! I've read it like a hundred times." I gushed, forcing my smile not to fall off.

None of them looked impressed. The man at the end of the table even yawned. I inwardly sighed. Hundreds of girls had probably said the exact same thing to them.

"I'll be auditioning for the role of Sapphire because she's the complete opposite of who I am. She's bold, loud, proud, and isn't afraid of anything. Not even herself."

Gosh

I

sound

like

a

tacky

review

"Whenever you're ready." Ms Green smiled warmly.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and imagined reading the part I was about to act out.

Sapphire has just broken Ace's heart without meaning to and for the first time, she lowers her pride and begs -  she begs for him to fight for their love and to prove that he loves her as much as she loves him.

Hurt

Desperate

And

so, so

sorry.

Opening my eyes, I repeated what June and I had practiced for the past two weeks.

I

have

to

do

this

piece

justice, I repeated before letting my body feel the emotions I knew were supposed to be here.

It wasn't enough to just pretend to be Sapphire - I needed to be

her.

"Ace, don't you dare do this. You're supposed to be my Prince Charming! I don't care if I'm not Cinderella! Does that mean I can't have a happy ending? You love me! Not her!" Sapphire yelled, fighting against the tears she so desperately despised.

"I know I hurt you and I'm sorry! I'm sorry that I broke your trust. I'm sorry that I lied and made a fool of you. I'm extremely sorry. Words can't even begin to explain how bad I feel." Sapphire turned to the wall, envisioning a brokenhearted boy avoiding her gaze.

She would not give up until he looked at her and saw

what she couldn't say in words. "Lock me up! Take everything that I own! I deserve it and so much worse but don't you dare destroy the one

precious thing I've managed to get in my miserable life. Don't you dare take away our love. Don't you dare take away the only thing that makes sense in my life! I love you and I'm sorry. Just please, please don't leave me."

Sapphire cried and I cried along with her, desperately clutching at my chest as the unexpected emotion diffused from my false character and straight into my very soul.

Soon, it wasn't her pain that I was feeling but my own. Desperation clawed at me, leaving a trail of forgotten memories and suppressed emotions in it's wake.

I gasped for air, and the blurry image of Ace that I had conjured faded. In his place was my dad, smiling at me the same way he did minutes before he lost his life.