5Once there was a little girl who never really dreamed of Prince Charming rescuing the day. She didn't believe in damsels in distress and wicked step-sisters ruining lives. This little girl liked to think that her head was not in the clouds and her imagination was down to earth. As years passed, the girl grew to believe that there could never be a 'once upon a time' and that 'happily ever after' should be banned from reality.
"Elle! Where were you yesterday? I need that report on the flooding now!" A young woman approached, dressed in a cream trench coat and diamond earrings that complimented her honey blonde hair. A muffled groan emitted from the person occupying the table and the woman narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going to be the one to get into trouble because of your slacking off."
The person raised her head and glanced at her blearily. "Rachael, all you want is to get the boss to notice you with articles that you don't even write. When are you going to write your own reports?"
"When your family pays back that loan you owe my family," Rachael snapped back.
Elle waved her hand to a paper on top of one of the piles on her desk. "I sent you an email with a copy attached. That's the hardcopy." Rachael snatched the paper up with disdain, scanning the article and then stalking off without a word of thanks. "Tiffany!" she called. "Where's my latte?"
Elle dropped her head back down on the table with a sigh. Having only four hours of sleep was definitely not a good thing. Forcing herself to sit up properly, she began reading through the notes she had made on proposed changes to the health system. Her concentration wavered and she began to think about her father's illness. Her family had been forced to borrow money from Rachael's family to pay for the surgery on her father's brain tumour. The operation had been successful but her family was left with a huge debt that was extremely difficult to pay off. Underneath all the smiles and friendly chats, Rachael and Tiffany, Rachael's younger sister, was taking advantage of Elle. Since all three worked for a major newspaper, they made Elle write their assigned articles for them and Elle had to work off the debt by helping out at their family's fashion store without being paid. Of course, Elle couldn't do anything about it, and she didn't want her father to worry since he was cheerfully friendly with the sisters' mother. That mother was the one who put ideas into her daughters' heads on what new fun they would have with Elle.
Something tapped her head and she jerked out of her thoughts, her startled brown eyes meeting the smiling green eyes of Matthew Hampton, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. He grinned at her, his messy dark brown hair making him appear even more handsome. "Good morning, Elle. Are you typing your report up in your head or are you just sleeping?"
"It's called dozing off," Elle retorted. "Did you have a nice time in New York?"
"It was stifling," Matthew replied, shuddering. "Don't ask me about that trip ever again. Here," he added, extending something towards her. "I'm having a Christmas party and I'm inviting you. It's tonight."
Elle accepted the invitation card with a warm smile and said, "Thanks, I'll try to come. " Matthew suddenly felt a strange feeling bubbling up inside of him.
Stifling the feeling down, he gave her a cheeky grin. "I hope you wear something blue."
Before Elle could reply, there was a sudden squeal and Rachael banged into Elle's table in her effort to get to Matt as quickly as possible. Breathlessly, she held out the report that Elle had written. "Good morning, Matt! You said you needed this report as soon as possible, so here it is!"
Matthew hesitated, slowly reaching for the paper when Tiffany almost crashed into Matthew. Tiffany was a chubbier version of her older sister and her ash blonde hair was streaked with blue, showing where her previous attempt to dye her hair had gone horribly wrong. "Matt! I mean, sir! Welcome back? How was your trip? There was a call from Mr. Page. He wanted to talk about the sponsorship."
The words continued to pour out of both Rachael and Tiffany until Rachael hushed her younger sister with a glare. Matthew seemed rather taken aback at first but quickly took control of the situation. "Thank you, Rachael, for the report. But perhaps you could bring one that isn't covered in coffee stains to my office?"
Rachael looked down at the paper in her hand, flushed, and began backing away, muttering apologies. Once Rachael had fled, Matthew turned to Tiffany and told her to bring Mr. Page's phone number to his office. He didn't seem entirely aware that Tiffany wasn't even his secretary but was actually another journalist working for the newspaper. Tiffany, however, seemed exhilarated by the task and scampered off with much energy. Finally, Matthew turned back to Elle with an exaggerated sigh of patience. "I really hope you can make it. I specially ordered a lemon meringue pie to be baked, just for you."
Elle couldn't help but smile. "Now I have to come, don't I?"
Somebody coughed and Matthew and Elle looked up to find James, Matthew's best friend, watching them from the side. He was smirking as he dropped his arm around Matthew's shoulder. "Matt, I know how much you love to talk to Elle, but there's a meeting and you're five minutes late."
Matthew blinked in surprise and checked his watch. "I completely forgot about that. See you tonight, Elle." James dropped her a wink as he left with Matthew in tow.
The instant they had departed, Rachael and Tiffany popped up beside her. "What did he mean by tonight?" Rachael asked suspiciously.
Tiffany snatched the invitation card from Elle's hand and sniggered. "A Christmas party? And you expect to be able to go?"
Rachael casually took the card from her sister. "Elle will be in our shop helping the customers, won't you? Of course, this invitation won't be going to waste. Come on, Tiff. We have to decide what to wear." They too left, carrying off their high-pitched giggles with them.
The day passed and soon night took over, veiling the sky in a star-spangled dark blue. Elle sat forlornly behind the marble counter, alone in the brightly lit shop. The tinkling of the bell interrupted the silence and she jerked her head up, startled by the sight of James. "Elle! I heard what those wicked sisters did, stealing that invitation. But you don't need an invitation to come! Matt's expecting you! Come on, get dressed."
Elle just stared at him like he was an idiot. "What would I get dressed in? I don't have anything that I can just conjure up. Unless you do?"
"Well, this is a fashion store, isn't it?" James asked, glancing around. "This dress is just perfect for the party, and looked at those shoes!"
Elle rushed to stop him. "We can't just take clothes! It's stealing!"
He shoved the clothes and shoes into her arms. "Here's the money for the clothes. I'll be waiting in the car. You change and then close the shop." Without waiting for an answer, he left Elle standing in the store, gaping after him.
Matthew was disappointed and grumpy. Neither James nor Elle had turned up and he was being annoyed by two women who he didn't remember inviting. "Why are you glaring at the cake?" a familiar voice queried.
"Where were you?" Matthew asked with his voice twinged with relief as he flapped away the annoying females who kept swarming him.
"Getting Elle." James smugly grinned when he saw Matt's eyes light up. "Go and look for her." Matthew needed no further encouragement and he immediately began scanning the crowd. One of the women dressed in a low-cut gown clung to his side. He distantly remembered that her name was Rachael but he shrugged the woman off and hurried to find Elle.
Matthew had been searching for more than fifteen minutes around the function centre, but was having no luck. He suddenly had a bad feeling that James was having fun taunting him and he stalked towards James, intent on wringing the truth of Elle's whereabouts out of him. James quickly mouthed 'garden' when he noticed the look in Matthew's eyes.
Matthew wandered through the hopeless maze in the gardens, on the edge of giving up when he stumbled on something blocking his path. An "ouch" caused him to looked down and he finally saw Elle. She was in a strange kneeling position, beyond beautiful in a dark blue and silver dress with her light brown hair in waves. Matthew quickly coughed and asked, "Why are you kneeling there?"
"Not to make you feel like a prince, that's for sure," Elle muttered. "My heel's stuck."
"Why don't you just take your shoe off and then try pulling it out?"
"I didn't want to get my feet dirty," Elle mumbled sulkily.
Matthew sighed and shook his head. "Take your shoe off and sit on that bench." She obediently unstrapped the heel and hopped over to the bench. Matthew began trying to heave the shoe out, ignoring her protests. After one huge effort, he managed to pull the shoe out and gave Elle a triumphant grin. She wasn't sharing his joy, her eyes fixed on a certain part of the shoe. Glancing down, he realised that the heel of the shoe wasn't attached but was still wedged between the garden tiles.
"How am I going to walk anywhere now?" Elle asked with a mournful sigh.
Matthew knelt and fitted her foot into the shoe. "You could always break the other heel off," he suggested and he met Elle's entrancing eyes. He couldn't stop himself anymore. Standing up, he stated, "Elle, I like you."
Elle looked furtively to either side, and then bowed her head down. "Matt... Right now, I'm kind of waist high in debt. So, I don't think..."
"I'll pay it back for you."
She stared at him, her mouth slightly open. "No way. I'm not accepting charity."
"I'll give you a promotion, which you deserve since you've been easily writing both Rachael and your own articles. Then you can work off the money you would owe to me!"
It was really amazing what people would do. There was a strange warm feeling inside of her and suddenly Elle was laughing. Matthew blinked and said in a hurt voice, "You didn't need to laugh at my offer."
"I'm not. I was just thinking that prince charming and happily ever after might actually exist."
She was indeed a strange person. "Didn't they always?"
A dreamy smile spread on her face as she stood up and grabbed hold of his hand. "I suppose they did."
Author's Note: I'm really sorry if this story is boring! Nothing really happened... But i had to write a modern appropriation of Cinderella for english extension and then i decided that i would post it up here! I know... short stories should be dramatic, and this story is anything but that! Still, I hope you guys enjoyed reading it and a big thanks to anybody who reviews!:)