Elle steps out of the carriage, her perfect blond curls undisturbed by the wind. I watch her loftily walk over to us, appraising us, judging if we are worthy of her respect.  Her expression changes as she assess our house.  She seems to have decided we we are worthy of nothing.

"Good morning, Lady Tremaine."

She emphasizes Mum's title, as if questioning its validity.  On top of this, her voice is irritatingly nasally, and her overall presentation so far grates on my nerves.

"Good morning," Mum replies. "I presume you're Elle? Your father sent us a letter a few days ago."

"Yes. Who else would I be?" she scoffs.

Ignoring her arrogance, I step forward and make my introduction.

"It's nice to meet you, Elle.  I'm Ana.  I hope we can get along well over the next few days."

"I hope I'm not forced to stay here that long.  You can take my bags in."

She hands me two cases which are definitely much heavier than they look and strolls into our house like she owns it.

"Remind me, why on Earth are we having her over?" I hiss at Mum. I had only been given warning of her arrival once Mum saw her carriage coming up the road.  Two minutes was most definitely not enough time to figure out what was happening.

"Elle is a perfectly nice young lady, " Mum responds.

"She might be a little spoiled, but we owe her father. He plans to forgive our debt if we let her stay over."

"But why is she here now? She must know that everyone's busy with preparations for the ball this weekend.  We won't be able to be proper hosts.  We are still going to the ball, right?"

"That may be why she came too."

"She can't go to the ball! The decree very specifically stated that it was for our province only.  The palace would be overcrowded if the entire kingdom was invited."

Mum stares at me like the answer should be obvious.

"Why else would she want to stay with us?"

Lovely.  She plans to sneak in and cheat the system.

We both head inside to find Elle looking around, scrutinizing what she has seen so far. She shrivels her nose in distaste, clearly not approving of our modest home.

"Where will I be staying? Please tell me it's better than this dump."

The nerve of that girl! I will have you know, our sitting room is very nice. And certainly not a dump. Mum leads her to the guest bedroom while I practice deep breathing exercises. I wouldn't want to "accidentally" assault our guest. Or "accidentally" hire a fairy to chuck a hex at her. I spend the rest of the day thinking calm, peaceful thoughts about Elle (with her hair standing straight up like a troll. And maybe a few frogs hopping out of her mouth when she speaks. But nothing too extreme.)

The next day, I scour my closet looking for my best dress. The ball is in three hours, and I have yet to assemble my planned outfit or arrange my hair.   My dress is a satin beauty, dark pink and white, and I  spent hours toiling over it last week, perfecting it to best fit my body. I still need to find it, and it seems to have gone missing. Time to contact the specialist: Mum.

"Mum. Have you seen the pink gown I sewed for the ball?" I call, making my way to her room across the hall.

"I haven't.  Shouldn't it be in your closet?  If you were acting logically, you would have put it there last week."

"I've looked through all of my shelves.  It's not there.  Do you think the mice carried it away?"

"Honestly, Ana, I know we have a pest problem, but it's impossible for a few small mice to drag an entire ballgown away.  It would be best to just select a new one."

"But that one was perfect! And I made it just for the ball!"

My cries of frustration aren't heard, or at least not recognized. 

As I walk back to my room, I notice a flash of pink in the guest bedroom where Elle is staying. The same shade of pink as my dress. She could not possibly have - urrgh. I storm into the room, ready to take back what's mine.

Elle spins in front of me with a knowing smile on her face.

"Don't I look amazing?"

"You little witch! How could you?"

Elle has definitely made some changes to my dress. It's now covered with garish light pink bows and ribbon. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it, but the light pink somehow seems to bring out Elle's complexion. It hurts me to say it; it does look good on her. But she is still a thief. I reach out and tear a fistful of ribbon off.

"What are you doing to my dress?", she says.

"Your dress? I can see through the ribbon, Elle. It's very clearly mine."

I yank another fistful off.

"You can let go of one dress, right? I need a decent dress to go to the ball in, and this will make do."

She infuriates me. Off with two of those hideously overbearing bows.

"Stop! I want to look good for the ball!"

"You can't even go to the ball! And I was going to wear that dress!"

"Why can't I go to the ball?"

Mum hears our voices and the sound of fabric being torn and intervenes.

"According to the official decree, citizens who regularly reside outside our province can't go to the ball. No matter how much we owe your father, I can't ignore the rules for your own conveniences. You're going to have to stay home tonight."

Elle's jaw drops. She's clearly stunned that Mum isn't letting her go.

"Close your mouth dear.  This dump attracts a great many bugs, and I would hate for you to accidentally swallow one."

And with this final remark, Mum turns and goes back to her work. I always knew she had it in her.

After going through a great many other dresses, I finally pick one to wear to the ball. The gown that Elle stole is too destroyed to use now, and it smells overbearingly of her syrupy sweet perfume, so I am forced to wear a different one. This one's a dark velvet, and it's of decent quallity but doesn't look quite as nice on me as the pink one. Still, it is my best attempt to get the prince's attention. Rumor has it he's choosing a bride tonight, and I am not one to turn down the possibility of royal status. I head to the carriage outside.

"You'll regret this!" Elle yells from the doorway.

I will not, in fact, regret following the law. I smirk at her and step into the carriage. Mum waits inside, and we set off towards the palace. It takes half an hour of gravelly roads to get there. As we travel, I shift in my seat, excited for the chance to either become a princess or at least meet whoever will be a member of royalty in the near future. Besides that, this will be my first time at a real royal ball; common folk are rarely invited.  We finally arrive, and I am stunned by the sheer amount of competition I must face.

Outside, hordes of girls flock around the entrance, waiting for their chance to get in. For now they are milling around peacefully, calm sheep, but I know if they get the chance, they'll attack. I walk around the group, looking for spaces between the girls and their families for us to slip through. I see my chance and push through, targeting where the group is more spread apart. Mum doesn't make it through the gap in time before it closes; she may have to wait a while, but I wriggle through the gaps in the crowd all the way to the entrance.

I enter, and what I see is much more extravagant than the view I had dreamed of for years. Giant sparkling chandeliers are spaced out all over the enormous hall, shining over the thousands of people gathered there.  I'm almost worried a chandelier will fall on me.  This is my first time in the house of royalty, and none of the common folk in the village keep decorative lights in their homes.  Lamps are selected for practicality, not beauty.  Still, if it wasn't safe they (probably) wouldn't let everyone in, least of all the other members of the royal family gathered there, who are separated from the others by a balcony in the ballroom and therefore secluded from the rest of the world. They might be waiting to come down for someone who stands out.  

I paste a saccharine grin on my face and hope that the prince somehow notices my smile more than the hundreds of smiles that surround me. Or perhaps he will see my dress, a dark green shade that must surely stand out from all the gentle pastel colors surrounding me.  If I were to be realistic, he most likely doesn't notice me at all.  I still find the courage to dream on.

I hear a collection of gasps behind me, removing me from my trance, and I see the royal family move their focus from their drinks towards the entryway. The first thing I see is a golden gown studded with jewels. It must belong to someone rich, someone influential, someone - and maybe the only one, now - who is standing out to the prince. It's only after that first realization that I notice the face of the wearer. It's Elle.

She smiles at everyone, giving off an impression of kindness, and when she talks, she almost seems sweet. I shudder.  The nerve of her! I'm scowling and practically growling at this point. I'll just have to report her. As I frantically search for the guards, who are all closer to the people who are actually worth guarding to them, the prince descends the stairs from his royal perch and makes his way across the ballroom to Elle. 

A silence descends over the crowd.  I'm left with no choice.  I'll just tell the prince himself! I start towards them, but Elle catches my eye and winks. As soon as he reaches her, mesmerized by the light blindingly reflected off her dress, she whispers in his ear. He nods, and they both walk away from me and towards the rest of his family.

This whole time, she must have just  been trying to irritate me. She ruined my dress and played with my mind, but she really intended to come to the ball no matter what we said. She must have gotten a fairy godmother-for-hire. With the recent recession, many fairy godmothers are in a spot of trouble, willing to make an extra coin here or there for little favors. Like procuring a dress. Or arranging for transportation. Elle has a lot of money to pay with; she most definitely had the means to hire a fairy godmother for the evening.

For the rest of the night, my mood is lower than low. Lower than the financial status of whichever fairy godmother agreed to help that monster. And that has got to be fairly low. Elle and the prince sit in the balcony the whole time; he doesn't ever come down again. He seems to have made his choice, and I want to leave, but I can't take my eyes off of them.  At the end, the prince makes an announcement.

"Thank you all for coming today. We hope you have enjoyed our hospitality.  I would like to introduce you all to my lovely wife-to-be, Elle. I'd like to say something on behalf of her, to her family. You are cruel, sick people. How dare you treat her this way?"

What on earth is he babbling about?  Elle seems to search the crowd.  Her eyes land on me, and the corner of her mouth twitches upward, as if she's trying to restrain herself from bursting out in laughter.

"The Tremaine family has treated Elle like a slave for years, for the simple reason that they are her step-family. They have made her clean the house, cook, and do all of the chores. They even called her names, like Cinderella, just because she cleaned out the cinders from the fireplace.  Still, despite their taunts, Elle remained staunchly kind to them and everyone around her.

I mostly definitely do not approve of their actions. They even banned her from this ball, her only chance to escape her servitude! It was only thanks to her fairy godmother, who selected her for her genuinely good character, that she was able to attend today and meet me. I am disappointed that this could even happen in my kingdom. Especially to such a lovely, kind lady! It is for these reasons that I must condemn the Tremaine family to the dungeons, for their atrocious crimes and malicious intentions towards the royal family and its future."

And just like that, our fate is sealed. Elle has fabricated a horrid story to escape her own lies, and we are the villains of her tale. There is no way to escape her blame. After all, who is going to believe us?

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