Saving My Cinderella[COMPLETED]

Chapter 10- If I Told You

Brittney

"If I told you all the stupid things I've done, I'd blamed on being young, but I was old enough to know, I know," I hear someone singing and follow the beautiful noise, "If I told you the mess that I can be when there's no one there to see, would you look the other way, could you love me anyway?"

I stop outside of Jake's door with my mouth open in awe. He has a beautiful voice.

"So before we go any further here, let a week turn into a year, there's some things you probably don't want to hear. But you have to."

I recognize the song and smile; Darius Rucker is one of my favorite artists. Jake stops singing but I still hear a radio on.

If I told you sometimes I get jealous
Sometimes I'm half crazy
Would you say the hell with me, the hell with me?
If I told you I barely know what love is
But girl, if that's what this I don't want to let it slip away
Could you love me anyway, please?

Sometime in the middle of that, I started dancing along to the beat. My nose starts to itch in that way that tells you that you are going to sneeze, so I try to cover my nose and stop it but it's too late and I sneeze.

Oh no.

I freeze and look at the door. Slowly my brain starts working and moves my feet. Glancing back at the door I see it opening and run around the corning, praying that Jake didn't see me. I hurry to the kitchen and almost run into Janice.

"What's the hurry, child?" She asks me.

"No... hurry." I say in between pants, which kind of gives me away. 

She raises an eyebrow at me but doesn't press any further on the subject.

"Would you like to help me with breakfast?" She asks and I nod eagerly.

I get to work right away prepping the food.

After a couple of minutes of working, I notice Janice has stopped working and is just looking at me in awe. I blush and cock an eyebrow, "What?"

"You look like a professional dear." She says making me blush even more.

"Thank you, I've cooked my whole life. My mom taught me," I say with a small smile.

"I see... if you don't mind me asking, where is your mother?" She asks and I freeze completely.

"She's um... She passed away when I was twelve. My dad was in a gang, he didn't live with us though, and one night while I was spending the night at a friend's, a rival gang came and r-raped and k-killed her." 

By now I'm stuttering, and tears are filling my eyes, threatening to spill. I don't want to look at Janice, because when I do, I know I'll see the thing I hate the most, pity. But slowly I lift my gaze and am surprised to see that she does not have pity in her eyes, but tears. She takes me by surprise yet again when she pulls me into a strong, warm hug.

"My mother was killed too, both my parents actually, car crash," she says in a hoarse voice.

"That's terrible," I whisper.

"It does not come close to what you have experienced child."

"It's all I've known; I knew I would end up like this... actually I'll take that back. I thought I would always be a slave for someone. But this," I say, gesturing around me, "I never would've imagined that I would end up here, never, someone like me does not end up here," I finish in a choked voice.

"You, my dear, deserve this. It is not your fault that you started your life the way it did."

"I'm not supposed to be here... I don't deserve this... I-I'm not pure... I'm ugly... I'm unwanted... I shouldn't be here..." I mumble in between sobs.

When Janice doesn't say anything I look up and see sadness in her eyes.

"Oh child, you have no idea how much you deserve this... No idea." 

I start to mumble again but stop when Jake walks into the kitchen. I quickly turn back to the food I was preparing and so does Janice.

"Morning ladies," Jake says, we both mumble a good morning back and keep working.

Please don't say anything about seeing me this morning, I really hope you didn't see me.

After a minute, he leaves the kitchen and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. He either didn't see me or doesn't care, hopefully, the former. I'm surprised Janice never asked about my father. It's kind of odd, she didn't even mention him when I said he was in a gang.

Maybe she just knew I didn't want to talk about it.

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There were seven Spanish angels
At the altar of the sun
They were prayin' for the lovers
In the valley of the gun
When the battle stopped and the smoke cleared
There was thunder from the throne
And seven Spanish angels
Took another angel home

I slowly dance to the song my mother used to sing to me all the time. It's a beautiful song, and I love a lot of country. It's pretty old. I hear knocking outside of the door and turn down the music to a whisper.

"Hey," Jake says when I open the door, "I was wondering if you wanted to go out to eat?"

"Sure, when are we leaving?"

"Right now." He grins at me before turning around and I quickly follow after.

"Where are we going?" I ask, practically jogging to keep up with his long strides.

"Cinnabon, where else?" 

"Where else is right! I love that place!" I exclaim happily.

"I can tell," he says with a small chuckle.

We hop in the car and after he tells the driver where to go, he turns to me.

"Have you ever played sticks?"

"What?" I ask with a laugh.

"Its a game, here put your fingers put like mine." 

He puts his pointer finger out on each hand. I copy his movements.

"Okay, so it's basically adding, you want to get the other person's hand to have all five fingers out. Once that happens the person's hand is out." I nod slowly after processing what he says. "I'll go first."

He taps his finger on mine and my finger starts to tingle. Slowly I put out another finger and look up at him for confirmation that I'm doing it right. When he nods, I smile and tap my other hand on his.

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I put the song that Jake was singing up on the top. I felt like it really fit what is going on right now, it's called "If I Told You"by Darius Rucker. The song that Brittney was dancing to is "Seven Spanish Angels" by Willie Nelson and Ray Charles. Thanks for reading, if you guys like the story so far, hit the little star at the bottom of the screen :)