If the Shoe Fits (Whatever After #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

police? Will we go to fairy tale jail?
    The room is suddenly lit up.
    “Cinderella, were you in our room?” someone asks in a high nasal voice. “Our door is open.”
    “Yes,” Cinderella calls back. “I was, um, cleaning up.” I hear footsteps coming closer — not the clomp-clomp-clomp kind, but the dainty kind. Cinderella’s footsteps.
    “Is that what you did all night?” the same person says.
    “No. I was pretty busy,” Cinderella says. I hear a smile in her voice.
    At least she’s not telling them the truth.
    I hear the window opening and feel a flush of cool air. “So, tell me all about the ball,” Cinderella says, and I detect a little bit of an edge to her voice. “Did either of you get to talk with Prince Jordan this time?”
    Hmm. That wasn’t very nice. She knows neither of them got to talk to the prince. She danced with him the whole time. Is Cinderella rubbing it in?
    “Kayla got to talk to him,” the same person — must be Beatrice — says.
    “Really?” Cinderella says. “I didn’t … I mean, that’s nice. So what happened?”
    “The beautiful stranger showed up again and interrupted them,” Beatrice says.
    “Really?” Cinderella says again.
    “I heard she was a princess,” Kayla says.
    “She wasn’t a princess,” Beatrice says. “We’d have heard about her if she was a princess. I bet she was an heiress. Those clothes were expensive.”
    “The prince danced with her the rest of the night,” Kayla says. “Again. I was really hoping she wouldn’t show tonight.”
    “ Reeealllly? The prince danced with the beautiful stranger? And that’s why he stopped talking to you? How sad for you!”
    I put two and two together and realize that the ordinary-looking girl we saw talking to the prince was Kayla. Also, is it just me, or is Cinderella being mean?
    “Yes,” Kayla says, “it was pretty sad.” She sits down on her bed, and the mattress sags so that it’s an inch from my face.
    Uh-oh.
    If she bounces, she’s going to break my nose. DO NOT BOUNCE, KAYLA. DO NOT BOUNCE.
    I hope she’s not a bed jumper. I think back to all the times Jonah and I have jumped on our beds. What if there were kids from other dimensions hiding under our bed skirts and I had no idea?
    My nose tingles.
    Do not sneeze. Abby, whatever you do, DO NOT SNEEZE.
    “Prince Jordan was obsessed with the beautiful stranger,” Beatrice says. “He’s in love with her, surely. How could he not be? She’s gorgeous.”
    Ah-ah-ah —
    Don’t-don’t-don’t … I squeak a sneeze.
    “Did you hear something?” Beatrice asks. “We better not have another mouse problem. Anyway, guess what happened at the end of the night?”
    “I have no idea,” Cinderella says. “Did Prince Jordan ask Kayla to dance?”
    I can practically see Cinderella batting her eyelashes all fake-innocently.
    “No,” Kayla squeaks.
    “Did he ask you to dance, Beatrice?”
    “No,” Beatrice huffs.
    “I give up,” Cinderella says.
    “When the clock struck midnight, the beautiful stranger made a run for it. And no one could find her.”
    “No way,” Cinderella drawls.
    Way.
    “The prince ran after her and found her glass slipper! It fell off while she was running, surely.”
    “Yes, it did,” Cinderella says. Then she clears her throat. “It did?”
    “Yes,” Beatrice says, “And the prince is determined to find her. He’ll be able to, surely.”
    Surely, surely, surely. She’s such a know-it-all.
    “I think I’ll let you guys go to sleep,” Cinderella says. “Or maybe you’re not that tired. It doesn’t sound like you did much dancing.”
    Yup, that was definitely mean.
    She closes the door behind her. Uh-oh. She thinks we made it through the mirror. She thinks we’re gone. And now we’re stuck in the stepsisters’ room! Argh!
    I hear some shuffling on the bed above me. And then I hear … crying?
    Why is one of the evil stepsisters crying? They’re supposed to be evil, not sad.
    The crying is coming from