Seeing Cinderella Read Online Free

period.
    As I was walking to fifth period, I saw a really cute boy looking at me. It made me feel sort of flustered, but sort of happy. Until I read his thoughts: Nerd alert, nerd alert, nerd alert! We walked into class together, and he took a seat as far away from me as possible.
    Apparently my glasses had another magic power: They repelled boys.
    Throughout the day as I read the strange blue screens, I wondered why I’d been given a pair of magic glasses.Dr. Ingram told me to use them wisely. Did he know there was something special about them?
    I was still wondering when I arrived at drama, the last class of the day. A sign on the double doors read MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM , in stenciled black paint. And below that a handmade sign welcomed students to Mr. Angelo’s drama class.
    Just open the door and walk in, I commanded myself. But my arms and legs weren’t taking orders at the moment. So I continued to stand in front of the door, paralyzed.
    The thing was, I never would have signed up for drama. When we had opened our class schedules and I saw drama listed, I was sure there had been a mistake. Until Ellen told me that on orientation day last spring she crossed out “art” on my elective slip and wrote “drama” instead. Guess I should’ve been suspicious when she offered to turn the slip in for me.
    “I didn’t think it was that big a deal,” Ellen said, all blond-haired and blue-eyed innocence. “I just wanted to make sure we had a class together. Please Callie? Do this for me?” Ellen held out her pinky. “Best friends forever?”
    If having a class together was so important to Ellen, she could’ve changed her elective choice and taken art with me, I had wanted to say.
    But I couldn’t do it. “All right,” I had mumbled instead, and crossed my pinkie with hers in our usual pledge. “Best friends forever.”
    Now I felt around in my pocket for my plastic baggie and popped some Red Hots into my mouth. If I had been given a pair of magic glasses, why couldn’t they do something really cool, like make me invisible?
    “Could you move?” said a rough voice behind me. “You’re blocking the door.”
    I turned around. Raven stood in front of me, looking just as sullen as she had in English.
    “Hi, Raven,” I said, moving aside.
    “Are you deaf, or what?”
    “What?”
    “Our locker is totally trashed—I told you not to mess with my stuff.”
    “Oh, s-sorry. I was putting my stuff away and then things fell out and then—”
    “Whatever.” Raven held up her hand. “Like I said, stay away from me, and stay away from my stuff.” Raven stepped around me and slunk into the multipurpose room.
    I followed her. Rows of folding chairs faced a darkened stage, where a thin red carpet ran from front to back. It reminded me of a large, toothless mouth, ready to swallow meif I set one foot on that monster. Off to the side, a portable whiteboard stood with a message scrawled in blue marker:
    The seventh-grade class
will perform CINDERELLA in December.
Tryouts are in two weeks.
    Okay, so Cinderella was definitely my favorite fairy tale. Something about her story gave me a hopeful feeling. Maybe it was the dress, or the ball, or the pumpkin carriage. But still, reading the whiteboard made me want to run out the door, down the hall to the principal’s office, and request a schedule change. Why in the world had I agreed to stay in drama?
    Because Ellen asked you to and she’s your best friend, I reminded myself as I walked down the aisle. That’s what best friends do.
    Raven plunked down in a middle row. I didn’t want to sit anywhere near her, so I chose a row toward the back and placed my backpack beside me to save Ellen’s seat.
    More kids quietly slipped inside, until the door burst open and Ellen bounded in, followed by a girl with golden skin and hair. I waved at Ellen. But Ellen was too busy talking and giggling with the Golden Girl to notice.
    Everyone turned to watch Ellen and the Golden Girl as they