story (full)

Cinderella update. Yes, I know it's like the Hilary Duff movie. But I don't care.

For some reason, my parents decided to call me Nemesis. Why they decided I would be named after a word usually meaning “enemy,” I don’t know. My dad is the Greek Mythology professor at American University, so that’s probably got something to do with it. My dad said that Nemesis is the Goddess of Divine Retribution and Moderation of All Things Stupid and Excessive (okay, it’s really just Divine Retribution and Proper Apportioning of Stuff to Maintain the Equilibrium of Humanity), and was very cool, but I didn’t believe him. Nemesis apparently had to yell at Tyche a lot, the god of Fortune and Luck, because apparently he gave out undeserved favors even when he wasn’t in a good mood. Nemesis had to make sure that excessive pride, evil intent, and too much happiness were reined in. This was in no way applicable to my life.

When I was twelve, my mother died; my dad remarried two years later. I wasn’t mad about it, but I wasn’t terribly happy, either. Helga was nice enough to me when Dad was home, as were her daughters, Ophelia and Kitty, but when he wasn’t around, which was often, they were quite nasty. Ophelia and Kitty were twins in the year ahead of me, and my only consolation as I entered 11th grade was that soon they would be in college, out of the house and out of my life.
I knew that my junior year was probably going to be the worst, because I was going to be having more work than ever with the million pounds of research rumored to be assigned that year, and with my own college search; in addition, the twins would certainly insist that I write their college essays for them. They made me write every essay for them, as well as complete every single assignment, worksheet, and write-up, so they could spend their afternoons putting on their hundredth layer of makeup and doing their nails in a different shade of pink.
I only had two friends- Zack had been my friend since sixth grade, when he’d needed a fellow nerd to hang out with, and Natasha was one of the managers at the 24-hour Diner where I worked. She was also my mom’s sister, and did more mothering to me than Helga did. The Diner was the hangout of everyone from the night-shift policemen to the Prep Crowd at school who were “too cool” to actually get a job.
Whenever I wasn’t working or staying up until two in the morning with homework, I was with Zack, and he often hung out at the diner while I was working. He’s very happy-go-lucky. If I were the actual goddess Nemesis, he’d be Tyche- he’s very optimistic and I yell at him when he gets too ambitious.
One day in mid-October, the date of the Halloween dance was announced-October 24th, the Saturday before Halloween. I’d have liked to go, except for the part where I had the five-to-ten shift at the Diner, so by the time I would have gotten to school the dance would have been practically over.
“Can’t you trade shifts with somebody?” Zack wanted to know upon hearing this news. He was sitting at the counter at the Diner on a Sunday afternoon while I darted back and forth between serving other customers and discussing the dance, which was the coming Saturday.
“Not likely,” I said glumly as I passed him a Sprite.
“Come on, Nemesis,” Zack argued, taking a huge swallow of his soda, and then choked from the sudden brain freeze. Once he recovered, he said, “You’re the only girl I’m friends with who looks good in a dress.”
“I’m the only girl you’re friends with,” I told him, handing over a check to an elderly man. “So why don’t you go to the dance and have a great time, and hook up with Allie, and tell me about it on Monday?”
“Not a chance,” Zack said. “And I’m friends with Meghan, and she doesn’t look good in a dress.”
“Well, as I don’t have a costume-” I began, taking the check back from the man to put the cash in the register.
“That’s fixable,” Zack told me on the way back to the man with his change.
“Or a mask-” I started again, putting my tip in my apron pocket.
“Like a Phantom of the Opera mask?” Zack wondered. “Why?”
“It’s obviously because of my secret ambition to become a deranged murdering genius and to prove such by arriving at the dance in the proper décor- a mask over my face and a dead body over my shoulder,” I said sarcastically.
“So you’re going then?” Zack asked.
“No,” I sighed.
“But why would you want the mask if you went?” he wondered.
“Well maybe it would be because I wouldn’t want the Doom Twins to see me and report me to the Villainess of the Universe, who would then fire me, evict me, and kill me, at which point she’d have more use for the Phantom mask than I would. But as I’m not going, neither of us will need it. There’s also the fact that it’s a costume party.”
“I have a Phantom mask,” Zack suggested. “You could borrow it if you want to.”
“However, I don’t need to,” I repeated.
“Is this about that dance on Saturday?” Natasha asked, having overheard the debate.
“Yes,” I told her glumly. “But I’m not going.”
“Why not?” Natasha demanded.
“Well, maybe it’s because I’ve got the night shift and ten college essays to write,” I told her shortly.
“Nem, what about that boy?” Natasha asked. “Is he going to be there?”
“That’s irrelevant,” I said. I didn’t want to discuss my crush on the captain of the basketball team.
“Oh, so it all stems from fact that you don’t want Luke to know that it’s you he’s rocking out with, is that it?” Zack asked.
“No, it’s that I don’t want to get fired,” I shot back. “Or disowned, or both.”
“You’re not going to get disowned for going to a dance,” Zack said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “So what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that I can’t, because I’m staying here all night and nobody can take my shift because everyone who potentially could will be at the dance,” I said. “I’m not going, all right?”
“We’ll work something out,” Natasha said confidently. If Zack was Tyche, then Natasha was Athena, goddess of battle strategy, among other things.
As the day of the dance loomed, I knew I was going to be looking forward to a night serving policemen on the night shift, while in my off-time I would be wishing I were somewhere else.
On the 23rd I was in the diner once again, serving a team of overexcited six-year-old soccer players and attempting to have another argument with Zack about the dance. I wondered whether the parents of the little monsters were regretting their decision to let their children order soda, because by the time the food arrived, they had managed to dump out the entire contents of three ketchup bottles and made enough noise to bring around an earthquake.
By the time I’d given the Beast Children some new bottles of ketchup and refilled the coach’s coffee cup for the fourth time, I was ready to call it quits, but my shift wasn’t over until nine. I thought, dimly, that the last thing I needed was for the Doom Twins and Queen Prissy and her posse- the cheerleaders, and the Varsity Capitan, Casey- to come in.
However, Nemesis the Goddess appeared not to be as fair as she was supposed to be, because just as I had completed the thought, Queen Prissy herself flounced in, accompanied by two Miss Prissy contestants- Casey’s best “friends,” Kayla and Chloe, and their boyfriends- Luke, Jack, and Ben, stars of Varsity Basketball. Just as they slipped into a booth in the corner, where I could see Casey scan the menu haughtily before shutting it with a snap, Ophelia and Kitty pranced in as well and slipped into the next booth.
“Nem, can you get those kids in the corner?” Natasha asked. “Josie hasn’t shown up for her shift yet.”
I sighed. Natasha had recognized Luke. Although this was probably her idea of setting me up with him, it was my idea of a disaster. I was a nerd who hung out with another nerd, so Casey insisted on never talking to me if she could help it. I didn’t mind; I found her just as gross as she found me.
Grabbing a pad, I slipped out from behind the counter and dragged my feet to the booth.
“Can I start you with some drinks?” I asked, trying not to show my nerves.
“What do you have that hasn’t got any sugar, calories, carbs, or fat, Elf Girl?” Casey wanted to know. I ignored her comment. I was a classic nerd- Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, speaking Elvish as a second language, stuff like that. I put up with watching Phantom of the Opera for the twentieth time with Zack and his musical-ness, and the next weekend Zack would consent to seeing Return of the King for the tenth time. I didn’t ask questions about theater; he didn’t ask why I wrote in the Dwarvish Runes all the time.
“Water,” I said.
“I’ll get that,” chorused everyone except Luke.
“I’ll have a coke,” Luke said, grinning easily and ignoring Casey’s death glare.
Luke didn’t actually laugh, but he had a way of smiling with his eyes. I grinned and wrote down the drink orders. However, as I turned back to the counter to fill some glasses, still glowing inside, I heard Casey say, “You know, if Elf Girl’s going to be serving, I’m not entirely sure I want to eat here.”
“Shut it, Casey,” Luke said.
I almost radiated as I went back to the drink fountain.
However, when I got back to the Prissy Posse and Entourage ten minutes later with the drinks, Luke was sitting there alone.
“They left?” I asked stupidly. They couldn’t possibly cover up murders in that amount of time without someone noticing.
“Yeah,” Luke said. “I was left both single and with the check.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, and turned to go. Single? Luke? I often wondered what happened to people who lived on the popular end of society. It was far more appealing than working constantly.
“No, seriously,” Luke insisted, and handed me thirty dollars as he rose to leave-my biggest tip ever. “Keep the change. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday,” I said as I tucked the bills into my apron pocket, momentarily forgetting why Natasha and Zack had been bugging me for the last week between the extremity of the tip and the fact that I was actually talking to the guy of my dreams.
“The dance,” Luke reminded me.
“I’m not going,” I told him.
“No date?” he asked.
“No time,” I replied. “I got the late shift. I think they do it on purpose.”
“Bummer,” Luke replied, smiling slightly. “See you later, then.”
“Bye,” I said feebly.
“He’s single now, apparently,” I told Natasha as I set down the tray behind the counter and started pouring the drinks into the sink. “And he brought up the dance. But I’m still not going,” I added.
“If he ditched his girlfriend, stuck around, paid you extra, and brought up the dance, he likes you,” Natasha told me, as only a mom could.
“Besides, I already got your ticket,” Zack said. “Sorry if I said we were dates. It was cheaper.” I rolled my eyes.
“Okay, we’re going to go and get you something tomorrow at 10:00 am, all right?” Natasha told me at the end of the night. “You, me, and Zack. Becky will take your shift tomorrow night, and you can take on hours on Sunday.”
“I’ll be giving you a ride,” Zack told me. “And you’ll be getting your own Phantom mask, don’t worry,” he added. “Even though Arwen doesn’t ever wear one.”
“If I had a choice, it would be Eowyn,” I shot back. “And it would have to be a helmet, but I’m not showing up in full armor just so I can avoid being recognized by the Doom Twins.”
“Suit yourself,” he muttered.
“What are you going as?” I demanded in Natasha’s car on the way to the costume store. “A Pirate of Penzance?”
“Nope,” he said. “Zorro.”
“Suit yourself,” I muttered back.
I ended up getting a pair of fairy wings, a strapless black-and-red dress, and a Zorro mask, and called myself a Dark Fairy.
“You could be Miss Zorro,” Zack suggested.
“You wish,” I grumbled.
Even though Helga knew that I had switched shifts with Becky, she thought I was going to be at home writing essays, so I had to get myself home by 11:45, which was before any of the Doom Trio would be home.
When Zack and I arrived at the school gym that night and got into the dance, Zack said, “Okay, set your phone alarm for 11:40 so we can get you home in time, all right?” I obeyed. When I was done, Zack told me in an annoying-mother type voice, “Okay, now, have a good time, don’t get drunk, all the usual.” I laughed.
We split up after that, Zack to go join the dancing and I to go check out what was happening from the walls. I knew that I had sacrificed a lot to be here, but at the same time, the dancing made me uncomfortable. I could have sworn the Doom Twins saw me at one point, but I tried not to let it bother me. When I found a good spot on the wall, I was immediately found by Luke, in a tailcoat and black pants- Prince Charming.
“I’ve been looking for someone to talk to,” he said. I looked at him. He didn’t seem to be drunk, high, or in any other way inebriated, but with some people, you just couldn’t tell. “I don’t like this sort of dancing that much,” he said. “Do you?”
“Not really,” I said.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” he asked.
“Okay,” I said slowly.
So that’s what we did. We walked around the lighted back garden and grounds of the school, and talked about nothing in particular, but the first thing he asked me was my name.
“I’m not saying,” I told him. “Ten questions to guess who I am, though,” I added.
“Okay,” he said slowly, grinning. “I like the mystery. So… Is brown your natural hair color?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the first letter of your name?”
“N,” I said, uncertain if that would give me away. I decided it wouldn’t.
“Ninjas or pirates?”
That one made me think.
“Elves,” I said.
“I see,” he said slowly, as if he’d just guessed who I was.
So we went on like that, talking. When we wandered back to the gym, Luke stopped, one ear cocked. It was a slow song playing- that was the only reason I could think of for his sudden halt.
“Do you want to dance?” he asked.
“Sure,” I replied. I was more comfortable around him now, more so than I had ever been around any guy, except Zack, and especially not Luke.
So that’s what we did, right there in the cold October night.
The end of the song came, and just as Luke was about to lift up my mask to maybe kiss me, my alarm went off.
“Great,” I muttered. “I have to go. I’m sorry. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Wait-” Luke began, but it was too late. For some reason, he hadn’t let go of my mask, and the cheap elastic string broke as I pulled away. In my rush, I barely noticed its absence. I just hurried to find Zack and get home.
I first noticed the mask’s absence when Zack pointed it out.
“Oh, great,” I muttered. “It must have come off when I was leaving.”
Natasha had wanted me write my full name and address on the inside of the mask in silver Sharpie, but I’d just put “N. C. Cooper” and the address of the diner.
It was a rush to get back home, and I could have sworn that the Doom Twins (okay, Vampire Twins, as the case may be) had caught sight of me on the way out the door, but I was in too big a rush to stop and chat, not that I wanted to. We were able to pull in right at 11:45, and I called Natasha to tell her that I was home. I rushed to get on my pajamas and wash my hair, and jumped into my desk chair and opened a Word Document on my laptop to pretend that I had just finished another essay. At midnight, the front door opened, and I heard the Doom Trio having an argument. Kitty seemed to be ranting about someone, and I heard Luke’s name come up, but I didn’t care. I was tired, and I wanted to go to sleep. I was very glad that I’d worked on the essays that afternoon after the costume shopping, and had already gotten most of them done.

On Sunday afternoon, I was found in the diner once again, this time behind the counter. The Doom Twins were sitting on the two seats farthest from the door; the Prissy Posse was sitting nearby. Zack was sitting in the chair nearest the door, and talking nonstop about some girl whose number he’d gotten. I had just given out the tenth round of water when Luke entered. Apparently, all the girls known that he’d come; otherwise they wouldn’t have stuck around the Diner for an hour and a half and not ordered anything to eat, although that was normal for the Prissy Posse. They, like I, relished the thought of Luke, and Casey had obviously come to try and get him back; however, they all were far more open about their affections than I was.
When Luke had entered, he glanced around, saw the gaggle of girls sitting in a row at the counter, and immediately took a seat by Zack.
“Can I get you something?” I asked.
“I have a question,” he said. “Do you know anyone called N. C. Cooper?”
“N. C. Cooper?” I asked. He actually wanted to see me again?
“Yeah, I found her mask,” Luke said. “And I would like to talk to her again, but I don’t know her actual name. The address on the inside of the mask led me here.”
Before I could respond, Kitty called out, “Oh, that’s me! My first name is Natalie, and Kitty is actually spelled with a C. Our mom owns the Diner.”
“Shut up, Kitty,” Ophelia snapped. “You want me- Nellie Catarina Cooper.”
“Your name is Ophelia, doofus,” Kitty snapped back.
“It’s me you want,” Casey said immediately. “My first name is Narnia, you see.”
“You’re named after a kid’s book?” I asked jokingly. “Oh, I get it: your parents didn’t want you to read books, so they named you after a series instead.” Zack and Luke laughed, and Casey looked murderous.
“Well, I have a better chance with him than you, Elf Girl,” Casey retorted. “And my name isn’t Narnia.”
“At least she has a brain,” Luke said. “Hang on…” He stared at me for a moment; I saw the wheels click into place in his brain. “Your starts with an N, right?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Nemesis Caitlyn Cooper. It was my mask.”
“Your name is Nemesis?” he asked, surprised.
“Greek goddess,” I said. “Long story. Mom got my dad to add the Caitlyn, but only as a middle name.”
“Right,” he said, smiling.
“Don’t believe her,” Ophelia cried.
“Shut it, Shakespeare,” I told her, and Zack laughed again.
“Shakespeare?” Ophelia demanded.
“Hamlet,” Zack said simply, grinning at me. “Kitty is from Pride and Prejudice, Luke is from the Bible, and Nem’s really a Greek Goddess. What does that make me?”
“The goddess’ best friend,” I told him.
“Um… Nemesis?” Luke said. “Are you free on Friday?”
“Even if she were, you’re not,” Casey declared. “You and I have a date, remember?”
“That was called off when broke up,” Luke said. “So what do you say, Nemesis?”
“You know what?” I said. “I believe I am.”
“Don’t you have to be here?” Kitty demanded.
“Nope,” I said. “I quit.”
“You can’t quit,” Ophelia said. “Mom will kill you!”
“Well, she can come live with me,” Natasha said, coming out from the kitchen, and everyone stared. “What? We’re blood relatives. We’ll be able to work something out. I can talk to her dad; it’ll work.”

And that’s what happened.

Zack and I are still best friends. He didn’t seem at all pissed that I was dating Luke; in fact, he seemed quite relieved that he didn’t have to see another sci-fi/ fantasy movie quite so soon, enabling him to watch musicals every night instead. Luke and I are still going out. I’m at every basketball game, and he proved to be quite a Trekkie at heart, so we were able to argue about whether or not Captain Kirk was secretly gay, among other things. Natasha was able to talk to my dad about Helga and the Doom Twins. The divorce is still in progress. The Doom Twins are going to Harvard and Yale (no thanks to me, of course), and I dearly hope they get kicked out, just for mercy’s sake.
After the Doom Trio moved out, I was able to move back in with my dad, who had realized his mistake about leaving a bunch of teenage girls in a house together when they didn’t like each other, and he’s now working part time. I think that also had something to do with my having a boyfriend, and his doubt of my trustworthiness.
I still haven’t found a new job yet, but I had worked at the Diner long enough to be able to pay for a lot of my own stuff for a while, as well as Zack’s and Luke’s. Zack did get a girlfriend. The girl he’d met at the dance turned out to be just as big a drama nerd as he was, and they went to see each other’s shows all the time.

And yes, I did get my mask back.

So I guess this is the end.

Hooray!








The end. :)