Once upon a time, in a high school not so far away, students filed into the gym for an all-school assembly. Rumor had it that the school senate was about to make a big announcement regarding the winter formal. Excited chatter filled the air as Liz and her friends took their seats. Everyone had their fingers crossed for an improvement over last year's prehistoric themed formal, which was a truly petrifying experience.

When student body president Abby Adams took the podium, a hush fell over the room. With her perfect curls and pink miniskirt, she lived up to the "Most Influential" (read: popular) yearbook nomination she had received for the past three years in a row. "The theme for this year's winter formal is..." The students collectively leaned forward, anticipating her every word.

"…Fairy tales!" she announced. Simultaneously, two other senate members pulled the cover off a big sign, revealing the words "A STORYBOOK AFFAIR: RIVERSIDE HIGH SCHOOL BALL 2015". Whoops and cheers erupted from the crowd. 

After that fateful announcement, the only thing everyone could or would talk about was the ball.  Every girl dreamed of a beautiful dress, and a perfect Prince Charming to take her to the ball. Liz's friends were no exception.  Everywhere she went, Liz could hear little snippets of conversation, all revolving around the ball. She heard debates about the pros and cons of various ball gowns, whether four or six inch stilettos were better, and which spray tan would make one's skin look the least orange. 

"First, I need to find the dress, and then he'll ask me to the ball, and we'll dance all night, and then we'll live happily ever after!" she once heard an overeager freshman saying to her friend. "So everything needs to be just perfect."

But Liz couldn't help but wonder if everyone was maybe, just maybe, taking the whole thing a little too seriously, especially after today's particular incident.

“I’m sorry, Heather,” Lexi tried to console her friend, while the girls sat at their usual lunch table. “I kept telling him he should ask Janice instead, but he says he still wants to ask you. I’m so sorry,” she kept repeating, patting Heather reassuringly on the shoulder.

“It’s not your fault,” Heather sniffled, mascara running down her cheeks. “But my dance is ruined now!” she sobbed. “I’ve spent months trying to catch Jake’s attention, and now Mark is going to ask me to the dance. I’ll never get to go with Jake!”

“Why do you have to go with Mark if it’s going to make you miserable?” Liz asked Heather.

Heather shot her a glare. “Don’t you know how impolite it is to turn down a nice boy when he wants to ask you?”

“But I thought you don’t want to go with him,” Liz said. “I mean, you could always make up an excuse or something...”

“Why would I ever do that? But ughhhh I really really don’t want to go with Mark,” she moaned, hiding her face in her hands. Liz was baffled.

“You’ll understand if someone asks you to the dance,” Lexi said, nodding sagely.

Lexi's words proved to be a prophecy. Right after seventh period, a Prince Charming really did ask Liz to the ball. There was a big commotion in the hallway, and Liz could feel everyone turn in her direction. Sure enough, Jason was walking towards her, holding a sign that said, “Would you be my princess, Liz?” 

“Will you go to the ball with me, Liz?” Jason asked.

Liz felt flustered. Everyone was watching them and smiling as if they were all in on some joke she wasn’t part of. “S-sure!” she stammered, plastering a huge smile on her face.

After someone had taken a picture for them, Liz stood in the hallway, still holding the sign. Other girls that passed by assured her how lucky she was. After all, he was captain of the soccer team and a senate member, and deemed generally attractive by most girls in her class. She wondered why he had asked her to the dance. Of course, they had talked before and they had a few classes together. But did that really make them friends, let alone the dashing prince every girl dreamed of?

The weeks leading to the dance were a busy blur. Liz’s stepmother Cassie found a lovely vintage ball gown for Liz, complete with white gloves. Liz felt her doubts about Jason melt away, and her excitement for the upcoming ball grew. Lately, she had been spending more and more time in the mirror, like the evil queen in Snow White. 

"You haven’t been acting like yourself these days," Cassie mentioned one day, after catching her preening in the hallway mirror. "I see you looking in the mirror more often, or testing different selfie angles. You don't even have Snapchat!" she laughed. 

It was true. Liz didn't have Snapchat, and she honestly wasn’t into the whole selfie thing. "I just feel like I have to keep up with all the other girls at school. They're all so concerned with looking perfect for the ball," she sighed.

“Well, in my eyes, you’re still the fairest of them all.” Cassie looked up from watering her miniature herb garden.

Liz smiled. "Thanks, Cassie."

On the day of the dance, Liz spent the entire afternoon getting ready. It was really unfair, Liz thought, that all guys had to do to get ready for a dance was to shower, put on a suit, then maybe gel their hair and spray on some cologne. Girls, on the other hand, had to spend what seemed like hours to style their long hair, then struggle into a tight dress, and carefully apply makeup. She wondered how other girls had the patience to contour and add shadow to their faces. All she wanted was to look like her best self, not some artificial airbrushed image of herself.

After she finally finished her preparations, she sat down on the couch, a lovely vision in the pink vintage gown and long white gloves.  Reaching for the remote, she decided to watch an episode of Orange is the New Black while waiting for Jason, who would pick her up at 6PM. The hands of the clock on the mantel hit 6PM and ticked steadily on. Another half hour passed, but he still never arrived. Just as she was about to call him, a text message popped up on her phone. It was from Jason. It read:

“Liz I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier but a prettier girl from another school asked me to her formal and I won't be coming to formal with you. Sorry.”

Liz was in disbelief. She went through all that trouble and worry about the dance just to get this lame text breakup from her date? He didn’t even bother to call! Sadness and anger boiled inside her and pricked at her eyes. Her face darkened into a scowl.

Right around this time, Cassie came down the stairs. "How come you're still waiting for Jason?" she asked. Seeing the expression on Liz's face, she sat down next to her. "What happened, Liz?"

Liz just handed her phone over. Her stepmom read the text Jason sent and leaned back thoughtfully in the couch cushions. She put an arm around Liz.

“You know, more often than not, a girl comes across a lot of frogs in her search for a prince,” she began. “And Jason definitely sounds like another frog to me.”

“You’re right,” Liz said, sniffling a bit. “I can’t believe I wasted all that time on a frog like him.”

“Oh, but it wasn’t a waste at all,” Cassie replied. “The best way to deal with a frog is to show him that you don’t rely on him for your happiness.”

“So should I still go the ball?” Liz asked.

“Of course! Your friends are there, so you’ll still have some people to talk to. You’re perfectly capable of having a good time without him.”

Liz let this sink in for a moment. Cassie was right. She didn’t have to let a rotten apple like Jason spoil her night of fun. "You know, despite what all the storybooks say about evil stepmoms, I think you’re like a fairy godmother to me.” Liz gave her stepmom a hug. “I mean, you even got this awesome dress for me. And thanks to you, I’m going to go to this ball and enjoy myself.”

She drove herself to the school gym, where the dance was being held. A sign had been hung over the door that read “PRINCES AND PRINCESSES ENTER HERE”, and Liz could see a red carpet leading out to the gym floor. With her head held high, she made a fabulous entrance by herself. Immediately she was swarmed by the yearbook paparazzi, who absolutely adored her dress. She smiled to herself, noting that even a good old-fashioned fairy tale ball wasn’t immune to a little Hollywood glamour. Lexi and Heather, noticing Liz came by herself, quickly came over.

“What happened to your date?” Lexi asked her, in shocked tones.

Liz shrugged. “He turned out to be a frog instead of a prince.”

“What do you mean?” Heather said, puzzled.

“He didn’t want to come to the ball with me,” Liz replied. “He ditched me for some other girl.”

Lexi and Heather were silent. It was every girl’s worst nightmare to be dumped by a date on the night of the big dance, but they hadn’t imagined it would happen to someone so close to them. To their surprise, Liz didn’t seem bothered by it at all.

“Wow,” Heather said, “Are… are you okay?”

Liz nodded. “Oh yeah, I’m fine. I’m totally over it already.”

“Well, we’re here for you,” Lexi said. “You know, in case he tries to start a conversation with you that’s not an apology or something like that.”

“Thanks, girls,” Liz said. “I know you’ve got my back.”

The moment threatened to turn into something out of a sappy teen drama, until the DJ saved them by playing Taylor Swift’s latest hit “Shake It Off”. Despite the fact that Liz and her friends questioned whether her songs qualified as “good music”, they had to admit that it made them want to dance. It struck Liz as an especially appropriate song for the night, and she sang as loudly as she could to the words.

When a slow dance song came on sometime later, Liz excused herself to get some lemonade. She felt someone tap her on the shoulder. When she turned around, a boy she did not recognize was standing there. He held a hand out to her. “Would you like to dance?” he asked her.

Liz, feeling bolder than usual, accepted his offer. “That would be great…” she said, trailing off as she did not know the boy’s name.

“It’s Nick,” the boy responded, correctly guessing what was on her mind.

“I’m Liz,” she said. And from the bittersweet ending of one fairy tale, the beginning of another grew in its place.
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