Once there was a girl named Liz. She lived with her father. They had a happy life alone together. But then, World War ll came along. Liz’s father had to leave her and go out to war. Liz was sent to live with her Aunt Katherine who had twin daughters, Janet and Annie. They were about a year older than Liz and they absolutely despised her since the moment they set their eyes on her. Everyday Katherine left for work leaving Janet and Annie in charge clueless of the hated they had for Liz. The sisters would make Liz be their slave. They made her do everything and buy everything, I mean EVERYTHING! She cleaned the deliberately clogged toilets, unaware of the fact that her cousins had stocked up on canned prunes the night before. Yes, it was very cruel of them (not to mention a waste of limited food supplies. Hello! World War ll here people!).

Anyway, one day when taking out the disgusting garbage, Liz heard some yelling next door. She looked over and saw two men and a teenage boy. Coming in late in the conversation, she at first did not know what they were talking about, but was quick to comprehend that the subject was the War. At first she could not make out everything that was being said, but things quickly became more clear when the boy said “If he goes I go to.” One of the men (who appeared to be from the Army) replied, “Sorry kid you have to be eighteen or older to be in the Army and since you’re fourteen you can’t go with your dad.” “But I want to help support the country!” The boy shouted. “Is that so?” the man replied, “Well if your so intent on supporting the war then show up at the pre war support dance. It’s for minors and in case you didn’t know that means all people under the age of eighteen like you.” At hearing this Liz’s ears perked up. A dance! An actual dance! She had never been to one of those in her life. She now had the chance to. Also this was a way for her to support her father going off to war. In addition, it would be a good way to get to know that boy (assuming he was going, of course).

“What do you mean I can’t go?!” “I mean you’re not allowed to go,” replied Annie. “God you’re dumber than you look,” said Janet. “But Aunt Katherine said I’m allowed to go,” Liz retorted. “Yeah, well ‘Aunt Katherine’ isn’t going to be home that night. So since we’re in charge when she’s not home we get to keep you from going to the dance,” said Janet. “Just like you forced me to fix all the problems that you deliberately caused,” Liz returned. “Hey you’re not supposed to know about that,” Annie said furiously. “Well I didn’t until just now,” Liz said with a smirk on her face. “Why aren’t you letting me go anyway? And don’t tell me that it’s just because you don’t like me because I know that you have another motive.” “It’s nothing,” Janet said. “What do you mean nothing?” asked Annie clearly puzzled. “I thought it was because you didn’t want her hooking up with John King.” “Annie, shut up!” Janet yelled, her face burning with rage. “So that’s what this is about,” Liz said. “Well it’s not like I have that big of chances with him. You’ve know him longer.” “Well when she puts it like that...” Annie started to say. “Didn’t I just tell you to shut up,” Janet yelled angrily. “No, you said that like 20 seconds ago what you just said was...” “Shut up!” screamed Janet. “Look, let’s just cut to the chase, Liz. You’re staying here.” She grabbed her sister’s arm and walked out of the room. “We’ll see about that,” Liz muttered as they left.

At the night of the dance Janet and Annie were getting ready to leave. Before they left Janet said with a mocking tone, “I’m so sorry you can’t come but you wouldn’t have anything to wear anyway.” Liz said nothing. As soon as her cousins closed the door behind them she dashed to the nearest phone and made an anonymous call. About ten minutes later Aunt Katherine walked in the door. Liz pretended to act surprised at her aunt’s appearance. “Hey you’re home early,” she said. “Yeah,” Aunt Katherine replied, “my boss let me come home early. I’m not sure why though.” “Oh strange,” Liz said trying to suppress a laugh. “So why aren’t you at the dance,” Aunt Katherine asked Liz. “Oh um Janet and Annie wouldn’t let me go. They said since you weren’t going to home they were in charge and they could decide that I couldn’t go.” “Well you have my permission to go,” Aunt Katherine said. “Thanks but I don’t have anything to wear,” Liz said, hoping that her Aunt would catch on. “Oh well I have some dresses I can fix you up with.” “Really that would be great,” Liz said. Soon enough Liz was in a gown and ready to go. “Oh I just remembered,” Liz said, “it’s a masked ball.” Now it wasn’t really a masked ball but Liz didn’t want her cousins finding out about her being there. So her aunt found her a masked that matched the dress and she put it on and walked off to the dance.

Right to start Liz made a good impression on arriving at the dance. Her entrance was fashionably late so everyone noticed her arrival. Luckily Janet and Annie didn’t take much notice of the new arrival. So they didn’t have the chance to recognize their cousin. Liz started off just dancing and then she started mingling and then she got real serious when she walked over to John. They talked for a while and she learned a good deal about him. His family was rich. His grandfather had been in World War I and he is (and this part intrigued her the most). He was single. As they were talking a slow dance came on and they decided what the heck and started dancing with each other. Janet and Annie eventually noticed John King dancing with a strange girl. They moved in close to get a good look at her and even though she had a mask on they soon realized that she was “Liz!” Janet shouted. All heads turned in their direction. Oh boy, Liz thought to herself. She made a mad dash right out of there with her cousins trailing right behind her. As she was departing from the dance she realized to herself that she hadn’t had the chance to actually tell John her name. It somehow had not come up in their conversation but strangely her phobia of all bugs that jump did. When she got home she ran upstairs and locked herself in her room. She didn’t want to have to hear another outburst from Janet. And then she realized another thing, her mask was missing.

The next few days were torture for Liz. Every time that they were alone together Janet scream at her about how much of an idiot she was (and other names that are rated PG13). As for the mask, well guess who happened to pick it up after Liz and her cousins ran from the scene. If you guessed John, you were correct. He knew that he liked this girl and he knew that he needed to find her. So what he did was he put out flyers about the lost mask. When girls came to discover that the lost mask flyer was just a cover to find the girl that John wants to meet all of them immediately went to the correct address to claim that the mask was theirs. But John had anticipated this (knowing that many girls are crazy about him). He created an elimination table where he would interview the girl and judging by the sound of their voice and the color of their hair (he remembered both of these from the night of the dance). He would get rid of and narrow down the candidates. Upon hearing of the girl search, Janet, Annie, and Liz all knew that they wanted to be candidates. There was one problem for Janet and Annie though. Liz was the actual girl. So when Liz went to her room to put on something nice before going to John’s house, Janet pushed a foot locker and other various heavy objects in front of the door. Then she and Annie walked to their neighbor’s house. They new that all they needed to do was talk in a voice like Liz’s since they both had the same hair color as her. But Janet knew that if they both seemed that the mysterious girl, John would know which one was actually her so she told Annie that her regular voice sounded a lot like Liz’s already and that she shouldn’t try to change it. Annie (the fool) of course believed her. So they got to John’s house, did the interviews, and Annie obviously failed her interview. But Janet got the only pass so far so she was in first place as far as who the girl might be. Meanwhile, Liz, who was smarter than her cousins, slipped out her window. When climbing down the tree, she did slip, fall, and scrape her calve but she ignored the pain and ran over to John’s. Now even though Janet was in first place John was still unsure that she was the girl he was looking for. Because he had remembered her being in the crowd at the dance and he remembered that she was the one who called the masked girl Liz. So that gave him the clue that whoever the girl was her name would be Liz. When Liz walked in and John saw her he had a good feeling that she was the one he was looking for. He wasn’t entirely sure at first of course but upon hearing that her name was Liz, he was 100% sure that she was the one. The final test was what she looked like with the mask on. When she put the mask on she was immediately the spitting image of the girl at the dance. So then John told her that he wanted to be with her. Then they eventually starting dating. Years passed and then they eventually got married. When they had their first child, they decided to name her Ella as in Cinderella for their acquaintance was much like the story. The end.