Once Upon A Switch

Days passed and Cassandra kind of missed Jamie's loud voice. It's been quiet without her, not to mention the fact that Rapunzel had been dissapearing lately to who-knows-where.

"Ouch."

"Sorry," whispered Cassandra.

She's currently practicing to dance for the ball next week, Sebastian as his temporary dance partner since Ms. Silvia, the dance instructor, said that Varian is busy with all the work he needs to do today.

"It's okay," said Sebastian with a akward smile.

"One, two, three. One, two, three," the instructor continued to count as the music played.

"Ouch," said Sebastian as Cassandra stomped on his feet again.

"I'm sorry," she again stated.

That's the tenth time she happened to stomp on his feet. It's a good thing that Sebastian have a long temper with her — she's really lucky for that.

Sebastian seemed to have it easy on going with the beat as the small orchestra played while she on the other hand, is having a hard time - let alone that she can't stop stepping on his feet.

"Stop!"

The music stopped and so is the two of them. Ms. Silvia walked towards them, her face red and a glare fixated on the dark haired girl. Cassandra can't help but gulped in nervousness.

This is bad.

"Princess Cassandra, I can't help but notice that we've been here for hours and you still can't get this things right! This is just a simple thing!" She yelled.

"Well, I'm sorry! Dancing doesn't come naturally to me," Cassandra can't help but respond.

"Do I look like I care? Don't use that reason on me! I've been teaching a lot of royal kids for years now and none of them, I tell you, none lf them are this hard to teach!" She bellowed.

Cassandra felt a pang on her chest at her words. "But I-''

"No buts! The sun had already set and we've been here since afternoon. Do you think this job is easy? No! I know that you're new here but if you can't even dance properly like this, I don't even know how you can lead a kingdom and be a Queen," she gave her a look of disgust before turning to everyone. "The lesson is over. We'll continue tomorrow." She left.

Everyone in the hall left except for Sebastian who gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Do you need some time alone?" He asked.

"Yes, please."

The guy nodded and left. Cassandra felt the words that woman just said slowly sink in. How long can she keep up this charade? She messed up. A lot. The more time she spent in the Princess' shoes, the more she felt like everything was real — but it isn't. She's not the Princess and she can never be the Queen — she can never be his Queen.

She heaved a deep breath. There's no use of feeling this now. She stood up, her head down and her eyes on the ground.

"Ow," she reacted when she bumped into someone. She slowly raised her head and met his blue eyes who gave her a worried stare.

"Are you okay, Cassie?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine," said Cassandra, her voice breaking.

"Seb told me about what happened," he stated.

She made a mental note to give Sebastian a punch if she meet him again. She hates it when someone gave her that kind of look that Varian is giving her now — a look of pity and worry. She doesn't need someone to look out for her.

"Yeah. And I'm fine," she gave him a push and decided to walk away but his hand was fast to grab her hand.

"I'll help you," he stated, a small smile on his face.

"W-what? No. I don't need help." She shook his hand away.

"Please, Cassie. Let me help you."

She sighed, looking straight into his eyes filled with determination and care. Since when was the last time a man gave her that look other than her foster father?

"Fine."

He gave her a wide smile and grabbed her hand again, pulling her towards his body. She flinched when she felt his chest. She gulped, her heart beating fast as his arms slowly wrapped around her waist and his right hand interwining with hers.

"Just relax, Cassie," he chuckled. "It's just me."

"Y-yeah. Relax. T-that's easy," she whispered, her cheeks turning red as she wrapped her left arm on his neck.

"What if I step on your feet?" She asked. "I wouldn't want the Prince to have a bleeding feet at the ball."

He chuckled. "It's alright. This feet is strong."

"Wanna test how strong that is?" She asked, already raising her right foot.

His face paled as she laughed. "No. No. I'm just kidding, Cassie. What I mean is, it's okay to make mistake. I make a lot of them, specially on dancing when I was starting out."

She raised a brow. "Really?"

"Yeah! I stepped on Jamie's feet for like a thousand times — she didn't talk to me for months because of it," he said and Cassandra can't help but bursted out laughing.

"Really? I would really love to see her face when that happened," she teased.

"Let's practice?"

"Yeah."

"I'll humm the melody and we dance, I'll slowly teach you the steps," he stated and she nodded.

They danced and surprisingly, Cassandra managed to get everything right. She didn't even stepped on his foot — not even once. He was teaching him everything she needs to know with a gentle smile.

"You're doing great," he complimented.

"Thank you."

They stopped moving, a smile on their faces. Cassandra felt her heart beating fast and the she doesn't even feel that the silence around them were akward.

When was the last time that someone made her feel this special? He's always there every time she needs him. Their dinner every night made them get to know each other more.

Their face were getting closer to each other, their eyes never letting go of each other's gaze. Slowly, his gaze fell to her lips as he leaned down. Cassandra felt her cheeks turned red as she slowly closed her eyes - knowing what might happen.

"Cassandra, Rapunzel wanted to- ow!"

The two quickly took a step away from each other, their heads down. Sebastian was the one who entered. Cassandra looked up to see Varian giving Sebastian a glare.

"Uh, I- I gotta go." She quickly turned to her back and walked away.

"Cassie, no- I-"

"See you tonight, Var!" She left the room

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