Not Another Cinderella Story

Chapter 7 - Rebelling isn't a Prince's job

~ The Prince said, "No one shall be my wife except for the one whose foot fits this golden shoe." ~

"Peyton!"

Peyton flinched as his father's voice boomed throughout the building. He could even see the image of his father as he searched through the halls for him, smoke coming out of his ears and all.

"Peyton!" He yelled again as the door to the conference room flew open.

Peyton's father looked angry. Well, angry was an understatement. His face was as red as a fire truck, which he assumed would be needed to put out the apparent fire in his head, seeing as he was a second away from spurting smoke from his ears.

"Yes, dad?" Peyton acted dumb.

The advisors around the table slowly rolled their chairs as far as possible from Peyton's father. They knew from experience to stay far away from him when he was angry.

"Explain this to me!" He slammed a magazine article on the table.

Peyton casually picked up the article and looked at the front. It was titled 'Charming finds his Cinderella?' and had a paparazzi photo of him and the mystery girl. Specifically him holding her arm as she tried to run away.

"Page three" his father glared.

Peyton turned to page three and saw immediately why his father was so raging mad at him at the moment. I was a huge article - complete with pictures - about the mystery girl and the fact that he'd chosen her to win his contest. And the fact that Peyton had asked the public with help in finding her.

"And . . ?"

His father was literally even more red in the face by this point. "We had a plan."

"No, dad, you had a plan."

He ignored the comment. "You were supposed to choose Evelyn Queen, the nice girl whose parents own the second biggest record company in town behind ours. It would've paved the way for a great partnership, Peyton. And you've just thrown it away for some girl you don't even know!"

"I don't care about some stupid partnership between the recording studios!" Peyton yelled at his father.

"Also," he added as an afterthought, "Evelyn is a conceited bitch."

"Peyton, you don't know this girl! For all you know she's just some crazy fan who wanted to win that contest."

"But I do know her, father." He countered. "I know that she was the only girl at the party who wasn't trying to search for me, the only one who openly insulted my own music. She was kind and honestly different from everyone else there. She was real."

"How far is a girl who is kind going to get you in the future? She won't be able to get you farther in your career like Evelyn's connections will."

"No, "Peyton's voice was level, "she won't get you the things that you want for your career. I don't care if the whole world forgot about me tomorrow, I'm the only one who has nothing to lose here, father."

Peyton's father looked shocked and then infuriated at him.

Peyton was just supposed to be the good little pop star. He would sell albums orchestrated by his father, sing songs written by his father's staff, and do publicity stunts that would assure the rising popularity of his father's record label.

Peyton wasn't supposed to think for himself. He wasn't supposed to realize that his father didn't care about him, just the money that he made.

But he did, and that sure made his father mad.