Modern Fairy Tales Ch 09

The Princess and the Pauper: Two women find themselves in the opposite end of the social spectrum

Penelope carefully glanced around the corner. She wasn't sure how the staff would react to the sight of her dressed up like this, but she did not want to take any chances and find out. The coast was clear, so she hurried down the hall and slipped into the bathroom.

Out of habit, she checked her appearance in the mirror. The woman who stared back looked nothing like the Penelopy Carterborn that most people knew. She was tall for a woman, at only a couple inches shy of six feet, and still had the same lithe, athletic, body. Her hair was the same wavy blond that fell halfway down her back.

That was where the similarities ended. Her hair was pulled back into a pony-tail instead of her usual artful styling. While she never went out without make-up it was subdued instead of the metallic green eye shadow and lipstick that she wore now.

Most striking was the outfit. She was expected to wear the height of fashion. What she wore now would send her father into apoplexy. The hip-hugger jeans were not only so tight as to be a second layer of skin, they dipped in front so low that it was imperative she shave smooth. As it was her red, lace, thong could be seen by all as it escaped her tight butt.

Her shirt wasn't any better. Not only was it cut high enough to display her entire midriff, and low enough to display what little cleavage she had, but it was tied at the center. The overall effect reminded her of the Daisy Duke look, except that she didn't have nearly large enough breasts to pull it off as well as Jessica Simpson had.

Penelope shifted her breasts slightly. She sighed when they settled comfortably back into place. Without a bra designed for it, she would never really have cleavage with her C-cups. Tonight she had forgone a bra entirely. She didn't really need one to support their weight and if she had tried to match the thong it would have shown through the shirt in the lighting where she planned to go.

Now she was just stalling. This wasn't the first time she had broken curfew, but this time she was trying to dodge the security team that her father assigned to her. She hated the invasion of privacy but she understood, as one of the 5 richest people in the world, there was little that people wouldn't do to get some leverage on her dad. She might be a black belt in three different forms of martial arts but even she could still be kidnapped.

Penelope went out the window. It was a short jump to the trees but she had her knee-high boots off so that the four inch spike heels didn't throw her off. She inched to the trunk and around to the opposite side. From there is was another short jump and she was over the compound wall.

She was free, for the time being at least.

* * * * * *

Kess growled and slumped aggressively with her back against the wall. She glanced around the crowded warehouse with a glare. It was a dare for anyone to get too close to her. For the moment, at least, she had her own little bubble of space in which she could breath.

That was the reason Kess went to the raves, for some space. She went to feel free at last. She could run away, she was eighteen after all, and they couldn't force her back home. Still, it was her own sense of obligation that trapped her, more certainly than the bars on the windows and the locks on the doors.

The bars and locks, of course, were there to protect what little her family had. Kes had never really thought about it before, but even their meager food was a treasure worth stealing to someone. Anything that was worth stealing was worth killing for. That was a fundamental fact of the slums, where life was the cheapest commodity around.

Kess dreamed of bigger and better things. One day she would be rich and move her and her whole family out of there. The seven of them wouldn't have to live in an apartment zoned for two occupants. True, there were two bedrooms, a living room and a nook of a kitchen. It was spacious compared to the apartments of some of the people she'd gone to school with.

Suddenly, Kess' eyes jarred to a halt. Only something that blatantly out of place could bring her from the escape of her daydreams. The outfit itself wasn't the issue; some of the kids who came in from the burbs could afford Gap. There was something about the young woman that simply screamed

mug me!

Kess couldn't help but pity the woman. She was completely oblivious to the dangers around her as she wound her way to the bar, ordered and dropped a

fifty

on the counter!

Kess pushed off of the wall and began to push her way through the crowd. Some of the other patrons growled or glared at her, but she shot them looks that dared them to make something of it. She was in very good shape and everyone around knew she could be a tough bitch when she needed. She wasn't in any danger, except from some misguided guy who might try a bad pick-up line.

Halfway to the bar, Kess nodded in frustration. Asp, who's real name was Andrew, had noticed the large bill and sidled up next to the blond. Kess knew the man and his bad reputation was well earned.

Asp's first attempt was straight forward. He used a corny line, usually a few decades out of date, and offered to by the woman a drink. The blond could certainly afford her own so it was no surprise to either the scumbag or Kess when she declined.

She still couldn't hear his advances, but Kess knew he had moved on to asking if there were any drugs she was looking for. Although out of place she certainly wasn't a cop, everyone who paid the woman any attention would know that. Kess saw the woman shake her head so Asp suggested she didn't need to worry about paying

~as if he didn't notice the fifty she's already thrown down for drinks~

since he was about to head to a private spot to do some himself.

The woman said something, undoubtedly another rebuke. Asp continued to smile amicably. He leaned against the bar and began to talk to her. Likely he asked her to tell him about herself. This had a little more success. Kess was now close enough to hear the woman's response.

"...my friends call me Penny. I'm just hanging out tonight. You know, chilling?"

Kess' hand shot out, palm up, to cover Penny's drink. On cue the pills dropped into her hand. Asp caught the motion out of the corner of his eye. His glare followed the arm attached to the offensive hand. His anger turned into a smirk as he reached her chest and spotted her breasts. When he reached her face, he paled.

Kess grabbed his wrist, turned it, and dropped the pills in his outstretched palm. "She said

'no'

, Andy."

Asp's fingers curled instinctively around the pills. Their eyes remained locked, but Kess could see the sweat begin to bead on his forehead. She slowly released his wrist and the moment her hand was open he scurried away at top speed.

Penny's head was cocked to one side and her brow furrowed in confusion. Kess wished she had kept the pills to use as a teaching aid. "He was about to slip you ruphies. After a few drinks you wouldn't remember you didn't want him. He'd have taken you out back, had his way with you and taken all of your money to boot."

The confused eyes widened in denial. Kess couldn't bear the innocence in them and looked down in disgust. It provided her with a good look at the woman's body. For a moment, she almost wished she had kept the ruphies, to use on the woman herself, or at least let him drop them in the drink before she scared him off.

Kess pushed the thought from her mind with little difficulty. She might prefer women, but she wasn't about to take advantage of one who didn't swing the same way. If the woman was interested, she'd be more than willing to pursue the issue. Otherwise there was no question.

"Come on." Kess' disgust had vanished while she checked Penny out. The woman needed help if she was going to survive the night with her purse, innocence or possibly life intact. she firmly but carefully gripped the other woman's arm and lead her to the bathroom.

* * * * * *

Penelope stared at the other woman in the bathroom mirror. Her blond hair was cut very short, only to the nape of her neck, but the tips swept forward slightly. It was a look that would probably work for her as well. If she could build up the courage, she would ask where the woman had her hair done.

Another fashion tip that she wanted to ask the tough woman was about her corset. It was black, possibly suede, but what really impressed Penelope was the way that it contoured the woman's breasts. Although the two appeared to be about the same size, and Penelope's outfit showed far more skin, the woman actually had cleavage!

She briefly noted the burgundy, knee-length, skirt. Like Penelope, the woman had great legs. Like the men could not figure out where to look when they drooled over her.

Of course,

she added to herself,

Asp couldn't get away quick enough.

It seemed that at least the bad-guys didn't want to be around to leer.

The woman finished rifling through Penelope's purse and pulled out the wallet. She took the money out and Penelope was about to object when her hand came up to Penelope's chest. She couldn't understand why the tough woman hesitated before she slid the money into her bra. Most women she knew weren't uncomfortable touching another woman's breast for something like this.

Penelope shivered slightly as deft fingers brushed her nipple in the process of smoothing out the cash.

"There. Look at yourself in the mirror." Penelope obeyed. She didn't see anything out of place. "If you keep your money there, most men won't go for it even if they know where you're keeping it. Those that will, well, you're about to have a whole 'nother set of problems if they decide they want

it.

"

Penelope nodded sagely at the comment. She had heard of those kinds of men, but the constant security around her made it unlikely she would ever encounter them. They were nothing more than a theoretical problem for her.

The woman cocked her head for a moment and then sighed. She scooped up Penelope's purse and grabbed her hand. "Com on. It's clear you're not suited for this party. I know some that you should like. Ones that are much safer for a noob."

Bewildered by the turn of events, Penelope began to let the woman drag her once more. She spotted the other woman's purse and grabbed it from where it had been forgotten on the bathroom counter. It only seemed fair, since the woman had hers.

Penelope was lead back to the bar. The woman grabbed her shoulders and pressed down slightly. "Stay here. I'll go grab us a cab and be right back." As if she would go too far? She'd already seen the dangers inherent in the location. "By the way," the woman added over her shoulder, as an afterthought, "my name's Kess."

With that, Penelope was alone once more. Only this time she was far more conscientious. Of course, she still had the other woman's purse and vice versa.

* * * * * *

No sooner than Kess had hit the sidewalk when four men swooped down on her. They were hired muscle, and upscale ones at that. Even as she was tossed into the limo, with the four piling in after her, she was terrified.

Kess had something of a reputation, and like everyone who did, that meant she'd pissed off her fair share of people. She couldn't think of anyone who would send a limo and four professional killers after her though. Heck, she couldn't think of anyone she'd encountered one way or the other who could even afford this getup for a single night, much less full time.

"What the

HELL!?

" Kess finally found her voice. Unfortunately she couldn't come up with anything more articulate than that. She was very intelligent and had one of the best vocabularies around, but the shock of the entire situation caused all of it to flee.

The goons simply sat by the doors in silence. They were clearly not paid to talk. They were paid to make sure she did not escape the car. A distant secondary consideration seemed to be to make sure she arrived wherever they were going safely.

Kess folded her arms across her chest and sulked. Of course, it was kinda hard to remain suitably upset when the leather seat practically massaged her tension away. She briefly wondered why someone would go through the trouble of kidnapping her, but provide such exorbitant luxuries in the process.

A careful study of the men spoke volumes. They weren't goons as Kess had first suspected. Not only did they work together as a cohesive team, they were comfortable in the limo. In fact it seemed to be a common mode of transportation for them. They were bodyguards.

Kess shrugged inwardly and decided to try conversation. Maybe she could learn something useful. "What're your names?" She didn't expect an answer, but their response would give her a clue as to how to proceed.

The guard closest to her turned towards her. He was clearly surprised by her question. "Jackson, ma'am. That's Andrew, Vincent and Christopher." Kess was stunned. He had answered as if she had full right to the knowledge but he never expected her to care. She could only nod meekly.

Kess slumped back into the seat. Once she thought about it, the men had been very careful with her. Professional would be a better term to describe it. She had seen video of VIPs being hustled away by their security teams and it dawned on her that she was their primary. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

A glance at her ID would dispel any confusion. They obviously had the wrong girl. While Kess would love to experience life as the rich folk did she couldn't, in good conscience, let these men suffer for a case of mistaken identity. There was only one problem, she had Penny's purse and her own was nowhere in sight!

Dejected, Kess had little else to occupy her so she opened the expensive looking purse. In all honesty, the purse seemed to fit the ride far more than she did. Her jaw dropped when she pulled out the non-driver's ID.

Although the name was different, the ID could have been her own. Not only was Penny,

correction, Penelope Carterborn,

the exact same height and weight but the two shared hair and eye color. Heck, they even had the same exact birthday! Even the evil mug-shot of a photo matched hers. If not for the fact that she had heard her mom bitch about the forty-seven hours of labor, she would have suspected they were twins.

Kess sighed even more deeply. It was not going to be easy to convince these guys that they had the wrong woman. "Um, Jackson? There's been a mistake." He looked towards her, but barely paid her any attention. "I'm not Penelope. My name is Kess Burger. Penny is still back at the club. In fact, she's probably still waiting for me by the bar, so we should really get back right away before one of the scumbags puts some moves on her."

Jackson smiled and nodded. "I'm sure you're right Miss Carterborn. I mean, Miss Burger. The thing is, Mr. Carlton was very insistent that we pick up Miss Carterborn and bring her straight home. Granted, we don't work for him, really, but when the two are married he can have us not only fired but blacklisted."

When Jackson said 'the two' were to be married he clearly meant 'you two'. Kess didn't know how Penny felt about the man, but the threat of blacklisting these men for obeying their legitimate employer rankled her. She'd known far too many people who couldn't get a job for one reason or another to take such a threat lightly.

Unfortunately, Kess was in no position to debate. After all, she couldn't even guarantee their jobs like the real Penelope Carterborn could.

* * * * * *

"Kess!?" A woman's voice pierced through the pounding bass-line. Penelope paid it no heed. It didn't even occur to her that it harkened the return of her would-be rescuer.

"Kess! It

is

you!"

Penelope suddenly found herself enveloped in a gigantic embrace. Due to the way the woman had, literally, thrown herself at her, she found her face buried in the strange woman's ample breasts.

Perhaps, if this is the kind of women she's used to dealing with, this is why Kess was so uncomfortable with her hand inside of my bra.

"Kess! Where have you been? It's been months. Have you been avoiding me? Of course you haven't, you've just been taking care of your family. I heard little Jimmy was down with something for a few weeks. Touch and go I'd imagine."

"What have you done with your hair? And the clothes! Don't tell me you're going back to the lipstick look? Please! You promised you'd be my dyke!" Penelope couldn't get a word in edgewise. The mere thought of what the woman was suggesting froze even the hint of a thought from her mind.

"Come on! You don't need to shop for ravers now that Jocelyn's back." For the third time that night, Penelope found herself dragged by an unknown woman. She wasn't used to contact much beyond a light touch on the arm, or kiss on the cheek, in greeting. Fortunately, she discovered she had no personal space issues.

Penelope had no idea how to respond to the constant stream of questions and commentary that assaulted her. It was clear that Jocelyn had mistaken her for Kess, but beyond the first name Penelope knew nothing about her earlier savior. She didn't even know her last name.

Jocelyn lead her to a small, beat up, old car. Penelope was surprised that the vehicle ran, much less smoothly enough that the maniac woman could veer into and out of holes in traffic that Penelope would never have hazarded on her Harley.

Penelope found an appropriate distraction from the running soliloquy. She opened 'her' purse and began to rummage around inside. Her first goal was the woman's ID and her breath caught at the similarities to her own. With the photo to demonstrate Kess with long hair, she realized that she could quite easily pull off the other woman's current short hair style.

Beyond the ID, and some knickknacks Penelope could not identify, there were the standards; makeup, tampons, throat drops, change, money. None of it was the quality level that she was accustomed to but there was a calming influence about the fact that, in the basic supplies at least, a purse was a purse.

Now Penelope had the full name of her supposed identity. Unfortunately, it didn't help her with any other aspects of the woman's life. There was a single photo in the wallet. Kess, two brothers and a sister ~Penelope assumed based on the ages~ and three adults. She couldn't even tell whether the couple was her parents and the other a random family member, or the other way around.

Penelope couldn't help but shudder as the car pulled up to a curb. The entire area looked dark, deteriorating and foreboding. It felt like even the streetlights had given up on the area and run away in terror. The smell was rancid, and she was certain she did not want to know what the strange, muffled, grunts were that came from the alley.

Jocelyn hurried up the steps of the apartment building. Penelope shared the other woman's unease along with the nervous glances towards the alley. Even a false sense of security would be preferable in this place.

Penelope followed through a maze of narrow hallways. Jocelyn stopped abruptly in front of a door and spun. She had a vaguely concerned expression. "Am I really going to be welcomed? You said they took it okay, but 'okay' is a long stretch from 'well'. You're sure they don't resent or blame me you coming out?"

Penelope was fairly certain that Jocelyn's meaning of "coming out" was vastly different from the high society version she had grown up with. Regardless, she honestly had no answer except the truth. I was long past time to clear up the confusion over her identity. "Jocelyn, I know you think..."