Okay, so I found out from one of the maids that the teenagers were coming in TODAY! I repeat, TODAY! And the girls are going to bunk in with me in my royal room. Not that I don't want to share it. I mean, it's HUGE and have so much space that two of Dad's private jet can fit in. But the fact that I'm going to share the room with a bunch of ADHD and dyslexic kids. Yeah, I found out that ALL of the teenagers have ADHD and dyslexia. Great, I have to put up with hyperactive teens. They'd BETTER not ruin the palace.
" Princess?" comes Lars' voice. " Your teenager guests have arrived.."
" I'll be down in a minute," I called back. Sigh. Well, I'd better go and get ready to meet my doom. I got up and put on a simple white dress and put on a pair of Sebastiano's shoe design: black high heels. A little bit of make-up and there you go. I'm ready. NOT. There's another knock on the door.
" Princess? Are you ready?" Lars asked again.
" Yeah, I'm ready!" I called back. Okay, breathe in. Out. In. Out. I'm ready.
This is not what I had expected. I had expected a bunch of goons, all going nuts looking at the fancy decorations in the palace lobby. I did not expect of meeting a bunch of good-looking, seventeen-year-olds, well-mannered teenagers.
Okay, let's refresh back okay? So, after a couple more minutes, I finally went out to greet my guests. But, being the klutz I am, so naturally I had to trip on my own feet while I was climbing down the spiral stairs. And naturally, I had to land on a boy who was leaning against the foot of the stairs.
And we went rolling on the floor. When we stopped, we were pretty much tangled up with each other. It took us a few minutes to untangle ourselves and when we DID managed to untangle ourselves, my dress was already crumpled and my hair was all over the place. The boy didn't look any better too. I suppose he had taken a lot of effort to make himself look presentable but as we had gone for a roll on the floor, his hair was sticking everywhere and his shirt, which was a white Polo, was stained a bit with dirt.
I got up quickly, all flustered and tried to comb my hair with my fingers and straighten my dress. I could feel my face burning as all the eyes in the lobby was on me and the unfortunate boy. " Hi. I'm sorry about that," I said, holding out my hand to the boy. The boy looked up and I nearly had a heart attack.
He had the most gorgeous, deep sea-green eyes and black hair. Underneath his shirt, I could see that his arms and chest were well-developed with muscles. His arms, however, had several scars but that's okay because it somehow made him look much hotter. " Hi. That's okay. It was my fault. I should have not lean against the stairs," he smiled. And I nearly melt. " I'm Percy. Percy Jackson." This is Percy Jackson? I remembered the behavior report I got from several schools he had attended and this is not how I had pictured him.
" Oh…I'm...I'm Mia," I managed to stammer.
" Nice to meet you," he shook my hand. Just then, Lars came running towards me, looking pretty concerned.
" Princess, are you okay?" he asked, glaring at Percy. I just hope he doesn't Taser Percy.
" No, don't worry, Lars. I'm okay. It was my fault," I said.
" No, it was my fault," Percy said quickly. " And…did you call her 'Princess'?" he asked. Lars looked outraged.
" Oh, Percy, meet Lars. My bodyguard. And yes, I'm the Princess," I said quickly before Lars could open his mouth. " Sorry we didn't get to greet each other formally yet."
" But…the invitation said," he opened his invitation, which he had been holding," that the Princess' name is Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Grimaldi Renaldo."
" Oh, don't mind his dumb act, Your Highness," one of the girls who was standing nearby said. " He's a bit of an idiot, actually," she said, throwing him a dirty look. Percy rolled his eyes. " I'm Annabeth Chase, a friend of this idiot," she jerked her head towards him. Immediately I felt threatened. This girl is a kind of hottie. With curly blonde hair, perfect tan and stormy grey eyes, she can date anybody from Albert Einstein High School. Heck, even Lana Weinberger would feel threatened by her. Speaking of Lana, where is she? The girls (Lilly, Tina, Lana, Shameeka, Ling Su, Perin and Trisha had been invited. I had make sure they were invited) are supposed to arrive in Genovia today.
" Oh," I laughed a bit at Annabeth's remark. "Well, my name is actually Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Grimaldi Renaldo or Mia for short. Nobody calls me 'Amelia'," I said.
" Amelia!" Great. I smiled apologetically at the both of them. Grandmere really can make anyone go nuts.
" No one calls me 'Amelia' except for my grandmother," I added smoothly. Percy snorted and Annabeth jabbed him in the ribs. " Excuse me, for a moment, if you will," I said, before running off towards the Royal Dining Hall where Grandmere was sitting. I could hear the kids laughing as the doors closed behind me.
" Invite your guests into the Royal Dining Hall, Amelia," Grandmere ordered.
" You yelled your head off just to tell me to invite the kids in for lunch?" I said. " Grandmere, do you have any idea how good-looking they are?"
" Of course. Didn't you hear me saying that they are well-mannered and charming?" she raised her eyebrows. " And I heard you rolled around on the floor with one of the boys," she added, sipping her Sidecar. " Why were you doing that? Was he a long-lost friend? You do know that princesses don't roll around on the floor," she gave me her evil eye.
" Oh…that was an accident," I blushed. " I…I'll invite them in for lunch," I said awkwardly. I'll strangle Lars if he was the one who told Grandmere about that incident.
When I entered the lobby back, the kids were scattered around the place. A couple of the boys were examining the tapestries. A few of the girls were sitting on the sofas, applying another layer of make-up. Percy and Annabeth was talking to another group of kids. They stopped talking when they saw me walking towards them. Heck, all of the kids turned their eyes on me.
" Um…Her Royal Highness the Dowager Princess requests that all of you join her. For lunch," I announced. " And as I've been terrorized by her for a couple of years now, I'd say that you guys better tidy yourself up." There was a scramble as the kids hurried to every mirror that was put in the lobby to tidy themselves up. " The restroom is down this hall. Adele, if you will, please show them," I addressed one of the maids who was standing nearby, probably keeping an eye on the kids.
She nodded and asked them to follow her. Everyone followed her, even Annabeth. I suppose even if she does look pretty confident, meeting Grandmere is one of the things that makes her nervous. Everyone except for Percy. I felt bad as I looked at his dirty shirt. He noticed me looking at him and grinned.
" Percy, I'm really sorry about your shirt," I apologized. He shrugged.
" It's okay. It's not like I'm going to be able to keep this shirt clean for the rest of our stay," he said carelessly. " I suppose you know we all have ADHD," he looked at me straight in the eyes.
" Um.." Man, his eyes can really make anyone nervous. Not to mention about falling in love with him. " Yeah…and dyslexia."
He laughed. " And that's why you're nervous, huh?"
" What?" I gasped. How did he know that? " What do you mean about me being nervous? I meet all sorts of people every time!"
" Not our sort," he shook his head. " You haven't met our sort yet.." he studied me. Instantly I felt self-conscious. " So, you enjoy being a Princess?"
" Heck, no," I muttered. He laughed. But I do enjoy meeting you, I thought. " So, you're from New York?"
He gave me a quizzical look. " How did you know?" he asked. " You've been spying on me?"
" Well….I had asked for your report card from America. Not just you. Everyone…," I trailed off under his gaze. " It was to prepare myself!" I said defensively as his green eyes bored into my grey ones.
" Relax..it's not like I'm going to eat you," he laughed, breaking his gaze. His laugh suddenly stopped and his eyes were fixed at something behind me.
" What is it?" I asked as I turned around. And nearly had a heart attack.