Thursday, September 6, 1:19 p.m., notes from Precalculus

CIEL! OMG!

Lizzy. I'm literally failing this class. I can't afford to be passing notes with you right now.

But it's so crazy! You're a PRINCE! Why didn't you tell me?

Because I didn't know. And I really, really don't want to talk about it.

I KNEW you were hiding some big secret! Soma and I just thought it was that you had a secret twin whose identity you stole after his soul was eaten by a demon you accidentally summoned while being tortured by an occult secret society that kidnapped you after the fire.

…What? Lizzy, I swear. How do you guys even come up with this stuff?

I can be your date to the fancy balls and parties and things, right? Pleeeease? I'll do all your homework for you!

Sure, whatever. Just don't embarrass me. Aunt an is making this Sebastian guy "train" me to be a prince, and he's pretty much the ACTUAL devil. So if you make a single mistake in public, I'm screwed.

Aww! I'm sure he's not that bad!

Lizzy, he made me write an essay on my core values, and then he TORE IT UP. Without even reading it.

He sounds just like all your other teachers.

Hitting me where it hurts? Gee, thanks.

Sorry

Hey hey, guys! What's up? Lizzy, you hear the news about Ciel? We're ROYALTY BUDDIES NOW!

Yeah! I get to be his date to all the balls! Isn't that amazing?! It'll be just like being a princess!

WHOA. Soma, just because we both have annoying bodyguards and stupidly long names does NOT make us "royalty buddies."

Annyoing?! Your bodyguard is so cool, though! It's too bad the school wouldn't let him bring his snakes in

Yeah, he's not much use without them. They're his only weapon.

What's his name again? Snape?

"Snake." That's all I know. He wants to be called Snake.

LOLOLOLOL that's so precious!

I suppose that's one way of putting it…

Anyway, I'm sorry about the core values! I'm sure it was a really good essay.

You wrote an essay? OMG! I want to read it!

N. O.

Ok :/

So are you guys still coming over tonight? Edward won't be there, don't worry.

I guess so. As long as Sebastian doesn't kill me at our "lesson."

You just let me know if Sebastian bothers you, and I'll send Agni to kick his ass!

MR. SPEARS ALERT!

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

I will not pass notes in class.

Later, Limo coming from the St. George

Well, today sucked. That man is a literal demon, and no one can convince me otherwise.

So I came in and the first thing he says, before even "hello," is, "you look like a pimp. Go and change immediately."

?!

And I'm like, "um, I don't actually carry other clothes around with me?" And he just said to go into the boudoir and "Nina will take care of you." I had to sit there for two FREAKING hours while this insane woman named Nina bustled around changing absolutely everything about my appearance, down to even my EYEBROWS. I didn't even know guys got their eyebrows shaped. And her assistant, Mey-Rin, was filming the entire thing for YouTube. It was totally humiliating.

So now I have this weird, bluish-grayish hair coloring that's supposed to "bring out my eye." And speaking of my eye, I was also given a sack—yes, an entire SACK—of designer eyepatches. I didn't even know that designer eyepatches were a thing. There are shiny ones, silky ones, monogrammed ones, velvet ones, bejeweled ones…it's ridiculous. And I have to wear MAKEUP. Not that much, but…well, even "not that much" is too much for a guy. Powder and mascara. And concealer for any potential acne. Luckily Nina deemed my eyelashes long enough that I don't need a false one (God, can you imagine). I'm not allowed to wear my Converse high tops, either. I have to wear loafers, even though technically any black or brown shoes are allowed with our school uniform.

I wiped off as much of the makeup as I could, but you can still see the mascara and the eyebrow job, and since Nina threw my one normal eyepatch down the incinerator chute, I've had to settle for wearing this gross velvet one to Lizzy's house. I wanted to get out of going so she wouldn't see me like this, but then when I turned on my phone I had this barrage of texts:

CIEL I'M SO EXCITED FOR TONIGHT WHEN ARE YOU COMING BACK

CIELLLLL COME ON HOW LONG IS A PRINCE LESSON ANYWAY

?!

OMG SERIOUSLY THOUGH ARE YOU OK

CIELLLLLLLLL!

…So it's kinf of obvious that I have to go over there, right? It's not because I like Lizzy or anything. It's just because otherwise she'll think I'm dead.

9:10 p.m., the loft

That.

Was.

Horrible.

Seriously, I would go through like, ten more hours of Prince Lessons per day, if that's what it would take to erase what just happened.

I walked into the Midfords' super-fancy living room, and there were Lizzy and Soma playing some video game, and of course they both started yelling and hugging me like I'd come back from the dead or something, and I have to admit it was kind of nice. I mean, my dad's great and all, but he's never gotten thatexcited when I come home at the end of a long day. Lizzy was the first to notice my new "upgrades," and if you can believe it, she actually said they looked really cool. And Soma said I looked like I should be in a boy band, which is terrible of course, but I know he meant it as a compliment. And then…Sieglinde came in.

She had been in the bathroom, and when she wheeled her way out she totally looked like she'd been hit by a truck. She just said, "oh…my…God."

Soma was all like, "I know, right? He looks so awesome!" which was completely the wrong thing to say, because Sieglinde FLIPPED. OUT.

"Oh. My. God," she said again, and then, "Ciel, you look like a darker-haired Maurice Cole."

Now, I know I look ridiculous, but comparing me to Maurice Cole was still totally uncalled for. He's this super creepy kid in the tenth grade with shoulder-length blonde curls and eyelashes like a foot long, and he follows this Edgar Redmond guy around like a freaking puppy dog. We would all feel sorry for him, except that he's also super mean and almost got expelled last year for bribing some mega-smart middle schoolers to do his homework for him. Every time he sees me in the hall or in gym class, he gives me the once-over and it like, "fr-EAK."

So you can kind of see why I got pissed when Sieglinde said I looked like him.

"I didn't ask to look like this, okay?" I kind of snapped. "I don't want to look like Maurice Cole, just like I don't want to take Prince Lessons or have my picture in the newspaper or rule a goddamn European country. And between my dad dating the school principal, my totally flunking Precalc, and Sebastian breathing down my neck and calling me a pimp all afternoon, I think I'm having a hard enough time without my so-called friends saying I look like Maurice Cole, okay? So lay. The hell. Off."

Lizzy and Soma kind of stood there all wide-eyed, and Sieglinde just kept scowling at me like she wanted to tear my stupid blue hair off my stupid head, and then (why, God, WHY?!) the rest of the Midfords just happened to walk through the door, back early from the opera. Mrs. Midford gave me the same serious, but kind, nod that she always gives me when I come over, and Edward glared at me like he wished I would die (seriously, could I have only one person glaring at me at a time? I don't think that's too much to ask), so at least those two were acting like their normal selves. But Lizzy's dad, on the other hand…

"Why, hello, friends of Lizzy! Good to see you, as always!" Mr. Midford said, all smiley like he usually is, and went around hugging Soma and Sieglinde, and then he turned to me and was like, "oh, and I see you've brought a new friend…wait, CIEL?!"

That was IT for me. I grabbed all my stuff and just stormed out. So that's how I ended up spending the night completely alone in my room like a total loser, playing World of Warcraft and listening to endless MCR.