(Author's Note: I like planning out long chapters, but I don't have enough time to write long chapters these days. So I'm going to try to post about half a chapter at a time. OK? Otherwise there'd be even longer gaps between posts. Part 2 of Chapter 7 should be done hopefully in about a week. Thanks for reading!)

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Chapter 7 – Old Friends, pt 1

The big news at the end of June was Prince William. Of course Prince William was always in the news in England, even more than Mikey M, but he wasn't getting attention this time for mildly misbehaving in exotic locales or for appearing at boring functions with beautiful socialites. June 21st was his birthday, and everyone important was going to his party.

Mikey M had refused to let the band play for the event; they were no longer "on tour", so they would have to disrupt the development of their next album if they stopped everything to prepare for a show. Besides, he had had enough of dealing with princes and princesses to last a lifetime. But that didn't mean Mikey M would refuse his invitation to the very exclusive birthday party. The press would be there, so as a major media figure he was practically obligated to make an appearance.

"But if they keep on hinting that they want me to write the guy a song, tell them I'm not coming," Mikey M had instructed Jen.

Ever since he wrote that song for Mia's birthday, everyone seemed to think he was taking requests. He had plenty of inspiration for his music without having soccer players talking about how great it would be if he could mention them on Piaget's Children's next album.

Their last album had been such a commercial and critical success that Mikey M felt an intense pressure to make the next one even better. People expected good things from Piaget's Children, but he was going to surprise everyone with just how great they would be. He was going to keep on going, keep on making the music he wanted to make, and keep his place as the top musician in the world. And he'd make tons of money in the process.

But for one night he would be just another celebrity going to Prince William's birthday party. He didn't have time to bother about who would be the most appropriate date to take. He actually hadn't been out with a woman in weeks. He was too busy working. He gave a few interviews, but he was keeping a low profile in the media lately. Actually, ever since the Genovia business died down, he had been keeping to himself.

"You want to go alone?" Jen asked. "Don't be ridiculous, Mikey. You never go to these sorts of things alone."

"I won't be alone. I am going with Felix, Angus, Ansel, and Jim."

But when the members of Piaget's Children were all walking to the front entrance of Buckingham Palace, with all the reporters hollering questions and photographers blinding them with their flashes, Mikey M wished he had not been so stubborn about not bringing anyone with him. His lack of a date was just as shocking as if he turned up with a half dozen Veronica Märkls and Juliette Boulezes.

"Where's Veronica?" "Where's Denise?" "Where's Charlotte?" "Where's Aimee?" He didn't even know some of the names they now interrogated him about. When he was not out in public going out with different women, the press assumed he was conducting his love affairs in private.

"Sorry," he said, "I'm just here with my friends." He nodded towards his band mates. They were used to being ignored by the press when Mikey M was around, but they still happily smiled and posed for pictures with Mikey M.

This was not their first visit to Buckingham Palace. Piaget's Children did not play for private parties – with that one exception in Genovia – but they had made other social appearances at the palace for different events. Mikey M imagined that the queen and Prince Charles must recognize his face by now, even if they had to be informed every time they met that he had a little band named after a child psychologist. ("Oh, isn't that clever?" the Prince of Wales had said on two separate occasions when he heard their band's name.)

So the gathering at the palace ballroom was not at all intimidating to Mikey M and his friends. The guests had naturally divided themselves into boring government people, like the Prime Minister, cabinet members, and ambassadors, and the young, hip, and famous guests specially invited by Prince William.

Of course Mikey M had to think of Mia's birthday party nearly two months ago. She had had many more stodgy government types. Some of the flashier young royals had made an appearance in Genovia in May in order to see Piaget's Children, but Prince William had more than just people with titles and power. He had actors and actresses, rock stars, writers, models – the biggest celebrities in England were there. Most of them had probably never heard of Genovia and Princess Amelia.

Mikey M was cordially greeted by his hosts ("So glad you could come," Prince Charles had said without the faintest glimmer of recognition. Wills had enthusiastically shaken his hand and said, "Excellent! You came. But are you sure you won't play for us?") and then he went to his side of the room. The cool side.

He knew nearly everyone there, and those he did not know recognized him. So he stayed away from the cabinet ministers and talked to people he liked about the work he was doing. He had been there an hour before he realized that, way over on the boring side of the room, was Princess Amelia.

"Hey, isn't that Mia?" Jim asked at the same time that Mikey M had spotted her. "She's looking over here, isn't she? We'd better go over and say hi."

Mia was standing among a crowd of well-dressed, young nobodies. Maybe they were junior diplomats. Or maybe they were the future monarchs of other European countries. In any case, Mia looked like she was dying of boredom. And Jim was right, she was looking over at them. OK, so she was looking at Mikey M. That could be the only reason for her cold glare. She was wearing another awful outfit, this time a grey long, demure dress. Were there Amish in Genovia?

Jim went off to gather their other band mates to see their good friend, Princess Amelia. So this was the perfect time for Mikey M to go over there and talk to her first, before the others got there.

He should have known she would come. Wills went to her birthday party, after all. But everyone kept saying that all the famous people in England would be at Prince William's party. She was supposed to stay in Genovia. He wished she would stay there, so they could avoid situations like the one they were currently in.

If Mikey M didn't say anything to her, people may think that he still carried a grudge against Genovia. But with the history that existed between Mia and him, there was nothing he could say to her without making both of them feel awkward. He couldn't pretend that they were mere acquaintances meeting again at a party, but he couldn't possibly show how well they did know each other.

He was still debating the best course of action when Prince René walked up to him. René was rightfully mingling in the young, cool side of the room, even if he was an exiled head of state. He was much more concerned with parties than politics. René usually stayed around Genovia and France, whereas Mikey M stayed in London, so they had never actually been introduced since back when Mikey M was Michael Moscovitz and René was just Mia's wild cousin.

Prince René looked him over and said in French, "I've been told that I know you. It was in the tabloids."

Mikey M smiled. He didn't know how to treat Mia, but he could handle Prince René. It was impossible to feel intimidated by the misbehaving, deposed Italian prince. Prince Phillipe would never trust René with any important secrets, such as the fact that Mikey M was Mia's crazy ex-boyfriend Michael Moscovitz, since René loved to talk too much, especially when he was drinking. And René looked like he had already been doing a lot of drinking that evening.

"Yes, we've met," Mikey M said, also in French. "It was a long time ago." There was no chance that Prince René was going to make the connection between Mikey M and Michael Moscovitz, especially at his current state of inebriation, so Mikey M didn't have to worry about lying.

"Wonderful!" René patted him on the back and said, "We were great friends, I am sure of it. In school, right? That's what the paper said. You and me together, I bet we got all the women. Right? Let me get you a drink. A drink for my old friend Mikey!"

The wait staff at Buckingham Palace must have been used to taking drink orders in foreign languages. A waiter instantly appeared with a tray of champagne flutes.

"You'd think the Windsors wouldn't use such small glasses. They aren't this stingy in private, believe me," René said. He took two, handed both to Mikey M, then took two for himself. He raised one of his flutes and said, "A toast. To friendship."

Without waiting for Mikey M, René drank the entire glass of champagne at once. To be polite, Mikey did the same. He had no doubt that René could drink him under the table, but he could stand a little champagne.

René raised the second glass. "What should we drink to now? Genovia? No, you don't like Genovia. Phillipe can be a real bastard, let me tell you. Clarisse loves me, but that's because she still thinks I'm going to marry Mia. You know Mia, right? Yes, you were at her party."

"I know Mia."

Mikey M looked around the room to see where she was now, and to see whether she had noticed who he was talking to. Grandmère still thought that Mia and René would end up together? There was no way Mia would agree, right? She had Ted, after all. Right? Anyway, Mia was way too straight-laced these days to actually marry a fun hedonist like Prince René. Right?

Mia was still surrounded by the young men and women in suits, the young diplomats or the future kings of Liechtenstein. And yes, she was glancing in his direction every now and then, and she looked a bit confused and maybe a bit worried to see René and him talking. Not that it mattered what Mia thought of what he was doing.

René drank his second glass of champagne, and exchanged the two empty flutes with two filled ones. Mikey M just gave up his one empty glass and hoped René would not think of more toasts.

"We haven't seen each other in years, right?" René asked. "Then you must be confused about Mia. She's become completely boring, don't you think?"

This was probably not a safe conversation for them to have in the middle of the ballroom in Buckingham Palace, surrounded by mobs of people, many of whom no doubt understood French and would be curious to hear what Prince René and Mikey M were talking about.

"I haven't seen her much recently," he said simply. Of course he wanted to know why Prince René thought that Mia was different, but he couldn't possibly ask.

"Then let me tell you, Princess Amelia Renaldo is boring now. She's been turning more boring every year since she moved to Genovia. Five years from now she'll be wearing potato sacks and not saying a word in public. It's because of the Genovians."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't know the story? We must have been good friends when we were very young, right? We must catch up on old times. I'll tell you about Mia. You tell me about your records. Come to Miragnac and we will talk."

René was drunk, but the invitation was sincere. Mikey M actually wanted to accept it. René would tell him the truth about Mia, even if he did figure out they had never been "good friends" at school together. Mikey was allowed to still be curious about Mia, right? She used to be very special to him, and she still seemed like a … nice girl. And René was right. Mia had become too serious, and Mikey M wanted to know why.

But he couldn't possibly accept. Miragnac was right across the French border from Genovia, and more trouble could arise if Prince Phillipe heard that Mikey M was there. Besides, he was too busy working on Piaget's Children's next album. He couldn't run off to France so he could hear stories about his ex-girlfriend.

"I'm stuck in London for the next month or two," Mikey M said. "We working men can't skip out of the country when there's music to be made."

"You are afraid of my cousins in Genovia, right?" Maybe René wasn't as drunk as Mikey M had thought. "They don't care what I do. They never come to Miragnac. The papers have said that you've been to my parties twice last month. Phillipe didn't say a word."

Probably because Prince Phillipe had Mikey M tracked by so many spies that he knew that the reports were lies. Then again, if Mikey M stayed in France, there wasn't a thing that Prince Phillipe would be able to do. There would be no reason for Grandmère to get angry enough to reveal his true identity, and there would be no reason to break the fragile truce between Mia and him.

Mikey M would show Prince Phillipe that he was going to honor their agreement about his never going to Genovia, but he was not going to be scared away from the French border. He would let the world see that he was not afraid of Genovia, and he would have fun. And he really did want to hear what René could tell him about Mia.

"Fine, next weekend," Mikey M said. "My people will call you. I'll bring the guys."

"Wonderful!" He raised one of his champage flutes and said, "We'll drink to next weekend. There will be a big party. See these people? Lots of them will be there. Many beautiful women. And I'll tell you about my cousin."

After tossing back another glass of champagne, René went off to immediately start inviting people to the party at Miragnac next weekend. Mikey M looked back at Mia and saw that Jim and the others were talking to her. Good, at least he didn't have to go over to talk to her with all their friends. He would have made her feel nervous, and now, for the first time in the evening, he saw her laugh. She didn't look nearly so dull and serious when she was laughing.

Mikey M waited until much later in the evening, when the first guests were leaving, before he finally decided to speak with her. He ventured into the boring side of the room, attracting stares from all the diplomats and government officials, and found her looking tired and bored on the edge of a group of people talking about EU expansion. She looked startled to see him there.

"I didn't realize you were friends with the Windsors," she said.

"We appear to have some mutual friends," he said. "It's been a while since I've seen you."

"I've been in Genovia."

She was not in a very conversational mood. She would probably love for Mikey M to go away and not say another word to her, but he was not going to be scared off by her terse replies. She had laughed with Jim and the others. She was actually quite friendly when they had dinner together in May. Somewhere inside her (and beneath that ugly dress) was someone who at least somewhat resembled the Mia Thermopolis that Michael Moscovitz had known.

Seeing that he was not going away, Mia reluctantly separated herself from crowd of people she had been standing with and walked with him to a relatively quiet part of the room. She said in a low voice, "You were talking to René earlier."

"Yes. We're old friends." There would be more talk about them if people noticed they were whispering together in a corner of the room, so he spoke at a regular volume. Besides, no one was close enough to be able to hear what they were saying.

"No you're not. He thought that you were a total geek back … you know, back then."

"He was right. I used to be a geek. But now we're old friends."

Mia frowned. "You can't just become old friends."

René himself now came over to them, with two more glasses of champagne. He handed one to Mikey M and said in French, "There you are! And with Mia! I thought of another toast. We never drank to the birthday boy. To Prince Willy."

Mikey M raised his glass to that (Prince Willy?) and drank the champagne just as quickly as René. If he stayed "old friends" with René for very long, he would have to get used to consuming lots of alcohol quickly.

René put his arm around Mikey M's shoulders and said, "Mia, you know my old friend Mikey M. He's coming to visit us next weekend. That is, he's visiting me, not you. He can't go to Genovia. Plus he's my old friend, not yours. So he's coming to Miragnac next weekend. Right, old friend?"

How many more toasts had René been drinking since he was talking to Mikey M before? René took his "old friend"'s empty glass and went off in search of another convenient waiter.

Mikey M looked back at Mia, who did not look at all thrilled by the news of his planned visit.

"My dad is going to kill you," she whispered. "You can't go to Miragnac. Grandmère will totally flip. You'll get René into so much trouble. They could evict him or something."

"No they won't. Everyone expects René to do crazy things to make everyone mad. That's his job. Then they have you to do everything right."

He had thought he would be flattering her by saying that she was always right, but she did not take it that way. Mia looked down at her feet and muttered, "I don't ... that is, I try … God, Michael, you of all people should know that I never do anything right. That's why I have Ted and Francine. But you can't go to Miragnac. You'll make everything worse."

For a moment she had sounded like the fifteen-year-old Mia Thermopolis he used to know, the Mia who would screw up and then panic. In the end, no matter how crazy things got, she always would step back and laugh. But if the new twenty-five-year-old Princess Amelia Renaldo got worried about Mikey M visiting René at Miragnac, she wouldn't laugh at the end. She'd be afraid of the international repercussions and the impact on tourism.

And then Mikey M knew what was bothering him so much about her. Mia didn't look like she having much fun being a princess anymore. She had excellent table manners and she could talk to very boring people while wearing very boring dresses, but she looked like she was merely fulfilling responsibilities and doing what was expected.

There was no doubt in his mind now. He would go to Miragnac next weekend to hear about what Mia had been doing during the past seven years they had been apart. He wanted to know what had happened to her.