Tuesday, November 10, The Loft, 4:02 AM

THEY'RE BACK!

MY MOM AND MR. G ARE BACK FROM MEXICO!

They tried to not make a big production out of it, but they called Lars, who, standing outside of my bedroom at the Plaza (Sometimes, I think Lars is some type of robot who requires no sleep at all, because he never seems to stop watching out for my would-be assassins. Not that I'm complaining, or anything. I just hope he never obeys the commands of a Jedi-turned-evil-lord-of-the-Sith), knew that every night spent in Grandmère's suite, even if I'm not in close enough range to hear her rock-concert-worthy snores, drives me closer to permanent insomnia. So he just knocked on the door and said, "Princess, pack your bags." In twenty minutes, I was home.

Home!

I've missed this place SO MUCH! I missed Ronnie and the fire escape and my room and the leftovers from Number One Noodle Son in the refrigerator (Not that they've been there that long, on account of my mother having ordered them the second she got off the plane at JFK so it would be hot and ready when they got back to the loft. She really needs to start monitoring her saturated fat intake. I mean, my little brother or sister will be born in approximately six months, and as she enters her second trimester, the baby will develop a taste for those foods she eats most. This, according to her diet, will be meat, Chinese food, and more meat, which is completely unhealthy and will promote poor eating habits in said child.) and the foosball table and the giant mural of Madonna on the wall in the kitchen. Fat Louie is happy to be back, too. He's even ignoring the squirrel, a first for him, and just checking on his treasure pile behind the toilet.

And guess what?

MY MOM IS STARTING TO SHOW!

I'm serious, if you look at her stomach, you can see that a bit of a bump has started to form there. When I commented on this fact (after saying hello, of course!) my mom just looked at me and said, "Well, Mia, it's nice to see that you have eyes!" and stormed off to her room. Mr G. said that she's been self-conscious of the bump since she noticed it and not to take it seriously. He blames pregnancy hormones. I said that I didn't take it to heart, and that if this was her at three months, how much worse would it get?

He just looked at me with tired eyes, said, "Goodnight, Mia," and went into his room.

Well, I guess it was a long flight, after all.

Later, in Algebra

Okay, I might have ended up getting three whole hours of sleep, but I am still dead tired. Mr. G was smart; he took a day off. I, on the other hand, am stuck in math with Principal Gupta. Which would be fine, except for the fact that she is a self-professed "geometry person" (meaning that she never even understood algebra in the first place), and I am officially more lost than before.

Even though I didn't really understand it with Mr. G, I NEED HIS HELP!

Well, Michael helps, too. But he said that he can only help me through this week because of some project he has to work on for the Computer Club. So, I can't really bother him with my troubling algebra grade for much longer.

Plus, finals are in, like, a month, and next semester I might not even have Mr. G for algebra.

Whoa, scary thought. Because, who else would take the time to go over every single example problem in the lesson, every day, just to help me get a passing grade?

And, okay, Mr. G is my stepfather now. But what if he has no time? If it's all spent between my mom's mood swings and paying the electrical/water bills on time and the new baby and making sure the delivery boy from Number One Noodle Son gets a fair tip, when will I learn algebra?

I am officially doomed.

Lilly just looked over at my last sentence and rolled her eyes, saying, "Get over it, POG, I'm sure he'll request you next semester."

To which I replied, "They can do that? And what the heck does POG mean?"

She says, "Of course they can. And princess of Genovia, of course!"

I said, "Oh. And don't call me that!"

"Whatever. POG."

I guess some things never change.

I mean, sure, next year I'll be getting a new little brother or sister, and, yeah, I will eventually rule a small European country called Genovia, and I may or may not fail algebra (not that I'll ever USE it, because it's not like the queen of England will be all, "Yo, figure out the value of x if 3x is less than or equal to the value of 67-4x or I'll bomb your country, bitch!" Because, really, I doubt she'd ever talk like that anyway, and algebra equations are why there are court mathematicians. At least, I hope they are.), but for now, everything's going to be alright.

Except the Kenny situation. I have no clue how I'm going to handle that.

But I'll get to that when I need to. For now, I guess it's kind of nice to have someone who cares about me.

You have me, POG.

Yes, Lilly, I know I have you. And I have Tina. And my mom, and Mr. G. And your brother's even being nicer to me. Sometimes.

And don't call me POG!

Bell rang. See you at lunch?

Wouldn't miss it for the world.

It's done!

Honestly, I could have probably continued this story for a while longer, but (seeing as I am not Meg) I doubt I could have done this fanfic, and the Princess Diaries series, justice. Most likely, I'll be revising this chapter; making it a bit longer and making it all flow better.

This fic is really important to me. If my Princess Academy fic, Eskel's Flower, was my baby, then this is it's older, independent teenage sister. I started writing this back in November (when the story takes place) because I was going to test my patience and read each Princess Diaries book in real time. (Obviously, since I have next to no self control, I failed.) I was bored, which is usually the start of something that makes an entertaining party tell. In this case, it was the start of more adventures for Mia Thermopolis.

I know I haven't been very vocal concerning this story, or commmunicating through author notes. I have gone through so much while uploading A Princess Predicament, particularly due to the death of my grandmother. These months have been trying, and this fanfic has really been my anchor to reality and normalcy. I thank you for givng me that.

I tried to make this sound as true to Meg's style as I could. I looked up minute details in each of the books. I added in a reference to another of Meg's works (props if you caught it). And I sincerely hope every reader enjoyed this story. I am grateful for each and every person who reviewed, favorited, and added A Princess Predicament to his or her story alerts list. I would like to thank you all for your support, in particular I thank imlost424, CookieMonster960, anon, crazy4fanfic2008, A Person, babae07, Crystel22, live4dance, Usagii-chan, and PurpleFlygon.

You are all wonderful. Thanks for reading The Princess Diaries, Volume II and 1/2: A Princess Predicament.

~IceCreamGurl6455

*If you are bored and would like to read a truly wonderful PD fanfic, I recommend The Princess Bride by MissMadi.*