It was the day I had been informed Mia was coming home. I was sitting on the couch, surfing the web on my laptop. I would've gone in my room but my mother had pointed out that I spend too much time in my room. So I was out of my room for once, but no way was she making me part with the laptop, so I brought it with me. Of course, I had to endure Lilly sitting on the couch across from me watching a Lifetime movie, but what could I do? The movie wasn't the problem it was the fact that Lilly was telling the main character how stupid she was for getting back with Jake. Lilly likes to tell people how stupid they are rather than tell them about their good aspects.

I think the main reason Mia's so uncomfortable about herself is because she grew up with Lilly telling her all the things wrong about her. Of course, the things wrong about her are the exact things I came to love. I don't even think there's anything wrong with her anymore.

Anyway, it's not that Lilly's a bad person, she just likes to reassure herself she's a genius by analyzing every aspect of someone else, then finding all the bad things.

Sometimes I think Lilly needs a good psycho-analyzing.

"Michael, do you really love Mia?" she asked so suddenly I almost jumped.

"Huh?" I asked. Didn't she know the answer to this question already?

"Do you really love Mia?" she asked, agitated she had to repeat her question.

I was reluctant about answering. I knew the answer, but was it a trick question? "Yes..." I said reluctantly, lowering my tone of voice to a minimum. She turned her head and looked at me in the eye.

"More than you loved Emma?"

I sighed. "Don't—."

"Don't avoid the question, Michael." She interrupted.

"More than Emma? Hell yeah. Even when we were on good terms I didn't love her like I love Mia. God, I still love Mia even though she shattered my heart to pieces. Emma was probably the worst thing that ever happened to me."

"Is Mia still the best?" Lilly asked. She was taking this so calmly, I was waiting for her to burst and scream at me. For what, I didn't know, but it wasn't like Lilly to take something like this so calmly.

"Sadly, yes."

She grabbed the phone from the coffee table and started dialing. What was she doing? I panicked.

"Lil, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" I shouted at her, sitting up abruptly. She calmly handed the ringing phone to me and smiled mischievously.

"Tell her what you just told me." It continued to ring.

"No way, Lilly. No freaking way." I sat, standing up and backing away. She shoved the phone in my face.

"Yes way. Or else I'll tell her myself. I honestly think she'd rather hear it from you than from me... or else she might think you're a wimp..." she rambled on. "And you know I can tear you to shreds if I wanted to." Of course, she should have known there was no purpose. I already told Mia my feelings for her and that didn't turn out all that well. But I grabbed the phone in frustration anyway. I had no idea what the hell I was going to say. Maybe apologize for the poem, but I definitely wasn't about to admit I still loved her.

She smiled righteously as I lifted the phone to my ear. "Hello?" I heard Helen Thermopolis's voice through the receiver.

"Uh...hi." I said weakly. "Er..." Lilly gave me a fierce look and pinched my lower arm. Hard. "Ow!" I mouthed. She pointed at the phone meaningfully. "Erm, Is Mia around?" I managed to sputter.

"No, she's at princess lessons right now," her mother answered skeptically. I guess Mia didn't get called by guys all that much. "She was supposed to be home hours ago..." she muttered under her breath.

"Huh?" I said.

"Nothing... I'll tell her to call you back... whoever you are."

"Michael, Lilly's brother."

"Oh, Michael!" she exclaimed, as if finally realizing who I was.  Of course, that's exactly what she was doing. "Oh, okay, I'll tell her. Bye."

"Thanks. Bye."

I hung up and turned to Lilly, who, by the way, was giving me the evil eye.

"She's at princess lessons." I said triumphantly.

"Her Grandmere came home with her? She just got home and already with the damn princess lessons!" she exclaimed. She walked off in a fury, but turned back towards me as an afterthought. "You will tell her," she finished, and stomped off.

I sat back down on the couch and sighed. What did her mother mean by "she should've been home hours ago?" I knew her Grandmere was the type of person to keep her in that dreaded pink room for longer than expected, but hours? I mean, her Mom sounded sort of worried on the phone, or maybe it was just me. Maybe I was getting worked up over nothing.

Mia sat and pretended to listen to her Grandmere lecture her on how Genovia did not need parking meters. What Grandmere failed to notice is that Mia had brought her CD player along with her and had put the headphones on while she wasn't looking. She had grabbed a hat (a hideous one, but oh well) off the table and slipped it on over her ears to hide them. She scribbled random thoughts in her diary while listening to Brandnew. She didn't even want to hear Grandmere's voice at all. She had enough going on in her life at moment. Lilly had called earlier inviting her to her house, but Mia refused, stating she had major jetlag, which was technically true, but the only reason she wasn't at Lilly's at that very moment was that Mia didn't feeling like leading herself into such an awkward situation.

The truth was she was avoiding confronting Michael, who had made fun of her feeble attempt to convey her feelings to him.

Grandmere reached across, grabbed the hat off Mia's head, and continued rambling. Mia slowly took the headphones off and hid her CD player in her bag, hoping Grandmere hadn't spotted them.

"...so you can see why it's only rational you move back to Genovia with me."

Mia froze. "Wh-wha-what?!" she stuttered, practically falling off the pink chair she was sitting on.

"Why, Amelia, haven't you been listening?! We can't ship you back and forth between here and Genovia for every ball and event!  It would be much easier if you moved to Genovia and were school within the palace. Don't you understand?"

"No," Mia said simply. "No, I don't think I can understand why you would do this." She jumped up out of her chair and ran out of the room. She ignored her Grandmere shouting behind her and the guards chasing her. She was grateful Lars had left the Plaza that particular day. She kept running till she was five blocks away and was certain they had given up.

I thought for a minute and shook my head. She must have just went somewhere with her Grandmere or something. She had to be. Wherever she was, it had gotten me out of a very confusing and embarrassing conversation that I never planned on having.

Watch you, on the one's and two's.
Through a window in a well lit room.
Become a recluse.
And I blame myself cause I make things hard and you're just trying to help.
And when I wake up, you're the first to call.
This is one more late night basement song.
And I'm so sore, my voice has gone to hell, and this is one more sleepless
night,


Because we don't believe in filler baby.
If I could I'd sit this out.


(This is over when I say it's over.)
This is a lesson in procrastination.
I kill myself because I'm so frustrated.
And every single second that I put it off, means another lonely night I got
to race the clock.
(I ignore it and it ignores me too.)
What say we go and crash your car?
And every time I leave you go and lock the door.
So I walk myself picking at a chip on my shoulder, I'm another day late and
one year older.
It's failure by design.


And we just want sleep, but this night is hell.
I'm sick and sunk and I blame myself because I make things hard and you're
just trying to help.
I got no gas; I'm winding out my gears.
This is one more day on the verge of tears.
And now my head hurts and my health is a joke.
And now I got to stop cause the headphones broke.


And we don't believe in filler.
Baby, if I could I'd sit this out.
(This is over, when I say it's over.)
This is a lesson in procrastination.
I kill myself because I'm so frustrated.
And every single second that I put it off, means another lonely night I
gotta race the clock.
(I ignore it and it ignores me too)
What say we go and crash your car?
And every time I leave you go and lock the door.
And I walk myself picking at a chip on my shoulder.
I'm another day late and one year older, it's failure by design.


I'm out of everything.
No one sleeps until we get this shit out on the shelves.
It's late, I'm faltering.
But this time I got nothing to say besides...
DO DO DO, DO DO DO

A/N: I think that song fits this chapter so well. By the way, it's by Brand New, if you're wondering. It's not mine, sadly. Jesse Lacey is a genius....maybe I should go to his house. It's not far from where I live...I've been to Levittown.
He he he he.
So anyway, the next chapter will be up soon. I already have this whole story figured out so it shouldn't take long. The next chapter also has a little to do with horses, because, you know, I'm so obsessed with them and all.

So...uh REVIEW! Yeah, there we go. REVIEW!