Aah! I can log in!!! Which means, I can finally update for you all!!! Yay! Well, that was an annoying couple of days, I hope the site has fixed the problem now.

I'm glad you are all being openminded about seeing this different side of Michael, and I don't think he gets much worse, if at all actually.

Disclaimer: Meg Cabot owns everyone.

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Mia hardly slept a wink. She'd been kept awake by the nagging thought of what Michael wanted to say to her.

She was sitting at the kitchen table eating cereal, struggling to keep her eyes open, when Michael himself waltzed into the kitchen.

"Morning, Michael!" Mia exclaimed, suddenly wide awake.

"Uh huh," was his response.

Since Lilly was still in the bathroom, Mia took the moment to ask Michael to continue their conversation from the night before.

"Oh, um... I'll talk to you about it later, I've got to get going," he said, much to Mia's dismay.

"Ok, that's fine. Whatever," she tried to make it sound casual, like the thought of it wasn't killing her slowly inside.

* * *

Michael arrived at school and headed to his group of friends, who were huddled in a circle, reading something.

"Hey, guys," Michael said as he neared them. "What's up?"

Lana and Josh both turned around to him. "Oh my God, Michael!" Lana cried. "You have got to read this! It's tragic!"

"Yeah, dude," Josh added. "Get a look at this." He shoved a newspaper in Michael's hands.

Michael looked down at the front page of the 'Post', a picture of Mia Thermopolis was on it, along with the words, "Princess Amelia" and "New York's Very Own Royal".

"What is this rubbish?" he asked them, looking up from the paper.

"It's not rubbish, man. It's all true."

"Mia is anything but Royal," Michael told them.

"Tell me about it!" cried Lana. "I mean, even after her makeover, what's with her hair? Why does she get to be royal?"

Josh grabbed Michael by the arm and led him away from the earshot of everyone else.

"Dude, I've been thinking about this," he said. "I think you should do something about it. You never told her she didn't have a chance with you did you?"

"No, my sister interrupted us. Why?"

"Great. You can totally milk the situation. Ask her to the Cultural Diversity Dance. She won't say no, believe me."

"Why would I want to do that? And besides, I'm already going with Tiffany. Remember? You set us up."

"Because! You could get your face on the cover of the 'Post' too! Who cares if it's next to that chick, you'll be famous! Colleges would be impressed too, to be the boyfriend of Royalty. Who's going to turn you down? No one! And don't worry about Tiffany, I'll sort it out. I'll set her up with Greg or someone."

"I dunno, it seems a bit cruel to use her like that..." Michael said.

"Well it's not like you have to marry the girl or anything! As soon as you get into a good college, dump her! They're not suddenly going to take away your place."

Michael couldn't understand how this was supposed to make using Mia to his advantage any less cruel. If anything it was even worse.

"Come on, dude," Josh continued. "What do you say? I'd do it, but she has a thing for you, and I'd have to go to the bother of breaking it off with Lana first, and... it's just better for you to do it."

"Alright, whatever. I'll ask her to the dance," Michael finally agreed, still uncertain though.

"Yes!" Josh slapped his best friend on the back. "You won't regret it, mate. It'll be great!"

Michael hoped so, because even though he didn't particuly like Mia, he didn't like the idea of using her. Despite being Josh Ritchers best friend, Michael always tried to do things the right way.

* * *

Mia was sobbing in the girls bathroom. Her father had been to the school earlier and told her that even though her royal status has been exposed, she still had to stay at school and tough it out.

"It's horrible! Everyone knows!" she cried in between sobs.

"Speaking of, Mia. When were you planning on telling me? Your best friend," Lilly asked.

"Oh, Lilly, don't start. I didn't want anyone to ever find out. It wasn't personal. This whole thing is a nightmare already, please don't hold it against me."

Lilly looked at Mia huddled on the bathroom chair, she looked like a mess, it was hard to believe she really was a princess. "Alright, fine. But I expect you to tell me everything from now on, ok? Everything."

Mia nodded and stood up. "I guess we should go to class now, the final lunch bell rang a few minutes ago," she said, turning to the mirror and attempting to clean herself up.

"I guess. Just ignore whatever anyone says about you, or to you, Mia. Especially Lana. You know she's just trash."

Mia nodded and moved towards the doos, as soon as she stepped outside it someone ran right into her.

"I'm so sorry," she said, bending down to pick up his book.

"Oh God," Lilly exclaimed behind her. "It's you."

"Do you have a problem, Lil?" Michael asked her.

"No, not at all. Come on, Mia."

"Uh, actually, Mia. Since I ran into you, do you mind waiting around for a sec? I want to talk to you."

"S...sure," Mia stuttered. Michael wanted to talk to her? To continue their conversation from last night? Were her dreams about to be realised?

"What could you possible want to talk to Mia about?" Lilly asked synically.

"It's none of your business. Just run along now."

Michael turned back to Mia, her heartbeat was racing.

"So, uh, Mia, who are you going to the Dance with?" he asked.

"Um, no one," Mia was embarrassed to admit.

"Well, why don't we go together?"

Mia didn't say anything, she was in too much shock to speak. She couldn't even open her mouth.

But Michael was still waiting for her answer, she she finally managed to open her mouth and find her voice. "Yeah, ok. That might be fun."

"Might be fun?" she thought. That's only the biggest understatement of the century.

"Great," he smiled at her. "I'll pick you up at 7? We can go out to dinner first if you'd like."

"Ok, great."

"I'll see you later then. Bye," he said before walking off and leaving Mia stunned in the hallway.

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