Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
CAHKOH: To be honest, I don't know how many chapters this story will be. I think it will probably be three or four more. The week of finals, rehearsals leading up to the production, and the final thing.
TARYN WEASLEY: (first review:) Haha. Thanks. I should post the original thing I was going to, you may not have liked all the conflict that would have happened then. It really seemed like it was being dragged out too much, so... I changed it. And my chapter titles have absolutely nothing to do with anything. Just sort of whatever I feel like putting there when I post the chapter. (second:) I know, I was thinking the samething when my computer beeped, and wham! a review. I was like, "Wow! She's really fast!" but it made me happy. So thanks for you're reviewing-ness! Keep it up! (And thank you for the compliments again).
CLASSICDORKETTE: I'm glad someone understood them, I was worried for a little bit that I might need to do some "translations" or something at the bottom because I remember that people in my HONORS class sometimes had a hard time understanding the Shakespearean things. (Thanks for the compliments, btw)
I may go back and bump a few of the shorter chapters together so it will be longer chapters, but fewer. I have to admit, now that I'm up to 12 already, I'm a little scared about how much I have left to write. To have my first story end up being something crazy like 33 chapters long would be really daunting for the future of other stories of my own, I think. (And that's just a number, don't take it seriously.)
Anyways, now that I've rambled aimlessly. The (extra long) story:
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(Lunch next Day)
I shocked everyone when I sat down at the table by Mia. On her right side was Tina, her left was me. I intentionally did not leave any room for Kenny, who arrived fuming a few seconds later.
I had decided last night, that regardless of what Mia did with Kenny, I wasn't going to be so petty, or give up so easily. I hadn't given Mandella the chance to berate me, but I did enough of that on my own to have the same affect.
I would still try to spend time with her, show her what she was missing out on. I just wouldn't do anymore of the kissing. That was too much...
Of course, I had to have a legitimate reason for randomly appearing at her lunch table, so I dragged Mandella along, and under the guise of needing to work on the play. And so planning out some movements during a scene we hadn't really looked at yet, I was allowed to spend lunch with Mia.
Kenny, oh, Kenny, my dearly-beloved-annoyingly-idiotic-fellow-computer-club- comrade thought he could be so smart and give advice. Which resulted in him getting a rather harsh lecture from Mandella in reference to his lack of knowledge about Shakespeare, and the play itself.
I did by best not to laugh as he turned completely red with embarrassment after a particularly stupid suggestion. I think it was his fourth by this time, even Mia looked thoroughly annoyed.
He excused himself from the table finally and tried to give Mia a kiss. But she brushed him off!! I was just about to jump out of my seat do to severe joy, until Mandella elbowed me in the ribs.
"Focus!" she hissed at me.
Ha! What did she know? I was most definitely focused, more so than she could ever be! Just not on what she wanted me to be focused on, that's all.
Later, after the bell had rung and Mia was walking to class and Kenny was next to her. She arrived at our G&T classroom and started to leave him, when he shouted, (practically in her ear):
"Mia, I love you, even if you don't love me!"
Mia turned bright red and hurried in to the G&T classroom.
Kenny being the idiot that he is, doesn't understand what he did wrong. Really, I'm starting to think there IS someone else.
I 'accidentally' bumped up against him as I entered the room. "Sorry," I said over my shoulder.
"Oh. Hey, Michael." Kenny looked really forlorn, jeez what was his problem? Can't he get a grip?
"Smooth, Showalter. Real smooth." I just wasn't in a very charitable mood. Oh well.
--------------------
Judith was in G&T again. She was annoyingly flirtatious, once again. And once again, I put up with and tried to pretend like I didn't mind. It was really hard though.
Particularly when Judith would laugh at everything I said, even something so simple as "Look, there's a programming error here," or "found another typo."
Yuck.
While that was happening though, I tried my best to listen to what Mia, Lilly, and Mandella were saying. They were talking about the incident in the hallway.
"Mia, you really shouldn't have left Kenny hanging like that," Lilly clearly not favoring the idea, that maybe, just maybe, Mia liked someone else.
In which case, why did she even bother to try and help me earlier? She probably did it just to set me up with Mia, and than have fun spoiling it by shouting 'Kenny Showalter!'
I hate her.
Mandella took up the argument too, "Mia, if you don't like Kenny, than you should just break up with him. Its not fair to lead him on like that." Even Judith was starting to harangue Mia. That's it, why can't they just leave Mia alone?
"Maybe she just doesn't like to show a lot of public displays of affection," I said coolly.
"Yea, that's it," Mia said quietly, brightening up a bit. She appeared relieved that someone had taken her side, and actually supported her for once.
Mandella however, was not happy at all. She glared at me and hissed, "You and your damn, PDA." She grabbed Lilly's arm viciously yanked her away from the table.
Lilly looked annoyed, but surprisingly, Mandella didn't receive a kick. Instead, they went off to a table twenty feet away, pulled out paper and started enthusiastically planning something out. My demise, I'm sure.
Mia watched as they left. Always, she was the one left behind, or ignored. That's what her face seemed to say.
"Forget them, Mia," I said. "If they don't think you're worth talking to, than they're not worth talking to."
"Thanks, Michael," she said pulling out her journal.
So much for having a meaningful conversation when the one person you want to talk to is writing her deep and dark innermost thoughts.
I'm not sure how much longer the conversation would have lasted anyways with Judith the Nazis queen draped over my shoulder anyways.
-----------------
I'm brilliant! Not only am I getting into Columbia (although that has nothing to do with this) but I just thought of a way to get Mia to my apartment so I can confess my love! And force Mia to realize what she's missing out on and encourage her to break up with that squirrel brained Kenny.
I'll invite her over to practice! Why didn't I think of this sooner? Probably because last time I tried this, things didn't go well. But this time, I'm smarter, it will be just me, and Mia. Lilly's out with Boris, and I won't even invite Mandella.
Mia's online, so here goes nothing!
CracKing: Hey, Thermopolis.
FtLouie: What do you want?
CracKing: I was wondering if you wanted to come over and practice, we haven't had much time to work on it. And there's only seven and a half weeks left.
FtLouie: ... Um, yeah. Okay.
CracKing: I can't get a hold of Mandella though, so it'll be just you and me.
Lie. I haven't even bothered to try and get a hold of Mandella.
FtLouie: Oh, yeah. That's because she's with me right now. I'll tell her to come along.
CracKing: See you.
FtLouie: Bye.
Damn it!! At least I'll get to see Mia.
---------------------
(Mia's POV)
I'm going over to Michael's house, which is cool. But I'm kind of nervous after last night. I was really surprised when he started acting so ...distant and cold. Oh wait, I was flirting with him, while still having a boyfriend. Yeah, I would be mad about that too.
Or maybe he just realized what he was doing, and decided he'd rather flirt with a senior who can clone flies than a freshman-ugly-duckling-princess. I think I would too.
At any rate, we arrived.
------------------------
(No one's POV)
Michael opened the door with out a shirt, earning an appreciative blush from Mia, and a knowing smile from Mandella. As he let them in, he grinned before turning around to face the two girls. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
Things were going pretty well. Both Michael and Mia worked hard to remember everything Mandella had lectured them about. Each spent most of the time focusing on how to make it seem more real, and maybe the other would realize that they weren't just acting this was how they felt.
Mandella, smiled with the knowledge of exactly what was going on. She didn't say anything, Michael was doing the best he had ever done, and despite that he was holding the book, he obviously knew his lines very well.
Mia still relied often on her book, but she only needed it to prompt her now. She could say the lines fluidly, and was able to focus on the actions to match. She flitted and fluttered around Michael, much the way Juliet did to Romeo. She was smart, witty, had a lot to say. But most importantly, she was truly in love with this real-life Romeo. It made it much more realistic and believable.
Perhaps the only hiccup through the whole rehearsal was the fact that Michael would only kiss Mia on the cheek. At first it startled, scared, and then offended Mia. But he refused to go any further, even when Mandella prodded him. Eventually, though it made Mia wary of what she did wrong, she got over it and the rest of the time went well.
Mia could only stay about another half an hour. Mandella and Michael listened as she read and tried to recite Juliet's final soliloquy. They applauded and Mandella offered so advice about points to break and breath.
During this time, Michael left the room to use the bathroom, as soon as she heard the door close, Mandella spoke.
"I want to do the honeymoon scene again," she said, surprising Mia by the sudden change of topic. She spoke quickly, like she expected Michael to return any second.
"This time though, when he tries to kiss you on the cheek, turn your head, like this," she demonstrated slowly moving her head and her hands. "That way you kiss him on the lips. And be ready to leave right after it. I'll say something short. Than, before you go, kiss him on the cheek, and leave than immediately after. Understand?"
Mia didn't have a chance to respond or really think about what Mandella had instructed, Michael was already walking back into the room.
"Trust me," Mandella was saying, she turned and saw Michael. "Mia just remember, if you do it that way, everything will be much easier, and clearer."
With no choice, Mia nodded her head.
"Alright, lets go back to the scene we did yesterday, what was it? Act 3, scene 5?"
Michael shrugged and picked up his book, flipping through the pages deftly, "We'll find it."
"Page 159," Mia said.
And so they went on, and when it came time for the two lovers to depart with a kiss, Mia really let Michael have it.
He tried to kiss her on the cheek but she not only turned her head to let her lips meet his, she wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him as passionately and as briefly as she could. Like two lovers, truly parting, with no knowledge of the next time they would meet.
Hoarsely, Michael whispered, "Wow."
Mandella applauded and noted that that was the best the two had ever done the scene before. Mia looked at the clock and quickly excused herself. She had a meeting with Jane Lee she would be late to.
She smiled at Mandella, and turned to Michael. He was still staring at her, wonderment and uncertainty in his eyes. Mia leaned forward onto her tows and pecked him on the cheek.
"Bye, Michael! See you tomorrow."
And than she was gone.
Michael sat down onto the coach, motionless for nearly a minute before asking, "What just happened?"
Mandella patted him on the shoulder, sympathetically. Like a child who could not possibly encompass the motive behind an action.
"Still don't believe she loves you?"
At that moment, Lilly walked into the apartment. "Hey Mandella," she proceeded to look at Michael.
Lilly shouted with frustration. "Michael! Earth to Michael! Mia isn't HERE ANYMORE! You can stop looking so stupid!"
Mandella laughed. "He doesn't believe that she likes him." Lilly walked over to the coach and smacked the back of Michael's head.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" he asked angrily rubbing his head.
"For all the headaches you've given me." Lilly crossed her arms and glared at him. "Agh!" she shouted, and smacked him again.
"And what was that for? You can see how much my sister loves me, Mandella," he said off to the side. She shrugged, at this point, she might have done the exact same thing.
"That was for being still so clueless. Honestly Michael, I don't know what she sees in you."
"And I would be scared if you did," Mandella added. "There is a reason why it is against the law to marry a sibling. Its just gross."
"Maybe things would be a little clearer if you told me who wrote the cards," Michael said defensively. Was it so unreasonable to ask for a little unbiased help? Apparently not, he was smacked for the third time.
"God Lilly! You're going to give me a concussion!" he shouted at her. Even that was making his head hurt more. That couldn't be a good thing.
"You got another card in you're locker didn't you?" Lilly asked point blank. The idiot obviously couldn't put two and two together to equal four. As much as she didn't like the idea of her brother and her best friend dating, Lilly would rather have them dating than acting as bipolar as they were now.
"Yes," he said sulkily.
"Tina wrote the card," Mandella said simply. "Both cards."
"Okay..." Michael didn't know what to do with that piece of information. Tina, he knew, was Mia's friend, but Tina couldn't possibly like him. She never spoke to him, and generally spent lunch reading romance novels. Meanwhile, he spent his lunch doing his best to subtly watch Mia.
"But she doesn't like you..." Lilly said trying to be patient. Whoever thought her brother was a genius was sadly mistaken, as the blank look on his face would currently prove. "A girl who happens to loves spending her free time writing diligently has taken a recent interest in greeting cards, and does however, appear to like you."
"Oh thanks, that's so helpful," Michael said becoming annoyed.
"Look, dorkus," Lilly said edgily pacing in front of him. "Since you obviously can't take the hint. Mia sent the cards."
"Than why did Tina write them?" Michael really didn't understand this, what did Mia have to do with the cards that Tina wrote?
"Mia was afraid you might reject her, so she had Tina write the cards," Mandella said.
"Reject her?"
"She likes you. She wanted to say that she loves you. But was afraid you'd laugh in her face," Mandella spoke slowly. It was like trying to speak to a four year old.
"Than it wasn't Judith," he shuddered, "or anyone else who sent me those cards?"
"No it was Mia!"
"Can I see the last card?" Lilly asked. Michael pulled the card out from the back page of his "Romeo and Juliet" book.
"Roses are red, but cherries are redder Maybe she can clone fruit flies, but I like you better." Lilly read it out loud, watching as Michael slowly flushed.
"Are you sure its, Mia?" he asked, this kid just really couldn't take a hint even if it was spelt out for him.
"Would she kiss again you if she didn't like you?" Lilly asked incredulously. "Yes, I know about that, by the way," she finished as Michael stared at her in shock.
"But she's dating Kenny."
"Michael." This time it was Mandella who smacked him. However, afraid of hurting too much more, she hit him on the shoulder. "This is Mia we are talking about. She's too afraid about hurting his feelings to break up with Kenny. You have to break them up."
"But if she likes me, and she doesn't like him, why is she going out with him?"
"Didn't she just explain this?" Lilly stomped her feet. Michael had to be the densest person she knew, besides Mia.
"This next week is finals, Michael. She doesn't want to break up with him, and have him do poorly, because of her."
"Oh."
Mia was really the nicest person he knew. Sort of, she strung him on so that she wouldn't hurt the feelings of her current boyfriend... even though instead she was hurting Michael.
Ah hell, he could live with that for now. She loved him, after all.
She loved him.
--------------------
He paced in front of the window of their apartment. The limo still hadn't come. How Lilly could eat breakfast so casually at a time like this... He just didn't understand.
"Michael, pacing back and forth like someone in the hospital waiting room, really isn't going to make the limo get here any faster."
He barely heard her. A sleek black limo with little Genovian flags drove up before the building.
"She's here," he said simply. He grabbed his bag and ran down the stairs before Lilly had time to react. He paused outside of the limo before going through the open door.
He needed a moment to catch his breath so he didn't look so foolish, but more importantly, he needed a moment to speak to Mia before Lilly got there.
"Hey, Thermopolis," he said. Damn, he was still slightly out of breath.
"Hey, Michael," she smiled back at him.
He immediately sat down next to her and took her hands in his. He opened his mouth to say something, but froze, what if they were lying?
Lars watched on bemused, a hand over his smiling, and silently laughing mouth.
Mia looked at him curiously, Michael had never taking her hands in his before. This was... new. A surprising, tantalizing, wonderful new thing.
"Michael?" she asked.
He looked at her, his heart rate averaging 120 miles per hour.
There were her eyes again, those striking gray eyes that made him plummet into this feeling of contentment, of warmth, of love. Those eyes, stunning oceans of emotion, made him feel so big, so muscular, while feeling like the smallest grain of dust.
He stunned himself and Mia both as he leaned forward and kissed her fiercely.
She pulled away a minute later. "I love you," she said, now surprising herself. Since when had she decided to expose herself so completely?
"I know," he said as he smiled. Michael kissed her briefly again. "I love you, too."
Mia looked thrilled at this declaration and then confused. "You knew?"
Michael grinned at her, slipping his hand into hers. "I had some help."
"Oh," she said.
Now, Lars was openly grinning. He didn't mind working for the princess, but he personally thought that the dowager princess should have been more elaborate on topics concerning boys. Or at least someone should have been, it had taken the two long enough to get it together.
Lilly slipped into the car, and Michael pulled his hand away from Mia. This time, Mia didn't care so much. Now that she knew.
Yes, indeed. He loved her.
He really did.
-------------------
They arrived at the school to find two people waiting for them.
One was Mandella, who was extremely eager to find out if anything had happened between Michael and Mia. Michael grinned at her, and she squealed, did a cute little dance, and than proceeded to smother anyone with in a ten foot radius with hugs.
That included the second person that was waiting for them, Kenny. He was slightly put off by her hug, and looked as though he would have loved to retreat into the far corner of the school. And than he saw Mia, and this attitude instantly disappeared.
Both Michael and Mia grimaced at this. They hadn't really thought about Kenny. The third wheel, who was still, technically, the first. He enthusiastically greeted Mia, and tried to kiss her. Out of habit now, more than anything else, she turned her cheek.
She sighed as he took his books from her. It must be that she was pleased at his overwhelming kindness, or so Kenny thought. Unfortunately, Kenny was oblivious to everything around him, he didn't notice that Michael and Mia exchanged a long, slow sweet glance at each other. Even Kenny couldn't faze them now.
They five started towards the school. Michael and Kenny were on either side of Mia, Kenny holding Mia's books, and Michael holding Mia's heart.
Lilly and Mandella fell in step behind the other three. Off to the one side, Mandella suddenly grabbed a girl she knew passing by. She instantly became very gossipy and pointed out Mia to the other girl.
It was Felicia Rolland, one of the schools biggest gossips. Whatever Mandella told her, would be all over the school by the time the first lunch started. And hopefully, if things go well, there would be many very detailed stories also.
"I heard Mia's been cheating on Kenny with Michael," she said, smiling sweetly. The girl looked at the three walking together. Mandella truly had perfect timing.
Mia had gotten out a book and was leaning closely to Michael as they both read something. Kenny, was visibly annoyed at Michael's existence, and his lack of attention.
"Wow. Yea, I can't believe she would do that," the girl said before turning away.
Mandella moved through the milling students to where Lilly was waiting. They traded malicious smiles. Their plan was panning out very well.
It was time to ruin somebody's relationship.
-------------------------
Mia was distraught. Someone started a rumor that she and Michael started seeing each other behind Kenny's back.
Okay, she admitted to herself. It was entirely true. She couldn't deny that. Well, at least she couldn't deny it to herself. To everyone else who heard about it... she didn't have a choice.
How would she explain this to Kenny?
The worst part of it all was the claim that Mia was now pregnant with Michael's son. The second generation of illegitimate heirs to the thrown of Genovia had been conceived.
Lars had been in hearing range also when Mia heard this. She nearly started bawling right then. Who could be so mean to her? After seeing how upset she was by it, Lars pulled the boy off to the side and lectured him.
Even teachers were starting to hear about it. Mr. G came up to her before lunch and asked if any of the rumors were true. She denied all the rumors, he seemed relieved, and patted her on the back. Everything would be okay, he had said. Yeah, right.
Lunch was particularly gruesome. Not only did everyone stare at her the moment but Kenny found her very quickly. As he approached, she felt the room fill with a deadly silence.
"Mia," he said. He sounded like he was choking down tears.
"Mia," he said again, taking her arm and guiding her to an empty table. Hundreds of eyes followed them. "We need to talk."
Along the way Mia saw Michael. He stood frozen with a lunch tray in his hands and looked at her with a resigned horror. He knew what was happening, but he knew there was little he could do with out making anything worse. Whatever Mia did, or said, he would have to play along.
And he would have to remember through it all, Mia loved him. Not Kenny. Him. Whatever happened now, could be fixed. Just a week and a half until finals were over, and than everything would be okay.
Mia sat down, and unloaded the weight of her bag off her back. Kenny took her books that he'd been carrying and set them on the table. He didn't say anything at first, but instead fiddled with the corner of one of her books.
"I need to know if the rumors are true, Mia." He said it grimly, as though expecting the worst.
She stared at Kenny and felt a numbing dread spread through her. What should she say? There watched Michael, the boy she loved. She didn't want to hurt him. She just wanted to tell the truth and be rid of Kenny. But how horrible would it be for him to discover she didn't like him, through the truth of the rumors.
The stillness in the cafeteria became more intimidating.
"No," she whispered. "No, there really isn't much truth to the rumors."
From the corner of her eye, Mia saw Michael's shoulders sag. She felt horrible, as she knew, once again, she was hurting someone she loved. Didn't he hear her say, "isn't much truth", instead of "there is no truth"?
"Do you want there to be?" he asked.
"What?" she asked, startled out of her distraction.
"You and Michael seem to be pretty close," he said quietly putting his hands in his lap. "I don't feel like you're really in this."
Mia felt her heart race. Maybe this was the best, the perfect opportunity to get out of this bloody relationship. And move on, with Michael.
"I ...." Mia trailed off. She looked at Kenny, but felt nothing. Not like when she looked at Michael and was overwhelmed by every possible sensation. Kenny was just Kenny. Nothing special to her.
So than, why was it that she felt so obligated to not hurt him?
"Do you want to there to be some truth to the rumors?" Kenny asked again.
Mia looked over to where Michael had been standing, he shrugged at her sadly.
"No."
----------------------
Lunch was miserable for Mia. Somehow she'd managed to be too afraid to say anything once again. And now she was stuck with Kenny.
She didn't know where Michael was. She desperately wanted to talk to him, but she couldn't leave Kenny.
On top of everything else, both Lilly and Mandella were mad at Mia and wouldn't tell her why. Even Tina seemed a little frustrated. But the lunch table conversations were restrained by Kenny's presence.
What had started as a really good day turned out to really suck.
----------------------
Michael was pacing furiously in the back of the library. He had come here to be alone, and to plan. He knew somewhere inside himself that this was likely to happen. He loved Mia, but sometimes... sometimes she was just too damn sweet and caring.
He rubbed his palms together slowly, he needed to stop thinking about what happened, and start thinking about what to do.
Michael needed to figure out how to break Kenny and Mia up with out the blame going on anyone.
Lovely. And how the hell was he supposed to do that?
He finally came to lean against the wall, his head thumping hardly against the thickly painted cement cage.
Michael hated school, really he did. It was so limiting. Were he home right now, he could do a little creative internet surfing, or lyric writing. But not here. He was just smothered here. More than ever, he was just feeling smothered.
Michael picked up his bags and trudged to the exit of the library. The ancient librarian glared at him hungrily, expecting the alarms by the doors to go off any second. Not caring anymore, Michael stopped right in front of the alarms and glared back at her. He kept eye contact and triumphantly walked the barrier.
She scowled and returned to reading her steamy romance book.
--------------------------------
Michael didn't exactly know where he was going, he just sort of felt himself walking. He'd decided to skip the rest of the school day, so what? Its not like his grades would suffer from ONE absence.
Focus. That's what he needed to do. Focus.
He wandered around aimlessly, for God knows how long, until he came to the penguin house. Maybe there was some sort of twisted irony in the world that made him come here, when his current problem had to do with Mia.
So if he were sick, would he end up at the restaurant that he got food poisoning from?
Focus, Moscovitz. Focus.
He chose an abandoned carpeted bench to lie down on.
Soon, he was fast asleep.
---------------------------------
"Michael?" someone whispered in his ear. "Michael, what are you doing?"
He opened his eyes but everything was blurry. He blinked several times trying to clear the haze.
"Mia?" he asked faintly, sitting up slowly.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not Mia," Mandella said half-amused.
"I followed you here during lunch," she said. "Did you know you probably walked on half the streets of New York before finally ending up here?"
Michael appreciated what she was trying to do, but he really wasn't in the mood to be cheered up.
"What do you want?" he asked, a little more harshly than he intended.
She ignored the hostility in his voice, Mandella knew him too well. "You know, everything would be perfect right now if you had just gotten the guts to say something during lunch instead of just standing there."
He stared at her. What right did she have? What did she know?
"Lilly and I planned everything out for weeks, but no. No, once again, Michael Moscovitz. You have no balls. No offense, but its kind of becoming tiring. Trying to fix everything for you, I mean."
"Fix things?" he was just slightly less than thoroughly confused. If that even made any sense either.
"Me and Lilly planned the whole rumors thing. We figured one of you would finally get the guts, and you'd discover that you love each other. But that never happened."
"So you told me instead," he said for her.
"Exactly, and than you did exactly what you were supposed to, and you confronted her. ... so we, or actually I started the rumors with the intention of making Kenny confront Mia. Who was then supposed to dump him. Or if she didn't tell him..."
"...I was," Michael finished for her. What Mandella had just told him sunk in.
This just pissed him off. "Next time you go making plans to run or ruin my life, would you mind giving me a few days notices so I have a fucking chance at thwarting your attempts of my demise?"
Again, Mandella ignored his anger. "Michael I know you're mad, but really, I am here to help you."
"Alright Batgirl, what have you and my demented sister planned now? What's Plan B?"
"There is no Plan B."
Michael groaned. Right. This is where he walked off and let Mandella figure things out for him again. He made a move to stand up but she grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down. Hard.
"This had better be good," he growled at her.
Mandella snapped. "Why? Because you're too damn far into drowning yourself in your own pity that you have to rely on someone else? How about you think about what to do, and plan things on your own this time. Since you so obviously hate the help I'm offering."
As she was stomping out of the penguin house, Michael realized what he'd done.
"Mandella, wai—Mandella! I'm sorry! Mandella!" he nearly screamed at her. He really fucked this one up didn't he?
-------------------------
Mia was on her back, staring at her ceiling. Her mind was completely blank.
Just, blank.
She really hadn't absorbed all of what had happened earlier. First, Michael's confession, and her own. Than the rumors, and Kenny. And the way Michael and Mandella both skipped the rest of the school day.
It was just a really bad dream, and she just hadn't woken up yet.
Yes, that was it.
Her mom knocked on the door, "Mia, honey, Lilly's on the phone." Mia held out her hand and her mom gave it to her gently.
"Hello?" she asked.
"ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID?!" Lilly screamed into the phone. And than she hung up. The ringing in Mia's ears told her, clearly, as much as she'd like to be, she wasn't dreaming.
She sighed and dropped the phone off the side of her bed into a pile of clothes.
It was all true than. Everything she dreamed of, it wasn't a dream after all.
"Kenny Showalter, oh how thou plagues me," she whispered incoherently.
She would break up with him as soon as finals were over. Next week. Only one more week...
Finals were next week! How did she do this to herself? She had forgotten about finals. AGAIN. She needed Michael's help desperately, not matter what it ended up looking like. She had to pass Algebra.
Mia picked up the phone and called Lilly. "Hey," she said. "Do you want to come help me study for finals?"
The other end was quiet before she heard Lilly's response. "Sure, let me just leave a note and I'll be right there, okay?"
----------------------
When Mia opened the door, expecting to find just Lilly, she was in for a shock. There stood Lilly, Boris, and Mandella. Apparently Mandella had needed to talk to Lilly for whatever reason, and so did Boris. But Lilly was leaving, so she dragged them along. They were talking animatedly before Mia opened the door, she could hear them. But once she opened it, they were silent.
Of course, they were talking about her. Why wouldn't they be? The whole school was, and now her best friends too. Lovely.
"Come in," she said sullenly. They filed in and followed her and Lilly up to Mia's room.
Though they tried, very little studying was done. Especially when Mr. G came home and decided to practice drums. Pretty soon Tina and Kenny showed up. Lilly had called Tina on the way to Mia's house, and Kenny had spoken to Mia's mother, who said she was home.
Thank you, Mother, Mia thought sarcastically when she opened the door to find Kenny there. What was it with this world?
So much for studying.
They decided to go to Ho's Deli for a few frozen treats instead, since obviously nothing here was happening.
While they were there, Mia managed to pull Kenny off to the side.
"Kenny, we need to talk."
"... okay?" he was looking at her very confused, but Mia was resolute. It had to happen now. There were other people here, so he wouldn't dare make a scene, would he?
"I lied, Kenny," she said simply. Hoping he'd take the hint.
"W-what?" he stuttered. "Y-You d-don't like chocolate chip ice cream? I can buy you another flavor if you don't want it."
Mia sighed, he was really dense. "Not about that Kenny, I meant... I meant about..."
God, she couldn't do it.
"Never mind," she said sadly.
He looked at her strangely. But went back with her to where their friends were sitting.
Boris some how noticing her distress tried to cheer her up. Unsuccessfully.
===================================================== =====================================================
I don't know if it actually is against the law to marry your brother or sister, but I really hope it is. The whole idea just makes me want to vomit.
I think this chapter was too long. I feel it makes it kind of hard to read. I will try not to make the last few so long, okay?
Review?
CAHKOH: To be honest, I don't know how many chapters this story will be. I think it will probably be three or four more. The week of finals, rehearsals leading up to the production, and the final thing.
TARYN WEASLEY: (first review:) Haha. Thanks. I should post the original thing I was going to, you may not have liked all the conflict that would have happened then. It really seemed like it was being dragged out too much, so... I changed it. And my chapter titles have absolutely nothing to do with anything. Just sort of whatever I feel like putting there when I post the chapter. (second:) I know, I was thinking the samething when my computer beeped, and wham! a review. I was like, "Wow! She's really fast!" but it made me happy. So thanks for you're reviewing-ness! Keep it up! (And thank you for the compliments again).
CLASSICDORKETTE: I'm glad someone understood them, I was worried for a little bit that I might need to do some "translations" or something at the bottom because I remember that people in my HONORS class sometimes had a hard time understanding the Shakespearean things. (Thanks for the compliments, btw)
I may go back and bump a few of the shorter chapters together so it will be longer chapters, but fewer. I have to admit, now that I'm up to 12 already, I'm a little scared about how much I have left to write. To have my first story end up being something crazy like 33 chapters long would be really daunting for the future of other stories of my own, I think. (And that's just a number, don't take it seriously.)
Anyways, now that I've rambled aimlessly. The (extra long) story:
============================================== ==============================================
(Lunch next Day)
I shocked everyone when I sat down at the table by Mia. On her right side was Tina, her left was me. I intentionally did not leave any room for Kenny, who arrived fuming a few seconds later.
I had decided last night, that regardless of what Mia did with Kenny, I wasn't going to be so petty, or give up so easily. I hadn't given Mandella the chance to berate me, but I did enough of that on my own to have the same affect.
I would still try to spend time with her, show her what she was missing out on. I just wouldn't do anymore of the kissing. That was too much...
Of course, I had to have a legitimate reason for randomly appearing at her lunch table, so I dragged Mandella along, and under the guise of needing to work on the play. And so planning out some movements during a scene we hadn't really looked at yet, I was allowed to spend lunch with Mia.
Kenny, oh, Kenny, my dearly-beloved-annoyingly-idiotic-fellow-computer-club- comrade thought he could be so smart and give advice. Which resulted in him getting a rather harsh lecture from Mandella in reference to his lack of knowledge about Shakespeare, and the play itself.
I did by best not to laugh as he turned completely red with embarrassment after a particularly stupid suggestion. I think it was his fourth by this time, even Mia looked thoroughly annoyed.
He excused himself from the table finally and tried to give Mia a kiss. But she brushed him off!! I was just about to jump out of my seat do to severe joy, until Mandella elbowed me in the ribs.
"Focus!" she hissed at me.
Ha! What did she know? I was most definitely focused, more so than she could ever be! Just not on what she wanted me to be focused on, that's all.
Later, after the bell had rung and Mia was walking to class and Kenny was next to her. She arrived at our G&T classroom and started to leave him, when he shouted, (practically in her ear):
"Mia, I love you, even if you don't love me!"
Mia turned bright red and hurried in to the G&T classroom.
Kenny being the idiot that he is, doesn't understand what he did wrong. Really, I'm starting to think there IS someone else.
I 'accidentally' bumped up against him as I entered the room. "Sorry," I said over my shoulder.
"Oh. Hey, Michael." Kenny looked really forlorn, jeez what was his problem? Can't he get a grip?
"Smooth, Showalter. Real smooth." I just wasn't in a very charitable mood. Oh well.
--------------------
Judith was in G&T again. She was annoyingly flirtatious, once again. And once again, I put up with and tried to pretend like I didn't mind. It was really hard though.
Particularly when Judith would laugh at everything I said, even something so simple as "Look, there's a programming error here," or "found another typo."
Yuck.
While that was happening though, I tried my best to listen to what Mia, Lilly, and Mandella were saying. They were talking about the incident in the hallway.
"Mia, you really shouldn't have left Kenny hanging like that," Lilly clearly not favoring the idea, that maybe, just maybe, Mia liked someone else.
In which case, why did she even bother to try and help me earlier? She probably did it just to set me up with Mia, and than have fun spoiling it by shouting 'Kenny Showalter!'
I hate her.
Mandella took up the argument too, "Mia, if you don't like Kenny, than you should just break up with him. Its not fair to lead him on like that." Even Judith was starting to harangue Mia. That's it, why can't they just leave Mia alone?
"Maybe she just doesn't like to show a lot of public displays of affection," I said coolly.
"Yea, that's it," Mia said quietly, brightening up a bit. She appeared relieved that someone had taken her side, and actually supported her for once.
Mandella however, was not happy at all. She glared at me and hissed, "You and your damn, PDA." She grabbed Lilly's arm viciously yanked her away from the table.
Lilly looked annoyed, but surprisingly, Mandella didn't receive a kick. Instead, they went off to a table twenty feet away, pulled out paper and started enthusiastically planning something out. My demise, I'm sure.
Mia watched as they left. Always, she was the one left behind, or ignored. That's what her face seemed to say.
"Forget them, Mia," I said. "If they don't think you're worth talking to, than they're not worth talking to."
"Thanks, Michael," she said pulling out her journal.
So much for having a meaningful conversation when the one person you want to talk to is writing her deep and dark innermost thoughts.
I'm not sure how much longer the conversation would have lasted anyways with Judith the Nazis queen draped over my shoulder anyways.
-----------------
I'm brilliant! Not only am I getting into Columbia (although that has nothing to do with this) but I just thought of a way to get Mia to my apartment so I can confess my love! And force Mia to realize what she's missing out on and encourage her to break up with that squirrel brained Kenny.
I'll invite her over to practice! Why didn't I think of this sooner? Probably because last time I tried this, things didn't go well. But this time, I'm smarter, it will be just me, and Mia. Lilly's out with Boris, and I won't even invite Mandella.
Mia's online, so here goes nothing!
CracKing: Hey, Thermopolis.
FtLouie: What do you want?
CracKing: I was wondering if you wanted to come over and practice, we haven't had much time to work on it. And there's only seven and a half weeks left.
FtLouie: ... Um, yeah. Okay.
CracKing: I can't get a hold of Mandella though, so it'll be just you and me.
Lie. I haven't even bothered to try and get a hold of Mandella.
FtLouie: Oh, yeah. That's because she's with me right now. I'll tell her to come along.
CracKing: See you.
FtLouie: Bye.
Damn it!! At least I'll get to see Mia.
---------------------
(Mia's POV)
I'm going over to Michael's house, which is cool. But I'm kind of nervous after last night. I was really surprised when he started acting so ...distant and cold. Oh wait, I was flirting with him, while still having a boyfriend. Yeah, I would be mad about that too.
Or maybe he just realized what he was doing, and decided he'd rather flirt with a senior who can clone flies than a freshman-ugly-duckling-princess. I think I would too.
At any rate, we arrived.
------------------------
(No one's POV)
Michael opened the door with out a shirt, earning an appreciative blush from Mia, and a knowing smile from Mandella. As he let them in, he grinned before turning around to face the two girls. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
Things were going pretty well. Both Michael and Mia worked hard to remember everything Mandella had lectured them about. Each spent most of the time focusing on how to make it seem more real, and maybe the other would realize that they weren't just acting this was how they felt.
Mandella, smiled with the knowledge of exactly what was going on. She didn't say anything, Michael was doing the best he had ever done, and despite that he was holding the book, he obviously knew his lines very well.
Mia still relied often on her book, but she only needed it to prompt her now. She could say the lines fluidly, and was able to focus on the actions to match. She flitted and fluttered around Michael, much the way Juliet did to Romeo. She was smart, witty, had a lot to say. But most importantly, she was truly in love with this real-life Romeo. It made it much more realistic and believable.
Perhaps the only hiccup through the whole rehearsal was the fact that Michael would only kiss Mia on the cheek. At first it startled, scared, and then offended Mia. But he refused to go any further, even when Mandella prodded him. Eventually, though it made Mia wary of what she did wrong, she got over it and the rest of the time went well.
Mia could only stay about another half an hour. Mandella and Michael listened as she read and tried to recite Juliet's final soliloquy. They applauded and Mandella offered so advice about points to break and breath.
During this time, Michael left the room to use the bathroom, as soon as she heard the door close, Mandella spoke.
"I want to do the honeymoon scene again," she said, surprising Mia by the sudden change of topic. She spoke quickly, like she expected Michael to return any second.
"This time though, when he tries to kiss you on the cheek, turn your head, like this," she demonstrated slowly moving her head and her hands. "That way you kiss him on the lips. And be ready to leave right after it. I'll say something short. Than, before you go, kiss him on the cheek, and leave than immediately after. Understand?"
Mia didn't have a chance to respond or really think about what Mandella had instructed, Michael was already walking back into the room.
"Trust me," Mandella was saying, she turned and saw Michael. "Mia just remember, if you do it that way, everything will be much easier, and clearer."
With no choice, Mia nodded her head.
"Alright, lets go back to the scene we did yesterday, what was it? Act 3, scene 5?"
Michael shrugged and picked up his book, flipping through the pages deftly, "We'll find it."
"Page 159," Mia said.
And so they went on, and when it came time for the two lovers to depart with a kiss, Mia really let Michael have it.
He tried to kiss her on the cheek but she not only turned her head to let her lips meet his, she wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed him as passionately and as briefly as she could. Like two lovers, truly parting, with no knowledge of the next time they would meet.
Hoarsely, Michael whispered, "Wow."
Mandella applauded and noted that that was the best the two had ever done the scene before. Mia looked at the clock and quickly excused herself. She had a meeting with Jane Lee she would be late to.
She smiled at Mandella, and turned to Michael. He was still staring at her, wonderment and uncertainty in his eyes. Mia leaned forward onto her tows and pecked him on the cheek.
"Bye, Michael! See you tomorrow."
And than she was gone.
Michael sat down onto the coach, motionless for nearly a minute before asking, "What just happened?"
Mandella patted him on the shoulder, sympathetically. Like a child who could not possibly encompass the motive behind an action.
"Still don't believe she loves you?"
At that moment, Lilly walked into the apartment. "Hey Mandella," she proceeded to look at Michael.
Lilly shouted with frustration. "Michael! Earth to Michael! Mia isn't HERE ANYMORE! You can stop looking so stupid!"
Mandella laughed. "He doesn't believe that she likes him." Lilly walked over to the coach and smacked the back of Michael's head.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?" he asked angrily rubbing his head.
"For all the headaches you've given me." Lilly crossed her arms and glared at him. "Agh!" she shouted, and smacked him again.
"And what was that for? You can see how much my sister loves me, Mandella," he said off to the side. She shrugged, at this point, she might have done the exact same thing.
"That was for being still so clueless. Honestly Michael, I don't know what she sees in you."
"And I would be scared if you did," Mandella added. "There is a reason why it is against the law to marry a sibling. Its just gross."
"Maybe things would be a little clearer if you told me who wrote the cards," Michael said defensively. Was it so unreasonable to ask for a little unbiased help? Apparently not, he was smacked for the third time.
"God Lilly! You're going to give me a concussion!" he shouted at her. Even that was making his head hurt more. That couldn't be a good thing.
"You got another card in you're locker didn't you?" Lilly asked point blank. The idiot obviously couldn't put two and two together to equal four. As much as she didn't like the idea of her brother and her best friend dating, Lilly would rather have them dating than acting as bipolar as they were now.
"Yes," he said sulkily.
"Tina wrote the card," Mandella said simply. "Both cards."
"Okay..." Michael didn't know what to do with that piece of information. Tina, he knew, was Mia's friend, but Tina couldn't possibly like him. She never spoke to him, and generally spent lunch reading romance novels. Meanwhile, he spent his lunch doing his best to subtly watch Mia.
"But she doesn't like you..." Lilly said trying to be patient. Whoever thought her brother was a genius was sadly mistaken, as the blank look on his face would currently prove. "A girl who happens to loves spending her free time writing diligently has taken a recent interest in greeting cards, and does however, appear to like you."
"Oh thanks, that's so helpful," Michael said becoming annoyed.
"Look, dorkus," Lilly said edgily pacing in front of him. "Since you obviously can't take the hint. Mia sent the cards."
"Than why did Tina write them?" Michael really didn't understand this, what did Mia have to do with the cards that Tina wrote?
"Mia was afraid you might reject her, so she had Tina write the cards," Mandella said.
"Reject her?"
"She likes you. She wanted to say that she loves you. But was afraid you'd laugh in her face," Mandella spoke slowly. It was like trying to speak to a four year old.
"Than it wasn't Judith," he shuddered, "or anyone else who sent me those cards?"
"No it was Mia!"
"Can I see the last card?" Lilly asked. Michael pulled the card out from the back page of his "Romeo and Juliet" book.
"Roses are red, but cherries are redder Maybe she can clone fruit flies, but I like you better." Lilly read it out loud, watching as Michael slowly flushed.
"Are you sure its, Mia?" he asked, this kid just really couldn't take a hint even if it was spelt out for him.
"Would she kiss again you if she didn't like you?" Lilly asked incredulously. "Yes, I know about that, by the way," she finished as Michael stared at her in shock.
"But she's dating Kenny."
"Michael." This time it was Mandella who smacked him. However, afraid of hurting too much more, she hit him on the shoulder. "This is Mia we are talking about. She's too afraid about hurting his feelings to break up with Kenny. You have to break them up."
"But if she likes me, and she doesn't like him, why is she going out with him?"
"Didn't she just explain this?" Lilly stomped her feet. Michael had to be the densest person she knew, besides Mia.
"This next week is finals, Michael. She doesn't want to break up with him, and have him do poorly, because of her."
"Oh."
Mia was really the nicest person he knew. Sort of, she strung him on so that she wouldn't hurt the feelings of her current boyfriend... even though instead she was hurting Michael.
Ah hell, he could live with that for now. She loved him, after all.
She loved him.
--------------------
He paced in front of the window of their apartment. The limo still hadn't come. How Lilly could eat breakfast so casually at a time like this... He just didn't understand.
"Michael, pacing back and forth like someone in the hospital waiting room, really isn't going to make the limo get here any faster."
He barely heard her. A sleek black limo with little Genovian flags drove up before the building.
"She's here," he said simply. He grabbed his bag and ran down the stairs before Lilly had time to react. He paused outside of the limo before going through the open door.
He needed a moment to catch his breath so he didn't look so foolish, but more importantly, he needed a moment to speak to Mia before Lilly got there.
"Hey, Thermopolis," he said. Damn, he was still slightly out of breath.
"Hey, Michael," she smiled back at him.
He immediately sat down next to her and took her hands in his. He opened his mouth to say something, but froze, what if they were lying?
Lars watched on bemused, a hand over his smiling, and silently laughing mouth.
Mia looked at him curiously, Michael had never taking her hands in his before. This was... new. A surprising, tantalizing, wonderful new thing.
"Michael?" she asked.
He looked at her, his heart rate averaging 120 miles per hour.
There were her eyes again, those striking gray eyes that made him plummet into this feeling of contentment, of warmth, of love. Those eyes, stunning oceans of emotion, made him feel so big, so muscular, while feeling like the smallest grain of dust.
He stunned himself and Mia both as he leaned forward and kissed her fiercely.
She pulled away a minute later. "I love you," she said, now surprising herself. Since when had she decided to expose herself so completely?
"I know," he said as he smiled. Michael kissed her briefly again. "I love you, too."
Mia looked thrilled at this declaration and then confused. "You knew?"
Michael grinned at her, slipping his hand into hers. "I had some help."
"Oh," she said.
Now, Lars was openly grinning. He didn't mind working for the princess, but he personally thought that the dowager princess should have been more elaborate on topics concerning boys. Or at least someone should have been, it had taken the two long enough to get it together.
Lilly slipped into the car, and Michael pulled his hand away from Mia. This time, Mia didn't care so much. Now that she knew.
Yes, indeed. He loved her.
He really did.
-------------------
They arrived at the school to find two people waiting for them.
One was Mandella, who was extremely eager to find out if anything had happened between Michael and Mia. Michael grinned at her, and she squealed, did a cute little dance, and than proceeded to smother anyone with in a ten foot radius with hugs.
That included the second person that was waiting for them, Kenny. He was slightly put off by her hug, and looked as though he would have loved to retreat into the far corner of the school. And than he saw Mia, and this attitude instantly disappeared.
Both Michael and Mia grimaced at this. They hadn't really thought about Kenny. The third wheel, who was still, technically, the first. He enthusiastically greeted Mia, and tried to kiss her. Out of habit now, more than anything else, she turned her cheek.
She sighed as he took his books from her. It must be that she was pleased at his overwhelming kindness, or so Kenny thought. Unfortunately, Kenny was oblivious to everything around him, he didn't notice that Michael and Mia exchanged a long, slow sweet glance at each other. Even Kenny couldn't faze them now.
They five started towards the school. Michael and Kenny were on either side of Mia, Kenny holding Mia's books, and Michael holding Mia's heart.
Lilly and Mandella fell in step behind the other three. Off to the one side, Mandella suddenly grabbed a girl she knew passing by. She instantly became very gossipy and pointed out Mia to the other girl.
It was Felicia Rolland, one of the schools biggest gossips. Whatever Mandella told her, would be all over the school by the time the first lunch started. And hopefully, if things go well, there would be many very detailed stories also.
"I heard Mia's been cheating on Kenny with Michael," she said, smiling sweetly. The girl looked at the three walking together. Mandella truly had perfect timing.
Mia had gotten out a book and was leaning closely to Michael as they both read something. Kenny, was visibly annoyed at Michael's existence, and his lack of attention.
"Wow. Yea, I can't believe she would do that," the girl said before turning away.
Mandella moved through the milling students to where Lilly was waiting. They traded malicious smiles. Their plan was panning out very well.
It was time to ruin somebody's relationship.
-------------------------
Mia was distraught. Someone started a rumor that she and Michael started seeing each other behind Kenny's back.
Okay, she admitted to herself. It was entirely true. She couldn't deny that. Well, at least she couldn't deny it to herself. To everyone else who heard about it... she didn't have a choice.
How would she explain this to Kenny?
The worst part of it all was the claim that Mia was now pregnant with Michael's son. The second generation of illegitimate heirs to the thrown of Genovia had been conceived.
Lars had been in hearing range also when Mia heard this. She nearly started bawling right then. Who could be so mean to her? After seeing how upset she was by it, Lars pulled the boy off to the side and lectured him.
Even teachers were starting to hear about it. Mr. G came up to her before lunch and asked if any of the rumors were true. She denied all the rumors, he seemed relieved, and patted her on the back. Everything would be okay, he had said. Yeah, right.
Lunch was particularly gruesome. Not only did everyone stare at her the moment but Kenny found her very quickly. As he approached, she felt the room fill with a deadly silence.
"Mia," he said. He sounded like he was choking down tears.
"Mia," he said again, taking her arm and guiding her to an empty table. Hundreds of eyes followed them. "We need to talk."
Along the way Mia saw Michael. He stood frozen with a lunch tray in his hands and looked at her with a resigned horror. He knew what was happening, but he knew there was little he could do with out making anything worse. Whatever Mia did, or said, he would have to play along.
And he would have to remember through it all, Mia loved him. Not Kenny. Him. Whatever happened now, could be fixed. Just a week and a half until finals were over, and than everything would be okay.
Mia sat down, and unloaded the weight of her bag off her back. Kenny took her books that he'd been carrying and set them on the table. He didn't say anything at first, but instead fiddled with the corner of one of her books.
"I need to know if the rumors are true, Mia." He said it grimly, as though expecting the worst.
She stared at Kenny and felt a numbing dread spread through her. What should she say? There watched Michael, the boy she loved. She didn't want to hurt him. She just wanted to tell the truth and be rid of Kenny. But how horrible would it be for him to discover she didn't like him, through the truth of the rumors.
The stillness in the cafeteria became more intimidating.
"No," she whispered. "No, there really isn't much truth to the rumors."
From the corner of her eye, Mia saw Michael's shoulders sag. She felt horrible, as she knew, once again, she was hurting someone she loved. Didn't he hear her say, "isn't much truth", instead of "there is no truth"?
"Do you want there to be?" he asked.
"What?" she asked, startled out of her distraction.
"You and Michael seem to be pretty close," he said quietly putting his hands in his lap. "I don't feel like you're really in this."
Mia felt her heart race. Maybe this was the best, the perfect opportunity to get out of this bloody relationship. And move on, with Michael.
"I ...." Mia trailed off. She looked at Kenny, but felt nothing. Not like when she looked at Michael and was overwhelmed by every possible sensation. Kenny was just Kenny. Nothing special to her.
So than, why was it that she felt so obligated to not hurt him?
"Do you want to there to be some truth to the rumors?" Kenny asked again.
Mia looked over to where Michael had been standing, he shrugged at her sadly.
"No."
----------------------
Lunch was miserable for Mia. Somehow she'd managed to be too afraid to say anything once again. And now she was stuck with Kenny.
She didn't know where Michael was. She desperately wanted to talk to him, but she couldn't leave Kenny.
On top of everything else, both Lilly and Mandella were mad at Mia and wouldn't tell her why. Even Tina seemed a little frustrated. But the lunch table conversations were restrained by Kenny's presence.
What had started as a really good day turned out to really suck.
----------------------
Michael was pacing furiously in the back of the library. He had come here to be alone, and to plan. He knew somewhere inside himself that this was likely to happen. He loved Mia, but sometimes... sometimes she was just too damn sweet and caring.
He rubbed his palms together slowly, he needed to stop thinking about what happened, and start thinking about what to do.
Michael needed to figure out how to break Kenny and Mia up with out the blame going on anyone.
Lovely. And how the hell was he supposed to do that?
He finally came to lean against the wall, his head thumping hardly against the thickly painted cement cage.
Michael hated school, really he did. It was so limiting. Were he home right now, he could do a little creative internet surfing, or lyric writing. But not here. He was just smothered here. More than ever, he was just feeling smothered.
Michael picked up his bags and trudged to the exit of the library. The ancient librarian glared at him hungrily, expecting the alarms by the doors to go off any second. Not caring anymore, Michael stopped right in front of the alarms and glared back at her. He kept eye contact and triumphantly walked the barrier.
She scowled and returned to reading her steamy romance book.
--------------------------------
Michael didn't exactly know where he was going, he just sort of felt himself walking. He'd decided to skip the rest of the school day, so what? Its not like his grades would suffer from ONE absence.
Focus. That's what he needed to do. Focus.
He wandered around aimlessly, for God knows how long, until he came to the penguin house. Maybe there was some sort of twisted irony in the world that made him come here, when his current problem had to do with Mia.
So if he were sick, would he end up at the restaurant that he got food poisoning from?
Focus, Moscovitz. Focus.
He chose an abandoned carpeted bench to lie down on.
Soon, he was fast asleep.
---------------------------------
"Michael?" someone whispered in his ear. "Michael, what are you doing?"
He opened his eyes but everything was blurry. He blinked several times trying to clear the haze.
"Mia?" he asked faintly, sitting up slowly.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not Mia," Mandella said half-amused.
"I followed you here during lunch," she said. "Did you know you probably walked on half the streets of New York before finally ending up here?"
Michael appreciated what she was trying to do, but he really wasn't in the mood to be cheered up.
"What do you want?" he asked, a little more harshly than he intended.
She ignored the hostility in his voice, Mandella knew him too well. "You know, everything would be perfect right now if you had just gotten the guts to say something during lunch instead of just standing there."
He stared at her. What right did she have? What did she know?
"Lilly and I planned everything out for weeks, but no. No, once again, Michael Moscovitz. You have no balls. No offense, but its kind of becoming tiring. Trying to fix everything for you, I mean."
"Fix things?" he was just slightly less than thoroughly confused. If that even made any sense either.
"Me and Lilly planned the whole rumors thing. We figured one of you would finally get the guts, and you'd discover that you love each other. But that never happened."
"So you told me instead," he said for her.
"Exactly, and than you did exactly what you were supposed to, and you confronted her. ... so we, or actually I started the rumors with the intention of making Kenny confront Mia. Who was then supposed to dump him. Or if she didn't tell him..."
"...I was," Michael finished for her. What Mandella had just told him sunk in.
This just pissed him off. "Next time you go making plans to run or ruin my life, would you mind giving me a few days notices so I have a fucking chance at thwarting your attempts of my demise?"
Again, Mandella ignored his anger. "Michael I know you're mad, but really, I am here to help you."
"Alright Batgirl, what have you and my demented sister planned now? What's Plan B?"
"There is no Plan B."
Michael groaned. Right. This is where he walked off and let Mandella figure things out for him again. He made a move to stand up but she grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down. Hard.
"This had better be good," he growled at her.
Mandella snapped. "Why? Because you're too damn far into drowning yourself in your own pity that you have to rely on someone else? How about you think about what to do, and plan things on your own this time. Since you so obviously hate the help I'm offering."
As she was stomping out of the penguin house, Michael realized what he'd done.
"Mandella, wai—Mandella! I'm sorry! Mandella!" he nearly screamed at her. He really fucked this one up didn't he?
-------------------------
Mia was on her back, staring at her ceiling. Her mind was completely blank.
Just, blank.
She really hadn't absorbed all of what had happened earlier. First, Michael's confession, and her own. Than the rumors, and Kenny. And the way Michael and Mandella both skipped the rest of the school day.
It was just a really bad dream, and she just hadn't woken up yet.
Yes, that was it.
Her mom knocked on the door, "Mia, honey, Lilly's on the phone." Mia held out her hand and her mom gave it to her gently.
"Hello?" she asked.
"ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID?!" Lilly screamed into the phone. And than she hung up. The ringing in Mia's ears told her, clearly, as much as she'd like to be, she wasn't dreaming.
She sighed and dropped the phone off the side of her bed into a pile of clothes.
It was all true than. Everything she dreamed of, it wasn't a dream after all.
"Kenny Showalter, oh how thou plagues me," she whispered incoherently.
She would break up with him as soon as finals were over. Next week. Only one more week...
Finals were next week! How did she do this to herself? She had forgotten about finals. AGAIN. She needed Michael's help desperately, not matter what it ended up looking like. She had to pass Algebra.
Mia picked up the phone and called Lilly. "Hey," she said. "Do you want to come help me study for finals?"
The other end was quiet before she heard Lilly's response. "Sure, let me just leave a note and I'll be right there, okay?"
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When Mia opened the door, expecting to find just Lilly, she was in for a shock. There stood Lilly, Boris, and Mandella. Apparently Mandella had needed to talk to Lilly for whatever reason, and so did Boris. But Lilly was leaving, so she dragged them along. They were talking animatedly before Mia opened the door, she could hear them. But once she opened it, they were silent.
Of course, they were talking about her. Why wouldn't they be? The whole school was, and now her best friends too. Lovely.
"Come in," she said sullenly. They filed in and followed her and Lilly up to Mia's room.
Though they tried, very little studying was done. Especially when Mr. G came home and decided to practice drums. Pretty soon Tina and Kenny showed up. Lilly had called Tina on the way to Mia's house, and Kenny had spoken to Mia's mother, who said she was home.
Thank you, Mother, Mia thought sarcastically when she opened the door to find Kenny there. What was it with this world?
So much for studying.
They decided to go to Ho's Deli for a few frozen treats instead, since obviously nothing here was happening.
While they were there, Mia managed to pull Kenny off to the side.
"Kenny, we need to talk."
"... okay?" he was looking at her very confused, but Mia was resolute. It had to happen now. There were other people here, so he wouldn't dare make a scene, would he?
"I lied, Kenny," she said simply. Hoping he'd take the hint.
"W-what?" he stuttered. "Y-You d-don't like chocolate chip ice cream? I can buy you another flavor if you don't want it."
Mia sighed, he was really dense. "Not about that Kenny, I meant... I meant about..."
God, she couldn't do it.
"Never mind," she said sadly.
He looked at her strangely. But went back with her to where their friends were sitting.
Boris some how noticing her distress tried to cheer her up. Unsuccessfully.
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I don't know if it actually is against the law to marry your brother or sister, but I really hope it is. The whole idea just makes me want to vomit.
I think this chapter was too long. I feel it makes it kind of hard to read. I will try not to make the last few so long, okay?
Review?