"Maybe he hasn't read the magazines," Mom said as she cuddled me in my bed. I couldn't stop crying.
"But they are lying!" I cried.
"About what?" she asked, looking at her copy. "About the pictures of you and Michael partially clothed? Or the pictures of you and Eddie kissing in the park? Or about you and Eddie leaving the Plaza together?"
"Well..." I said, re-reading the story. "Nothing I guess. But why should they be allowed to show all this? Aren't I supposed to have a parent sign off or something? Since I'm underage I mean." That was what Michael had told me after that incident at his place.

"This is public domain. You are in a public place...a very public place that the press goes to for any and all celebrity sightings."

"Michael is never going to understand me."
"Well, Michael knows how close you and Eddie have become right? He knows you guys are just friends, right?"
"W-We don't really talk about it all that much. We barely see each other so we kind of just focus on one another...I mean, sure he thinks Eddie is a creep...but he's just been a silly jealous boy...Ugh, I just totally gave him a reason to hate me and never to trust me ever again."
"Mia..."
"I never thought of Eddie like that so I didn't see a reason to worry about it!"

"Did you tell him about Lilly's video?"
"No."
"Or about hanging out at the Plaza? Or that Eddie was a prince?"
"No and no..."
"Why not?"
"Eddie asked me not to tell anyone he was a prince."
"Mia...sometimes with relationships you have to tell each other little secrets that other people tell you..."
"Did you tell Mr. G I was a princess?" I asked.
She nodded. "And he loved me, and YOU, enough to respect that it was a secret. I think you weren't giving Michael enough credit."
"I always manage to make a mess of things," I said sorrowfully.
"Don't be so dramatic. Michael has a good head on his shoulders. Go give him a call..."

I tried calling. Over and over again. He didn't pick up. Denis did once though and told me that Michael had gone out with some friends from school. Great. He is escaping into intelligent conversations and not topics that include farts and Star Wars.

Of course he would rather that. Why would he want to bother with a sixteen year old princess that almost failed algebra (even if her stepfather was the teacher)? I mean, what do I really have to offer him? He clearly can't have an intelligent conversation with me like he can with that Shelia chick.
I played my guitar to drown my sadness. I had mastered the one song I planned on playing for Michael. Key word is planned. I doubt he'd want to talk to me though. I hate myself right now.
Grandmere stopped by later in the evening. "It is terrible to see this article!" she said, shaking the magazine in my face.
"I know...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"
"What right do they have!" she said. I was kind of surprised. She was taking my side in this?
"I-I, huh?"
"Well, they did not even ask permission first of all, and what in God's name are you wearing?"
"Um, Grandmere, you aren't even mad that they are making it look like I am making out with the guy in public?"
"Oh please Amelia!" she said, exasperated. "I have learned one thing in my time in America."
"Yes?"
"American's practically have sex in public and no one bats an eye. This is nothing."
"Oh."
"And they discuss Michael's little band here! What kind of free press! Terrible news!"
Okay, so she wasn't so upset that this could possibly be bringing the end of the love of my life's and my relationship, but she was still showing SOME type of emotion.
Her cellular rang. "Yes? I don't care. I want all the issues to be removed, immediately! Do you understand me? Right now. I don't care about free press! I don't care if we are in America. I say now and I mean now. Otherwise they can just forget about- what? Oh, okay, very well then. I am glad we have reached an agreement. Good night."
"Well?" I asked hopefully.
"In future references to you that band will not be mentioned," she said happily.
I rolled my eyes, "Grandmere! What am I supposed to do about Michael!"
"I am sure if you wrote him a note of some sort things would be settled."
Yeah, maybe back when she was courting Grandpere. "Thank you for your help, Grandmere..."

MICHAEL:
"Hey Den, I'm meeting up with my group for computer science, okay? Then I think we're going to a movie. If Mia calls let her know, okay?"
"Sure man."
I had kind of gotten over this morning. Just because he knew how she liked her coffee and he was going to the masque didn't mean something was going on with them. Just because he mentioned Grandmere inviting him to the masque didn't mean that she even liked him. No, he was just Mia's friend.
Okay, I still hate the guy though. I think he has an ulterior motive here. I mean, not many guys befriend Mia without falling for her. I tried to not fall for her and look at me...well, I am the lucky one though. Kenny Showalter didn't turn out so lucky. This guy wouldn't either, right?

I worked on my project with my group at the computer lab at school. "What movie are we going to see tonight?" one of the kids, Elvar, asked.
Elvar was a cool kid. He was from Iceland, a place I wanted to bring Mia to someday because she always loved it.
"I was thinking Bad Santa," Kyle asked, fixing a typo on the project.
"I was thinking about seeing that with my girlfriend," I said, pointing out another mistake in the program.
Sheila looked at me funny, "I thought you guys had broken up?"
I looked at her like she had three heads, "No, why would we?"
"Well," she said, reaching into her bag. "This says that you have..."
I looked at the magazine she took out. It had pictures of Mia with Eddie. Laughing. Kissing. Holding hands. Him looking at her like she was the only woman in the world. Then there were pictures of us looking mad and cold toward one another. "N-No," I stammered. "I-I gotta go." I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. I wanted to throw up. Seeing her kissing that guy....

I ran all the way home, ignoring the subway. I didn't want to wait around for that. I threw my bag in the front hall and slammed my bedroom door shut.
"Hey, Mikey, Mia called earlier!" Den called into my room.
"I don't want to talk to her!" I yelled.
I heard him talking to Lilly who was with him in the kitchen.
A knock came to my door, "What's going on?" Lilly asked softly.
"Lilly, I just really wanna be alone," I snapped.
"What are you so upset about? Did you get a bad grade or-"
"No. I-I just want to be alone. Can you handle that?"

The next day she kept trying to call me. Denis told her that I was working on finals. I'm glad that he doesn't ask questions, although I am sure both he and Lilly have seen the pictures now. I came out of my room once to go to the bathroom and another time to leave for the bar for our show.
I saw Mia sitting right up front, she looked worried and nervous. I hadn't answered any of her calls or e-mails. I refused to look at her for an extended period of time. I just couldn't look at the girl who had broken my heart.
I couldn't understand why she would be here though. She caught me sneaking out the back door. "Michael, we need to talk," she said hoarsely.
"About what, Mia? That I was right? That all these months I've had a feeling and you kept pushing it aside, promising me that it wasn't true? Mia, I- I can't even look at you right now. I'm sorry, I- I just can't."
"Michael-"
"Mia, I get it, okay? I get it now. He's a fucking prince. Good job, you got the guy you always wanted. A Josh Richter type has actually accepted you. Congratulations. I'm happy for you. And I'm sure Grandmere is happy too."
"Michael, those pictures...they weren't real. We were just pretending..."
"Oh, and you 'forgot' to tell me about them? Right, Mia. Please, if you didn't have feelings for him you would have told me about it before. And what makes me even sicker is that I felt guilty for not believing you!"
She started crying. "Y-You don't understand, Michael."
"Sorry, I'm not a God damned prince so I must be too dumb to understand what it means when I see my girlfriend kissing someone else."
"Please, don't be like this. Lis-"
"Don't tell me how to be Mia. I just don't get it. I mean, you start freaking out because some girl comes to my fucking shows every week. I don't even give her the time of day for crying out loud! You get all paranoid, thinking that I did something with her. I always make it perfectly clear that you are the only one and what do I get? Embarassment in the damn tabloids. Everyone saw that. Everyone thinks I'm the biggest fool. You made me a fool Mia. You just cared about yourself. You could have had the decency to break it off with me before you started it all with him. It would have sucked but I would have dealt with it. I would have had at least some respect for you."
"Michael..." she said, reaching for my hand.
I pulled away quickly, "Have a good life, Mia. I'm sure Eddie can give you that."