MIA:

I expected him to lay down next to me. I had felt like we had grown close in the short week we had known one another. He really listened to my thoughts like they were valid ones. Ones that Grandmama and Papa had ignored. The ones that only Mama listened to. The ones that Mama had respected.

I felt a tear escape my eye and slide down my cheek.

"You okay?" Michael whispered, leaning over me.

"I'll be fine. Can I be alone for a little while?" I asked, turning toward the wall.

"Sure. I'm going to meet some friends at the diner. I'll see you in the morning."

"Certainly." But secretly I was hoping he would simply retire to his own room and read that 'Great American Novel' he's always blabbering on about.

I spent the night miserably alone. I still hadn't heard from Mama and Papa. I had a sinking suspicion that my brother was a volunteer in the Genovian troops. And that something terrible would happen to him. Okay, I knew he was a volunteer but I held out hope that he had lost his nerve at the last minute....

I cried, as I did every night, myself to sleep very early. I woke early enough to bathe before anyone would see the blotchy cheeks. "Oh, hello Michael," I said leaving the bathroom to find him only in a thin pair of boxers.

"I didn't know anyone was awake," he said covering the little hole in the middle of the shorts.

I looked at the ever so interesting ceiling, "Yes. I find it best to wake at the same time every day. It is better for the body to have a regular sleep cycle."

"That's what my mother says," he replied, staring at his bedroom door.

"I'm going back to my room," I said quickly as I passed him.

"I'm going to brush my teeth."

I couldn't explain the feeling in my belly when I saw him in the hall. All I can say is that it was the same one that I had that day after the beach, when the dog (who I now know as Freud) pulled down his towel. Also, I can say that I don't hate that unfamilar feeling.

I sat on the edge of my bed and looked out my window to the buzzing New York traffic. Taxi cabs were going up and down Fifth Avenue like little bugs.

I had sincerely thought I was going to be fine. But then I listened to the radio Michael had bragged about. It was the worst mistake of my life. I would have rathered not knowing about the palace, my home, being destroyed. About the two Genovians being killed. Well, also the Americans and Italians but still. Genovians were my people. It was going to look bad that my family had left. People would no longer trust us to protect them.

A few weeks went by before I finally I let my secret slip to Michael. He was asking me about the royal family of Genovia. What the populace thought of them leaving the country in secret.

"They told their people to leave before they did," I explained. I laughed to myself about talking in third person.

"They left before you did," he argued sincerely. He was seriously upset that 'those people' had left me and my family to a possible attack.

I giggled. "Well, yes, but they encouraged the populace to evacuate. To go to the country side-"

"I read that the family sent the princess to a totally different country. What do you think about that?" he asked. "I mean, the average person cannot afford to do something like that."

"You sure have been educating yourself about my home, haven't you? Well, I happen to think it's was smart of them to send her to another country."

"But is it fair?"

"Of course it is."

"How?"

"Because I would have been killed otherwise," I snapped, not realizing right away what I had just said. I continued washing the dishes that he was drying.

"What?" he asked, stopping the drying.

"Huh?" I asked. Oh no. I had slipped. He would know.

"You said you would have been killed…I was talking about the royal family."

I looked for a diversion. Come on Mrs. Moscovitz…this is the perfect time to interrupt me and Michael!

"Mia, hello?" Michael said, waving his hand in front of my face. No luck.

"Nothing."

I hoped he wouldn't push. "Mia…"

"Okay, you cannot, I repeat, cannot tell a single soul," I said waving a dish towel at him.

"Scout's honor," he said holding up his right hand.

"I have no idea what you mean," I said confused.

"Its- never mind. What's going on?"

"Let's go to your room," I whispered, pulling him away from the sink.

I saw him gulp as he threw the rag into the sink and followed behind me to his neatnik room. I sat on his bed and he leaned against his closet. "So?"

"I am the princess of Genovia. Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Grimaldi Renaldo. But I prefer Mia. It's a nickname my Mama gave me when I was a baby. Her last name was Thermopolis before she married Papa. So when they sent me here they gave me a name that was fairly American. I needed to leave Genovia," I said stammering. I let myself cry. Who cared if Michael saw me crying? He knew I was a princess and he'd seen me cry throughout the week (I saw him peek in to check on us, he must have heard me sniffling). "So I wouldn't be recognizable they had me dye my hair dark. Which I hated because Elizabeth over in England had always been jealous of my beautiful blonde hair and now I am nothing but a silly brunette..." I knew I was blabbering but sincerely did not care.

He bit his lip as he took in this information. "I've been acting kind of…"

"Kind of what?" I asked, wiping away tears. He came over to me and gave me a hanky from his pocket (what boy carries one around like that?).

"Forward with you…"

"Because I am a princess?" I asked. "Or because I am a girl?"

"Well…I guess both. I shouldn't act like I do around any girl…but not a princess," he replied, pacing.

"Michael, do not treat me any differently, please," I pleaded. "I am just Mia," I said standing up in front of him.

I really am a freak. I am just as tall as he is. Well, almost. I felt my lip quivering. "Michael, please, say something," I whispered.

"Why didn't you say something before?" he asked softly, taking my hands in his own.

"Would it have made a difference? Besides, I didn't want anyone to know…to treat me differently. It just slipped out."

He wiped one of my tears away with his thumb, "It's okay," he whispered. "I won't tell anyone," he said leaning his forehead against mine.

Was he going to kiss me? Please God, let him kiss me. I promise I will never curse at Grandmama's portrait ever again. I will brush that hairless rat (a/n, I looked up possible people she may have named her dog, Rommel, after and realized that she probably would not have named him that just yet. Rommel was a WWII German war hero. Very unlikely that Grandmama's dog would be named that, you think?) that she calls a dog's fur every evening. I will not complain about being in America again if you let him kiss me right now. I'll even pay attention in church. Please.

I bit my lower lip my instinct as he leaned down to cover my lips with his own. As they were about to touch his mother knocked on the door. "Michael, is Mia with you? Why is this door shut?"

He pulled away quickly and got the door. "Hey Mom. Sorry, we were just talking about something."

"Talking?" she said with a raised eyebrow. "I think you need to have a talk with your father. He's in the den. Mia, go back to Lilly's room. She and Tina were looking for you."

I brushed past Michael and felt my cheeks redden. "Thank you Mrs. Moscovitz."

"Where were you?" Lilly demanded.

"No where," I said simply.

"Why were you crying?" Tina asked, concerned.

"What did Michael say?" Lilly asked, ready to go in for the kill.

"Nothing. We were talking about the war," I explained.

"He isn't supposed to talk about it with you," Lilly replied. "I'll talk to him-"

"No, I brought it up," I explained. "I mentioned the palace attack."

"I read that the Italians were going to try to capture the royal family. They didn't know that they had moved out and the Americans had taken over. They were going to kidnap the princess."

I set my jaw. "Oh?" I asked, straightening out my already made bed. Oh God. I could have been a prisoner of war!

"Yeah. See, her grandfather, the crowned prince totally embarrassed the axis powers. And I guess it's really well known that the princess is his favorite grandchild, as well as the third in line for the crown. After her dad I mean…her brother disappeared or something. Anyways, hey, you probably knew them, right?" Tina said talking a mile a minute.

"No, why would I?" I asked sitting on my bed and keeping my arms folded so they wouldn't see how badly I was shaking.

"Lilly said you were the daughter of a politician…"

Lilly saw that I was getting upset so she changed the subject. "Hey, what about that dance tomorrow night? Mia, you should come with us. Meet a nice boy or something."

I shook my head, "No thank you. I would rather-"

"What, stay here with that stick in the mud Michael?" Tina asked with a laugh.

"Tine," Lilly said warningly. "That's fine Mia. It's your choice."

I avoided Michael that night by going for a walk with Lilly to Central Park. I had been in the city for a month and had not yet seen the famous landmark. "I hope Tina didn't offend you earlier…with anything she said. Sometimes she doesn't think."

"Oh, no. It's fine. Perfectly fine. I didn't….it's fine. Can we change the subject?"

She smiled, "Fine, do you have a crush on my brother?"

I turned red, "No. He is a good friend. He was my first American friend. I intend on keeping a correspondence when I return to Genovia."

"He told me he liked someone," Lilly said, kicking a stone.

I stopped short. "He did?"

"Yes. I'm trying to convince him to bring her over sometime."

"Judith?" I guessed.

She started laughing, "No. That girl is pathetic, isn't she?"

"Who then?"

"I don't know. I know it isn't her though. He told me he thought she was a pest."

"What girls does he talk to?" I asked.

"For someone who merely likes him as a friend you seem awfully concerned about his dating habits."

I blushed, "Okay, maybe more than a friend. But I have not known him very long."

"So? Has he kissed you yet?" she asked excitedly.

I shook my head, "No…I doubt he looks at me like that," I said linking my arm with hers. "He looks at me like a little sister, that's it. ANd it would not be proper to kiss someone you have not dated for at least a month."

She shook her head, "No…more than that. He never talks to girls. And he sits with us at lunch."

"Probably because of Sylvia. He did say he liked her necklace the other day," I replied, deflated.

"Only because she was fooling around with it. She's not his type."

"But I am? What am I?"

"Perfect. You are pretty and you don't act like you know it."

"I am not," I replied, self consciously wrapping my straight hair around my forefinger.

"See? And you don't act like other girls. You have an invested interest in the war. You aren't worried about meeting handsome soldiers on leave from West Point. You would rather sit and listen to a news program than go to a dance. He's like that too. He tells my parents he's doing homework at Felix's, but he's really listening to the radio there."

"I see," I replied, realizing how he knew about the Palace attack when I did.

"I think he likes you," Lilly said suddenly. "And that you like him. But you are too afraid because you know you are going back to Genovia. He is afraid to pursue you because he knows he is going into the Navy in January."

"In January?" I asked, stopping short once again.

"Yes. January. His birthday is the fifth. He is enlisting soon after that. He hasn't mentioned it?"

"We try not to discuss anything related to the war. He said Felix was going to enlist next week."

She nodded, "That's going to be sad. His older brother is there too. All his poor mother will have is his younger brother and sister. Poor woman."

We found ourselves back at their apartment building. "What does one do to let a boy know that she likes him?" I asked suddenly. With only a month in America I was acting just like a regular teenager already!

"With Michael you need to beat it into his head," she replied, opening the door.

I laughed and entered the building. "I can't do that."

"Then we'll plan something spectacular!" Lilly said linking her arm with mine.

The next day we went over to Sylvia's. It was decided that I would go to the dance that night with them. I would borrow a dress from Sylvia (since she had more dresses than Lilly. They told me I would have to look sexier than I do normally, that I would wear eye shadow and red lipstick! Imagine me! Sexy? Grandmama and Papa would flip out!). They would return later in the evening before the dance to do my hair.

I had successfully avoided Michael all that day, between visiting Sylvia's and hiding out in Lilly's room. He didn't make it very easy though. He kept trying to get into Lilly's room with a pile of excuses. Maybe it was to see me, but maybe they were viable reasons. In any case, I was finally going to be treated like a normal teenage girl.

I wasn't having Grandmama dress me. I had girls my own age getting me ready. Treating me like one of the gang. I felt normal for the first time, not like a precious piece of glass.

"Bobby pin," Sylvia said holding a curl in place.

"Blot," Laura said holding toilet paper to my mouth. I had never worn lipstick before so this was quite an adventure. "You can keep that lipstick. I don't look good with red. I'm not dramatic looking enough."

"I am?" I said laughing nervously.

"Perfectly dramatic and European," Tina assured me in a rather, shall I say, dramatic voice.

I smiled after I blotted.

"He'll fall head over heels."

"He'll drop that stupid novel he is reading and get dressed to escort you, I have no doubt," Sylvia promised. "If he doesn't then he does not deserve you and we'll find someone better."

I looked at Lilly. She had told them. "Oh, I don't know about that. I just want to have fun tonight."

The others left the room before I did. "I'll make sure he's alert," Lilly promised with a wink.

I heard them talking to him. He was asking what I was doing. I took that as my cue to leave the room and enter the den.

"She's going to the dance?" he asked kind of shocked.

"Yes, I am," I answered as I entered the room. They all turned to see his expression.

"Oh, hey Mia."

"Hi Michael," I replied, standing up stick straight.

"Wow….Thermopolis, you look….great," he said in a bit of shock.

"I don't normally?" I teased. I'm a terrible flirt!

"N-No, I mean…You do but….all dressed up…"

I looked at Sylvia who was beaming. "Well shall we girls?" she asked.

"Do you all have dates and stuff?" Michael asked, looking nervously at me.

"Some of us do," Laura replied. "Some of us do not. We are meeting the boys at the dance-"

"Maybe you need someone to walk you girls to the dance?" Michael offered, joining us.

"And who would want that job?" Lilly asked, batting her eyes, teasing her brother. "I mean, not you. You've seen us leaving here before without offering to take us."

He quickly glanced at me, "I have nothing better to do."

Lilly laughed, "Fine. Get changed though. They will not let you in dressed like that."