Author's Notes: So I think this chapter's a little bit more exciting. At least, I hope it is. HUGE thanks to all of you who've reviewed so far! I absolutely love getting feedback on what I write. It's not necessary but is very much appreciated. In this chapter, Amelia has her first encounter with Lana Weinberger and Josh Richter. And she also befriends Lilly Moscovitz and Boris Pelkowski.. AND she has her first encounter with a certain boy we all know and love! But she doesn't know it's him yet. She'll actually meet him soon. And next chapter is the chapter where we will drop the whole Amelia thing and start calling her Mia.

I'm not sure if the format of this is getting a little bit confusing. Bold titles in capitals are the dates of diary entries. Italics underneath them are the entries themselves, but I leave the dialogue Amelia writes in the entries un-italicized. Diary entries end when the italics stop. The names of the characters saying the dialogue in a diary entry is bolded. If it's too hard for you guys to follow, please let me know. I'm not sure about it.

And I'm sorry about the awkward spacing-ness. I'm not sure how it does that, it always looks fine in Word when I write it, but then it uploads funny and puts big spaces where there aren't supposed to be spaces. I don't know..

I hope you guys like this one. It's a little longer. I wanted it to be shorter, but I wanted to include everything that I did in this chapter and not have to break it into two smaller chapters. Feedback would be very much appreciated. Happy reading!

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[TUESDAY, JANUARY 18 10:00 PM]

          School starts tomorrow.

          I've had a blast these two past days, shopping and going out for meals with Mom, Frank, and Rocky. Lars comes with us, of course, but I think Mom and Frank are getting accustomed to it fairly well. It's so wonderful to finally feel as if I really belong somewhere like I belong with them. Grandmere's going home in a few days and I don't think I could be any happier. I don't think I'll miss her at all this next year. She'll be visiting once every month for a few days, though. Just to check up on me and make sure I'm still fit to be a princess. She needs to keep her eye on me. Or so she says. It's not like I'm going to do anything crazy, though.

          I'm nervous about starting school tomorrow. I know I've said this all before, but I'm so nervous that the other kids are going to think I'm a total freak. Last night I had a huge fight with Grandmere. I asked her if I could just maybe go to school alone and not have to bring Lars. The other students will think I'm weird enough already – the fact that I'm a freakishly tall and underdeveloped sophomore – without me bringing my bodyguard everywhere with me. She flat-out refused and I, stupidly, argued her on it.

          I should know by now that when I argue with Grandmere, I never, ever win.

          What was I thinking moving to America?

          The next morning, Amelia was awake before her alarm went off. She had tossed and turned all night, trying desperately to sleep but every attempt failed, and as a result she knew that she'd be blotchy and puffy that morning. Great. Just what she needed on her first day at her new school.

          Pulling her uniform clothes out of the closet, she trudged into the bathroom and got in the shower. After shaving, washing and conditioning her hair, she dressed in her uniform and brushed her teeth. She then blow-dried her long blonde hair straight and applied some quick mascara and pink tinted lip gloss.

          Sighing, she stared at herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the back of her door. For once in her life, Amelia looked like a regular girl, not the princess of a small European country. This was completely what she had wanted ever since that day that they told her she was a princess, wasn't it?

          Amelia pasted a fake, empty smile on her face and then headed down the hallway to the kitchen, where her mother and Lars waited, gigantic smiles on both their faces. They lit up even more when they spotted Amelia's smiling face. Wow. The fake smile was a winner. Who'd have thought?

          "Honey!" Helen greeted her daughter with a hug. "Are you super super excited for your first day of American school?"

          Amelia tried to sound enthusiastic, but it came out completely wrong. "Yes."

          "Oh, Amelia," her mother said, a look of concern overtaking her face. "Are you nervous, sweetie?"

          She tried to lie. "No, not really." And from the look on her mother's face, she knew that her mother hadn't bought it. "Yeah. I'm very nervous. Should I be? I mean, is there really anything to be nervous about, or am I just being totally and completely silly? Because, I mean, I do that all the time. Worry for no reason, I mean. I don't know. I'm just really afraid that no one will like me and they'll all think I'm a huge freak because I'm a princess."

          Helen took a deep breath, obviously taken aback by Amelia's sudden outburst. "Don't worry. You'll be fine." She patted Amelia's arm reassuringly. "Lars is ready to take you in the limo. We've made all the arrangements with the principal at Albert Einstein, but do you want me to come with you, too? Just as reassurance. I wouldn't mind."

          Amelia smiled gratefully at her mother, but shook her head. "I need to do this on my own."

          And with that, she followed Lars out to the waiting limo in front of the apartment building. She sat in the back by herself while Lars drove, and was quiet the whole way to school. Her mother's words echoed in her head. You'll be fine. She had sounded so certain. Amelia just wished that she could have that belief in herself.

            [WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 9:30 AM]

          I made it to school alive.

          I'm HERE!

          There's a lot of totally cute boys at this school. Not that any of them would be interested in me, of course, but still. They're amazingly good looking. And there's a cute guy with blonde, surfer-esque hair that has the locker next to mine. He's very, very cute. His name's Josh Richter. I overheard one of his friends calling him that. But he's a senior, I think, and he reminds me of this really gorgeous prince I met in Genovia that was a total and complete jerk. So I guess that's kind of a turnoff.

          Right now, I'm sitting in my history class. Everyone is staring at me. Well, maybe not everyone, but it sure feels as if they are. Gosh, this is way more awkward then I'd imagined that it would be. The teacher introduced me to the class this morning. In front of EVERYONE. I felt as if I wanted to melt into the floor.

Teacher: Class, we have a new student at school today! Please welcome Amelia Thermopolis Renaldo. She's the princess of the small European country of Genovia. Amelia, please stand up.

          What choice did I HAVE in the matter? I couldn't just refuse to stand up. So I did. And then people started talking.

Girl (I think her name was Lana) with perfect, pretty long blonde hair and gorgeous boys sitting around her, the girl who's dating the guy with the locker next to mine (of course he'd have to be dating a perfect girl like her – nothing is EVER fair in this world we live in): Ew, who'd actually make her princess of their country? What kind of country is it, a country full of freaks?

Her friends: (laughter)

          How utterly and completely embarrassing was that? And then the teacher heard that comment, so of course she had to defend me. And now she's droning on and on about European history, and I, of course, know all of this. Grandmere made me learn about it. She says that when you're a princess, knowing about the history of the world is important. Mostly, I just found it boring. But I guess it's coming in handy now, because I already know all this stuff the teacher's saying.

          [WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 12:00 PM]

            It's lunchtime now. I made it through my whole history class alive. And algebra really wasn't that bad, I guess. Frank, or Mr. Gianini, as I'm supposed to call him during school hours, didn't pick on me or anything. So I guess I'm sort of lucky. He said after class that he'd help me with some stuff that I don't quite understand if I wanted to, which would be a relief.

          After history, I was walking out in the hallway down to my locker, and this guy totally bumped into me. I spilled my papers and my pens all over the floor. So I went to pick them all up and I'm leaning down and I'm turning all red and blushing like I always do whenever something embarrassing ever happens to me.

Boy: I'm so sorry for bumping into you like that.

          He handed me a pen. At this point, I looked up at him, and I found myself looking into the most beautiful deep brown eyes I've ever seen. And of course, me being who I am, I didn't say anything. I just turned an even deeper shade of red, if that's even possible. I'm not sure if it was. But if it had have been a possibility, I would have. Anyways, so he's handing me this pen. So I took it from him, and he continued to help me pick up my things.

Me:  Thanks.

Boy: No problem.

          And then he smiled, looking straight into my eyes. I noticed what beautiful, amazing teeth he has. At this point, we had finished picking up all my stuff and he stood up. There was an ordinary looking brown haired girl standing about a few feet away that I hadn't noticed at all during our whole awkward exchange, and she was tapping her foot impatiently. The nice boy who helped me pick up my books turned away from me and towards her.

Boy: Sorry about that, Judith. I'm coming.

          I guess Judith's the girl who was watching us. The boy starts walking towards her. She was smirking and as the boy who helped me pick up my books walked towards her, she reached out her hand and grabbed his with hers, and then they walked off towards the cafeteria together, hand in hand. And he left me standing all alone by myself, holding all the papers that I'd just knocked over in all my clumsy princess glory.

          Three cheers for Princess Amelia.

          Amelia finished her lunch and snapped her diary shut, throwing it into her messenger bag carefully. Next class was called "Gifted and Talented" and Amelia had absolutely no idea what on earth it was for or what she should bring. Sighing, she headed off to her locker to get a book to read and a notebook, just in case.

          And of course, Lars followed her.

          Reaching the G & T classroom, she walked in and discovered that there was no one there yet. She sat down in a desk by herself and pulled her diary out of her bag, placing it on her desk carefully. She also pulled out the book she had brought, and the pen that the boy had picked up off the floor for her earlier.

          She opened her book and began to read, as other students began filing into the classroom. First to join her was a boy clad in a sweater vest and carrying a violin case, along with a short, pug-faced girl with short black hair that was tied back in a few messy ponytails who was carrying a large textbook. Those two sat down at the table in front of Amelia and began talking quietly to each other.

          A few more students walked in. Amelia noticed that they were not only sophomores, but freshmen, juniors, and seniors as well. Nervous, she turned back to her book. Unable to concentrate, she looked up a few minutes later to see the boy who bumped into her in the hallway and his beautiful brown hair, perfect smile, and pretty brown eyes walk in and sit down across the classroom from her.

          The teacher still hadn't joined the class yet, and Amelia couldn't help herself from staring at the boy. She became so focused on staring at him, that she didn't even notice when the girl with the pug-face and short black hair turned around and began to speak to her.

          When Amelia finally shook herself out of her reverie, she noticed that the girl was staring at her and waiting for her to speak. "Oh, uh, hi?" Amelia said awkwardly, her voice tripping over the words.

          "Hi," she answered back, with a friendly smile. "Are you new here? I'm Lilly Moscovitz." She extended her hand to Amelia, and Amelia shook it tentatively. The girl seemed friendly enough.

          "Yeah, I'm new. I'm Amelia," she paused. "Thermopolis." She decided against using her royal family name and instead, opted to use her mother's name. Something about it just felt so much more right.

          "Oh, you're the princess one. We've heard a lot about you lately," she answered. "This is my boyfriend, Boris Pelkowski." Lilly gestured to the boy sitting beside her, who was playing the violin that he had been carrying earlier. "Boris, this is Amelia Thermopolis. That princess girl from Genovia."

          Boris set down his violin for a moment and turned to face Amelia. "Nice to meet you," he said, in an awkward sounding Russian voice.

          The teacher still hadn't come into the class, and Amelia was beginning to wonder what was going on. Glancing in the boy who had picked up her pen's direction, she noticed that he had opened up his books and was beginning to write furiously, his dark hair falling in his eyes. Turning her attention back to Lilly, who was waiting patiently for Amelia to respond, she asked. "Where's the teacher? I mean, what exactly is this class, even?"

          "Gifted and talented," answered Lilly, as if it was obvious. "It's a class for people who are just that – gifted and talented. Our teacher hardly ever comes to class. Her name's Mrs. Hill. You'll probably meet her sometime next week. She comes to class about that often. We've been in this class since last semester, so everyone here already knows everyone. You're the new girl." She paused to take a breath. "Who's this guy?" she asked, nodding her head in Lars' direction. He sat beside Amelia silently.

          Amelia's cheeks reddened. "He's my bodyguard. He goes with me everywhere."

          "Oh, that's cool," Lilly answered. She seemed to be utterly unbothered by this information. "So, who have you had the pleasure of meeting so far at this lovely institution of learning, or so they call it?" She smirked.

          "Nobody's really talked to me so far. You and Boris are the first to introduce yourselves. I guess everyone else just thinks I'm weird. My locker's next to this boy named Josh Richter's. Tall, kind of has that surfer look going on?" Amelia said, pausing.

          "Josh Richter. Otherwise known as the most popular guy in school. Many girls would also say that he is the hottest. He's dating a sophomore. Lana Weinberger, one of the biggest jerks in school and also one of the most popular girls, probably as a result of the fact that she's dating Josh. These two belong to the A-crowd. They think they're all that." Lilly answered, a knowledgeable tone present in her voice.

          "She made fun of me in history class today," Amelia said, not knowing why she was actually telling this Lilly girl all of this. Somehow, Lilly just seemed trustworthy. And friendly. And she didn't even care about the fact that Amelia had a bodyguard.

          "Yeah. That sounds Like Lana. She makes fun of everyone who's not in her crowd." Lilly said.

          Amelia decided not to mention the boy that she had bumped into in the hallway to Lilly, for some reason. It just seemed like something she'd rather keep secret. She wasn't completely sure why. Looking up at him, she saw that he had stopped writing and was holding his pen in one hand and gazing off into the distance with those beautiful deep brown eyes.

          Amelia bit her lip.

            [WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19 9:45 PM]

          My first day of school was hell. ABSOLUTE HELL.

          Okay, I'm over-exaggerating that a little bit. Actually, I'm exaggerating that a lot. Because in all actuality, it really wasn't that bad. It could have been worse. I could have done something totally and completely embarrassing, but luckily it didn't go to that extreme. I guess there's always tomorrow for that, though.

          Actually, it was alright. I'm glad I met that girl, Lilly Moscovitz. Her boyfriend, Boris Pelkowski, is kind of weird. He's a total mouth breather, and the whole sweater vest thing's a little bit on the strange side. Apparently he's a really talented concert violinist, as Lilly told me. But Lilly seems like a really nice girl. It's actually been a long time since I've met someone that nice like that. She seemed totally genuine.

          In my Biology class fourth period, after G & T, I met this other guy named Kenny Showalter. We're biology partners and he kept talking to me all class long about something called anime. I'm not quite sure what anime is, but Kenny tried to explain it to me and I think it's some sort of Japanese cartoon thing. Sounds like a total snooze. But I guess he was nice enough. Sort of geeky. But hey, at least I've got someone to talk to in that class now. And when he wasn't talking about anime, he was talking about either science fiction or this thing he's in at school called Computer Club.

          Lilly actually invited me to hang out with her on Friday night. We're going to have a sleepover at her apartment, and I'm totally excited. Another friend of hers who goes to AEHS, Tina Hakim Baba, is also coming. Apparently, she also has a bodyguard because her father's the owner of some huge oil corporation and they have tons of money.

          So school isn't going that badly. I actually have friends.

          The boy who picked up my pens and papers, the boy with the beautiful brown eyes and perfect smile is still a complete mystery, however. Oh, gosh, who am I kidding? I have to push all thoughts of him out of my head. First of all, he's beautiful and he'd never even know that I exist. And second of all, that Judith girl. His girlfriend.

          At least I get to stare at him while we're in G & T. Judith's not in that class.

          Three cheers for the fact that I actually made it through my first day at Albert Einstein High School!