Author's Notes
Daydreamer-022: I do think that it's a bit soon for them to be such close friends. I'm trying to make it happen between them as realistically as I can, but I do agree that they're unrealistically close after knowing each other only about a week. I don't know what I'm going to do about that.
HandsOff: The reason it might tend to sound "english" might be because I'm Canadian. I didn't know that Americans don't use the phrases "phone my friend" or "marks" in reference to grades, so I'm using the wording that sounds natural to me, and I didn't even notice that. If it bothers any of you, I'm sorry.
Lilly: I don't think I'll be writing from Michael's point of view in this story. This story is mostly focused on Michael and Mia's relationship through Mia's eyes, though someday I would really like something from Michael's perspective, so maybe in the future.
To the rest of you who have been faithfully reading and reviewing, thanks a lot. I love getting reviews. It makes my day. And special thanks to all of you who've added me to your author alert list! I'm surprised that that many people are actually reading what I'm writing. Thank you so much to all of you.
I don't know how long this will be even approximately, I'm writing the chapters as I go and I don't really even have a plan for the whole story at all. Please note that this chapter takes place a few weeks after the last chapter did.
This chapter is REALLY long. And the characters might be super out-of-character, but this is sort of an alternate universe piece anyways, so I guess I can do what I want.
[MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10 4:00 PM]
I just got home from school about half an hour ago. The phone rang right as I walked in the door, and neither Mom or Frank were home, so I had to pick up the phone. Just my luck – it was Grandmere. I guess she just had to remind me about how she still exists. I mean, I totally haven't forgotten by now. It's not like she had to remind me.
She wanted to tell me that I have to come back to Genovia in a few weeks for a weekend because she's throwing an important ball with all these European dignitaries and she said it was important for Genovia's princess to be present. On the flip side, it won't be that bad. She's sending the royal jet over to pick me up from the airport here, and since I thought it might be a bore to go back to the palace by myself, I requested that she let me bring a few friends along, as well as Mom, Frank, and Rocky. She had to agree, because I said I wouldn't go unless she made the compromise. It might be nice for all them to see how I lived the first sixteen years of my life. I think they'd understand a lot more about me then, and why I love living in New York so much.
My guest list so far consists of..
- Helen Thermopolis
- Frank Gianini
- Rocky Thermopolis-Gianini
- Lilly Moscovitz
- Kenny Showalter
- Tina Hakim Baba
- Michael Moscovitz
Okay, I know what you're thinking. Kenny?! I had to. I needed a date for the ball. And he IS my boyfriend, after all. Even though in the past few weeks it hasn't gotten any better. He still tries to kiss me all the time and it seems like I can never pull away fast enough. I wonder when he'll get the message. He's sweet, but I think I'd rather be friends with him.
I don't know about inviting Michael. In the past few weeks, we've become a lot closer as friends and all, but he is Lilly's brother after all, and I'm better friends with her. And I think she'd think it was weird if she knew that I had a thing for her brother - which is why I am NEVER telling her. Also the fact that she thinks I'm actually in love with Kenny. I must be a better actress than I thought, because I'm doing a really good job of convincing everyone that I love Kenny.
Anyways, she reluctantly agreed to my terms of the agreement, because of my threatening-not-to-go thing. We'll have them all stay in the palace, because it's huge and mostly uninhabited anyways. I'm kind of nervous that all my friends will get to see where I lived before. It's funny that way – because I totally wasn't nervous to show them the loft I'm living in with Mom and Frank now. I've adjusted to this life really, really well.
And other than the ultimate witch in my history class, Lana Weinberger, and her supremely hot senior boyfriend, Josh Richter, school is going much better than expected. No one except her and her cronies really thinks I'm a freak, and I actually have friends. It's nice to fit in. I'm really glad I made friends with Lilly and Tina. Though we're completely different from each other, in some weird way, we just work.
Friday is Valentine's Day and I'm going on a date with Kenny, and then sleeping over at Lilly's house with Lilly and Tina afterwards. I don't know what Kenny has planned, but I know I'm not really looking forward to it at all. He said to dress up nicely and everything, so last weekend I went shopping for a dress. The upside to the whole date on Valentine's Day thing was that I got a really nice new red dress that I look so nice in, for me, anyways, and really pretty silver shiny shoes out of it.
I've always complained about being alone on Valentine's Day before, but the thing is, now that I have a boyfriend, it's really not a big deal to me at all anymore. Maybe it's just because my boyfriend's Kenny and I'm not particularly crazy about him. If it was Michael, that would be another story, I'm sure.
Kenny sat at the table beside Mia, his clammy hand holding hers underneath the table. He was scarfing down his lunch using his free hand in a completely unattractive fashion, stuffing his hamburger into his mouth. Mia tried her best not to look completely disgusted by his carnivorous, messy eating habits.
Lilly and Boris were also sitting at their table, and Lilly was quietly eating her lunch as Boris practiced with his violin. That night, Lilly was attending Boris' concert at a major concert hall in New York with a few acclaimed musicians, and she'd been talking about it all week.
Her boyfriend turned to her, his mouth still full of unchewed hamburger that made his cheeks stick out, and smiled goofily at her. Swallowing hard, he put down the wrapper that his hamburger had been placed in. "You excited about our date tonight?" He asked, eagerly. "I've planned it all out, and it's going to be so special," he cried.
Mia nodded. "Yeah, I can't wait," she said, trying to sound enthusiastic. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Michael sitting at a table with Judith and the rest of the Computer Club. He was writing again, in that notebook of his, and every few seconds he'd lift his head to stare into space as if he was concentrating on something really hard.
"Oh, come on, Mia! You're no fun!" Kenny commanded her attention back to him. "Aren't you even curious about what we're doing and everything? I mean, I took a lot of time and energy to plan this for you," he said, his voice beginning to sound upset. "Are you even interested in me?"
It would have been the perfect time for Mia to just say no. No, she was not interested in him. She was interested in a perfect boy who just happened to already have a girlfriend. She sighed. It would be cruel to break his heart on Valentine's Day. And then, she'd be alone. "I'm just kind of tired, okay, Kenny? I was up late last night doing my algebra homework."
The end of lunch bell rang just then, and Mia sighed in relief. Kenny walked Mia to G & T, and then went off to his own class. Mia sat down at her usual table in the class, and Lilly and Boris entered minutes later, and walked up to the teacher's desk.
Boris spoke to Mrs. Hill for a moment, and then Mrs. Hill nodded and Boris and Lilly walked towards the door of the classroom. On the way out, Lilly stopped at Mia's desk and explained to her where they were going. "Boris has to practice for his concert tonight, so I'm going along with him to the music room so he can practice in privacy. See you tonight at my house after your date with Kenny."
Mia nodded, and then flipped open her algebra textbook, sighing. The bell signaling the beginning of the class rang, and Michael Moscovitz slid into his seat beside her, right on time. Mrs. Hill took the bell as a sign to take her leave, and she left the classroom – presumably, to go back to the teacher's lounge where she spent most of their classes.
"Hey," she said with a smile, at Michael.
He looked up from digging in his backpack for a moment, pushing the hair out of his eyes. "Hi," he smiled back. "Just give me a second to get this out, and then I'll help you out with your algebra homework, if you want." He pulled out his notebook and flipped through it, looking for something.
"Okay," Mia said. "We didn't really learn anything new today, just some review," she continued. "And I think I'm understanding some of this unit. Thanks to all your help. I don't know what I'd do if I was actually on my own to figure all that stuff out by myself."
"You could do it," Michael said, seriously. "You're smart. You just need to focus and learn to be more organized." He pulled a red envelope out of his notebook. "This is what I was looking for. I know it's so third-grade and all, but this is for you. Happy Valentine's Day." His cheeks were slightly flushed. "I did these for all my friends. What can I say, I'm a dork with nothing better to do with my time."
Mia was touched. She turned the envelope over in her hands. Her name was distinctively written in Michael's neat printing on the front, and Mia was dying to open it and see what it was, but she didn't think it would be appropriate to open it in front of Michael. "Thanks, Michael," she said, sincerely. "And you're not a dork," she laughed. She put the card away carefully, into the outer pocket of her backpack.
Michael rolled his eyes. "You're just being nice." He shut his notebook and pushed it to the corner of their desk. "Hey, did you see Lilly's show last night?"
She laughed. "Yeah. I watch every episode."
"My sister is insane." Michael groaned.
Mia nodded. "A good kind of insane, though."
He shrugged. "So, are you sleeping over with Lilly tonight?"
"Yeah," Mia said. "The usual Friday night activities. We're so predictable," she laughed. "Lilly has a date with Boris, though, that concert thing he's doing tonight. And I'll be there after my date with Kenny."
"You've got a date with Kenny tonight?" Michael asked, his tone of voice one of polite interest, as it seemed to Mia.
"Well, it is Valentine's Day and he's my boyfriend, after all," Mia replied, slowly. "He's got all this stuff planned out for us to do and he's really excited about it. He won't tell me what we're doing, though. I hate surprises. They drive me insane," Mia finished. "What about you? Got any special plans with Judith tonight?"
Michael scratched his head with his index finger. "Yeah," he said. "We're just going out for coffee, and then going to a Valentine's Day party at my friend from the Computer Club, Felix's house, nothing really special. But it's our six-month anniversary today."
Mia cringed, her stomach twisting itself into knots at the thought of Michael and Judith's Valentine's Day plans and the fact that as of today, they had been dating for six months. It just reinforced the fact that she had no chance in hell with him. "That sounds good," Mia said, weakly.
Michael seemed eager to dismiss the subject. "So, what did you need help with from algebra today?"
Mia stood in front of the full-length mirror on the back of her bedroom door, staring at herself critically. She was dressed in the prettiest red dress ever. It was a deep red satin with a dull finish. It was off-the-shoulder, with small straps that laid gently on her arms and exposed her shoulders. The body was tight-fitting, and then the skirt flared out gradually from her waist and fell to her knees, a layer of crinoline that itched at her knees underneath. She had chosen a simple silver necklace and simple strappy silver sandals to complete her ensemble. Her hair fell to her shoulders in soft waves.
She had to admit, she was definitely looking better than usual. Helen had helped her with the makeup and the hair, and she did a wonderful job. If only Michael could see her like this.
The thought of Michael sparked something inside of Mia, and she suddenly remembered the card that he'd given her in G & T that day. She grabbed her backpack off the floor and unzipped the front pocket, pulling out the card with care. Mia ripped open the envelope and pulled out the card that laid inside.
It had a picture of Michael and Mia that Lilly had taken one day when Mia was at Lilly's apartment on the front. Mia remembered that day with a smile. She and Lilly had been making cookies, and in the process, Michael had gotten involved and the three of them had had an all-out war with chocolate chip cookie dough, getting the sticky dough all over themselves in the process. Mia couldn't remember ever laughing so much in her whole entire life. In the picture Lilly had taken, Mia had cookie dough all over her face, and so did Michael. It was also in his long, dark brown hair. They were both grinning at the camera, their heads leaned towards each others.
Mia opened the card. The inside was plain and red, and said in Michael's distinctive, neat printing
Mia,
Every time I see this picture of you and I, it makes me smile. I know it seems like I say this to you a lot, but I'm really glad we're friends. It's the truth, what can I say? I hate getting all sentimental and crap like that, you know that, but I wanted to tell you I think Kenny's a good guy, and I hope he knows what a lucky guy he is to be dating a girl like you. Happy Valentine's Day.
Love, Michael
Mia nearly had a heart attack. "I hope he knows what a lucky guy he is to be dating a girl like you," she whispered to herself. "How did I end up with a guy like Kenny?"
"What do you mean by that, Mia?" Helen had entered the room, and upon Mia's examination of her mother's facial expression, she had heard Mia's statement of apparent dismay over her boyfriend.
Mia shook her head furiously. "Nothing, I was just talking to myself."
"Kenny's here. And you look amazing, by the way," Helen said, smiling at her daughter. "I have such a beautiful daughter. How did I ever get so lucky?"
Mia smiled at her mother. "Thanks, Mom."
"Have a good time with Kenny, honey. See you tomorrow afternoon."
The restaurant that Kenny had taken Mia to was nice. She had to admit, when he came to her apartment to pick her up, he had been a complete gentleman. Kenny had brought her a beautiful pink rose, to Mia's surprise. So he did have a romantic bone in his body. And then he had told her that they were going out to dinner.
The place was nice. The food was good. It was just that Mia's heart wasn't in it. No, all she could think about was Michael's note and the way he had compromised his usual hatred of sentimentality and sweet words to tell her that he hoped Kenny knew how lucky he was.
And the fact that all that Kenny could talk about was anime and science fiction might have also been another deterrent to Mia's full enjoyment of the night. She took a small bite of her delicious vegetarian lasagna, trying to focus herself on Kenny, who was at that very moment discussing their Biology test next week.
At least he wasn't discussing science fiction or anime anymore.
"So I was wondering if you maybe needed my help to study for the test next week," Kenny said. "I could come over on Tuesday night and help you out with it. It really wouldn't be a problem," he continued. "And I'd get to spend some time with you. I feel like we haven't hung out in a long time."
No, he just suffocated her every day all day. He was there in the morning, before she went to class. He was there between her morning classes. He was there at lunchtime. He walked her to G & T. And then, her least favorite class of the day, Biology, where they sat together every day. Not to mention the fact that he called her every day to talk for at least an hour.
"Okay," she answered, smiling brightly at Kenny.
He leaned across the table and kissed her cheek. "Are you done your dinner? Because if you're done, we should start on our second half of the evening."
"Yeah, I'm finished," Mia said, dropping her fork in the lasagna.
Kenny paid the waiter, and they walked out of the restaurant together in silence, Kenny's hand grasping Mia's as usual. "So what are we doing for the second half of tonight?" Mia asked, hoping that he'd finally give in and tell her.
And he did. "We're going to my friend Felix from Computer Club's party. If that's alright with you. Because if you're not up for the party thing tonight, we could go to my house and watch a movie or something. That would be cool, if you wanted to. I just thought it might be fun to hang out with some of my friends for once."
The party Michael would be attending with his girlfriend for the past six months, Judith Gershner, the perfect fruit fly cloning, early acceptance to Columbia University girl. Oh yeah, Felix's party was just the place that Mia wanted to be. However, the alternative of spending the next two hours alone with Kenny watching a movie at his house sounded much worse to Mia, so she reluctantly agreed to the party idea. At least then she could pretend to get lost in the crowd and escape from him for awhile.
They reached Felix's house in a few minutes, and Mia could see tons of people inside through the windows. There were people outside on the front lawn, clutching plastic cups and standing in groups, swaying to the beat that was pulsing throughout the house and flowing softly to the front yard.
Kenny pulled Mia up the sidewalk that lead up to Felix's house and up the front steps, until they were inside. People were dancing in the living room, and those who weren't were sitting or standing in small groups or couples in the sidelines, drinking. There were a few couples scattered around, kissing.
Mia was slightly uncomfortable with the situation, so she clutched Kenny's hand tighter. "Kenny, we're not going to be here a long time, are we?" Mia wasn't really a party girl, and she found that she didn't really have any desire to be.
"Just a little while," Kenny said. "We don't have to stay a long time if you're going to be uncomfortable. But I told my friends we'd put in an appearance here, so I have to talk to a few people," he continued, having to shout over the music. "Do you want a drink?"
"Water would be nice," Mia shouted back. She wasn't really into the whole underage drinking thing, as many of the people at this party seemed to be. She tightened her grip on Kenny's hand again and followed him through the throng of people to the kitchen, which was considerably quieter and less populated. A few guys stood in there, and some people left while Kenny and Mia entered.
Kenny grabbed Mia a water bottle and kept one for himself. "I'm going to go back out there and go find some of my friends. Do you want to come with me? If you want to, you can hang out in here."
Mia shook her head. "You go talk to your friends. I'll just be here for a while, it's nice and quiet."
Kenny let go of her hand and walked back out of the kitchen. The music in here was less loud, but it carried slightly. Mia sat down at the table in a vacant chair, taking a sip out of her water bottle. She was completely alone. Though it might have seemed loserish to say, she liked it that way.
The kitchen door opened a few minutes later, and Michael Moscovitz walked in by himself, clutching a blue plastic cup filled with a brown liquid that Mia presumed was some sort of alcoholic beverage. He looked wonderful. His hair was slightly messy, as usual, and he wore a white Ben Kweller t-shirt shirt over a lighter blue t-shirt and a pair of not too baggy but not too tight black pants, along with a pair of black Chuck Taylors. "Hey, Mia," he said, and sat down in a chair beside her. "How was your date with Kenny?" He put his cup down on the table.
Mia smiled. "It was good, thanks."
"So where is he?" Michael asked. "You'd think that since you guys were on a date and all and it's Valentine's Day, he'd be hanging out with you."
"I don't see you with Judith," Mia retorted, defensively. "And it's your six-month anniversary. Kenny's out there talking to his friends, for your information. I just wanted to sit here, because it's quiet. Parties aren't really my thing."
Michael nodded. "Judith's around here somewhere." He laughed. "I think we might have gotten into a fight about something, but I'm not really sure what."
It sounded weird to Mia for Michael to brush something like a fight between him and his girlfriend off so easily. "Michael, are you drunk?"
He shook his head. "No. This is my first cup of the night," he said. "I don't really drink at all. That's Judith's department, I guess," he said, his eyes clouding over. "I think she's had a few tonight."
Mia frowned. "Yikes. That's going to hurt in the morning," she said.
Michael shrugged. "Yeah."
"So why aren't you out there talking to the rest of your friends?" Mia asked. After all, the party was being thrown by one of Michael's closest Computer Club buddies. She had assumed that Michael would have had a lot of friends at the party.
"Truthfully, I'm not really into parties," Michael said, quietly. "I'm kind of getting a headache from all this smoke and loud music."
Mia laughed. "I know how you feel."
He looked into her eyes, and Mia could feel her heartbeat accelerating. "Do you want to go take a walk, maybe? I think I really need to get out of here."
Mia agreed. "Yeah."
"Okay, I just need to go find my jacket. I left it in Felix's bedroom." He got up from the table and motioned for her to follow him. "Come on, let's go." He exited the kitchen, and they walked back out into the crowds and down the hallway to a closed door.
Michael pushed open the door and Mia followed him in. Michael flicked on the light switch and immediately exclaimed, "What the hell is going on in here?" in a loud, angry voice that Mia had never heard him speak in before.
She stepped out from behind him, curious to see what had caught Michael so off-guard. What she saw nearly made her heart jump out of her chest, and she guessed that Michael felt about a million times worse.
Judith Gershner, Michael Moscovitz's girlfriend of six months, was lying on the bed on top of some shirtless, muscular, bleached-blonde surfer guy who totally had his hands up her shirt. From the looks of it, Judith and Mysterious Surfer Blonde Haired Boy had been kissing feverishly.
Mia glanced over at Michael out of the corner of her eye. He was gaping at his girlfriend, his mouth open slightly and his eyes clouding over with something Mia couldn't place. Not in Michael's eyes, anyways. Anger, sadness, regret, hurt?
And then, Michael wordlessly turned and bolted from the room, leaving Judith spluttering nervously, saying that she didn't know what she was thinking, she didn't know what she was doing, making endless apologies that wouldn't be heard by Michael. Because he was gone.
Mia stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
And then in a moment, she knew.
She turned and left the room.
Mia was going to follow Michael.
