Whoohoo! A whole new PD story…and just in time for exams too!...lol
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Mia tossed aside the letter that she had been holding, and glared at her Grandmother.
"Grandmere" she said angrily "What is parliament thinking? I'm supposed to get an arranged marriage? And if that isn't bad enough, they're choosing the guy for me? Come on…that is…so…so…" she trailed off
"Unfair?" supplied her grandmother
Mia slumped down into the plush sofa "Try 'Crazy'"
Grandmere patted Mia's arm "Yes, Mia, I know it is difficult…but…"
Mia sat up "But what? I have to sacrifice my chance at a happy life so the parliament can implement its stupid law? What's the point anyway? I'll probably be a crummy queen."
Grandmere eyed Mia carefully "No, you won't, you will be a fair, practical and understanding queen…"
"Yeah, being advised by my biased, unrealistic and ignorant parliament." Mia drawled sarcastically, she turned to her grandma "Can't we get them beheaded, like in the old days?"
Grandmere chuckled "I'm afraid not…" and then became serious "Do you want to be queen, Mia?"
Mia snorted "Of course!"
"Are you willing to make sacrifices?"
Mia sighed "I guess so…"
Grandmere sighed too "Mia, this isn't the only sacrifice you'll have to make…being a queen has its advantages, but it also means that you can't always follow your heart…sometimes the head wearing the crown has the first priority."
Mia nodded "I understand…does this mean that I only have 3 months of freedom left before I become someone's wife?" she grimaced as she said the word.
"You will never be someone's wife, Mia, but someone's queen…" said the now-Queen serenely.
"Okay, okay…I get it…so, who's the illustrious individual that the parliaments chosen for me?"
Grandmere clapped her hands and her lady's maid trotted in with a letter on a silver platter. She took it and dismissed Sophie, slitting open the envelope as she did so. She cleared her throat…"Ok, he's Genovian, good title…good family…extremely accomplished and educated…he's even quite wealthy…would you like to see his picture?"
Mia stood up "No thanks, I can already see that he's a loser…"
"Mia!" chided Grandmere
"Well, he sounds like one…" said Mia defensively "Good family…good money…blah,blah,blah…basically, a good husband…or that what parliament thinks." She started to walk out of Grandmere's suite.
Grandmere lifted her hands in resignation "Well, don't you even want to know his name?"
"Nope" said Mia as she walked out.
………
A few days passed, and Clarisse couldn't talk to Mia about her impeding marriage…Mia steadfastly avoided her grandmother whenever she had a chance but eventually Grandmere managed to corner Mia in the palace gardens.
"Grandma!" exclaimed Mia as she saw her walking towards her "Well, I was just thinking that I should call Lilly…so I should go now."
"Sit down, Amelia"
Mia plopped down back on the bench, "Ugh, I knew this was coming…"
"You mean that you knew that I was planning to send you for a month to Europe?" enquired Grandmere innocently
"Yeah, I knew you wanted to talk to me about this wedding and this horrible guy that I- wait, what? What did you say, Grandmere?" Mia looked at her grandmother wonderingly
Grandmere repeated "You're going around Europe for a month…"
Mia squealed "Europe! For a month? Oh, thank you Grandma!" she threw her arms around her.
Grandmere nodded "Yes, thank you dear. If you wouldn't hug me that hard, yes, that's better…I thought you needed a break from palace life for a while and well, go and enjoy yourself, my dear."
"When do I leave?"
"Tomorrow"
"Oh my God!" Mia jumped up and started to run towards the palace "I have to pack!" she yelled over her shoulder
"A princess never runs…!" retorted her grandmother "come to think of it, a Queen never shouts…oh well."
……
Mia flopped on to her bed, and grinned "This is so cool!" she announced. She glanced out at her hotel room view…"Paris" she breathed
It was great, she was out of the palace, away from lady maids, parliament members and the memory of that stupid gonnabe husband of hers…thank God!
She pulled on a pair of her favourite jeans and an old sweatshirt from college, bundled her hair into a ponytail and grabbed a pair of dark glasses, just in case there was someone from Paris who actually knew that Genovia existed and that it had a princess and that she was her. Time for some site seeing and shopping…she might as well spend all that money that she had earned in college (not that she needed to work, but she just wanted to).
She went down the elevator from the penthouse suite that her grandmother had got her (including unlimited room service!) and the concierge eyed her warily as she walked out, 'he's probably wondering why he let the weird princess in.' Mia smiled to herself
"Bye…Philip" she grinned at him on her way out, glad that she had remembered his name
"Your Highness…do you require a limousine?" asked Philip
"That won't be necessary…I'll walk" Now he must really be wondering whether she was a real princess.
"Where to go first?" she asked herself as she stepped out of the building and into the watery sunlight. Duh! She almost slapped herself on the forehead, where else but the Eiffel Tower?
Five minutes later, she found herself at the back of a long, long, LONG line…she supposed that she could use her "status" to get in faster, but hey, it was cooler to wait outside…'you never know, you might meet someone interesting' she thought to herself.
Before she started to talk to anyone, she rummaged around in her bag for a mirror, just to make sure that there wasn't anything embarrassing stuck in her teeth…or sticking out of her nose…
And somehow, in a typical Mia move, she managed to drop a whole bunch of change onto the pavement "Oh great!" she bent down and started to scoop them up. She thought that she had gotten them all when she heard a deep voice behind her "Pardonner Moi, c'est le tien?"
Mia quickly thought back to her French 100 class, 'He's saying 'Excuse me, is this yours?'...I hope I'm right"
She turned around and saw a hand holding out a coin "Oui monsieur, mer-"
Her words caught in her throat as she looked up into a handsome face, with sparkling blue eyes, that were looking directly at her…
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Yeah, sorry about the French, just trying to make it more authentic…I'm not sure if it's right though, so excuse any mistakes.
Tried to fix some of the mistakes, like the fact that France doesn't use francs anymore…oh, and thanx to jennalynn for the quick French lesson.
Okay, this is only the 1st chapter…it can only get better, but tell me what you think.