Think as Hard as Ever I Can of Being a Princess
"When things are horrible – just horrible – I think as hard as ever I can of being a princess. I say to myself, 'I am a princess'. You don't know how it makes you forget." – Francis Hodgson Burnett.
Part 2 of 2, Book 2 (Princess Diaries Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight)
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So, the Beverly Walker interview did nothing for Mia's social standing at AEHS, but it did make Lilly super mad at her, because apparently Beverly Walker is Lilly's 'all-time-role-model-and-hero' – which is honestly kinda weird, because Lilly literally never talks about Beverly Walker except to deride her choice of clothing per interview? – and Mia not mentioning her interview is apparently a horrible breach of Girl Code.
Mia didn't know they followed Girl Code in their friendship, but okay. (But if their friendship follows Girl Code, why is Lilly allowed to ignore it whenever Mia invokes it, huh?)
Still, getting home from Lilly's wasn't the catastrophe that Mia could've anticipated – honestly, Mia does have a habit of staying late at Lilly's to avoid whatever mess was occurring at her own home (especially since the princess bomb dropped) – and even though Mr G (Frank. His name is Frank, on Saturday he's going to be her stepfather) was there, they all had a bit of fun discussing wedding plans; Helen wanted a Halloween-theme wedding, maybe with the bride dressing up as King Kong, with Mia as the Empire State Building, and Helen spent a good twenty minutes trying to talk Frank into dressing as Fay Wray before being more or less shouted down-
But then Lilly got on the phone to be upset at Mia for not mentioning the interview. Mia honestly couldn't really force herself to be too upset – Lilly had a habit of searching for things to be mad about, rather than simply finding them.
Although it did kill Mia's happy-buzz from a chill afternoon, she did actually catch one of the commercials for the interview (advertised as 'America's Royal, Princess Mia'. Barf) and she noticed that Grandmere had actually been right about being pedantic over the colour of the eye shadow Mia wore on camera. It did make her eyes pop.
Which was surprising, because she'd rarely been right about anything else in Mia's life.
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Five things Grandmere has been wrong about:
Mia's Dad would settle down when he met the right woman. And it'd be by the time he was thirty-five.
Fat Louie would suck out Mia's breath as she slept and suffocate her.
If Mia didn't attend an all-girls school, Mia would contract a social disease.
If Mia got her ears pierced, they would get infected and she'd die of blood poisoning.
Mia's figure would fill out by age fourteen.
;;
Despite Mia's assertions that people would have no reason to care at all about what she could say in an interview – and Nick's assertions that her classmates probably wouldn't care – EVERYBODY at her school seemed ready to watch the interview. Everybody.
What, did the idea of witnessing Mia barely keep her composure on camera seem like a good time to her peers? Sure, she didn't have a freaking meltdown OR spill the beans about certain aspects of her life, but she'd still been a nervous wreck! She's pretty sure her left eye was twitching like crazy for maybe 60% of the conversation!
Of course, Mia would literally rather have everyone only tell her about how they want to watch her stammer her way through an interview then do what Lana did, which is randomly walk up to Mia and Michael as they left Gifted and Talented and just randomly ask "Are you two dating?" in a snotty/obnoxious tone that made it clear that any answer other than 'no' would be subject to disbelief.
But Mia really couldn't say anything, because she's bad when put on the spot, and Michael's face was going red, so Lilly had to jump in – with a loud snort of "As if!"
And everyone got to laugh – except for Mia, because she refused to look at Michael or anyone else. Probably because the concept was so ridiculous, Michael just kind of ignored the whole scene. And Mia too, a bit.
As if.
;;
Grandmere was decidedly not in the mood to give compliments about the interview after school, but she also held back from decrying Mia's posture as disgraceful in the Princess Lesson that afternoon. Which is about as close to a compliment as the woman gets.
Still, there was the standard facial disgust at Mia's posture, coupled with an evil eye when Mia stumbled over her French, but the lesson was . . almost a relief at what Mia's day had been – as well as the stress of the interview that Mia was trying to recover from. Instead, Grandmere decided to give a lecture on how to plan a ball (why? In what universe would the Crown Princess of a country plan a ball? Isn't that what party planners were for? Surely there existed a cottage market for party planners for royalty. Wouldn't it be more productive for Mia to know the ins and outs of Parliament and how a bill becomes law or whatever?) because to have a ball, you had to be sure to know the personal lives of your guests – enough to keep nemeses away from each other in a seating chart, but also keep them in places that wouldn't be insulting to their social/political positions. Decor was important, and making sure that everyone had enough notice of a theme of a ball was also important, so that they can all think through their clothing and keep from clashing with the wallpaper.
Seriously. Mia had to spend her afternoons learning this.
Excuse me, God, but one quick question: Why?
All this, and for the cherry on top, her grandmother's miniature poodle, Rommel, somehow figured that Mia was so hideous to look at that he started cowering in fright at the very sight of her. Which is just. Amazing. Mia loves animals, she does – her dad is giving fifty bucks a day to Green Peace in Mia's name, come on – but even St Francis of Assisi, the patron of animals, would have a hard time appreciating Rommel. Rommel's got a nervous disorder (Mia's willing to bet it's just from having to be in such close proximity to Grandmere since he was a puppy, and this dog is about eight) that made all his fur fall out, so Clarisse dresses him in little sweaters and coats to keep him warm. Today's was a mink jacket, dyed lavender to match the one on Grandmere's shoulders. The DOG was wearing another dead animal's skin.
And then Grandmere picked him up, because she figured that Rommel was moaning in anger or whatever, and Mia could tell that her diamond brooches were stabbing Rommel in the spine (because he also has zero body fat) and Rommel only shut up because Grandmere plopped him on her lap – which is the dogs favourite and least favourite place to be, because it was Grandmere's lap.
Mia could feel a headache forming in the back of her eyes.
And then somehow the topic moved to weddings, and planning a royal wedding is somehow even worse than planning a ball, so Grandmere waxed poetic for a good twenty minutes about how, when she got married, she had a fever of a hundred and two and was borderline delirious, but powered through it anyway in favour of waving to the populace and waltzing until two in the morning.
Okay, Grandmere.
Which somehow jumped to the topic of royal consorts, and how whoever Mia marries will be her consort – the Prince Philip to her Queen Elizabeth, although hopefully with less ties to the royal family of Russia. Unless Mia tripped over someone of that line who somehow survived, in which case Grandmere would actually be impressed. But anyway, she had Mia dig out her journal to write it all down, so that in four years when Mia's in college and takes up with someone completely inappropriate, Mia will know why Clarisse is so mad.
Expectations of Any Royal Consort of the Princess of Genovia:
The consort will ask the princess' permission before he leaves a room.
The consort will wait for the princess to finish speaking before speaking himself.
The consort will wait for the princess to lift her fork before lifting his own at mealtimes.
The consort will rise the moment the princess rises.
The consort will not engage in any sort of risk-taking behaviour – such as racing, either car or boat, mountain-climbing, sky-diving et cetera – until such a time as an heir has been provided.
The consort will give up his right, in the event of annulment or divorce, to custody of any children born during the marriage.
The consort will give up the citizenship of his native country in favour of citizenship of Genovia.
Well. At least now Mia totally gets why her mother absolutely refused to marry her father. If he'd ever bothered to ask her, anyway.
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And then the interview aired.
Mia wasn't sure what she was expecting – she'd said nothing incriminating about her school, so no surprise that no one from there rang, but she hadn't been expecting a call from Grandmere during the commercial break.
"Well," was her opening line. No 'hello'. For a woman so concerned with etiquette, Grandmere never had any problem ignoring it herself. "That was just terrible, wasn't it?"
Mia could only stammer out "I didn't think it was so bad-" before Grandmere cut her off.
"I cannot imagine what that woman was thinking – she failed to show a single picture of the palace! And it is at its most beautiful in the autumn!" And then, because Mia didn't manage to cut her off, Grandmere rolled down that hill like a boulder after Indiana Jones. "The palm trees look magnificent. This is a travesty, I tell you. A travesty. Do you realise the promotional opportunities that have been wasted here? Absolutely wasted?" Of course, she also didn't care for answers to rhetorical questions. "Tourism has been down in Genovia ever since we banned cruise ships from docking in the bay. But who needs day-trippers? With their sticky cameras and their awful Bermuda shorts. If that woman had only shown a few shots of the casinos. And the beaches! Why, we have the only naturally white sand along the Riviera. Are you aware of that, Amelia? Monaco has to import its sand. Wait-"
Not that Mia ever did anything else when on the phone with Grandmere. You just had to wait for her to stop talking and hang up.
"Oh, no, there we are. It's back on, and they're showing some simply lovely shots of the palace. Oh, and there's the beach. And the bay, oh, and the olive groves. Lovely. Simply lovely. That woman might have a few redeeming qualities after all." And then she hung up.
Mia put the phone back and went into the bathroom, where her mother had spent the interview with her head slumped into the toiler – morning sickness apparently is an all-day thing – and Mr G was rubbing her back.
"So," was Mia's opening gambit. "At least I didn't say anything too bad, right?"
Her mother gave her a thumbs-up, and Mr G smiled tiredly.
;;
FtLouie: So, please be honest but also beware my fragile ego and self esteem – I wasn't too bad in that interview, was I?
HalfAgonyHalfHope: Nah, you were fine. The perfect blend of utterly nervous-but-charming and also vague enough that there's enough for reporters to continue to try to mine you for more interviews.
FtLouie: Crap.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: For a first interview, I think it was perfectly on point. Enough information that people know something about you, but vague enough that people will get the impression you're not the swooning catastrophe you can be sometimes. You want to keep some aspects of yourself close to the vest, right?
FtLouie: I can bring out my 'swooning catastrophe' side at a later date, huh?
HalfAgonyHalfHope: Yeah. A fun surprise for people when they meet you on the street.
FtLouie: (middle finger emoji)
FtLouie: We also have one development on the Baby front.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: I'm amazed you didn't find a way to blurt that out during your interview.
FtLouie: I know, right? I'm getting so good at not serving random platters of word vomit that divulge people's biggest secrets to perfect strangers. Personal Growth.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: I'm so proud. What's the development?
FtLouie: Marriage.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: Please elaborate.
FtLouie: My mum. Mr Gianini. Are getting married on Halloween, at City Hall.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: Congrats? Is this a congrats situation, or are you mad? I can't tell over email.
FtLouie: It's a congrats situation, I guess. Honestly, I have absolutely zero strong feelings about Mr G – he seems cool, and he isn't ditching our lives completely to make Mum raise this kid solo, and if he didn't make me stay behind school to study Algebra, I honestly wouldn't have ever been upset when Mum started dating him.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: Yeah, but isn't him tutoring you for his class – without expecting any financial recompense – a good sign he'd be a pretty solid dad? Like, if he's willing to do that for just some student because he wants you to do well in his class, imagine how he'd be with an actual kid of his.
FtLouie: Good point.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: Anything else happening in your life right now, or can I assume you're only dealing with two messes in your life at once?
FtLouie: I threw an eggplant out a window and got yelled at by Lilly's brother.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: Isn't dropping things out windows in NYC illegal? And DANGEROUS?
FtLouie: Yeah. It's why we got yelled at.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: Well, good. You should've gotten yelled at for that.
FtLouie: UMM?! Anything else you want to add?
HalfAgonyHalfHope: Isn't Michael the guy you're crushing on who's also tutoring you in your stepdad's class?
FtLouie: First – ew, calling Mr G my stepdad, he doesn't even live here yet; second – I cannot believe I ever admitted that to you.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: There's maybe a 20% chance of me ever meeting Michael Moscovitz, and you needed to fess up to someone.
FtLouie: Ugh. Damn my blabbermouth.
HalfAgonyHalfHope: As long as you keep my secrets, I'll keep yours.
;;
So the interview was a Monday night, and somehow Tuesday wasn't . . . the worst? Some people muttered some stuff about the interview at her – according to Shameeka, people had been hoping Mia would mention people by name – because somehow getting name-dropped by a princess on national television would be a status symbol or something - and given that she mostly didn't, the school had decided to go back to ignoring Mia. Her preferred state of being at AEHS.
G&T was . . a little weird, with Michael. Mostly because she'd – well, obviously she'd gushed a little about how he'd been helping her, and Michael didn't seem to know what to do with that.
"It didn't weird you out, did it?" was Mia's query when the topic came up.
"Nah." Michal had a sheepish look, and the tips of his ears were pink. "Nah, if anything, it was pretty flattering, hearing that you think I'm the main reason you're passing Algebra."
"You ARE the reason I'm passing Algebra." Mia grinned at him. "I was giving credit where it's due. Honest."
Which made Michael's ears go from pink to red, and a bit of a blush was put in his cheeks. Focusing on Algebra was really hard after that.
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Mia finally getting home from her princess lesson was a sign to her mother to have a bit more of a discussion about the wedding – was Mia actually really okay with Frank moving in, and that Helen was having this baby? She knew how stressed-out about stuff Mia could get, and she knew this was a big upheaval, and she wanted Mia to know that if Mia did have a problem, all she had to do was say something, and everything could be immediately shelved until Mia was more comfortable.
"God, Mum, no! I'm totally fine with Frank!" And she was – she liked Frank. Nothing massive, but she did. He was a good guy. Her mum deserved a good guy. Although . . . "I'm glad Frank's moving in – I mean, do you really want to move to Brooklyn with him? But . . can we just dress like normal people for the wedding? Just because I don't think we'll find an Empire State costume for me on such sort notice."
Which made Helen laugh and give Mia a hug, as well as agree that costumes for their wedding was a bit much. Something Frank thanked Mia for, when he came over for dinner, as well as big some of his stuff over. Apparently, he wasn't really jazzed at dressing like Fay Wray for his wedding.
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But other than that, her week was oddly calm – school in the day, Algebra tutoring by her soon-step-dad after, princess lessons after that. Her mother booked the ceremony for noon on Saturday, so that they could go for lunch after, and Mia could go to the midnight showing of Rocky Horror with her friends, and Frank got his hands on the necessary papers to make it all legal.
Mia did broach that maybe her mother should mention her impending marriage and baby to her family in Indiana, because Frank had told his parents about it, and they were going to come into the city from Long Island for the ceremony on Saturday, but her mother abjectly refused. Mostly because her mother really did not like her family – at ALL. Mia was fourteen, and she'd gone to visit her mother's family all of twice in her life. Last time, she'd been about ten, and her cousin Hank had been recently dropped off at the Thermopalis homestead a year before by his globe-trotting mother, Marie, her mother's sister, with whom she hadn't spoken to in person for about a decade, primarily because, in Helen's words, Marie exists in an intellectual and spiritual vacuum.
Marie is a Republican, is Helen's problem.
Of course, this was also Helen's beef with her parents, because she'd never forgiven them for a) voting for George Bush Sr. and his son, b) refusing to support her decision to have Mia, c) or the way Helen was raising her, and d) being disdainful of Helen's whole career path, despite how lucrative and happy it had made Helen in the last decade.
So Mia wasn't too surprised her mother didn't want her parents coming to New York. Of course, Mia wasn't suggesting they come to the city – they hated any city, because of what they called furriners, meaning foreigners - just that they know what was happening. But Mia also refused to make the call when Helen suggested it, so apparently they'd learn when Helen sent a customary Christmas card to them and mentioned it in the post-script of the card or something.
Frank, however, moved in fully by Thursday, bringing with him a drum kit, a pinball machine and a foozball table – which he and Mia played nine games straight almost immediately after they were done unpacking. Mia still had to practice a little calling him by his first name, because she was supposed to call him Frank in the house but by his title in school – so her mother took bets for how quickly Mia would fail at that. The long guess was it would be two weeks before Mia started calling him by his name in class and just never stopped.
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Saturday eventually rolled around, bringing with it a weird sense of tension for Mia. But still, after breakfast and a few hours of loafing around the loft, she, her mother and Frank all pulled on some nice clothes – her mother in one of her favourite dresses, Frank in a pretty nice suit, Mia wedged into one of the few designer dresses Grandmere had bought her that she actually sorta-liked – and Lars brought around a car, taking them to the City Hall, where they met Frank's mother and father, who had spent two hours locked on the Long Island freeway – because apparently the word 'freeway' is shorthand for 'bumper-to-bumper traffic all hours of the day' – when Philipe walked in the door!
"Dad?" Mia was incredulous. "What are you doing here?"
Philipe greeted her with a kiss to the forehead, and shook Frank's hand. "I'm witnessing a wedding, Mia. What else?"
Mia swung her head back and forth between her parents. "Mum, when did you tell him?"
Helen smiled, "I called him Sunday and asked him to come to the wedding. It felt like the right thing."
Okay, fine, that made – wait. "Wait, does Grandmere know?"
That got a laugh from both her parents, which also broke some of the tension that had still lingered from the arrival of Mr and Mrs Gianini.
"God, no, honey," said her mother. "Can you imagine if Clarisse knew? She would've spent this last week probably plotting some cock-a-mamie wedding at the Plaza or something, and Frank and I would've just eloped to Mexico to get away from it all!"
Which was a fair depiction of what probably would've happened.
However, the hypotheticals of Grandmere having found out about the wedding beforehand had to be put on the Never Think About This Again mental shelf for Mia, because their number was up.
The ceremony was short, sweet, and her mother was weirdly romantic in her wedding vows – something Mia decided to attribute entirely to pregnancy hormones, otherwise she'd probably never be able to look at her mother the same again. Frank even got a little teary-eyed, and his mother got a lot more than that. Mia herself definitely wasn't immune. She held her dad's hand through it all, and he gave her a little squeeze when the justice of the peace declared Frank and Helen married, and when they kissed and everyone gave a little cheer, Mia felt . . . well, she felt that her mum was making a good call.
Not the not-having-a-kid-out-of-wedlock, but marrying Frank. Mia just got the sense that – that he'd be good for her. Good for their little family, separate from the royalty aspects of it. It made her smile just a little wider.
;;
But it was Halloween, and Mia had one plan for the night: Rocky Horror Picture Show, as tradition required. HOWEVER, a problem: to attend Rocky Horror, a costume is required for the Halloween screening. Which – Mia hasn't thought about it, all right? She's been Busy this past . . . year.
So, now she's glaring at her closet, trying to find something that she can pass off as a Halloween costume – does she dig out that one green dress and some fairy wings and say she's Tinkerbell? LAME. Does she dig out her orange sweater and her orange skirt and the Gucci loafer Grandmere bought her and be Velma from Scooby-Doo? . . . Maybe?
Because she really doesn't want to dig out last year's costume of 'Princess' – yes, she did that. It was an irony thing, and yes, how the tables have turned on her – she wants to be something other than what she is.
You know what? Yesterday she was watching a bunch of Original Series reruns of Star Trek, and it's reawakened her love for Nurse Chapel. Yeah, she's going to get some snotty comments from Lilly probably – the Original Series is hardly the cutting edge of television these days – but Mia just doesn't care. She does not care. (She's going to tell herself that until she actually believes it.)
So, out of the closet come the blue dress with the black neckline that's weirdly similar to the women's uniforms on Star Trek (there's nothing 'weird similar' about it. She'd looked at the dress and thought 'That's a Star Trek uniform' and bought the thing), and her recent growth spurt (up, not out, because of course not) has made the thing close to a minidress, but whatever. She digs out the old Star Trek insignia pin she got at a comic book store a couple years ago, slaps that thing on the dress, pulls on a pair of her black-sheer tights and – she wants to wear her Doc Martens, she really does, but instead she digs out these black boots from Chanel that Grandmere bought her, because somehow despite her protestations that she'd never ever wear the clothes Grandmere bought her, she's wearing them more and more.
Well – as long as she's not wearing them in front of Grandmere, Mia's going to count it as a victory for herself.
But she's looking herself in the mirror and – huh. Mia's not good at seeing the upsides of her own appearance: her mouth is too big, her skin too pasty unless she burns it over the summer, she's really very skinny with no breasts to speak of, and she's one of the tallest people in her year level. Yes, even over the boys. And her 'makeover' from Grandmere didn't really make her very happy with her hair either – it used to be this mid-brown/blonde colour, and it could never decide if it was going to be wavy-curly or wavy-straight after she got out of the shower, and then Paolo hacked it all off and coloured it blonde, which, for tonight's purposes is a benefit, because she's closer to looking like Nurse Chapel than she would otherwise; but looking in the mirror now . . . she doesn't look half bad.
She'd almost say she's approaching pretty.
Her mum and Frank were slouched on the sofa with some old movie playing – it had Clarke Gable on screen, anyway – when Mia went out the door. She was the one to collect everyone, what with Hans behind the limo wheel, so they hit up all her friends' places – Tina first, with Wahim, her bodyguard, as well, Tina looking awesome with her butter-yellow hijab and pink dress as Sleeping Beauty (and she and Mia agreed to pass Lars and Wahim off as the Men In Black); Ling Su as Sailor Moon and Shameeka as Blossom from the PowerPuff Girls; Lilly and Boris joined last (Mia tried not to be put out that Michael wouldn't be joining them until the actual show, because apparently the Computer Club had a group costume happening), Boris using his violin case as a prop to be Al Capone, notorious gangster. Lilly had the costume that probably required the most explanation, but Mia wished she'd been as clever – a Freudian Slip, literally. Lilly was wearing a sleeping nightie with a big fluffy beard that went all down her front.
They were probably a very motley crew of characters, but Mia was honestly having a bunch of fun, even before they got to the theatre.
Lilly was the one to catch sight of the Computer Club first – although the giant sign saying LOOKING FOR PRIVATE RYAN and the fake blown-off limbs and guts spilling out of jackets definitely caught most passers-by's attention.
So the whole group made it into the cinema, and somehow Lars got pushed into the seat behind her, which Mia imagined her wasn't thrilled about, but Mia was sitting next to Michael, so she honestly wasn't going to say anything. On her other side was a girl from the Computer Club, Judith, dressed as another member of the blood-soaked platoon, with a sarcastic sense of humour and a way of looking at Michael that made Mia feel even stupider trying to talk to him than she already did, looking out of place in her minidress and boots, between two dead soldiers.
Still, Rocky Horror was very fun. Everybody just acts like a lunatic. People throw bread at the screen, and put up umbrellas when it rained in the movie, and dancing the Pelvic Thrust. Honestly, its some of the best cinema experience you can get.
Mia felt awkward between two of the smartest people in AEHS, but she got to laugh and see Michael looking over at her to see her laughing with him, while also being – maybe, just the tiniest bit – cuddled close in the dark cinema.
And then afterwards, literally the whole group went to a 24 hour pancake place for a very early breakfast, and while Lars looked ready to tap out – Wahim too, actually – ordering cup of coffee after cup of coffee, Mia ended up wedged in between Michael and Kenny, her biology partner. Everyone at the table was loud and having fun, and Kenny tapped Mia on the shoulder and asked "Had any weird mail lately?" with a sort of chagrined look.
Oh. Oh dear. Kenny was JoCRox. And Mia'd told him to either be honest or don't bother.
Oh dear. Mia winced, saying "Yeah."
Kenny smiled in a sort of pained-but-accepting manner. "Guess you weren't very interested huh?"
"What?"
Kenny kind of stammered, "I was – I was trying to work up the nerve to ask you out, Mia." He sounded sad.
God, what do you say to that? "Oh, uh. That's very sweet of you, Kenny, really. It's –" what, what do you say? "It's really flattering you like me like that. But –" quick, what's an excuse that's believable? Come on Mia, you're a pathological liar!
"But, really, I'm not looking for anything other than friendship with anyone right now." Big fat lie, but okay. "Like, it's just – my life is really messy right now, and I'm trying to find a middle ground for it all-"
Kenny interjected, "Yeah. I bet." He didn't sound upset, per sey, just resigned. Mia decided to stop making up excuses.
"I'm sorry."
Kenny shrugged and smiled. "It's okay. I get it. Just gotta put yourself out there, you know?"
Mia grinned at him. "All you can do, right?"
At which point, someone climbing back in between the crammed-together seats at the table just jostled everyone, and Michael looked over from his conversation with Judith and saw the way Mia and Kenny were smiling, and he whipped his head over to Lars, really fast. Almost like . . Mia wasn't sure. Like Michael saw something in the conversation – that probably wasn't what it was – and wanted Lars to do something.
But Lars was stirring sugar into his sixth coffee in three hours, and didn't look up. So Michael instead said, kinda loudly, "Well, I'm beat. Anyone else ready to call it a night?"
Which got him some kinda weird looks – some people were still eating – and Lilly went, "Gotta catch up on your beauty sleep, Michael?"
Michael rolled his eyes, but stood up to pay for his food. Mia, thankful for the reprieve from her conversation with Kenny, did the same for her food, along with Lars' coffees, and offered anyone a lift home in her limo to anyone leaving at the same time.
Which of course meant everyone suddenly realised how tired they were and how much they'd love a lift home, Mia, especially if it's in a limousine, gosh, of course.
;;
So, despite the messy beginning of the week, it ended pretty well.
Sure, she began convinced she'd humiliated herself on national television, but she'd ended it with: a stepdad with a pinball machine and a knack for Algebra, the forthcoming baby brother or sister, and a compliment from Michael!
Yes, really! Because he and Lilly were the last to be dropped off after pancakes, and Lilly got out of the limo first, so she wasn't there to see Michael turn to Mia and say, all nicely, "You know, you look . . . really good, like Nurse Chapel." And he gave this sort of dorky smile, and his face was a little pink, and Mia could feel herself blush too.
And it's not much, but still! It's a compliment! From the boy she likes!
And the only other time she can remember getting something like that is from Nick – sure, he seems to have made a habit out of saying nice things to her, but Nick's in Genovia! Michael's here! Yeah, he's completely out of her league and her friend's older brother, but he's here.
Look, it doesn't matter. Mia's in a good space for herself. She's happy.
Halloween should be re-advertised as the BEST time of the year.
Okay, a couple things: this was weirdly hard for me to get off the ground, mostly because I don't like the second book very much – which, if you've read this and the book, you can probably tell. So I've cut several plot lines and events – in the book, Mia spills a bunch of beans during the interview, including her mother's pregnancy, and Grandmere plots a wedding; Helen's family comes to the city, and there's this whole thing about Lilly sneaking away with Mia's cousin Hank to help him become a model without telling anyone and upsetting a bunch of people, including Lilly's own boyfriend.
Also, the main thing, is that Kenny sends Mia a bunch of anonymous emails and then asks her out at Halloween, which she accept. This leads to Book 3 being half about how Mia wants to break up with him, because she's into Michael, but also doesn't want to, because otherwise she'd A) hurt his feelings, and B) have no boyfriend to go to a dance with. That was her reasoning.
Which is something I never liked about book 3, or as a plot in general – yeah, unrequited feelings hurt, but being strung along hurts just as bad. Better to cut it all loose.
Also because books 3 and 4 are where I'm doing even more canon divergence, with some more Nick (yeah, I know he wasn't really in this one, sorry), and also spilling over from what Mia doesn't talk about in her journal, so I wanted to have as clean a slate as possible to work with.