Author's Note: Look, lol, I've updated.

Chapter Five

Mia rang the following night, a little earlier than she did the last time; it was around twelve o'clock over there when she rang us, well me, here.

I was lucky enough to be in the kitchen, getting a drink, when the phone rang, so that I was the first person to answer it and not have to go through the annoyance of last time she had a called.

"Hello Michael Moscovitz speaking." I said politely into the receiver.

'Hey Michael, it's me." My whole face broke into this huge smile.

"Hey, how are you?" I said as I sat down on one of the kitchen stools.

'Ok, been really busy over here.'

"I bet. So what have you been up to? Changed anything major in the world's economy or something along those lines that I should know about?" she laughed.

'No. I haven't done anything like that, though more because they, my Dad's government I mean, don't listen to any of my ideas. All they want to talk about is building another casino along one of the beaches here and trying to up the tourism even more.'

"Seriously? You're kidding right? A casino? That's their biggest concern?"

'Uh huh. They want to have free parking around their, I mean, our current ones as well.'

"Why?"

'Because they think that'll we'll get more tourist visiting if we have free parking or something like that for our casinos. They're all very tourist conscious here… and Olive…' I could hear embarrassment in her voice when she said 'olive' and I knew I was going to have to ferret out the reason behind that, after I got over my disbelief over her country's parliament.

"And of course, you don't agree."

"Of course, not that it really matters. They don't listen to my opinions about this anyway, or anything else. I keep trying to tell them that if we don't charge for parking it will simply encourage more people to drive over the French and Italian borders, instead of doing the smart and eco-friendly thing of taking the train, meaning that they'll clog up Genovia's already extremely busy streets and causing even more strain to our infrastructure here." I never realised how French she sounds when she gets upset or angry. Or maybe it's simply a new quirk that she has acquired from being over there, because she has to spend most of her time speaking French there.

"What does your Dad think?"

'Oh, he agrees with me, but there are more of them then there are of him and Grandmere doesn't exactly help the matter. She wants more casinos and more tourist in Genovia and all of the old guys in parliament are like in love with her, so they do and agree with everything she says, it's extremely disturbing.'

"I'll say." I hadn't personally met Mia's grandmother, but I had seen her on the Television and Mia spoke enough about her that I knew well enough what kind of person she is, and it's not a very nice one.

"So what about olives?" I asked and I heard Mia groan, before she told me this insanely amusing story about her accidently insulting the Genovian Olive Growers' Association. Then we somehow got back on to my birthday, with her asking me what I might like, which caused me to laugh.

"Mia," I said laughing, "I honestly don't want or need anything. Anyway, I'm going to be getting the best present of all in eight days anyway."

'You are?' she sounded so bewildered and I could just tell that she was pouting.

"Uh huh. You, silly. Your coming back in eight days is the best present anyone can ever give me."

"Oh." She sounded both embarrassed and pleased.

From there we got on to talking about my band, which is still unformed, and what names I might possible call it.

I had been half-heartedly thinking of calling it Frontal Lobotomy. However, I do not think the name is going to stick, purely because the whole inspiration for it came from the desire of wanting it done to Lil. It would certainly shut her up about that damn movie!

We were just getting ready to say goodbye and I was just about to tell Mia that I both missed and loved her, when Lilly suddenly came running into the kitchen, her eyes wild, which clued me in on what she wanted. So much for her promise to let me have Mia's next phone call all to myself, well beside from the quick Hi she said right at the beginning of this phone conversation when she came into the kitchen to get herself a drink and asked who I was talking to. I had been so hopeful that she would leave the whole movie thing out, which she had… then, but now…

I shook my head fiercely at her.

"I have to talk to her!" she said lunging for the phone, missing because I suddenly stood up from the kitchen stool so that I now towered over her.

I jerked my head to tell her to get lost.

"Let me talk her!" She yelled.

"Go away."

"I have to talk to her; I just remembered I have something really important to ask her."

I shook my head at her again.

"Don't tell her about that!" I growled back at her. So the only reason she didn't actually mention the damn thing to Mia before was simply because she had forgotten to, not because she had any sense of decency towards her best friend.

She kicked me in the behind the knee (a new favourite kicking spot for her) when I didn't hand the phone over to her. With grunt of pain, I doubled over because I honestly thought I would fall from how hard she kicked me behind the kneecap, groaning even more loudly when she tackled me and wrestled the phone out my hand.

"Little…" I started but was once more kicked, though this time in the shins, thank god, because I was sure that another kick behind the kneecap and I would have had been falling.

"Oh, my God, I forgot to ask." So she had forgotten, "Did you see it?" I groaned as I sat back down on the kitchen stool, so that I was still close enough to the phone, so that I could hear Mia's reply.

'Lilly,' I did smile when I heard the annoyance and severity in Mia's tone when she said Lil's name, 'I know that you are used to having me all to yourself, but you are going to have to learn to share me with your brother.' I was laughing quietly at this point because Lil looked basically livid at what Mia was saying, sounding like an adult chiding a young child. It was brilliant; this seriously needed to happen more often between them. Heck, you never know, it might. They need more of an equal balance in their friendship, especially with them getting older, they need to be more equal with each other, instead of Lil simply pushing Mia around and Mia doing everything Lil tells her to do. And who said anything about sharing her? 'Now, if this means we are going to have to set boundaries in our relationship, then I guess we will have to. But you can't just go around ripping the phone out of Michael's hand when he might have had something really important to - " Which I had. Hmmm, sharing. This might actually be a problem, one that I didn't before foresee. Neither Lil and I are, in truth, very good sharers. If it's ours, it's well, ours, we don't go sharing our things around. Not that I'm classing Mia as a thing. Hell no, but… this was certainly going to cause some issues… a lot of them, probably.

"Have you been watching Dr Phil again?" Lil snarled, "I can't believe they have Oprah there, but not email. Anyway, shut up about my sainted brother for a moment." She shot me an evil look. Yup, there were definitely going to be issues with this. I sighed. I didn't want to share Mia, least of all with my little sister; I just wanted her all to myself. "Did… you… see… it?"

'See what?' I heard Mia asked bewildered. So she hadn't seen it or heard of it either. So maybe we could keep it that way. I made a lunge for the phone, but Lil simply just kicked me again. God, my life would be so much simpler if Lil had been born a boy, then I could simply pummel her back. 'What are you talking about?'

"Oh, just the movie," Lil said sounding oh so casual. I sighed. "Of your life. Or hadn't you heard your life story has been made into a movie of the week?" and suddenly it was all Mia's fault for the existence of the movie.

I rolled my eyes to the heavens.

There was a slight pause before Mia said, rather surprisingly, in a rather indifferent tone, 'So?'

I blinked at that while Lil's mouth actually dropped for a second in disbelief.

"Hello." Lil snapped, dissatisfied with Mia's obvious lack of interest in the subject of the movie about her life. "Movie. Of your life. You were portrayed as shy and awkward."

I gave Lil a weird look. Mia is shy and somewhat awkward, though I admit she is getting over both of those things.

'I am shy and awkward.' I heard Mia remind Lil. She sounded bored which had me grinning again. Lil only looked more annoyed.

"They made your grandmother all kindly and sympathetic to your plight." Yeah, ok, they had definitely gotten Mia's grandmother a hundred per cent wrong. "It was the grossest mischaracterization I've seen since ShakespeareinLove tried to pass off the Bard as a hottie with a six-pack and a full set of teeth."

"That's horrible." I heard Mia say, clearly trying to sound sympathetic, but failing miserably. 'Now can I please finish talking to Michael?' I moved to take the phone back off Lil, but she stepped away from me, as far as the phone cord would allow her to go.

"You didn't even ask how they portrayed me," Here we go, I was wondering when she was going to bring up her greatest concern and disgust with the movie. I rolled my eyes at her. She was so shallow at times, "your loyal best friend." I let out a tiny little snort at that, which had Lil shooting me a withering look.

'How did they portray you, Lilly?' I heard Mia ask tiredly. "And make it quick, I've got a breakfast and then a ride with the Genovian Equestrian Society in exactly seven hours.'

"They portrayed me as less than fully supportive of your royalness." Lil all but shrieked down the phone. "They made out like after you first got that stupid haircut." I rolled my eyes. Stupid, Lil? Really? Honestly can't see where they might have gotten the idea that you weren't a good friend to Mia in those weeks and that you didn't support her being a royal from? Pure fiction, maybe? To build up the drama in the movie? Can't possibly be because it's what truly happen, can it? "I mocked you for being shallow and a trend-follower!"

I sniggered when I heard Mia's bored, 'Yeah,' was all the reply Lil got for all her ranting.

"I was never unsupportive of your royalness!" Now she was shrieking. "I was your number one more supportive friend through the whole thing."

I pulled a face.

My god, Lil's selective memory was even worse than I originally thought it was. I could hear Mia giggling on the other end of the phone as I watched Lil grow all the more livid at the sound.

"I sincerely hope," Lil snarled through gritted teeth, "that you are laughing in disbelief over the idea that I was ever anything less than a good friend to you, Mia. I know we've had our ups and downs, but any time I was ever hard on you, it was only because I thought you were being true to yourself."

I gave Lil a disgusted look, which she of course, ignored.

I heard Mia mutter, 'Um, ok,' extremely fast over the other end of the phone. Lil looked satisfied (finally) while I wanted to beat her head in.

I leant back in the stool listening to Lil ramble on and on about the letter she is still planning on writing to the Studios who produced the film. I actually feel a little sorry for them.

I came out of zoning when Lil started shrieking that the man was not going to keep her down. I think Mia must have asked her what the hell she meant because she just kept saying the man over and over again.

I was finally able to wrestle the phone back off Lil, who was still chanting the man over and over again.

"Hey, it's me."

'Hi. Um, is Lilly ok? And who is The Man?' she asked puzzled as well as sounding tired now.

"It's Lil, when is she ever ok?"

I grinned when she said 'true'.

'So, who is The Man."

I thought for a moment on how to explain 'The Man'.

"Ok, so 'the man' is basically a figurative allusion to authority. Like how in the way the Freudian analysts blame everything on 'the mother', blues musicians have historically blamed all their woes on 'the man'. Traditionally 'the man' is white, a financial success, usually in his mid to late forties and has considerable power over others." I explained.

'Oh.' Mia said slowly, 'so naming your band The Man wouldn't be the best idea, even if it would annoy Lilly, huh?' I laughed at that.

"Probably not. It does have some possible misogynistic undertones, doesn't it?"

'Yeah, just a bit.' She laughed.

"Listen, you should probably head for bed."

'Technically, I'm already in bed.' She replied with tired cheek. I grinned.

"Fine. You should probably go to sleep then." I chuckled, even though, of course, I didn't want to say goodbye to her.

She let out a small yawn, which sealed my resolve to say good night and hang up.

"Ok, go to sleep, ok."

'Ok.'

"I mean it, Mia. Go to sleep."

After a bit more of this back and forth conversation, we finally said goodbye and hung up.

I sighed heavily because once again I hadn't been able to tell her either that I missed her or that I loved her.

Only eight more days until I saw her again.

Author's Note: Yet another chapter of Michael getting kicked by Lilly. Ever wondered if they grew out of that? I'm doubting it, but you never know, lol.
Thanks for reading and once again, I do like the PD movie, it's Lilly and Michael who don't like it, for obvious reasons. I mean, I know both, in different ways, want the Worlds attention but for their own gains and by their own means. Them ending up in the Media for any other reason then their own, I'm pretty sure would piss them off.
That and Michael is worried about how the movie will affect Mia's feeling about her self-image and about whether or not she'll be teased over the movie like she was over those photos of her in the New York Times in book 3. That, more than anything else are the main reasons he doesn't like the movie.