From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess (15 page)

Grandm
è
re says not to get used to it. She says, “Everyone loves a scandal.”

I told her I'm going to try hard not to create any.

How can I, anyway? I'm on my way to my new home in Genovia, with my new family and my new dog, Snowball. Because this is a private plane, and the only people on it are my dad, Grandm
è
re, Rommel, my sister, and her husband-to-be, Michael (who is very nice and said he could tell I was going to make a very good aunt someday), I'm allowed to let Snowball sleep on my lap. She doesn't have to be in a dog carrier or anything.

I haven't seen Genovia yet outside my window, but I have seen the ocean and the tops of clouds.

I've never seen the tops of clouds before, only the sides and bottoms of them. The tops of them are so pretty, especially with the sun shining down on them, you can almost believe they're what heaven looks like, and that the angels are hiding behind all those piles of puffy whiteness, waiting until we've passed over (because we're not allowed to know angels exist until we're dead).

And then as soon as we're out of sight, they're going to pop out again and go back to playing the harp or angel Ping-Pong or whatever it is angels do all day.

I'd wave to my mom in heaven out the window, but I don't want anyone to see me and ask who I'm waving to and then think I'm being weird, waving to the angel of my mom.

Besides, I don't have to wave. I think she already knows I'm here. And I'm pretty sure she's as happy for me as I am.

 

Sunday, May 10
5:00 P.M.
My Room, Genovian Palace

I am very sleepy right now with something my dad says is called “jet lag,” which is what you get when you travel to a country which is in a time zone that isn't the same as the one you're used to (Genovia is six hours ahead of New Jersey, so I guess it's way past my bedtime right now).

But I just had to take a minute to write down that this is the
prettiest place I've ever seen
! Even though there is no Cheesecake Factory in Genovia, I obviously made the right decision coming here, and they have things that are just as good
—
if not better
—
than Cheesecake Factory, such as the royal kitchens, from which I can order
whatever I want, whenever I want it.

I have already put in an order for waffles and eggs and soldiers for breakfast tomorrow morning. And also lunch.

Genovia even
smells
good, way better than Cranbrook. There are some kind of flowers blooming outside the balcony of my bedroom that smell like oranges.

That's because there
are
oranges growing there, on trees right outside my window! I can reach out whenever I want and pick one and eat it. FOR FREE. They do not charge for the oranges.

Or anything else.
Everything in the palace is free.
It is just like the limo, only much bigger of course.

Did I mention my bedroom is huge and has hand-painted murals on the walls of clouds and birds (that are pretty realistic-looking, even if they're really old and weren't done by a wildlife illustrator), and also has its own balcony overlooking the palace pool?

Yes, we have our own pool, which is filled with fountains and looks out over the ocean.

I knew Genovia was going to be different than Cranbrook, of course, but I didn't know
how
different. I already texted Nishi that she is going to
freak out
when she gets here because this place makes the Beauty and the Beast castle at Disney World look like the dump.

(Not that I've ever been to the Beauty and the Beast castle, but I have been to the dump. I went there a bunch of times with Aunt Catherine and Uncle Rick to drop off waste from their construction sites.)

Nishi hasn't texted back yet (probably because of the time difference), but her parents already said she could come for the ENTIRE summer break, including for my sister's wedding, in which we can
both
be junior bridesmaids.

I CANNOT WAIT (even if we do have to wear skirts, but Mia promised they would not be pleated).

Here's what else:

Genovia is right on the ocean, but not like the Jersey Shore is on the ocean. Genovia is built into these cliffs along the Mediterranean Sea, which is this beautiful turquoise blue, and the sand on the beaches is bright white, and there are these huge yachts and fancy restaurants and casinos and of course the PALACE, which has these big gold gates that we just drive right through because WE LIVE THERE.

And there are armed guards in funny blue-and-white costumes that stand guard outside the gates and that all the tourists take photos of, but that Mia told me never to laugh at because they risk their lives to protect us, the royal family. I can respect that.

And Dad told me the palace doors are made of wood that is nearly a thousand years old and there are portraits in the Great Hall of our ancestors dating back as far as the 1300s, and Grandm
è
re said I am going to have to “sit for a portrait,” too, because now I am “part of the family lineage.”

Which reminds me that I totally forgot to hand in my “Who Am I?” worksheet in bio.

But I guess it doesn't matter, since I've already been admitted to the Royal Genovian Academy. I'm going to start there soon, Dad says, but “There's no rush. It's more important you get settled in to the new time zone
—
and your new family, of course
—
first.”

When he said that, I got a strange feeling. At first I didn't know what it was. Then I realized:

It was happiness. Family. I have a family, a real one, for the first time in my life.

This
is the happiest moment of my life. Even happier than the day the art school called and said I'd been accepted with a full scholarship for my Tippy the Turtle drawing. Even happier than when Dad asked me to come live with him.

And not because it turns out I'm a princess and I get to live in a beautiful palace on the ocean with orange trees right outside my window and birds painted on my walls.

It's not because I'm going to get to hang out with Nishi all summer, or even because I have a dog that's fast asleep on my lap, and she's MY dog to keep forever.

It's because I finally have a family that loves me.

And that's the least boring, least average, most special, and most amazing thing of all.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

 

PATRICIA CABOT
is a pen name of
MEG CABOT
, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of books for both adults and tweens/teens, including the Princess Diaries series. She was raised in Bloomington, Indiana, and has also lived in Grenoble, France; Carmel, California; and New York City. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Indiana University. She currently lives in Key West, Florida with her husband and various cats. You can sign up for email updates
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