Princess In Love (15 page)

'Mia,' Kenny said. He looked more uncomfortable than I'd ever seen him, and I've seen Kenny look plenty uncomfortable. He's an awkward kind of guy. 'I just want to ... I mean, I just want you to know. Well. That I know.'

I stared at him. I had no idea what he was talking about. Seriously. I'd forgotten all about that hug he'd seen in the hallway. The one I'd given Michael. All I could think was, Please don't come over here, Michael. Please don't come over here, Michael. . .

'Look, Kenny,' I said. I don't even know how I got my tongue to work, I swear. I felt like a robot somebody had switched into the Off position. 'This really isn't a good time. Maybe we could talk later—'

'Mia,' Kenny said. He had a funny look on his face. 'I know. I saw him.'

I blinked.

And then I remembered. Michael, and the B minus hug.

'Oh, Kenny,' I said. 'Really. That was just ... I mean, there's nothing—'

'You don't have to worry,' Kenny said. And then I realized why his face looked so funny. It was because he was wearing an expression on it that I had never seen before. At least, not on Kenny. The expression was resignation. 'I won't tell Lilly.'

Lilly! Oh, God! The last person in the world I wanted to know how I felt about Michael!

Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe there was still a chance I could . . .

But no. No, I couldn't lie to him. For once in my life, I could not summon up a lie.

'Kenny,' I said. 'I am so, so sorry.'

I didn't realize until I said it that it was too late to run for the Girls' Room: I had already started crying. My voice broke, and when I put my hands to my face, they came away wet.

Great. I was crying, and in front of the entire student body of Albert Einstein High School.

'Kenny,' I said, sniffling. 'I honestly meant to tell you. And I really do like you. I.just don't. . . love you.'

Kenny's face was very white, but he didn't start crying -not like me. Thank God. In fact, he even managed to smile a little in that weird, resigned way as he said, shaking his head, 'Wow. I can't believe it. I mean, when it first hit me, I was like no way. Not Mia. No way would she do that to her best friend. But. . . well, I guess it explains a lot. About, um, us.'

I couldn't look him in the face any longer. I felt like a worm. Worse than a worm, because worms are very environmentally helpful. I felt like . . . like . . .

Like a fruit fly.

'I guess I've suspected for a long time that there was someone else,' Kenny went on. 'You never . . . well, you never exactly seemed to return my ardour when we ... you know.'

I knew. Kissed. Nice of him to bring it up, though, here in the gym, in front of everyone.

'I knew you just weren't saying anything because you didn't want to hurt my feelings,' Kenny said. 'That's the kind of girl you are. And that's why I put off asking you to the dance because I figured you'd just say no. On account of you, you know, liking someone else. I mean, I know you'd never lie to me, Mia. You're the most honest person I've ever met.'

HA! Was he joking? Me? Honest? Obviously, he did not have the slightest clue about my nostrils.

'That's how I know that this must be tearing you up inside. I just think you better tell Lilly soon,' Kenny said sombrely. 'I started to suspect, you know, at the restaurant. And if I figured it out, other people will too. And you wouldn't want her to hear it from somebody else.'

I had reached up to try to wipe some of my tears away with my sleeve, but paused with my hand only halfway there, and stared at him. 'Restaurant? What restaurant?'

'You know,' Kenny said, looking uncomfortable. 'That day we all went to Chinatown. You and he sat next to each other. You kept laughing . . . you looked pretty chummy.'

Chinatown? But Michael hadn't gone with us that day to Chinatown . . .

'And you know,' Kenny said, 'I'm not the only one who's noticed him leaving you those roses all week, either.'

I blinked. I could barely see him through my tears. 'W-what?'

'You know.' He looked around, then dropped his voice to a whisper. 'Boris. Leaving you all those roses. I mean, come on, Mia. If you two want to carry on behind Lilly's back, that's one thing, but—'

The roaring in my ears that had been there just after I'd read Michael's poem came back.

BORIS. BORIS PELKOWSKI. My boyfriend just broke up with me because he thinks I am having an affair with BORIS PELKOWSKI.

BORIS PELKOWSKI, who always has food in his braces.

BORIS PELKOWSKI, who wears his sweaters tucked inside his trousers.

BORIS PELKOWSKI, my best friend's boyfriend.

Oh, God. My life is so over.

I tried to tell him. You know - the truth. That Boris isn't my secret love, but my Secret Snowflake.

But Tina darted forward, grabbed me by the arm and went, 'Sorry, Kenny, Mia has to go now.' Then she dragged me into the Girls' Room.

'I have to tell him,' I kept saying over and over like a crazy person, as I tried to break free of her grip. 'I have to tell him. I have to tell him the truth.'

'No, you do not,' Tina said, pushing me past the toilet stalls. 'You two are broken up. Who cares why? You're through, and that's all that matters.'

I blinked at my tear-stained reflection in the mirror above the sinks. I looked awful. Never in your life have you seen anyone who looked less like a princess than I did then. Just looking at myself made me break out into a fresh wave of tears.

Of course Tina says she's sure Michael wasn't trying to make fun of me. Of course she says that he must have figured out that

I was the one who was sending him those cards, and was trying to let me know that he feels the same way about me.

Only of course I can't believe that. Because if that were true - if that were true - why did he let me go? Why didn't he try to stop me?

Tina has pointed out that he did try. But my shrieking when I read his poem, and then running in tears from the room, might not have seemed to him like a very encouraging sign. In fact, it might have actually looked to him like I was displeased by what I'd seen. Furthermore, Tina pointed out, even if Michael had tried to go after me, there'd have been Kenny cornering me on my way out. It had certainly looked as if the two of us were Having A Moment - which we most certainly were - and didn't wish

to be disturbed.

All of which could be true.

But it could also be true that Michael was just joking. A very mean joke under the circumstances, but Michael doesn't know that I love him with every fibre of my being. Michael doesn't know that I've been in love with him all my life. Michael doesn't know that without him, I will never, ever achieve self-actualization. I mean, to Michael, I'm just his kid sister's best friend. He probably didn't mean to be cruel. He probably thought he was being funny.

It isn't his fault that my life is over and that I am never, ever leaving this bathroom.

I'll just wait until everybody is gone, and then I'll sneak out, and no one will see me again until next semester starts, by which time, hopefully, all of this will have blown over.

Or, better yet, maybe I'll just stay in Genovia ...

Hey, yeah. Why not?

Friday, December 18, 5 p.m., the Loft

I don't know why people can't just leave me alone.

Seriously. I may be done with Finals, but I still have a lot to do. I mean, I have to pack, don't I? Don't people know that when you are leaving for your royal introduction to the people over whom you will one day reign, you have to do a lot of packing?

But no. No, people keep on calling, and e-mailing, and coming over.

Well, I'm not talking to anybody. I think I have made that perfectly clear. I am not speaking to Lilly, or Tina, or my dad, or

Mr. Gianini, or my mother, and ESPECIALLY not Michael, even though at last count he'd called four times.

I am way too busy to talk to anybody.

And with my headphones on, I can't even hear them pounding on the door. It's kind of nice, I have to say.

Friday, December 18, 5:30 p.m., the Fire Escape

People have a right to their privacy. If I want to go into my room and lock the door and not come out or have to deal with anyone, I should have a right to. People should not be allowed to take the hinges off my door and remove it. That is completely unfair.

But I have found a way to foil them. I am out on the fire escape. It is about thirty degrees out here and, by the way, it's snowing. But guess what? So far no one has followed me.

Fortunately, I bought one of those pens that is also a flashlight, so I can see to write. The sun went down a while ago, and I have to admit my butt is freezing. But it's actually sort of nice out here. All you can hear is the hiss of the snow as it lands on

the metal of the fire escape, and the occasional siren or car alarm. It is restful, in a way.

And you know what I'm finding out? I need a rest. Big-time.

Really. I need to like go and lie on a beach somewhere or something.

There's a nice beach in Genovia. With white sand, palm trees, the whole bit.

Too bad while I'm there, I'm never going to have time to visit it, since I'm going to be too busy christening battle ships or whatever.

But if I lived in Genovia . . . you know, moved there and lived there full time . . .

Oh, I'll miss my mom, of course. I've already considered that. She's leaned out the window about twenty times already,

begging me to come inside, or to at least put on a coat. My mom's a nice lady. I'll really miss her.

But she can come visit me in Genovia. At least, up until her eighth month. Then air travel might be a little risky. But she can come after my baby brother or sister is born. That would be nice.

And Mr. G, he's OK too. He just leaned out and asked if I wanted any of the four alarm chilli he just made. He left out the meat, he says, just for me.

That was nice of him. He can come visit me in Genovia too.

It will be nice to live there. I can hang out with my dad all the time. He's not such a bad guy, either, once you get to know him. He wants me to come in off the fire escape too. I guess my mom must have called him. He says he's really proud of me, on account of the press conference and my B minus in Algebra and all. He wants to take me out to dinner to celebrate. We can

go to the Zen Palatte, he says. A totally vegetarian restaurant. Isn't that nice of him?

Too bad he let Lars take my door down or I might have gone with him.

Ronnie, our next-door neighbour, just looked out her window and saw me. Now she wants to know what I'm doing, sitting

out on the fire escape in December.

I told her I needed some privacy, and that this appears to be the only way I can get it.

Ronnie went, 'Honey, don't I know how that is.'

She said I was going to freeze without a coat though, and offered me her mink. I politely declined as I cannot wear the skins

of dead animals.

So she loaned me her electric blanket, which she has plugged into the outlet beneath her air conditioner. I must say, this is an improvement.

Ronnie is getting ready to go out. It is nice to watch her put on her make-up. As she does it, she is keeping up a running conversation with me through the open window. She asked me if I was having trouble at school and if that was why I'm on the fire escape, and I said I was. She asked what kind and I told her. I told her I am being persecuted: that I am in love with my best friend's brother, but that to him it is apparently all this really big joke. Oh, and also that everyone apparently thinks I am having an affair with a mouth-breathing violinist who happens to be my best friend's boyfriend.

Ronnie shook her head and said it was good to know things haven't changed since she was in high school. She says she

knows what it is like to be persecuted, because Ronnie used to be a man.

I told Ronnie that it really doesn't matter, because I'm moving to Genovia. Ronnie said she was sorry to hear that. She'll miss me, as I have really improved conditions in the apartment building's incinerator room since I insisted on installing separate recycling bins for newspapers and cans and bottles.

Then Ronnie said she has to go because she's meeting her boyfriend for cocktails at the Carlyle. She said I could keep the electric blanket, though, so long as I remember to put it away when I'm done using it.

God. Even my next-door neighbour, who used to be a man, has a boyfriend. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME????

Uh-oh. I hear footsteps in my room. Who's coming now?

Friday, December 18, 7:30 p.m.

Well. You could knock me over with a feather.

Guess who just came out onto the fire escape and sat with me for half an hour?

Grandmere.

I am not even kidding.

I was sitting here, feeling all depressed, when all of a sudden this big furry sleeve appeared out my window, and then a foot in

a high-heeled shoe, and then a big blonde head, and next thing I knew, Grandmere was sitting there, blinking at me from the depths of her full-length chinchilla.

'Amelia,' she said, in her most no-nonsense tone. 'What are you doing out here? It's snowing. Come back inside.'

I was shocked. Shocked that Grandmere would even consider coming out on to the fire escape (it is an indelicate thing for a princess to mention, but there is actually a lot of bird poop out here), but also that she would dare to speak to me, after what she did.

But she addressed that issue right away.

'I understand that you are upset with me,' she said. 'And you have a right to be. But I want you to know that what I did, I did for you.'

'Oh, right!' Even though I swore I was never going to speak to her again, I couldn't help myself. 'Grandmere, how can you possibly say that? You completely humiliated me!'

'I didn't mean to,' Grandmere said. 'I meant to show you that you are just as pretty as those girls in the magazines you are always wishing you looked like. It's important that you know that you are not this hideous creature that you apparently think you are.'

'Grandmere,' I said. 'That's nice of you and all - I guess - but you shouldn't have done it that way.'