Part 19 (1/2)

JPRA4: You're the awesome one.

We went on like that for a while, each one saying who was the more awesome, but neither of us saying what we really NEEDED to say (or at least what I felt like we needed to say), until I got an IM from Tina interrupting us.

ILUVROMANCE: Mia, I know you said not to talk about this anymore, but this isn't talking about it. It's IMing about it. I really don't think Michael left the party last night because he doesn't care about you. I think he left because he DOES care about you and he couldn't stand to see you with another. I know you don't want to hear that, but that's what I think.

I do love Tina. So, so much.

But sometimes I want to strangle her.

ILUVROMANCE: I mean, I was just wondering if you've really considered all the implications of what you're about to do with J.P. on prom night. Take it from someone who's been there. I know Lana and Trisha might make it sound like it's nothing, but s.e.x is a deeply emotional experience your first time, Mia-or it should be. This is a really big step and you shouldn't take it with just anyone.

FTLOUIE: Like with my boyfriend of almost two years whom I love to distraction, you mean?

ILUVROMANCE: Okay, I see what you're saying, and you guys have been going out for a long time. But what if you're making a mistake? What if J.P. isn't the One?

FTLOUIE: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Of course J.P. is the One. BECAUSE HE HASN'T BROKEN UP WITH ME. LIKE MICHAEL DID. REMEMBER?

ILUVROMANCE: Yes, but that was a long time ago. And now Michael's back. And I was just thinking...maybe you shouldn't make any hasty decisions. Because what if Lilly tells Michael what she heard in the bathroom today?

I knew Tina was lying today.

FTLOUIE: YOU SAID SHE WOULDN'T.

ILUVROMANCE: Well, she probably won't. But...what if she does?

FTLOUIE: Because Michael doesn't care, Tina. I mean, he broke up with me. He left the party last night. What would he care if I'm going around saying I'm still a virgin but I'm going to sleep with my boyfriend after the prom and that I only just got over still liking him? If he cared, he'd do something about it, right? I mean, Michael has my phone number, right?

ILUVROMANCE: Right.

FTLOUIE: And the phone's not ringing, is it? ILUVROMANCE: I guess not.

FTLOUIE: No. It isn't. So. No offense, Tina. I love romance, too, but in this particular case, it's OVER. MICHAEL DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ME ANYMORE. As his behavior at my party clearly ill.u.s.trates.

ILUVROMANCE: Well. Okay. If you say so.

FTLOUIE: I do. I do say so. Case closed.

That's when I told both Tina and J.P. that I really had to go. I had to log off, or I thought my head was going to spin out into the courtyard of our building and go whizzing off into s.p.a.ce to be with all the s.p.a.ce satellites that keep hurtling down to rain upon us.

That's not what I told them, of course. I said if I don't study, I won't pa.s.s Trig. Truthfully, if I don't pa.s.s Trig, then maybe one of these colleges that let me in based on my actual grades and essays and extracurriculars and all really won't let me in.

J.P. IMed me a million good-bye kisses. I sent them back in return. Tina just IMed ”Bye.” But I could tell there were ten thousand more things she wanted to say. Like about how J.P. wasn't my One, undoubtedly.

Nice of her to mention that NOW. Not that there's anything I can do about it.

I suppose she thinks my One is Michael. Why does my best friend have to think my One is a guy who is categorically uninterested in me?

Tuesday, May 2, 8 p.m., the loft Crud. There is stuff all over the gossip websites about my ”engagement” to J.P. Reynolds-Abernathy IV.

It's all tied in with how Dad is still losing in the Genovian election polls...and how maybe flying to the U.S. for a day for his daughter's eighteenth birthday party wasn't the best idea, seeing as how he really can't afford to be spending the time away from the campaign.

On the other hand, a lot of the articles say maybe if he did spend more time with his daughter, she wouldn't be getting herself engaged at such a young age.

I'm like the Jamie Lynn Spears of the Renaldo family! Minus the pregnancy!

I'm going to crawl under the covers and never come out.

It's a PROMISE RING! Who told them it was an engagement ring anyway?

Seriously, when is it all just going to go away?

Oh, that's right: Never.

Tuesday, May 2, 9 p.m., the loft Grandmere just called. She wanted to know if I had a dress for the prom yet.

”Um,” I said, suddenly remembering that, in fact, I didn't. ”No?”

”I figured as much,” Grandmere said, with a sigh. ”I'll put Sebastiano on it, since he's here in town.”

Then she said if I'd just given J.P. the speech she'd made me memorize so long ago, none of the gossip stuff would be happening. I guess they'd said something about it on Entertainment Tonight. Grandmere never misses an episode, since she's obsessed with Mary Hart's posture, which she says is perfect, and I should emulate. (I would, but I'd have to jam a broomstick up my b.u.t.t.) ”On the other hand,” she went on, ”if you had to get yourself engaged to anyone, Amelia, at least you picked someone with breeding and his own fortune. It could be worse. I suppose,” she added, with a cackle, ”it could have been That Boy.”

By That Boy, Grandmere meant Michael. And I don't frankly see what's so funny about that.

”I'm not engaged,” I told her. ”It's a promise ring.”

”What in G.o.d's name,” Grandmere wanted to know, ”is a promise ring? And what is this your father tells me about you having written a romance novel?”

I really was not in the mood to discuss Ransom My Heart with Grandmere. I still had about twenty chapters of Trig to review. Oh, and my devirginization to map out. I had to figure out what I was going to buy at CVS to keep a whole Juno scenario from breaking out. The next novel I write does not need to be t.i.tled Pregnant Princess.

”You don't need to worry about that,” I snapped. ”Since no one wants to publish it anyway.”

”Well, thank the Lord for that,” Grandmere said. ”The last thing this family needs is some tawdry paperback novel writer-”

”It's not tawdry,” I interrupted her, stung. ”It's a very humorous and moving romance about a young girl's s.e.xual awakening in the year twelve ninety-one-”

”Oh my G.o.d.” Grandmere sounded as if she'd swallowed the wrong way. ”Please tell me if you do get published, you'll be using a pen name.”

”Of course I am,” I said. How much can one person be expected to take, anyway? ”But even if I wasn't, what's wrong with it? Why does everyone have to be such a prude? You know, I've put up with doing what everybody else wants me to do for nearly four years now. It's about time I got to do something I want to do-”

”Well, for the love of G.o.d,” Grandmere said, ”why can't you take up skiing, or something? Why does it have to be novel writing?”

”Because I like it,” I said. ”And I can do it and still have time to be princess of Genovia, and not have paparazzi chase me around, and it isn't bad for me, and why can't you just be happy for me that I've found my calling?”

”Her calling!” I could tell Grandmere was rolling her eyes. ”Her calling, no less. It can't be your calling if no one will even buy the wretched thing from you, Amelia. Listen, if you want a calling, I'll pay for you to have cliff-diving lessons. I hear it's all the rage with the young people down in-”

”I don't want cliff-diving lessons,” I said. ”I'm going to write novels and there's nothing you can do to stop me. And I'm going to go to college to learn to do it better. I just don't know where yet. But I will by the prom and the election-”

”Well,” Grandmere said, sounding offended. ”Someone didn't get her beauty sleep!”

”Because I was at your party,” I said. Then I softened my tone, remembering what my dad had said about princesses being kind. ”I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. It was very nice of you to have that party for me, and it was lovely to see Dad, and you and Vigo did an awfully nice job. I just meant-”