Princess on the Brink Read Free

had said, “in the robotic surgery field.”
    Yes. I have a boyfriend who builds robots. It’s SO COOL!!!!!
    When Lilly and I got back to the table, it was really hard for me even to look at Boris’s face—although it’s actuallysemi-attractive now that he no longer wears a bionater and started seeing a dermatologist and got Lasik eye surgery and all of that.
    Still. All I can see when I look at him now is Lilly’s hand down his pants. Right there with his sweater.
    “Oh my God, Mia,” Ling Su cried as I sat down. “What happened to your hair?”
    This is really not the kind of thing you want to hear when you’ve just gotten your hair cut.
    “Astor Place Hairstylists,” I said. “Why? You don’t like it?”
    “Oh, no, I like it,” Ling Su said quickly. But I totally saw her exchange looks with Perin, whom, I might add, has even shorter hair than I do. And mine’s pretty short.
    “I think Mia looks great,” J.P. said. He was sitting down at the other end of the table, across from Lilly. He wasn’t looking too bad himself, actually. His tousled blond hair had been streaked even blonder in places by the sun—his parents have a place on Martha’s Vineyard, which is where he’d spent the bulk of his summer, brushing up on his windsurfing skills.
    And it had totally paid off. I mean, if a killer tan and pretty well-defined arm muscles count for anything.
    Not that I was looking. Because I already have a boyfriend with his own killer arm muscles.
    And okay, Michael probably didn’t get tan this summer, because he was too busy with his summer school robot project.
    But he’s still hotter than J.P.
    Who, besides, is Lilly’s boyfriend.
    Or something.
    “Very gaminesque,” J.P. said, nodding at my head.
    “I know what that means,” Tina said excitedly. “Like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday !”
    “I was thinking more Keira Knightley in Domino ,” J.P. said. “But that works, too.”
    It’s nice to have such supportive friends.
    Well, SOME supportive friends, anyway. I can’t believe Lilly won’t tell me if she and J.P. Did It. If they did, you can’t tell by looking at them. You’d think if they’d given each other their Precious Gift, there’d at least be some footsies under the table.
    But the only thing I saw them do that was at all intimate was J.P. giving Lilly a bite of his Yodel. And I’ve given her bites of my Yodel.
    But that doesn’t mean I’m about to give her my Precious Gift.

Tuesday, September 7, Gifted and Talented
     
    Okay, it really isn’t fair that, besides the whole being-putin-Intro-to-Creative-Writing-and-not-Intermediate-Creative-Writing-thing, I should also have such a sucky afternoon schedule. Look at this. Just LOOK:

 
Period 1
Homeroom
 
Period 2
Intro to Creative Writing
 
Period 3
English
 
Period 4
French
 
Lunch
 
 
Period 5
G and T
 
Period 6
PE
 
Period 7
Chemistry
 
Period 8
Precalculus

    Physical education, then CHEMISTRY, then PRECALCULUS??? Is it too much to ask that I have ONE FUN CLASS in the afternoon? ONE THING TO LOOK FORWARD TO???
     
     
     
    But no. It has to be SUCKZONE from 1:25 p.m. on.
    Seriously. That is just wrong.
    And who do they think they’re kidding, putting me in advanced algebra? ME?
    Whatever. Considering how bad my practice PSAT math score was, maybe I can talk Dad out of making me go to princess lessons this year, and have mandatory tutoring instead.
    AND MICHAEL COULD BE MY TUTOR!!!!
    Hey, it could happen. He tutored me all through Algebra and Geometry. And I passed both of those. Why shouldn’t Dad also hire him to be my tutor for Precalculus?
    And maybe he could tutor me in Chemistry, too. Because I heard that class is no joke.
    Oh, great. Lilly wants to talk about the student election. She says she’s going to nominate me at Assembly today.
    Seriously. I just don’t know. I mean, she’s got our platform all set up and everything. All I have to do is run.
    But I barely had a minute to myself last year! And if I