Princess in Waiting (The Princess Diaries 4)

Still no clue as to what my secret talent might be. One thing I’m pretty sure it’s not is psychology.

It was hard work talking Tina out of giving up her books! And we didn’t manage to convince Shameeka not to try out for cheerleading. I guess I can see why she’d want to do it—I mean, it might be a little fun.

Though why anyone would willingly want to spend that much time with Lana Weinberger is beyond me.

Thursday, January 22, French

Mademoiselle Klein is not happy with Tina and me for skipping yesterday.

Of course I told her we didn’t skip, that we had a medical emergency that necessitated a trip to Ho’s for Tampax, but I am not sure Mademoiselle Klein believed me. You would think she would show some feminine solidarity with the whole surfing the crimson wave thing, but apparently not. At least she didn’t write us up. She let us off with a warning and assigned us a five-hundred-word essay each (in French, of course) about the Maginot Line.

But that isn’t even what I want to write about. What I want to write about is this:

MY DAD RULES!!!!!

And not just a country, either. He totally got me out of the Contessa’s black-and-white ball!!!!

What happened was—at least according to Mr. G, who just caught me outside in the hall and filled me in— the filibuster over the parking meters was finally broken (after thirty-six hours) and my mom was finally able to get through to my dad (those in favor of charging for parking meters won. It is a victory for the environment as well as for me. But I cannot feel fully vindicated for the post-introduction-speech-to-my-people mocking I endured at Grandmère’s hands, due to the fact that the true winner in all of this is the Genovian infrastructure).

Anyway, my dad fully said that I did not have to go to the Contessa’s party. Not only that, but he said he had never heard anything so ridiculous in his life, that the only feud going on between our family and the royal family of Monaco is Grandmère’s. Apparently she and the Contessa have been in competition since finishing school, and Grandmère had just wanted to show off her granddaughter, about whom books have been written and movies have been made. Apparently the Contessa’s only granddaughter will also be at the ball, but she’s never had a movie based on her life, and in fact is kind of like a sadsack who got kicked out of finishing school for never learning how to ski right, or something.

So I am free! Free to spend tomorrow night with my only love! I cat-on-the-roofed Michael for nothing! Everything is going to be all right, despite my lack of lucky underwear. I can feel it in my bones.

I am so happy, I feel like writing a poem. I will shield it from Tina, however, because it is unseemly to gloat over one’s own fortunes when the fortunes of another are so exceedingly wretched (Tina found out who Jasmine is: a girl who goes to Trinity, with Dave. Her father is an oil sheik, too. Jasmine has aquamarine braces and her screenname is IluvJustin2345).

HOMEWORK

Algebra: probs at end of Chapt. 11

English: in journal, describe feelings pertaining to reading John Donne’s The Bait

Bio: don’t know, Shameeka is doing it for me Health and Safety: Chapter 2, Environmental Hazards and You

G & T: figure out secret talent

French: Chapitre Onze, écrivez une narratif, 300 words, double spaced, plus 500 wds on snails

World Civ: 500 words, describe origins of Armenian conflict

Poem for Michael

Oh, Michael,

soon we’ll be parkin’

in front of Grand Moff Tarkin

Enjoying veggie moo shu

to the beeps of R2-D2

And maybe even holding hands

while gazing upon the Tatooine sands

And knowing that our love by far

has more fire power than the Death Star