Princess on the Brink (The Princess Diaries 8)

Mia—I didn’t know you were taking Chemistry this year. Want to be lab partners again? Why break with tradition?

WHY WOULD KENNY WANT TO BE LAB PARTNERS WITH ME???? I mean, except that I have better handwriting than he does, I can see no possible advantage for him in being lab partners with me. It’s true, he doesn’t know how bad my math practice PSAT score was.

But he KNOWS I suck in science. I can only bring our group effort down!

Oh, wait. Now J.P. just passed me a note.

Hey, Mia. I didn’t know you had Chem with Hipskin this semester. He’s supposed to be good. Want to be lab partners? I suppose that’s what Showalter just asked you in that note he flipped over to you. Ditch him, he’ll just hold you back with his constant protestations of l’amour. I’m the one you want.

Which is funny, but—oh, dear. What do I do? I WANT to be lab partners with J.P., because I really like J.P. He is very amusing and, besides which, gets straight As—except for in Honors English last year, since he ALSO had Ms. Martinez (only for a different class period than mine) and she gave him a B same as me because—we decided—she just didn’t like our writing style.

But Kenny asked first. And Kenny and I

are ALWAYS partners. He’s right, we can’t break with tradition.

WHY DO THESE THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME????

Wait, I can figure this out. I mean, I haven’t had TWO YEARS of instruction in diplomacy for nothing.

I know…let’s all THREE be lab partners. Okay?—Mia

To which Kenny replied:

Cool! I like your new haircut, by the way. You look just like Anakin Skywalker from The Phantom Menace. You know, the one where he pod races?

Great. I look like a nine-year-old boy.

J.P. just wrote:

Skillfully done, grasshopper. I see your sensei has taught you well.

Sensei! That’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone refer to my grandmother as THAT.

Would she be offended if she knew?

Are you kidding? I can totally see her in one of those karate uniforms, with a big stick, telling me that “some lessons can’t be taught. They must be lived to be understood.”

À la Terence Stamp in Elektra. Nice. Only it’s called a gi.

What is?

A karate uniform. Don’t you know the ways of the fighting arts?

Sorry. But I know how to pour a formal tea.

Well, obviously you’re set for life then.

Hee. It’s fun talking to J.P. It’s like talking to a girl, only better, because he’s a guy. But there’s no sexual tension because I know he likes Lilly.

This might actually turn out not to be so bad. I mean, except for the whole Chemistry part.

—Matter—

—Pure substances—

—Mixtures—

Elements