Sunday, October 26th, 2:00 a.m. Lilly's bedroom

I did a very stupid thing tonight. I was with Tina, Shameeka, and Ling Su at Lilly's apartment. Lilly gave me a dare. She told me to do something stupid and dangerous.

"I want to film some teenagers behaving badly," she said. "If I ask you to do something stupid, will you do it?"

"What's the dare?" I asked.

"I dare you to drop an eggplant onto the sidewalk from my bedroom window. You won't do it. You're good. You never behave badly."

"I'll do it," I said at once. "I accept the dare."

It was a very stupid thing to do. Lilly's family live in an apartment sixteen floors up from the street. It's extremely dangerous to drop anything out of high windows in New York City. If something falls on someone in the street, they could die.

But my friends heard what Lilly said. So I agreed to do the dare. I went into Lilly's kitchen and found an eggplant. Then I went back to Lilly's bedroom. Lilly turned on her video camera and started filming.

I opened the window and dropped the eggplant. The huge purple vegetable fell down and down. Then.. .SPLAT! It hit the sidewalk. The soft eggplant exploded. Pieces of it went everywhere. Many pieces hit a bus and a Jaguar car.

I leaned out of the window. I saw a man get out of the

Jaguar. He looked up at Lilly's apartment building. He was trying to see which floor the eggplant came from.

Suddenly someone pulled me back. It was Michael, Lilly's brother.

"Get down!" he said. We all got down on the floor at once—me, Lilly, Michael, Shameeka, Ling Su and Tina.

I was surprised to see Michael in the apartment. I thought that he was out with his friends from the Computer Club.

"That was really stupid!" Michael said. "It's against the law to drop things out of windows in New York City. You could kill someone."

"Oh, don't be silly, Michael," said Lilly, laughing. "It was only a vegetable."

"I'm not joking, Lilly," said Michael, angrily. "I'm very serious. If anyone saw Mia do that, she'll be in big trouble. Maybe the police will arrest her. You mustn't keep that film, Lilly. No one must see the Princess of Genovia behaving so badly."

I was very pleased. Michael was trying to help me. Maybe he didn't write the love letter, but he does care about me a little.

Wedding Plans

Sunday, October 26th, 7:00 p.m.

I was worried. I'd told the secret about my mom and Mr Gianini. 1 didn't want to leave the Moscovitzes' apartment this morning. I always feel relaxed and comfortable at Lilly's place. Lilly and her family are ordinary people with normal problems. But my family is weird and our problems are always difficult.

I was surprised when I got home. My mom was happy to see me. "Don't worry, Mia," she said. "Your dad's talked to me about the TV interview. Everything's OK. I understand."

We sat down and made plans for her wedding. My mom wants to get married near the time of Halloween.

Then Lilly called.

"You've done an interview for Twenty-F'our'/Seven and
it's being shown on Monday," she said. "Why didn't you
tell me?" »■' .

"How do you know about this?" I asked in surprise.

"There are TV commercials advertizing it," said Lilly. "They're saying, 'Princess Mia, America's royal princess, has been interviewed by Beverly Bellerieve.' Why didn't you tell me?" Lilly asked again.

"I didn't think that it was important," I said.

"You didn't think that an interview with Beverly

Bellerieve was important!" said Lilly. "Beverly Bellerieve is America's top TV journalist. She's great!"

"Oh," I said. "She just seemed like a nice lady."

9:00 p.m.

I've had another e-mail from Jo-C-rox!

JoCrox: Hi, Mia. I just saw the TV commercial for your

interview. You looked great. I'm sorry, but I can't tell

you my real name. Now stop reading your e-mail messages.

You must start your Algebra homework.

Your Friend

I wrote back immediately.

FtLouie: WHO ARE YOU?

Jo-C-rox didn't reply. But how does he know about my Algebra homework? Michael knows about my Algebra homework. Is he Jo-C-rox? I want Michael to be Jo-C-rox!

Monday, October 27 th

Lots of people at school saw the commercials for my interview. Everyone is going to watch Twentj'Four/Seven tonight. Tomorrow, they'll all know about my mom and Mr Gianini. What am I going to do? What did I say in the interview? What other things did Beverly and I talk about? Did I say other stupid things?

I talked about the interview with my friend, Tina Hakim Baba. Before Tina was born, her mother was a model in Britain. She did a lot of TV interviews.

"The TV company always sent my mom a videotape of the interview before they showed the film on TV," said Tina.

This was a good idea. So at lunchtime I called my dad at the Plaza Hotel. I asked him to get a videotape of my interview from Beverly Bellerieve.

"I'llask her now," said my dad. He spoke to someone in his hotel room. Then I heard Beverly's voice on the phone.

"What's the matter, Mia?" she asked.

Beverly was in my dad's hotel suite! I wasn't surprised. My dad liked Beverly very much when he met her.

"I'm worried about my interview," I said. "I'd like to see a videotape of the film before you show it on TV."

"You don't need to see a videotape," said Beverly. "Don't worry. Everything's fine."

Afternoon

Something very embarrassing has happened. I was walking down the school hall with Michael and Lilly, when we met Lana Weinberger. Lana is the most beautiful and popular girl in the ninth grade. Lana walked up to Michael and me and stared at us.

"Are you two dating each other?" she said loudly.

Michael's face became red. So i did mine.

Lilly started to laugh. "Mia and Michael dating?" she said. "Of course they're not!"

Lana started laughing too. But Michael didn't say anything. He was putting his books in his bag.

After school

When I walked into Grandmere's hotel suite for my princess class today, she was sitting with a strange man. On the table in front of them, there was a huge piece of paper. There were lots of

circles on the paper. Grandmere and the man were sticking small pieces of paper onto the circles.

"What are you doing, Grandmere?" I asked.

"Oh, Amelia, this is Vigo," said Grandmere, pointing to the man. "He's come here from Genovia. He plans all the important events in Genovia. He's helping me to plan your mother's wedding."

"Grandmere," I said. "Can I talk to you privately for a moment, please?"

"No," said Grandmere. "If you have anything to say, you can say it to Vigo too."

Vigo jumped up from his chair and rushed over to me. He was very short and he spoke excitedly.

"I'm delighted to meet you, Your Highness," he said.

"It's nice to meet you too," I said. "But my mom and Mr Gianini want a small, quiet wedding. I'm sure of that."

"Nonsense!" said Grandmere. "Amelia, you are a member of the Genovian royal family. One day, you'll be the

ruler of Genovia. Your mother must have a big wedding. The marriage will take place in the White and Gold Room here at the Plaza. Then there will be a party in the Grand Ballroom."

"Er...Grandmere," I said. "Mom and Mr Gianini don't want a big wedding and a large party."

"Why not?" said Grandmere in a surprised voice. "Your father is paying for everything, of course."

"Maybe I'll call Dad about this," I said.

"You can't," said Grandmere. "He's gone away with his new girlfriend. She's that...that interviewer—Beverly Bellerieve. Now, look Amelia, this will be your mother's wedding dress."

She held up a picture of a dress with a huge skirt. It was the kind of dress that my mom hates.

"Grandmere," I said. "You are working very hard. But my mom really doesn't want a big wedding."

Grandmere didn't listen to me. "Tell Amelia about the food for the wedding," she said to Vigo.

Vigo started describing the food. Then he described the music. After that, Grandmere and Vigo showed me the white and gold wedding invitations. I looked at the date on the invitations. It said: Saturday, November 1st.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Is the wedding this Saturday? That's in less than a week."

"Yes," said Grandmere.

"What if the guests are busy? What if they have other plans for that day?"

"The wedding has to be soon," said Vigo. "Your mother must be married quickly. In a few weeks, her pregnancy will show."

Grandmere has even told Vigo about my mom's baby! That's great. That's really great.

The Interview

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 1722