Michael and Judith

Saturday, December 5th, 11:00 p.m.

My life has just got worse.

Last night, Lilly-and-Boris and Tina-and-Dave and Mia-and-Kenny went ice-skating. We were joined by a new couple, Michael-and-Judith. Lilly's brother Michael brought Judith Gershner to the ice-rink.

I'm not surprised that Michael likes Judith. Judith is the President of the Computer Club. Judith, like Michael, is a senior student. Judith, like Michael, is very smart and is going to college in the fall. Judith, like Michael, won a prize last year at school for her science project. She cloned a fruit fly. In her bedroom at home.

When I saw Judith and Michael together, I got a terrible feeling inside. I felt very jealous of Judith.

"Look, there's your brother," I said to Lilly. "I didn't know your brother and Judith Gershner were going out."

Lilly doesn't know that I'm in love with Michael.

"They're not," said Lilly. "Judith was at our place. She was working with Michael on a project for the Computer Club. I told them that we were going skating, and Judith said she wanted to come too."

I watched Michael and Judith skating. Michael could skate very well but Judith wasn't very good. She was holding on to Michael's hands as they skated.

I don't know how to clone a fruit fly, but I do know how to skate better than Judith.

Then Kenny came up. He wanted to skate with me like Michael was skating with Judith. So Kenny took my hands and tried to pull me around the ice rink.

"I know how to skate, Kenny," I said.

But Kenny wouldn't go away. So finally, I let him hold my hands as he skated in front of me.

But it was difficult to skate with Kenny skating in front of me. He fell down and I couldn't stop, so I crashed into him. My chin hit his knee and I bit my tongue. I could feel my mouth filling up with blood. Everyone around the ice-rink was staring at me. I felt really stupid and embarrassed.

Now I'm here at home in bed with only my cat, Fat Louie, beside me. My tongue hurts and I can't talk. And the boy I love is with another girl. A girl who is much smarter than me.

Sunday, December 6th

I've just got back from dinner at Grandmere's.

I have to go to Genovia at the end of December. On Christmas Eve my dad will make a speech on Genovian national television. He's going to introduce me to the Genovian people. I'm very nervous about appearing on Genovian TV in front of 50,000 people.

My cousin, Sebastiano Grimaldi, was also at dinner. Grandmere brought Sebastiano to New York because he is a fashion designer. Sebastiano is going to design the dress I will wear for my TV appearance.

Sebastiano is about thirty, with long dark hair which he ties back. He is very tall and he wears brightly Colored clothes. Tonight he was wearing a blue velvet jacket with leather trousers. He speaks English with a French accent and he says only the first syllable of English words. He says «nar» instead of narrow ; «cof» instead of coffee and «madge» instead of magical. It's very funny.

I want Sebastiano to design a really nice dress for me. I want a dress that will make Michael Moscovitz forget about Judith Gershner. I want a dress that will make him think only about me, Mia Thermopolis.

After dinner, Sebastiano drew a design for the dress. Grandmere looked at his drawing.

"That's brilliant. Just brilliant," she said. I looked at the design. The dress looked very ordinary. "Um," I said. "Can't you make it a little more . . . sexy?"

Grandmere and Sebastiano looked at each other.

"Sexy?" said Grandmere in a surprised voice. Then they both began to laugh.

While they were laughing, my dad got up and left the table. He went outside to the balcony. Grandmere and Sebastiano were still talking so I went outside and joined my dad.

"Mia," he said when he saw me. "What are you doing out here? It's cold. Go back inside."

"I will in a minute," I said. I stood next to him and looked out over New York. From the Plaza Hotel, there is a wonderful view of Manhattan—the island in the center of New York. You can see the lights in all the windows.

Suddenly, I realized that one of those lights probably belonged to Judith Gershner. Then I felt very sad. My dad looked at me and noticed that something was wrong.

"Look, I know that Sebastiano is a difficult person," he said. "But he's only here for a couple of weeks."

"I wasn't thinking about Sebastiano," I said sadly. I don't usually tell my dad about my problems with my love life. But my dad has had a lot of girlfriends so I thought perhaps he could give me some good advice.

"Dad," I said. "What do you do if you like someone—but they don't know that you like them?"

"I'm sure Kenny knows that you like him," said my dad. "You go out with him every weekend."

"I'm not talking about Kenny, Dad," I said. "Kenny and I are just friends. I'm talking about Lilly's brother, Michael." My dad looked very surprised.

"Isn't Michael in college?" he said.

"Not yet," I replied. "He's going to college in the fall."

Then my dad looked worried.

"Don't worry, Dad," I said. "Michael would never be interested in a girl like me."

"What do you mean?" my dad asked in an annoyed voice. "What's wrong with you?"

"Dad," I said. "I almost flunked Algebra, remember? Michael is very smart."

"You may not be good at Algebra," said my dad, "but you and I, Mia, are intelligent people." Then he said, "Don't make the same mistake as me. Don't keep your feelings to yourself because you are too shy ... or too proud, to tell the person you love how you feel."

I looked at my dad in surprise. He sounded so .. . sad. Was he talking about Mom? But Mom would never be happy living in Genovia. She likes living in New York. She likes American TV and American food.

"What do you think I should do, Dad?" I asked. "Do you think I should tell Michael that 1 like him?"

My dad shook his head.

"No, no, no," he said. "You have to tell him by showing him how you feel."

"Oh," I said. I didn't really know what my dad was talking about.

My mom has just come into my room to say that Kenny is on the phone for me.

I suppose Kenny wants to ask me to the Winter Dance.

Sunday, December 6th, 11:00 p.m.

I am very shocked. Kenny did NOT ask me to the Winter Dance. Instead, this was our conversation:

ME: Hello?

KENNY: Hi, Mia. It's Kenny.

ME: Oh, hi Kenny. What's the matter?

Kenny sounded strange, which is why I asked. KENNY: Well, I just wanted to see if you were OK. I mean, if your tongue is OK. ME: It's a little better.

KENNY: Because I was really worried. You know, I really didn't mean to pull you down like that. ME: Kenny, I know. It was just an accident. KENNY: Well, I just wanted to say that I hope you feel better. And also to let you know... well, Mia, that I love you.

I was SO shocked!! What kind of guy calls a girl on the phone and says I love you??? Why is Kenny telling me this?

Kenny was still on the phone, waiting. ME: Urn, OK.

Poor Kenny. I know he wanted a different kind of answer. But I didn't know what else to say. So I said, ME: Well, see you tomorrow.

AND I HUNG UP THE PHONE!!!!

I really am the most terrible, ungrateful21 girl in the world.