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“Not like Boris was spying on you, or anything,” Tina said. “I mean, I’ve never told him any of the stuff you and I have talked about. Anyway, Boris told me the reason Michael left your birthday party the other night when J.P. pulled out that ring was exactly why I said…because he couldn’t stand seeing you get engaged-to-be-engaged to another guy. Boris didn’t say Michael said this, but I don’t think Michael likes J.P. very much. On account of him being jealous, because J.P.’s with you now. Isn’t that just the sweetest thing you ever heard?”
Tears were totally streaming down my face. But I pretended like they weren’t.
“Uh-huh,” I said. “Sweet!”
“But he didn’t say anything about that at lunch?” Tina asked. “You guys didn’t talk about it at all?”
“Nope,” I said. “I mean, Tina…I’m with J.P. now. I would never do that to him.”
Liar!
“Gee,” Tina said. “Well, of course not. You’re not that kind of girl!”
“Nope,” I said. “I gotta go. I’m gonna hit the hay early to get my beauty sleep for the prom.”
“Oh, sure,” Tina said. “Me too! Well, see you tomorrow!”
“See you,” I said, and hung up.
Then I bawled like a baby for, like, ten whole minutes, until Mom came into my room looking all bewildered, and was like, “What’s the matter now?”
And I just went, “Hold me, Mommy.”
And even though I’m eighteen and a legal adult, I crawled into my mom’s lap and stayed there for, like, ten minutes, until Rocky came over and went, “YOU’RE not the baby! I am!”
And Mom said, “She gets to be the baby sometimes.”
So then Rocky thought about it, and finally said, “Okay,” and patted me on the cheek and said, “Good baby.”
Somehow, this made me feel better.
At least a little bit.
Saturday, May 6, midnight, the loft
I just got the following e-mail from J.P.
Mia,
I’ve tried to call you a few times, but you aren’t picking up. I know you’re probably really mad at me, but just, please, listen to what I have to say…. I know you asked me not to, but I spoke to Sean anyway about your book. Please don’t be mad. I only did it because I love you, and I want what’s best for you.
And when you hear what Sean just called and told me, I think you’re going to be pleased that I spoke to him: He’s good friends with the president of Sunburst Publishing (you know, they do all those novels that get reviewed in The New York Times that you never read, the ones that got turned into movies starring all Sean’s friends). And they would LOVE to publish your book (providing they can do so under HRH Princess Amelia Renaldo of Genovia). Sean says they’d be willing to offer a quarter of a million dollars for it.
Isn’t that fantastic, Mia? Don’t you think you should reconsider that other offer you got? I mean, it’s a tiny percentage of that.
Anyway, I just thought I’d try to help. Sweet dreams, and…I can’t wait until tomorrow night.
I love you,
J.P.
So.
The thing is, I probably should take Sunburst Publishing’s offer. That quarter of a million dollars…that’s a ton more money that I could donate to Greenpeace. But…Sunburst Publishing has never even read my book. They have no idea if it’s any good. They’re just offering to publish it because of who I am.
And that’s just not how I want to get a publishing contract. That’s like…writing
a play about your girlfriend, the princess. In a way.
