Princess in Waiting Read Online Free PDF Page B

love with Michael since, like, forever. I
    love the way he
    says my name. I love the way he laughs. I love the way he asks my opinion, like he really cares what I
    think - God knows, nobody around here feels that way. I mean, make a suggestion - like that it might
    save water to turn off the fountain in front
    of the palace at night, when no one is around anyway - and everybody practically acts like one of the
    suits of armour in the Grand Hall started talking.
    Well, OK, not my dad. But I see him less here in Genovia than I do back home, practically, because he
    is so caught up
    in parliamentary meetings, and racing his yacht in regattas, and hanging out with the new blonde bareback
    rider from the
    Cirque du Soleil - which just got to town for an extended stint at one of the casinos.
    Anyway, I like talking to Michael. Is that so wrong? I mean, he is my boyfriend, after all.
    So we were just saying goodbye after having had a perfectly pleasant conversation about his birthday
    and the Genovian
    Olive Growers' Association and Michael's band that he hasn't formed yet, and whether it is off-putting to
    call it Frontal Lobotomy, and I was just working up the guts to go, 'I miss you,' or 'I love you,' thus
    leaving an opening for him to say something similar back to me and therefore resolve the
    does-he-just-love-me-like-a-friend-or-is-he-in-love-with-me
    dilemma once and for all, when I heard Lilly in the background, demanding to talk to me.
    Michael went, 'Go away!' but Lilly kept on shrieking, 'I have to talk to her, I just remembered I have
    something really
    important to ask her.'
    Then Michael went, 'Don't tell her about that,' and my heart skipped a beat because I thought Lilly had all
    of a sudden remembered that Michael had been going out with some girl named Tiffany behind my back
    after all. Before I could say
    another word, Lilly had wrestled the phone away from him (I heard Michael grunt, I guess in pain
    because she must have kicked him or something), and then she was going, 'Oh, my God, I forgot to ask.
    Did you see it?'
    'Lilly,' I said, since even five thousand miles away, I could feel Michael's pain - Lilly kicks hard, I know. I
    have been the recipient of quite a few kicks of hers over the years. 'I know that you are used to having
    me all to yourself, but you are going
    to have to learn to share me with your brother. Now, if this means we are going to have to set boundaries
    in our relationship, then I guess we will have to. But you can't just go around ripping the phone out of
    Michael's hand when he might have had something really important to—'
    'Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?' Lilly wanted to know. 'I can't believe they have Oprah there,
    but not email.
    Anyway, shut up about my sainted brother for a minute. Did . . . you . . . see . . . it?'
    'See what? What are you talking about?' I thought maybe somebody had tried to jump into the polar
    bear cage at the
    Central Park Zoo again. As if those bears don't have enough problems, what with the stress of living in
    Manhattan and
    not on an iceberg, the way they are supposed to, plus being on display twenty-four/seven, weirdos are
    always trying to
    dive in there with them.
    I totally don't blame those bears for ripping the arms off the last guy who tried it.
    'Oh, just the movie,' Lilly said. 'Of your life. Or hadn't you heard your life story has been made into a
    movie of the week?'
    I wasn't very surprised to hear this. There are already four unauthorized biographies about me floating
    around out there.
    One of them made the best-seller list for about half a second.
    'So?' I said. I was kind of mad at Lilly. I mean, she'd booted Michael off the phone just to tell me about
    some dumb movie?
    'Hello,' Lilly said. 'Movie. Of your life. You were portrayed as shy and awkward.'
    'I am shy and awkward,' I reminded her.
    'They made your grandmother all kindly and sympathetic to your plight,' Lilly said. 'It was the grossest
    mischaracterization
    I've seen