Who Made You a Princess? Read Online Free PDF Page B

king. Off with my head!”
    Someone knocked on the door and pushed it open. “Is this the Department of Deportment?” Lissa asked in an oh-so-bright tone.
     “I need a curtsy lesson, please. Or is that next door in the Department of Dweebery?”
    “Now it starts,” I said to the ceiling.
    “Where’d you learn to do that?” Gillian crowded in behind her. “It looked really good.”
    “Everybody learns it in freshman etiquette.” I rolled over as they draped themselves on the furniture, which in our case was
     limited to two beds and two desks with ergonomic chairs. “Along with which fork to use, how to address a head of state, and
     how not to embarrass yourself in front of a room full of people.”
    “Failed that one, I bet.” Lissa rooted in the fridge and started tossing out Odwallas.
    I caught a strawberry lemonade and cracked the cap. “I’d have paid more attention if I’d thought I was going to actually use
     anything in that module.”
    “You did, though,” Carly pointed out. “Last June, remember, when I got that award? You told me what to say to the mayor. And
     then he asked me to call him Gavin anyway.”
    “But you didn’t have to curtsy to him.”
    “True,” Carly acknowledged. “But I know who to come to if I ever have to meet Mac’s parents.”
    “You could ask Mac,” Gillian said. “I’d buy a ticket to watch her curtsy to anyone.”
    “I wish we
could
ask Mac,” Carly said. “I never thought I’d say this, but I miss her. She’s really solid under all the fireworks and attitude.”
    “She wouldn’t have said anything stupid to Rashid,” I put in. “She’d reduce the Secret Service to ash in one second and have
     him groveling at her feet, begging her to let him buy her a Caribbean island in the next.”
    They all laughed, and Lissa gave me a sideways glance. “So how come you never told us you used to know him?”
    “It never came up. And I forgot he existed until my mom told me about him in an e-mail.” I willed the blush back down to where
     it came from.
    “It is a little weird, though,” Gillian said. “His singling you out of the crowd like that.”
    “Not to mention recognizing you when you didn’t recognize him,” Carly added.
    “He was just dazzled by my beauty, and Vanessa wasn’t there to upstage me.” I congratulated my clever self on my airy tone.
     “But it’s no big mystery. My mom sends his mom my school picture every year. Maybe she showed one to him.”
    They seemed to accept that, and then they pounced on Gillian, demanding the scoop on her love life. I lay on my back, my gaze
     on the plaster border of Greek keys on the ceiling and my mind on a pair of dark eyes.
    Make that two pairs. Both brown, both full of intelligence and humor and the knowledge of the power they had over girls.
    Just yesterday, I’d wanted with all my heart for Danyel Johnstone to look at me as though I were his dream come to life.
    But he hadn’t. The prince had.
    And what was I going to do about
that
, I’d like to know?

Chapter 4
    L ATER IN THE EVENING , the girls dragged me to Room 216 for the first prayer circle of senior year. You’re probably wondering why I went when I
     was so sketchy on the subject of religion. But the truth was, I kind of liked it. It reminded me of my grandma in a weird
     way, even though she’s been singing alto in heaven for five years now. It felt safe to be there, and it reminded me of my
     promise to myself that I wouldn’t be an island anymore.
    After we cleaned out the room (who were they going to get to do this when we weren’t around next year?), we dragged in chairs
     from classrooms they’d migrated to. We still had a couple of minutes to go before seven, and Jeremy wasn’t there yet, so Gillian
     amused herself at the little spinet while we waited.
    Gillian, in case you didn’t know, is at Spencer on a music scholarship. She’s not only brilliant at science and math, but
     she’s a concert pianist who never gives