Princess in Waiting by Meg Cabot Page B

or talents? What if I was only put in there in the first place because of
    some computer glitch, and now they've corrected it, and they're going to put me in Tech. Ed. or
    Domestic Arts, where I belong? Oh, my God,
    I will have to make a spice rack!!! Or worse, a western omelette!!!
    And I will never see Michael any more! OK, I will see him on the way to school and during lunch and
    after school and on weekends and holidays, but that's it. By taking me out of Gifted and Talented class,
    they will be depriving me of five whole hours of Michael a week! And true, during class we don't talk all
    that much, because Michael really is gifted and talented, unlike me, and needs to use that class period to
    hone his musical abilities. But still, at least we are together.
    Oh, God, this is awful! WHY didn't Lilly just tell me what my talent is? Then I could throw it in Principal
    Gupta's face
    when she tries to deport me back to Tech. Ed.
    Wait. . . who does that voice belong to? The one coming from Principal Gupta's office? It sounds kind of
    familiar.
    It sounds kind of like . . .
    Wednesday, January 20,
    Grandmere's Limo
    I cannot believe Grandmere just did this. I mean, what kind of person DOES this? Just yanks a teenager
    out of school?
    She is supposed to be the adult. She is supposed to be setting a good example for me. And what does
    she do instead?
    Well, first she tells a big fat LIE, and THEN she removes me from school property under false pretences.
    I am telling you, if my mom or dad finds out about this, Clarisse Renaldo will be a dead woman.
    She practically gave me a heart attack, you know. Good thing my cholesterol and everything is so low
    thanks to my
    vegetarian diet, otherwise I might have suffered a serious cardiac infarction, she scared me so bad,
    coming out of Principal Gupta's office like that and being all, 'Well, yes, we are of course praying for his
    quick recovery, but you know how these things can be . . .'
    I felt all the blood run out of my face at the sight of her. Not just because, you know, it was Grandmere,
    talking to
    Principal Gupta, of all people, but because of what she was saying.
    I stood up fast, my heart pounding so hard I thought it might go flying right out of my chest.
    'What is it?' I asked, all panicky. 'Is it my dad? Is the cancer back? Is that it? You can tell me, I can take
    it.'
    Because the reason that I, a technically illegitimate teenager (seeing as how my mom never married my
    dad), am heir to the throne of Genovia is that my dad can't have any more kids, on account of having
    been rendered sterile due to cancer. I was sure, from the way Grandmere was talking to Principal Gupta,
    that the cancer was back, and that my dad was going to have
    to go through chemo all over again . . .
    'I will tell you in the car,' Grandmere said to me, stiffly. 'Come along.'
    'No, really,' I said, trailing after her, with Lars trailing after me. 'You can tell me now. I can take it, I
    swear I can. Is Dad
    all right?'
    'Don't worry about your homework, Mia,' Principal Gupta called to us, as we left her office. 'You just
    concentrate on
    being there for your father.'
    So it was true! Dad was sick!
    'Is it the cancer again?' I asked Grandmere as we left the school and headed down to her limo, which
    was parked out
    front by the stone lion that guards the steps up to Albert Einstein High. 'Do the doctors think it's
    treatable? Does he need
    a bone-marrow transplant? Because, you know, we're probably a match, on account of my having his
    hair. At least, what
    his hair must have looked like, back when he had some.'
    It wasn't until we were safely inside the limo that Grandmere gave me a very disgusted look and said,
    'Really, Amelia. There
    is nothing wrong with your father. There is, however, something wrong with that school of yours.
    Imagine, not allowing their pupils any sort of absences except in the case of illness. Ridiculous!
    Sometimes, you know, people need a day. A personal
    day, I think they