in Genovia with you and Dad and Princess Mia. But â â
Grandma almost smiled, but not all the way. Her mouth doesnât really move all that much. Princess Mia told me this is because sheâs âhad a lot of work done.â
âWell, if thatâs the case, why are you worrying about your old school? Youâll be attending the Royal Genovian Academy from now on. But as we havenât enrolled you yet, they can hardly count you as absent.â
âYes, but Iâm still enrolled at my old school, and if I donât show up there today theyâll mark it as an unexcused absence and Iâll get a demerit.â
âA demerit?â she asked in astonishment. âMerely for enjoying a day of shopping with your grandmother?â
âShopping isnât an excusable absence. An excusable absence is like when my friend Nishiâs grandmother got sick with appendicitis and had to go to the hospital. Nishi was allowed to skip school to visit her, because that was an emergency. Shopping isnât an emergency.â
âIt most certainly is,â Grandma said, looking offended. âWe canât allow you to go about in that anymore.â She pointed at my school uniform. âThe paparazzi will undoubtedly photograph you again today and then think we are cruelly mistreating you by providing you with only one outfit. How is that not an emergency?â
Thatâs when she showed me the front page of the paper she was reading.
âThatâs ME!â I cried, dropping my toast (it was okay, though, because Rommel and Snowball snatched it up, even though it landed butter-side down on the floor).
âYes,â she said. âIt is. So is this.â She lifted up another newspaper from the pile beside her and showed me its front page as well.
SIXTH-GRADE SENSATION!
PINT-SIZED PRINCESS FROM NEW JERSEY
SECOND IN LINE TO GENOVIAN THRONE
Fortunately, this time I wasnât holding any food I could drop.
âWow!â was all I could think of to say. I couldnât help wondering if Annabelle Jenkins had seen the paper. If so, I bet she was pretty upset about it. It had to be killing her that I was the one being called a sixth-grade sensation, and not her.
Not all the papers had such flattering headlines about me, though (I hoped Annabelle didnât see those ). Some of the reporters were still writing mean things, like that my dad had purposefully kept me âhidden away in Cranbrookâ all these years so his mom, the Genovian people, and the press wouldnât find out about me, because I was his âshameful secret.â
This was so not what had happened! Well, it was â Iâd definitely been hidden away in Cranbrook, but not because I was anyoneâs âshameful secret.â
Grandma must have noticed me getting upset, since she said, âPart of the job of being a royal is receiving a great deal of attention from the press. Your face on the cover of any newspaper or magazine will help it to sell. But you canât expect everything written about you to be positive.â
âBut some of it isnât even true !â
Grandma looked amused. âMy dear, being half-American yourself, you must know that the American peopleâs right to express their opinions is guaranteed by something called the First Amendment. Until those opinions are found to be proven factually incorrect, they can go on expressing them as long as they like.â
I did know this, but it still didnât seem fair. âWell, can we please prove their opinions factually incorrect?â
âOf course. In due time, we shall issue a statement. In the meantime, we need to take you shopping. When you look your best, you feel your best, and no one could possibly feel their best in that .â She pointed at my skirt.
âFine, Grandma,â I said with a sigh. âBut like I said, Iâm pretty sure Dr. Bushy wonât allow clothes shopping as