The Princess Diaries, Vol. VII and a Half: Sweet Sixteen Princess

### Followed By

The Princess Diaries, Vol. VII and 3/4ths: Valentine PrincessThe Princess Diaries, Vol. VIII: Princess on the Brink

**The Princess Diaries, Vol. VII and a Half: Sweet Sixteen Princess** is a novella occurring between the seventh and eighth volumes of the Princess Diaries series by Meg Cabot.

It was released in 2006 by Harper Collins Publishers.

## Book Description

Sixteen is the magic number.

Mia doesn’t always have the best luck with parties, so even though it’s her sweet sixteenth, she doesn’t want a birthday bash. As usual, Grandmère has other ideas, and thinks a reality TV special is just the thing in order to celebrate royally. The whole scheme smacks of Lilly’s doing - Lilly whose own TV show is still only limited to local cable viewers.
Will Mia be able to stop Grandmère’s plan? Will her friends ever forgive her if she does stop it, since it involves all of them taking the royal jet to Genovia for an extravaganza the likes of which would turn even Paris Hilton green with envy? Why can’t Mia get what she really wants: an evening alone with Michael?

With a little luck, this sweet sixteen princess might just get her wish - a birthday that's royally romantic.

## Opening Quote

*"She could not be made rude and malicious by the rudeness and malice of those about her.*

*"A princess must be polite," she said to herself.*

A Little Princess*, Francis Hodgson Burnett*

## Timeline

Begins on Wednesday, April 28, 2005 and concludes on Saturday, May 1, 2005 during Mia's sophomore year.

## Plot Summary

Mia attends a PTA meeting but takes a call from Lilly, who tries to convince her to have a Sweet Sixteen party by talking about how crazy Lana Weinberger's Sweet Sixteen was - on a boat in international waters with a helicopter entrance. Mia tells her no and gets off the phone. Principal Gupta is leading the meeting and avoids calling on Mia until the last minute. Mia is eventually able to speak and tells the PTA that she and the student council would like to change the Physical Education curriculum from playing/learning various sports to a full-fledged individual health regimen with a personal fitness focus - including a personal trainer and a health specialist. Principal Gupta rejects Mia's idea for costing too much money. Lars recites a Gloria Steinem quote he read in the bathroom at the loft to Mia to encourage her.

Michael IMs Mia about her upcoming birthday but she is insistent she doesn't want anything elaborate, she just wants things to be simple, like they used to be, that time they all went ice skating. She tells Michael all she really wants for her birthday is him, which he misunderstands to mean sex, but she clarifies that she just wants a simple romantic night with him. They agree that from now on they will make each others' gifts. Lilly and Tina group IM Mia to try to convince her to have a sweet sixteen but she is adamant that she will not, especially after what happened at her last birthday. Lilly promises this won't happen again, because she is with J.P. now, but Mia points out that she was with Boris last year and it still happened. Lilly says her relationship with J.P. is better than her relationship with Boris as J.P. always keeps her guessing about his feelings. Tina and Mia tell Lilly that he's probably just a bubbling volcano of emotion waiting to be released. Mia reiterates that she does not want a party, and Lilly cryptically says that she should make sure Grandmère knows that.

The next morning Mia asks Helen Thermopolis and Mr. G if Grandmère is planning a party and Helen says she hopes not. At school Mia tries to check if J.P. is really brewing with passion, but he catches her staring at him. When Mia goes to princess lessons she finds a woman with purple hair trying to put a mic on her and Grandmère introduces her as part of a film crew, including the producer, Lewis, and the cameraman, Rafe, from MTV's *My Super Sweet Sixteen*. Grandmère tells her that she has arranged for Mia to be on a special episode, titled *My Super ROYAL Sweet Sixteen* that will involve her and 100 friends flying to Genovia for an all expenses paid trip including shopping and all of the activities Genovia has to offer. Mia tries to refuse, but Grandmère insists, so Mia runs from the room. Grandmère calls Helen to complain about how ungrateful Mia is being but Helen is on Mia's side and goes to call Phillipe to get Mia out of it.

At school Mia tells her friends about Grandmère's ridiculous plan at lunch in an attempt to make them laugh, but Mia's friends all seem disappointed that they will not get to go on a lavish trip. Mia tries to convince them, but Lilly thinks Mia is being selfish. J.P. backs up Mia, saying he thinks the show is stupid as well. Tina, Ling Su, and Perin eventually agree with Mia that it is probably for the best. Lilly dramatically says that this is just Mia's way of punishing her for what she did at her birthday last year and immediately the whole table goes silent and Tina and Boris look away awkwardly. J.P., not having been friends with the group a year ago, asks what happens, but Lilly just says it was something that will never happen again and stalks off to the bathroom. Ling Su goes after her and J.P. asks again, but everyone refuses to tell him. Mia calls Michael and he is on her side, though he does think that she should have some sort of party so that the people who love her can celebrate her.

In G&T Lilly tells Mia that this may be her only chance to get on MTV and Mia realizes that this is all about her rivalry with Andy Milonakis. Mia tells Lilly she's sorry about all the things in her life that have gone wrong recently, but she doesn't want a sweet sixteen and Lilly needs to stop talking to Grandmère. Lilly tells Mia that she is not in cahoots with Grandmère and that Mia is still mad at her about what happened at her last birthday and at Christmas and asks Mia what it is going to take for her to trust her again. Mia suddenly has an evil idea come in to her head and comes up with her own plan for Lilly to drink the fat - she needs to tell J.P. she loves him. Lilly is shocked and concerned that doing this will drive J.P. away, but Mia says if she wants to convince her she can trust her she needs to tell J.P. how she feels about him. Lilly leaves to go photocopy something, and Boris asks Mia what she thinks she's doing.

Mia enters princess lessons carefully, looking out for any camera crew, but Grandmère tells her to just come in as they are gone. Phillipe called Grandmère and put an end to everything, though she says Mia could have just told her no (which Mia reminds her she did). Grandmère tells Mia that instead Andy Milonakis will be taking 10 friends with him to enjoy all the amenities that Mia's friends would have, and it will be Andy's Super Sweet Sixteen as a promo for Genovia instead of Mia's. Mia thanks Grandmère by telling her this is the best gift.

The morning of Mia's birthday Mr. G makes her pancakes and he, Helen, and Rocky sit while she opens presents (including a Fiesta Giles figurine from Fat Louie that rounds out her collection!). Helen apologizes to Mia that Phillipe has not called yet, but he is in parliament all day. Michael calls Mia and checks that she still just wants to have a romantic dinner with the two of them, which she says she does, and he tells her he will pick her up at 6pm. Mia spends the day getting ready and watching TV movies and gets e-mails from Prince William and all of her friends, except Lilly. Just before six Helen and Mr. G take Rocky out to a movie, which Mia thinks is odd as he is not even a year old yet.

Michael shows up right at six and they get into the limo and Hans starts driving without any direction from Michael. The limo pulls up to Rockefeller center and there is a huge wedding tent over the ice rink. Mia and Michael enter the tent and find the ice rink is still operating (even though it normally closes a month earlier) and Helen, Mr. G, Rocky, Phillipe, Ling Su, Perin, Lilly, J.P., Boris, Tina, Shameeka and her boyfriend, the Drs. Moscovitz, and Ronnie are all there for a party for Mia (Grandmère, though invited, chose not to attend as she had to facilitate Andy's party). Michael planned the whole thing, got Phillipe to pull some strings and pay for it, and had Helen and Mr. G keep everything secret from Mia. Phillipe tells her that he also purchased and donated 20 stationary bikes to AEHS in Mia's honor for her birthday present.

Lilly comes up to Mia and tells her that she did it, she told J.P. she loved him. Mia is shocked as she meant to stop her from actually doing it but didn't have the chance and asks Lilly what he said. Lilly says "thank you" and Mia tells her "you're welcome" but asks again what he said and Lilly tells her that J.P. said Thank You when she told him she loved him. Mia tries to reassure Lilly that he probably just didn't know what to say as he has never had a girlfriend before and asks Michael for backup, but he is no help.

Michael gives Mia her present - a Human Transporter similar to a Segway that he made himself. "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing starts playing and Mia sees all the couples out dancing together - Lilly and J.P., Tina and Boris, Helen and Mr. G, Shameeka and her boyfriend, Ling Su and Perin, the Drs. Moscovitz, and Ronnie and Phillipe. She tells Michael that they should go have the time of their lives and they skate off to join the others.