Prince William, Maximilian Minsky, and Me

"The tryouts are for the basketball team. Not for the National Association of Nerds," Yvonne said. "I heard," I said. "I'm not deaf." I bent down to tie my shoes. "Maybe not deaf, but you sure are uncoordinated!" Caroline said. "Tsk, tsk, Caroline," Yvonne said, shaking her head. "You're so unfair to poor Nelly. She has excellent coordination. Look, she can sit and tie her shoelaces at the same time." The girls' laughter was drowned out by the sound of the bell for the next class. They picked up their things and scrambled away. Peace. I closed my eyes and waited for a beautiful starry sky to appear. Then I saw myself rise and float into its deep blackness. I soared higher and higher, on past one diamond of light to another. In the distance, I saw Prince William coming toward me, William in his three-piece, dark blue, pin-striped, cashmere-blend suit. He held out his hand and took me into his arms. As I put my head on his shoulder, my lips grazed the soft fuzz on the nape of his neck. My stomach felt funny. My lips tingled. We danced on and on, past my mother, astonished to see me, a graceful princess, with William, the price of princes. William spun me around and around, past Yvonne and Caroline and Nicole, all of them clearly envious, on past Pia and Anton, on past the entire student body. Me, Nelly, William's chosen one. I opened my eyes. I'll show them, I thought. I'll show them all. I stood up. Skinny. Klutzy. Knock-kneed. But determined. I had a goal in life. I was going to be a princess. But first, of course, I'd have to learn how to dribble. _________ PRINCE WILLIAM, MAXIMILIAN MINSKY, AND ME by Holly-Jane Rahlens. Copyright (c) 2005 by Holly-Jane Rahlens. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.Rahlens, Holly-Jane is the author of 'Prince William, Maximilian Minsky, and Me ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780763632991 and ISBN 0763632996.