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Chapter Text

Thursday Morning

“The reason why the landline was ringing this morning was because your mother called, she said she wants you to meet her at the Plaza after school for High Tea.” 

Uzi blearily looked up at her dad who was reading a newspaper and taking a sip of coffee. “Isn’t this the first time she'll be visiting since she recovered from the surgery?” Uzi asked, taking a sip of monster to wake herself up, something her dad hated but she did anyway because you only live once.

“Yes, she says she recovered nicely and that she should be cancer free. But uh, there’s some stuff she needs to talk to you about.” Uzi shrugged. “Okay, well then, I will see her after school I guess. Why couldn’t she just call me to tell me what she needs to tell me? Also, Dad, why do we still have the landline? I told you to get rid of it.”

Khan sighed and put down his magazine. “Uzi, this isn’t something that your mom can just tell you over the phone. You’ll see when you see her after school today.  And we have the landline so that I have a back up number in case the fangirls find us.”

Uzi laughed. “Dad, literally no one has found the loft or your real phone number. I think we’re far away from obsessed fans.” She said, finishing off the last of her monster. She stood up and threw the can in the recycling before checking the time. If she didn’t leave now, she was going to be late meeting up with Thad and Lizzy. “Never hurts to be safe, have fun at school today! I love you!” Khan called after her as Uzi grabbed her backpack and rushed out the door.

“Bye Dad, love you too!” Uzi called behind her as she shoved on a pair of earbuds. Pulling out her phone, Uzi selected her walking to school playlist and hit play. Music had always been a part of Uzi’s life, with it constantly being around her 24/7. If she was with her mom, she would be hearing at least one whole new album by the end of the visit. And her dad always played music whenever he simply felt like it. Sometimes he would play it when Uzi was watching tv, which was annoying and she hated it when he did that. And she did spend three years on tour with her dad before the “boy band” broke up amicably when she was six(they went on tour every two years, and Uzi barely remembered where they went). But it was no surprise how connected she was to music, it was how her parents met after all.

Her dad was a former musician and her mom was a music lover, they had met at a party where Khan’s band was playing. Nori said that they hated each other on sight but she did like the band’s music so she kept showing up to their gigs. And so they kept seeing each other. Which caused them to become friends, then friends with benefits, and then boyfriend and girlfriend. But after a year of being together, they broke up. Unfortunately for the two of them, that didn’t stop them from hooking up with each other one more time which resulted in them becoming co-parents.

Uzi only ever saw her mom during the summer and winter break while Khan had her full time. Uzi preferred it this way because whenever her parents were near each other, they either argued or flirted. Sometimes it was both. Why just last year, she witnessed her mother shout at her father, “Fuck you, and your stupidly hunky face and body!” and how did her award winning artist of a father respond? He said, “Darling, you already did.”

So yeah, it was probably a good thing her parents were separated. Plus, she wouldn’t get to live in Drone City(a city that unfortunately lacked drones) if her mom and dad were married. She’d have to live in Copper-9 since her mom was a politician there.

“Yo, Uzi! We’re over here!” Lizzy’s voice snapped Uzi out of her thoughts. The black haired girl glanced to her left and found her two best friends, Thad and Lizzy, standing at the second to last corner before they got to school.

“Hey Lizzy, hey Thad.” Uzi greeted them as she smacked the crosswalk button. “Did you sleep at all last night?” Thad asked, instead greeting her like a normal person. “Nope, had to finish a plot point for the video game.” Uzi said, resisting the urge to yawn.

“Still no name for it yet?” Lizzy said, snatching Uzi’s beanie off her head. She started smoothing Uzi’s hair down as they walked before cramming the beanie back on Uzi’s head. “Sorry, your hair was bugging me.”

Uzi rolled her eyes. “Bite me. Anyway, to answer your question, no, I haven’t. Just like you haven’t gotten a date to the Cultural Diversity Dance.” She said as the crosswalk light changed. The three of them began to cross the street just in time to see The Elliot’s limo drive right by them. 

“Ouch, you wound me. Besides, I do have a date. You’ll find out later. What about you two?” Lizzy said with a smile. “I know who I want to ask. But I doubt she’ll want to go out with me.” Thad said, his gaze lingering on the limo as Uzi pretended to vomit.

“Unless Chad asks me out, then no, I don’t have a date.” Uzi said with a shrug. “And we all know that’s never gonna happen.” She kicked a stray rock out of the way. “You make one too many morbid jokes and all of a sudden, you’re the school freak.” 

Thad placed a hand on Uzi’s shoulder. “At least you have us!” He said cheerfully as Lizzy nodded next to him. “Besides, no one here is smart enough to understand your jokes. So don’t feel too bad just because you’re surrounded by idiots.” Lizzy added as they finally got to the school entrance. “Thanks guys, see you at lunch?” Uzi said, adjusting her backpack strap.

“See you at Lunch.”

Lunch

“Uzi, you are so lucky your dad has insomnia.” Thad stared at Uzi’s home lunch with jealousy as he poked the mysteriously puss yellow looking lasagna on his lunch tray.

Uzi shrugged as she took a bite out of her vegetarian meatball sandwich, prepared for her in the middle of the night by her father. “Not really, he always puts on music when he can’t sleep so I end up waking up at 3 am because he’s blasting Skillet or some old cassette tape my mom made for him.” Uzi said, though she did love it when he decided to go on a cooking spree and make her mini feast like he did last night. Usually she just takes leftovers and calls it a day. Taking pity on Thad, Uzi gave him one of her kettle chip bags and half of her dessert. Lizzy was smart and packed her lunch like Uzi, even though she was related and living in the same house as Thad, so she didn’t have to worry about sharing her food with the other girl.

“I swear that man is still in love with your mom, Uzi. Not gonna lie, it’s kinda sad since she obviously got over him.” Lizzy said with a sigh. Despite her mom living so far away, both her friends knew Nori quite well as she always showed up for Uzi’s birthday and had interacted with them a few times.

“Eh, I wouldn’t be so sure. The amount of times she’s called him hunky or said he’s a hunk is too much. I’ve heard it so many times, I’m convinced it’s not good for my psyche.”

Both Lizzy and Thad cringed. “You truly sacrificed so much for our sins.” Thad said, bowing his down to Uzi. Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Thad, straighten up, you look stupid right now.” Thad squawked in annoyance.

“I do not! Uzi, tell her I don’t look stupid.” He protested but Uzi just grinned.

“I don’t know Thad, you do look kind of stupid.”

Thad scowled. “Betrayed by my twin sister and my best friend.” He said mournfully. “Yeah, yeah. By the way I can’t come over after school today, I’m meeting my mom at the Plaza.”

Her friends perked up. “Your mom’s in town?” Lizzy asked.

“Yep, don’t know for how long though. She wants to talk to me about something so important that she can’t tell me over the phone.” Uzi said with a sigh.

“Does it have to do with the cancer?” Thad asked, pointedly not saying what the cancer was. Ovarian cancer, it was Ovarian cancer but Uzi hated even thinking about her mom’s ovaries let alone talking about them. And she definitely did not want to think about how in order to get rid of the cancer, they had to remove her mom’s ovaries. “Yeah, she recovered nicely according to my dad. Maybe she wants to tell me she’s cancer free in person?”

Lizzy nodded. “That would check out. She did tell you that she had cancer after making an unplanned visit.” 

Before Uzi could answer her, Jade walked up to their table. Jade Johnson was the most popular girl in school, only rivaled by Lizzy who was her co-captain on the varsity cheer squad. Jade was also the biggest bitch in school, to Uzi anyway. This was because Jade couldn’t fathom that both Thad and Lizzy, both of whom were popular because they were chill people, willingly hung out with Uzi, who was known as the biggest freak in school and third biggest loser(the reason why she was in third was because people thought Vivian and Noah Elliot were the two biggest losers due to the fact that they had to be followed around by a bodyguard). So she made it her life’s mission to make Uzi’s life miserable. It also didn’t help that she was dating Chad, Uzi’s crush.

“Hey freak, you actually look alive today.” Jade sneered, shoving the back of Uzi’s head. When Jade shoved her, Uzi happened to be taking a bite of her sandwich. So of course, she started choking on her food. Since Thad knew the heimlich, he immediately jumped into action and Uzi quickly found herself coughing up a half chewed meatball. Jade wrinkled her nose. “Thad, Lizzy. Why do you hang out with this freak? You know there’s room at our table and it can sit with the dog lover and the hippie.”

Both Lizzy and Thad glared at her. “No thanks, we’re fine where we are.” Lizzy said coldly. “Yeah, this is the fun table.” Thad said, trying to sound as mean as his twin but failing.

Jade sighed. “She brings you down, you know.” She said, as Uzi shrunk into herself. She tried to not let Jade’s words get to her but Uzi always knew how much Lizzy and Thad were sacrificing everyday by hanging out with her.

“And you bring the air quality of every room you're in down with your perfume.” Lizzy retorted as Thad quickly followed Lizzy’s lead and began to fake cough dramatically.

“The..Fumes, they’re…Too much…I’m gonna die from inhaling too many toxins!” Thad wailed and pretended to fall out of his seat and die.

Because Thad was popular, he could get away with things like this. So instead of looking at Thad like he was insane(which is what the cafeteria would have done if Uzi had been one to this) the whole cafeteria burst out laughing. Jade turned a remarkable shade of red. “Ugh, why do I even bother with you two. You’re so far gone, that it’s laughable that you guys are still as popular as you are.” She growled.

Lizzy just shrugged. “We’re just on a different level, honey. Now run along back to your table.” She said, shooing Jade away. The pigtailed girl knew she was beaten so as dignified as she could, she walked away.

Thad sat up. “Thanks for that you guys.” Uzi said quietly. Lizzy smiled as Thad pulled her into a side hug. “Of course, you know we always have your back Zi.”

Gifted and Talented

Uzi Doorman’s list of people with the coolest talents/gifted abilities in G&T(with commentary by Thad and Lizzy Nikolopulous)

1. Me. Because who else in this class is designing a video game? Oh that’s right, I’m the only one! Even if I’m making this list so that I don’t have to work on it and I have basically no funds to make it a reality, but that’s besides the point.(I will admit Uzi, this is pretty cool. Even if you don’t have a name for the game yet.) (Hmm, I semi agree with this statement, however since I don’t know what the video game even about I can’t agree on it being pretty cool, I will say it is mildly cool)

2. Lizzy. One of the most kick ass fashion designers I know. Granted she is the only fashion designer I know, but it still counts. Plus she makes her designs have subtle references to tv shows that she likes. Shout out to the Gravity Falls Halloween line from last year. (Yeah, I agree with this. Lizzy, you are an amazing fashion designer.)(Tell me something I don't know. All jokes aside though, you are correct I have one of the coolest talents in this joke of a class.)

3. Thad. Because he is a feminist, despite not wanting to be called that, and he is writing a whole ass paper on toxic masculinity in sports and how it is connected to male favoritism in sports, and the mistreatment of women in sports as well as a bunch of other stuff I don’t know about. Great stuff, I love it. (I don’t like calling myself a feminist because I know guys who say that they’re male feminists but they’re some of the most sexist people I have had the displeasure of meeting. But thanks.) (Even I can admit that this is pretty cool. But my designs are still cooler.)

4. Vivian Elliot. Her paintings are so cool. I particularly love her broken locket tied around a dagger in a bed of flowers painting that she did for the school art show last year. If it was for sale I would have bought it, but unfortunately, it was not. (Ditto, though I liked her butterfly on the sword painting better than the dagger one. And that one painting she did of Noah and their other triplet in a rose garden. I just like her art in general.)(I agree with all of this. Her flower designs are so cool, I really want to ask her if she could make some flower designs for me to print on graphic tees.)

5. Doll Sokolov. Okay, even though I hate how much she plays that god damn violin, I can admit the fact that she is a musical genius and can play a lot of instruments perfectly, is pretty damn cool. (Yeah, but could she please play something other than Bartok or whatever she’s playing. Or better yet a piano, and not the violin.) (I think her violin playing is lovely and we shouldn’t stifle Doll’s creativity. So shut up.)

6. And finally, Noah Elliot. I know he’s only in here so that he can study to get his pilot’s license but c’mon. He wants to be a pilot and he’s kinda hot. That’s cool. (I mean, I think his sister is way hotter than him but he is pretty hot and a wannabe pilot, so yeah pretty cool. Too bad he and Vivian have to be followed around by a bodyguard.) (Meh, blondes aren’t really my cup of tea, the pilot’s license is cool though.)

After School, AKA Time For Uzi To Meet Her Mom At The Plaza

Uzi hated the Plaza.

Whenever her mom stayed there, the door person always thought she wasn’t proper enough or something to go in. Last time Nori stayed there, Uzi wasn’t let in because she was wearing shorts. Apparently the owner was visiting and she hated it when people wore shorts. This was why Uzi hated rich people who let the money get to their heads.

Anyway, she pleaded with them to let her in for about half an hour and it got so bad that the concierge showed up to threaten to call security on her until she finally called her mom to bring her a pair of pants. When Uzi called her mom, Nori told her to put her on the phone with the concierge.

Whatever Nori said certainly made them switch up their tune because all of a sudden, everyone was apologizing to her and they gave her a self care gift basket, with a bunch of fancy chocolate and luxury skin care brands shoved inside it. There was also a robe and a set of slippers which Uzi kept along with the chocolate, but she gave the skin care stuff to Lizzy who appreciated it more.

Uzi almost ran into this problem again which Uzi thought was stupid because she was wearing her school uniform(white blouse, black blazer, tie, pleated skirt, knee socks, though she was wearing her dark purple doc martens so that might have been their annoyance this time), and earlier she had Lizzy brush her hair and made Thad touch up her makeup so that she looked somewhat put together when she went to the Plaza. But no, the door person insisted she couldn’t be let in because she was a minor unaccompanied by an adult. To which, Uzi would like to say, fuck that, she’s been to the Plaza multiple times and they had never bugged her about this before. But of course she didn’t tell the door person that, she just kept saying, “But my mom…But my mom…But my mom.” Until some security person took pity on her and asked who her mom was.

When she told them who her mom was they let her in. She was a little disappointed they didn’t give her a gift basket though. If they did she would have just given the whole thing to Lizzy AND Thad to see how they’d react. That would have been funny but alas, the cards were not in her favor. Uzi found her mother sitting at a table in Palm Court for High Tea, something Uzi used to love when she was younger.

She used to insist they go at least once whenever Nori was in town. For her birthday, after whatever celebration she had with her dad, her mom would take her, Lizzy, and Thad out to High Tea and would order anything they wanted off the menu. After they were fully stuffed, she took them to see a play or a musical(musicals were a guilty pleasure of Uzi’s) and then they would end the day with a sleepover in one of the rooms in Nori’s suite. Uzi didn’t love High Tea as much as she used to, nowadays she felt out of place in Palm Court, but she still loved the birthday tradition. If it were up to her, the birthday tradition would be the only time she ever had High Tea anymore. But due to her mother’s nostalgia, they always had High Tea.

As always, Nori had ordered herself a pot of chai imperial tea and a pot of lavender oolong for Uzi. But what was off was the amount of food on the table. Usually, Nori ordered some scones and an assortment of macaroons. Today though, she ordered pretty much everything off the dessert menu as well as a few savory things. Uzi guessed her mother was just hungry and excited to be able to eat something without it tasting like nothing. 

Nori looked good. A lot healthier than the last time Uzi had seen her. Her hair was growing back nicely and Uzi could tell Nori had recently redyed it purple. You know, Uzi never understood why no one would ever let her into the Plaze while they always let her mom in. She was a spitting image of her mother, the only differences were the fact that Uzi’s skin was a little darker and her hair was black. Oh and while she did have piercings like her mom, she rarely took her piercings out when she went to fancy places.

“Hey Mom.” Uzi said, sliding into the chair across from Nori. Nori grinned at her daughter. “Hey Zizi! Did you get taller while I was gone?” She poured Uzi a cup of tea.

“No, I’m still 4 '11. Unfortunately.” Uzi said with a sigh, taking the tea cup her mom passed to her. “My mother’s intuition says otherwise, you’ve totally gotten taller.” Uzi doubted she was gonna get any taller from her current height, but she let her mom live in delusion for a little bit. “How are you feeling, mom?” Uzi asked.

Nori flinched slightly. “Oh, uh. Fine! The doctors say I’m in remission. And since both ovaries are gone that means I don’t get a period.” Okay something was off about her mom, Nori never used to be nervous telling Uzi about her treatment or how she felt.

“Okay…That’s good I suppose.” Uzi studied her mom for a few moments. Trying to figure out what was wrong in her body language. Apparently Nori could tell what she was doing because she put down her cup of tea with a sigh.

“Uzi, what I’m about to tell you is going to change your life forever, whether you like it or not.” She grabbed Uzi’s hands. Why was her mom acting like she was dying? Did they find out Nori had pancreatic cancer while they were treating her ovarian cancer?

“I haven’t been fully honest with you about my job. While I am still technically a politician, I’m a different type of politician than you have in the states. I am the Princess and Ruler of Copper-9 and I am so sorry you have to find out this way.”

Uzi blinked. Oh, so her mom wasn’t dying. That’s a relief. Nori was a princess and Uzi was kinda mad that no one had thought to tell her. But that shouldn’t affect Uzi. Right?

“I have to do a lot of work for my country but the one thing that’s been expected of me since birth, I can no longer do. With both ovaries gone, I can no longer have children which means my country thinks I have no children and the principality will fall because of it. But Uzi, I do have a child. Which you know because it’s you.”

Uzi froze. Oh no. She couldn’t be, there was no way. Uzi wasn’t fit to be a princess. She could barely get the funds to make a video game that she didn’t have even a name for. She didn’t have the respect of her peers, they all thought she was a freak and a loser. How was she supposed to rule a country? Maybe this was her mom’s weird way of telling her that she was going to adopt a child. Hopefully this was her mother’s weird way of telling her was going to adopt.

“What I’m trying to say is, Uzi, you are now the heir to the throne of Copper-9.“

Oh.

The cards really weren’t in her favor today.

“WHAT THE FUCK!

Chapter Text

Still At The Plaza, Uzi’s Life Has Changed Forever

“Mom, please tell me you’re joking.” Uzi pleaded, snatching her hands away from her mom. Nori looked at her daughter sadly. “I’m sorry baby. If I could, I would make sure you never have to deal with this. But it’s out of my hands.” Nori said, stirring her cup of tea.

This couldn’t be happening. She wasn’t fit to be a princess. Uzi had dreams! She had a video game that was gonna bring the world to its knees. Even if she didn’t have a name or funds for it. She was a freak at school and most of her classmates hated her. She did not live a life of luxury, the fanciest she and her dad got was when they hung out at Burst’s penthouse(one of her dad’s former bandmates).

But even then that wasn't fancy, it was just her dad and his former bandmates playing Smash Bros and reminiscing about playing in Khan’s garage in high school. Meanwhile, Uzi hung out with the bandmates’ kids, who were actually pretty cool people despite being four to two years younger than her and Uzi wished they were old enough to go to school with her and the twins. It would make school a lot more fun. Wait, she’s getting off topic. The point was, Uzi was not princess material.

“What about Aunt Alice? Can’t she rule instead of me? Also she’s older than you, why isn’t she the current ruler?” Uzi suggested, remembering at the last minute her crazy aunt that she hated. Nori sighed. “Alice is a bastard child from your grandfather, who has no royal blood. She would have ruled if I hadn’t been born as my mother adopted her. However I exist and you exist therefore, she does not get the throne. Which is fine because she would prefer to go to the events instead of actually ruling.” Nori explained.

Uzi started hyperventilating. “Mom, please. Look at me! I’m not princess material!” She wailed, knowing full well she was causing a scene. At this point, she didn’t care. Her life was over. “Uzi, you are pri-” Uzi cut Nori off. “No, stop. Don’t even try to convince me I’m princess material. I’m Uzi Willa Doorman! A girl who has pulled all nighters by accident because I went on a video essay binge! I don’t shop for my clothes at designer places, I steal most of them from you or Aunt Alice takes me shopping when I’m in Copper-9, or Lizzy makes me an outfit. And I can barely talk in class, let alone give speeches in front of an entire country! I’M VEGETERIAN FOR FUCKS SAKE! I am not a princess!” Uzi was practically screaming at this point and other people were staring at her and her mom.

Nori let out a strangled noise. “That isn’t exactly what being a princess is all about Zizi. And uh, about your name…” She trailed off and Uzi’s heart stopped beating. “What about my name? It’s my name, there’s nothing wrong with it.” Uzi demanded. Nori rubbed her temples. “You’re not Uzi Willa Doorman anymore, Uzi. You’re Princess Uzi Willa Sidney Doorman Grimaldi now.” Nori explained tiredly.

Not even her name was the same anymore. And what was with this new name anyway? Her old one made sense. Uzi for her first name because her parents thought it was a badass name. Willa for her middle name, after her dad’s brother, William, who passed away when they were teenagers. And Doorman because her dad was the parent to take care of her. But this new name…No this new title didn't make sense. Because it wasn’t who she was.

Okay, that did Uzi in. Her name wasn’t even her name anymore. She was done. Done with this day. Done talking to her mom. Done being at this hotel. Uzi needed to get out of here and anyone who tried to stop her could bite her. She grabbed her backpack and ran out of the hotel as fast as she could.

Drone City Zoo

Uzi didn’t realize she was running to the zoo until she was in front of it. Thankfully, entry was cheap and Uzi had cash on her. The first thing she did when she got there was put her phone on airplane mode so that her dad couldn’t find her and she could still listen to music. The second thing she did was shove in her earbuds and hit shuffle on her entire music library and the soothing sounds of a nightcore cover of ‘My Demons’ by Starset became the only thing she heard. The third thing she did was go to the bat exhibit.

The bat exhibit was a dark, cozy cavern in the far away part of the zoo. Most people didn’t know about it unless they were obsessed with bats, like Uzi is. When she was younger, her dad would take her to the zoo and no matter where he sat them down in the exhibit, she would just stare for hours at the bats. Which gave her dad time to design album covers for the band. Growing up, Uzi would insist they go to the bat exhibit until she got old enough to go by herself. Some things never changed for her, and this was no exception.

Uzi chose a bench in the back of the exhibit that somehow had a perfect view of the fruit bats. Her music had switched to ‘Pink Pony Club’ by Chapell Roan(which Lizzy added to her music  library for whenever they got the urge to have a dance party at sleepovers) and for some reason, Uzi felt a lot better. Bats and music really did have a healing effect on her. Maybe she could write some more notes for her video game, that would be good. But wait, she couldn’t do that because she’s a princess and any work that she had done on the video game was down the toilet because she has no choice in her life anymore, not even with her name.

Just the thought of that brought tears to Uzi’s eyes. Her whole life was a lie. So much stuff was making sense now. Like how her mom was always let into the Plaza despite not exactly meeting their standards of how a guest should look. Or how Uzi was always the first person off the plane when she got to Copper-9 despite boarding normally on the way there. Or the times her Aunt Alice would take her and her cousin Beau clothes shopping AFTER the shops closed. It definitely explained that time People tried to run a story about her dad having a love child with a princess and her mom’s legal team got involved. She’s always thought that the record label couldn’t do anything since her dad wasn’t signed under them anymore, so he called Nori for reinforcements. Did that mean her mom’s legal team knew about her? Oh god, they probably did. And it explained the chateau she stayed at in the summer when she went to visit her mom. She just thought her mom was good at finding nice real estate for a decent price. 

A tap on her shoulder snapped her out of her head. Uzi slipped one of her ear buds out and turned in the direction the tap had come from. Sitting next to her was Noah Elliot, looking at her with a very concerned expression on his face.

“Hey, your name’s Uzi, right? We have G&T together.” He said, his concerned expression not wavering the more she stared at him. “Uh, yeah. And yours is Noah?” She said, pretending she didn’t know who he was even though everyone in the school knew about the Elliots. “Yeah that’s me. Uh here.” Noah said, handing her a packet of tissues. Uzi looked up at him, confused.

“You were crying.” He said simply. Uzi blushed. “Oh, thanks.” She said, pulling a tissue out and wiping her face. Thank god she was wearing waterproof mascara and eyeliner, otherwise her face would be covered in black gunk. “Are you okay?” Noah asked and Uzi shook her head. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

The way Noah was looking at her should have been illegal. She barely even knew him and yet he was looking at her like he could and would listen to her rant for hours. “I…Family stuff. Turns out I’ve been lied to about my birthright my whole life.” Uzi said and Noah winced. “Ugh, I hate when that happens.” He said, nodding sympathetically. “You’ve been lied to about your birthright?” Uzi said skeptically. Noah laughed. “No, I haven’t but I’ve had family issues before. So I get that.” He explained. Uzi blushed. “Oh.” She said, fiddling with the singular ear bud in her hand. “Hey, do you want to listen to music with me?” Uzi asked, offering him her ear bud. Noah’s face broke out into a grin.

“I would love to!”

Meanwhile, Back At The Loft

“YOU LOST MY DAUGHTER?!”

Nori glared at her ex. “She’s my daughter too, dickhead. I would know, she literally came out of me! And I didn’t mean to! She’s fast and by the time I made it outside, she was gone. I looked all around in all the places she could have run off to for about five hours before coming here. She wasn’t in any of them.” Nori explained but it did nothing to quell Khan’s anger. “You searched around the city for her for five hours, and you didn’t think to check her location?” He snapped. Nori crossed her arms. “Oh yeah I totally could have done that. If someone hadn’t REFUSED to let her share find my with me because they were worried about her finding out she was a princess because she checked my location and saw that I was in the palace!” She shouted, resisting the urge to hit him.

Khan deflated. “Oh god, we should have told her from the beginning.” He bemoaned, throwing his body onto the couch next to Nori. “Yeah we should have but we were also young and dumb at the time. We always thought I would have been able to have one more kid and she wouldn’t have to deal with it.” Nori said, her mindlessly going to where surgery scars lay underneath her shirt. “We’re bad parents.” Khan continued and normally Nori would have tried to snap him out of a shame spiral he trapped himself in but for once she actually agreed with him.

She should have just told Uzi this was a possibility when she first got diagnosed. This way her daughter wouldn’t be missing. She remembered the first time she held Uzi. How little and small she looked. How unmarred her skin was. How she knew she had to protect Uzi from the dangers of being a royal. She just wanted her baby to have a normal life, something Nori herself never even thought she would ever have a chance to have until she met Khan. And sure that normal life almost got ruined when Shot In The Dark got big but then the band broke up and everything was fine. Though it did get jeopardized again when Khan later got big as a painter. You know, maybe she wasn’t the only one in the wrong when it came to Uzi’s normal life being ruined, Khan was also in the wrong. 

Ugh, playing the blame game was unhealthy and stupid. It was both their faults and now Uzi was missing. “She was in front of the zoo before she turned off her location.” Khan murmured, staring at his phone. “Bat Exhibit.” Nori said immediately. She knew that was where Uzi went when she needed time to think. Khan raised a suspicious eyebrow. “How would you know that?” He grumbled and Nori ignored the pain in her chest that sparked up at his tone. “Because she loves bats and she goes there when she’s sad. I have been buying her bat themed things for the past decade. I may not have been here 24/7 her entire life like you have but I still tried to be the best mom I could be for her. And if it meant learning how much she adores bats and all sorts of facts about bats then so be it. Quit acting like I don’t know my own daughter.” She snapped.

Khan faltered. He clearly hadn’t expected Nori to feel as passionately as she did about the subject at hand. “I…I’m sorry Nor. You’re right, you do know our daughter. I’m just really worried about her.” He said softly. Nori shrugged. “So am I, but she’s our kid. That girl is sharper than a whip and as stubborn as a mule. Once she calms down, she’ll be back.” Nori said, patting Khan on the shoulder. He leaned into her touch. And then one thing led to another, and her head ended up in his lap and he was running his fingers through her hair.

“Why’d we break up Nor?” Khan asked. This was a commonly asked question of his when he and Nori were alone in a room together for too long. Because you deserved someone who wasn't a disaster princess who inherited a small european country in her final year of college a month after she gave birth even though you said you were all in and even proposed before finding out that I was pregnant. Nori thought, which was a variation of what she usually thought when this question was asked. Instead she responded, “Because we didn’t work.” Khan’s expression soured. “That’s what you always say but you and I both know it’s not true.” He said, his tone bitter. “Oh please, we weren’t even together by the time Uzi was born. We were broken up before she was even conceived!” Nori exclaimed, sitting up and scooting away from him. “Because YOU rejected my proposal!” He shouted, glaring at Nori. “Because we didn’t WORK!” Nori shouted back. 

“THAT’S BULLSHIT AND YOU KNOW IT!”

“BITE ME! DON’T TELL ME WHAT I KNOW!”

Silence fell over the loft. The two of them had this argument multiple times. There was no use going through it again. Nori watched as Khan marched over to the land line and began to dial a number. “Who are you calling?” Nori demanded. “Thad and Lizzy’s parents. If Uzi’s there, I'll pick her up. If she’s not there, I’m going to the bat exhibit and taking her home.” He said, refusing to look at her. Nori opened her mouth to tell him that she would go with him when the loft door opened. Standing before them was Uzi. Khan slammed the phone down on the receiver as Uzi shut the door.

“Where were you, young lady?” Khan demanded. Uzi shrugged. “Bat exhibit, making out with my boyfriend that I totally have.” She said, a lazy smile on her face. If Nori wasn’t so angry at Uzi for disappearing like she did, Nori would have laughed her ass off and high-fived Uzi. Tonight though, she wasn’t in the mood. “You were gone for six hours and that’s how you respond?” Nori exclaimed and Uzi just shrugged again. “I just found out that my parents have been lying to me my whole life, I think I’m allowed to be a brat.” Uzi said, slipping off her back pack. She yawned. “Ground me all you want in the morning, I’m going to bed.” And with that she went into her bedroom and slammed the bedroom door behind her.

Nori and Khan just stared silently at their daughter’s bedroom door. “I’m staying the night.” Nori announced, breaking the silence. “Where?” Khan asked as Nori laid back on the couch. “Right here. Good night.” She said, shutting her eyes and rolling over. “I…Fine you can stay the night. See you in the morning.” Khan mumbled. Nori felt the lights shut off around her and smiled contently that at least she had won this battle with Khan.

Friday Morning: AKA The Morning After Uzi’s Life Was Ruined

Uzi woke up to the sound of cooing pigeons outside her fire escape and the dulcet sounds of Baby Queen playing off the speaker in the kitchen. She could smell her dad making pancakes, the ones he made with dark chocolate chips in them. The sun was shining brightly and her phone informed it was a friday, which meant that she could spend the night at Lizzy and Thad’s. She managed to get her makeup to look good at every angle. For once her hair played nice, and she was able to comb all the tangles out of it. Today was gonna be a good day.

Then she opened her bedroom door and saw her mom reading her thankfully not signed copy of Scott Pilgrim volume 4 at the kitchen table. And everything came crashing down as she remembered what had happened. Uzi tried to sneak back into her room but her stupid door needed its hinges oiled. As soon as the dumb thing let out a heinous screech, her parents directed their attention to her.

“Uzi, you’re awake!” Nori said cheerfully as she bookmarked her page. “Sit down, we have a lot to discuss.” Uzi just silently sat down at the table, not even acknowledging her mother. She pulled out her phone to check her emails but also to ignore her mom but before she could even open the app, her dad took her phone out of her hands. He placed a pile of pancakes in front of her. “Eat up, Zizi. Can’t have a serious talk on an empty stomach.” He said, smiling. Uzi noted his smile looked forced, it probably had to do with the fact that he had been in close contact with her mom for too long. Uzi silently grabbed her knife and fork and began to eat.

Her parents let her eat half of what was on her plate before they brought up the princess situation. “We think you should move to Copper-9.” Nori said. Uzi rolled her eyes.  “I’m not doing that.” Uzi said simply. “Uzi, this would be good for you. This would give you the chance to live your life the way you want to. Just in Copper-9 instead of in Drone City.” He said but Uzi just scoffed.

“No she’s not. Living my life the way I want to means not being a princess. And I refuse to be a princess. Now if you excuse me, I have to pack my lunch, get my monster, and meet up with Thad and Lizzy at the crosswalk before them for once.” Uzi said, standing up. “Uzi Willa Sidney Doorman Grimaldi, sit your butt back down. This conversation is not over.” Nori said through gritted teeth. The pure anger in her mother’s voice terrified Uzi enough that she followed her mother’s demands. She had only heard her mother sound that angry once when the pervy pool cleaner kept staring at Uzi whenever she went swimming. She has never heard her mother sound as dangerous as she did the day she fired him. 

Her dad decided to take the lead in this discussion. “Uzi, you’ll like living in Copper-9, it’s so beautiful. And the technology they have there is amazing! Think about how much of your video game you could get done if you lived there.” Khan said and Uzi’s mouth dropped open. Did…Did her dad want her to move out? Khan didn’t seem to notice her expression. “And you’ll be able to have a motorcycle in Copper-9! I know you’ve always wanted one, so it’ll be perfect.” He continued. Did her dad find a girlfriend or something, why was he so adamant that she would love Copper-9? Seriously, did he want to get rid of her?

“Dad, are you kicking me out? Did you get a girlfriend and you’re choosing her over me?” Uzi asked, tears welling up in her eyes. “What-No! Uzi, you have been and always will be my number one priority!” Khan said quickly, stunned that Uzi had jumped so quickly to the conclusion that he was kicking her out. “Well you lied to me about being a princess my whole life and you keep talking about Copper-9 like me going there is the greatest thing on the planet!” Uzi snapped. Both Nori and Khan faltered and shared a look. Uzi hated it when they did this, despite having been broken up for 16 years, they still managed to have some weird psychic connection that allowed them to have conversations with their eyes.

“Uzi, go to school. Your father and I have to discuss something. Lars will take you and your friends to school today. He is downstairs and knows who you are.” Nori said, with a sigh. Uzi inwardly sighed with relief, finally an out to this conversation. She quickly got her stuff together and walked out the door. Downstairs, a very tall and bulky man was standing quietly while scrolling on his phone. He looked up when she hit the bottom step. “Princess?” He asked, yep this was definitely Lars. “Just call me Uzi.” She groused. Lars nodded and led her outside to the limo.

“Would you like me to put on Paramore? Your mother says it’s one of your favorite bands.” Lars said and Uzi shrugged. “Sure I guess.” Uzi said, slumping back in her seat. She could only imagine what Thad and Lizzy were going to say when she showed up in front of their apartment building.

They were halfway through ‘Ain’t it fun’ when they pulled up in the limo. Lizzy and Thad were walking out of their building, holding boxes for some reason, when Uzi rolled down the window. “Blame my mom and not me.” Was all she said as her friends climbed into the limo. “Well thank you to your mom! This is wicked as hell!” Thad exclaimed. “Stop talking like you're from the 90s. But yeah, he’s right. This is awesome.” Lizzy said, adjusting the box in her lap so that she could buckle her seatbelt. “What’s with the boxes?” Uzi asked, suspicious. “Half finished pieces for my line. Specifically for the photo shoot for my website. Today I’m finalizing the models’ sizes for the clothes so that I can start taking photos next friday.” Lizzy explained, though Uzi was still confused. “You already have me and Thad’s sizes though, why do you need to finalize the sizes?” Uzi asked. Lizzy just grinned mischievously.

“Oh you’ll see.”

Chapter Text

Gifted and Talented

And boy did Uzi see.

Lizzy had apparently decided she was going to ask the other gifted and talented kids to be her models alongside Uzi and Thad. Not only that, she asked them as soon as everyone was in the gifted and talented room and Mr. Vickers was gone. Shockingly, they all said yes. Uzi thought it probably had to do with the fact that Lizzy said they could keep the clothes when they were finished, if they wanted to of course. So those who wanted to do it moved out into the hallway where Lizzy was measuring them and Thad was taking notes of their sizes. Those who had already been measured or just didn’t want to do it were inside the G&T room, with Uzi. She was put in charge of staring at the mannequins and making sure they were not messed with. In all the chaos, Uzi almost forgot that she might have to move away to rule a country that she never wanted to rule.

Anyway, the line that Lizzy had chosen to take off the paper was this year's Halloween line which in itself was a tasteful reference to fairy tales and she had really outdone herself. The only complaint Uzi had was that Lizzy wanted her in a princess dress. It was WAY too soon for Uzi to even think about being a princess let alone dressing like one. Not that Lizzy knew because Uzi decided that she wasn’t going to tell Lizzy and Thad that tidbit of information until she truly couldn’t find a way out of the princess thing.

The dress Lizzy designed was gorgeous though, despite it being different from her usual style. A nice royal purple dress with fabric flower hand sewn into the upper bodice as well as the sleeves and a flowy layered skirt. It looked good on the mannequin and Uzi could only imagine what it would look like on her. If only it didn’t remind of how over her life was.

“Are you good? There’s something off about your face.” A girl’s voice snapped Uzi from her thoughts. Looking away from the dress that was taunting her, she saw that Vivian Elliot was talking to her. What was with the Elliots and snapping her from the hell hole that was her mind?

“Yeah I’m good.” Uzi said, pretending to busy herself with organizing her notes. Vivian snorted. “You sure, because you were staring at that dress like it personally offended you.” She said. Uzi scowled and gripped her papers tighter. “Bite me, for all you know the dress could have offended me.” She grumbled. Vivian took the papers from her. “But it didn’t, that dress is too pretty for you to hate.” She said, going through some of the papers. “Maybe it offended me because it's so pretty.” Uzi snapped, ready to lunge for her notes when Vivian handed them back to her.

“I guess you’re right about you possibly not liking it cause it’s too pretty. By the way, your game looks pretty cool. Vampire drone sounds like a sick as hell character option.” She said with a smile. “It’s called a disassembly drone, not a vampire drone. But…Thanks.” Uzi mumbled, looking down to hide the tint in her cheeks. “No problem. Let me know if you need help designing weapons, I’d be more than happy to help.” Vivian said and then walked back to her own seat, leaving Uzi alone in confusion.

In less than 24 hours, her world had been turned upside down. Her parents lied to her her entire life and the Elliots were kind of cool. What entity did she piss off this much to have so much change in so little time?

After School: Time To Get Out Of Going Home

Friday Aug 29 3:07 pm

My mother the liar- You’re coming straight home after school

Uzi- no

Uzi- im having a sleepover with thad and lizzy that has been planned since last week

Uzi- ask dad he will confirm

My mother the liar- Your father said he’s taking back the okay 

Uzi- too late, lizzys already planning on fitting me into clothes and thad is going over the tv shows were  gonna watch 

Uzi- and they have told their siblings and parents already who have so kindly offered to order takeout for us which is something they hardly ever do 

My mother the liar- Uzi Willa Sidney Doorman Grimaldi, if you don’t get your ass home right now

Uzi- stop calling me that 

My mother the liar- Stop calling you what 

Uzi- uzi willa sidney doorman grimaldi

Uzi- its not my name

Uzi- and it will never be my name

My mother the liar- Uzi it is your name now

Uzi- im done talking to you

Friday Aug 29 3:14 pm

My father the other liar- Uzi come home

Uzi- i have a sleepover 

Uzi- and a good guest never cancels day of

Uzi- unless its an emergency 

Uzi- and this isnt so im going

My father the other liar- Uzi this IS serious 

Uzi- is it life or death

My father the other liar- Well it is a decision about your life 

Uzi- and i already told you im not gonna be a princess 

My father the other liar- Uzi…

My father the other liar- You know that’s not true

At Thad and Lizzy’s house

No matter what happened in her life there was always one thing she could count on, having a great time at Lizzy and Thad’s. 

There was something magical about their apartment, Uzi thinks it has to do with the fact that the family living there is normalish. Their parents were psychologists and were very good at helping Uzi find tactics to get out of her head. Plus they always knew to give her vegetarian options to eat and always stocked the place with her favorite snacks. Thad and Lizzy's older siblings were okay, a bit annoying since Ruby would randomly interrupt whatever they were doing with thought experiments and Cooper was constantly on the phone with his girlfriend, Bella, and would always yell at them to shut up if he thought they were being too loud. But they were fun to hang out with, even if Ruby was senior at their school and Cooper was freshman in college.

Tonight’s sleepover was a little different as the Drs. Nikolopulous were going to a charity that a former colleague of theirs was hosting so that meant Cooper was in charge. This also meant that Bella was over for some inexplicable reason(well Uzi DID know the reason she just didn’t want to think about it) thus causing the three of them to banished to the tv room while Ruby locked herself up in her and Lizzy’s room. So Uzi was standing in the middle of the tv room with Lizzy fitting a corset on her while Thad rambled about the Fairly Oddparents sequel they would be watching that night.

“...And Timmy totally haunts the narrative! It’s sick as hell.” Thad rambled as he attempted to connect his phone to the tv. Uzi nodded, ignoring her phone buzzing away on the couch. She really needed to turn off her parents' alerts, she’ll do it after Lizzy is done. “I’d prefer it if we watched Danny Phantom.” Lizzy said, her voice muffled as she had some pins in her mouth. “We need more variety.” Thad said with a shrug. “And we’re fixing that by watching another Butch Hartman cartoon?” Uzi said with a smirk. Thad gasped. “Shut your mouth! We do not speak the devil's name in this apartment!”

Lizzy rolled her eyes. “Yet we watch his shows on a weekly basis.” She said darkly. “Correction, we watch the shows on dvd that we got at a thrift store so he doesn’t get money, though in this case we’re chrome casting this from my phone cause I downloaded the show as it’s not out on Netflix yet, and then give support to the people he screwed over! It's the perfect balance. Also he’s just the executive producer on this show, I don’t think he has his hand too much in the batter.”

Lizzy huffed. “Whatever, just put on the show.” She said, stepping back to admire her work. “Damn Uzi, I wasn’t sure the red would work with you but holy hell, you look AMAZING!” Lizzy said, tossing some of Uzi’s hair over her shoulders. “Thanks, I guess. Thad, is the show ready yet?” Uzi asked, going behind the tv room door to change into her other clothes. Thad nodded. “Yep tv is all hooked up!” He said excitedly, pressing play on the show. Uzi joined them on the couch and finally let herself relax.

At The Loft

Focus on the sketch, focus on the sketch. Khan thought as he tried to come up with a new painting. This was proving hard to do because Nori was sitting less than ten feet away from the couch, at his kitchen table, eating food that HE had made for her. She was scrolling on her phone, texting someone, probably Sid. One of her nightcore playlists was playing softly. It reminded him of the nights in college when the two of them would stay in instead of going to a party. Nori had late classes and she ate dinner later than him and couldn’t cook so Khan would always make two meals.

It always felt rather domestic, which was a dangerous feeling around Nori. 

“Sid thinks we should let Uzi finish her school stuff here.” Nori said suddenly. Khan rolled his eyes. “Well if a woman she’s never met before says we should then we must!” He said sarcastically. Nori scowled. “Shut up, don’t disrespect my best friend like that. She’s just trying to help and frankly she’s not wrong.” She said, getting up and putting her dishes in the sink. “I-Fuck, you’re right.” Khan groused, tossing aside his sketchpad. He wasn’t getting any work done so it was really pointless to keep trying. Nori gave him a bitter smile. “I know you hate when that happens.” She said, joining him on the couch. She

Every time he saw Nori, he was always slightly taken aback by how much she had changed. Last year when Khan saw her, Nori had looked so tired and somehow smaller. Which was kinda scary to see someone with such a big personality seem so…tiny. And she had less hair but that mattered less to him. Now Nori still looked tired, though that was probably to do with sleeping on his couch last night, but she looked healthier. Definitely happier and a lot more like herself. He wondered if he had changed that much she noticed. 

“I don’t hate it when you're right.” Khan argued, leaning back on the couch’s arm rest. “I just hate it when I’m wrong.” He said. Nori rolled her eyes. “And you’re usually wrong when you’re arguing with me. Therefore you hate it when I’m right.” She said tiredly. “Anyway, as much as I want to listen to Sid, there's the problem with the country finding out their future princess isn’t even living in the country. They’ll say I just picked her off the street or that I’m ashamed of her. Two things that are completely untrue.” 

Khan pondered this for a moment. He had forgotten how entitled the people of Copper-9 could be, it was one of the main reasons why Nori agreed to keep Uzi out of the spotlight. She didn’t want Uzi growing up with 50,000 people watching and judging her every move. When Khan asked why Nori was so worried about that in particular she had told him a story that put things in perspective for him. “When I was 15 I wore a dress that was a little short to a party but nothing too scandalous. The public was in an uproar about it for weeks afterwards and every time I went out for public appearances, I was called all the names in the book. But slut and whore were their favorites…It really messed me up as a kid.” She had said. After hearing that, there was no way Uzi was going to be growing up in an environment like that, especially since at the time, Nori could always have more kids and his band wasn’t big. 

“We could do a part time thing. Like on her school breaks that last more than two weeks, she goes to Copper-9 but the rest of the school year she stays with me.” He suggested. It wouldn’t completely protect Uzi from being judged but it could help somewhat with keeping a normal life like she wanted. “She’s gonna need princess lessons.” Nori said, though he could tell she liked the idea. She was smiling slightly and her eyes, those beautiful light purple eyes that were the first thing he noticed when he met her, were bright with an unknown emotion. He knew it was a good one though. “Hire someone then, she can get tutored after school.” Khan said with a shrug. Nori sighed. “Guess I’ll give my sister and the lawyers a call then.” She said, standing up.

“Why do you need to call the lawyers?” Khan asked. “To send me a semi-official document. Nothing binding, she is a minor after all, but it’ll be in writing so if she says yes and either one of us goes against it, the other can call the other out.” Nori explained. “I’ll go outside on the balcony. Be back in a bit.” 

“Okay, love you bye.” Khan said mindlessly. He jerked back slightly when he realized what he said, but a quick glance at the balcony door proved that she didn’t hear him. Good. Things were already a mess without his feelings involved. Especially when she didn’t love him back.

Back At Lizzy And Thad’s Apartment, The Teenagers Have Taken  A Break From Watching Tv

“Beetlejuice the musical, seriously?” Lizzy deadpanned when Uzi turned on her speaker. 

“Shut up, I’m the one painting your nails. Do you want them to look bad?” Uzi threatened. “Don’t make her mad Liz, you remember what happened last time.” Thad warned from his spot on the couch where he was organizing Lizzy’s vast nail polish collection by color. Uzi resisted the urge to laugh as Lizzy groaned at the memory. “Don’t even mention that.” She shuddered as Ruby appeared in the tv room doorway.

“Can you paint my nails when you're done with these two?” She asked, joining them on the couch. “Sure….” Uzi said, her tone suspicious because Ruby probably had a thought experiment for them. Seconds later she was proven correct. “I have a question.” Ruby said. “Is it a thought experiment?” Thad asked. “Yes it is. If you had to choose between Danny Phantom or Chad Richter, who would you pick?” Ruby said, leaning back on the couch. “What scenario is this? End of the world or just in general?” Lizzy asked. “End of the world.”

“Danny Phantom. Chad may be my friend but Danny was my childhood crush.” Thad answered immediately. “I’m with Thad on this one. I’d rather hang out with Danny than Chad.” Lizzy agreed. “Chad, even if he doesn’t understand my humor.” Uzi admitted. She tried to focus on painting Lizzy’s nails and listening to ‘The Whole Being Dead Thing’ so that she wouldn’t see her friends’ ‘you can do so much better’ expressions. Ruby nodded as she took notes. “Harley Quinn or Jade Johnson?” She asked. “Harley Quinn.” Thad, Lizzy, and Uzi said at the same time. It was a well known fact that the three of them all had a fictional crush on the 2019 version of the character so it should have been no surprise to Ruby that that’s who they picked.

“Yeah I walked into that one.” Ruby said with a laugh. “What’s this for anyway?” Uzi asked, expertly applying nail gems to Lizzy’s middle finger. “I’m trying to see how many people would actually spend the rest of their lives with the popular people in school. It’s not getting published in the school paper or anything, I’m just trying to figure this out myself.” Ruby explained. “If they find out they’ll demand for the results.” Lizzy said, looking at her sister in concern. “And I have Bella and Cooper backing me up on this. If they want the results, then they’re gonna have to deal with the two of them.” Ruby said with a shrug. “Ah, provoking fear by using the former rulers of the school.” Thad said loftily. “Works every time.”

Uzi rolled her eyes. Using Cooper’s(and Bella’s in Ruby’s case since the two were best friends) reputation as a leeway to get out drama was something Lizzy and Thad did often. Uzi personally saw it as the quick way out but then again she didn’t have siblings so it was different for her. “Just continue the questions.” She groused. “The next questions have to do with real people now since I want to go into a more literal sense. Jenna Oretega or Emily Weinberger?” Ruby asked. “Jenna Oretga. Do you even have to ask me Ru?” Lizzy demanded. “Fair point, what about you two?” Ruby said, turning to Thad and Uzi.

“Jenna. Though she’s still closely tied with Emily.” Thad said with a shrug. “Booo, you have terrible taste! Jenna deserves to be ranked higher!” Lizzy exclaimed. Uzi nodded. “I got to go with Lizzy on this one. Jenna all the way, opinions about Emily being the chillest popular kid be damned.” She said, examining Lizzy’s nails. “Okay, you all really like Jenna Oretega. Uhhh, let’s see. Oh here’s a good one…”

And so for about an hour this went on. Celebrity after celebrity got compared to each of the popular kids. Uzi almost thought it was over until Ruby asked about the Elliots. “Last two, I promise. Jade or Vivian Elliot?” Ruby said. By this point Uzi had started working on her nails and she was recording their responses to her questions on her phone. This question stunned Uzi enough to stop painting Ruby’s nails. 

“Why are you bringing the Elliots into this?” Thad asked, looking nervous. “I’ve asked around and people say that if they didn’t have the bodyguard, they’d be ten times cooler. And the consensus is that they’re hot. So I want them to have someone on their own level. ” Ruby said with a smirk. “Vivian. She seems like a cool person.” Lizzy said. “Anyone’s better than Jade.” Uzi grumbled. “Damn right.” Thad said. “Interesting take. Final scenario, Chad or Noah?” Ruby asked.

Uzi froze again. If you had asked her who she would have picked two days ago it would have been Chad no contest. She had been holding a candle for him since first grade when her dad had forgotten to give her lunch before and he gave her half of his sandwich. Or at least she thinks he did, the memory is kinda fuzzy and both Thad and Lizzy say he wasn’t in their class. In all honesty, Uzi doesn’t remember much of first grade because she went on tour with her dad midway through it. But the sandwich thing she’s sure happened. She’ll never forget the light fluffy blonde hair that matched his big grin so perfectly. Uzi didn’t really know him though, and he didn’t like her humor. In an apocalypse though maybe he could learn. 

But then there was N. He had comforted her when she found out that her life was over, even though he didn’t know the exact issue. He was the one who sat with her for hours just listening to her music with her. He promised he wouldn’t tell anyone what happened when they had to leave the zoo. It didn’t help that he was also pretty. And even though they hadn’t made jokes together in the bat exhibit, there was this gut feeling she had that they could make each other laugh and he would understand her dark humor. Despite knowing him for less than 24 hours, Uzi would rather survive the apocalypse with him instead of Chad.

But if she said N, Lizzy and Thad would demand to know why and then she would have to get into the princess thing. Even if Uzi tried to lie about why she hung out with N yesterday, Thad and Lizzy could tell cause they always knew. So Uzi lied. “Chad. You know how I am. Besides, I don't even know Noah.” The words felt sharp and tasted bitter on her tongue. 

While Ruby didn’t seem to notice that Uzi was lying, the same could not be said for Lizzy and Thad. As soon her nails were done drying, Ruby left the room. That was when Thad and Lizzy pounced.

“But Noah is your type.” Lizzy pointed out. “What type? I don't have a type!” Uzi argued, crossing her arms. “Uh, yeah you do. Fluffy blonde hair, brown eyes, a bit of a golden retriever personality, and a unique interest. That’s the type of guy you usually say is hot in whatever piece of media and Chad kinda fits the bill. But Noah is more of your type than him.” Thad said with a shrug. “Well I don’t know him!” Uzi groused. “Fair point, you also don’t know Chad.” Lizzy said, a smug expression on her face. “And honestly Uzi, as someone who has hung out with Chad, I can tell you that you’re way too cool for him.”

Uzi scoffed, of course Lizzy would say that. She was one of her childhood friends, she had to say things like that. “Thanks for the sentiment but I’m not backing down on my answer.” She said, which was true because they didn’t know her real answer was actually N, not Chad. “Fine, but I’d rather you date Noah than Chad.” Lizzy said tiredly. “Yeah we both know that’s not happening. I don’t know Noah and unless Chad stops dating Jade, I’m staying single for till college.” Uzi declared.

Thad snorted. “You do that, I’m gonna put the show back on.” He said, sounding equally as tired as his sister. There was a bit of tension in the room as the show started. But as the show went on, it slowly went away. And for the first time in 24 hours, Uzi felt like a normal teenager again.

Chapter Text

The Next Morning

Uzi did not want to face her parents.

So she did everything in her power to stay at Lizzy and Thad’s for as long as she possibly could. But then her mother and father called Lizzy and Thad’s parents and informed them that Lars was there to pick Uzi up, so she knew she had to go. Lars wouldn’t tell if her parents were mad or not. Uzi was pretty sure he wasn’t telling because he just wanted to be annoying, which pissed her off because she didn't know Lars well enough for him to be doing that.

When she got back to the loft, Uzi stood in front of the door wondering if it was too late to run to the Drones City Zoo and hide in the bat exhibit again. But before she could even do that, the door to the loft swung open and her mother appeared in front of her. “Oh good, you’re here. Get inside Uzi, we have a lot to discuss.” Nori said, like she owned the place. She probably did now that Uzi thought about it.

Uzi entered the loft, ready to put up a fight if they told her she had to move to Copper-9. She expected her parents would have to drag her there, using body guards. But when she stepped inside, the only other people in the room were her mother and father. Her dad was sitting at the table, looking over some papers. Hearing Nori close the door, he looked up and smiled. “Uzi! There you are, kiddo. Sit down. Ready to talk now?” He asked, patting the chair next to him. She raised an eyebrow but walked over and sat down. Her dad put down the paper, pointedly away from Uzi, as Nori joined them. It was probably custody papers, Khan most likely had signed her away to Nori. Great, she really wasn’t getting out of this.

Uzi waited for them to tell her to pack her bags. But no words came, there was silence. “Get on with it!” Uzi exclaimed.

“Get on with what?” Khan asked, sounding genuinely confused. Wow, acting was apparently his strong suit too, she almost believed him.

“Bite me. Don’t play dumb. Just tell me how you’ve signed your custody of me over to mom and now I have to go live with her in Copper-9!” She shouted.

Her parents looked at her, alarmed. “Uzi, that’s not what’s happening.” Nori said, resting a hand on Uzi’s shoulder. She shrugged it off.

“It’s not? Then why are you acting so shady?” She asked, still not convinced. “And that paper. What was that paper dad was reading when I got home?”

Her dad handed her the paper. “See for yourself.” He said cheerfully. Uzi took the paper and unfolded it.

The Princess Agreement

Her Royal Highness, Princess Uzi Willa Sidney Doorman Grimaldi will be allowed to continue living in Drone City with her father, Khan Doorman, finish attending The Drone City Academy for Boys(made coed in 1985), as well as attend college wherever she pleases. In return, HRH Princess Uzi will agree to spending winter, summer, and all related school breaks in Copper-9 with her mother HRH Princess Nori Philipa Amalie Renaldo Grimaldi, attend all royal engagements that are required of her, and will be required to have princess lessons.

Princess Uzi will be allowed to invite whomever she wants to the palace(provided they are given a background check beforehand). Unless she is dating them, none will be allowed her plus one, instead they will be invited as accordingly. 

A bodyguard will be needed during her visits to Copper-9 and she will be driven to and from school in a compromise of not having a bodyguard following her around until her identity is known to the public. Then the bodyguard will be full time, even when she is at school.

Princess Nori will be understanding and more willing to listen to her daughter when she points out when Princess Nori is wrong. Khan Doorman also agrees to this, he doesn’t have to sign the agreement, this just needs to be known.

The agreement is not binding nor is it a contract, it is also allowed to be changed at any time by both parties.

Signatures-

………………………..

  …………………………..

Uzi blinked, stunned as she put the paper down. Her mom totally wrote the last half of this, good lord. But at least her parents were giving her a chance to have a somewhat normal life, maybe not to the same extent as before. Still though, they tried. It didn’t mean she was gonna sign it right away though.

“So you’re not signing over custody of me?” Uzi asked, just to make sure.

“No Uzi, that was never the plan. We just thought you’d be happier in Copper-9. Clearly we were wrong.” Khan assured her.

“Clearly.” Uzi said dryly. “How well known is Copper-9?”

“I mean it’s a small country. Most people don’t know what it is when you ask but they certainly know the royals.” Nori grumbled.

“So they know who I am already.” Uzi said, crossing her arms.

“No, as far as they know, I’m childless. The country and the media are under this belief.” Nori said.

“How long will it take the media to find out about me?” Uzi asked.

“If all goes well, only the Copper-9 media will know about you when you are named my heir at the end of year. Unfortunately, that is very unlikely cause the media is filled with vultures.” Nori said.

Uzi did some quick math. She had two years left of school, not counting the current year, and she was invisible enough that she would be able to keep it a secret. She’d hold back on telling Thad and Lizzy for a few weeks of course, to let it settle in for her. She didn’t do much after school so she’d probably have princess lessons then. And like her mom said, not many people knew about Copper-9. She’d be able to hide her identity for that long. By college Uzi probably wouldn’t be able to hide it, but that was fine. Two years of high school out of the spotlight would be enough for her. She had a few more questions before she signed but the princess deal was starting to get better by the minute.

“Do I have to keep visiting Aunt Alice at the chateau?” She asked. Nori shook her head.

“Nope, you don’t have to do that any more.” Nori promised. Uzi had never felt so relieved, she didn’t get along with her Aunt Alice. She got along great with Beau, her cousin, though. Not seeing Aunt Alice would get in the way of hanging out with Beau. Eh, she’d figure out the details with that later.

“Who’s teaching me princess lessons?” Uzi asked. It was her final question and she didn’t really need a direct answer for it.

“The person best suited for this.” Nori said, shuffling in her chair. Odd way to say she hired a fancy tutor but Uzi will take it.

“Cool, give me a pen and I’ll sign.”

Wednesday: In The Gifted And Talented Classroom

(yes we’re doing a major time jump, shut up this is my fic and I’ll do what I want)

Uzi got the text while she was finishing up her final design for the worker drones.

Wednesday Sept 3 1:35 pm

Cowboy🤠- uzi!

Cowboy🤠- guess whose in the same state as you

Uzi- my mother

Cowboy🤠- no

Cowboy🤠- i mean yes cause she is here too

Cowboy🤠- i’m in the same state as you right now!

Uzi- thats great

Uzi- why are you in the same state as me

Cowboy🤠- well now that the secret’s out you have to learn how to be a princess

Uzi- i know

Uzi- im kinda mad at you for keeping it a secret too

Cowboy🤠- i understand, i wanted to tell you but everyone said no

Uzi- they underestimate my ability to keep a secret

Cowboy🤠- i didn’t i always tried to vouch for you

Uzi- oh, well thanks

Uzi- anyway, the reason why youre in the states

Uzi- does this mean youre the one teaching me how to be a princess

Cowboy🤠- no

Cowboy🤠- my mom is

Cowboy🤠- i just came along for the ride

Uzi- what

Cowboy🤠- my mom is going to teach you to be a princess

Uzi- why

Cowboy🤠- i guess your mom thought she was best for the job

Uzi- but she told me aunt alice didnt want to rule

Cowboy🤠- she doesn’t

Cowboy🤠- but she does want to teach you how

Uzi- oh god

Uzi- please tell me i will not be seeing her tonight

Cowboy🤠- nah ma’s too tired

Cowboy🤠- she does say that she expects to see you tomorrow after school at the plaza

Cowboy🤠- and to clear your weekend

Uzi- i can do one of the those things and its the former

Uzi- i promised lizzy that i would model for her latest line on saturday

Cowboy🤠- you know my mom is going to shoot that down, right?

Uzi- oh 1000%, help me get out of whatever she has planned

Cowboy🤠- no way, it’s the one thing that she hasn’t shut up about

Cowboy🤠- meaning neither of us is getting out of it

Uzi- fuck

Uzi- okay, ill let lizzy know ill be late to the photoshoot

Cowboy🤠- you might wanna cancel on her

Uzi- no, i will find a way out of this

Uzi- somehow

Cowboy🤠- good luck with that uzi

Cowboy🤠- see you tomorrow!

Uzi- see you tomorrow

Uzi slammed her phone down, making Lizzy look up from the beanie she was knitting. “I’m going to be late for the photo shoot on Saturday.” Uzi said.

“Whatever that’s fine, just as long as you're there before 7:00. That’s when we get kicked out of the studio.” Lizzy said.

“Why are you gonna be late?” She added.

“My Aunt Alice is in town, you know how it is.” Uzi said, which caused Thad to look up in confusion.

“No we don't, we've never met your aunt.” He said, his brow furrowed.

“He’s right and that’s pretty weird cause you’ve met everyone in our extended family.” Lizzy said, putting down her knitting needle.

“Aunt Alice doesn’t like young people.” Uzi said with a shrug. 

She wasn’t lying, Aunt Alice only liked Beau because he was her son and she barely tolerated Uzi. Uzi had once asked if Thad and Lizzy could spend the next summer with her at the chateau, Aunt Alice had laughed in her face. Though to be honest, it was probably for the best if Lizzy and Thad never met Aunt Alice.

Aunt Alice was a complicated person. In general and towards Uzi. There were times where she made Uzi feel like the smallest person on the planet. But there were also times where she made Uzi feel like she was on top of the world. Those were few and far between however. She drank and smoked a lot. It drove Uzi nuts. Aunt Alice was also judgey. One time they had guests over at the chateau(Uzi couldn’t remember where her mom was, just that she wasn’t there) and Aunt Alice refused to serve a woman some fancy rich people meat. When Uzi tried to give the woman her fancy rich people meat, Aunt Alice slapped her hand. Later she was informed of the fact that the woman didn’t get the rich people meat because she had a child out of wedlock.

Uzi thought this was hypocritical, considering that Uzi herself was a child out of wedlock and she was served the stupid meat, which she didn’t eat because she was vegetarian. Also technically speaking, Beau was a child out of wedlock. Granted that was because Aunt Alice couldn’t marry her wife until five years after he was born. Maybe Uzi shouldn’t think about Beau that way, that wasn’t a great path to go down.

“Well fine. Just don’t change your hair while you’re out.” Lizzy said suddenly.

“Huh.” Uzi said, completely lost.

“Don’t change your hair while you’re with her. This is the same aunt who paid people to hack off your hair when we were 11. It took forever to grow back and you kept complaining about it. Last thing we need is your hair to completely change before a photo shoot.” Lizzy said with a shrug.

“But if you do end up cutting your hair, you’ll look fine.” Thad assured her. 

“Oh right, got it.”

More Beau and Uzi texts

Wednesday Sept 3 10:45 pm

Cowboy🤠- hey uzi

Uzi- please tell me aunt alice has decided she doesnt want to teach me how to be a princess

Cowboy🤠- sorry, she still wants to teach you

Cowboy🤠- instead i come bearing instructions so that she doesn’t get mad you tomorrow

Uzi- what are these instructions

Cowboy🤠- she says to wear panty hoes and lipstick tomorrow

Uzi- i dont own panty hoes and while i have lipstick, i dont think shell approve of the shades

Cowboy🤠- no you do

Cowboy🤠- she bought you a pair last summer remember?

Cowboy🤠- after she got tired of seeing you in your fishnets everyday, she went out and bought you a pair

Uzi- oh yeah

Uzi- theyre probably shoved in the back of my drawer

Cowboy🤠- as for the lipstick thing, i’m pretty sure you have mauve 

Uzi- i do but i hate the way that one feels on my lips

Cowboy🤠- well it’s probably the one shade ma would approve of

Uzi- not wearing it

Cowboy🤠- that’s fair, just don’t say i didn’t warn ya

Uzi- thanks for the heads up

Cowboy🤠- anything for my favorite cousin

Thursday, After School

The girls bathroom was empty.

Thank god.

Uzi had found the panty hoes shoved in the back of her drawer(just like she thought they would be). One look at them and Uzi knew she would not be wearing the school. But then there was the issue of Aunt Alice’s wrath. If she didn’t wear the damn things, her aunt would rant about how she clearly didn’t care about the things her family oh so lovingly gives her or it would lead to a rant that she doesn’t listen to her cousin therefore she doesn’t respect Beau. Uzi didn’t want to hear it so she just shoved the panty hoes in her bag without a second thought, planning on wearing them after school to meet with her aunt at the Plaza. She also packed her purple lipstick to somewhat appease her aunt.

People being in the girls bathroom meant that people would find out about the princess thing faster than Uzi could leave the bathroom. But with it empty, it meant she could slip in and out of there. The school itself was basically empty as well. This was gonna be a piece of cake. 

She went to the biggest stall and quickly put on the panty hoes. She didn’t like how they felt on her legs. They felt more clingy than her fishnets which was weird because her favorite pair of fishnets were super clingy on her legs. Whatever she’d probably only have them on for a few hours at best. Aunt Alice didn’t like being in her company as much as Uzi did towards her. She walked out of the stall and quickly put on the lipstick. When she was done applying it, she paused. 

Holy shit.

Uzi looked good.

She would have thought she’d look like an old lady with the panty hoes on but they somehow made her look older in a good way. Though she still preferred her fishnets. When she took off her beanie, she saw that her hair had once again decided to play nice! Too bad barely anybody was at school, she was certainly a sight for sore eyes.

She left the bathroom, feeling the most confident she had in awhile. Maybe she felt a little too confident because five steps out of the bathroom, she tripped and knocked into someone, causing both of them to fall on the floor. She scrambled to get up, brushing off any dirt as she did so.

“Oh biscuits! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there.” A familiar voice said next to her. Uzi looked over to see N. Her face heated up.

“Didn’t see you either, sorry.” Uzi mumbled, praying she didn’t look like an idiot. N said nothing, just stared at her with his jaw slightly open.

“What?” Uzi asked, all her confidence draining away.

N shuddered, like he was breaking out of a trance. “Nothing, you just look…Different from when I last saw you.” He said finally.

“Good different or bad different?” Uzi asked, stunned at her own words. It wasn’t like her to say something like that to anyone but Thad and Lizzy. And when she did say stuff like that to them, it was usually done sarcastically.

“Good different.” N assured her. Okay, Uzi was totally blushing now.

“Oh uh, thanks.” She said, avoiding eye contact by checking her watch. Shit, she was gonna be late.

“Sorry to cut this short but I got to go.” Uzi said quickly, tightening her grip on her backpack straps before breaking out into a run.

Faintly she heard N shout bye to her. It made her smile more than she probably should have.

At The Plaza

“There she is.”

Uzi grinned when she heard Beau’s voice, he was waiting for her in the front of the Plaza.

“Hey Beau.” She said, playfully punching him.

“Hey Uzi, ready to be tortured?” He asked, leading her into the hotel with Lars following closely behind them.

“As I’ll ever be. How bad is she today?” Uzi asked, scowling slightly when she saw Palm Court.

“She’s a little cranky because Momma’s flight got delayed. But not as bad as usual.” Beau said as they stopped in front of the elevators. She smacked the button to go up.

“Damn, Aunt Lila’s coming too? Y’all meant serious business.” Uzi grumbled.

More and more she was starting to regret signing the agreement.

They stood in silence for a few moments, with Beau pondering his words. That was one big thing Uzi liked about Beau, he never wasted what he was gonna say. If you had a conversation with him, you knew it was going to be long but important and just what you needed to hear.

“It’s not that serious. Personally I find it boring.” Beau said, his sentence ending with the ding of the elevator doors opening.

“You’ve been in princess training?” She asked, stepping into the elevator. Lars hit the button going up to the penthouse because apparently Uzi and Beau were incapable of it now.

“You’ll see Uzi. It’s hard to explain.” Beau said with a shrug.

“It’s just political stuff. I think.” Uzi said, then immediately realized she was wrong because Beau looked like he was holding back laughter.

“It’s a bit more than that. Like I said, it’s hard to explain.Just…Be careful of what you say around ma when it comes to this, okay?” He said.

That didn’t sound good. Anything she had felt before he said that was gone. Uzi wished she had her backpack with her, she left it in the limo. If she had it, she would squeeze the straps to ground herself. That always helped. As the elevator went up and the silence continued, each second leading up to Aunt Alice felt more daunting. What would Aunt Alice say to her? How angry at nothing was she truly? Beau said she wasn’t crabbier than usual but she was different with Beau than she was with Uzi.

All too soon, the elevator beeped, alerting everyone that they had arrived at the top floor. The doors opened and Uzi let Beau and Lars step out before her to delay the inevitable. Her legs trembled as she stepped out into the hallway leading to the penthouse suite. Lars, Uzi, and Beau walked in a straight line to Aunt Alice’s room. Uzi felt like she was being led to her funeral. It was too late to back out now though, Beau was unlocking the door to the room.

She never should have signed that stupid agreement. 

Fuck.

Her.

Life.

The door opened and she dragged her feet to the couches in the little seating area the penthouse had. She sat down and across from her sat Aunt Alice. She stared at Uzi, assessing her the way she always did. Uzi felt like running and throwing up. Maybe she had time to do both. Aunt Alice scoffed.

“Purple lipstick? Really Uzi Willa? You look like a whore.” 

Chapter Text

Thursday, Still At The Plaza

“Ma, you can’t just say that! Uzi looks fine.”

Leave it to Beau to do what Uzi wished she had the confidence to do. Stand up to Aunt Alice. “Beau, darling, we’ve been over this. Purple lipstick looks whorish. If I don’t tell her, who will? Now go to your room and do something else. Your cousin and I have important things to discuss.” Alice said, waving her son away. She turned back to Uzi.

“Uzi Willa, I would have been fine with black lipstick, you know.” Alice said, shaking her head in disappointment.

No you wouldn’t. Uzi thought angrily. Aunt Alice hated it when Uzi wore black lipstick. She hated a lot of things Uzi did, like just being called Uzi.

“Now, your mother told me that when you found out you were a princess, your immediate reaction was to yell at her and run away. Why is this?” Alice asked, probably already forgetting that she said her niece looked whorish.

“Because I don’t want to be a princess Aunt Alice.” Uzi said, annoyance seeping into her tone.

“I suppose you believe that you have proper aspirations then?” Alice said with a smirk. 

“Yes actually, I do. I’m going to be a videogame designer as well as a princess. I’m currently in the gifted and talented program at school so that I can work on my video game.” Uzi said proudly. 

“Right, Nori told me about that. You don’t have any funds do you? Or a name for it. You won’t have the time to work on either.”

Uzi tried not to flinch. This was Aunt Alice’s game, this is what she did. Say hurtful things to break Uzi’s resolve. She couldn’t let her win.

“I’ll figure something out. I always do.” Uzi said, her gaze not wavering like it usually did. Aunt Alice seemed to notice but she didn’t say anything.

Instead she said, “Good for you. We’ll see where that goes. I can tell I’ve got a lot of work to do. Let’s start with posture. Sit up, you’re slouching and it looks sloppy.” She said.

Uzi blinked. She was sitting as straight as she could, the way Aunt Alice always demanded she sat when they were in the same room. 

“Are you hard of hearing now? I said stop slouching!” Alice said, glaring at Uzi. 

“Sorry, it’s just I thought these were princess lessons.” She said, trying to straighten her back. 

“What do you think this is then?” Alice demanded. 

“Slouching shows you don’t care about whatever subject you’ll be discussing with fellow politicians. We have to make sure you look perfect as a representative of Copper-9 before we even get started on politics. And that’s not even getting into hosting the families of members of parliament and their names, and etiquette! Oh my god, I will have to teach you etiquette. I knew this would be hard but I hadn’t thought about just how hard it would be…”

Uzi rolled her eyes as Aunt Alice continued babbling and fretting that she only had a few months to turn Uzi into princess material. Aunt Alice had this weird habit of making her feel small but then seconds later, driving her nuts. When she got like this it was easier to just tune her out and hope she didn’t find anything to criticize or complain about. Unfortunately for her, that eye roll was just what her aunt needed.

“Are you not taking this seriously?” Alice snapped. Uzi jerked back.

“No, I am but-” “But nothing. You haven’t heard a word I just said. If this is so boring to you, why don’t we end this lesson early?” Alice said icily. Uzi froze, unsure what to say.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes. Very well. I want you back here tomorrow with a list of women you admire. You will wear the ballet flats I got you this summer and an appropriate lipstick color. Now be gone.” With that, Aunt Alice stood up and walked away, leaving behind a very stunned Uzi.

She sat there for a few seconds and then pulled out her phone to call her mom. Nori answered within seconds. “What the hell mom?” Uzi said sharply. “Out of all the people in the world, you choose her?”

Nori sighed on the other end. “She was the perfect choice, Zizi.” She said. Uzi scoffed.

“Oh, bite me. You and I both know that’s not true.” She said angrily.

“She was 7 years old when she got thrust into the spotlight as a princess. I know it’s an eight year age difference but she understands what you’re going through, at least somewhat.” Nori said carefully.

“I don’t care how old she was when she became a princess! She doesn’t like me mom, she gave me homework and she said I looked like a whore because I wore purple lipstick.” Uzi shouted. Why didn’t she ask more questions when she signed that fucking agreement? God, she was a fucking idiot. 

“Just please try and stick it out? For me? I’ll try to find some way to make it bearable.” Nori pleaded. 

“Fine.”

The Next Day At The Plaza

Uzi glared at her feet while she waited to be dinged up to Aunt Alice’s suite. Lars stood behind her, his expression blank. Good, she didn’t want to talk. On her lips was the most atrocious feeling lipstick in existence. The mauve lipstick Aunt Alice made her buy a year and half ago when she first started wearing makeup. It felt like it couldn’t choose between being a regular lipstick or a lip gloss. She had tried to pawn off to Lizzy but the other girl hated the texture too so it was useless. 

On her feet were the ballet flats that her aunt had requested she wear. They were fine but they weren’t something she actually liked. She only wore them once before, again by Alice’s request. Some party she thinks. 

She hadn’t wanted to put her Docs in her school bag when she went for princess lessons so she just decided to put on the ballet flats for the whole day. Thad and Lizzy had looked at her strangely when they saw that she was wearing them. And Thad asked her why she wasn’t wearing her Docs. She lied and said she wanted a change in style, which seemed to somewhat appease Thad. Uzi hated lying to them especially when they knew something was wrong. Lizzy obviously knew she had lied though, if her skeptical side eye was anything to go by. 

The worst part though, was that Uzi knew Aunt Alice was going to be pleased. She would ramble about how when Uzi took care of her appearance, had good fashion sense(even though she was wearing her school uniform), and did her makeup properly, she could be quite beautiful. When she said things like that, it felt like a slap to the face. To her mom, whose face she shared and who taught her how to do her makeup. To Lizzy who made her clothes and helped her find a style that made Uzi feel confident and cool. But mostly, to herself. It took years for Uzi to build up the confidence she had in how she presented herself only to feel like she was right back where she started. All done by the woman who played a major role in giving her those confidence issues making them worse with backhanded compliments. 

Uzi hated the control Alice had over her. Made her feel pathetic. 

The elevator doors dinged, signaling that Uzi had to leave the elevator. Dragging her feet with Lars following her, Uzi clenched her list of women she admired tighter. This was it, she was about to be in hell for the next half hour at least. 

When she got to the door she didn’t even have to knock, Aunt Alice just swung it open.

“Uzi Willa!” She said cheerfully.

“You look lovely dear! Come in, come in.” She added. Uzi resisted the urge to scowl. It was an act, one Aunt Alice did on the regular, to lure her into a false sense of security. Or Aunt Lila had arrived and Aunt Alice was happy about it. She was always in a better mood when Aunt Lila was around. 

Uzi sat down on the couch, the coffee table was filled with snacks. It was like Aunt Alice was almost daring her to take a snack just so she could make commentary on it. Uzi resisted the urge to grab something, she couldn’t let Aunt Alice win. 

“Did you do your homework?” Aunt Alice asked, sitting across from her. Wordlessly, Uzi handed her the list. Alice grinned wickedly. 

“Let’s read it aloud, shall we?” She said, before clearing her throat. 

“The Women I(Uzi Doorman) Find Most Inspiring And Why I Think This

By Uzi Doorman(I am not writing out my title, that’s not my name)

Gooseworx- The creator of The Amazing Digital Circus. She seems like a very laid back person and has a dark sense of humor which I can respect. Also has a tumblr where fans can ask questions and not many people have that so she gets brownie points for that. 

Alexis Vega- She’s a huge pop singer who got really big before I was born. I met her one time and she was so down to earth that I forgot I was talking to a celebrity. Granted I met her when she was hanging out at my best friends’ apartment cause her daughter is dating Cooper(Thad and Lizzy’s older brother) and she’s an old family friend of theirs, but still. She’s not afraid to speak her mind either, even when it might cost her job(i.e it’s become a meme that when someone makes commentary on her looks while she’s just being herself, she will flip them off). That might be because she has no media training though. Either way I want her confidence. 

Lizzy Nikolopulous- One of my best friends. I may only have two but that’s enough for me. Lizzy is a very talented fashion designer who is the only person I trust with my wardrobe. She knows what I like and is good at her job. Also she’s running a small business at 15, that’s killer. 

Meg Cabot- I don’t really read her books but she’s good. I prefer her sci-fi stories to her regular YA books and I’d wish she’d lay off the romance. She definitely understands what it’s like to be a teenager, that’s all I have to say.

Ruby Nikolopulous- This is Lizzy and Thad’s sister. She’s just a cool person and even though she annoys me sometimes(stupid thought experiments) she’s kinda like the other sister I never had. Plus she runs the school newspaper like it’s a professional newspaper, to the point that we’ve had some of our articles featured in magazines. That might have more to do with someone on the team being related to people who work for said magazines. But still, that’s pretty cool.

Aya Kyogoku- Most well known for her work on Animal Crossing, working as the supervisor, director, and producer for the game since 2008. Granted it’s always different what her job is per game. She also was the screenwriter for two Legend Of Zelda video games. She is currently the manager of Nintendo’s EPD Production No. 5. I admire her because Animal Crossing was one of the first games I ever played. Hell, I still play it, so I feel respect towards her due to that.

The Lady Who Runs The Comic Book Store By The Loft- This woman is a legend in my eyes. One time Lizzy, Thad, and I were hanging out in her store when a guy wolf whistled at me because I bent down to grab a manga while wearing a skirt(mind you I had leggings on). Well she was right by him, dusting off the figurines boxes, so she chased him out of the store with just a feather duster. Then she let me have a comic for free for my troubles! Truly a legend.”

As she read the list, Aunt Alice’s cheery expression deflated, slowly turning into a disappointed then disgusted look.

“Really Uzi Willa? Half of these women aren’t famous, let alone good role models.” She said with a scoff and tossed the list aside. 

“I put down Alexis Vega. I would think she’s someone to consider a good role model. And she’s famous.” Uzi argued. 

“Alexis Vega is a woman who shouldn’t have gotten famous. She has no poise.” Aunt Alice said, shaking her head. 

“Well I admire these women whether you like it or not.” Uzi said hotly. 

Aunt Alice’s lip curled. “Clearly. But animators, video game people, and teenage girls are not who the Princess of Copper-9 should be looking up to.” She said tersely. Uzi groaned, not caring if it pissed Alice off. 

“Maybe, but it’s who I look up to and you can’t change that.” Uzi snapped. 

Aunt Alice hummed and grabbed the list again. Making eye contact with Uzi, she tore the list up. Her heart seized. It was just a stupid list, but Uzi had been proud of it. Genuinely proud of it actually. To see it torn up, like who she cared about didn’t matter, it made her feel incredibly small. Which she knew her aunt wanted. God, how did she let this woman have so much power over her?

Clearly her aunt was pleased because she began to talk about cars for some reason. It wasn’t too surprising though, Alice had always been fond of cars. What this had to do with Princess lessons, Uzi didn’t know. She tuned her aunt out, mostly focusing on not crying. It must have looked like she was paying attention because Aunt Alice didn’t say anything about her. She kept her tuned out until Alice brought up the shopping trip. 

“Now, I know Beau told you about our shopping trip tomorrow. I want you wear something that can be taken off easily. Beau and I will pick up at 9:00 in the morning and you must be ready by then. We will get lunch at 1:30 so have a good breakfast. I expect to have you back to your father’s house by 7:30.” Aunt Alice instructed. Uzi froze. 7:30? But she promised Lizzy she’d be at the photo shoot by then.

“Sorry Aunt Alice. But you’re gonna have me back at the loft by 6:30 at the latest.” Uzi said.

“I have a photo shoot for my friend’s brand and I promised I’d be there.”

Alice scoffed. “What, are you the photographer?” She asked. 

“No, I’m the model.” Uzi said through clenched teeth. Aunt Alice looked offended. 

“Oh so it’s okay for your friend to put you in whatever she wants for her benefit but when I do it for your benefit, you act like it’s the worst thing on the planet.” She said, scowling. 

“That’s because Lizzy knows what I like. You don’t listen to me when you drag me out to go shopping with you. The clothes she makes for me are usually what you insult.” Uzi said bitterly. Because you have no taste. She added in her head. 

Alice only looked merely bemused. “So you consider the rags your friend makes for you more elegant than the high quality clothes I purchase for you with MY money better?” She said, clearly thinking that Uzi was joking.

Feeling confident, Uzi decided to be a pain in the ass the way her father raised her to be when it came to Aunt Alice. 

“Yes actually.”

Aunt Alice went silent, staring at her for a seconds before her gaze turned into a glare. 

“Get out.” She said, her voice low. 

“Seriously?” Uzi said, though she was suddenly on edge. When Aunt Alice got quiet like that, it was never good. 

“I said, get out. I will see you tomorrow Uzi Willa, and whenever you see your little friend will be on my terms. Now please leave my apartment before I have you forcibly removed.” Aunt Alice said, snapping her fingers. 

Uzi said nothing as she walked out and neither did Lars which was, again, nice. When she got to the limo and they started to drive, she felt tears fall down her face. Aunt Alice was either a horrible teacher or Uzi really wasn’t going to be a good princess. It was probably both, Copper-9 was going to hate her.

Outside the car window places from her childhood sped past her. Fancy stores she and her dad would walk past on the way to their favorite used bookstore. Graffiti symbols covering any spare walls. The street food vendors that she loved to go to to get a quick snack. Her favorite was always the pretzel man. Her dad used to take her after they went to the bat exhibit or when she had a bad day. The pretzel man(despite his real name being Ron, she would always think of him as the pretzel man) was an old friend of her dad’s and always had a kind word for her. He even had a special pretzel order just for her, a bag of mini pretzels. His cart was in her line of vision, if she just…

“Stop the car.” Uzi said suddenly. Lars did as he was told. She quickly hopped out and rushed over. The pretzel man had just finished up giving a teenager their pretzel when he saw her. 

“Uzi!” He said happily. 

“What can I do for you?”

Uzi smiled, it felt good to hear her regular name without Willa tacked on.

“Hi Ron, it’s been a long day.” She said, using that as her code for saying she needed a quick bag of her usual. Ron nodded in understanding. 

“Need the usual?” He asked, already prepping the bag. 

“I do, here let me get my wallet.” She said digging around in her backpack. 

“No, it’s okay Uzi. On the house, here.” He shoved the bag of still warm mini pretzels into her hands. Uzi grinned, her first real grin of the day. 

“Thanks Ron.” She said, grabbing a salty pretzel and popping it into her mouth. Ron just simply nodded at her and sent her back to the limo, though he did not know the limo was for her. Chewing on the pretzel, Uzi was reminded of warm school days with her friends, summer evenings with her mom, and simpler times with her dad. 

For a fleeting moment, Uzi was normal again.