Surprise Offer 2: is a direct continuation of the story about Lily and her ‘brother’ Lance. Can she find acceptance and her place in the world as Lily instead of Lance? Emotions run high as Lily’s new best friend and ‘adoptive’ family members move things forward at lightning speed. Can she handle it all? How will a surprise just before Thanksgiving change everything? Lily and Sammie are back, ready to take on the world with pigtails and dancing, in a way only ten-year-old little girls can do.

Friday afternoon, soon after school, the two girls were murmuring in Sammie’s room. 

Lily mentioned, “I do think you scared Jimmy away with your leotard comment.”

“That is a shame.”

Sammie’s Mommie walked into the room, saying, “Girls, you have a friend here.”

Jimmy walked into the bedroom. “Sorry, Mommie made me do my chores before I could come.”

“That is fine. So, do you want that leotard?”

“O o only i i if w w we a a are d d doing b b ballet, S S Samantha.”

“Stop being tongue-tied around me. Admit it, you have a crush on me.”

“O o okay, I I I a a admit i i it.” Jimmy turned his eyes, so Sammie was out of his vision. “I can avoid looking at you. That will work.”

“How about you just try talking like usual?” Sammie kissed Jimmy on the cheek.

Blushing beet red and gritting his teeth, Jimmy said, “Y yeah, t that w will w work.”

Lily shook her head back and forth, “What are we doing besides discussing Jimmy’s love life?”

“Lily Ann!” Jimmy exclaimed.

“Hey, how do you know my middle name?”

“I have my sources.”

Sammie suggested, “We could play dress up with Jimmy.”

“Samantha Allison!”

Sammie asked, “You have your sources for that, too?”

“I do, Samantha.”

Lily smiled, “Hey, Sammie, he didn’t stutter that. Admitting his crush might have cured him. Why don’t we play a board game? We have done enough teasing to the embarrassed boy.”

“But it is so much fun, Lily,” Sammie declared as she led the group to the board game cupboard.

Jimmy excitedly said, “Oh, you have Mouse Trap. I’ve always wanted to try that game.”

“Mouse Trap it is,” Sammie grabbed the box. “After that, we get the honorary ballerina in a leotard.”

With a huge blush, “I I I a a am n n not s s sure I I I s s should be r r running or s s saying p p please do.”

Saturday, Lily smiled as she pulled up her white tights covering her bare bottom. She stepped into her red ballet costume. The arms were slipped into the sleeves after the candy-striped costume was pulled up. She stuffed her new red ballet shoes that Mrs. Berger had gotten her into her ballet bag. 

Walking into the family room, Lily said, “Mommie, can you fasten the back of my costume?”

“Sure, Princess. That costume looks good on my girl.” After she fastened the back of the costume, she sent the child upstairs to put on her sweatsuit. 

Lily soon returned with the pink sweatsuit on. It looked a bit weird, with a red-trimmed white tutu sticking out of the sweat suit. When she got downstairs, Mommie offered her the pink coat. She paused to put on her tennis shoes.

As the ballerina walked out the door to walk next door, she was surprised by her Mommie following her. She asked, “Are you coming, too?”

“The parents are welcome to watch the dress rehearsal.”

Shrugging, Lily just continued her walk next door. She let herself in and walked to where she saw Mrs. Berger standing. 

“Do you have your bun, Sweetie?” Mrs. Berger asked.

“Oh no! I left that in my room.”

“I will get it, Princess,” Mommie offered. She soon returned with the bun. 

Lily felt her hair pulled back, and a hair tie was twisted around the small ponytail it created.  The sound of another hair tie being twisted soon came. The ballerina questioned why two hair ties. 

Mrs. Berger, without comment, picked up Lily’s hand and placed it on a tiny bun in the girl's hair. The neighbor said, “Your hair is growing. However, not as fast as you would like it to.”

The bun was placed in the hair before a red ribbon was wrapped around the base. A sparkly red bow was pinned to the bun. 

While this was all going on, Sammie came downstairs wearing a red sweatsuit. The brown skirt of her ballet costume was still visible. She got the same bun treatment with a brown ribbon. A brown bow finished the hair treatment.

The two girls were directed to the minivan. Lily hoped she wasn’t messing up her tutu by sitting back in the car. Mommie and the booster seat wouldn’t let her sit on the edge of the back seat. The two girls just discussed various stuff during the short trip. Jimmy Bowen's odd behavior around Sammie came up in the discussion. 

At the studio, the girls were followed by their Mothers. Lily started to head to the room where her lessons happened. She was stopped by Mistress and directed to the other classroom. Once in the other classroom, she started to strip her sweatsuit before being stopped by Sammie.

“Here, take this beach towel. Lay it on the floor to protect your costume.” 

Sammie handed her a Minnie Mouse beach towel. After laying it on the ground, Lily stripped the sweatsuit before sitting down and putting on her new red ballet shoes. Rebecca walked up to her soon after she was done. 

“Where did you get these red ballet slippers?” Rebecca asked.

“Mrs. Berger gave them to me.”

“Let me check the elastic and ribbons. I want my favorite student to be safe.” After she checked everything, the instructor asked, “Did you do these ribbons, Lily?”

“No, I am assuming Mrs. Berger did them, Miss Rebecca. And ain't I your only student?”

“Which makes you my favorite student.”

Lily just shrugged.

After Miss Rebecca walked away, Lily practiced her recital piece. She didn’t notice that Sammie was copying her. And neither of them knew that Miss Rebecca was watching them.

“Do I want to know why you know that dance by heart, Samantha?” Miss Rebecca asked. “And why are you practicing it?”

Sammie explained that they were doing a mini show at Pratt Children’s Hospital this afternoon. “We turned Lily’s solo into a duet.”

“Are you doing just that dance?”

Lily answered, “No, I requested she create a dance to show off her skills.”

“Do you want another dancer?” Rebecca asked.

Lily smiled, “The more the merrier. Though you're not exactly dressed for it.” 

“What is wrong with my black leotard and pink leg warmers?”

Sammie said, “I am wearing my cream costume from the last recital. Lily is staying in her ballet costume. I am sure you have a selection of costumes that can match the theme you can pick from at home.”

Miss Anastasia clapped her hands, “Welcome, folks, to our dress rehearsal. We are going to start with Miss Rebecca’s student, Lily Vanderbilt, before we do our Saturday mornings Intermediate Class recital piece.” … “Lily, you are up.”

Lily walked to the left side of the room. She turned around and faced the parents. She had a moment of stage fright seeing the 15 to 20 parents. She recovered quickly and paused to wait for the music to start. When it began, she bourrée towards the center of the ‘stage’ before doing her dance. 

About midway through the dance, the ballerina remembered to smile. Once at stage left, she started to giggle from her nerves.

Miss Rebecca instructed her, “That was good, Lily. Please do that again with a smile on your face. You looked like someone was forcing you to take ballet at gunpoint. I am very much aware that the truth is the exact opposite of that.”

The ballerina walked across the ‘stage’ and waited for the music to start again. After about two to three minutes, she was bourrée to stage left.

Miss Rebecca praised her, “There is the true Lily. The one who went to ballet within an hour of getting out of the hospital.”

Miss Anastasia praised, “Lily, I am very proud of you. You did a dance, which should be well above your skill level at this stage of your lessons. Thank you, Lily.” She addressed the room, “Lily here has only been learning ballet for six weeks. In one of those weeks, her doctors prevented her from dancing. Two weeks were spent learning that dance. My students, you are up.”

Lily went to her beach towel and sat down on it. She used a corner to blot the sweat off her face. She figured it was probably more the nerves that made her sweaty, instead of the actual dance. She did, however, grab the water bottle out of her bag and drink most of it down. She felt someone hugging her. Looking behind her, she discovered it was her Mommie.

She turned to enjoy Sammie’s class’s dance. They were made to go through the dance once more than Lily was made to go through hers.

Miss Anastasia, “Girls, that was excellent. You all did great. Please repeat that next week. Now, if the girls, including Lily, please gather in the centre. Please face the parents, standing around me.” Lily got up and joined the other girls. After pausing to allow each girl to get there, the dance Mistress continued, “Révérence.”

All the girls did révérence together. After that was done, they were requested to gather around the Mistress.

Lily was handed a wrapped present from Miss Anastasia. The ballerina unwrapped it to discover a canvas bag with a ballerina on it. Underneath the ballerina was written Lily. She walked to Mommie and Mrs. Berger. Sammie and Miss Rebecca soon joined her.

Lily informed, “Mommie and Mrs. Berger, Miss Rebecca is joining us at Pratt. She needs to stop at home to pick up a ballet costume.”

“It would be nice to carpool with you to Pratt, too.”

Mrs. Berger said, “That is fine, Rebecca. Do you need us to follow you home?”

“Please.”

“Miss Rebecca, can I use your house to change costumes?” Sammie asked as she was getting her sweatsuit on.

“Sure.” 

The two Vanderbilts and two Bergers headed to the car. Mrs. Berger waited for Rebecca to get in front of them before following her to her house.

Once in front of Rebecca's house, Lily waited for Sammie to grab her cream colored costume from the truck. They followed the older teenager into her house. 

Rebecca turned to the lady standing up from her chair in the living room, “Mom, this is Lily and her best friend, Samantha. Lily is the girl I instruct. I am joining them at Pratt Children's Hospital. They are putting on a ballet show for the children.” She turned to the two Moms. “And this is Mrs. Vanderbilt and Mrs. Berger, their moms. Mrs. Vanderbilt and Mrs. Berger, my Mom.”

“That is good, Sweetie. Nice to meet you … ” The conversation got fainter as they walked away. 

Rebecca led the two younger girls towards the basement door. She went down into the finished room. While opening a closet door, she said, “You can change here, Samantha.” 

While the younger girl was changing, Rebecca was mumbling to herself. “Lily is already in red. Yes, this green one will do.” Rebecca grabbed her green outfit from last year's Christmas recital. She then headed for her room upstairs, “Samantha and Lily, I will be back.”

Lily had found herself a nice chair to sit on while all this was going on. Sammie soon joined her, dressed in her cream costume under her red sweat suit. The best friend was trying to mess around with the bow in her hair. 

“Give me that bow, Sammie, please.” Once the cream bow was in Lily’s hands, she did quick work swapping the bows. “Here is your brown bow.”

Rebecca soon walked downstairs in a light blue sweat suit with a green tutu sticking out of it. “Sorry, since my tights were in my room, I just changed there.” She looked in her bag and asked, “Pointe or no pointe. That is the question.”

“We obviously are not doing pointe, but it might be nice to show it off. On the other hand, we don't know what surfaces we are dancing on,” Lily answered. 

“I have both kinds of shoes.”

The three girls went back to where the three ladies were talking. 

“I guess that is our cue. It is time to go.”

They went to the car, pausing to throw bags into the trunk. Sammie got into the back seat of the minivan while the other two girls got into the middle seat. 

About five minutes into the drive, Rebecca noticed Lily sleeping. “Mrs. Vanderbilt, does Lily always fall asleep in the car?”

“No, but she always takes a nap after a certain ballet teacher is done torturing her.”

“Every Saturday after Ballet class, she takes a nap?” Rebecca inquired.

“Yup, wish I knew this trick when she was a preschooler, I would have put her in ballet so I could avoid the ‘no nap!’ temper tantrums.”

Mrs. Berger giggled, “I remember some of those temper tantrums. I think Lance and Samantha were competing to see who could throw the biggest one, so that they could get out of taking a nap.”

Sammie wanted to object, but she figured it would be better in this situation to keep her mouth shut. Fifteen minutes later, they were pulling up at the hospital. Rebecca woke Lily up and helped Lily with her bag as the three ballerinas and two Mommies walked up to the receptionist. 

Taking a deep breath to help her fully wake up, Lily smiled at the receptionist, “Hi, I am Lily Vanderbilt, and we are scheduled to put on a ballet show for the kids.”

“Yes, Mrs. Christiansen is expecting you.”

About five minutes later, a lady in a business dress walked up and said, “Hello, I am Mrs. Christiansen, the director of this hospital. I was only expecting two ten-year-olds. I am glad to see the other person. Which one of you is Lily?”

“I am Ma’am. This is my best friend, Sammie. And this is my ballet instructor, Rebecca.”

“I am happy to have you here. What I was planning on happening is that you three put on a group show for the ones who can leave their rooms. If you three still have more time, you can go room to room for the ones stuck in their rooms.” She was leading the three girls into the hospital.

“Sounds good to us. Where are we doing the show?”

They followed the director to the third floor and into a common room. The director said, “We can move the chairs to the edges. I will go round up an audience for you.” 

“Give us 20 minutes to get ready, please,” Rebecca asked.

“Fine with me,” the director replied. She turned to walk away.

The older girl instructed, “Before we change, let's clear a dancing location.”

The three girls worked quickly to push the couches in a semicircle. When they had almost completed the task, a few janitors walked in with some portable chairs.

“Thank you,” Lily said to the janitors as they set up some chairs and rearranged the couches. The ballerinas grabbed their beach towels out of their bags. They sat on them and removed their sweat suits. The ten-year-olds put on their ballet shoes. Meanwhile, the teenager put on her pointe shoes.

They were cleaning up when Nurse Kate entered, leading a parade of children.

Lily exclaimed, “Nurse Kate!”

“Lily! How is my favorite former patient?”

“Fine, but don’t let them hear that.”

“They are not former patients. I will be back. I need to help more of your audience get here.”

Ten minutes later, there was a nice selection of children in the audience. Lily went to the front and addressed the group. “Greetings, everyone. I am Lily. This is my best friend, Samantha. We are both ten years old. And the one in the green is my ballet instructor, Miss Rebecca. She is old. We are going to do a little ballet dancing for you.” She was winking while she was calling Rebecca old.

“You will pay for that old comment in two weeks, Lily. I am actually 17 years old.”

Lily said quietly, “Eep.”

After starting the music on a portable CD player, the three ballerinas did Lily’s recital piece. After the clapping had stopped, Rebecca addressed the audience, “That was Lily’s recital piece for a recital next week. We turned her solo into a trio. Let’s talk about Lily. She has only been taking ballet for six weeks. One of those weeks, she was here at Pratt, just like each of you. So, technically, she only has five weeks of ballet experience. Now Samantha is going to show you what seven years of ballet experience can do.”

Lily started a song on the CD player, sat back, and watched her best friend do the piece Sammie had set up for herself. When the ballerina’s clapping had stopped, Rebecca said loudly, “Thank you, Samantha. I am now going to try to show you what 14 years of ballet can do. Be easy on me. I had an hour of notice to mentally come up with this dance.”

After Miss Rebecca danced on her pointes, the audience's clapping was thunderous. Lily addressed, “Be easy on you, Miss Rebecca? I think the audience approves of your dance. That is all of the dances we have prepared for you. We will hang around a bit if any of you want to ask questions. 

A few of the kids wanted to touch the tutus. Rebecca got asked about her pointe shoes. One inquisitive girl asked Lily why she was in the hospital. Lily answered, “Let's just say I had women’s issues. I need more surgeries in the new year.”

Once all the children had left the room, Nurse Kate stayed behind. She said, “I am your guide to kids who would enjoy a private dance.”

The three ballerinas and the two Moms followed the nurse. They did Lily's recital in about 15 rooms. 

Lily was starting to look a little tired. Mrs. Vanderbilt told the nurse, “The girls are done dancing whether they want to or not. It has been a pleasure.”

Lily complained, “One or two more rooms, Mommie.”

“No, Lily, you are looking exhausted.”

“On behalf of Pratt Children’s Hospital, thank you for your time. And Lily, you stay healthy. I don’t want to see you back here as a patient.”

“But I am scheduled to return here a few times next year.”

“Oh, that is right. Ok, I don’t want to see you here for something you are not scheduled to return for.”

Lily hugged her nurse before walking to the elevator. After setting the beach towels on the ground, they put on their sweat suits. When that was done, they swapped shoes for street shoes.

Lily quickly fell asleep as they started the trip back. Thirty minutes later, after Rebecca was dropped off at her house, the car containing the four ladies pulled into the Berger driveway.

“Lily and Samantha, go put something nice on. Your two fathers are treating us to a nice restaurant.”