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.

Sunday morning, Lily walked into the church wearing her black and white plaid dress, followed by her parents. She said hello to Granny before walking over to join the rest of the girls her age.

Diana greeted the new girl, “Lily, stand in front of me.”

Shrugging, Lily stood in front of her.

“The other way. Face away from me.”

Turning around, Lily felt Diana playing with her hair. “What are you doing, Di?”

“A surprise, nothing bad, Lil.”

It felt like her hair had been separated into two parts. Kelly was looking at the two girls with a massive smile on her face. The short girl felt her hair being moved on one side of her head before hearing what sounded like a hair tie being fastened. The same feeling and sounds happened on the other side.

After a pause, when she heard or felt nothing, “Can I see what you did, Di?”

“Nope, not yet. I am not done.”

Next thing, Lily knew the sides of her neck and ears felt something brush against them. Then it went dark. Di or Kel was covering her eyes and escorting her somewhere. When she got her sight again, she was standing in front of a mirror.

Her hair had been pulled back, and she saw white ribbon bows on both sides of her head. Turning her head sideways to the left, she saw she had a pigtail braid with the aforementioned bow. Turning the head the other way confirmed that it had a match.

Lily turned around so quickly that she almost knocked out Diana. The shortest one gave the taller one a huge hug. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Diana.”

“I guess you approve.”

“My friend, you may play with my hair at any time.”

“Tha … “

“Kelly and Lily head to your families. Diana, it is time to go to the sanctuary,” Diana's Mommie said.

Lily said goodbye to her new friends before heading to where Aunty Hanna was standing.

“Nice bows, I don't remember them being there when I saw you enter.”

“Diana did the pigtails and the bows.”

“It looks cute. Do you like them?”

“YES!”

“Lily Ann, we are in church, keep your voice down.”

Lily jumped as her bum was slapped hard. About a minute later, she was still rubbing her bottom as she slid into the pew. Her Mother or Grandma didn't miss her rubbing.

Grandma lowered her volume to that of a whisper, “Did you get spanked?”

Responding at the same volume, “Yes, Granny.”

“What for, young lady?”

After looking at Aunty on her right, the preteen whispered to her left, “I was a bit too loud with voicing my approval of my new hairstyle.”

“New hairstyle?” The older lady hadn't examined the hair before. She smiled when she saw what her granddaughter was talking about. “It suits you. Obviously, you didn’t do that. Kelly? Diana?”

“Diana.”

“Did …”

The organist stopped playing, and Pastor Paterson was up front greeting the church congregation. Granny, however, wasn’t really paying attention because she was directing Mommie's eyes to Lily’s hair.

After the church had released, Mommie said, “Your hair looks nice, Princess.”

“Thank you, Diana did it.”

“Did you thank her?”

“Multiple times, Mommie.”

“I am assuming your Aunty spanked you, right, sweetie?”

“Yes. I got spanked for saying I loved my hairstyle too loud for church.”

“We will discuss this later at Grandma’s house.”

With a frown on her face, Lily answered, “Yes, Mother.”

Trying to change the subject, she asked Aunty who was nearby, “Can I get Lauren?”

“Yes, you may.”

When Lily got to the nursery, she realized that no one had followed her.

“Hello, Lily.” The lady inside the nursery said.

Lily tried to remember who this was and realized it was Stacy’s mother.

“Hello, Mrs. Kester.”

“Are you here to get Lauren or join her in the playroom?”

“The first one today. That second one does sound appealing, though, I might take you up on that option another week.”

Robin Kester turned around, “Lauren, your cousin is here for you.”

Lauren dropped the toy she was holding and started towards Lily.

Lily instructed, “Lauren, please pick that up and put it away.”

The young toddler followed the instructions and put the pull-along puppy dog away. She then came back to the preteen and grabbed Lily’s offered finger. The two of them went back to Aunty.

Lily looked around for her parents and Granny. Seeing neither, she just shrugged. She helped her cousin into her coat and then put her own coat on too. She then followed her Aunty to the car.

When Aunty tried to put her daughter into her car seat, the toddler said, “No! Lily do!”

Shrugging again, the preteen did the task. As she was getting into the other side of the car, Aunty said to Uncle, as they got into the front seats, “I believe I have been replaced.”

Lily just blushed in the back seat.

At Granny’s house, Lauren was covering the latch with her hands as Aunty tried to release her daughter.

“NO! LILY DO!”

“Lauren, no screaming. Lily, please come here and release your cousin.”

As Lily was helping the toddler out of the car, she continued, “I see we have two naughty girls today.”

Lily just decided to keep her mouth closed so she didn't get into more trouble. The toddler apparently either didn't hear or wasn't aware that that statement applied to her.

As they walked into the house, the extended family saw a chair set into a corner. Aunty responded, “Oh, you knew I needed a punishment chair.”

“Was Lily naughty again?” Mommie asked.

“Nope, Lauren this time.”

“What did she do?” Granny inquired.

“Screaming her head off for Lily to release her from her car seat instead of me. Apparently, Lily has replaced me as my daughter's favorite person.”

Granny responded, “We can gladly find another chair and corner for Lauren.”

Lily paused a second, computing that statement. Shocked, she questioned, “What did I do? I already got spanked at church for raising my voice.”

“Your punishment isn't over,” Mommie said.

“This double jeeper … gerpardy … jeopardy!”

“Unfortunately for you, the Bill of Rights doesn't apply here. Sit on that chair after you remove your shoes and coat.”

Lily debated about dragging out the coat and shoe removal. She decided dragging it out would just slow but not prevent the eventual. She walked towards the chair but didn't get far.

“Princess, put these on to protect the bottom of your tights,” Granny said, handing the girl her Minnie Mouse slippers.

Lily sat her bum down on the chair. She listened to Aunty telling her cousin why she was being punished. Then the sound of a chair scraping against the floor.

“Lauren Alison Kane, face the corner,” rang out in a voice that sounded like Aunty's.

“Lauren, leave Lily alone in the corner. Go back to your toys.” Mommie said behind the preteen. A timer soon went off. “Lily, that has been ten minutes. Come here for a hug, then you may go and entertain yourself.”

After the hug, Lily asked, “How long until dinner?”

“Ten minutes, Princess.”

“After dinner, can I use the TV to watch a Christmas DVD with Lauren?”

“The men are watching sports, but you can use the one in my bedroom.”

After the ham dinner was done, Lily went to the DVD rack. She looked at the options available to her. She looked at Mickey’s Christmas Carol and decided she had seen Christmas Carol enough. Underneath it were two Miracle on 34th Street DVDs. She took both of them to Grandma. “Granny, what is the difference between these?”

“This one is the 1947 version, so it is black and white. However, this one is from 1994 and in color.”

“Black and white?”

“Yeah, most TV and Films didn't have colors when I was Lauren's age. By the time I was your age, most stuff was in color.”

“But Lauren is nine years younger than me.”

“Yep, the change to color happened quickly.”

Lily took both DVDs and returned them both to the rack. She continued searching and clicked her fingers before grabbing ‘Frosty the Snowman.’

She grabbed her cousin and went upstairs to Granny’s bedroom. After helping Lauren onto the bed, she fumbled with the TV and DVD player.

“Granny, I figured out how to turn on both the TV and the player. How do I get the video on the TV?” Lily said down the stairs.

After Granny played with the remote and started the movie, Lily cuddled with her cousin on the bed, watching the show.

“Lily … and Lauren, please cleanup after yourselves. Come downstairs, please.” Came filtering up the stairs right when the credits started. Lily tried to figure out how they knew it was done.

Shrugging, she took the DVD out of the player. After helping the toddler off the bed, she offered her hand. Slowly, the two girls headed downstairs. At the bottom of the steps, Lily released her cousin's hand and went to the DVD rack to return the film.

Lily went to follow her parents to the car after hugging Granny, Aunty, and Uncle. Back home, she asked, “Can I go next door, Mommie?”

“After you change out of your dress, Princess.”

Once in jeans and a pink sweatshirt with Hello Kitty on it, she went next door. Walking in, she noticed the Salon door was open. Looking in, she discovered Mrs. Berger tinkering around.

“You have clients on Sunday, Mrs. Berger?”

After jumping and holding her heart, “Not usually, just putting my shopping away. I usually don't get paid for the few people I cut on Sundays.”

“Not get paid?”

“My children and my husband are delinquent in paying their bills.”

“Children? You only have Sammie.”

“No, I have two ten-year-old daughters. The other one is named Lily.”

Lily just blushed.

“I suppose you want to see Sammie? She is upstairs with Jimmy.”

“Thank you, ma'am.”

Ring went the cell phone.

“Hello,” Mrs. Berger said as Lily walked away.

She went upstairs to discover Sammie in a blue leotard. Jimmy, however, was in a pink leotard with tights. They were sitting on the bean bags Sammie had in her room, just talking. Jimmy quickly dropped what he had been reading.

After looking at Jimmy’s pink ballet shoes, Lily inquired if they had been doing ballet.

“Yes, Bestie. I just taught my new student how to do a révérence.”

Lily picked up the American Girl catalog Jimmy had dropped and handed it back to him, “How did SHE do, Sammie?”

“They are a bit stiff, but they had fun and are willing to learn.”

“Did you force her to wear the leotard, tights, and shoes?”

“Not really, she gladly accepted them. She did need help with the tights and shoes.”

Looking at the folded clothes which screamed Jimmy on the bed, “I see there is no rush to change.”

“Nope, Mommie came up with drinks. We just sat down, and there was no rush. J has been too distracted with my catalog and magazines to change.”

That statement caused Jimmy to blush up.

“I am not dressed for ballet. How about we relocate to the game console?”

“Let me change first,” Jimmy said.

"Why?" Sammie abruptly questioned before continuing in a softer tone. "You look nice in that pink leotard. It goes well with the red in your hair. I'm not changing out of my leotard, so you don't need to."

“You don't have to, J. Besides, your crush apparently likes you in that.”

“Lily!” Jimmy exclaimed.

“Lily Ann Vanderbilt!” came from Sammie.

Knowing he was outvoted, Jimmy just followed the girls downstairs.

As they got to the bottom, Mrs. Berger told them, “There you girls are.” Looking at Jimmy in the pink practice leotard, “Are you ok with what you are wearing, Jimmy?”

“I am fine with this outfit, right now, Ma'am.”

“We are calling her J right now, Mommie.”

“That's ok, J?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Lily, your Mom called to tell me that you need your bangs trimmed. When was the last time you had a haircut, J?”

“Three or four months ago, Ma'am.”

Sammie's mother walked away. The three shrugged and headed to the console to see what to play.

“We can play Mario Kart on the Wii. That will take three players,” Sammie said.

“Girls, can you come to the Salon please?”

“Yes, Mommie.”

After they walked into the Salon, “J, you’re first. Do you want the pink or blue cape?”

“Umm, I have no money, Mrs. Berger.”

“Don’t worry. I will take the cost out of Sammie’s allowance,” Mrs. Berger said while winking to her daughter.

“Same cost as Lily, Mommie?”

“Yes, Samantha.”