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.

After getting dressed in her Girl Scout uniform for the Wednesday afternoon meeting, Lily Vanderbilt grabbed some green bows out of her collection. Looking in the mirror to change out the gold bows, she was greeted by the sight of braided pigtails jutting almost straight out from the sides of her head. Lily exclaimed, “Samantha Allison Berger!”

Since Sammie wasn't with Lily, there was no answer.

Lily stomped downstairs to where Mommie was reading a magazine. “Mommie, can you change my hairstyle?”

“Why? You seemed fine with it while you and Sammie were playing board games earlier.”

“It makes me look like a toddler.”

“So making you look like a six-year-old is perfectly ok, though?” Susan was trying to hide the smirk on her lips. She thought her daughter looked cute like this. She had no problem changing Lily’s hairstyle. This was more of a discussion to get what her daughter thought about looking and being treated younger. Susan was especially curious about the sudden change in her daughter’s opinion.

Lily blushed right up. “Um … um … I … I … don't want to look like a toddler … or a six-year-old … at Girl Scouts.”

“Well, sit on this ottoman, and I'll change the braids out. You know this discussion is not over.”

While sitting down, Lily asked, “What discussion?”

“Your feelings about being treated younger. Now, what don't you like about how your hair is?”

With a bright red face over the looming discussion, Lily answered, “Oh. … I don't like that it sticks out sideways.”

“Not that it's in pigtails?” Susan asked as she undid her daughter’s hairstyle.

“No, Mommie.”

“So if I put your hair in pigtails that didn't stick straight out, would you be fine with it?”

“Yes, Mommie.”

“You didn't have a problem with it when you went to Granny’s shop earlier.”

“Um … that … was different.”

“I seem to remember you only having a problem with your short dress.” Susan thought, ‘I also had a major problem with her leaving the house in that short dress.’ Continuing, “How was it different?”

“Um … my … friends … classmates … will be there at Girl Scouts.”

“So you didn't have a problem with how you looked and were treated at the zoo on Sunday?”

Bright red, Lily mumbled, “No, Mommie. Going to the zoo as a six-year-old was fun.”

“So if I dressed you in a pink dress with lots of ribbons and lace, put your hair in pigtails that stuck straight out, and checked you into the nursery at church, would you be okay with that?”

Lily tried to turn to glare at her Mommie, but was reminded of what Mommie was doing when she couldn't turn her head. “Absolutely not!”

“What about that upset you?”

“That outfit and hairstyle at church.”

“What if I dressed you like that and took you to Grandma’s house instead? Would you be fine with that?”

Very faintly, Lily answered, “Yes.”

“If you were dressed how you normally are at church, would you have a problem with being checked into the nursery?”

“No, Mommie. Besides, Aunty already did that once.”

“Were you upset with Samantha treating you like a baby today?”

“No, Mommie.”

“Would you be upset if Sammie only treated you like a baby?”

Pausing to think, Lily answered, “Yes … I would be upset.”

“Would you be upset if Sammie never treated you like a baby again?”

Lily paused for a long time, “Um … I … would … miss … it.”

Susan Vanderbilt tied the second pigtail before patting the girl on the back. “We had a good discussion, but I believe you need to head next door for Scouts.”

Lily paused at the mirror to make sure her ribbons were straight before grabbing her pink coat and heading next door.

After being let in by Lily’s uncle and listening to Lauren excitedly tell her all about her day, Lily and Sammie headed downstairs at the Kane house. The shorter girl crashed into her best friend when Sammie suddenly stopped and exclaimed, “Juliette!” ✣

Lily peeked around Sammie and, sure enough, Julie was standing next to Rachel in a Juniors Girl Scout uniform, meekly waving.

“What a surprise, my friend.” Lily expressed.

“It was Rachel’s idea. Not that I was against it.”

“Girls! We are going to get started,” Mrs. Kane announced. “Rachel has brought a friend. Her name is Julie.” After a brief pause, she continued, “We'll start like normal with the promise, then we’ll have our Christmas party. Next, we’re going to do a guess-the-scent game, and finally, we'll do the closure.”

“We’ve come to the present part of the Christmas Party. Did everyone bring a gift?” Hanna asked. “Put your presents in a pile, girls.”

When the girls had done that, Hanna held out a bowl. “There are 13 numbers in here. Everyone grab one.”

Once the numbers were grabbed. “In numerical order, grab a present. Don't unwrap it until everyone has a gift.”

Lily had drawn number six and picked a gift wrapped in Disney Princess paper when it was her turn. When she was told she could, she unwrapped the gift to discover a small stuffed dog.

When the game finally came around, Hanna led the 13 girls to the table covered by a blanket. “We'll start with Lily first since she is closest to me.” The scout leader reached under the blanket and grabbed something.

Lily verbally eeped when she was blindfolded. Her hands were stuffed into something before the now blind, touchless girl was guided over to someone else.

“Samantha, you are in charge of Lily.” … “Amanda, you are our next guesser to get ready, and Tina, she is yours to take care of.” … “Julie and Rachel, you are a pair.”

“Girls, we now have seven teams of two. One of them is blind and unable to use their sense of touch. I'm going to give the other team member a box of items, and I want the blind girl to guess what each item is using only her sense of smell. Make sure you write the item number down on your sheet. They are not in the same order.”

“What is this item, Bestie?” Samantha asked.

Lily sniffed the item, “Cinnamon?”

“This one?”

Lily smelled something she could have sworn was a Christmas tree. “Christmas tree?”

“In a stocking?”

“Fine, part of a Christmas tree.”

“What is this one?”

“I haven't a clue.”

Seven smells later, Sammie stopped bringing items to Lily’s nose.

About a minute later, Aunty Hanna announced, “Everyone appears to be done. You can remove the blindfolds from your team members.”

When Lily could see again, she realized she was wearing red mittens and that a box of Christmas stockings sat at her feet.

The girls were told to rotate their answer sheets between groups. Samantha handed theirs to Tina.

Hanna told the girls, “You should see a bunch of five- or six-digit numbers on the sheets in front of you. Ignore every number except the digit in the hundreds place.”

“Mrs. Kane, can we remove the mittens?” Jill asked.

“Oh! Sorry, yes. You seven can take your mittens off.”

“Zero in the hundreds place is vanilla.” … “One in the hundreds place is spruce.”

“Is Christmas tree okay?” Rachel asked.

“Yes, that is fine.”

Eight smells later, the answer sheets were returned, and Lily peeked at theirs to see they had gotten nine correct. Apparently, sage was the smell she hadn't been able to name.

“Smellers, raise your hand if you matched more than five smells.”

Four hands went into the air.

“Six smells?”

Four hands stayed in the air.

“Seven smells?”

Three hands remained in the air.

“Okay, we have our top three groups,” Aunty Hanna said, glancing between them.

After eight smells, only two hands remained raised.

Vicky’s hand dropped when nine was called, leaving only Lily’s in the air.

“We have our top nose, Lily Vanderbilt! Will that hand stay up for ten smells?”

Lily shook her head and dropped her hand.

The two best friends were each handed Christmas stockings. The other winning groups were also given stockings of their own. Lily immediately tried to peek into hers.

“Girls, it's time for the closure.”

Lily joined the circle between Juliette and Vicky. When Juliette squeezed her right hand, Lily squeezed Vicky’s.

“Thank you, girls. I'll see you next year in two weeks. Hopefully, we'll be having Julie’s investiture ceremony then, if she decides to come back.”

Lily grabbed her stocking and followed the horde of girls out of the house toward the line of cars. She was confused when she spotted Daddie’s SUV parked right behind Mrs. Berger’s minivan.
Looking into the SUV, she saw Mommie and Daddie sitting in the front seats. “Bestie, I have a feeling I’m leaving for New York right now. I want my Sammie hugs.”

After the two friends hugged, Lily got into the back seat of Daddie’s car, taking a bag off her black booster seat so she could sit down.

“Hello, sweetheart. Did you have fun today?”

“I did, Mommie.”

“Did everyone get Christmas stockings?”

“No, Daddie. Only the winners of the smell contest.”

“Who was the winner?”

“Some brat named Lily was able to match nine out of ten smells.”

“She really is a brat.”

“Mommie!”

“You said it. I merely agreed with you.”

Lily knew she wasn't going to win this argument. She emptied the stocking onto the seat next to her.

Laying on the seat were an orange, a candy cane-striped scrunchie, and a small pile of candy, including a candy cane and a gingerbread cookie

Lily took a bite of the cookie before putting everything else back into the stocking. Grabbing the bag that had been on her booster seat, she looked inside. Lily found a book, a couple of magazines aimed at her age, most of which she had already read, a coloring book, and a box of crayons. She grabbed a magazine to use as a desk along with the coloring book. Cracking it open to a picture of a family of teddy bears, Lily got out a brown crayon and did her best to color in a moving car.

From the front seat, Mommie said, “We'd better stop at the arches in Brockton for food. There is no child-safe food again until Bradford.”

Daddie made a sound of acknowledgment from the driver's seat.

‘Child safe?’ Lily tried to figure out what Mommie meant by that. Switching to a tan crayon, she asked, “What do you mean by child safe, Mommie?”

“There are plenty of bars, taverns, and wineries on the way to your grandparents' house. You are too young to go into any of them.”

“Oh.”

At the McDonald's in Brockton right off US 219, a red SUV pulled to a stop in the parking lot. Susan Vanderbilt got out of the passenger seat. After the rear passenger door was opened, Lily crawled out wearing her Girl Scout uniform underneath her pink coat.

The young girl frowned when it became immediately obvious that this McDonald's didn't have a play area.

At the counter inside the restaurant, Daddie started the order before allowing his wife to order. “I'll take a McDouble with a Diet Coke. She'll have a girl’s cheeseburger happy meal.”

“Are fries okay with the Happy Meal? And what would you like to drink with it?”

“Yes, and chocolate milk.”

At the table, Lily was handed her happy meal box. She pulled out her toy, her cheeseburger, fries, and her milk.

Once she was back in her booster seat, Lily returned to her coloring page.

Setting her pink crayon aside, Lily looked up to see a sign reading: ‘Welcome to New York.’ Remembering back to previous trips, Lily realized they were at most 20 minutes from Grandma and Grandpa's house. During the summer, she had still been hiding in the closet whenever they visited. That hidden girl wouldn't have been caught dead out in public wearing the Girl Scout uniform Lily had on now.

The SUV pulled to a stop in front of Uncle Mark’s cream-colored house.

“We’re not going to Grandma’s?”

✣ Please see the story ‘Joining the Scouts - Juliette 4’ for another viewpoint.