Surprise Offer 2 - Chapter 4 of 45

	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.

Saturday evening, while at the Berger house, Lily got dressed in a white leotard. It had come from the room that Mrs. Berger had started calling her second daughter's bedroom. Really, it was the guest room, but the bed was covered with clothes that didn't fit Sammie. The closet was filled with hanging dresses. About half of the clothes fit the new girl. The rest were slowly disappearing. She assumed they were being sold. She was happy to see that the size five pink dress was still there. As a matter of fact, it had been moved closer to the size eight and size eight to ten items.

Sammie had set up her portable barre in the family room. With her as the instructor, Lily did her ballet moves again. The best friend told her impromptu student that practice makes perfect. The new student thought her best friend was a worse taskmaster than Miss Rebecca.

“En face right. First Position. Demi plié. Demi plié. Grand plié,” Sammie said.

Lily stopped dancing at the second demi plié and looked at her best friend, confused. She asked, “What is a grand plié?”

“It is a demi, but you go all the way down. When you have done it correctly, your thighs will be parallel to the floor,” Sammie explained. Unlike Lily, she hadn’t put a leotard on, so she couldn’t really demonstrate. “Should we continue?”

The ballerina nodded.

“First Position. Grand plié. Tendu devant,” Sammie instructed. The temporary teacher ran the girl through the same moves in the other positions. Then her best friend ran her through the moves in en face left. When they were done, they heard clapping. Lily was blushing when she turned to see Mr. and Mrs. Berger watching them.

Mrs. Berger said, “Very good, Lily. Your mom called. It is time to go home. Just put your clothes over that leotard.”

“I can keep it?” Lily asked.

Mrs. Berger explained, “All of the clothes in your bedroom are yours already.”

“Even ones that don’t fit me?” the blushing girl asked.

Mrs. Berger inquired, “Is there a reason you want clothes that don’t fit you?”

“The only one I want is a certain pink dress,” Lily meekly replied.

Smiling, Mrs. Berger said, “I know which one, and yes, I will not sell that one.”

Moments later, Lily got dressed in the clothes she wore to Sammie’s house and headed across the grass to her own house. When she walked in, Mommie was on the phone.

Mommie said, “Lance has a commitment on Wednesdays right after school, but we should be on the road by six p.m. on Wednesday, the 25th.” …

Lily’s heart sank at hearing that statement.

Susan continued, “Tom and I have Friday and, of course, Thanksgiving off, so we should be able to spend all weekend there, Mom,” …

Lily figured that Mommie was talking to her grandma, and she would be forced to wear the Lance costume all weekend. She really hoped that wasn’t the case.

“He just walked in the door. Here he is,” Mommie said, handing her daughter the phone.

Lily looked down at what she was wearing and then up at Mommie with sad eyes. Taking the phone, she said, “Hi, Grandma.”

“I didn’t do much for Halloween this year, Grandma,” Lily fibbed, crossing her fingers behind her back.

“I was just a simple ghost, Grandma,” she said, keeping her fingers crossed behind her back.

She continued, “I am not sure, Mom” … pause … ”even took pictures.” She was glad she stopped herself from saying Mommie. Truthfully, Mommie, Daddie, Granny, and Aunty took enough pictures to fill an album. She recently discovered that each of her ‘mannequin’ outfits was also captured on film. Sometimes, even multiple pictures of an outfit. There were pictures of her together and separate from Sammie. She didn’t remember having her photo ever being taken. Except for that one set of pictures in front of the redbud tree. …

She continued, “Where do I go on Wednesdays?” …

She smiled and said, “I have scouts every other week.” Grandma didn’t have to know that it was Girl Scouts. …

“I was at the neighbors'. My good friend lives there,” Lily explained. …

“I will see you on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Grandma. Love you, ” she continued. …

Lily took a deep breath. “Here is Mom again.”

As Lily ran upstairs to get into her nightie, she wasn’t sure what she was feeling. All she knew was that she wasn’t happy. Once in the nightie, she went back down to the family room. Mommie, along with Daddie, was back in there watching TV.

The girl asked, “Do I really have to be my brother all Thanksgiving weekend?”

“No, but we have just under two weeks to figure out what we will do, Princess. Right now, with them over two hours away, it is simpler to keep them in the dark,” Daddie told his new daughter.

Lily was lost in a sea of emotions, but one thought kept coming to the surface: ‘You’re not telling them because they are not going to like me anymore once they know about Lily - no one will. I’m just a freak boy who wants to be a girl. Who can love someone like that?’

Mommie saw the expression on Lily’s face, but was unsure what she was thinking. She got Lily to come over and snuggle up with her, “Don’t worry, Princess. I know my twin sister better than anyone else in the whole world, and she will love you no matter what. My parents are the same. All the family will love you, even if you decide to stay Lily permanently. You be you, and everyone will love who that is.”

The two just cuddled silently on the couch, watching the TV for several minutes.

Lily wasn’t sure any of that could be believed, so she changed the topic, “And once or if they eventually know about Lily, you are going to prove me a liar.”

Mommie looked at Lily in confusion, “Meee? I don’t know what you mean, Princess.”

“I just told Grandma I didn’t do anything for Halloween,” the girl pointed out.

Smirking, Mommie said, “I might show them a Halloween costume or six Halloween costumes. I might also show you in your ballet leotard and your Girl Scout uniform.”

Lily groaned, “Me and my big mouth.”

Mommie hugged her daughter, “It is bedtime for you, Princess. Let me remove the bobby pins.”

Once the wig was detached, the new girl went upstairs to get into bed. She set her wig on the nice wig stand Mommie had recently purchased. Hugging her teddy bear, Creamy, she was soon fast asleep.

The Vanderbilt family walked into Ms. Gilbert’s house after church, like what had become the new norm. Once again, Lily was in her Lance costume and hoping to change her clothes. A tiny voice with a toddler lisp came from the seating area, “Lily!” The hidden girl just bounced Lauren on her lap for a few minutes.

Looking at the time, Granny said, “Excellent, Lily, two outfits are sitting on the bed in your bedroom. You can choose either one, but I recommend the costume. You will have to wear the costume later anyway for your face painting job.”

While handing the toddler back to her mother, the hidden girl asked, “My bedroom? Since when did I have a bedroom here?”

“The same bedroom you found the dress in last week. That bedroom is yours. You may not ever use it, but it is there for you. I made some changes since last week,” Granny said.

Nodding, the hidden girl went upstairs and opened the door to her new bedroom. The changes that Granny was talking about were mostly a change of sheets. Instead of neutral unisex sheets, nope, these were definitely girls. They were white-based ballet-themed sheets perfect for a ballerina in training. The sheets had the word ballerina all over them, with tiny pink ballerinas. The comforter was basically the image of a ballerina. Nothing else appeared to have changed in the room. Sitting at the foot of the bed was a black plaid skirt with an off white blouse next to it. Once again, white tights were lying nearby, but they were not new this time. Well, Lily didn’t think they were new since they were not in a package.

Sitting at the head of the bed was the costume. Lily picked up the light blue vertically striped dress with its vastly raised waist. It really didn’t have a waist. The skirt started just under the pink collar. She stripped down to her panties and put her arms into the pink polka-dotted short sleeves before allowing the rest of the dress to drop down. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror attached behind the door. Nearby, she found a package of pink striped tights in her size, near where the dress was. White bloomers with pink polka dots were the next thing she put on after the tights. Once they were on her legs, she slipped her feet into a brand new pair of white mary jane shoes. The crowning achievement was a pink yarn wig with pigtails and light blue bows.

After looking at herself in the door mirror, Lily grabbed her Minnie slippers and went slowly downstairs. At the bottom, she asked, “Can someone please zip my back up?”

Mommie said as she came over, “My rag doll is beautiful.”

She took the slippers before turning Lily around to get a good look at her. Grabbing a nearby thing of bobby pins, the wig was attached to her natural hair.

Granny asked, “Dinner will be ready in 15 minutes. Should we do her face before or after dinner, Hanna?”

Aunty pointed out, “If we do it after, we don't have to worry about it getting messed up.”

The new rag doll sat down at the table to wait patiently for dinner. She jumped when a napkin was put into her neckline to protect the costume. This wasn’t the first time that either Aunty or Granny put a napkin there. It happened about every time she was wearing a costume or a nice dress and eating. It still surprised her each time, regardless.

Lily was glad for that napkin when she saw that dinner was lasagna with a slice of garlic bread today. Again, the girl just silently listened to the discussion that materialized around the table. She found out she was doing more than face painting today. Oh, she was doing the face painting, but she was also playing with the girls. They had paid for at least 90 minutes with Raggedy Lala. That is the name Granny had given her clown-like rag doll character. Seems that Grandma had given her all of her names. The price for the gig came up, and you had to pick the rag doll's jaw off the floor. Base pay was two hundred for an hour, meaning that 90 minutes base was three hundred. There was then the Sunday surcharge and the not-at-Gilbert’s surcharge of 25 percent of the base for each. The fifth grader slowly did the math in her head. She was sure her math had to be wrong because her math said that it was 450. Mommie had assured her that her math was correct. She just blushed in response. She then remembered that her ‘Boss,’ in this instance, said she only kept 85 percent of that. The missing percentage went to pay for the face paint and other supplies.

Eventually, Lily got up the courage to ask, “How much of that am I keeping?”

Uncle Eric quickly did some math on his napkin before saying, “$382.50.”

Again, Lily had to pick up the rag doll's jaw from the floor before she could say, “I see.” The little girl had never seen that much money, let alone for 90 minutes of work.

Lily was glad when the subject turned into Thanksgiving plans and a standing invitation to come over for dinner that Thursday. Any subject was better than a subject that centered around the fifth grader. Subjects about her just made her blush even more than how much she was already blushing. She had quickly figured out she didn’t have an ounce of control over her blush switch.

When dinner was over, Aunty cleaned Lily's skin before painting the rag doll look on her face. Looking in the mirror, the little girl saw she had a pink triangle nose, pink cheeks, small pink lips, and fake lashes underneath her eyes. After a bunch of pictures, Granny looked at the time and told the little girl she had 30 minutes until they had to leave. She was told to get back into her Minnie Mouse slippers.

Thirty minutes later, the rag doll was back in the white mary janes and going with Granny to her SUV. The rag doll was getting stage fright as they traveled. True, there was no stage, but still, this was her first gig.

Author's Notes:Comments and questions are always welcomed -- Thanks Becky

This story is complete, though we’re still wrapping up the proofreading process. I plan to post a chapter every Wednesday.

Four of the six short stories featuring side characters are already finished and will be released as we reach their places in the timeline. I’m currently writing the fifth side story while continuing to proofread this one.

In addition, I have plans for a sixth side story, a final chapter for KA, and a Katie Ann Universe Christmas story. Hopefully, that last one will be ready by Christmas—though, knowing me, I might miss that deadline.

As for Surprise Offer Book 3, the research is done, but I’m planning to take at least one story break from the series before starting it.