Here's Lily (14 page)

Fourteen

I
t took a couple of seconds before Shad's eyes met Lily's, and even then it seemed to take a few more for him to register that he was looking at Lily. When he did, the expression on his face wasn't the one Lily had been dreaming about for weeks.

Oh, his mouth fell open, all right, and his beady little eyes blinked in disbelief. But the awestruck eyebrows were missing, and so was the oh-Lily-you're-so-gorgeous-I'll-never-pick-on-you-again look. He simply stared as if he were stunned. Lily knew if she waited much longer for anything else, Kathleen was going to get a cane and pull her offstage.

Making one more clean little pivot, Lily headed back up the runway, hit the stage, and turned for her final smile.

If they've ever been to a fashion show, they'll clap then
, Kathleen had told the class in rehearsal.

She hadn't told them that the audience would burst into hurricane-strength applause and holler and whistle and then stand up. But they did.

For a moment, Lily didn't know what to do. Her mind was still spinning from seeing Shad Shifferdecker gaping up at her, and she felt confusion chase the smile right off her lips.

And then her eye caught on two more familiar faces—Joe's and Art's. She caught them in the darkness, just in time to see Joe put his fingers to his lips and execute a whistle that shrilled right up over the rest of the noise. On the other side of Joe, Mom didn't reach over and pop him one. She was too busy clapping and whistling herself.

Lily couldn't have kept another smile off her face if she'd tried. She could almost feel the corners of her mouth meeting in the back of her head, which was just fine, as she plopped her hat back on, rewarded the audience with a wave, and pivoted so briskly her bag gave a merry swing. The audience was still hollering its appreciation when she got to the wings.

“What did I tell you?” Kathleen whispered, eyes sparkling even in the backstage dark.

“That I would be glad I did this,” Lily whispered back.

“And?”

“I am!”
And
, she thought suddenly,
I don't even care what Shad Shifferdecker thinks
.

By the time the show was over, Lily was having a hard time getting the smile
off
her face. All the girls were hugging her backstage, and only Cassie looked like she was a little bit jealous. Lily didn't spend any time wondering what Cassie's
mother
was going to have to say about it.

As soon as she walked out the backstage door, Lily was smothered in neck-hugging from all the Girlz and Mrs. Johnson and Mom. Art and Joe drew the line at hugging, but Art did say, “Hey, way to go,” and Joe said, “I didn't even have to use my spitballs.” They might as well have told her she was a candidate for Miss America.

The best part came when they bought a pizza and smuggled it into Dad's room at the hospital. Dad had a pretty much nonstop smile himself as Mom popped pepperoni into his mouth and told him all about the show.

“I have never been so proud of her,” Mom said. “She was poised and graceful and all that, but it was the
beauty
that came from someplace inside her that really got to me.”

“It came from God,” Lily said.

There was a momentary disturbance as Art clapped his hand over Joe's mouth, but Dad didn't seem to notice. His face grew soft as he looked at Lily.

“That certainly makes our decision easy, doesn't it?” he said to Mom.

“As far as I'm concerned, it does,” Mom said. “And it isn't just that either. Did you know Lily started a support group for girls who get teased at school?”

“Bowwows Anonymous?” The words were out, but Art immediately put up his hands in surrender. “I'm sorry. Lost my head. Won't happen again.”

But Lily waved him off and turned to Dad. “Do you mean I can sign on with the agency?”

“Absolutely. Your mom and I have seen a lot of God in what you're doing there. You can keep it up if you want to.”

“I can't believe it!” Lily said. She squeezed her eyes shut and let the thrill go through her. She could hear Joe and Art smothering their snickers, but that was really okay.

You can't get to me now
, she thought happily.
I'm going to be a professional model!

All the way home that night she envisioned herself posing in front of the cameras, wearing a smile and clothes from Old Navy. It was a perfect vision, like a reflection in a pool that didn't have a ripple, until Mom dropped a pebble right in the center of it.

She came into the tiny bedroom they were sharing at the Comfort Inn just as Lily was getting ready to slip under the covers and daydream some more until she fell asleep.

“How do you feel?” Mom asked.

“Sensational!”

“I meant your face.”

“Oh, I almost forgot all about it!”

“Well, let's not ‘forget' to change your bandages tomorrow morning before we go to church.” She plopped down onto the bed, then sank back against the pillows with a huge sigh. “You know, it'll probably be a while before Kathleen sends you out on any jobs. It's going to take time for these burns to heal up.”

“I can wait.” Lily found herself sitting up very tall in the bed. Reni had been right. She did feel like a girl in a book, very brave and heroic.

“That'll give you time to rearrange your schedule too.”

“What do you mean?” Lily asked.

That was when Mom dropped the pebble. “Your girls group,” she said. “You won't be able to meet with them
every day
if you're going out on jobs.”

“But that'll be just, um, once in a while,” Lily said.

Mom shook her head. “From what Kathleen told me—and granted, we only spoke briefly—but she said once you're completely well, she plans to keep you very busy. I didn't realize it, but she has contacts in New York, Chicago even. One woman who was at the show tonight from
Boston
asked Kathleen specifically about you.”

“No, she did not!”

“What is that expression anyway? Whatever happened to ‘Shut
up
'?”

Lily felt her stomach turning over. “So I'm going to be going out to auditions, like, all the time?”

“I told her not during school hours, and she agreed. But it does mean right
after
school in most cases. These folks like to get their work done during the business day. Luckily, Dad's schedule is such that once
he's
back in the driver's seat, he'll be able to drive you.”

Mom gave her dry little non-smile. “Right now, of course, you two are a real pair. I bet I've dealt with a mile of sterile gauze in the last two days . . .”

But Lily didn't hear the rest. Her mind was squealing to a stop and leaving long tire treads in her head.

I can't go to
all
the Girlz Only meetings?
she thought.
But what about Zooey and Suzy? They're just getting started on their God-confidence. And Reni
—
she's my best friend
—
I can't just dump her to go do whatever. And what about . . .

What about me?

Suddenly the thought of being in New York with a bunch of people who might not be as nice as Kathleen, who might be like—like Cassie's mother or something— suddenly that was the loneliest thing she could think of.

Have God-confidence
, she told herself sternly.

Lily looked over at her mother, who had drifted off to sleep in midsentence. Lily pulled the covers up over her and snapped out the light. Then she lay there in the darkness, trying to get the ripples out of her perfect vision. But God-confidence didn't make them disappear.

By Monday morning, it seemed like everybody from the school custodian to Ashley Adamson had heard some version of all the things that had happened to Lily since last Thursday.

“I heard you burned your whole house down and now you're gonna be on
Dateline
,” Marcie said before Lily could even get her backpack off.

“Somebody told me there was a fire during some fashion show you were in,” Leo said.

“Maybe we ought to have a lesson about rumors today,” Ms. Gooch said. “How's your father, Lily?”

“Was he in the fashion show too?” Daniel said.

One person who didn't add anything to the discussion was Shad Shifferdecker, and for almost the first time since Saturday, Lily focused her attention on him.

He was sitting in his usual spot, one row over from Lily, and he was slouched down in typical Shad fashion, one shoulder higher than the other, one foot hooked into the book rack under the desk. But, not at all like usual, he was paying absolutely no attention to the conversation going on around him. He was rolling a pencil up and down on the desktop, watching it as if it were hypnotizing him.

Huh
, Lily thought.
Maybe I
did
impress him after all.

No. Maybe
God
impressed him. Maybe my prayers are being answered, and he isn't going to tease me anymore now that he's seen me onstage
.

Just then Shad looked up, and his eyes hooked onto Lily's. They narrowed.

“What are you lookin' at, freak?” he asked. “Dude, it creeps me out when you stare at me like that!”

But the only thing Lily was thinking at that moment was that she wasn't gritting her teeth. Not even a little bit.

That was so encouraging that at first break she asked Reni and Suzy and Zooey to wait for her by the tree. Then she went right up to Shad at the water fountain and said, “So how come you came to my modeling show after all?”

He turned around, mouth still dripping, and wiped his lips on his shirtsleeve. “It wasn't
my
idea, I'll tell ya that.”

“You didn't go to the mall?” Lily said.

“I guess not if I was at your stupid thing. Duh!”

“But I thought you always went to the mall on Saturday.”

“So I didn't go last Saturday. Sue me!”

Lily shrugged. So far, nothing had changed with Shad Shifferdecker. He was just as obnoxious as ever.

“Are you done interrogatin' me?” he said.

Lily was about to say no, that she had a few more questions, when out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Reni and Zooey waving frantically to her.

“I have to go,” she told Shad.

“Like I care.”

Lily tossed her hair and took off at a brisk walk for the tree.

“Thanks for giving me an excuse to come over here,” she said to the Girlz. “He's just as hateful as he ever was—”

“We found out why Shad was at the show!” Zooey said. Her little round face was flushed pink, and she was squeezing the life out of Suzy's arm.

“You did? How?” Lily asked.

They both looked at Suzy, who gave the expected nervous giggle.

“Suzy's mama works at the high school,” Reni said.

“She's a secretary over there,” Zooey put in.

“She heard Mrs. Shifferdecker talking because Mrs.

Shifferdecker
teaches
at the high school.”

“And guess what?” Zooey asked. Lily was sure she was about to explode like a bobbing pink balloon.

“What?”

“Shad doesn't
ever
hang out at the mall on Saturday. His mother drags him wherever she goes! If she comes up to the school to work in her classroom, she makes him come with her so he won't get in any trouble!”

Zooey had to stop for breath, and Reni dove in. “Saturday she must have been working at the school and stuck him in the auditorium to watch whatever was going on to get him out of her hair.”

For a minute, all Lily could do was stare at them. She waited for the big bubble of triumphant laughter to fly out of her throat, or at least the string of “I knew Shad Shifferdecker was a liar!”

But all she found herself doing was looking at Suzy.

“Did you tell Reni and Zooey all that?” Lily asked her.

Suzy nodded.

“It was the most I ever heard her say all at one time,” Zooey put in.

“All at one time?” Reni raised her hands. “It's the most I ever heard her say
period
. The whole time I've known her.”

“Wow.” Lily
did
feel a bubble in her chest, but it felt good, like how being proud feels. She smiled. “You're getting confidence, Suzy.”

“I am?” Suzy smiled too. And then, of course, she giggled.

“But we have to get rid of the giggle at the end of every sentence,” Lily said. “We can work on that.”

“Can we have a meeting today?” Zooey asked. “I miss them.”

“We can have a meeting today,” Lily said. And to herself she said, “And maybe every day.” She still wasn't sure about this modeling thing. She was going to have to talk to God about it some more.

Just then the bell rang, and the Girlz linked arms to head for the building.

“Let's all try to walk the exact same way,” Lily started to say.

But she was interrupted by a scream that split through the schoolyard noise like a chain saw. All four of them had to stop short to keep from being plowed into by a tousle-headed figure holding the back of her head.

“That's Kresha!” Zooey said as the girl flew past.

“What happened?” Reni said.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Lily started to scan the schoolyard with her eyes and spotted three boys folded in half and clutching at their sides as if they were in pain, though their faces were all twisted with laughter.

“I mighta known it was Shad and them,” Reni exploded. “What have they done to their hair?”

The four girls looked curiously as Shad, Leo, and Daniel straightened up. Lily let out a disgusted puff of air. All three of them had their hair completely messed up and sticking out, the way Kresha's always was. Leo was holding a brush, and Daniel had a can of mousse.

“Those evil boys tried to trade hairdos with her.” Lily narrowed her eyes. “I'd bet a hundred dollars.”