Read Online Here's Lily by Nancy Rue - Free Book Online

her head and continued to study her knees, and Zooey wrinkled up her forehead and looked stumped.
    â€œGirls Only Group,” said Reni. “Just like you said.”
    â€œThat’s a little boring,” Lily responded. “I mean, no offense.”
    Reni pulled in her chin that way she had and said, “Huh!”
    â€œOkay, I guess that’s good,” Lily said. “Only maybe we could spell girls with a z .”
    â€œZirls?” Zooey said. The furrows in her forehead got deeper.
    â€œNo. G-i-r-l-z,” Lily said patiently.
    â€œThat’ll look good on our T-shirts,” Reni said.
    Zooey’s eyes lit up. “We get T-shirts?”
    â€œWell, not right away—”
    â€œMaybe not ever,” Lily said. “This is a secret group.”
    â€œIsn’t secret bad?” Suzy said.
    â€œWe just don’t want Shad and them finding out about it,” Lily said. “They’d think it was lame and make fun of it.”
    Reni nodded. “I get it. But he’s gonna know something’s up. Look at him right now.”
    All their heads turned toward Shad, who was standing, ball poised on his hip, staring right at them and saying something to Leo and Daniel out of the side of his mouth.
    Suzy giggled her nervous giggle. “Maybe we should just split up before he comes over here.”
    â€œI think we should find another place to meet,” Reni said.
    â€œI guess so,” Lily said. “But we can’t hide around here. He’d turn it into his mission in life to find us.”
    â€œWow.” Zooey blinked at her. “You always talk so smart. How do you do that?”
    â€œSo who says we have to meet at school?” Reni said. “We could meet after school, like at Lily’s.”
    Lily shook her head. “Not with my brothers hanging around. They’re worse than Shad and Leo and Daniel all in one.”
    They gave a group shudder and were silent. Lily saw Shad and his two sidekicks moving closer.
    â€œWait . . . I got it!” Reni said. “Lily, you know that playhouse in my backyard where we used to play dolls and stuff?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œMy mom’s about to turn it into a gardening shed or something. But if I told her I still wanted to use it, we could have it for our clubhouse.”
    â€œCool!” Zooey almost shouted.
    It was a cool idea, especially with Shad and Leo and Daniel moving in for the kill.
    â€œOkay. Today after school. Reni’s backyard,” Lily whispered. “We’ll pick up there where we left off. Now, everybody—scatter!”
    Suzy was the first one to bolt. Reni grabbed Lily’s hand, and they scampered off toward the volleyball court. Zooey went right past Shad, but fortunately Shad seemed too disappointed to remember to hurl any insults at her. Lily glanced over her shoulder to see him standing, arms crossed over his chest, looking at her and Reni.
    â€œI think we have him going already,” Lily whispered. So the first official meeting of the Girlz Only Group took place that very afternoon in Reni’s old playhouse. They decided to set aside all other business until they could get rid of the dolls-having-a-tea-party décor. They spent that whole afternoon packing up the doll furniture and running to their own houses to bring back posters and cushions their moms didn’t want anymore and anything else un-little-girlish they could find.
    Suzy brought a bunch of long strings of beads, which they hung in the doorway to provide even more privacy than just the thin front door.
    Zooey donated an ancient CD player that only played CDs but didn’t fast-forward between tracks anymore. Lily thought that was okay—it still played their faves and was louder than her iPod so everybody could hear.
    Reni found a bright pink rug her mother had bought for their bathroom on sale and ended up hating but couldn’t return to the store.
    â€œIt sure is