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

pink ,” Suzy said, giggling.
    â€œIt makes a statement though,” Lily said. “We’re Girlz. We need a strong pink that says that.”
    Zooey gazed at her in admiration. “Wow,” she said.
    When they all stood back to gaze at the finished product, Lily was amazed at how, well, sophisticated it looked. If Shad Shifferdecker were to see it, he couldn’t say it was lame. Except, of course, that Shad had absolutely no taste whatsoever.
    They didn’t get to their real purpose—taking away all reasons for Shad to tease them—until two meetings later.
    They had to elect the other officers first. Reni was vice president, Suzy was secretary, and since there was no money to keep track of and so no reason for a treasurer, Zooey was given the title of “lookout.” It was her job to make sure no boys were spying on them at any time.
    Then they had to establish rules. Lily thought they were called “bylaws,” but since nobody was really sure, they called them rules. Suzy wrote them down carefully in a special notebook as they were decided.
    1. The Girls Only Group is totally secret. Nobody else gets to know about it unless everybody says yes.
    2. We meet every day after school except when somebody has a piano lesson or gymnastics or something.
    3. We can bring a snack but no big meals.
    4. Nobody’s allowed to say anything to hurt somebody else’s feelings because We get enough of that from boys.
    5. Everybody agrees never to let Shad Shifferdecker or any other boy see that he’s getting to us.
    Number two was for Suzy’s benefit. She was the only one who had any lessons right after school.
    Number three was because of Zooey. Nobody said so, of course, but she always seemed to be carrying the contents of a refrigerator around with her.
    Number five—the one about not letting any boy see that he was getting to them—was the hardest one to keep.
    They were all at their computers in the classroom the next day, where the space was too small and crowded to begin with, when Zooey accidentally ran into Shad trying to get between some chairs. Shad hurled himself into the next row and said, “Dude! I bounced off!”
    Zooey turned scarlet and balled up her fists and opened her mouth, and she probably would have hollered something if Reni and Lily hadn’t pushed her into a seat and whispered, “Remember the rule.”
    Then later, at lunch, Leo peered at Suzy’s lunch tray in the cafeteria and asked, “Your mommy still packs you animal crackers?”
    Suzy scrunched her shoulders up and hung her face down, almost into her sandwich bag, and Lily and Reni exchanged looks. Suzy was going to be a hard one to change.
    But even the two of them found it tough to keep their cool when Shad and his buddies turned their attention their way.
    â€œQuick, dude, get me some sunglasses!” Shad shouted when they were outside that afternoon. “Dude, Lily. Yer skin’s so white, I can’t see with the sun shining on it. Go inside—you’re blinding me!”
    Then he looked at Reni. “Hey,” he said, “how do you ever know if you’re sunburned? You look well-done all the time!”
    Lily and Reni had to hold each other back by then.
    Lily knew it was time to get to work at that day’s meeting.
    First, she taught them all how to stand and how to walk, which was hard inside the tiny playhouse. She also taught them how to come into a room and introduce themselves. Reni picked it all up right away. But Zooey couldn’t seem to keep her mouth from hanging open and saying, “Wow,” and Suzy couldn’t quite bring herself to look anybody in the eye. After three sessions, they weren’t showing a lot of improvement, but Lily moved on to hair and lip gloss so they wouldn’t lose interest.
    Suzy’s thick, straight dark hair didn’t want to do anything except fall silkily against her cheeks the way it