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

Lily’s horror, he pointed straight at her. “I’m doing my Lily Snobbins imitation!”
    â€œLily Snobbins !” Leo cried. “Yeah!”
    He high-fived Shad and Daniel snorted, and Lily felt her face blotches turn into one big mass of red. Behind her, she heard cackling. When she looked back, Ashley and Chelsea had their mouths buried in their sleeves. Their eyes were laughing meanly, right at her.
    Right then, it was impossible for Lily to keep her arms at her sides, her feet planted firmly hip-distance apart, and her eyes focused on a point in front of her. She didn’t feel poised or confident or any of those Kathleen things. She just felt like a giraffe.
    â€œIt doesn’t take all afternoon to get drinks of water,” Ms. Gooch called out from the double doors. “What’s the holdup?”
    â€œShad was—” Marcie started to say.
    But Ms. Gooch held up her hand and said, “Shad, back in line,” and then watched with one eyebrow up.
    Nothing more was said about the “Lily imitation.” But Lily couldn’t forget. Now there was no doubt about it: she had to get Shad Shifferdecker to that modeling show. And she only had six weeks to figure out how.

Six
    F or the next few weeks, most of Lily’s thoughts were tied up with the modeling class, not with Shad. She had so many things to learn.
    Kathleen spent one whole session on what was called “slating,” where they had to look into a video camera and introduce themselves.
    â€œLook at the camera, not at the operator,” Kathleen told them. “Speak with expression. You have thirty seconds to sell yourself to the casting director.”
    That night, whenever Lily wasn’t taking her turn with the camera, she was in front of a mirror, practicing.
    In another session, they worked on perfecting their runway walk. After Lily’s mom bought her the required slick-bottomed shoes, pivoting was easier, but she still practiced every day on the hardwood floors at home.
    â€œMom, she’s wearin’ a path,” Art would say, but Lily just kept pivoting.
    One of her favorite exercises in class was when Kathleen would give each person a question to answer while slating. If there was one thing Lily could do, it was find the right words—for any subject.
    â€œYou express yourself beautifully, Lily. That will be a great asset to you.” Kathleen smiled and rested a smooth, manicured hand on Lily’s arm. “But remember, you only have thirty seconds.” Lily had rattled on for a good ninety.
    Still, Kathleen was always giving Lily compliments.
    The night they practiced for their photo shoot, she told Lily that she was very photogenic. “The camera loves you” were her exact words.
    The night Cassie showed up in ripped jeans, Kathleen used Lily as an example of how she wanted them to look for class. “Lily looks professional in this dress,” she said to the group. “She’s putting her best foot forward. Your grubbies are great in their place, but going out for a modeling job is not that place.”
    Even the night they practiced walking out of a room without turning their backs to anyone in the room, Lily was Kathleen’s model.
    â€œYou’ve done this before,” she whispered to Lily with a tiny smile. Then she turned to the class and said, “Notice how Lily keeps her attention on the person at the desk, not on herself? When you’re not thinking so much about yourself, you tend to move more gracefully. It’s self-consciousness that makes us trip over things.” She then pretended to fall over a chair, and everyone laughed. Lily just glowed. The whole gum-on-the-skirt episode had been erased.
    The last fifteen minutes of every session, the parents were allowed to come in and watch them demonstrate what they’d learned that night. Lily liked that part. She always pretended that Shad was part of their tiny