Book Delights

One

Five.

The afternoon sun felt nice on Lily's skin. All she wanted to do was lie on their front yard as she imagined eating ice cream with her father at Central Park. Sunny days like this make Lily look forward to rainy season; when children would be inside their house all day, and Lily wouldn't feel as jealous. These days aren't common in the ever-sunny town of Goldencane though, so Lily is left with her envying.

The stillness of the surroundings was disturbed by a pair of feet running across the asphalt.

"Hey look what I brought!" a girl with a nasally voice sang as she crossed the street separating their house from the Ashworths'

"What is it?" Lily asked curiously, looking at the lumpy bag Tamantha was carrying.

"Ten different colors of nail polish!" Tamantha bragged.

"Where d'ya get them?" Lily asked while examining a pretty red bottle with a butterfly on it.

"I got them from Martha's stuff." she said in a hushed voice, as though afraid that her sister will catch her sneaking out her precious collection of peel-able and water-based nail polish.

"What? you should of ask for permisien!" Lily reprimanded her instantly, like how her mother would if she did such a thing.

"I did!" Tamantha said in defense. "I'm just not sure if she heard me." she continued, mumbling the last part.

The two girls fell quiet and just when Lily thought if she should apologize, Tamantha carried on her usual babble.

"Anyways, Mommy always buys her all the good girly stuff and she always gets me this plastic make-up set,"

Lily was a bit irritated at how loud her friend was talking- her mother always told her to speak softly- but she did not dare tell her what she thought. Loud or not, it was better than having nobody to play with at all.

"which is trash because I never really get to put the pink stuff on my lips like Martha does every time she goes out with Owl-eyes Alex."

The girls both laughed hysterically at that, although Tamantha's laugh was much more rowdy. Owl-Eyes Alex was Tamantha's 13 year old sister's boyfriend with rather big eyes.

"That's because she's old." Lily said matter-of-factly while choosing a nail polish that matched her pink shirt. "You're way too young for make-up. Why would you even want to put those ick on your lips? Klara says they have cemcals." Lily doesn't know what cemcals are but she assumed it was something her mother won't allow her to have.

"Don't listen to her. She's such a wuss and clearly knows nothing about fa-shennn." Tamantha said, immitating Martha.

The girls lauged again and Tamantha snatched the bag of nail polish, handing Lily a glittery bright pink one.

"I will paint your nails and you could paint mine." she said while opening the bottle and grabbing one of Lily's hands rather carelessly.

She started to apply color to her hand. It looked terrible but Lily couldn't tell her; Tamantha might leave her alone and then she'll have no one to play with.

Unlike Tamantha, she had no siblings to play with. She also doesn't go to school yet so she's at home with her nanny all day when her parents are working.

Both of her parents were doctors; Lily's dad was an Ophthalmologist while her mother was a Gynecologist, both of which barely having time for their daughter. When they have free time though, they do their best to make her happy; like eating ice cream in central park. This happens rarely, though. Park ice creams are untrustworthy.