A FEW MONTHS LATER
"Alright it's gonna be the 17th birthday of Lillian and Riley. We will be hosting a party in the house and you can invite whoever you want." Benjamin said wiping his mouth with a napkin.
It has become an habit for the family including Lillian to eat all their meals together.
It was a little weird for Lillian during the first few times then she turned indifferent to it.
Coincidently Lillian and Riley's birthday were celebrated on the same day. Though they found Riley a day after she was actually born.
"Yayy." Riley threw her hands in her air and cheered.
"We can make it a theme party. Everyone should come dressed as a.... as a?" She started and dragged the words in the end questioningly.
Riley looked at Lillian opposite to her and looked at her with a sparkle in her eyes with a wide smile.
"You can pick the theme." She exclaimed.
"No, you do it." Lillian muttered under her breath stabbing the peas in her plate with the fork she was holding.
"Yea Lillian should do it. I don't want to dress up as a Disney character again." Zach said looking disgusted as he recalled wearing Kristoff's costume with a blonde wig.
Issac cringed and shuddered recalling his costume too.
"Yes Lillian should do it." Issac supported his brother, making Riley clutch her chest and say 'Ouch', pretending to be hurt.
"Just the truth, honey."
Riley threw a grape at him and stuck her tongue out.
Steve chuckled at the drama going on in the table.
"Honestly even I think Lillian should choose the theme too." Steve said. Riley looked at him feeling betrayed that he would choose their side and not hers.
"Lillian never had a birthday party so she probably didn't get to choose a theme she wanted either. So it's only fair she gets to choose the theme." He explained.
"That's not true. Of course she had a birthday party." Riley said not believing her brother one bit.
"Her father is Vincent Black. He hosts the biggest birthday party for his son but not his daughter. Hell no one even knows he has a daughter."
Lillian stopped playing with the peas on her plate when she heard his words.
'No one even knows he has a daughter.'
No one?
No one....knows he has a daughter?
Something inside her broke hearing that.
Benjamin intently looked at her to see if he could catch even a glimpse of hurt in her eyes but all he could see was her look of indifference, the only expression she has been wearing ever since she started living with them.
He looked at her in pity thinking of what she had to go through to be that indifferent.
A look that was shared by everyone in the table.
Lillian shrugged her shoulders.
"I'm not interested." She forced herself to say it out loud before they decide that she had to come up with a theme.
"How about this, we have two themes this time. One by Lillian the other by Riley. Anyone that likes any of the theme can come dressed according to that." Stacey said clapping her hands first to get their attention.
Riley looked a little unsure of it but nodded her head when she looked over at Lillian, who just shrugged looking completely uninterested.
THAT NIGHT
"OK I'm inviting Susan Smith, Lisa, Leia and the whole school. What about you?" Riley said and asked barging into Lillian's room.
Lillian looked away from the computer, which was placed at the corner of the room, and at Riley.
"What are you doing?" Riley asked curiously looking at Lillian's computer screen which had a lot of zigzag lines.
What do they call it? Hmmm, yea statistics.
"Stock analysis." Lillian replied.
"I am so glad I didn't take math now." She said looking relieved.
Lillian scoffed looking back at the screen.
She has been working part time since she was 12 to buy stuffs since she didn't want to ask anyone for money. Though she had her father's card after her Laura woke up, she never once used it. God alone knows why she transferred the money to her account even though she knew she wouldn't use it.
Anyways she has been curious and interested in the stock market and investing since she was little. So after her mother woke up she tried her hands in investing and she was intrigued when she lost some money and soon gained some money.
So now she has been thinking of trying her hands on stock investment too.
She has a sizable amount in her bank since she started working and saving early, and with some successful investments too.
"No one." Lillian replied, answering Riley's question.
"What? No one?" Riley screeched out making Lillian perk up her ears.
Lillian did talk to one of Riley's friends during the first day of school, Susan her name was. Lillian tried not to be rude and talked to her whenever she asked a question.
Then Susan started getting too close, making Lillian uncomfortable. Hence Lillian tried to avoid her as much as possible.
And since Lillian was always a loner, it didn't bother her when she didn't make any friends at her new school.