*Lily's Perspective*<br>
*December 1st, 2000*<br><br>

"Excuse me Miss," a grey-haired woman asked me, as I looked up from the Danielle Steel novel I was reading. "Do you have the novel You Belong To Me by Mary Higgins Clark?"<br>
"Yes we do," I smiled at her, admiring her fur coat. "Over in the suspense and mystery section." I pointed across Lily's Books and Things, towards my favourite section of the store. The woman offered me an appreciative smile, and wondered off to explore my small store. I shut the romance novel I was reading, and shoved it aside. I saw the small boxes that UPS had dropped off that morning, and decided to price them and put them out. First though, I saw my mail man named George, walk into my store.<br>     
"Good morning Miss.Lily," he told me in a strong English accent. "You have a letter from your brother."<br>
"Which one?" I smiled a greeting at him.<br>
"The lovely Andrew," George replied, handing me three bills, and one letter.<br>
"Oh Drew," I nodded, as an image of my handsome twin brother flashed before my eyes. "I wonder what he's up to. I haven't spoken to him in days."<br>
"He's probably doing well," George assured me. "They are drafting the rookie football players today, and I know Mr.Whitehorn will be among the top choices."<br>
"I agree," I nodded smiling. "I just hope he's closer to the Big Apple. I never see him anymore."<br>
"I know your parents wish the same thing," George replied, as he waved goodbye, and stepped into the snowing falling among fifth avenue's busy sidewalk. The older woman came over, and paid for about three books. She soon left my shop, and I was once more left alone to price the books. I decided to read Drew's letter first. I wondered wht my twin brother had been up to. Ever since he had started College three years before, I missed him terribly. <br><br>



<i>Dear Lily,
              Hey Sis! How's the shop going? I hope everything is well. Don't worry about mom. She's just a little upset you don't want to attend College, but I think you have to pursue your own dreams. I know you've always wanted to be a writer and having this shop is the perfect oppurtunity for you to fullfil your goal. How's Emma doing? I saw Chloe on TV the other night. My bozo frat buddies and I watched her dance her heart out on the CBS special. I swear Chloe's got something for AJ from BSB. She is always flirting with him. Anyway, have you heard from Christian? I haven't. Well, I gotta go Sis. I miss ya and I love ya! Tell mom and dad I say hello, and I hope I'll be home for Christmas. Who knows with this football draft. Send my love to Emma. Bye. Love, Drew</i><br><br>



                        I felt an instant chill of sadness wave over me, as I thought about my brothers and sisters. It was unbelievable that I hadn't seen most of my family in over a year. You see, I come from a very wealthy family. My father is none other than Gerard Philip Whitehorn, the II, and he's the president of Jive Records. He's 50, demanding to his kids, but he loves us all the same. He has allowed us to explore what we want in life, and made our own destiny. My mother, April who is 49, is the oppossite. She is an kindergarten teacher, right in downtown NYC, and has this thing about education. She wants all her children attending College, getting a great degree, and getting a high paying job. This is not my life ambition, as you probably have already figured out.<br>

                      My parents live in a luxury condo, right near Central Park. It's on the top floor of a massively extravagant apartment buliding. It has six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a rec room filled with lots of expensive theater equipment, a state of the art kitchen, and a dining room where my parents have dozens of parties for many celebrities we know. My father is such a brilliant man. He was raised in Queen's on welfare, and his vast appreciation of music, led him to pick up a music and business degree from Buff State. He started working as a radio deejay on Y100, and it turned into the biggest radio station in all of the Big Apple. He met my mother while at school, they got married, and my dad made friends. Many of these friends turned out to be massive monguls in all of music industry. He's friends with almost every owner and presient of every record label nationally and internationally. Now, he's probably the most respected member of the music industry, and every aspiring musician wants to know my father. Who could blame them? He's the man who can turn any apsiring musician into a star, and that's what he did with Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, R.Kelly, and many other musicians.<br>

                    My parents condo is always crawling with celebrities. The funny thing though is that only my younger sister Chloe entered the business. She's a back-up dancer for most of the acts on Jive Records. None of my sisters and brothers ever had any interest in singing. When I was in high school, people were always saying how wonderful it must be to know so many famous people. I don't find it a big deal, and neither does my siblings. We think of them as normal people, which they are. They are just lucky people who have major talent, and use their talent to receive money. Music is their career. Most people don't see them that way, and I guess that's why my father is so popular. Fans make celebrities, and it's interesting at what some of them will do to meet their favourite acts. I remember my father telling me about the time AJ McLean, who sings for the Backstreet Boys, injured his ankle in Montreal, as he tried to jump into a van. Poor guy. AJ's such a sweetheart. <br>

                  So, that's my parents. They are nice people, not snobby at all, but my mother is just very unhappy with the decision I had steered my life in. I guess I'll tell you a bit about myself, before I go into massive detail about my siblings. My full name is Lily Anne and I am currently 20-years-old. I have massively long, naturally curly strawberry blond hair, cornflower blue eyes, and am naturally a little heavy. I don't wear much make-up, don't own a car, and don't really spend massive amounts of my parent's money. I dress, mostly in jeans and sweaters, and maybe an occassionally a dress. I'm what my twin brother calls a "natural" chick. He says most guys like the natural Look, but I really don't believe that. The "natural" Look never got me a boyfriend, except for massive pretty boys who have hopes of being big boy band stars. They try to pick me up, and romance me, but I have enough intuition to know that are only going to use me. My brother's say I have too many preferences. I'm too picky. What's wrong with wanting an extremely intelligent man with bright blue eyes and curly brown eyes? I have yet to find him, and I know my dream man will come along one day. What's wrong with a woman wanting to get exactly what she wants? I'll never understand the way our male population thinks. They are too complicated. I leave up to Chloe to figure them out.<br>

                My life is quite simple. I graduated from high school two years ago, and my father asked me what I wanted the most for my graduation. I told him I wanted to pursue my dreams of becoming a novelist, and my mother was upset. She asked how exactly I was going to make a living at this. I thought about what I could do to make a living. I thought about working at Jive, but I knew I would be bored as Hell. I do not want to be cooped up in a office, answering phones, and running around after famous people. I wanted to incorporate my love of reading and writing, and turn it into a career. My dad knew this, and that's when he came up the idea of me to open a book store. He finanically backed me up, bought out a pizza parlor that had gone bankrupt, and that's when Lily's Books and Things was born. I'm opened six days a week, and I manage and run the place on my own. My dad has taught me everything I need to know about business, so I spend my days, except Sundays, running the shop. I read, work on novel ideas I have, and send them into publishing companies. My pen name is Lily Hunter, not Lily Whitehorn, because I know people would just give me a writing contract because of who my father is. I want to make it on my own. I do not want to use my father's name to get me a novel published. Then I would never know if the publishers really liked my stories, or just published it for who I was. So that's my life. Running the shop and attending parties my father puts on. I can get extremely bored at these parties, so I usually fake my presence, and always end up in the corner of the room writing down some ideas. Once, Nick Carter saw me, and we had a  really nice conversation about writing. He's into comic books, I'm into suspense novels, but it was nice to talk to someone about my passion. Out of all the famous people my daddy knows, Nick is my favourite. He is such a nice guy. He even calls me once and a while, and we sometimes hang out.<br>

                Now onto my siblings. I know, you are probably bored right now. Why is this chick spilling me her whole family history in the first chapter of her novel? Well I am for a few reasons. First, everyone is so interested in my family because we are constantly in the public eye, but I also want people to know we are extremely normal people. Just because we are rich, doesn't mean we live in lavish lifestyles. I mean, if you met me on the street, you would have no idea that I was who I am. I wear jeans, sneakers, no expensive jewellery, and I am not snob. People always get the wrong impression about my family and I. People thnk we are snobby, non-hard working, and my siblings and I are going to live off my parents money for the rest of our lives. None of us are like this, except maybe Chloe. She has this termendous love of shopping, and is always buying new clothes. Her closet does not have anymore room for no other pairs of DKNY jeans or Tommy tops! So, guess who's closet is overflowing with all this designer clothes? Mine! And I can't even fit into half of the clothes! Oh well. Onto to learning about my family.<br>

              My oldest sibling is 22, male, and extremely intelligent and goodlooking. His name is Christian, and what I want in a man, is what Christian is. It's hard to explain. My brother attends Harvard University, but he earned a scholarship there by himself. He studies law there, and wants to be a prosecuting lawyer when he graduates. You probably already figrued out that Christian is my mother's favourite. She is so proud of telling people about her intelligent son, and speaks proudly of him and Drew. Chloe and I are loved, but she usually always mentioned we are going to go to school when we figure out what we want to be. I do not see how going to College would help my career of being a novelist. How would writing an essay on The Canterbury Tales improve my imagination or writing. I am the only one who can do so. Anyway, Christian lives in a bachelor apartment near Harvard, and has been in school for four years. He's such a sweetheart. He and I get along extremely well. He's very protective, but more over Chloe than me. He has dark brown hair, big blue eyes, and has had the same giflriend named Kerri for over five years. I know they are engaged, but nobody else does. My parents and Kerri's parents want both of them to finish their educations before they walk down the aisle. The good thing as well is that Kerri came from a single parent home, with not much money, and Christian loves her for she is. That's what I love about my brother. He never judges anyone, respects everyone, and is always being caring and helpful towards everyone.<br>

            My twin brother is a little like Christian, but more of a partyier. Christian thrives on dad's famousness, and uses it to get him lots of females. They are usually bimbos. My brother is a sweetheart, but he parties too much in my opinion. He also smokes, which I can not stand! Why would someone want to decrease their years of living for a silly stick of tar? I will never know. Christian is a sophmore at UCLA. He's there on a football scholarship, but spends more time socializing than actually working. That's okay though. He still pulls off a C+ average, and is one of the most sought after football rookies. My parents believe he won't even finish College. He'll be whisked away by a football team, signed to a multi-year contract, and play for some NFL team. We also know he'll one day get married, and get over his player status. My brother has dated many celebrities. Let's see. He hooked up with Britney at a party. He dated one of the Innosense girls, and Christina and him got pretty heavy one night. He's such a charmer, but a very outgoing and nice guy. I love my brother, but I wish he'd be more serious sometimes. It's all cool though. Drew is my best friend and he is very supportive of my bookstore and my writing career. He's still young though, and why not have fun? He's always tells me I need more fun! LOL One night, I went to a party with him, AJ, some of his frat buddies, and Nick, and I thnk I let like three hours early. I was bored beyond belief! What's so fun about drinking so much you end up puking your brains out and making out with some ass that you can't even remember his name the next day? I do not understand people of my generation. I understand why I never related to any people my age. Oh well. I like myself and who cares what others think.<br>

         Next comes my airheaded sister Chloe. Okay, she's actually pretty smart, but she is such a bimbo around guys. She has been studying dancing for years, and has begged my dad for years to let her back-up dance for some singers. My dad wanted to transform her into a big name star, but sister can't sing woth her life, so Britney became the star and Chloe back-up danced for her. Chloe is 17, and your typical teenybopper teenager. She only cares about boys, clothes, boy bands, make-up, boys, and even more boys. She started dating when she was 12, has had sex numerous times, and is always flirting with everyone. All of BSB, *N Sync, Imajin, and even Don Philip all know about her. Chloe's really friendly, so none of the guys ever date her. They treat her like a little sister, but they respect my father a lot. My dad isn't really cool about his kids dating his clients. Well, he's okay with Christian and Drew dating them, but not Chloe, Emma, or I. Chloe finds this extremely unfair, so she has little flings here and there without daddy knowing. Oh well. Who wouldn't be attracted a blond haired bombshell with big blue eyes, a size 6 body, with fake boobs and a belly ring? Yes, she got breast implants. She did it secretly, and daddy and mommy were so furious! Chloe was persistent, and didn't have to get them taken out. I was so disgusted with her. Oh well. My sister is my sister and maybe one day she'll grow up! On second thought, probably not. One good thing about my sister is that she is an incredibly talented dancer and she works extremely hard at it. That is one thing I am proud of her about. My mom isn't though, but my mom also knows that Chloe isn't smart enough to make it through College. I know that's mean to say, but it's true! :)<br>

          My favourite member of the family is my little adopted sister Emma Rose. She's now three. You see, three years ago, my mom tried getting pregnant like five timers, but lost all the babies. So, she decided to adopt a child, and my parents flew to China, and picked up my little Chinese sister. She's so beautiful. She had big, almond-shaped brown eyes, curly black hair, and this adorable smile. She's my mother's pride and joy right now, and she is adored by my whole family. The problem is though is that Chloe is always on the road with some tour, Christian is at Harvard, and Drew is in LA. My dad is always travelling around the world attending music events and scoping out potential talent, and mom worked five days a week at the school, so Emma was left home with her nanny. Mom would come home, I would, and I would probably play with Emma all night long. Mom always spends time with us, but she is still mad at me choosing not to go to school. Her and I don't get along much. I'll be honest with you. Christmas is coming around the corner in a few weeks and my greatest wish is that all my family can be together for Christmas Eve. But, I also wish my mother would accept me for who I am. I'd better get back to the shop. We're getting a little busier now.<br>

"Miss? Do you sell children's books?" asked a harried-looking mother, pushing a double stroller.<br>

"Sure do," I replied cheerfully, dropping Drew's letter aside, and leading her towards the children's section. She thanked me, and I left her there to explore the children's books. I glanced at my wall clock and noticed it read four thirty. I would close in only half-an-hour. I wondered over to the cash register, as my weekend plans cascaded through my head. I realized my dad had invited over a few potential clients on Saturday night, but despite that, there was nothing else. I was scheduled at being at the shop because I had recently hired a nice young girl named Stacey to open the stores for me on Saturday. I didn't have a date. I had made no plans with friends because all my high school friends were either away at College, or married, and had forgotten about me by now. <br>

"Miss? Can you hold this for me until tomorrow?" the mother asked me, and I said sure. I took down her name and phone number, and placed the Dr.Seuss book aside. I decided to close the shop early because the snow was coming down harder outside. I knew their wouldn't be many potential customers, and I dialed up my father's chauffeur to come and get me early. I did the float and the deposit, and left Stacey a note about pricing the books I hadn't gotten to.<br>

                    My father installed a security system, and I thought he was extremely silly to even consider it. I mean, who would want to rob a little book store, but I guess you can never be careful enough. I put on my furry brown winter jacket, and my mittens. I grabbed my purse, and picked up my writing pad. I walked out of the front door, locked it, and waited as one of my father's pearl white limos pulled up to the entrance. You see, I hate taking limos. They are so annoying and if you ride in a limo in New York, everyone considers you a big deal. I hate it. They always ask "who's in there" when you stop at traffic lights, and in New York, there's too many of those. Sometimes I get fed up, open the window a crack, and say I'm a Spice Girl or something. Once I did this, and this little girl handed me a piece of paper and pen through the window. I had no choice but to sign the paper from Baby Spice. I actually met Emma Bunton a few years ago and told her the story. She thought it was actually pretty funny.<br>

"Hello Lily," our driver for years Arthur said in a strong British accent. "How was business today?"<br>

"Extremely slow," I answered, climbing into the limo. "How are you?"<br>

"Wonderful," Arthur answered. "I just picked up some guests from the Plaza Motel and dropped them at your father's house at his request."<br>

"And who would that be?" I sighed. I really wasn't in the mood to see anyone. I just wanted to change into my flannel pyjamas, get some hot chocolate, and read Emma a story.<br>

"Nick and AJ," Arthur told me, and I nodded. Nick and AJ were okay. I really liked both of them. I wondered what they were doing in New York, but I didn't feel like wondering about it. They probably had some big plans on the town and would invite me to go, but I wasn't really up for it. I just wanted to relax. I was extremely tired. I wonder if I'm coming down with something.<br>

                It took a little more time than usual to get home. I figured it was because of the storm, but also because it's Friday rush hour traffic. Fridays are always crazy in New York. There's at least fifteen accidents on my route home, and I've been involved in them a few times. Arthur was a pleasant driver though, and he had never gotten in an accient. I arrived safely, got my belongings, and stepped in front of the apartment. I noticed about 50 pre-teenaged girls waving Backstreet Boys posters and crying immensely. I am mesmerized how these fans find out the whereabouts of the Backstreet Boys are all times. Once, Nick and I went for a stroll in Central Park with Chloe and her latest boyfriend, and we ended up getting chased by a group of four girls. It was not a fun experience. We now know better not to go anywhere without a bodyguard. I mean, I am not even a celebrity, and I need a bodyguard. It's kind of pathetic when you think about it.<br>

"Excuse me! Miss!" some girl started yelling in my ear, as I got out of the limo. "Who are you?"<br>

"Nobody special," I answered with a secret smile.<br>

"Do you know Nick and AJ because that's the same limo that dropped them off!" the girl snapped at me, and I looked at her.<br>

"My father is Gerard Whitehorn," I answered, and the girl's eyes grew large. I escaped into the lobby of my apartment building, and was escorted to my parents apartment. My parents actually have a glass door, and you can only come onto our floor with a key. The elevator actually opens into the livingroom. The elevator door opened, and I noticed a familiar scene. My mother was perched beside my father's leather chair, sipping some red chardonnay wine, and my father was seated in the chair. Dad was wearing a business suit, mom in a nice suit as well, and Emma was in a flowered dress. Nick and AJ were seated on the couch, along with a few of my father's business associates. They all looked comfortable and talkative, and as usual, I felt incredibly out of place.<br>

"Hello dear," Dad told me, as I went over to kiss him. "How was business today?"<br>

"Hi Daddy," I replied, giving him a butterfly kiss. "It was slow. Hi Mom."<br>

"Hi," Mom said shortly, not making any effort to kiss me. I didn't show it bothered me, as I waved hello to Nick, AJ, and the other people. I didn't really want to stay in chat, so I escaped into the kitchen to get some mineral water. Emma followed me in, and grabbed onto my leg.<br>

"Sissy!" she sang merrily, and I bent down to pick her up. She planted a slobbery kiss on my cheek, and then asked for a cookie.<br>

"Here you go Emmers," I replied, and handed her a cookie. She took off, gleefully, to the livingroom, and I was left to make myself a snack. I still craved hot chocolate, so I put on the kettle, and took out some freshly baked peanut butter cookies. I heard the kitchen door open, and I turned to see Nick standing there.<br>

"Hey," he smiled at me, as he took a cookie for himself. "How's it going?"<br>

"Hi," I smiled back, pouring some hot chocolate mix into an empty cup. "Want some?"<br>

"Sure," Nick nodded, and I took down another cup. "Do you have marshmallows?"<br>

"Yes I do," I winked at him, and held up a package of white ones and another of coloured ones. "Which ones?"<br>

"The colored ones," Nick gave me his boyish smile, and I threw him the bag. <br>

"So, what are you and AJ doing in town?" I wanted to know, as I waited for the kettle to boil.<br>

"We have to talk some business with your father and we are attending a movie premiere tomorrow night," Nick informed me, as we both polished off our cookies. We both grabbed for another one, as I noticed, Rose, our cook, appear at the door.<br>

"Now kids, those are for everyone," she winked, and then disappeared.<br>

"These are so delicious," Nick told me, as the kettle whistled. <br>

"So, who's going to the movie premiere with you?" I questioned Nick, as I poured hot water into both cups. I handed him his, and I stirred my own, dropping in half a dozen white marshmallows.<br>

"Mandy," Nick told me.<br>

"Oh," I nodded, trying to rack my brain to see if I could remember Mandy. Then, her pretty face entered my head. "Isn't that the chick who goes under the stage name Willa Ford?"<br>

"She sure is," Nick's blue eyes sparkled, and I knew she was a keeper.<br>

"She's good," I complimented him, remembering when my father had been playing her demo tape to my mom the one night. "Dad's seriously considering signing her."<br>

"I know," Nick replied, as we both sat down at the kitchen table. We heard the door jingle open again, and I saw Emma fly over to me. <br>

"Sissy? Can you read me a story?" she whined to me, and I said sure. I excuse myself from Nick, as Emma dragged me into her bedroom. I remembered when Emma had first come. Mom and I had spent hours with Chloe, decorating her room. We had decided on a Winnie-the-Pooh theme. It had been so much fun, travelling around the Big Apple, buying baby furniture, baby clothes, and anything else we figured Emma would need. That had also been the day when I had received my acceptance letters to Harvard, Columbia, and UCLA. Mom was so furious when I told her I was rejecting them all. Since then, the relationship between us was less than close.<br>

"Emma, how was your day?" I asked her, as we both climbed onto her toddler bed.<br>

"It was great," Emma flashed me a toothy smile. "Mommy and I went shopping, and I bought a raincoat!"<br>

"Mommy didn't work today?" I asked Emma, and she shook her head. "Oh, why not?"<br>

"Mommy wanted to spend the day with me," Emma informed me, and I nodded. <br>

"That was nice," I told her, a little hurt. Mom never took a day off work. She hadn't come to my shop once, and always never paid attention when I talked about a successful day or even paid attention to me about anything. There was more times than one, that I considered moving out, but Drew always convinced me to stay.<br>

                    I began reading the fairy tale to Emma, and within ten minutes, she was fast asleep. It was almost six o'clock, so I placed her fluffy comforter over her, and headed into the kitchen to see what was going on for a dinner. I noticed Nick, AJ, and my dad's associates were gone, and Mom was in the livingroom, talking to our decorator. I saw them looking over Christmas decoration magazines, and left them alone. She escaped into the kitchen and observed her father speaking with Rose about what he wanted or dinner.<br>

"Where's Emma?" Dad asked me as I entered the kitchen.<br>

"She's sleeping," I answered, opening the fridge and taking out some pineapple juice.<br>

"Really? I guess your mother worked her hard today!" Dad laughed, his eyes twinkling. "So, what are your weekend plans Lily?"<br>

"Robert's going to announce his wedding plans to Priscilla," I answered, refering to one of the many novels I had began. Dad knew all about every one. Each plot, each character, each setting. He knew them all, and it was nice that at least one of my parents were interested in me.<br>

"Sounds romantic," Dad winked at me, as he turned back to Rose. I left the kitchen, and was curious to see how Mom was going to decorate the house for Christmas this year. She always had a plan, and this year it sounded really nice.<br>

"Yes?" Mom gave me a curtful look as I entered the livingroom.<br>

"Nothing," I snapped back, and left the livingroom. I knew I was wanted, and I didn't need mother to get even more angry with me. I exited into my lavish room, and laid down on my bed. Sometimes I wish I was Chloe. She had so much excitement in her life, whether it was having on the road romances to travelling around the world. Right now, she was travelling with *N Sync on their *Bye, Bye, Bye* tour. I really liked them, although sometimes they were cocky.<br>

"Lily! Come here!" my mother yelled at me, and I escaped into the livingroom.<br>

"Yes?" I asked her, giving her the same curtful look she had given me.<br>

"What do you think of decorating the tree this way?" Mom asked, holding up a beautiful Christmas tree picture decorated with powder puff white ornmanents and fake crystal white snow.<br>

"It's nice," I offered, and Mom nodded. "Anything else?"<br>

"No," Mom answered, handing our decorator the picture. "Susan, I want this one! It's so beautiful!"<br>

"Okay Mrs.Whitehorn," our decorator smiled, as she gathered up all her belongings. "Have a nice weekend. We'll be here, bright and early, on Saturday morning to begin the plans."<br>

"Wonderful Susan and you have a wonderful weekend as well!" Mom smiled, and their butler led Suan to the door. I waited until Susan was gone, and saw her mom go back to their plans.<br>

"Mom?" I decided to maybe actually start a decent conversation with her.<br>

"Yes Lily?" Mom replied back, as she looked up from the plans.<br>

"I was just wondering what you and Dad were up to tonight," I replied, and Mom returned back to the plans.<br>

"We have tickets to go see the Lion King on broadway," Mom replied. "We are taking Emma to the show."<br>

"Oh," I answered, a little disappointed I didn't get to go. "Do you have any extra tickets?"<br>

"No we don't," Mom replied shortly. "Dad and I made the reservations last June, and we figured you would be away at school by now. Little did we know, you'd spend your life being lazy."<br>

"Mom, it takes a lot of work to run my book store," I told her.<br>

"Yeah, and that work could have you a career in just one more year, if you would have gone to College," Mom complained, as she gathered up the plans. "You can still begin at Columbia in the winter term Harmony. Daddy knows people."<br>

"How many times do I have to tell you that I don't want to go to College?" I screamed at her, and she shook her head. She stomped out of the room, without gazing back at me once. Sometimes I wished I would have gone to College, so maybe she would have accepted, but I was an adult now, and knew it was my choice. I wondered into my room and thought about Robert's and Priscilla's imaginary lives, and wondered countlessly why I couldn't be normal like them...<br>

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