Disregard the 'Home' on the 'Secrets' pages. It'll just take you back to Chapter One of Secrets. Aighty-dighty? Hope so! :)

All Star - Smash Mouth

'I pick Jessie.'

'I pick.......Kenny.'

'I want, Ashley.'

'Um, Walter.'

'Kelly.'

'Paul.' The kickball game ended up being boys vs. girls like always. Lilly and
Brian were the captains. Brian came up to kick. Lillian was pitching. 'Lilly, Ill make
you a deal. If I kick a home run, youll let me see your house.'

'I dont know.....'

'Come on! What do you have to lose?'

'Nothing I guess. You cant do it. Ha ha! Sure, its a deal.'

'Ok, small bouncy please!' Lilly pitched the kickball to him. He connected and
Lilly watched it soar over her head and past the outfielders. They chased it and Brian
rounded the bases. 'Home run!' he shouted.

'Home run,' she quietly said to herself. Now what am I gonna do? she thought to herself. The recess
monitor rang the bell for them to go back inside.

'What time should I come over?' Brian asked as he ran up to her.

'Right away. Right when we get off the bus.'

'Alright, let me guess though. Before your dad gets home.'

'Yep.'



'Ok, I've got to tell my mom that Im going to your house quick.'

'Ok, hurry up,' she said as they were getting off the bus. Brian ran to the front
door and yelled through the screen. They then both ran to Lillians house. 'Ok, now
Brian. You can come in. But you cant stay long. If my dad found out that you were
here, hed kill me. You cant even tell him you were here. If he comes home while you're
here, thats even worse. He'd kill me and you. So you can come in, take a look, but then
we have to go somewhere else.'

'Um, ok. Maybe I dont want to go in.'

'Well if you do, this is your only chance.'

'Might as well then.' She opened the door and quickly shut it once they were
inside.

'This is the kitchen. This is the living room. Upstairs is my room and a bathroom
and the toy room. My mom and dads room is over there and the bathroom is there too.
Ok, thats it, oh yeah. The basement is downstairs. Ok, lets go.'

'You said I could look around.'

'You looked, now lets go.'

'No, at least let me see your room.'

'Fine. Follow me.' She trugged up the stairs. Here it is, she said opening the
door.

'Its pink!' he laughed.

'Shut up! I didnt get to choose what color I wanted my carpet. It was like that
since Ive lived here.'

'Didn't you build this house when you were born?'

'No, before. So I didn't get to chose.'

'Right.' He sat down on her bed. 'Don't you have any toys in your room?'

'No, what am I gonna do up here? Play with Barbies? I dont think so. All I do
is go outside and do stuff with you, and if I'm here. I draw.'

'Can I see your drawings?'

'Why?'

'Because I want to.' She reached under her bed and got out a tablet. She flipped
through a few pages.

'Here, this is my favorite.'

'What is it?'

'You have no sense of art, do you? It's abstract. It's just a bunch of stuff thrown
together and museums pay a lot of money for them. That's why I drew it. Because
they're gonna buy them from me and I'm gonna make millions of dollars.'

'Yeah right. I think it's ugly.' He began flipping through more pages. 'This
one's cool.' It was a multi-pointed charcoal star.

'What do you want to be when you grow up?'

'What made you ask that?'

'I told you I wanted to make art, what do you want to do?'

'I want to be a singer. Im gonna sell a lot of tapes and have concerts and
everything. This picture can be on the front, ok? I'll give you credit and help you out.'

'How many is a lot of tapes?'

'Like a thousand. Two thousand maybe.'

'That is a lot.'

'Yep. And everyone will want my autograph and picture and Ill be famous.'

'Whatever. You wish!'

'Just you wait, I will be famous.' They heard the front door open and then slam
shut.

'Oh no!' Lilly said in a loud whisper. 'That might be my dad. You gotta go.'

'But what if it's just your mom?'

'Well, here, you hide in my closet. I'll go look.'

'Lillian!' they both heard a deep voice said. 'Lillian come down here.'

'Coming daddy!' Brian saw a streak of panic across her face. 'I'll be back,' she
whispered. 'Try getting out if you can.' Lillian walked down the staircase to her father
standing in the kitchen with the refrigerator door open. He pulled out a can of Coors
Light and popped the top. 'Hi daddy,' she said as calmly as possible.



Brian slowly opened the closet door and crawled out. He tried to make as little
noise as possible as he crawled to her doorway. How am I supposed to get down from
the second story? he thought to himself. He peeked around the corner to see Lillian and
her father at the bottom of the staircase. He quickly jumped back, hoping he hadn't seen
him. He jumped back, but he also made a huge <tonk> sound as he fell over backwards.

'What was that?' Lillian's father said as he heard the thud that Brian had made.

'What was what?' Lilly quickly replied, trying to make him think that he was
hearing things.

'That noise, it came from your room.'

'I don't know what youre talking about daddy.' Her father, Pete Meyer, walked
up the stairs casually. Lilly hoped that Brian had had the sense to get out of her room.
But knowing him, he was still in there.

Pete turned the corner into her room. He saw nothing or no one in there. He
started looking around. Lillian's nerves were tense. He opened her closet door. Her
stomach sunk to her knees. Brian had crawled back into the closet and Pete had just
discovered him. 'What are you doing here?' he said firmly. 'Lillian, you know better
than to bring boys into this house. And into your room! Get out! Get out boy! I don't
want to see you around my daughter again, you here me?'

'Yes, sir,' Brian said quickly as he ran out of the room. 'Lillian, what have I told you about boys?!!?!'

'They're nothing but trouble,' she said quietly. She had always been afraid of her
father. Her mother was too. Once he got his hands on a beer in the fridge, you, or
himself, couldn't control him. There was never any stopping him.

'I cant hear you.'

'They're nothing but trouble!' Lillian screamed, trying to hold back her tears of
fear. Pete Meyer was a factory worker at the car manufactoring plant in town. He used
to be in the Army, he was a drill sergent. He scared Lillian. He always thought that he
was still in the Army. He still thought he could boss people around. He thought he could
boss his family around. He thought he could beat on his family, so he did.

'That's right! Now tell me, why did you have a boy over here?'

'He's Brian, and he's my friend. Why cant I have a friend over ever?'

'Because you dont need a boy as a friend. You dont know what they'll do to
you.'

'Like I never know what youre going to do to me!?' She stopped breathing in
mid-sentence. Had she just said that out loud? She was saying that to herself, but had
those words actually gone through her mouth?

'What did you say?'

'I'm sorry, daddy. I didnt mean it.'

'You whore.' She didn't know what a whore was, but her dad always called her
that when he was mad. He called her mom that too. She couldn't believe her mom loved
her dad still. 'Come here.' She followed him into the kitchen. He put a pot of water on
the stove in the tea kettle. He lifted her onto the counter. 'How many times to I have to
tell you, I dont want you with boys. Especially that one.'

'Daddy, Brian's different. How come you hate him? Youve never even met
him!'

'They're all the same. Girls your age dont need to be friends with boys. You
should like dolls and make-up, not flag football and race cars.'

'Maybe I'm different then daddy. Why cant I like that stuff?'

'Because youre a girl! You should act like one!' Lilly jumped as she heard the
kettle whistle. 'Maybe this will help you remember.' He picked up the kettle and brought
it up to pour it, on Lillian. She immediately jumped off the counter and started running.
He grabbed her arm, but she kept on running. She turned around long enough to see him
pour the boiling water onto her skin. She screamed in pain. She brought up her free hand
and knocked the tea kettle out of his hand and the scorching water landed on him. You
bitch! he screamed as the water hit his hand as he had been doing to Lillian. The pain
forced him to let go of Lilly's hand and get ran up to her room and locked the door, as she
had done so many times before. It had just never been this bad. She heard him stomping
up the stairs. She pushed her dresser that was beside the door to the doors front. She
saw the door knob trying to turn, but it couldn't. Lillian, when I see you again, you will
pay for this! He stomped back down the stairs. She heard the front door open, then
shut. She heard his truck start up and she looked out her window to see him leaving. She
pushed back the dresser and unlocked her door. She couldn't take this anymore. She just
wanted to die and be rid of her father. She couldnt wait for her mother to get home.