Lilly and the Holiday Bloinks

By Cameron Glenn

Lilly Rose and seven friends must capture Holiday Bloinks in order to save the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cameron Glenn
• Release date: Mar 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463989081

Cameron Glenn

Cameron Glenn grew up the third of seven children in Oregon. As a child he dedicated hours to the pursuits of basketball and cartooning, as well as waking up way too early for his paper route in order to earn money to buy toys, candy and comic books. He also loved to read and write, which he continues to do voraciously. He currently lives in Salt Lake City after having earned a BA in literature from Boise State.

Book preview

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Lilly and the Holiday Bloinks

By Cameron Glenn

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2020 Cameron Glenn

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Lilly and the Holiday Bloinks

Chapter One

What will this year bring, Lilly Rose thought, brushing her hair behind her ear as she examined herself in the bathroom mirror. She tugged down on her US Women’s World Cup Champions Soccer cap. Her orange cat Mia purred as she slinked between Lilly’s legs.

Honey, you’ll be late for the bus, her mother called.

Lilly gulped, nodded and winked at her mirror image and then sprinted towards the front door where her mother stood holding a sack lunch.

First day of school, are you nervous? Lilly’s mother asked.

Lilly looked down at her shoes. Worse than a league soccer championship game.

Her mother reached down and lifted her daughter’s chin up with her hand. Look at me. First day of Middle School. 6th grade. You’re not a little kid anymore. You’ve grown so much. My little rough and tumble princess.

Lilly laughed. She held out her arms and spun around. Hardly. Still a pipsqueak. She shook her arms. My arms are a little longer though. Like tree twigs.

Hey, her mother barked. You’re gorgeous Lilly. Okay? They’re going to love you.

Lilly rolled her eyes. Sure mom, she said unconvincingly.

Her mother opened the front door. Come outside with me for a second.

Lilly followed her mother out the door.

Look up at the sky, her mother ordered. What do you see?"

Um… the sky?

That’s right. The same sky that was over you in Cincinnati is now over you in Oregon. She pointed at Lilly’s chest. Same sky, same girl. It will all be okay.

Lilly looked up and winced. A crooked smile crept up her lips. The clouds look a little grayer.

Lilly’s mother held out her palms pointed up towards the sky. I looked it up online, it actually rains more in Cincinnati then it does here. The idea that it rains all the time in Oregon is a myth.

I looked it up too, Lilly said. And yes there’s more rainfall in Cincinnati, by an inch, but that’s because we have more thunderstorms in Cincinnati. There’s about forty more rainy days here in Oregon.

Lilly’s mom playfully swatted the back of Lilly’s pony tail. It’s warmer here in the winter; and forty days is nothing, smart Alec.

So no white Christmas? Lilly asked with a bit of a pout.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Wait let me see dad before I go, Lilly said. She entered back into the house, bolted inside and ran up the stairs.

Her mom put her hands on her hips and stretched her neck. He wanted to get up to see you off honey but his treatment went late last night; he’s sleeping.

Lilly burst into the room. Her father lay in bed. The engine of the oxygen machine whirred and rumbled. A tube attached to it wrapped around his nose and up his nostrils. When she saw him she froze. She regret having entered; her mother was right. He should sleep.

He groggily opened his eyes and turned towards her. Hey sweet pea, he said in a weak voice. What are you doing up?

He noticed that it was light in the room. He sat up. I told your mother to wake me before you left for school, he said sounding a bit perturbed. He noticed a look of concern in Lilly’s eyes. Don’t worry, Lilly, I’m fine, I promise. The medical research facility at the university will fix me right up.

Lilly edged close to the side of the bed. It’s funny they couldn’t cure you in Ohio.

I’m so sorry honey. I know how hard it is moving; I also had to move when I was a kid, about your age. Although then, unlike now, it was harder to keep in touch with friends.

Lilly took out her new iPhone her parents finally let her have, specifically so that she could more easily keep in touch with her friends and soccer teammates across the country, separated by desert and mountains. She saw that no one had texted her wishing her good luck on her first day of school. I know daddy.

Lilly, your bus is not going to wait for you, her mother called up the stairs.

Her father weakly smiled. Go get them superstar. Love you.

She exchanged the slap, fist pound handshake with her dad and they both giggled. Love you too.

Lilly, her mother screeched again.

Lilly bound back down the stairs, grabbed her lunch and exited the door. She stopped and spun around to look at her mother who then bent down and hugged her.

The new sixth grader waiting for the new bus, in the new state, to start her first day of school at the new Highland Middle School waited at the bus stop down the street. I’m waiting for the bus, for the bus, no trouble, she sang, mimicking the tune of the old I’m all about the base, song. Drizzle wetted the green grass, trees (so many trees), cement and her cloths.

The bus pulled up and stopped. The doors opened. Lilly inhaled. Butterflies swirled in her stomach. She climbed up the steps and faced her fellow students. She surveyed them, they surveyed her. One cute tan lanky boy in a center seat pointed a handheld camera at her. Being recorded she thought she should do a trick. She felt proud of her little soccer ball tricks she could do, like scoop the ball up with the side of her sneaker and catch it on her toe. She tried that trick, even though there was no soccer ball, and figured it’d result in her doing a neat little heel kick in the air. But something scrambled between her mind and her body and her ‘trick’ resulted in flopping on her face, her sack lunch splat on the floor, her apple rolling down the aisle as if it were so embarrassed by her it wanted to escape her as fast as it could. The kids erupted in laughter. Lilly sprung up and then noticed her knee length skirt hadn’t come all the way up with her. She quickly pulled it back over her pink underwear, the laughter bursting louder thundering in her ears. She felt her cheeks flare red with humiliation as she marched towards the back, slumped and tugged the brim of her cap over her face. Well this year is totally and utterly destroyed, she thought.

Dude, did you get that? She heard a jovial boy’s voice say. You should totally put that on Tic Toc.

A few minutes later of bumpy bus motion she felt a nudge on her shoulder. She opened her eyes and saw a girl, small like her, tan with big eyes, large round glasses and dark hair which flowed down her back, holding her apple. Do you want this?

Lilly took it. She wanted to chuck it out the window. Thanks.

You’re new, right?

Lilly weakly smiled and nodded.

I’m Sarin. I’m a bit of an outcast too. Not that I want to be, but I guess people find me weird. Did you know that the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is 36, 201 feet deep? And shrimp actually live down there?

I did not know that.

It’s by Japan. What’s your favorite holiday? I think mine might be Halloween, but not like the gross blood scary stuff, the fun stuff. Fall leaves, Jack-O-Lanterns, dressing up, candy. It’s fun pretending to be someone you’re not.

Yeah, Halloween is cool, Lilly said. Nothing beats Christmas though.

The Holly and the Ivy, Sarin sang in a goofy high voice.

Lilly chuckled. Sarin is weird, she thought. But nice.

Sarin pointed to Lilly’s head. Hey, cool hat.

Thanks, Lilly said, smiling weakly, wiping her eyes. You’re very kind to come speak with me.

Kindness is best, Sarin said. Besides, us fellow misfits need to stick together, right? It being a dangerous world and everything.

I’m not a… Lilly began but she stopped herself. Yes, you’re right.

Do you think the world will melt and Florida will be under water and huge swaths of the United States will be too hot to live in by the time we’re thirty five? That’s what my dad says. That will be in… Sarin paused to do the math. 2043. What does your dad say about that?

Lilly thought. My dad says… we’re all going to live. Together. For a really long time.

Sarin snorted in her laugh.

**

Two weeks passed since that first day. Lilly didn’t make any other new friends, really, besides Sarin. Her mother seemed to notice that her daughter’s transition to the new school, new people, new state, was off to a rough start. Just wait till soccer season starts; you’ll be the talk of the town then, she confidently told Lilly on a Taco Tuesday. Every year, every game, the soccer parents express worry to me that you’re too slight and might get hurt. After every game, every year, they all say the same thing to me. Your girl is a terror.

Lilly giggled. I have to use my tricks to escape or else they’ll tackle me.

That’s right. You’re quick and slippery and you think faster than they do. Life is just like a soccer field.

Lilly crinkled her nose. That’s not really true. I’m shy off the field.

I’m going to go in the NBA, her nine year old brother, Ben, exclaimed, his mouth full of taco meat and chopped tomato. Basketball is better than soccer.

Unlike Lilly, Ben took to his new surroundings like a happy foot long gold fish in a clean turtle pond. It’s easier in Elementary School, Lilly thought. There’s less cliques there. She had quickly soaked in the social hierarchy of her class. The sporty boys were at the top, lead by a red headed boy named Troy and his dark skinned best friend Brad. Sarin had explained to Lilly how Troy and Brad had already changed so much from just a year ago. They used to be kind of nice sometimes,