Harmony Hills Short #1: Halloween (Preview)

Lilly French had had enough of her friends. All Emma and the others ever seemed to talk about lately was who was peeing in what. Emma and Susie wore Pull-Ups for fun, Izzy wears Pampers because she can’t stay dry at night, and some crazy foster lady has Nicole waddling around in Huggies somewhere.

Sure, she had an accident and wore a diaper in case it happened again. But that was ONE time! It wasn’t something she planned to do regularly and it wasn’t something she enjoyed. But then again, Emma did talk her into wearing a diaper again on a sleepover. However, Lilly hated the feeling of the warm pee against her skin. The diaper was a bit soft and fluffy, and it made her feel secure and cuddly on the inside… But that was beside the point.

Lilly didn’t want to be around anyone who was constantly talking about wetting themselves for fun. She turned to the other half of the girls in their class; the sporty ones. Brittany and Courtney were the kings of the soccer team, having just led the Orange Team to the play-offs.

They were normal.

“So,” Courtney asked, “Are you going Trick-or-Treating with Emma and the others?” The soccer team had entirely accepted Lilly as their new friend when she randomly sat at their lunch table one day.

“Oh, no!” Lilly declared. “That is so babyish. I’m not a little kid like they are, I don’t even own crayons.”

“Oh,” Brittany said, “Because if you weren’t we were going to invite you to come with us.”

“Oh,” Lilly said, realizing her mistake.

“And then we have a sleepover at my house,” Brittany continued.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want.” Courtney said.

“Oh, no no no!” Lilly waved her hands. “I am so there! I just meant that I needed to… ask my mom.”

The girls both stared at her.

“I mean…” Lilly stumbled. “Not.”

“I’m going as Lulu,” Courtney said, “From the Journal of a Geeky Girl series.”

“Cool,” Lilly said, realizing they would probably ask her what she was going to be next.

“And I’m going as AJ Ferguson, the race car driver,” Brittany said. “What about you?”

“Uh...,” Lilly hadn’t even thought about it. Costumes in her family were usually put together from leftovers from past years or bought at a cheap price the week before. In truth, Lilly really wanted to go as Sasami Yugito, her favorite character on Monster Story, the best show ever. But she felt as though her new friends might look down on her if she mentioned a show that was for seven year olds. After all, they were nine now and that meant you read chapter books, not Japanese cartoons.

“Hello?” Brittany asked.

Lilly realized that she got lost in thought thinking about her Halloween costume, and then was wondering what Season 2 of Monster Story would be about. She heard rumors it was just a brand new cast with new monsters, but she really hoped it was the original kids, just a year later.

“Well,” Lilly said, “My costume is…