There was only one week of summer vacation left, and the grand plan was still not complete. So, obviously, it was time to call in reinforcements.

Raelynn, Jessica, and Dakota were the only ones free on such short notice, but as the best schemers in the entire friend group, Lilly had no doubt that they'd be enough. Especially when Raelynn showed up with not only immediate ideas, but cookies, too. And she was just the first arrival! It gave Lillian some hope that maybe one or both out of the other two were bringing brownies or something. Forget payback and risky, complicated plans! Dessert was more important.

"Lilly, um, Lilly hon, can we just talk about this plan of yours for a second?" Raelynn asked, not only interrupting Lillian's thoughts, but sneaking up behind her, too, causing her to jump in her seat and let out a squeal.

"ACK, don't DO that!" Lilly scolded, crushing her hands against her rapidly-beating heart. After a moment, she felt composed enough to speak again. "Sorry, sorry. What were you saying?"

For a second, Raelynn just stood there in silence.

Then she burst out laughing.

"I didn't even mean to do that— You should've seen your face— Your eyes—" The girl put her hands around her eyes, then threw them out as she bulged her eyes out as large as she could, mimicking what Lilly's face had looked like. It took her over a minute to calm herself down, and when she did, she was met with Lillian's most dirty look.

Raelynn was clearly fighting a giggle. "Sorry not sorry. You face was just— it was priceless!"

Lilly rolled her eyes but once again couldn't fight the smile that spread across her lips. "Fine, sure. But what the heck were you SAYING, girl?" She said this with a slight, exaggerated southern accent that she couldn't seem to live without these days, thanks to her and her sister's shenanigans. They'd grown much closer over the summer, one of the few pros that came from Timothy's mild heartlessness and selfishness towards others.

Raelynn's reply interrupted this train of thought. "Okay, so, remember a few weeks ago when you were trying to come up with a plan that would make Timothy worry?"

"Of course I do, but I thought we decided against—"

"—the plan where we convinced him you were in a car crash and dying in the hospital?" her friend finished, smiling without seeming to notice at the thought. "Yes, that's the one. I don't even know why we decided not to do that! It was perfect, not ONE FLAW. And girl, I spent hours helping you perfect that thing. You can't just not do it."

"Not do what?" a familiar voice asked from behind Lilly's seat, making her jump again, her heartbeat tripling. But this time, she was more careful to control her reaction, putting on a neutral expression and turning calmly to wave a greeting at Jessica, who hovered in the doorway between the living room rather uncertainly.

Lilly felt a pang of guilt. She was probably hesitating because of the neglect she'd been showing their friendship for so long. It was really uncharacteristic of Jessica to hang back like this when it came to her best friends. Remembering she had the power to do something about that, Lillian put on what she hoped was a welcoming smile, not some sort of deranged look, and patted the spot beside her, inviting her friend to sit. After a puzzled second, Jess seemed to understand and sat quickly as Raelynn — leaning against the sofa the other two girls sat on quite, looking quite comfortable — answered her question.

"Okay, so, a few weeks ago, Lilly and I came up with a genius plan to scare, ehem, the boy to his senses. So, basically, what we came up with is that she — Lilly I mean — would text the group chat that she'd been in a car accident. Her family would have come out with a few scratches and bruises, but she was in just the right place in the car to get lung damage, and she'd tell us she was in the hospital, but it wasn't looking good, because she was also internally bleeding. Actually, forget the lungs thing, it was just the internal bleeding. Then we planned she'd pretend to be one of her family members, and—" She took a deep breath, her first since she started. "AND, she would text the group chat to be one of her family members and tell us she died!"

Silence.

As she waited for a reaction, Raelynn raised her eyebrows, grinning, and nodded down at them encouragingly. "Yeah? Yeeeah?"

A grin broke out on Jessica's face too, matching Raelynn's. It made Lilly want to giggle. "That plan is risky... but GENIUS." She turned her head to Lilly, shaking her head in disapproval. "Missy, how could you deny such a glorious plan? HOW?"

Lilly smirked. It definitely hadn't taken Jess long to get comfortable around her again. And was she surprised? Nope. "I guess I just didn't feel like having a repeat of April Fool's Day."

They all collectively shuddered.

"Hang on a sec," Lillian mumbled, voicing a concern that had been swimming through her mind for several minutes now as she fumbled for her phone, "where's Kota at?"

She sent her friend a quick text voicing the same concern, and a reply came within seconds. Lilly frowned. "She says she can't make it. Chores."

Jessica groaned, facepalming. "That girl has so many chores it's like she runs that farm all on her own."

Raelynn nodded her agreement as she took a sip of the Starbucks drink she'd grabbed on the way here. It reminded Lilly how much she wanted the cookies stashed away in the kitchen. Later, she promised herself.

"Well, I guess we can start, then," Lillian said, doing her best to hide her melancholy at one of her friends having to bale. The two girls clearly knew her too well, though, giving each-other a look, then nodding sympathetically.

"So, if I remember accurately," Jess began, sporting her unintentionally comical thoughtful face, "the plan is we are going to convince some innocent, unsuspecting boy into pretending to be your super-sweet, super-perfect boyfriend to make Tim Tam realize what an awesome, beautiful girl he gave up, and make him SUPER jelly, right?"

Lilly nodded, feeling heat bloom across her cheeks. "Yeeep, you got it..."

Raelynn gasped an exaggerated gasp. "ExCUSE me, why am I not hearing enough enthusiasm?! It's a BEAUTIFUL plan, and I completely support it. As long as it doesn't replace our other plan."

Lilly hesitated a moment, then sighed and decided to just spill. She'd tell them later at some point anyway. "I dunno, I just..." She struggled to find the words. "I guess I just don't wanna get embarrassed. It's stupid, I know, but like... UGH, why do I still have to care what he thinks?!"

As Lillian buried her face in her hands, Raelynn spoke firmly. "You don't need his approval, honey. You're an INDEPENDENT WOMAN, and you've already come so far since he broke up with you! You're strong. You can do this if you want to."

She wanted to believe those words so much, but she knew they just weren't true. She did still need Timothy's approval. She's wasn't strong. She wasn't independent. And she was definitely not ready to be classified as a woman yet. She had only just turned fifteen a month or two before.

     Lilly didn't voice any of that, though. She knew her friends would fight heron it. So instead, she groaned through her fingers and stated miserably, "Ugh, I wish it were just that. I just— I don't know if I can face him! In general! I feel like if I just see his face or he says hi or something, all the progress I've made will go down the drain. Not that there's been much progress. I still can't go one day without thinking of him. And GRACE! I was such a terrible friend to her, you guys. I hoped at least when my parents decided to homeschool us that never seeing her would kind of make up for how I wronged her, but now that I'm going back, well..." Suddenly, all the energy she'd been putting into her words evaporated. She slumped further in her seat. "They should hate me. I'm a fake, and they're the only ones to see it. I'm not a good friend, or girlfriend, and I'm not a good person. Don't you see it? I do."

     Jessica instantly shook her head. Hard. Emphatically. Raelynn beat her to speaking. "Okay, you are clearly in a vulnerable, unstable place place right now. So if you want to not do this, that's perfectly okay. Nobody's gonna judge you for—"

     "I'm doing this, Rae," Lillian interrupted firmly, finally straightening and removing her hands from her face. "I'm not just doing this to make Timmy jealous... exactly. I'm doing this because I never take any risks. And you don't get anywhere if you stay in your comfort zone forever, right? I need to put myself out there and at least try. The worst thing he can say is no." Embarrassment at Raelynn's last statement had brought on this realization, and she was almost glad it had.

     "Well then... I guess we're doing this, eh?" Jessica said at last in her sweet Australian accent, flashing a small smile at the other two.

     Lillian smiled back, grateful for the support. "I guess we are."

- - -

This is the part where you get excited... because things are about to finally HAPPEN.
You're welcome hehehe...