“Lily, hold still,” Susan Doran said. Lily was standing on a small stool in her mother's living room, trying to get her bridesmaid dress fitted properly before the photo shoot they had planned in 2 days.   “Mom, I am trying to hold still, but you've poked me three times already and it's making me nervous.” Lily said, holding the hem of the peachy pink dress up.  She had to admit, she liked the colour, but wasn’t sure about the cut.  It was off the shoulder and plunged a little low on the breast bone, tastefully, Loretta had pointed out.  It was long in the back, but asymmetrical in the front, showing quite a lot of thigh on one leg.  Lily wouldn’t brag about it, but she had pretty good legs from her jogging and kickboxing.   “Oh hush,” mama Sue said. “What you should really be nervous about is not having a date fo

As Lily walked down the hall, someone waved through the window of the Guidance Counselor’s office. She stopped to look and realized Mrs. Shannon was waving at her. Lilly thought this was strange, but detoured to the guidance office.   “Ms. Doran, thank you.  Your timing is impeccable, we were just talking about you,” Mrs. Shannon said.   “Good things only I hope,” Lily said with a smile. She walked into the guidance office fully. It was a tiny place filled with comfortable seating and reference material for universities all over the world. In the back there was a small private office area for the counselor and a student to sit and discuss their future, but, in Lily's experience, that space was never used. They instead gravitated towards the comfy chairs in the reference section.