Lily Annabelle Cullen: A What If Story

Chapter 25: Thanks

(Lily's POV)

I was dancing around the living room practicing the new routine I learned in ballet class. Mommy Esme had Edward and Emmett moved the furniture to the walls so I can have enough space. My dance instructor gave me a special part in our upcoming recital that is more difficult than the rest of the dance. She says that I am very advanced for my age. I stopped dancing at that thought. While I have been proud for being way more advanced than other three year olds, it's getting pretty old to keep hearing that. "Lily dear. Do you want to come with me to the grocery store?" I nodded to mommy Esme and went to grab my coat. I was still in my ballet clothes and ballet slippers but I would be fine. We hopped into her car and left. During the drive I texted Edward to tell him. He had left a little earlier to go get me a surprise. I didn't want him to return home and think I ran off again. "What do you want to do for Thanksgiving Lily? It's coming up this week. Should we travel to Italy to see the Volturi?" I shook my head.

"No. We've never celebrated Thanksgiving. It's an American holiday. Maybe we could host a Friendsgiving. Invite friends over to celebrate."

"I don't think that would be feasible sweetie." I looked at her in shock. This is a very rare moment when she has told me no. "You see, that would be a lot of humans over at our house. It was hard enough to hide us not eating the times we have taken you to the restaurant with James and his mom's, but humans would take notice to us not eating with that many humans in our home." I thought about about what she said the rest of the way to the store. She was right. I took the attention off of them at the restaurant so they could slip food off their plates and into their napkins. Only mommy Esme, daddy, and Eddie had came with us. I guess there isn't too much of a difference between being home and being here for Thanksgiving. As we walked into the grocery store, mommy Esme gave me a shopping basket and grabbed herself a shopping cart. "Go pick out some foods you want. I will go get the necessities." I nodded at her and smiled. I was allowed to get whatever I wanted, same as usual, but I now stayed pretty reasonable about what I picked when mommy Esme took me to the store.

Recently in school we were talking about having healthy snacks. Jeremiah had mentioned that his grandmother would let him have whatever he wants for a snack and his mommy and daddy don't do that except for special occasions. Ms. Jerkins made that into a teaching moment. Now I don't get as many high sugar snacks as I use to. Daddy talked to me once about making better choices for snacks but also told me he isn't going to force me to eat healthier snacks. Mommy Esme agreed with him. I made a small change then by eating them in smaller quantities and less often.

For this new change, I had to experiment with mommy Esme and daddy for a whole week after the healthy snack lesson to find healthy snacks that I like. They pulled me out of school just in case whatever I ate didn't agree with my digestive system. The Volturi were also notified of my new experiment. Luckily nothing bad happened. One sour tummy from trying celery with peanut butter and raisins, my idea. Daddy was against it since the smell of peanut oil makes me nauseous but I still wanted to try it anyway. Everyone was worried but it only lasted a few hours. Daddy had to put me to sleep though because the medicines he gave me weren't helping with the nausea or the sour tummy.

As I walked around the store, I heard someone call my name. "Lily!" I turned to see Kavina. I grinned as I ran towards her to give her a hug. "Hey! I missed you last week." You doing okay? I nodded and grabbed her hands.

I was experimenting with mommy Esme and daddy to find some healthy snacks that I can eat. "Sorry about that. I had therapy sessions I had to go to a couple of days last week and since I always get a bit moody afterwards, mommy Esme and daddy agreed to let me stay home the whole week." That was the story they gave the school. Kavina nodded understanding the cover story.