She's No Beauty Queen

Mark took pictures throughout the entire event and kept a close eye on Lily as she continued interacting with the kids. She had an animated reading style as well, including funny voices for different characters and hand gestures. Every kid in the room was enthralled.

He got one particularly great candid shot of her acting out one of the scenes in the book as all the kids sat there obviously hanging onto her every word. His boss would decide which ones were usable for the social media accounts but he had a feeling he should hang onto this one on his own.

Lily might want it later. She looked like she was having a lot of fun right now even though she was wearing uncomfortable clothes and pretending to be someone else.

Once all the stories were read they were supposed to leave but all the kids wanted to keep talking to her and she did not disappoint her new friends. A little girl named Danielle, who had been given the mermaid bear Aqua, asked if she was a princess like Olivia because of her crown.

"Sort of. Do you want to be a princess too?" Her eyes went wide as she nodded and Lily took the crown off her head and placed it on the bald little girl's. She grinned at her. "There. Everybody say hello to Princess Danielle!"

Of course this led to everyone wanting to try on the crown. Lily was very patient with them despite the fact that Mark knew she had homework to do tonight.

He managed to get more pictures of the kids trying on the crown and one at the very end where everyone squeezed in close to her held up their bears, all looking like they were having the time of their lives. Lily was a natural when kids were involved. Hopefully she would be able to handle the rest of her appearances as her twin this well too.

When they finally left she still had a smile on her face. "Those kids were so cute! I actually had fun doing that. I hope they all recover soon."

She was certainly optimistic. They had been visiting a cancer ward after all. There was a good chance not all of them would get to leave the hospital again. But Mark was coming to realize that she was a natural optimist.

He didn't want to dwell on that now though. He had already upset her once before by implying Angel might not be alive. It was time for a subject change. "Yeah. You did well. I got some great pictures for the Miss California social media pages."

"Ooh, pictures? I want to see them! You know, later. When you're not driving," Lily clarified.

"I can show them to you tomorrow. You're going to be volunteering at a soup kitchen during dinner. This time you only need to wear the crown and sash for pictures at the beginning rather than while doing the work," Mark explained. "And you won't have to wear a dress this time."

She threw her hands up in the air in an overexaggerated gesture of relief. "Hallelujah! Pants!"

"They won't be your pants though. You still have to wear what we give you."

"Boo! Whatever. Fancy pants are better than a skirt any day. My last class tomorrow isn't done until four. What time is my volunteer shift?"

"It starts at 5:30 so that's cutting things a bit close. You'll have to let me know which building you'll be in so I can go straight there to pick you up," Mark said with a frown.

Even wearing casual clothes still required makeup and a better updo than Lily was likely capable of doing herself. Public image was vital for a beauty queen. Hopefully it would take less time than getting ready had today.

There was one more thing she needed to know about tomorrow's excursion that he had held off on saying until now. "One more thing…tomorrow you'll be volunteering with the current Miss Monterey County. Her name is Darcy Flynn and she has met Angelina a few times at various pageant winner events. You probably won't have to talk to her much but if you do just act like you know what she's saying."

Lily gaped at him. "Why didn't you tell me before this?!"

"Because I didn't want you to freak out."

"If you knew I was going to freak out why would you tell me now instead of tomorrow?"

An excellent point. Mark should have waited to share this little tidbit. Being a fake beauty queen's manager was not his area of expertise. Now she was going to be psyched out about this up until the volunteering tomorrow.

"It's really not a big deal Lily. All you have to do is take a picture together in your crown and sash in front of the soup kitchen with her then you don't even have to talk to her the rest of the night," he said reassuringly.

She was not reassured. "Ugh, my chances of screwing this up are so much higher than today when I was dealing with total strangers."

"…sorry."

He dropped her off and headed home, submitting his report on the event and the photos to his boss via email. Once that was done he sighed and looked around his studio apartment. It was cheap and not in the best part of town because most of his money went toward paying off his student loans.

That would be done by the end of this year. Afterwards he planned to start saving for a house. He didn't need a lot of space but he wanted more than he had currently. A place with a yard would be nice.

Mark shouldn't be contemplating real estate right now though. He should be focusing on how to help Lily relax before her real test of being Angelina Dawson tomorrow. What would work best on a girl like her?