LILA ON THE LOOSE (Unicorn Club) - Softcover

Pascal, Francine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553484001 ISBN 13: 9780553484007

Publisher: Sweet Valley, 1996

Synopsis

Total freedom . . .  
Okay, I know what you're thinking:  Lila Fowler has it all. And I admit, I am the most  beautiful and popular person I know. (Ignore my  friends in the Unicorn Club when they say the same  thing about themselves. They are so competitive.)  And I'm the daughter of George Fowler, the richest  man in Sweet Valley. Daddy gives me absolutely  everything I want.
Well, almost  everything. Sometimes I think I could buy a whole  department store of clothes with Daddy's credit  card or throw the craziest party in town, and he  would be too busy to care. In fact, my father  probably wouldn't even notice. Maybe it's time I test  him to see just how far I can go . . .  .
Lila Fowler

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"Have some salad, Lila," Mrs. Pervis  said. It was Tuesday night, and Dad and I were  having dinner together. Well, we were at the same  table anyway. "Thanks, Mrs. Pervis," I  said, taking the bowl from her. But I had no  appetite. "Dad?" I asked. I'd been thinking all  day long. And I'd decided I really needed to tell  him about Jimmy. Now that we were practically  dating and everything, I really needed Dad's  permission to be going out at all. Especially in this  case, because Jimmy was so much older than  me.

"Just a minute, honey," Dad murmured. I  sighed as Mrs. Pervis left the room and shut the door  firmly behind her. Dad had arrived at the table  with a humongous briefcase. He'd plonked it down  next to his plate and opened it without even  bothering to say hello. Since then he'd been shuffling  papers and not paying attention to me at all. I  stared down into my salad bowl. Arugula,  radicchio, and romaine mixed with scallions. Not your  average salad, but this wasn't your average  dinnertime either. Did I say dinnertime at the Fowlers'  was like a silent movie? Well, I take it back. It  was more like a painting: Still life of Father and  Daughter. I bit my lip. I was determined to talk  to Dad no matter what.

"Dad?"  I asked brightly. "Would you tell me about  your company?" It was worth a try. Maybe he'd  get interested in talking about it, since running  the company took up so much of his time. Then I  could just kind of casually work in Jimmy.  

Dad looked up, a puzzled expression on his face.  "Fowler Enterprises?" he asked. He cleared his  throat. "Well, dear, I do importing and  exporting. And a whole lot more." He turned back  to his papers. I tried again. "Do you use,  you know, computers?"

Dad looked up, a  smile frozen on his face. "Computers, honey?"  he asked. "Tons. We're a leader in systems  technology, especially where the new modem port  start-ups are concerned. The terminals all  interface with one another using the BBB triple-megabyte  system log." His pen moved quickly across  the page in front of him.  "Clear?"

"Um--yeah," I said slowly. Clear as mud  anyway. "But--" Dad pulled a cell phone out  of his briefcase.

"That can't be right,"  he muttered to himself, punching in a number. I  sat in my seat, feeling as ignored as the lettuce  leaves in my salad bowl. "Mr. Lum?" Dad  said into the receiver. "Yeah, Fowler here.  Listen, I'm reviewing the notes from Friday's  meeting, and I've found some amounts that don't  jibe..."

More business. I massaged my  cheeks. He doesn't mean to ignore me, I told  myself. If he knew how I felt, he'd stop. At least I  was almost positive he would.

"All  right," Dad said into the receiver. "Talk  to you later, then." He snapped the phone off  and set it in his briefcase. Then he went back to  work. My mouth felt dry for no particular reason.  

"So, um, Dad?" I  asked.

"Uh-huh," Dad said absently, not looking up  from his papers. I swallowed hard. It was now or  never. And, like Shakespeare or another one of  those guys said, honesty is the best policy.  "Well, I met this guy," I said, emphasizing  the last word in case Dad wasn't listening too  hard. "And he's a real fox."

Dad  made a mark with his pen. I wished I could get in  between him and the paper. "I think  I'm--um--interested," I said. "And I think he is  too."

In the movies, when daughters  make announcements like that, sometimes the  parents are thrilled and other times they're totally  bummed. Either way, they notice. But that's the  movies, I guess. Dad still didn't look up.  "That's nice, dear," he said  pleasantly.

I bit my lip. I suspected that I could have said,  Hey Dad! The house is on fire! and he would still  have said, That's nice, dear. I resisted the urge  to wave my hand in front of his face and say,  Earth to Dad!

Edition details

• Publisher: Sweet Valley
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0553484001
• ISBN 13: 9780553484007
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 10