Lily and the Spellbinding Tome

Lily was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. She was supposed to be sleeping, but she couldn't. She had too many thoughts and feelings running through her head.

A few hours ago she had been working up the courage to tell her parents how important it was for her to play soccer. She'd been practicing hard all summer and now that she was entering 10th grade it was an important year. The only problem with Lily wanting to play soccer was that her dad didn't want her playing soccer. He wanted her to play softball like he did when he was a kid. Her mom, who always sided with Lily's dad, had just gone along with him this time.

Lily wasn't upset about getting cut from the team because she knew that if she practiced harder next year she would make it back on the team. No, what angered her so much was that they didn't even ask me why I wanted to play soccer specifically. They just assumed I wouldn't work hard enough or something. I've been practicing for months! What did they expect?

She sighed and stared at the ceiling again. She felt like a little kid again, when she used to have terrible nightmares that made her wake up crying in the middle of the night. Whenever that happened, her mom would come in and talk with her until she fell asleep again. Even though her mom wasn't here right now, Lily felt like giving into tears anyway because of all the confusing emotions inside of her right now.

Lily closed her eyes and tried to think of something else, anything other than football or soccer or softball or any sport at all. But no matter how hard she tried, nothing else came to mind besides those exact topics. She clenched the blanket underneath her hands into fists and growled angrily as she peaked one eye open again to stare at the blank wall across from her bed instead of the ceiling above it.

Then something caught Lily's eye from across the room. It was a bookcase filled with books belonging to both of her parents as well as a few old textbooks from when Lily's dad went to college at State University years ago. And sitting in between some dusty textbooks on top of that bookcase was a leather-bound book titled "The Witch's Handbook" in calligraphy letters written across its cover in gold letters that were slightly faded out after years of being handled by previous owners and settled on top of a stack of books of its own size under another book titled "A Guide To A Good Marriage."

As Lily stared at the book curiously, an idea suddenly popped into her head that made shivers travel down the back of her neck: maybe there is some kind of magic inside the book! Maybe whoever owned it before my parents left it here for some reason! Maybe my parents don't know about it! Maybe if I read through its pages I could learn some kind of spell that could give me whatever I want!

Lily started feeling excited about this possibility as it sounded more and more realistic as every thought passed through her mind until finally...she just couldn't take it anymore! She had to look inside! Gently turning herself over onto one side so as not to wake anybody else up (which wasn't easy considering how heavy her blankets were), Lily crawled out from under those blankets until finally she was kneeling near the edge of her bed where she could see almost everything in front of her without having to get up completely off the bed like before when she saw the book on top of its bookshelf, which would make too much noise once she stood up.

Carefully lifting herself back onto all fours, Lily scooted closer towards one side where she could put both knees against either side of a corner wall next to where she was originally lying down on top of the blanket in a way that allowed most of her body to dangle off the edge towards where she wanted to go without having to stand up (which would've woken anyone else up). After making sure no one else heard anything due to silence filling up their whole room after moving around so much, Lily lifted herself one last time and started crawling towards where she saw that mysterious book on top of its shelf earlier which seemed even more mysterious now after what felt like ages since first spotting it out of curiosity alone although really only felt like seconds since first spotting it and wanting desperately just pry open its cover and read through all its pages despite having never even seen it before today nor knowing who owned it or why they left it behind either but still...something made Lily feel like opening this thing tonight before going back up into bed again and trying again tomorrow night if need be after asking permission from someone older who might know more about this thing than just how dusty it looked or what age group owned it previously before deciding whether or not to read through its pages...and then...it happened! At last...her fingers reached out towards where they saw this mysterious object sitting inside a familiar wooden shelf wrapped around three sides with books covering most but not all sides! The feeling surging through Lily's body right now was unlike anything she'd ever felt before, especially considering how nervous she felt reaching out for something new yet somehow familiar at once, almost like seeing a long-lost friend you haven't seen since elementary school yet still feel connected somehow despite years apart...but wait...what's this?! All these weird bumps around this thing? What are these bumps doing here? Why does each bump feel bigger than others? And why does each bump have something sticking up out? These are questions racing through Lily's mind faster than ever right now but right now there are other things more important than answering them because those questions will have answers soon enough once Lily opens this thing if only she can figure out how exactly! There's one bump here...and two bumps there...and three bumps there over there and four bumps over *there* where *there* should be five bumps instead yet there are only four plus...wait...what is this?! There's one bump missing altogether?! How did this happen?! Where did this bump go?! There *should* be five bumps plus an extra extra small bump besides them all yet there are only four plus that *extra small* bump missing altogether?! What happened here?! How did this thing end up like this?! Shouldn't there be six bumps here instead plus an extra extra small bump besides them all but instead there are only five plus no sixth bump whatsoever?! Something isn't right here!!! This isn't normal!!! Nothing about any part about this situation is normal!!! This can't be real!!! This has got to be fake!!! Right???? Right????? RIGHT???????