Lily Samson Timeline and Summary

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• Lily's father leaves when Lonnie is six and Lily is still in utero.
• Lonnie leaves home, causing Lily to have to take over many household responsibilities since her mom's at work all the time.
• Lily becomes disgruntled over her family's dysfunction and insecure about how different her life is from other girls.
• Concerned that she's too quickly becoming middle-aged, Lily decides to go against her sensible nature and fall in love with Daniel Steadman.
• Nan informs Lily that she's having an eightieth birthday party for Pop and wants him and Lonnie to make up.
• Lily takes the train to Toongabbie to talk to Lonnie about Nan's party and finds that he's in class. She discovers a piece of paper with Clara's name written on it over and over again and feels jealous that Lonnie has a girlfriend.
• Because Lily spills the beans about Clara to her mom, the news quickly travels to Nan and Pop.
• Lily stands up for a girl named Carol after Tracy Gilman insults her; she decides that Tracy may be popular, but she doesn't want to be like her.
• Desperate to get Daniel's attention, Lily buys an issue of Bestie for the purpose of reading an article about how to get guys to notice you. She realizes it's more about pretending to be someone you're not than actually accomplishing this goal.
• Lily joins the drama club as prompter for the school production of Hamlet so she can get closer to Daniel.
• Lily and Lonnie have a bunch of arguments related to Nan's party and Lonnie making up with Pop. Lily becomes more determined for the party to be a perfect day for her family.
• Daniel disappears from drama club and then school, causing Lily to think that he's left because he hates her. She throws an emotional tantrum over recent events and has a breakdown when she discovers she looks like Pop.
• After a talk with her mother, Lily reluctantly agrees to let Mrs. Nightingale come to the family party.
• On the way to Nan and Pop's for the weekend, Lily runs into Daniel while mailing some letters for her mom, and he asks her out on a date after play practice the next week.
• Lily and her mother learn that Mrs. Serafina Nightingale is actually Sef, Nan's (formerly imaginary) friend from the orphanage.
• Lily arrives at Nan and Pop's to find Clara trying on her great-grandmother's wedding dress and Pop getting along famously with everyone.
• The morning of the party, Lily's father calls from America, and she chooses to talk to him and call him "Dad."