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Chapter 2

Lily jumped up, a smile across her face. Michelle whistled loudly and 5 barking sealions caming flopping and sliding onto the stage.

"my babies!" Lily squealed. The lions waddled excitedly over to her. Lily knelt and they all adorned her with sloppy kisses.

"gross. Fish breath!" Lily giggled.

"gross is right," Chris muttered under his breath. JC elbowed him. He smiled as he watched the girl playfully push the animals away as she laughed.

Justin watched the girl as she wrestled with the lions and stuck her tongue out at them. She blew them raspberries and they'd return them. Justin laughed at the scene before him.

"hey, Lil. Why don’t you introduce them." Michelle said quietly. Dan had dived into the pool and was playing with the bottlenoses. Lily nodded and rose.

"Nsync, I would like you to meet my babies. These are Stellar's sea lions, they're native to the Cali coast as well as Mexico. If you've ever been down to the docks in San Fran, you might have seen these guys' wild counterparts. The ladies are Shelly, and Shelia, the guys are Seamore, Sam, and Oscar." Lily smiled. "and guys, this is Justin, JC, Lance, Joey, and Chris." Lily pointed to each of the band members. She lifted her hand and waved, the 5 lions each lifted a flipper and mimicked her. She blew the guys a kiss, and the lions repeated the gesture.

"That is so kool," Joey said, like a little kid. Justin smiled.

"think so?" Lily asked. She motioned for him to come to her. She grabbed a stool. She positioned Joey beside it. "Shelly, c'mere girl," she called. One of the lions rushed over to Lily. She patted the stool and Shelly jumped up on it. "give Joey a kiss on the cheek." she said. Joey laughed and turned his face. Shelly immediately kissed his cheek. The other lions all groaned and hid their face with a flipper. The guys errupted into laughter. "c'mon. You all can come over here," Lily said. The four remaining guys walked over and petted Shelly. The other 4 lions hobbled over, wanting to share the attention.

Justin immediately hit one knee. Lily was surprised. Most people were nervous and stiff around the lions. But these 5 were open and friendly. Especially Justin. He'd blow kissed to the lions and they'd blow kisses back and Shelia actually hobbled over and gave him a kiss.

"that is so kool," Michelle elbowed Lily.

"which part?" Lily asked. "the lions or the guys?"

"both. They all are friendly. Especially Justin. I think Shelia has a crush." Michelle said. Shelia was repeatedly sticking her tongue out at Justin and blowing him kisses. Lily laughed. After about five minutes she had to end the session.

"hey guys. Sorry, but playtime's over." Lily said. Nsync all groaned. "you'll play with them again. But you have a show tonight. I have to get you familiar with all the whales, the stage, the arena, and you have to rehearse." she said. She herded the lions off stage and Michelle took them to their pen.

"how long have you been working here?" Justin asked Lily as she carried two more buckets of fish onto the stage.

"this is my second year full time. But I've been working summers since i was 16." she offered.

"how old are you?" Justin pressed. Lily raised an eyebrow.

"don’t you know better than to ask a girl her age?" she shot back. Justin blushed. "i'm kidding. I'm 21." she said. Justin laughed.

"you're older than me." he said.

"by like 8 months," Lily retorted. I was born in June the year before you." she explained, off Justin's look.

"how long have you known the animals?" he changed the subject.

"i've known the lions since they were all about a month old. They're in their terrible twos right now." Lily joked.

"I've known Willy since he was first brought here about three years ago. He's 35 right now. They caught him off the coast of Alaska. Shamu has been here his whole life, he's 18. I grew up watching him. All the females were here when i arrived, most of them are about 26-27 Well, Kalina is the original baby shamu, she's 16. The other females are also rehabilitated wild.. And the baby was born two months ago. I got to watch her be born." Lily smiled. " Ebony, and Noire were born here. they're the pilots. E is 15 and Noire is 11. The falsies were brought here about four years ago. Well, we'd already had Smoky since she was born. He's about 12, his mother died about three years back. The other two, Bert and Ernie were brought here from the Sea World over in Texas. I've known them for about three years too. And the dolphins...well, Orlando and Starbuck are our main performance dolphins, they're all bottlenoses. Dolly and her calf Flipper, who's 3 months old, Darwin is 8, and Pebbles with her 2 month old calf BamBam." Lily said. "You'll meet them later." Lily set the buckets near the water's edge.

"now what?" Chris asked.

"i'm glad you asked that." Michelle skipped over to them. "If you gentlemen will follow me, i will lead you to your wetsuits."

"wetsuits?" Chris asked. "you’re kidding right?"

"nope. They're made just for you., compliments of Sea World, Orlando!" Michelle said in mock enthusiasm. She led the guys to the changing station. She walked back out after she got them situated. "they sure don’t talk a lot," she rolled her eyes.

"we're mere commoners, simple working-class folk, why waste their breath?" Lily said sarcastically. Michelle laughed.

"cuz, their lives are in our hands, thats why!" Michelle giggled. Lily laughed.

"hey, why don’t we have some fun while we're waiting. These whales haven't been played with all morning." Lily said and ran and dove into the icy tank water. She caught a ride on a falsie and rode over to Dan. "what's up Danny-boy?" Lily asked she let go of the falsie's fin and treaded water.

"Nothing much, what you got in mind?" Dan countered, reading Lily's thoughts. She smiled. She saw the five guys returning, all in wet suits. "oh no," Dan laughed.

"we'll do a kool stunt, then have three killers dive onto the stage. Make the popstars piss their pants." Lily said.

"you're evil," Dan shook his head. "But let's go." he smiled. Lily gave a low whistle and patted the water. Namu swam over to her.

"Think she'll do the job for both of us?" Lily asked. Dan raised an eyebrow. "it's the swan dive, only double." Lily explained. Dan laughed.

"she'll do fine." he said. Lily quickly made the gestures to namu. Namu clicked, then swam away and dove deep. "show time." Dan said. He and Lily drew deep breaths and dove.

"What are they doing?" Lance asked as Dan and Lily disappeared beneath the water.

"I'm afriad to know." Michelle said. "A stunt most likely. Lily loves to play with the whales. Looks like they've got Namu roped into this one." Michelle said. Suddenly Namu exploded from the center of the pool, Dan and Lily holding tightly onto eachother standing on the tip of her mouth. As Namu cleared the water completely, Dan and Lily launched off, doing perfect swan dives. They all three entered the water simultaneously. Dan and Lily surfaced and swam to the stage and jumped out. They both gave sharp, high whistles and seemed to wave the whales in towards them. "oh no. Lily!" Michelle scolded. Suddenly three killers dived onto the stage, Joey jumped back and fell over, the other guys all jumped back, Chris shouting a curse word. Lily and Dan tripped out. Michelle ran over and helped Joey up, trying not to laugh. Dan fed each killer a fish.

"Boys, may i introduce you to Shamu, Willy, and Jr., the bulls of the herd." Lily said. She walked over and stradled the center whale, by far the largest of the three. "This is Willy, he's a whopping 25 feet and weighs about 2 tons." She said, she patted his side lovingly.

"were you trying to give us a heart attack?!" Chris cried out. Dan laughed. "you coulda killed us!"

"no way. This guys wouldnt hurt a fly. They're the sweetest bunch of men this side of the equator." Lily said.

"C'mere and pet them," Michelle motioned the guys to come closer. As JC neared Willy, the whale dropped it's jaw open, revealing rows of sharp teeth. JC froze.

"he wants you to rub his tongue." Lily explained.

"no way. That's his mouth!" JC pointed. Lily climbed off Willy and walked over to JC.

"good observation Jace," she winked. She walked over and placed her hand in Willy's mouth. He played closed his mouth around her arm.

"oh my god it bit her arm off!" Chris cried out. Lily giggled. She flicked one of Willy's teeth and he reopened his mouth. She grabbed JC's arm and pulled him over to the huge whale.

"it's not that bad. honest." Lily said. She signaled Willy to keep his mouth open. Shamu and Jr. flopped back into the water and Willy wiggled a little but kept his mouth open. Lily reached out and took JC hand and slowly placed it in Willy's mouth. JC cautiously rubbed the whale's tongue. "see? nothing to it." she smiled. SHe saw a camera man. "Now for posterity's sake. You're fans'll flip." she said. She slowly closed Will'y mouth over JC's hand.

JC felt a small pressure, but nothing to big. He made a face for the camera and Lily pulled Willy's mouth open. SHe fed him a fish and he flopped back into the water.

"kool huh?" she asked. JC nodded.

"definately."

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