The Fundraiser

I zipped closed my puffy orange jacket and fidgeted with the zipper as I waited at the bus stop. I got here too early, I thought, glancing around for any other kids, but there were none. The early morning light reflected off the roofs of the houses along the street and made the puddles sparkle on the road.

The sound of laughter caught my attention, and I turned to see a group of kids my age walking over to the bus stop as they joked with each other. They were the neighbors’ kids across the street, but the people in my neighborhood generally kept to themselves. I never really saw them up close except when the whole neighborhood trick-or-treated.

“Wait, you’re the kid who won first place in the spelling bee, right?”

I turned and met the eyes of the redheaded girl in the group. “Oh, uh, yeah.”

“I watched the bee on the announcements. You were pretty sick!” the girl exclaimed, sticking her hand out. “I’m Daniella, you?’

“Holly,” I responded as I shook her hand. I’ve never met someone my age who actually shakes hands, I thought as Daniella turned back to her friends.

There was a screeching sound as the school bus turned the corner and stopped right in front of us. A couple of windows were open, which I was surprised to see, since it was quite chilly out. Some of the children had their faces pressed up against the glass, peering at me as I hopped onto the bus.

I stepped over the countless backpacks strewn in the aisle and found an empty seat toward the back. I slipped off my backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out my phone. I opened the friend group chat and caught myself up on all of the new messages.

I got bored of reading the messages and turned my attention to the seat across from me. Daniella and one of the other girls from our neighborhood were chatting excitedly about talking to Mr. Collins, the administrator at school.

Don’t you only need to talk to him when you’ve earned a detention? I wondered. Why are they so excited?

“Oo, and there could be popsicles and snow cones!” Daniella exclaimed, pulling out a mini notepad and jotting something down.

The other girl grinned. “My mom has a ton of gift cards for the local pizza place. Can you write down “pizza” too?”

The curiosity finally got to me, so I leaned over and asked, “Did you guys say something about pizza and snow cones?”

Daniella and the other girl, whose ID badge read Maricia Jacobs, turned to look at me. Daniella nodded and grinned, tapping her pen against the notepad. I squinted, trying to read her loopy cursive handwriting and failing.

“It’s kind of a secret,” Maricia said. “If we tell you, can you help us out?”

I paused. “Yeah, sure.”

Daniella, who was in the aisle seat, whispered, “We’re trying to put together a party for the whole school right before winter break. The snow cones and pizza are things we’re considering as a treat for everyone.”

I nodded, my mind floating to an image of a huge party with disco lights and the teachers doing the limbo. “Sounds super cool. So, you’re asking Mr. Collins to help you get started?”

Daniella and Maricia both gave me a thumbs up and pulled out their schedules. Maricia and Daniella pointed to their fifth period class which was English with Ms. Stolt.

“Holly, don’t you share fifth period with us, too?” Maricia asked. “We can do more planning then.”

We all nodded and high-fived each other. I never thought I’d be helping to plan a huge school party, I thought as the bus finally entered the Sandy Road Junior High School complex.

As soon as I stepped through the door and into Ms. Stolt’s English class, Daniella and Maricia ran over and pulled me into the seat next to theirs. Ms. Stolt generally gave us ten minutes at the beginning of class to catch up on any unfinished work and talk with our friends, so we used it as an opportunity to continue brainstorming.

Daniella was in charge of the snacks, Maricia planned out the time frame and was planning to organize the entire event, and I got started with making signs for the party. Once English class was over and everyone started to get packed up, we presented our idea to Ms. Stolt.

“Oh, how lovely,” said Ms. Stolt, looking over Daniella’s notepad. “I love the idea, but the biggest problem would be the funding. I’m not sure that the school can provide enough money for a hundred pizzas and can manage all those kids.”

I frowned and turned to look at Daniella and Maricia. “True.”

“Is there anything we can do to get funding?” Daniella asked with a desperate look in her eyes.

Ms. Stolt opened her mouth to respond, but the sound of the bell had us rushing to pack up our stuff and race out the door.

There was deafening silence between the three of us as we walked to our next classes until I finally spoke up.

“Why don’t we start some kind of fundraiser or ask for donations?” I proposed.

Daniella immediately perked up and grinned. “That’s a great idea! I’m really good at baking, so tomorrow I’ll bring in a few batches of cookies and sell them during lunch!”

***

The next day in the cafeteria, Daniella’s cookies turned out to be a huge hit. Within just a few minutes, all her batches were gone, and she was left with 50 dollars.

I walked over to her as she started packing up her cookie tins. “That wasn’t bad at all! By the way, I heard Maricia is speaking with Mr. Collins to find out what the budget is for the party. And, we decided we’re not going to have everyone in the school out at the same time. Instead, we’re going to do only one grade at a time.”

Suddenly, someone came running up behind us. Daniella and I whipped around and were surprised to see Maricia beaming with excitement. We let her catch her breath for a few moments, awaiting the good news.

“Mr. Collins said the most the school will spend is two hundred dollars, but we need at least nine hundred.”

“That’s a lot of money,” I said, with my eyebrows furrowing.

“No, wait, I have four hundred dollars from birthday money plus the money I’ve made babysitting,” Maricia said.

I suddenly remembered all of the money I’d received from relatives during Lunar New Year. “I have at least a hundred lying around, too.”

Daniella’s eyes lit up. “Perfect! If I can make more batches of cookies and sell them for the next two weeks, we might be able to do it!”

***

I was too excited to stand still at the bus stop the morning of the party, knowing that we’d get pizza, a special shoutout from Mr. Collins, and an entire day of fun right before winter break started. When I hopped on the bus, Maricia and Daniella were already waiting for me, and we chatted our heads off about how truly excited we were.

“Everyone in Ms. Stolt’s class, please head outside for your pizza party,” the woman over the P.A. said in the middle of our class watching Elf. Maricia, Daniella, and I walked outside with our arms linked and silly grins plastered on our faces.

“I’m glad we did this and actually got to know each other,” Maricia said, practically reading my mind. “Now, let’s go eat some pizza!”

“I can’t argue with that,” Daniella responded, and we dashed over to the venue together.