I needed that today.”
“You should totally do a kissing booth.”
I look up from the worksheet my chemistry teacher gave me, one that’s making my head throb.
I look over at Brendon, sitting across from me at our lunch table. “What?”
“Kissing booth,” he says smugly. “All money raised goes to your charity.”
I shake my head. “I’m not doing a kissing booth.”
“Oh come on! I saw it on that movie.”
“No one is going to want to be in a kissing booth.”
“I disagree,” he states, looking around at the rest of our friends. “We could do it.”
Not everyone looks like they agree with him on that.
“You’d make heaps of money.” They’ve all been coming up with ideas over the last couple of days. It’s sweet, actually, that they want to help me.
I can’t help smirking. “Because everyone’s dying to kiss you?”
“Well you wanted to do more than just kiss me on Saturday night.”
Touché.
“Shut up,” I mutter, my face burning as he smirks over at me. He’s never going to let me live that down.
“You know, you could do some kind of auction,” Chase says, sitting forward. “And sell off stuff.”
“Auction? Sell what?”
“Well, I don’t know…a date with Brendon or Aaron or Jen or anyone else.”
“Huh?”
He rolls his eyes like I’m being incredibly annoying. “Come on, Abigail, focus! You need money for your charity. Have you even thought about how you’re gonna raise money?”
“Uh…well…”
It’s all the answer he needs.
“I’m doing the bake sale,” I say feebly.
“You’re gonna need more than that.”
He’s right.
“We could set up an auction where people can bid to win stuff.”
“We could?”
“Yeah, it’d be a big money-raiser.”
“They’d win dates?”
“Not just dates. You could auction off an outfit in your wardrobe. Anything you want.”
Sasha jumps in excitedly. “Or you doing someone’s makeup. You’re so good at it. You could do someone’s makeup for a date or for prom or something. That’s such a good idea.”
Aaron pipes up next. “I could auction off the chance to use one of my dad’s cars for the day.” His dad has a bunch of dealerships and has some incredible cars of his own. It’s his passion. If he’d do that, I’m sure a bunch of people would be interested.
“You’d do that?”
“Of course.”
“How would it even work with insurance?”
He shrugs. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Wow. Okay, thanks.”
Everyone else starts jumping in with offers. Jennifer (who is obsessed with fitness) offers to train someone for a month, Jackson offers up soccer tickets to our local professional team, and someone else offers vouchers to their parents’ restaurant.
Honestly, it’s shocking how helpful everyone is being.
“But where will we do the auction?” I ask. It’s all good and well thinking of ideas, but to be totally honest, it sounds like a lot of work, especially when I’m supposed to be studying.
“We can have it at my house,” Chase instantly offers.
I look at him skeptically. “Your house?”
“Why not? It’s not like my parents will be there.”
That’s true. While Chase’s parents rival mine in terms of their shitty-ness, at least they just leave him to it and hardly bother him. They travel more than anyone I’ve ever known.
“I just…”
He waits for me to figure out what I want to say.
“I just…I don’t think I’ll have time to plan everything.”
“I’ll do it.”
I gape at him. “You don’t have to do that.”
“No, seriously, I’ll figure it all out,” he says, like it’s not a big deal. “Let me help you.”
The look on his face tells me he’s deadly serious.
“Are you sure?”
“I meant it, Abbie—I’m not graduating without you. You concentrate on studying and pulling your grades up and leave this to me.”
“I can help too,” says Aaron, and there are general murmurs of agreement from around us.
I actually think I might burst into tears.
“How about two weeks on Saturday?”
I nod, too overwhelmed by his offer to speak.
He grins at me, picks up his phone, and leans over, instructing Brendon to pose for a picture (which he readily does). Then he starts typing away on his phone while the rest of us watch him. I glance over at Sasha, who just shrugs at me. Eventually he puts his phone down and smiles at me. “Done.” I’m confused. “Check your phone.”
I do as he says and see that he’s tagged me in a post on social media: On Saturday 28th I’m throwing a party at my place. Everyone welcome, $15 entry, all money goes to @AbigailBaK3r chosen charity. See you there.
I click through to his next story, and it’s Brendon’s picture. Bring your money because we’re doing an auction,