The Dating Game

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Juliet

Because of my little declaration to all of the students and teachers and gaining more volunteers, the gardening part of the charity event was now complete.

But we were still coming to school – for those who were involved in the charity event now, anyway.

The trees were only small, but they were still towering over the plants. We had planted some seeds, too, so it might be awhile before they bloom. We hope to have them bloom by the summer so it'll attract more parents and make them want to send their children here for high school. Soon-to-be freshman's parents will visit the school on a mini open day the school organises.

But I had come up with another idea to add to Justin's garden suggestion. Although the garden was good and refreshing to the school which didn't consist of many gardens, anyway, I had thought of a way to engage a lot more teenagers. And right now, in front of the group of those who had come to volunteer, I was about to announce it. Albeit, I was surprised to have gotten more than a hundred students involved in this without proclaiming what the idea was, I wasn't shocked to see Rachel and her band of merry followers weren't present. Instead, Justin's old friends were and it made me wonder if this would be the way that they could make it up to one another.

Standing on the podium in the main school hall – because this was the best way to be both heard and seen because I am five foot two as Justin pointed out to me earlier today – I said, "My charity event idea is to have a sponsored game day. We're going to have consoles in in room like Nintendo Wii's and PlayStation's and Nintendo DS's, and then outside, we're going to have some games and also utilise the sports hall. We could have games of basketball, baseball, netball, soccer, football..."

Silence filled the room.

"What does everyone think?"

Tentatively, a hand was raised a few moments later. It was a male and he was quite tall. I recognised him as Ryan, but he dropped his hand quickly. He said clearly and confidently, "My group can help with the boys' sports outside and in the hall considering collectively we're on all of those teams."

I nodded, smiling him on. "Thank you."

A few of the boys in his group looked round at him, and even Justin who was stood at the front of the crowd craned his neck round to get a good glimpse of the group. Beth and Michelle just turned to one another in shock but then back at me.

"What about the girls' sports?"

A girl from the back of the room spoke up. "Me and my friends can do it. I'm captain of the netball team, anyway."

"Okay, thank you. Now we need to discuss the consoles..."

After that, several of the guys were volunteering to lend their consoles to the school for a day. At the end, Mr. Beckley even announced that if the day was a success, he'd keep up the tradition and have them periodically throughout the year. Of course, there is just a small fee for the game day for those who will want to partake, but it involves team-working and bringing people closer.

And now, it was just planning everything, stationing everyone in adequate places and advertising it all over town.

***

Nearly a week later, the day had arrived for the games day.

It was on a Saturday and the school was exclusively open for this day. We'd managed to tell about ninety percent of the community about the day and the majority seemed more than thrilled to participate in the day and help raise the money for Heeling Hearts Foundation. Even those who volunteered to help with us were going to pay a little to the charity.

I still had to go to the hospital, but I wasn't hospital-bound anymore. Permitted to live back at home with surveillance and a nurse regularly visiting (or under strict instruction that if something goes drastically wrong, I am to be sent to the hospital straight away), I was more than abusing the situation. I felt liberated to not have to be bound to the hospital and live there, stuck in that room that smelt of disinfectant and a diverse mix of cleaning products. The aroma of nicely-cooked food could be smelt from the corridor and café, but the stench of what I was served made me feel sick.

So back at the school, standing on the podium where our first lot of the community were here to play the games. They weren't coming in groups, but these were the ones who had arrived early in the morning, first thing.

"Thank you for those who have come for the games day, and thank you for donating to Heeling Hearts Foundation, as well. We hope you enjoy your day today and we hope today is a success so we can have more charity events just like this in the future," I announced.

Everyone clapped as I got off the stage and wandered down the steps straight to Justin. He chuckled as I buried my face in his chest and Beth and Michelle continued the clapping. Wrapping his arms around me, Mr. Beckley took to the stage. He had such a broad grin on his face that it seemed almost crooked.

"All I can say would reinforce Juliet's words. All I'd like to say is that I'd like the games to commence! We also have sports going on in the sports hall and outside. If you'd like to be escorted, please go up to the teachers at the edge of the room and they'll take you there." Some teachers had volunteered to help out, too. "Thank you, everyone!"

So that's how the day went. Even Justin got involved in the games outside and in the hall throughout the day. Though he didn't really speak a word to his old group of friends, he made sure everyone who had come from the community was having fun. He was getting so into it, he had to strip off his top at one point and many of the other guys from the school followed.

As a cool down, we set Justin to count the money. But this was also due to the fact that he was a lot higher in the academia-intellectual-status region than the rest of us. So, therefore, because he was the one who founded the whole charity event for the school, we let him present it to everyone. Some people stopped for the entire day (as we also served food for lunch, snacks and beverages throughout the day), but some had to leave but most arrived back in time for the speech at the end.

Mr. Beckley was up first with, "I would like to thank each and every one of you for coming today and making this day such a success that I am more than thrilled to say that there will be more days like this in the foreseeable future. And now, I would like to present to you, Justin Bieber, who had the initiative to begin this charity event for the school."

Everyone was already clapping when he announced that this would continue, but the clap intensified when Justin took to the stage. He walked with a natural swagger in his strides and his chin was held high, defining his jaw line. He smiled when he reached Mr. Beckley and shook his hand; they exchanged a few words before he stepped onto the podium. This time, he had his shirt on which I was merciful for because some of the girls didn't have much subtlety when staring at his abdomen.

"Thanks to everyone, today alone we have raised five hundred and twenty-eight dollars. Combined with the gardening event, we've raised seven hundred and fifty two dollars!"

There was so much cheering, clapping and elation running around in the room that there was no time or quietness to process or hear your own thoughts. Even Beth and Michelle were jumping around with me. Then Justin ran off the stage, wrapped his arms around me and picked me up, spinning me around.

Being selfless and helping others had only rewards. And this feeling which was a lot stronger than contentment was something I could definitely get used to.

Even in this moment, my heart condition and the inevitable future was forgotten about.

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Author's Note:

What did you guys think of the other charity event? And Ryan volunteered his group! Were you guys surprised about that? We're so close to the end of the story!! :(((

Thank you :) x