impressed you actually got here on time,” she said. “That’s got to be a record for you.”
It was obviously no secret that he had issues with punctuality. He changed the subject. “What class is that for?” he said.
“It’s not for class,” she said. “I thought it would help if I laid out our ideas on Bristol board. I’ll show youwhen we get inside. I don’t want it to get wet.”
Charlie held the door open, and then she pulled out her work.
“When did you have time for that?” he said. “It’s totally awesome.” Julia was a massive brainiac, so he knew he should not be surprised. Even still, he had spent all night playing video games, and now he felt a bit guilty.
“I finished up my homework early and whipped this off,” Julia said. “I figured it would help the committee. I had to make up some stuff, especially the costs. They will have to give us some money up front to rent the ice.”
“Looks good to me. You’ll blow them away,” Charlie said. It was a total understatement. He could spend two weeks on something like that and it wouldn’t look half as good.
She interrupted his thoughts by pointing at the cafeteria. “We should probably actually show them … ?”
“Right. Sure. In we go.”
Six students were sitting at a table near the stage.
“Hey, guys,” Dalton said. “Great to see you.”
“How are things going?” Charlie said.
He made a sour face. “We were hoping for a more enthusiastic turnout,” he said, looking around the empty room.
“It’s still early,” Julia said.
Dalton nodded. “Perhaps you’re right; and maybe more students will present tomorrow. Anyway, did you come up with some ideas?”
“We did,” Julia said. “I prepared this to make things easier to explain.” She held up the Bristol board.
“Can I see it?” Melissa said.
“I’ll hold it for you,” Charlie said to Julia.
“A few of us came up with two ideas,” Julia began. “First we thought it would be fun to have a movie night in the caf, show a double feature — maybe a zombie flick and a classic too. We found one about a dance contest, which is sort of like raising money — anyway, it’s a great movie, and we can sell popcorn and drinks and treats, and charge admission.”
“I see you want to charge fifteen dollars a ticket,” Melissa said. “I think that’s too much. I don’t think people will come. That’s more than going to a real theatre.”
“We could change it,” Julia said.
“Five dollars for a bag of popcorn,” a girl next to Melissa said. “That’s bit of a rip, no?”
“It’s good idea, A.J.,” Dalton said to her. “Like Julia said, we can always adjust the pricing.”
A.J. shrugged. “I like my idea for a pancake breakfast better,” she said. “People love breakfast.”
“We can do both,” Dalton said.
“We will also need the school’s permission. And we have to get a permit, and that’s not always easy. What if things get out of hand? We’ll need teachers to supervise, and they might not want to,” Melissa said.
Julia’s eyes narrowed and she looked over at Charlie.
“We can take care of the permit,” Charlie said. He had no idea how, but he had to say something. “And we’ll make sure there are lots of people around to organize things.”
“Like who?” Melissa said.
“Like … me … and Julia … and our friends … and we’ll ask some teachers.”
“You’re in grade ten, right?” A.J. said. She did not sound impressed.
Charlie nodded.
“This isn’t gonna work, Mel,” she said.
Julia kept at it. “As you can see here, we could raise between four and seven thousand dollars, and maybe more if …”
Melissa cut her off. “What’s your other idea?”
Julia stopped, took a breath and answered slowly, “We also thought that we could organize a skate-a-thon, at the Ice Palace or somewhere else in town. If kids get sponsored, and I’ve guessed fifteen dollars an hour, or something like that, we