But once this auction is over, and I’ve beaten Victoria once and for all, I’ll finally be able to rest.
At least, a bit.
I get cleaned up and dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater and head to the boys’ rooms to wake them up. I wish I could wake up with them, but since Dana came back and Blair got thrown out by the monitor, that doesn’t happen very often.
With Wills and Blair in tow, we head to a big storage unit on campus. We had to request it specifically once the donations started pouring in, since it took all of one afternoon to run out of space in the dorm room. Not even the boys have seen everything that’s come in for the auction under my name, so they both gape when the huge door is slid open all the way and they can see the treasure trove before us.
“Obviously not everything is here …” I tell them with my hands on my hips as I take it all in. “The really big stuff will be delivered directly to the winners of the auction so we don’t have to store it here at the school.”
“How in the world did you get all this?” Blair asks, staring at the mountain of things before us.
“I asked for it. It turns out I have a lot of connections. Who knew. Well … my uncle knew, I guess.” I’m giddy, and I don’t care. I’m too happy to care.
“So, we’re going to take all of this into the gym and set it up?” Wills asks with wide eyes.
“Yes please.” I give him the special smile that’s just his. He blushes and grins back at me.
“Let’s get to work then!” he says, walking into the space. Leave it to Wills not to balk at the near-impossible task.
“They’ve given us a forklift and the big door to the gym is open for us,” I tell him.
We work together and load the forklift, ride it together to the gym, and unload it. There are tables set up all over the gym, but as requested, I have a bigger section than most. No one else is even in the gym, except the maintenance man who opened the door for us. He helps us unload, and we go back for two more trips before we’ve got it all together.
With all of it unloaded into three big piles in the gym, we take a break for breakfast and meet Dana and Laura in the dining hall. They really took their time getting ready, and neither of them look anxious to get out and help move boxes.
Well too bad. I’ll rope them in somehow.
“How much did you get if you need all of us to help you?” Laura asks curiously, when I ask them if they’re going to join us after breakfast.
The boys groan and shake their heads.
“It’s ridiculous,” Blair says with a chuckle.
“It’s about five times more than this school has ever seen for this auction, I’d be willing to bet. It’s going to take all of us the whole morning to do it,” Wills adds.
Dana is glowing with pride for me. “You’re going to own this event for the rest of eternity. No one is ever going to be able to top this.”
“Want to bet?” Victoria asks coldly, coming up behind Dana. “I’ve sold all my dinner tickets already. I have wanted to win this since I came to school here, and I’m going to win it.”
The boys both bust out laughing at her, and she just stares at them. Astor walks up beside Victoria and his eyes linger on me a long moment before he looks at Wills and Blair. That shuts them up. They share a moody silence, and he looks away from them.
“Let’s go, Victoria.”
“That’s Queen Victoria, darling.” She smirks at us. “Kind of has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
I can’t help but laugh as well, and she walks away smugly, certain that she has the auction in the bag. The boys and I share a grin, and we all finish our breakfast.
When we walk back into the gym, Victoria is standing in front of the three piles, staring at them. We all walk up to the collection and she turns and frowns at us.
“What’s all this?”
“Oh this?” I say nonchalantly, waving at all of it, “This is what I’ve collected for the auction.”
Victoria’s mouth falls open, and even Astor, who is standing at her side, stares in shock. “All of this is yours?”
All the time she was campaigning for the vote, I was focusing on the auction. Winning the theme was just the cherry on top.
I tilt my head to one side and put a hand on my hip. “No, you’re right. It’s not all here. It’s everything you see here, but there’s a lot more that’s not here; the car, the truck, there’s a boat, a four-wheeler …” I look up as if I’m trying to remember it all.