by Eden Beck
“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.
“The set of two wave riders,” Wills adds with a grin. He reaches into his back pocket for his wallet and mimes pulling out a black card. “How much d’you think those’ll go for?”
“Oh yes. The wave riders. I forgot about those.” I give her an insincere half-smile. “I’d love to stay and chat, but we’ve got to get all of this set up. It’s a big night tonight, you know. Bye.”
I wave my fingers at her to shoo her away from the massive collection. She leaves in a furious huff and goes to the tables where she’s setting up her own donated items, and Astor stares at me intensely for a long moment before turning reluctantly to join her.
My friends and I spend the morning into the middle of the day setting up. When we’re finally done, it looks like a maze of wonder. There are beautiful antique pieces of furniture, paintings, sculptures, jewelry locked in glass cases, and crates of fine wines and champagnes that are older than our grandparents. All that and more. It’s quite a sight to see.
When it’s all done, we stand back and look at it, and it’s magnificent.
People have been coming in throughout the day to take a peek. As the day progresses the rumors take off and more and more people have been coming in just to see. All of them are amazed, including Dr. Baxter, who’s grinning like a kid in a candy store as he walks through all of it. Even the principal is already swearing he’ll win some of it and scrawling his name down on the auction lists.
I can’t help but look over at Victoria, who has long since finished setting up her table of donated items. Compared to mine, however, it’s underwhelming. She has things like box seats to a ballet, which I also have, though mine come with a backstage tour and dinner with the principal dancers. She also has a trip to the Bahamas, which I have as well, though mine is a month-long cruise that starts in the Bahamas, goes through the Mediterranean, and then ends in Australia and New Zealand.
Any other auction at any other school would be impressed with Victoria’s donations—but not this auction, and not this school. Not today. It’s as though everything she did comes up embarrassingly short compared to mine, and it’s obvious that it’s eating away at her.
We’re just about to leave when she marches up to me with her arms crossed over her chest.
“You know, the auction items only count if you got them yourself,” she snaps at me coldly, as she walks by. “I know you have some money now, and I’d be willing to bet that you paid someone to get all this for you. That doesn’t count.”
I laugh at her and shake my head. “Oh no, Victoria. I got all of this by asking people for it, but really, I have you to thank for that.”
Her eyebrow arches, but I continue.
“You see, when you murdered my father, I inherited all of his businesses. He’s got several of them, so while I was making the necessary rounds, meeting all the new boards and employees, and being introduced to all of the companies I now run, I asked for donations to this auction.”
I shrug and motion to the impressive turnout. “Everyone was basically falling all over themselves to donate to my charity. You know, get in good with the new boss. None of that would have happened if you hadn’t killed my father, so really … I have you to thank.”
“You’re unbelievable!” Victoria growls loudly at me. “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”
“Oh, I do. Did you see the Rembrandt over there? It’s next to the Chagall. Yeah. Right there. Don’t mind the three armed guards who are watching over all of this today. They’ll let you look at it, but just don’t touch.”
I purse my lips at her. “They’re under special orders to keep an eye on you … specifically.”
“I hate you!” she screams at me and stomps off out of the room.
Dana watches her go and slides her hand into my arm. “That may have been the most beautiful moment of my life.”
“It was certainly one of mine.” I answer her. “It’s not my fault that she didn’t read the fine print and see there wasn’t a cap on how much we could bring. Everyone just assumes it’s one table.” I turn to watch her go, and happen to see Astor out of the corner of my eye. He’s watching me again, and it tugs hard at my heart.
The way he looks at me has changed. He used to watch me with a hatred, then a hunger … now, it�
��s just sad.
I miss him so much, and I find myself wishing for the millionth time that he had chosen me over her. His eyes are locked on mine for a long moment, and then he sighs and his shoulders slump. Sliding one hand into his pocket, he looks away and walks from the room.
Blair leans in close to my ear and speaks in a soft voice. “He’s not over you, Teddy. He’s never gotten over you.”
I blink back a few tears and swallow the emotion that swells in my heart. How I wish that he’d been able to lay his prejudices aside when it really mattered.
With the auction ready to go, we all get lunch together and then head off on our separate ways to get ready for dinner. It’s going to be a big night, and we all want to look our best.
Going with the Valentine goddess theme, I wear a pretty, pink dress that flows around me like it’s moving on air. I don’t usually go for pink, but it was something Ellen picked out for me during the whole girl’s day out debacle.
It has spaghetti straps and a V-neckline, and I wear the new diamond necklace that Wills bought for me, along with the matching bracelet and earrings. The dress sculpts itself to my curves, but at mid-hip it swirls loose and light, almost like a cloud, to my calves. Even Dana tells me, when I turn around and show off the dress, that I look amazing.
The boys and Laura are at the door at half-past five, and we all walk over to the event together.
The way the school has it set up is that each item has a form before it, and anyone wishing to make a bid writes their name on a line and the amount they’re bidding on the piece. If anyone wants to increase the bid, they write their name on the next line, and the increased bid amount they’re willing to pay.
The auction goes through the evening, all the way up through the after-dinner entertainment. The school orchestra is performing some upbeat twenties jazz, and thanks to Dana, the drama club will be performing a brief play as well.
At nine, the auction ends, and whatever the last, highest bid is on each sheet for each item is the winning bid.
Our group walks around the whole auction, and we love seeing what’s been brought in. There are some interesting things, and even I put in a bid on a trip to Nice, France, thinking it might be nice for spring break if I were to win it. Not that I need to win.
I see Victoria hovering around her tables and encouraging people to bid on her things, or probably more accurately, dragging them over and begging them to bid. The girl has no shame. I ignore it; she has no idea just how hard she’s going to be brought down tonight, and I want to enjoy every moment of it.
Well, she might have some idea after she saw our turnout.
Finally, we head into the dinner and are seated at a long table. Not only did my aunt and uncle turn up, but so did both Will’s and Blair’s parents. Wills’ family even brought his three younger brothers along.
Each one of them is just another, smaller, equally well-dressed miniature version of Wills.
The dinner is so big that it has to be held outside in a massive heated tent, and even then, it’s crowded.
It lasts a long while, people coming and going the whole time, walking back and forth between the tent and the gym. It’s connected to the massive tent through a heated passageway. I resist the urge to go back to the auction several times and check to see what everything is bidding at, but the boys can’t stand the wait, and they each go and check a few times even though I don’t let myself.
They’re both so excited that they’re beaming at me.
“There’s a huge crowd of people around your things, and the bidding on them has gotten so aggressive that they’ve had to add new pages,” Wills says as soon as he comes back.
“And there are two more school guards there in addition to the ones you hired, just to watch everyone because there are so many people,” Blair adds, looking like the cat who ate the canary.
I laugh and kiss him. “Thank you for the update.”
I don’t bother to ask about how Victoria is doing. I have barely seen her in the dining tent at all, because she’s been parked at her tables almost nonstop. She’s scrambling to do all that she can, and I know it won’t be enough. At this point, she has to know it too. It’s sweet justice.
The end of the evening comes and the auction closes. Everyone comes into the dining tent with us and Dr. Baxter takes the microphone and addresses the crowd.
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. It’s wonderful to have you here at this special event; our annual Valentine’s auction and dinner.”
Both Wills and Blair reach for my hands and squeeze them in my lap.
“Your contributions and attendance tonight have made a tremendous difference to the coming year at Hawthorne Academy. I’d like to thank all of our seniors for their hard work in producing this event, in procuring the items up for auction this evening, and for selling out the dinner tonight. They are leaving a strong legacy for the classes of students coming up behind them.”
The boys squeeze my hands again as we listen to the principal and wait to hear who won the royalty for the dance. The principal is going over where the highest bidders can collect their items, either tonight after the auction, or they can arrange to have them picked up tomorrow.
“Now, off to what I am sure most of you are waiting for.”
We aren’t the only ones to lean in closer for what comes next.
Principal Baxter continues. “It is a tradition that for this event, whichever male and female student’s items made the most money for the school become the king and queen of the Valentine’s dance held here tomorrow. Before I announce those two winners, I must take a moment to acknowledge the extraordinary dedication and hard work of one of our students. This student has gone far above and beyond the expectations of the committee for this event, and of this school. Each senior who wished to participate was given a packet of ten tickets to sell to this evening’s dinner. Some students came back for a second packet of tickets, and one young lady came back for three.”
I feel my stomach tighten. I know what’s coming next, but that doesn’t stop me from growing restless.
“However, the student who sold the most seats to tonight’s dinner came back for more than two hundred tickets—a record that this school has never seen before. Because of her, we had to put up this tent, rather than host the dinner in the dining hall as we have in the past, so that we could accommodate everyone who wanted to come tonight. It is an unprecedented success, and this student must be honored for her outstanding achievement. Miss Teddy White, please stand.”
A thunderous roar of cheers and applause fills the air around me so greatly that it reverberates through my chest, and I can’t stand. I can’t move. I didn’t know that Dr. Baxter was going to call attention to me the way that he did. Everyone at our table is cheering so loudly, it drowns out the fact that he used my father’s name, not mine. I still hadn’t decided whether or not to take it.
In this moment, with that name spoken out over the loudspeaker announcing my success, I finally make up my mind. I’ll take the new name and everything that comes with it.
Every luxury, every challenge.
It’s part of my legacy, and I should embrace it.
Wills takes my arm and helps lift me to my feet. As I look around the room, everything goes a bit blurry as tears form in my eyes.
Just weeks ago, the students and teachers here at the school could barely stand to look at me.
I can barely stand, but with Wills’ and Blair’s help, I do, and I even manage to wave to the people around me. It’s a little while before everyone calms down and takes their seats again, and Dr. Baxter has to ask everyone three times before it’s finally quiet enough for him to continue.
“Now then, on to the highlight of the evening. I am delighted to announce the student winners of the auction competition, and the king and queen of the Valentine’s dance tomorrow. For the men in the school, the student whose auction items raised the most money at nearly two hundred thousand dollars, is Astor Hawthor
ne. Congratulations, Astor!”
I freeze in my seat as there’s another round of applause, and Astor stands. He’s looking like the king that he is, that he has always been, wearing a tuxedo and appearing almost as if he’s James Bond.
Shit. I forgot about the boys. I forgot who would be standing by my side.
I was so wrapped up in winning for myself, that I never thought to get Blair or Wills into the running.
That doesn’t stop Astor from looking beyond handsome in the dim light.
Victoria, at his side, doesn’t even make an effort to cheer him on. It’s plain to see that she has been crying, and she’s absolutely miserable. I’m happy to say she’s an ugly crier.
Dr. Baxter continues again. “Now, for the ladies. Our queen has raised a tremendous amount of money with what is unquestionably the best collection of auctioned items this school has ever seen. With her contributions, she raised a total of one million, two hundred thousand, nine hundred and twenty-seven dollars, to be exact.”
Gasps sound throughout the crowd. The auction items weren’t exactly listed out under who donated them, but I can tell from the way the audience is swiveling in their seats to peer at me again, they know what’s coming next.
Holy hell. I had no idea it would be that much.
I would’ve organized a charity fundraiser for myself years ago if I knew I could rake in that kind of money.
“I think it comes as no surprise when I introduce our Valentine’s queen, miss Teddy White.” Dr. Baxter is turning pink, he’s so happy. It’s not because of me, he still hates me of course, but the money might be starting to sway that opinion.
I feel a swell of pride and excitement rising in me as the room grows deafening again with adoration. I’m surprised when Astor is the first one in the room on his feet, looking at me and applauding, much to Victoria’s fury.
Everyone else is only half a heartbeat behind him, and I’m being hugged by so many people and congratulated all around to the point that it’s all a blur of love and joy. It is one of the happiest nights of my life for many reasons.