Shining Night Read online

  “Wow!” Emma shouted.

  “That’s so awesome!” Joey added.

  “Thank you so much!” Mom and I both reached out to hug her.

  “Praying for you guys! And you can pick up your shirts after 2:00 p.m. tomorrow.”

  “We will come right after church.”

  We each said thank you again and walked back out the big red metal door.

  All of us girls raced to the van and climbed in. “Open it! Mom, please, open it!”

  So Mom chuckled and ripped open the end of the envelope. There was light blue check in there with my name on it. I looked over Mom’s shoulder as she held it up. “Five thousand dollars!” I shouted, which eventually turned into a scream, and ended in a cry and tears of happiness.

  Emma, Joey, Savannah, and Mom all celebrated too.

  “They know God too! He really is helping us!” Joey squealed and Mom replied, “Yes, He is!”

  After such a fun and amazing day, I asked if my friends could sleep over and go to church with us in the morning. I didn’t want the celebration to end! Mom agreed and everyone called their parents to ask for permission.

  “What about our clothes? I don’t have any church clothes,” Joey asked quickly.

  “We are all about the same size. You can all wear some of mine!”

  That night before bed we turned my closet into a little boutique. Tossing shoes to each other, trying on skirts and pants while holding up matching shirts to see what looked best. Amber, Ansley, Ashton, and even Austin were the judges and guided our decisions for our Sunday morning attire.

  We woke up bright and early the next morning, dressed quickly, and made our way to church. Joey watched everything with her eyes wider than usual. She laughed, smiled, and read all the words to the songs off the screen so that she could sing along.

  After church, when Mom and Dad asked her what she thought, she couldn’t stop smiling. “I loved it! I’m going to pray that God helps my dad to come too!”

  I was just as happy about Joey’s excitement about church as I was with the large boxes of T-shirts we picked up after services.

  That night I prayed and thanked God for the donations, my family, and my friends.

  Chapter 13

  “One week left! One week left!” Emma chanted as she marched off the school bus and into the building. The weather had been hot and stormy lately and her hair was pulled up into one big curly ponytail and bounced with every word she shouted.

  Joey and I just shook our heads and followed her into the building.

  We saw Savannah standing in front of her locker as soon we turned down the hall. We all waved and rushed over to her.

  “Hey!” she greeted us.

  “One week left!” Emma chanted again.

  “Yes, that means we have a lot of work to do!” I said.

  Even though our to-do list pages were almost completely covered in checkmarks, there was still so much to do.

  “I’m not worried about it though. We just need to put some things on our calendar and get them all done before Saturday morning!”

  “We can do that at lunch. I think we need to add praying for good weather. Mom said the forecast is looking rainy—storms could be headed this way,” Savannah said just as the bell rang for the school day to begin.

  We piled into Ms. Blount’s classroom and said, “Good morning.”

  “This is a big week for you, ladies,” she said as we took our seats. “I asked Mr. Shipply to help with lunch this week so that I can meet with you in here. Be on time. We have a lot to get done.”

  Ms. Blount turned and welcomed everyone else to homeroom.

  The morning seemed extra-long, but it was eventually lunchtime, of course, so we did what we were told. We left our Spanish class, grabbed our lunches, and headed straight back to Ms. Blount’s room. She was waiting for us, and even though we weren’t late, it felt like it. So, we apologized anyway.

  Ms. Blount was sitting behind her desk and told each of us to pull up a chair. She started talking right away. “So, I met with Mr. Fraser this morning and . . .” She took a bite of her apple and chewed slowly. We sat on the edge of our seats waiting for her to finish. She held up one finger indicating that we needed to be patient.

  When she finished chewing, she started again. “Okay, I talked to Mr. Fraser. After the busy weekend of ticket sales, he said we have officially sold 1,452 tickets.”

  My mouth dropped open as wide as it could and I could not breathe.

  “No way!!” Joey shouted.

  Ms. Blount simply nodded her head, a pleased and proud expression on her face. “You ladies did a wonderful job advertising for this event. Well done.”

  We all could not stop giggling and celebrating Ms. Blount’s news.

  “So . . . I asked Mr. Shipply if he would draw a map of the field outside.” She reached in her drawer and pulled out a piece of construction paper with a pencil drawing of the outside of our school on it. “We need to look at this and decide how we to want to set everything up outside on the field.”

  She set the paper in the middle of the desk and told us to brainstorm. We each had a different opinion about where the two tents and the stage with its overhead structure should go, but after talking it through, we came to a decision. We placed little marks all over the drawing so that we would remember and be able to tell the people helping us set up.

  “Well,” Ms. Blount said as she wiped a few crumbs from her desk into her hands. “That’s about it for today. We will do this again every day this week just to make sure we have a good game plan for Saturday. Have you ladies assigned yourselves jobs yet, for the day of the event?”

  We looked at each other and back at her.

  “Uhhhhh . . .”

  “Oh, no. Okay, let’s do that quickly. Joey, I think you need to be a floater. That means you work out in the crowd and if people have questions or look confused you can help guide them to where they need to be. We have a lot of parent volunteers that agreed to help you with this too. Your energy, smile, and excitement will help everyone feel welcome and taken care of.”

  Next she turned to Emma. “Would you like to be the MC?”

  “The what?” Emma asked politely.

  “MC is another way of saying the host. Would you like to host the event? Welcome everyone, introduce Mallory Winston up on stage …”

  “YES! Of course!”

  “Savannah, I think you would be great at helping manage that sales tent of ours. Work with the volunteers to pass out the shirts to ticketholders and selling the others, keep all the sizes organized, find Lena and Mallory when it’s time for them to be on stage, etc. How’s that sound?”

  “Perfect. I was praying you didn’t ask me to be on the stage! I like working behind the scenes.”

  Ms. Blount smiled just a little. She knew us all pretty well.

  “Lena, you can talk to Mallory about the best way to do this, but you both need to thank everyone for coming, tell the story behind the event, and share why you felt the need to do this. Okay?”

  “Yes!”

  Just then the bell rang. “Okay, clean up your places and get ready for your next class. We will talk more tomorrow. Be on time.”

  We each hopped up and did exactly what we were told. I was grateful for all of Ms. Blount’s help and I was starting to really like being around her. When I told Savannah, Emma, and Joey that, they all laughed and agreed.

  “She must like teaching middle school better!” Emma said.

  “Yeah, she wasn’t that nice when she taught at our old school.” I turned and spoke directly to Joey.

  Savannah interrupted us and said, “Well, maybe we just didn’t take the time to notice. I think sometimes we thought she was being mean when she wasn’t really. I like her.”

  I had to agree. “Good point, Savannah. Good point.” I patted her on the shoulder and scurried past her. I was feeling extra energetic and wanted to let a little of it out before class.

  Chapter 14

>   Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday zoomed by and somehow I managed to stay focused during math, history, science, and all of my other classes. Every night I made sure I thanked God for helping me to do that.

  On Thursday afternoon Mr. Fraser and Mr. Shipply joined our lunch meeting with Ms. Blount. They looked over all of our plans and notes for the big day. Mr. Fraser read the program out loud to make sure everything sounded good. Once he approved we quickly moved onto the short list of tasks that still needed to be accomplished.

  “Someone needs to be here Saturday morning when the rental company comes to set up the tents and Mallory’s crew comes to put the stage up. Have you already asked anyone to do that?” Mr. Fraser asked.

  “Yes! My mom and dad will be here,” I answered. “Also a few other parents offered to be on stand-by.”

  “And Mallory will come for a sound check three hours before the event starts to make sure everything is set up properly for her,” Joey answered.

  Mr. Fraser looked impressed with the details we were able to offer. Then he scanned the list to see what else was missing.

  “Mr. Shipply? Do you have anything to add?”

  “Uh, yes.” Mr. Shipply cleared his throat a little. “We need to organize the tickets so that we have a color system that matches with the shirts they get. I can help you ladies do that on Friday—tomorrow evening. We can meet right after school.”

  “Uh-oh,” Savannah said.

  “Ohhh, yeah,” Joey mumbled.

  “Track. We have track,” Emma finished each of their thoughts.

  Mr. Shipply shifted a little in his seat while he thought of a way to make it work.

  “Well, Lena, can you be here? Ms. Blount will be here as well. It would be nice to have as many hands on deck as possible.”

  “I can come. I am sure I can bring my sisters, Amber, Ansley, and Ashton too. They have been a part of the team and would love to help more, I’m sure! I could bring my dog . . . but . . .”

  Emma let out one of her loud hardy laughs. “Austin would be a disaster! He may not be helpful but he would make everyone laugh!”

  Mr. Shipply smiled at Emma’s contagious laughter. “Okay, well, let’s leave the dog home, but ask your mom to bring your sisters. And tell them to come ready to work!”

  I was a little disappointed that Savannah, Emma, and Joey would not be able to join us but I knew that my sisters would love being able to help too.

  After the meeting, Savannah stood up and came right over to me. “I am really sorry, Lena. I know Friday is a big night with a lot to do. I am sorry we can’t be here.”

  “Do you think we should miss track practice?” Joey asked.

  “We can’t. Not if we want a good shot at making the track team. Remember, coach said he needed to see how serious we were?”

  I tried not to look too disappointed. “It’s okay, guys. I wouldn’t want you to miss it! I know you would if you could, but we will be fine!”

  I knew that asking them to skip practice would not have been fair. They had spent just as much time planning this event as I had and they didn’t even know Caroline. I was grateful for all they had done.

  “I’m sure my mom will bring us all early Saturday morning so that we can finish everything else!” Savannah attempted to change the discussion to something more positive.

  “What time is Mallory coming?” Joey asked. “I don’t want to be all sweaty when I meet her!”

  “Well, anything’s better than when I met her the first time—I had gum in my hair!”

  “Ohhhh, yeah!!” Emma remembered hearing the story. “That must have been totally embarrassing. But it shows how nice she really is because she’s still your friend!”

  After that, Joey had many questions about how I actually got the part in the movie and what it was like to meet Mallory. I used our last few minutes before math to tell her about it. I had been so busy planning the event that I really had forgotten about it. No one really treated me differently anymore and it had been a long time since anyone asked me for an autograph. Emma said that was only because I was spending all of my time in Ms. Blount’s classroom.

  “Good point, Emma. Good point.”

  We all laughed and sprinted to class.

  When I finally made it home, the first thing I did was find my sisters to tell them that I needed their help. “Ansley!” I called out, and they all came running to greet me at the door like I knew they would. “Guys, I need your help.”

  They all leaned in close and waited to hear what I needed them to do. I told them what Mr. Shipply had told us at our lunch meeting and watched as their faces brightened.

  “Can we have a shirt?!” Amber was so tickled she could barely stand still.

  “Of course,” Mom approved from in the kitchen. “Okay now, ladies. Let’s get your homework done and get ready for dinner—taco soup!”

  “YES!” I shouted and scurried off as fast as I could.

  At the end of the day, I pulled out my little black notebook and looked over my messy pages of checkmarks. I also pulled out the calendar and schedule Dad had created for me and smiled. There were so many dates that had passed and somehow we’d managed to accomplish what we planned to do.

  Now all I needed was to force myself to sleep. This day had been filled with so many wonderful things. I fell asleep with a smile plastered across my face.

  Chapter 15

  “One more day! One more day!” Emma chanted every chance she got. On the bus, walking down the hall, waiting for class to start, and before our lunch meeting. She didn’t stop until Ms. Blount walked into the room.

  “Nice to see you ladies on time today,” she said as her long dress swooshed across the floor.

  Ms. Blount took her seat at the table and looked at each us. “I don’t believe I have ever been prouder of a group of students.” The little creases in the corner of her eye started to moisten. She inhaled and held the tears in.

  We all just sat quietly. We had never seen Ms. Blount show emotion like this, and listening to her tell us how proud of us she was really meant a lot.

  “I have loved every moment of watching you learn, persevere, and work so hard for someone else. I don’t know how much money you will end up raising tomorrow, but I want you to know that the work you have done and the example you set for your peers and your school are priceless. You remind me so much of Bethany Pickney, Andrew Tatem, and Suzanne Stephens. I cannot wait to see what other amazing things you girls do for those around you.”

  Ms. Blount finally let herself smile. It was soft and pretty. Her lips curled just a little in the corners and her top lip rested on her two front teeth.

  I could hear a few sniffles coming from Emma. Her sniffles were just as contagious as her smile, and we each tried to hold back our tears but we just couldn’t.

  Ms. Blount cleared her throat and waited a few seconds before reaching into her bag and pulling out her lunch. “Let’s eat, girls. There are still many things to discuss before tomorrow.”

  Ms. Blount may have been right but we couldn’t think of any. Everything seemed to be in place and ready to go. Our brains were ready for a break.

  So while we ate, we talked a little bit about Saturday morning and a lot about Mallory Winston. Ms. Blount did not know any of her music so Emma and Joey attempted to sing a few of their favorites. Ms. Blount listened but no matter how hard they tried or how silly they sounded they could not get another smile from her. It didn’t matter though because we all knew she was happy on the inside.

  As we were finishing up our last lunch meeting, Ms. Blount had one more thing. “Girls, we had the screen printer design special T-shirts for you and the rest of the volunteers. Let me get yours.”

  She stood and went to her desk where a stack of colorful T-shirts were neatly folded and waiting. Each was a different color and ours were extra special. While all the T-shirts for the volunteers had STAFF printed across the backs, ours had our names on them as well! These were T-shirts we would all keep for a
very long time.

  After school, Emma, Savannah, and Joey apologized again for not being able to help Mr. Shipply and me with the shirts. “It’s okay, guys!” I promised them and told them to have fun.

  As I watched them rush off to track practice, I felt a tiny lump form in my throat. I wasn’t sure if it was because I wanted to run track or just because I wanted to be with my friends. I shook my head and tried to focus my attention on how important and how much fun our weekend was going to be.

  I waited in the office for Mom to arrive with my sisters. When I saw them walking up from the parking lot in their gym shorts and mismatched T-shirts I smiled. When I looked closer, I realized they were all wearing shorts and shirts that used to be mine. Ansley was wearing my favorite pair of royal blue shorts with little green circles on them and an orange T-shirt from my 5th grade spirit day. She was holding Ashton’s hand and skipping ahead of Mom and Amber. I jumped up to meet them at the door and led them straight to Mr. Shipply’s classroom.

  “Hello, Daniels girls and Mrs. Daniels.” He waved and flashed a jolly smile. Mom nudged them softly on the shoulders, and they each introduced themselves.

  When they saw the shirts their eyes widened and they were ready to work.

  Mr. Shipply gave us each very specific instructions, including Mom, and told us to get started. We moved boxes across the room to the wall near the door, ready to take out to the field in the morning. We also refolded shirts and stacked them by size to create a system to easily let people choose the family they wanted to show support for. Mr. Shipply told the girls to go and choose their T-shirts so that they could take them home and have them to wear in the morning. Ashton, Amber, and Ansley each chose the one with Caroline’s name going across the front. I had not talked to her since we first decided to help, and I could not wait to let her know how much we were able to accomplish for her in our community.

  After we finished with the T-shirts, Mr. Shipply asked Mom if we had time to go outside and take a final look at the set-up plan. He wanted to be extra sure that the plans were just right before everyone and everything started arriving in the morning. With the weather forecast the way it was, we were hoping the rain would hold off and that set-up would go without a hitch.