Chapter 30

Life Goes On

I decided that it wasn’t worth waiting for Samina. Barnswell was being demolished in two weeks and I could do something about it, or at least I thought I could. I just had to check with the Magic 8 Ball first. “Should I try to save Barnswell?” I asked it.

Without a doubt.

Hope is a strange thing. Just when you think you’ve lost it, you find it in the most unexpected of places. And once you have hope, you have determination, and once you have determination, you have power. I had a shocking realization of how much power I had that night and I rushed to Barnswell to get started.

As I ran, I thought about the project. What would I have to do to convince the city council to not tear down Barnswell? Petitions, probably. I would have to do some fundraising as well. But how do I do that? Samina would know. She would probably have some super-creative idea that would accomplish all of this. As for me, all I knew how to do was play around with computers and let fate make my decisions. The task seemed practically impossible but the Magic 8 Ball said I could do it, so maybe I could.

I approached Barnswell and looked over the building. I didn’t understand why anyone would want to demolish it. Barnswell was beautiful in its own bizarre way. The red bricks and overgrown bushes weren’t exactly cool or interesting, but the building’s simple, old-fashioned design gave it an appeal that the new library didn’t have.

I swung open the door. Mrs. Vandertramp was sitting at her desk filling out paperwork. “Hello Isabelle,” she said.

“Hi Mrs. Vandertramp,” I said. “How much money did they need to fix this building again?”

“One hundred thousand dollars,” she stated.

“And if I manage to get that much by February 12th, they won’t close Barnswell?”

“I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t keep it open if they have the money.”

“Great!” I exclaimed.

One hundred thousand dollars was a lot of money, maybe too much money for a fourteen-year-old to raise. But I had managed to get 30 million views on YouTube, how much harder could raising money be? With the help of my Magic 8 Ball, I came up with a plan:

1. Ask local businesses to donate to my cause.

2. See how much money I get.

3. Figure out a different plan.

I was drawing a blank. If I didn’t come up with better ideas, Barnswell was doomed. But ideas weren’t my thing. I was better at executing ideas once I came up with them. Ideas were Samina’s thing. Why couldn’t I be good at things? There were a lot of things about life I didn’t understand.

I got started on writing a letter to Calypso Coffee, a successful coffee shop in my neighborhood, asking them to donate. I also started making flyers, but the artwork was terrible. “Should I stay?” I asked the Magic 8 Ball.

My sources say no.

I ran out of Barnswell, leaving my flyers scattered across a leather armchair. “Will I be able to finish this?” I asked the Magic 8 Ball.

Cannot predict now.

What a stupid answer. The Magic 8 Ball is supposed to answer my questions, not give me cryptic statements like “cannot predict now.” I’ll just have to ask it again later. I shoved the Magic 8 Ball deep in my pocket and ran the rest of the way home.

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A/N: Will be gone for another week after this. I'll be back to regular updates after that though. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the previous chapter. :)