The next morning we decided to go early and stick posters for fundraising. There were other 10 participants from our college two teams among them were trolls so if we had any chance to gather funds we had to be quick and we had a lot of convincing ahead of us. I had already decided to stay back after college every day so I brought my DT uniform with me. With all this going on I also had to submit my business class assignment which I hadn't even started yet. I hardly had time to breathe which was good in a way it kept my thoughts occupied.

        We were given 15 days to collect funds and we wanted to collect maximum in less time so that Sam had time to get the dresses ready. Even Chloe agreed to help us. We all met at the gate. Brian and Grace carrying the flyers Sam carrying the things for setting up our stall and Joy with a huge banner. Eva with the money bank.

         We hurried inside and started sticking the posters wherever it was allowed. In the midst of it I saw a girl with chestnut hair, and green eye rushing towards us. She wore denim shorts and a water green top. Sam introduced us " Everyone this is our model Chloe and Chloe these are my buddies Joy, Brian, Eva, Grace, April, Ray, and Rose".

          We exchanged our greetings and got to work. I glanced at Chloe when she was sticking a poster. She would make a good model with her wavy hair, high cheekbones, and slender figure. As soon as she finished her poster she took a picture and typed. She saw me looking at her and replied
" For Instagram ". I smiled back and continued working. Our poster had Sam's picture with a slogan " Help me make our dream come true. Help me win for Winston high ". We finished and looked around we had gone far and wide to make the poster visible for everyone.

        Brian had already posted on various social media. We set up our modest stall. And laid a cover on the table. The banner hung above. The other participants had also started to arrange their stalls. We decided to take turns to pay attention to stall and to make calculations.

       Sam sat there first with Brian in and we set them up and left for our class. Both April and I were impatient for the class to finish. As soon as the bell rang we ran out. We went to our stall and Sam had her arms around herself, Brian looked angry but kept on patting Sam. We went there confused.

" What's wrong Sam?"

Brian pointed to one of the posters we both walked to get a closer look.

       Sam's face was blacked out in one the other one a mustache was drawn and nasty things we're written in each. Next to them I saw Charlotte's face plastered with "Let your favourite participant win " written in large words below that they had offered all the donors chance to attend the grand party. My blood boiled and I looked at the stall next to ours. Veronica had set her stall conveniently next to ours. She was smiling sweetly bribing people with a chance to attend their party. I could see people near our stall slowly migrating towards theirs. There were a few people still left and Veronica threatened them.

" You sure you want to waste your money on her, look no one is paying there why waste your money join us or you know what will happen if you don't ".

Brian looked at me helplessly.
" Veronica if you are so confident about winning why would you steal our funds?" I said with my fist rolled.

" I'm not stealing honey I'm just attracting them in my own way, and it's true too. How many funds have you gathered and look at your horrendous posters " she said laughing and Charlotte joined.

      Noah came from an end unknowingly my eyes turned to him for help. I couldn't gather all the funds by myself and I couldn't give her money other than what I earned it would break the rule dad had set and I would lose the bet, I would be forced to listen to dad. Doing anything to Veronica would only hamper our image and influence others to donate them, I also knew Charlotte would make a big deal of it and gain sympathy.

Noah saw what's going on he added 50 dollars in Charlotte's box and I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I expected him to understand.

Charlotte grumbled " Just 50, come on Noah ". Noah hunched his shoulders and Veronica glared at him as he moved towards our stall.
He smiled at me and put 50 dollars in our box too
Ashley shouted " Are you serious right now?"

" I just want the competition to be fair ". Noah replied and left.

          I could see people donating to other stalls. Charlotte stall had the maximum donation sand I knew donations from her friends would be enough to create 10 dresses. Our stall lay deserted. I could hear quiet sobs coming from Sam's chair as she hid her face. Ray and others started talking personally to people to come and donate some people even came but seeing the gazes of trolls turned back. No one dared to go against their will. As the day ended I saw Sam shrinking more and more despite our efforts we hadn't had a single donation after Noah. At the end of the day we all were disheartened if this went on gathering funds would be impossible. We all sat comforting Sam thinking out a way when M.rs Tucker the head of the managing team came. I saw the trolls behind them smirking. Sensing bad news we all stood up beside Sam.

" Committee has decided that 15 days is too long Students will be wasting a lot of time and efforts also it will lessen the time required for the actual making of dresses ". Sam shut her eyes dreading the next piece of news.

" So everyone will be given till tomorrow evening, after that no funds should be accepted all the best to all of you ".

" But ma'am two days are too less to gather funds enough to make three dresses " I cried out.

" The others don't seem to mind and the decision is final " she said.
Veronica came ahead " Poor Sam how will you make three dresses from just 50 dollars here a dollar use it well ".

       I glared angrily at her but it didn't affect her even a bit. Tears streamed through Sam's eyes and I couldn't help but feel devastated. Even after having a fortune I couldn't help my friend. What was the use of me being so rich?We all added as much as we could still the total came to only 150 dollars much less than what we expected. I saw to the next stall when Charlotte squealed " 4500 dollars Oh yeah baby and a whole day of tomorrow is remaining" looking at us.

They all came to us " what did your poster say ' make dreams come true ' ha as if ".

" Enough already " Ray shouted and they smirked and waives us off. We locked the fund box and were going out when Noah came.

" I'm sorry about what happened today, I know Veronica and Charlotte must be behind it all but I can't help in this they are my friends too. "

" Yeah it's ok Noah, "I said and we all left

         Sam was devastated, she had given up all hopes. We racked our brains to somehow get funds but the rules stopped us on every turn. We had to convince our batchmates that was the only way, but how. I tried to get as much tip as I could but the mere dollars would not be sufficient to help Sam I worked late till there was no customer left and so did Ray. Ray gathered all he could. I sat looking out of the window that night. Such games destiny plays. Here I am the heir of the huge fortune yet couldn't add a few hundred dollars for my friend's sake.

The next morning Sam called me excitement dripping from her voice
" Come to college now, something crazy happened ".

        I rushed and joined them. They were standing around a poster I looked to see Sam's brightest smile and " How long will you back down, how long will you be afraid, it's finally time to show that we are not weak, come ahead and let's prove what we can do together " written on the side. It was definitely better than our last poster and it sparked something inside us. I asked Sam who made these new posters.

"No one ".

" What do you mean no one ".

" She means none of us made them " Brian added.

" Then who, how, when?" I asked confused.

" None of us know " Joy said.
Grace noticed something and went near
" Guys, look " she said excitedly.
We all went near to see.
She pointed out Sam's jeans in the poster.

" What are you pointing at?" Eva asked.

"Wait," she said and removed her phone and took a picture. After zooming in and clearing it we finally saw what she was showing.

In the pocket area of Sam's jeans in the poster there was a familiar symbol. The symbol of Phoenix.
There's more Brian said focusing on to the corner of the picture. There in tiny letters, it was written ' By the way your posters were shitty so I took the liberty to make new ones '.
We heard another gasp coming from the back and we saw Rays shaking hand.

" What is it?" We all shouted at once.

         He had an envelope in his hand at the corner was the same symbol. We opened and saw a bunch of notes.
Grace almost fainted. We counted them. A total of 5000 dollars.
There was complete silence and then we started shouting like maniacs. We all had tried so hard and we had felt so helpless. I could still see the remnant of tears in Sam's eyes. The darkened eyes of Joy and Brain whom I knew must have worked throughout the night to gather as much as they could. Sam cried again but now with tears of happiness, we had more than enough money. The sparkle returned again. Everyone was happy I was lost in their smiles. I wanted to find the phoenix at any cost now. I wanted to thank the person for helping us out when even I couldn't find a way. I owed a lot to Mr. Phoenix. It was sometime after which I noticed the figure watching us all. He came ahead and a stab of pain went through my heart. I ran wanting to avoid him. Mark looked dangerously handsome today. I didn't know how to behave and I didn't want to be pulled again towards him. He followed me calling me out.

Irritated I turned and yelled " What do you want ?".

" Listen to me " he said holding my hand.

I pulled it immediately ignoring the tingles shooting up my arm.

" No I won't ". His eyes followed my action.

" We need to talk "he said firmly now.

" We don't need to talk, I refuse to be pulled into another one of your games "

" It's not a game " he said looking hurt.

" I don't care what it is but I don't want to be a part of it " his eyes smoldered me and I hated that even after being hurt I was pulled towards him.

" Please " he pleaded.

I forced myself to say " No Mark Not again " and walked back to my friends
Sam hugged me and I hugged her back " Look she said pointing towards the queue "

Veronica was still trying to lure but this time the crowd didn't budge. Guess the words of our savior had hit them hard.

We collected the funds thanking everyone. Sam's smile couldn't be any brighter. By the end of the day we had collected quite a lot.
Charlotte shouted that she had a total of 15000, no doubt from her rich friends.

We counted and we had 7000 I looked worried not knowing how we could match Charlotte. Sam came to me
" Why the long face ?".

" They have more than double of what we have ".

" Don't worry about that. We have enough. It's not just about the money it's also about the talent; I didn't expect we will have this much it will help us to add a lot of elements and it will let me work freely. God I'm happy".

We hugged and Grace shouted" I too want a hug" and joined.

" Me too " Eva called and
hugged.

" I'm not going to be left behind " April called.

" Group huggggg " Joy called comically and we all piled up hugging each other. We decided ed to celebrate and meet at April's house.

Mark came again " Rose "

I stepped aside " Mark can you let me be happy for once, you have humiliated me twice I don't want a third time "

Just then Noah came " Hey congrats, so about that date what say now that everything is solved would you like to come today "

I looked at Mark, his eyes screamed telling me to say no.

I gave Noah a big smile " Not today "
Mark looked relived and Noah looked disheartened.

" What about tomorrow?" I asked
And I saw Marks jaw ticking.
Noah looked at Mark and then at me and said " Great see you tomorrow then ".

Noah left and Mark pulled me towards him.
Everything around me faded. I could feel his heart beating under my touch and his jaw firmer and eyes furious than ever. I closed my eyes to stop my thoughts running wild seeing him like this.

" Are you rejecting me?" He asked his voice harsh.

" I guess I am " I said looking at the fiery blue eyes.