“Thirty!” “Thirty-five!” “Forty!” Then I spot her.

She’s about twenty feet behind Miranda, cleaning her fingernails with her teeth.

“Forty-five!” “Fifty!” “Fifty-two.” “Fifty-two?” interrupts the Booster queen.

“Well, this has been lively! And from the looks of this basket, well worth the —”

“Sixty!” “Sixty-two!” calls Shelly. Miranda scrambles around trying to beg money off her friends as Mrs. McClure calls, “Going once!”

But then Jenny stands up and bellows, “A hundred!” A hundred.

There’s a collective gasp, and then the entire student body turns and stares at Jenny.

“Well!” laughs Mrs. McClure. “We have a hundred! That is certainly an all-time record. And such a generous donation to the Boosters!”

I wanted to boost her, right off the stage. I was doomed. This was something I would never live down.

Then there’s this big commotion, and all of a sudden Shelly and Miranda are standing right next to each other calling,

“One-twenty-two… fifty! We’ll give you one-twenty-two fifty!”

“One hundred twenty-two dollars and fifty cents?” I thought the Booster queen was gonna polka.