Charity (4)

When I calmed down, I decided I had to do something for the children inside the orphanage. I had to find a way for them to get out of that place, someplace better than almost fighting to their deaths. I squeezed the edge of my skirt, feeling powerless, not knowing what to do.

I couldn't rely on Luke since it was his family's image and money. I doubted Luke would approve in the first place, the only thing I could do was to choose this place for the charity party. But at the same time, I didn't want to fund such a horrible place. The only way that I could lead the orphanage towards the image I wanted was to add conditions in how they use the money if it was possible.

"Do we donate the money directly to them without any conditions?" I asked Luke.

"Do we need to add conditions?" Luke appeared confused with a lifted eyebrow.

I sighed in relief as I was able to confirm we could add conditions to the money we donated. My mind felt clearer on the pathway I could follow while Luke didn't ask the reason for my question. Although I was powerless to make great changes, I could add some conditions to make their situation more bearable. I decided to come up with some ideas in drafting the document as I asked Luke, "Can we choose this place for the event?"

Luke glanced at both Shelly and Alex if they agreed. As I predicted, Shelly nodded to support my idea while Alex agreed since he didn't want to waste more time going to look around more places. I silently cheered inside my heart as Luke called for the teacher who stood a few metres behind us to give us some time to think.

"Have you chosen a child you want to sponsor?" She unexpectedly asked.

I wondered what she meant by sponsor. Was this like the other charities in my past life where people could sponsor a child to help? Luke apologized as the teacher appeared a bit disappointed it wasn't the case.

"Our mission given by the school is to host a party to have guests donate money towards a charity of our choosing," Luke explained.

"That's a noble mission," the teacher brightened again.

"Thank you for choosing us," she bowed to hide her expression that appeared full of deliberation.

"I will escort you outside," she pushed us back to the entrance.

The teacher increased her pace as I almost started to jog to follow her. She didn't seem to consider my heavy breaths as she never looked back before closing the doors. It was like she was trying to hide how she wasn't that welcoming anymore after we declared we weren't sponsoring a child. But, it was strange how she didn't appear happy from the potential donations coming in. There had to be more to this place than what was seen on the surface.

The hover car waited for us right by the gates as everyone got inside the car except for me. I stood by the door, not willing to go in when I haven't explored the grocery store yet. There was no way I was going to go directly to the school when I needed a breath of fresh air after witnessing such a cruel scene.

"Luke had kept his end of the promise so hurry up and get in," Alex started to get irritated.

"But I also need to visit the nearby grocery store," I mumbled.

"What do you need to go to the grocery store for? You can't even cook," Luke didn't seem to count when I cooked some omelets inside my parent's house.

"I'm hungry and don't want to spend our points on meals in school," I said the first excuse that came to my head.

"Then we could go to a restaurant near the school," Alex urged me to get in the car.

"But we can't go to a grocery store that's only like a three-minute walk from here?" I questioned them.

"That wasn't part of the deal. That's just you, being selfish when Luke already gave into you since you were being so stubborn," Alex indirectly scolded me.

Of course, Alex took Luke's side as usual while painting me as the villain. This made me feel more adamant in not listening to Alex as I walked away from the car.

"You can go back to school first. Shelly and I can go alone, and you don't have to follow us," I hinted to Shelly that she could step out of the hover car.

Instead, Shelly shot me an apologetic glance as she chose to stay inside the hover car under the immense pressure of Alex and Luke staring in her direction as she deliberated on what to do. I couldn't blame Shelly when she was weak to the pressure around her. I decided to walk to the grocery store on my own until I was stopped by Luke who got out of the car.

Luke grabbed my wrist as he began to give me options that were not options, "we can either go to the restaurant or go back to school, but that's it."

"That's not really a choice whether I can go to that grocery store is it?" I smirked.

It wasn't like I wanted to visit for a long time. I just wanted to go there, experience what it was like, take in some new scenery. I didn't want to only go to places that Luke approved. I didn't see the problem in my suggestion of going alone. It wasn't causing any harm to anyone.