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“Good. Raina, it’ll be your job to figure out exactly how much money the hotel needs to stay open.”
“Twenty-four thousand, seven hundred, and forty-three dollars,” Raina said instantly. “We made a little over two hundred and fifty with the bake sale.”
“Amazing. You can hang out with me then.” Out of the corner of his eye, Jesse noticed Anna nudge Raina, but he ignored it and turned back to the whiteboard. “Okay, I think that’s everyone covered but Anna. Sorry, I didn’t realize you were coming or I would’ve given you a job too. Why don’t you help Zara?”
Anna nodded. “No idea what’s going on, but I can do that.”
Jesse grinned. His plan was brilliant; Zara would likely forget about the refreshments entirely, and now there was someone else involved to remind her. “Awesome…I say that way too much. Awesome. Now everyone get out of here, I’m tired and want to sleep.”
Zara jumped up, hands on her hips. “You do realize this was a five minute meeting and we could’ve done this tomorrow?”
Jesse shrugged. “Oops?”
ChapterTwenty-One
“Five minutes to camera!” someone yelled across the room.
Raina whipped her head around, scanning the dining room for Jesse. Its usual chairs and tables had been replaced by people milling about, dressed in all sorts of outfits. A girl in a lion mask was standing by the snack table, two boys dressed in full circus regalia were practicing their act in the middle of the room, and there was even a girl who was building a chair out of books.
Spotting Jesse by the door, Raina ran over and slapped a microphone in his hand.
“Gracie gave me this and said to find you and have you put it on,” she said quickly.
He was dressed in light blue today, his normally wild curls slicked back with a little gel.
“Thanks, Rai.” Jesse shot her a smile. “Are you ready?”
“Well, everything is prepared,” Raina said, glancing around the room again.
A magician was chasing what appeared to be a live bunny around the room, but before she could move to intervene, Gracie swooped in to help.
“That’s not what I asked. Areyouready?”
Raina bit her lip. “I mean, I’m not going on camera. I’m not a fan of it anyway, but my parents don’t like me to be on social media or anything. You know how colleges look at everything.”
“That’s bullshit,” Jesse declared. “But I’m not going to try and change your mind. It’s up to you. We have a pretty good lineup, so I think we can do this.”
“How does it work exactly?” Raina asked, peering over Jesse’s shoulder. Nicole was handing her phone over to a guy dressed in black and receiving a microphone in exchange.
“From what she’s told me, Nicole is something called an ‘influencer’. Hundreds of people tune in to watch her talk, and they can send her gifts or donate money. She set up a GoFundMe and linked it in her bio, so we’re going to keep reminding people they can donate to help save the hotel.”
“Hey, Jesse.” Anna approached, waving to both of them. She was smartly dressed in an olive green blouse and black pants, her dark hair pinned back. “When am I going on? And Theo wants to know the same for the choir girls.”
Jesse pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to her. Craning her neck, Raina realized that it was a schedule.
“Nicole is speaking first,” Jesse stated. “The introduction, you know. Then I’m going to talk, then one of the singers. I speak again, then the next singer. Nicole goes again and then we have the last singer before I introduce you and you have your routine.” He paused for a second. “What exactly is your routine?”
“Comedy.”
“Got it. We’ll be starting in four.”
Anna waved and walked away, heading to the drinks table.
“Are you good with going on camera?” Raina asked Jesse.
Jesse seemed surprised by the question. “Yeah. I know I don’t usually like Tik-Tok lives, but this one has a script and it’s for a good cause. I’ve had some bad experiences with social media in the past. I rarely talk about it since they know better nowadays, but reporters used to follow us around when I was younger, hoping for an inside scoop on one of my parents. Combine that with my family’s wealth, and we were in the papers a lot. I never liked it, but I got used to it.”
“That’s interesting,” Raina said sincerely.
