Shannon

Shannon again!


The next few weeks were extremely busy. Shannon spent all her free time helping Beth plan and fundraise for the dance. When she wasn't she was trying to keep up with her homework.

The Halloween dance was only a week away and Shannon and the rest of the committee found themselves still short of funds and without a DJ.

"We can't have a dance without a DJ!" Beth cried, pacing around room 1408 while the other students on the committee rushed around trying to find a way to make it all work. The people in the room that weren't in a panic were the two students who were, as usual, asleep.

"I knew we should've put an add out. I knew it!" Ben was rubbing his temples staring at the pile of papers and receipts in front of him. "We can't have a dance without a DJ!"

"I know that, Ben!" Beth scolded. She stopped, folding her arms across her chest and scrunched her face up in thought.

"I've solved all your problems." Damien announced as he strutted into the room grinning from ear to ear. Something told Shannon he had planned on waiting until this exact moment to announce his plan. "It's simple. We've been trying to scratch together a budget BEFORE the dance, when we can simply reimburse ourselves AFTER the dance."

"Damien, what are you talking about?" Beth asked more than irritated.

"Oh, Beth, Beth, Beth. Just let me explain." Damien said patting her on the head. She shoved him away. "All we have to do is charge admittance fees. Nothing big, just three dollars a person, five for two."

"You want to charge people to go to their own dance?" Shannon asked.

"It's not THEIR dance. Not yet anyway." Damien said.

"What if not enough people buy tickets?" Ben asked. "What then?"

"I know you think you've got me in a corner but you don't, Benny boy." Damien grinned wickedly. "If you crunch the numbers there's no way only charging admission will pay for the dance. We'd have to charge each student roughly ten bucks each for that to work. And nobody would pay ten bucks to go to a high school dance. We have to take into account amount of money we've fundraised already. Together it will more than cover the cost of refreshments, and decorations. Best part of this is, we just hold onto any left over refreshments and decorations for the next dance we need them."

The students were mostly silent. Beth just sighed audibly. "That's great, Damien, but what about our DJ."

Damien's grin vanished instantly.

Ben punched a few buttons on his calculator. "Besides, even if we had a DJ, your plan doesn't cover the cost of a DJ. We'd need someone to do it for free."

"So, it can't be done?" Shannon asked feeling hopeless.

"Well, where are we going to find a DJ to work for free?" Ben replied sarcastically.

"We'll do it."

Everyone turned to the two students who should've been asleep.

"Yeah!" The one boy, a blonde, said. "Me and Scott always DJ for parties."

"Scott, Erin, you know we can't pay you right? You'd have to do this for nothing." Beth explained.

"Nah, not for free." Erin said.

"We want as much pop as we can drink!" Scott said.

"Just, give us free reign of the refreshment table." Erin added.

"But that'll cut into the amount of refreshments we can carry over to the next event we plan!" Damien cried.

"Damien! We either pay them in pop or we go without a DJ and possibly NEVER plan another event!" Beth yelled.

"So, do we get pop?" Scott asked.

"Only on the night of." said Ben.

"It looks like we'll be able to plan this dance after all." Shannon smiled.

"Not yet." Beth said sadly. "We have to sell tickets, promote our dance, and buy all the refreshments and decorations, not to mention set up the cafetorium."

"All in one week." Damien added.