Chapter Seventeen 
THE RAFFLE
Before Ava knew it, the start of October had almost arrived, bringing with it the harvest festival and the village show. The school always hosted the village show, and it was a hive of activity in preparation for the weekend. Villagers dropped off their harvest donations on the stage in the hall while it sat unused before the Christmas play rehearsals. There were already quite a few tins, boxes of chocolates, bottles of home-made apple juice and a few vegetables from village veg plots and allotments. Of course, everyone was keeping their best home-grown specimens to enter into the village show, but it was starting to be an impressive display nonetheless.
Miss Harper had just taken the class register and was running through the school news and messages for the day.
‘Lastly, it’s the village show this weekend, and raffle tickets are now on sale to raise money for the Hollybank Animal Rescue Centre.’
Ava stopped doodling on her English book and gave Miss Harper her full attention. She remembered Cassie telling her a little bit about the rescue centre. It was the place Cassie volunteered at when she wasn’t working at the vet’s and where she’d tried to get Ruby into when they’d first found the owl.
‘Every year, the raffle is the responsibility of Year Six, so it’s up to our class – the mighty Oaks – to help sell as many tickets as possible to raise money for the rescue centre. And, if you manage to beat last year’s Year Six efforts, I’ll let you choose what we do for our Christmas treat!’
A cheer rippled around the room.
‘And… as an extra bonus, if you sell more tickets than last year, I’ll throw you a Halloween party at school!’
The class erupted into excited chatter.
‘But you do have to sell more tickets than last year. That’s the deal. So, if I were you, I’d be convincing your friends and family to buy as many tickets as possible. It’s for a brilliant cause too.’
‘And there’s some great prizes,’ said Melody Marchant, standing up. ‘My parents have donated a year’s free entry to our farm park.’
‘Farm park?’ whispered Ava to Jas sitting next to her.
‘Yeah. Melody’s parents own one of the big old houses just outside the village. Used to belong to some lord or duke or something. They’ve got a park thing you can visit there – the little kids love it. People go and see the animals, there’s miniature tractors you can drive and a maze to get lost in – stuff like that. It is pretty cool, but don’t tell Melody I said that – her head’s big enough already.’
Ava giggled, and Melody snapped her head in Ava’s direction.
Miss Harper was handing out books of raffle tickets to everyone in the class so they could take them home to sell. Ava took hers and looked at them. Hollybank Animal Rescue Centre was written in big letters across the top. Never mind the Halloween party and Christmas treat – knowing the raffle would help the rescue centre was all the encouragement Ava needed to sell as many tickets as possible.
Jack leaned across the table towards her and pointed to something on the raffle tickets.
‘That’s the best prize,’ he said with a grin. ‘You want to win that.’
Ava looked at the prize printed on the ticket next to Jack’s finger.
Your choice of Christmas tree
‘Best Christmas trees in the county,’ he said, looking serious.
Jas laughed loudly. ‘And who do you think grows these Christmas trees?’
‘Jack!’ chorused the whole table.
Ava’s eyes widened. ‘You grow Christmas trees as well as pumpkins and all that other stuff?’
Jack nodded. ‘Yep. We’ve had to work hard to keep the farm going. Stuff like pumpkins and Christmas trees help a lot.’
Miss Harper clapped at the front of the class.
‘Okay, okay. Settle down, Oaks. As well as helping to sell the tickets, I need a volunteer to collect the money in from each class this week.’
Ava’s hand shot up. She glanced across to her right and saw that Melody’s hand was raised too. Miss Harper looked at them both. Melody was half off her seat and stretching her arm up as far as possible to get her teacher’s attention.
‘Ava,’ said Miss Harper, smiling in her direction. ‘I think that would be lovely if you went round and collected the money. It would be a great way of getting to know the school better too.’
Out of the corner of her eye, Ava saw Melody sit back in her chair and fold her arms. She risked a glance at her. Ava tried to smile apologetically, but it was met with an icy glare.
‘Why don’t we get someone to help you. Maybe we could see if…’
‘I’ll help Ava!’ shouted Jas, leaping from her seat.
‘Oh,’ said Miss Harper. ‘I was going to suggest…’
She glanced at Melody, but Jas continued. ‘I’d be really happy to help Ava. In fact, I really, really want to do it. I’ve never wanted to do anything more.’
Jack and Tom stifled a laugh, and Bella looked bemused.
‘Okay, fine,’ said Miss Harper. ‘You can help Ava collect the raffle money. Thank you, Jasmine.’
Jas slunk down onto her chair and whispered into Ava’s ear.
‘I thought I’d better save you from Melody. By the look on her face, I think you would have been in for a rough ride this week if Miss Harper had made you collect the raffle money with her.’
Ava risked another look at Melody. If anything, though, she thought Jas might have made things worse by volunteering to help her. Melody looked furious!
‘Thanks,’ whispered Ava, trying to sound grateful.
Miss Harper deposited a bright red metal box in front of Ava and Jas. A shiny metal key jutted out of a sturdy lock on the front, and there was a handle on top to carry it.
‘Okay, girls. Take this cash box to each class in the morning and put any raffle money collected in it for safekeeping. Bring it back to me and I’ll make sure it’s stored safely in the office.’
‘Yes, Miss Harper,’ said Ava. She couldn’t help but feel proud to have the important responsibility of collecting the raffle money for the village show.
‘And here’s your first contribution.’ Miss Harper pulled a five-pound note from her pocket and handed it to Ava. ‘Why don’t you pop round the classrooms now and introduce yourself? You can let the rest of the school know you’ll be coming in each morning to take in the money.’
Ava and Jasmine skipped out of the classroom, taking the cash box with them.
‘I hope Melody isn’t too put out that I got the raffle job,’ confided Ava as they passed the library.
‘She’ll get over it,’ said Jas. ‘She’ll probably just ignore you for a couple of days and that’ll be the end of it.’
Just as Jasmine had predicted, Melody went out of her way to avoid Ava over the next few days. Ava felt bad that Melody was obviously upset that she’d missed out on the job she’d so wanted to do. Ava enjoyed collecting the raffle money each morning, and Miss Harper had been right – it had been a great way of getting to know the rest of the school. It was now Thursday, and Ava and Jas returned to the Oaks classroom with a lot more money added to the cash box. They gave it to Miss Harper, who counted the total while the class revised for their spelling test.
‘Okay, mighty Oaks, I have good news and bad news.’
The class gave the teacher their full attention, and Miss Harper continued.
‘The bad news is we haven’t reached last year’s total yet.’
The class groaned.
‘The good news is… we’re almost there!’
A cheer rang out around the room, and chatter about Halloween parties and Christmas treats sprang up on every table. Ava caught Melody’s eye – Melody glared back. She didn’t seem to be warming to Ava at all.